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Greater China
China's reform hands fail to clap
The young Chinese leadership is displaying a near-schizophrenic split that can be summed up by President Xi Jinping's gung-ho style and no-holds-barred defense of Mao Zedong and the seriousness with which Premier Li Keqiang, China's first "PhD prime minister", is pushing economic reforms. Irreconcilable contradictions persist between nurturing the marketplace and the Chinese Communist Party's power imperative. -
Willy Lam
(May 24, '13)
Western hypocrisy over Chinese nukes
Speculation that China plans to depart from a strict nuclear policy that emphasizes minimum deterrent and a no-first-use pledge flies in the face of official rebuttals and the fact that its nuke arsenal hasn't expanded with economic advances. Instead of assuming Beijing is aggressive, Western nations should ask why their own policy is based on preemptive strikes and not more defensive postures.
Hui Zhang
(May 24, '13)
China nears point
of no return with Kim
China is losing patience with North Korean leader Kim Jong-eun, slowly but surely moving into the US orbit to deal with his threats and blackmail. As Beijing will sooner than later reach the point where it has little to lose from falling out with North Korea, Kim had better start contemplating his own mortality. -
Francesco Sisci
(May 22, '13)
New spark in the South China Sea
Sanctions Taiwan has imposed following the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard, including a hiring freeze on Filipino workers and banning tourism to the Philippines, are shows of sovereignty aimed at bolstering the administration's sagging approval ratings. Manila has no such problems, but economically and diplomatically it can't afford another front opening in the South China Sea. -
Julius Cesar I Trajano
(May 22, '13)
Fox leads US tiger into China's crosshairs
"Irritating Japan" is well on its way to replacing "Rising China" as the meme favored by the United States as Abe Shinzo's new nationalism exploits US backing to advance its own goals. Beijing sees "the fox pretending to the tiger's might". Tokyo is pushing bigger game, the weakened US Asian "pivot" itself, into Beijing's crosshairs. -
Peter Lee
(May 17, '13)
Chinese opinion jars with policy on Korea
An unexpectedly significant outburst of anger from China's elite at North Korea's brazen provocations may be enough to require that Beijing try to harmonize public opinion and foreign policy on the issue. If Beijing bows to the public demands and cracks down on Pyongyang this time, it could undermine the government's ability to censor debate on internal issues.-
Niklas Swanstrom
Kelly Chen
(May 17, '13)
Gangsters and politics shake hands in Taiwan
An attempt by hundreds of members of a crime syndicate to join Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, seemingly designed to manipulate a vote to elect the DPP chairman, has perplexed observers. China is a key suspect to be the hidden hand, as the only outside power with the clout, know-how and motive to generate such harmful press for the pro-independence party. -
Jens Kastner
(May 15, '13)
East-West divide starts here
Capitalism, as a new theory that stressed the importance of individual knowledge and contribution while undercutting the role of the state, represented something that bureaucracy-obsessed, ultra-efficient imperial China found impossible to impose. Adam Smith's free thought - not free trade - pushed the West ahead. China only caught up due to the industriousness of individuals and Beijing giving them free rein. -
Francesco Sisci
(May 14, '13)
Binding the baton in China
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has waved his cudgel at the police amid wide-reaching plans for
or "preserving socio-political stability" with a spate of reshuffles in political-legal bodies aimed to boost internal checks and balances. While publicly described as measures to stop "unjust law enforcement", critics say Xi is just cementing Chinese Communist Party control over the force. -
Willy Lam
(May 14, '13)
US hoist by its own pivot petard
Efforts by the United States to orchestrate a win-win economic and security regime in Asia through constructive pressure on China, aka the "pivot", is being undercut by Tokyo, concerned at China's rise and determined to contain it. Beijing knows how to tweak that tail, with Okinawa a deliciously sensitive spot to touch. The pivot to Asia isn't about China anymore. It's about Japan. -
Peter Lee
(May 10, '13)
US criticism stirs China's military pride
The annual US defense report on China's military development openly accusing it of state-sanctioned cyber-espionage. While China has condemned the provocations as overly combative and alarmist, the government appears to be somewhat proud of being taken seriously as a rival. -
Brendan P O'Reilly
(May 10, '13)
China's incursions show strategic blindness
