In the latest episode of Global Pulse, host Erin Coker asks whether China's 60th anniversary festivities were a display of power for the world or just for Chinese citizens. Watch the episode and leave your comments below!

Media worldwide covered China's celebration of 60 years of communist rule, acknowledging China's rise over the past six decades, while also pointing out its spotty human rights record and the barring of its own citizens from attending the festivities.

Such general wariness of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) celebration may be indicative of a greater global anxiety concerning China's new place on the world stage. In marrying the tenets of communism with explosive economic growth, the country has, perhaps, come to embody the worst of communism and capitalism -- reckless urbanization within the rigid framework of a repressive authoritarian system. The result? A growing power whose rapid industrial expansion and repression of personal freedoms is both a detriment to its people and a possible threat to western interests.

Some experts question the durability of the so-called "authoritarian capitalism" model. "The more open and competitive an economy becomes, the greater the pressure to liberalize political institutions and democratize civil society," notes Tim Dunne in a Guardian editorial. "China wants the former while resisting the latter."

For state-run Chinese media however, capitalism remains an opposing ideology that is distinct from both the country's government and its burgeoning economy. A recent opinion piece in the state-run People's Daily extols socialism as the country’s historical choice, while an article on the CCTV website attributes China's private sector expansion to the country's larger socialist market economy.

In Yasheng Huang's 2008 book, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, the MIT professor points to reforms of governance, not market reforms, as crucial for China’s brand of capitalism to thrive. "Many of the endemic problems in the Chinese economy today—massive pollution, corruption, inefficient capital deployment, land grabs, and so forth—cannot be tackled without…reforms of Chinese political governance," a Reuters article notes in an analysis of Huang's book.
 
In the end, whether seen as a pure success story, a threat to the west, or the worst of two economic systems, China's continuing rise assures that it will not be ignored.

South Africa's new president Jacob Zuma assumed power this week with no shortage of controversy trailing him. Derided over the years as a terrorist, a communist, and an uneducated polygamist, Zuma arrived at the presidency having recently beaten back charges of rape and corruption. Free market devotees worry that Zuma will unravel South Africa's free trade policies. And on the left, observers are clamoring for the former freedom figher and long-time ANC leader to address the nation's epidemic poverty, crime, and HIV/AIDS infection rates.

But with all the speculation of dramatic change, Zuma's first week can't but seem a bit anticlimactic. Saturday's inauguration ceremony was marked by the appearance of Nelson Mandela to whom Zuma kneeled before addressing the nation. Zuma's midweek cabinet selection provided hope to both partisans on the right and left and pleased a broad cross-section of the South African press. Even the Mail & Guardian cartoonist Zapiro, a long-time Zuma satirist, agreed to depict the new president in a more conciliatory light.

Still, South Africa's inaugural week was not without its controversy. Opposition leader Helen Zille accused Zuma of putting his three wives at risk of contracting HIV and therefore was unfit to tackle social policy. BBC News further published a report that detailed Zuma's use of the nation's growing spy services, particularly for his defense against corruption charges.

Will Zuma prove to be a leader to unite South Africa? Or will critics prove justified in their skepticism of his ability to lead?

Watch the Global Pulse episode on Jacob Zuma here.

China sees two major challenges to its economic growth: rising unemployment and a deep investment in the U.S. dollar. Beijing's answer: spend and invest, and wheel and deal. In the process, China is crafting a recovery strategy that's spreading its interests around the world.

Sources: CCTV, China; Al Jazeera English, Qatar; Russia Today, Russia; BBC, U.K.; Press TV, Iran; Todo Noticias, Argentina

China's economy is slowing as it is the world over. One cause is the dramatic recent drop in U.S. consumption of Chinese imports. But nearly every day now, we are reading of deals struck by China that promise to turn the economic tide in Beijing's favor.

In Latin America and Vietnam, Chinese firms have signed deals to expand natural resource production. The New York Times reports that deals made in recent weeks in Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil include terms designed to decrease demand for the U.S. dollar. From Vietnam, TIME interviews locals fearful that China's plans to mine bauxite will result in devastating environmental and job losses.

China's military is also assuming a more aggressive stance. The state navy hints that it may soon develop an aircraft carrier and expand its global missions along the lines of recent anti-piracy sorties in the Gulf of Aden.

