John Gittings



Profile:


Full name: John Gittings

Area of interest: World Affairs (esp. China and East Asia); Nuclear proliferation and peace history

Journals: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:john@johngittings.com john@johngittings.com]

Website: JohnGittings.com; Guardian.co / John Gittings

Blog: Comment is free...

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Networks:



Biography:
Education: Midhurst Grammar School; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: Civil Service dip. Chinese language; Corpus Christi College, Oxford: MA Oriental Studies (first)

Career: Royal Institute of International Affairs: research assistant, 1963/1966; University of Chile, Institute of International Studies, 1966/1967; Far Eastern Economic Review: China editor, 1968/1969; London School of Economics, Centre for International Studies, 1969/1971; The China Quarterly: Acting Editor, 1971/1972; Polytechnic of Central London: senior lecturer in Chinese politics, 1976/1983
 * The Guardian: foreign desk, foreign leader writer, 1983/1998, East Asia editor, based in Hong Kong and Shanghai, 1998/2003

Current position/role:


 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles:

Other activities: Research Associate - Centre of Chinese Studies, School of Oriental & African Studies, London University; Oxford Research Group - Associate

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight: To deconstruct "ten years of madness" from The Drawbridge Issue 6, Autumn 2007

TV/Radio:

Controversy/Criticism:

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Books & Debate:

 * The role of the Chinese Army OCLC 234382, 1966
 * Survey of the Sino-Soviet Dispute OCLC 40942, 1968
 * A Chinese view of China OCLC 696549, 1972
 * The World and China, 1922-1974 OCLC 1153447, 1974
 * Superpowers in Collision OCLC 9075997, with Noam Chomsky & Jonathan Steele, 1984
 * China changes face: The road from revolution, 1949-1989 OCLC18589474, 1989
 * Beyond the Gulf War (ed.), OCLC 27108922, 1992
 * Real China: From cannibalism to karaoke OCLC 34671073, 1996
 * Britain in the 21st Century: rethinking defence and foreign policy (ed.) OCLC 36479269, 1996
 * The Indonesian Massacres, 1965-1966: Image and Reality, in Mark Levene & Penny Roberts, ed., The Massacre in History OCLC 37663303, 1999
 * The changing face of China: From Mao to market OCLC 60931445, 2005


 * extended bibliography: John Gittings/Books

Latest work: International Encyclopaedia of Peace (Associate Editor) (OUP, New York)

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate: David Davies Memorial Institute, Annual lecture “After Trident: Peace or Proliferation?” 25 April 2007, ©John Gittings 

The Guardian:

 * no column - regular Comment is free... blog

Column remit:

Section:

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Email: [mailto:john@johngittings.com john@johngittings.com]

Website: Guardian.co / John Gittings

Commissioning editor:

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Regularity: varies

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Articles:

 * Uighur conundrum'' - For years, Beijing has talked up the threat of ethnic separatism in Xinjiang. Is reality finally catching up with the story? - 8th July 2009 (See: China: summary)
 * Shock tactics - China will need all the expertise that it has acquired in recent years to tackle the Sichuan earthquake - 13th May 2009
 * The problem of proliferation - We cannot pick and choose who takes the nuclear route as long as there is no effective movement towards global disarmament - 18th June 2009
 * Women of the revolution - John Gittings discovers the hidden stories and surprise successes of China past and present - BOOK REVIEWS: Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China by Leslie T Chang; Chinese Whispers: Searching for Forgiveness in Beijing by Jan Wong; Lion's Head, Four Happiness by Xiaomei Martell - 6th June 2009
 * The heroic mums and dads of Beijing - Twenty years ago in Tiananmen Square I watched as ordinary working-class citizens took on the might of China's army - 4th June 2009
 * A welcome nuclear sub U-turn - David Cameron said he would consider abandoning the Trident missile force – that's not what he told me 10 days earlier - 7th May 2009
 * Bordering on deceit - Last year we were told that British naval officers were indisputably in Iraqi waters. If only we had been more sceptical - 18th April 2008
 * A chilling message - The Chinese government's decision to arrest a prominent activist at such a sensitive time is unlikely to be coincidence - 23rd March 2008
 * Losing Lhasa -Although the Dalai Lama's leadership is being questioned by young militants in Tibet, the real crisis of authority is Beijing's - 23rd March 2008
 * Waffling in Beijing - The British government seems reluctant to say anything in public about human rights in China - 3rd March 2008
 * Musharraf's missiles - Western leaders lecture Pakistan's president on democracy, while ignoring a much greater threat: the country's nuclear arsenal - 5th February 2008
 * Chairman Brown in Beijing - As the prime minister sets out his market stall and sells Britishness to China, is he guilty of selling out on human rights issues? - 18th January 2008
 * Keeping the peace - A new nuclear treaty must address the danger of civilian programmes and the failure of major powers to move toward abolition - 11th December 2007
 * He knew he was right - The concluding part of The Blair Years showed a PM who took pride in the 'inner strength' that allowed him to totally disregard other people's - 3rd December 2007
 * The nuclear culprits - By continuing to thumb its nose at the comprehensive test-ban treaty, the Bush administration is letting other countries off the hook - 20th September 2007
 * Contradictions of a client state - Shinzo Abe has resigned as PM, but the country still has to work out how to reconcile subordination to the US with nationalist sentiment - 12th September 2007
 * Nuclear distraction - Margaret Beckett's speech on non-proliferation was a departure from Britain's traditional stance. Does this signal a new Brown-era approach? - 29th June 2007
 * China by the book - Among many new writings on China, two works exploring the country's recent past and its changing present stand out - 2nd June 2007
 * Thinking beyond the radar - The US must look past its cold war policy of building new missile bases to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions



Links:

 * Selected articles 1998-2003 John Gittings.com