Incursions by Chinese troops into eastern Kashmir are reflective of new leader Xi Jinping's assertive strategy on territorial disputes. While rallying behind People's Liberation Army causes may boost Xi's leadership, such aggression merely vindicates the "China threat" discourse among the country's neighbors. -
Namrata Goswami
(May 9, '13)
China widens stride on Middle East stage
As the US repositions its core foreign and economic policy to the Pacific theater, China has stepped in to fill the gap on the Middle Eastern stage with an offer to host a summit between the Israelis and Palestinians. True, Beijing would prefer to stay out of the conflict, but it has strong reasons to take a mediation role in a region increasingly vital to its national interests. -
Francesco Sisci
(May 8, '13)
China losing cultural race with India
More than border flare-ups, deep cultural disconnects between China and India are sabotaging growth of a bilateral dynamic as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's prepares for landmark visit. One factor niggling Beijing is that while its rival seems economically, militarily and politically inferior, India, from dress to religion, has better preserved its traditions and enjoys a special place of interest in the Western world. -
Francesco Sisci
(May 7, '13)
India-China war delayed by technology
The asymmetry and imperious emperors that could provoke an India-China conflict aren't in place, and even if a war were to break out over remote border areas, international pressures and military parity require that at most, the two countries fight a very limited war that does not cause irremediable loss of face. -
Mohan Guruswamy
(May 7, '13)
China's border rows mirror grim history
Two Chinese territorial disputes - one high in the Himalayas with India, the other with Japan involving similarly uninhabitable islands - indicate two different paths concerning Asia's future security. The clash with Japan is the more unsettling, not least as the government in Tokyo faces a political and economic environment uncomfortably parallel to that of Germany in the 1930s. -
Peter Lee
(May 3, '13)
Australians attitudes hold back China ties
Major deals struck during Australian Prime Minister's Julia Gillard trip to China in April highlighted the strategic potential of greater military and economic cooperation. However, doubts expressed in the Australian press concerning China's authoritarian character and human-rights abuses highlighted perhaps the greatest challenge to deeper engagement - mistrust. -
Eileen McInnes
(May 3, '13)
Does China have a strategy?
Beijing's assertive behavior in Asia is mobilizing its neighbors against it at a moment when it needs a peaceful external environment more than ever. At home, the development model no longer fits. In short, China has strategic goals, but no strategy for achieving them. -
Robert A Manning
Banning Garrett
(May 2, '13)
Beijing elevates core security concepts
China's defense white paper this year revolved around the concepts of "historic missions" and "core interests", with the former referring to strategic guidance for the military and the latter covering the collective "material and spiritual demands of a state and people". Far from the communist dogma of the past, the concepts plot a clear-headed path towards prioritizing modern responsibilities and threats. -
Timothy Heath
(Apr 30, '13)
China's changing calculus on North Korea
North Korea's advances in nuclear weapons technology and escalation of bellicose rhetoric against the US and its allies have triggered a reassessment of the threat it poses. Even ally China's overall strategic assessment is shifting, as the North goes from being an intermittently problematic entity to a source of regional instability. -
David Mulrooney
(Apr 29, '13)
Fierce debate erupts over the 'China Dream'
The vague yet all-embracing connotations of the "China Dream" concept being pushed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping have produced divergent interpretations, even raising expectations in some quarters of a shift towards democratic reform and individualism. In-the-know commentators underline that far from a Westernized future, the dream envisions a strong, assertive global power and a "renaissance of the Chinese race". -
Willy Lam
(Apr 29, '13)
US, China military top brass take aim
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey and his People's Liberation Army counterpart, Fang Fenghui, treaded carefully between a range of tensions at their Beijing summit. Even as the two powers' military-to-military relationship is increasingly vital to upholding Asian stability, the top brass didn't sidestep contention. -
Brendan P O'Reilly
(Apr 26, '13)
Envoy urged to press Uyghur rights
US Ambassador Gary Locke was visiting Xinjiang when 21 people were killed in the worst episode of violence in the restive region in nearly four years. With 16 people from the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority among the dead, exiles have called on the envoy to press Beijing on rights violations.