The Economist though predicts China could chart a more peaceful route to recovery. This scenario would include long-term investment in domestic priorities such as public transit and health care. Chinese officials are reportedly "fascinated" by European models of welfare and public health, and could cooperate with the EU on future projects.

Can China achieve economic recovery in a manner that is peaceful and sustainable? Or should we remain skeptical of a world shaped by Chinese priorities?

On the heels of a G-20 summit that saw U.S. President Obama play peacemaker in several multi-national disputes, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev reignited talk yesterday of replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Medvedev's words echoed an argument initiated in March by a Chinese central bank official, and to varying degrees supported by world leaders from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Last fall, Global Pulse reported that China and Russia had agreed to construct a new oil pipeline connecting the two nations, and that the dollar would not be used in any financial transactions. At the time, we asked if Russia and China could be establishing a long-term alliance designed in part to isolate the influence of U.S. currency.

In recent weeks, speculation is rife that the dollar could fall as the world's reserve currency. The storm began last week when Chinese central bank official Zhou Xiaochuan suggested that the dollar be replaced by International Monetary Fund units known as "special drawing rights" that are based on a basket of global currencies. The following day, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner briefly alarmed traders with his comments in support of expanding IMF use of SDRs to combat recession.

No sooner had the markets calmed when a political fury began to whip among U.S. conservatives. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota led the charge, introducing legislation to "prohibit a global currency" and touting her message on the airwaves. A Rasmussen poll found that 88% of Americans feel it is "important that the dollar remain America's currency."

But to the center and left, a less fearful analysis prevails. The Economist notes that SDRs have yet to catch on as a global means of exchange and represent in total a miniscule fraction of China's foreign exchange portfolio. And today, Paul Krugman dismisses China's consideration of a global currency as mere denial of how trapped it is by the staggering size of its U.S. Treasury holdings.

Should the U.S. be doing more to protect the dollar? Or could a new global currency help promote worldwide cooperation in economic recovery?

Global Pulse primary production is off this week, but assistant producer Elizabeth Cabrera had the foresight to produce our first behind-the-scenes piece shot in and around Link TV's San Francisco offices. She directs a team that includes Erin Zaleski as writer and co-producer, Fanny Dassie as writer and production assistant, and Shima Nishimuta and Virginia Gazzinelli as shooters. The piece follows up on a segment of last week's episode "Global Meltdown: Human Fallout" that examined the rising joblessness of South Korean graduates. In the coming months, we hope to share similar pieces that spotlight the diverse perspectives of our international team. 

As the waves of the financial meltdown pound banks and governments, the human cost is easily lost in the background. From layoffs to shattered dreams, the global crisis becomes a personal crisis. Do we really see how deeply it reaches into the global community?

SOURCES: Al Jazeera English, Qatar; CNN, U.S.; Deutsche Welle, Germany; South Asia Newsline, India; Russia Today, Russia; KBS, South Korea.

This week, Global Pulse goes beyond today's front-page news of exec bonus furor and reports on human-scale examples of the economic crisis. From struggling carpet weavers in India to sober singles in Moscow and jobless college graduates in South Korea, we examine how gainful work is won in a new era of contraction.

In the U.S., the U.K., and South Korea, public service is billed as the next great wave of labor opportunity. The News Hour at PBS reports that more and more young Americans are turning to government and non-profit programs like the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Likewise, the Independent chronicles a generation of young Britons eager to jump from the boardroom to the classroom as grade school teachers. And from Seoul today comes word that the South Korean government will create up to 550,000 temporary jobs in coming months, many of them for young graduates to work in fields like education.

But a less rosy portrait of labor emerges from the European Union and Malaysia, where migrant workers have experienced devastating recent changes in status. Der Spiegel interviews Mongolians in Prague, Poles in England, and Ecuadorians in Madrid who explain that jobs are newly few and far between. Across the globe, Al Jazeera English speaks to Bangladeshis locked out of Malaysia, their visas unexpectedly revoked.  

Will these labor changes prove fundamental and long-term? Or will we soon see a return to boom-era ways of expansion, open borders, and private enterprise?

76,000 jobs slashed in one day, 15,000 more the next. The global meltdown becomes a personal financial meltdown for millions of fired workers worldwide. Nations act to protect their interests at home. But that solution may be a bigger threat than the crisis itself.

Sources: Al Jazeera English, Qatar; BBC, U.K.; SABC, South Africa; Russia Today, Russia; KBS, South Korea; CCTV, China; Deutsche Welle, Germany

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