China's trial of a century: Cracks in the monolith?

It has all the hallmarks of a crime potboiler: murder, money and intrigue; a court case that's shed unwanted light on the inner machinations of China's Communist Party leadership. After only seven hours in court, officials say Gu Kailai, the wife of the deposed political leader Bo Xilai, along with an accomplice, had all but confessed to poisoning a British businessman. There is no verdict as yet but the case is a massive embarrassment for the Communist Party.

DEBATE

Jean-Paul TCHANG, Economist and financier / China specialist;
Emmanuel LINCOT, Chair, Contemporary China Studies (Catholic University of Paris);
Ola WONG, Journalist & Writer;
Fabienne CLÉROT, Research Fellow, IRIS think tank.
Watch the second part

Programme prepared and produced by Wassim Nasr, Sara Bertilsson and Mary Colombel

Presenter

François Picard

31/01/2011 - THE DEBATE

Egypt on edge: calls for change, but a transition to what?

Despite Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak reshuffling his cabinet and appointing his first ever vice-president, there's no let-up in the protests calling for him to go. François Picard's panel debates what the role of the army could be in a transition process, and who of the civilian and Islamist opposition is best placed to take the reins of the Arab world's most populous nation.

28/01/2011 - THE DEBATE

Davos: have they learned anything? (Part 2)

Do they get it in Davos? Bankers are back, parties are back but with a jobless recovery in the West and rising staple item prices already sparking social unrest in the Arab World, François Picard’s panel argues over the right path for the world’s high and mighty.

28/01/2011 - THE DEBATE

Davos: have they learned anything?

26/01/2011 - THE DEBATE

Washington and the Arab world (Part 2)

Don't make a push for democratic change in Egypt if you can't back it up. So warns one of François Picard's panellists as guests debate the relative merits of George W Bush's Freedom Agenda, and note the contrast between the Obama administration's silence after Egypt's allegedly rigged legislative elections and its call for more free speech today.

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