(Apr 26, '13)
Banker tries bait and switch
Nothing Gained
Phillip Y Kim
When this tale of death and mystery in a crisis-hit US investment bank relates how a life built on arrogance, privilege and luck can rapidly unravel, it's a pleasure to watch high-fliers squirm. However, the would-be international business thriller pushes its most compelling characters offstage and offers unsatisfying substitutes. -
Muhammad Cohen
(Apr 26, '13)
What China wants from North Korea
North and South Korea are being relegated to bit-players in peninsular tensions as the contest increasingly becomes another front for their powerful sponsors. China is stoking the East Asian tensions to push US forces away from its coast, in the knowledge that US bases in Taiwan and South Korea have had the Chinese navy covered. -
Joel Gibbons
(Apr 26, '13)
Post-quake prices anger Sichuan survivors
Protests have erupted over skyrocketing food prices in the wake of an earthquake in Sichuan over the weekend that left hundreds dead or missing. Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province warned businesses against increasing their prices and shut a noodle shop that became a focal point for anger.
(Apr 25, '13)
China will not change its nuclear policy
The absence in this year's defense white paper of China's annual pledge against first use of nuclear weapons sparked speculation that Beijing might consider changes to its long-held policy. Reality is prosaic: there is no sign of a new stance. The report merely takes a new focus to present specific themes. -
Yao Yunzhu
(Apr 24, '13)
Taiwan's Chen gets a spacious cell
Friends and family of disgraced former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian are not too pleased to see him transferred back to prison from hospital to continue doing time for corruption. But they can probably thank recent high-profile graft cases against aides to his presidential successor for securing him a more spacious cell. -
Jens Kastner
(Apr 23, '13)
An alternative route
for China's ascent
Despite President Xi Jinping's concept of the "Chinese Dream", the ascent to global political and economic dominance, is undermined by a mish-mash of old communist and new American ideas. The key for Beijing will be to assimilate successful ideals of failed American, British and Spanish empires, while aligning its own aspirations with those of the rest of the world. -
Francesco Sisci
(Apr 23, '13)
Chen: The people must drive reforms
Chinese civil-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who famously escaped house arrest last year and now lives in the United States, says Chinese people are waking up to regard the Communist Party's talk of reform as just talk, so it is up to an increasingly aware public to drive political reform in China. -
Courtney Brooks
(Apr 22, '13)
China-India border talks pivot on Tibet
For China and India to resolve issues surrounding Tibet that have for decades stalled progress on border talks, both countries must bring together their brightest minds to identify intertwining core interests. Although Beijing and Delhi both view the Tibetan independence struggle as a security threat, an impasse that prevents the Sino-Indian dynamic from reaching its full potential is allowed to persist. -
Namrata Goswami
Jenee Sharon
(Apr 22, '13)
Obama edges to realpolitik on Koreas
President Barack Obama may become an unlikely convert to realpolitik and allow Secretary of State John Kerry to sacrifice America's nuclear non-proliferation principles on the battered altar of North Korean diplomacy. The Korean nuclear crisis has the potential to be a good thing for the US and South Korea - and perhaps even for China - if the US president bends on some cherished non-proliferation beliefs. -
Peter Lee
(Apr 19, '13)
Living (and dying) in the shadows
Hong Kong Noir
Feng Chi-shun
Gruesome tales from the minds of Hong Kong's most notorious serial killers and gangsters fascinate and appall in equal measure. While the 15 "factual" stories in the book sometimes mobilize the author's imagination, the squeamish detail in the former pathologist's writing will likely leave some readers cold. -
Kent Ewing
(Apr 19, '13)
China's Catholic body vs the Vatican
While Western critics lambast China for its insistence on internalizing the running of the country's Roman Catholic establishment, the Vatican is just as stubborn when it comes to "protecting" its own officials, as seen in its handling of child abuse allegations. Both institutions are stuffy, tone-deaf bureaucracies, but at least Beijing has grown much more amenable to Catholic influence in recent years. -
