“What in the World? Weekly Quiz" | Oct 24-30, 2022

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Last Week’s Quiz Winners

David Hillinck, Alexandria, VA
Lee Grey, Atlanta, GA
Bernie Drake, Peoria, IL
Nick McCall, Knoxville, TN
Tim Stewart, Nashville, TN
Hannah Osborne, Chapel Hill, TN
Seth Osborne, Chapel Hill, TN
Rich Buck, Peoria, IL
Patricia Paiva, Nashville, TN
Basil G. Smith, Jacksonville, FL
Pete Griffin, Nashville TN
Peter Sharadin, Reading, PA
Desikan Gandarva, Rocky River, OH
Yezzie Dospil, Nashville, TN
Aaron Antony, Cypress, TX
Michelle Eaton, Peoria, IL
Murphy Wilkinson, Streator, IL
Madora Melnick, Latham, NY
Jim Shepherd, Nashville, TN
Adam Leff, Bethel, ME

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MONTHLY QUIZ PRIZES ARE AWARDED TO DUES PAYING MEMBERS OF THE TNWAC WHO ARE MONG THE WEEKLY WINNERS FOR THAT MONTH.

OCTOBER QUIZ PRIZE

For decades, China’s rise to power was characterized by its reassurance that this rise would be peaceful. Then, as Susan L. Shirk, shows in this sobering, clear-eyed account of China today, something changed.

For three decades after Mao’s death in 1976, China’s leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy. They determined that any threat to their power, and that of the Chinese Communist Party, came not from abroad but from within―a conclusion cemented by the 1989 Tiananmen crisis. To facilitate the country’s inexorable economic ascendence, and to prevent a backlash, they reassured the outside world of China’s peaceful intentions.

Then, as Susan Shirk shows in this illuminating, disturbing, and utterly persuasive new book, something changed. China went from fragile superpower to global heavyweight, threatening Taiwan as well as its neighbors in the South China Sea, tightening its grip on Hong Kong, and openly challenging the United States for preeminence not just economically and technologically but militarily. China began to overreach. Combining her decades of research and experience, Shirk, one of the world’s most respected experts on Chinese politics, argues that we are now fully embroiled in a new cold war.

To explain what happened, Shirk pries open the “black box” of China’s political system and looks at what derailed its peaceful rise. As she shows, the shift toward confrontation began in the mid-2000s under the mild-mannered Hu Jintao, first among equals in a collective leadership. As China’s economy boomed, especially after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Hu and the other leaders lost restraint, abetting aggression toward the outside world and unchecked domestic social control. When Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he capitalized on widespread official corruption and open splits in the leadership to make the case for more concentrated power at the top. In the decade following, and to the present day―the eve of the 20th CCP Congress when he intends to claim a third term―he has accumulated greater power than any leader since Mao. Those who implement Xi’s directives compete to outdo one another, provoking an even greater global backlash and stoking jingoism within China on a scale not
seen since the Cultural Revolution.

Here is a devastatingly lucid portrait of China today. Shirk’s extensive interviews and meticulous analysis reveal the dynamics driving overreach. To counter it, she argues, the worst mistake the rest of the world, and the United States in particular, can make is to overreact. Understanding the domestic roots of China’s actions will enable us to avoid the mistakes that could lead to war.

LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What in the World? Quiz – Week of October 17-23, 2022

1. The Communist Party of China convened THIS once-every-five-years meeting Sunday and is expected to give President Xi Jinping a norm-breaking third term.

A. National Party Congress
B. Politburo Standing Committee
C. Central Committee of the CCP
D. General Assembly

Correct Response: A. National Party Congress
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/15/china/china-party-congress-opening-day-intl-hnk/index.html

2. Russia has launched a new campaign of air strikes against Ukraine featuring guided drones provided by THIS country.

A. China
B. North Korea
C. Iran
D. Belarus

Correct Response: C. Iran
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000008584920/kyiv-explosions-drones-russia.html

3. In a United Nations General Assembly vote Russia was condemned, 143-5, over THIS action.

A. Blockading grain exports from Ukraine
B. Annexing four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine
C. Launching missile and drone strikes across Ukraine
D. Abducting Ukrainian children and putting them up for adoption in Russia

Correct Response: B. Annexing four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/10/12/world/russia-ukraine-war-news

4. Liz Truss has stumbled early as British Prime Minister but the replacement of Kwasi Kwarteng by Jeremy Hunt in THIS senior position is aimed at reassuring markets and steadying the Truss government.

A. Finance Minister
B. Chancellor of the Exchequer
C. Minister of the Bank of England
D. Chief of the Finance Committee

Correct Response: B. Chancellor of the Exchequer
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/new-uk-finance-minister-faces-market-verdict-after-gutting-trusss-plans-2022-10-16/

5. The de-facto leader of the Opec oil cartel backed production cuts which will boost global energy costs, a move interpreted as a political strike at the Biden Administration. THIS country’s foreign ministry pushed back saying the move was based purely on economic need.

A. Russia
B. UAE
C. Iraq
D. Saudi Arabia

Correct Response: D. Saudi Arabia
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/13/biden-admin-asked-saudi-arabia-to-postpone-opec-cut-by-a-month-saudis-say.html

6. European Union expansion has been called for by THIS German Chancellor who told a conference, “An EU with 27, 30, 36 states, with then more than 500 million free and equal citizens, can bring its weight to bear even more strongly in the world.”

A. Christian Lindner
B. Olaf Scholz
C. Robert Habeck
D. Annalena Baerbock

Correct Response: B. Olaf Scholz
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-scholz-calls-bigger-european-union-2022-10-15/

7. China’s response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been lockdowns, quarantining and border controls in cities and regions when there are virus outbreaks. The measures, called THIS, has strangled the economy and made normal life more difficult.

A. Xi’s Decree
B. Zero-Covid
C. People’s Lockdown
D. Wuhan Resistance

Correct Response: B. Zero-Covid
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/14/china-xi-zero-covid-policy

8. The nation hosting the World Cup, starting next month, announced media restrictions on where news crews may film while in THIS nation. The move, according to “The Guardian” appears aimed at making difficult interviews about mistreatment of migrant or subjects like LGBTQ+ rights.

A. Malaysia
B. Qatar
C. Yemen
D. Pakistan

Correct Response: B. Qatar
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/oct/15/qatar-world-cup-tv-reports-restrictions

9. In his address to the CCP National Party Congress President Xi Jinping said he would “never promise to renounce the use of force” regarding THIS, and the “complete reunification of our country must and will be realized,” which was met with sustained applause.

A. Mongolia
B. Tibet
C. Taiwan
D. South China Sea

Correct Response: C. Taiwan
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63226230

10. The seven-members of THIS group, the world’s biggest boy band, will enter South Korean military service. The K-Pop band had been allowed to defer service until the age of 30.

A. EXO
B. BlackPink
C. Seventeen
D. BTS

Correct Response: D. BTS
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63282589

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THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

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