Vaughan Winterbottom
(Apr 17, '13)
US misreads Sino-Russian affair
Since the Cold War, the United States has always been vexed about the possibility of an alliance between Russia and China. Xi Jinping's first trip to Russia as the president of China has once again raised American concerns about the implications of Beijing-Moscow relations. Yet current Sino-Russia cooperation is largely symbolic, and its impact is more psychological than of substance. -
Jinghao Zhou
(Apr 16, '13)
China's choppers fly under the radar
The development of China's stealth fighters and its first aircraft carrier have taken the spotlight away from steady expansion in its helicopter attack force. An increasing number of squadrons of the Z-10, China's premier attack helicopter, and other specialized choppers shows that China is making more significant progress than has been acknowledged. -
Peter Wood
Cristina Garafola
(Apr 16, '13)
China sees red over Taiwan-Japan pact
A fisheries agreement between Taiwan and Japan will allow Taiwanese boats - their own waters now largely bereft of fish - to make catches in Japan's exclusive economic zone covering the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, while staying clear of the 12 nautical mile zone immediately around the islands. The pact is a direct snub to Beijing. -
Jens Kastner
(Apr 15, '13)
Xi, Putin share bed, with their own dreams
Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Russia came as their partnership assumes a stronger definition in light of Washington's ''rebalancing'' towards Asia. Their mutual interests and perspectives are considerable, highlighted economically by gas deals waiting to be sealed. In effect, the Russian and Chinese dreams seem somewhat similar, but that is not saying they have similar dreams . -
M K Bhadrakumar
(Apr 12, '13)
China: Pivot partner or pinata?
As the North Korean crisis lumbers on, a novel take engineered in Washington optimistically suggests China is being roped in as a partner in the US pivot to shepherd its errant ally to reason. This is largely a work of fiction that serving the pivot narrative that an indispensable US security role in Asia is doing something more than wielding a big stick that is accelerating the North's nuclear weapons program and generating Chinese anxiety and anger. -
Peter Lee
(Apr 10, '13)
China targets South Korea with soft power
China's forceful condemnation of North Korea's nuclear provocations have brought it closer than ever to the South, just as Seoul was tiring of American reticence in security commitments. With new leaders in both East Asian capitals, the time seems right for blossoming relations. But South Korea is likely playing one suitor against the other. -
Sunny Seong-hyon Lee
(Apr 10, '13)
China walks fine line on Korea
China's determination to prevent North Korea from hijacking Beijing's foreign policy to Pyongyang's advantage has led to harsher than ever condemnations of the Korea's nuclear brinkmanship. But as the North becomes a crucible for East Asian tensions, China needs to think of better ways to manipulate the crisis that will strengthen its regional hand. -
Francesco Sisci
(Apr 9, '13)
'Occupy' Hong Kong plan
a nightmare for Beijing
Plans for an "Occupy" Hong Kong movement, timed to coincide with official celebrations to mark next year's 16th anniversary of the handover to China, have been exposed, likely filling the city's pro-business and pro-Beijing camps with dread. While pro-mainland media are already predicting the plan would be "economic suicide", it seems ordinary Hong Kongers have little interest in taking part. -
Kent Ewing
(Apr 8, '13)
Xi embraces China's big dream
Xi Jinping's first address as China's president made repeated allusion to the country's past periods of economic success and territorial expansion. The big question is how the state's dream of a ''renaissance'' and the quite different hopes of the people can be achieved harmoniously, and how will these interlink with the fears of neighbors. -
Hoang Anh Tuan
(Apr 4, '13)
Where the Yangtze meets the Congo
Expectations that China is baiting a neo-colonial trap in Africa ignore Beijing's pledges that economic and cultural relations rest on an equal plain, and that burgeoning ties were built on mutual anti-Western contempt. As European diplomats wring hands over no-strings aid and human rights, Africa and China can reflect on a decade that's seen the continent experience its fastest growth in history. -
Brendan P O'Reilly
(Apr 4, '13)
China finds soft power in sport
Chinese sporting stars such as tennis player Li Na, hurdler Liu Xiang and basketball player Yao Ming are proving vital tools of soft power as Beijing tries to beat rival superpower the United States at its own game. Just as American athletes like Michael Jordan and Mohammed Ali changed how the world viewed the country, China hopes sporting achievement will develop into greater global influence. -
Jieh-Yung Lo
(Apr 3, '13)
China signals with Coast Guard overhaul
Beijing has moved to bring separate maritime law enforcement agencies under one governing body. Although the overhaul seems a response to international criticism that poor communication between agencies had stoked internal tensions and worsened territorial disputes, it's more likely aimed at improving response times and bolstering command and control mechanisms. -
Lyle Morris
(Apr 3, '13)
Italy's Internet politics
menace China
While online debate in China represents a potential training ground for future democratic dialogue, the dangers of Internet politics can be seen in the rise of Italy's "5 Star Movement". The prevailing voices in Beppe Grillo's movement are those most active on the web, and they post the most barbed comments. Such chaotic, volcanic politics only lead masses to seek radical leaders. -
Francesco Sisci
(Apr 3, '13)
Centralized power key to Xi's 'China dream'
After his election, President Xi Jinping cited three precedents for fulfilling the "China dream", all concerned with creating conditions for a "renaissance". Judging from how he has concentrated ministerial responsibilities, in contrast to dictums of late patriarch Deng Xiaoping, he might have added a fourth precedent, the Leninist doctrine of centralizing power. -
Willy Lam
(Apr 2, '13)
Taiwan war games get back their bang
Tensions between mainland China and Taiwan have never been more absent since the island went its own way from Beijing. So President Ma Ying-jeou's decision to re-introduce live-firing of ammunition in annual war-game maneuvers raises several questions. The answers, it seems, have more do to do with domestic issues than a changed perception of the Taiwan's potential foe. -
Jens Kastner
(Apr 2, '13)
China can defuse North Korea time-bomb
Time is of the essence if an impending nuclear disaster at the hands of North Korea is to be avoided. As China's three most-senior foreign policy officials, including new Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have rich experience with the diplomacy of the issue and appreciate the need to achieve denuclearization peacefully, their intervention is not only desirable, it is necessary. -
Joseph R DeTrani
(Mar 25, '13)
Xi tightens bonds with Moscow
The deepening bond between Beijing and Moscow, highlighted by Xi Jinping making Moscow his first port of call as Chinese president, has immense implications for the world - especially the United States. Indeed, it appears that Washington may have made a failed attempt at a "divide and rule" stratagem before Xi's Russian trip. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Mar 26, '13)
China's elderly exposed to suicide risk
Suicide rates in China's general population have fallen dramatically amid rapid urbanization and economic growth, but the breakdown of traditional communal structures has exposed the elderly to greater risk, particular after the death of a spouse. Innovative ways to keep suicidal thoughts at bay have been found, yet more needs to be done to increase mental well-being. -
Cameron Frecklington
(Mar 26, '13)
US disc jockey makes waves in China
American radio host Rick O'Shea has spent two decades in Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing learning that his interactions with his audience prove that when blended, US and Chinese creative energy can lead to something special. As the last lover of San Mao, one of China's most beloved and tragic modern novelists, his insights into today's China make for compelling listening. -
Tamara Treichel
(Mar 22, '13)
Searching the globe for China Inc
China's Silent Army: The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing's Image
Juan Pablo Cardenal
Heriberto Araujo
As Chinese business expands overseas, it is increasingly important to understand how mainland companies and Beijing interact as the latter steers the economic juggernaut. This book unravels some aspects of how Chinese diplomacy and business cooperate to serve geopolitical goals, but it mistakenly implicates Chinese immigrants in search of a better life in the economic exploitation being orchestrated by their leaders. -
Muhammad Cohen
(Mar 22, '13)
Mongolia and Russia show military sheen
Military cooperation with Russia, including preparations for joint exercises, gave a distinct sheen to Mongolian Minister of Defense Dashdemberel Bat-Erdene's first official overseas visit last month. Under the surface, Moscow likely gave vent to concerns over a coal and uranium mine project that, though stalled, favored China in a manner that has held up foreign investment in Mongolia. -
Alicia J Campi
(Mar 21, '13)
China seeks military friends in Central Europe
Beijing has sent diplomats and top military brass to press official flesh in Central Europe, most likely in an attempt to gain more torque to lift the European Union embargo on the sale of arms to China. Poland is a particular target, with a strong track record supplying other Asian countries with simple technological solutions that the People's Liberation Army also wants. -
Paul Behrendt
(Mar 21, '13)
Surrender is the
best option for Tibet
Self-immolation by Tibetans taints the rule of those in Beijing who are in charge of Tibet, but does not change basic facts and the reluctance of the majority Han Chinese to see it become independent. With autonomy always a distant dream, the best hope for the Tibetan cause is not suicide, but a strategic surrender. -
Francesco Sisci
(Mar 20, '13)
China may wear out African welcome
While many African countries favor Chinese investment that's free from the political strings and human-right lectures attached to Western agreements, growing complaints over labor abuses, poor construction and delays suggest an end to the Sino-African honeymoon. Prospects for future cooperation depend on how Beijing responds to such dissent and how Africa manages expectations of its trading partner. -
Nan Chen
(Mar 20, '13)
New China leader Li warns world
In his first meeting with foreign media as premier, Li Keqiang has served notice to the world: Any militarized threats to China's territorial claims are threats not only to regiof internal reforms, relevant powers must also be cnal stability, but also to world peace. As Beijing wades into the "deep waters" oareful of their footing in the turbulent seas of East Asia. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Mar 19, '13)
Xi unmoved by Tibetan self-immolation
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to remain as unmoved as his predecessors to frustration over Beijing's attitude to Tibet that has seen the toll of deaths by self-immolation in the autonomous region reach 108 in the past three years. While Tibetan exiles debate the hardline policies, Xi's sight is fixed on growth and stability.
Saransh Sehgal
(Mar 19, '13)
Is enough enough for China, North Korea?
Subtle evolutions in the language with which China officially condemns North Korean nuclear tests suggest that Beijing is becoming less forceful, while the public outcry over the most recent detonation was nothing new. While Western analysts see Beijing writing a harsh new playbook on Pyongyang, the latest test will actually have little impact on its ''dual-track" strategic approach. -
A Greer Meisels
(Mar 19, '13)
War trumps peace in Myanmar
Myanmar President Thein Sein this month claimed that ''there's no more fighting in the country'' - in complete denial of the harsh facts on the ground, facts Western nongovernmental organizations and think tanks scrabble together for cash and influence in seeking peace, just as China takes the lead in the process. Despite all the effort and rhetoric, lasting peace in Myanmar's war-torn frontier areas is as elusive as ever.
Bertil Lintner
(Mar 19, '13)
Beijing underlines 'stability' beats reforms
China's new leaders, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, have dealt an early blow to hopes that they would introduce a series of liberalizing reforms, instead underlining the paramount importance of "stability", Party dominance and the failures of Western democracy, backed up with arrests and warnings to intellectuals who want things otherwise. -
Willy Lam
(Mar 18, '13)
China counter-pivots on Myanmar
A beefed up Beijing diplomatic interest in Asia, with particular focus on Myanmar, is an apparent response to the United States' renewed focus on the region and its warming relations, at China's expense, with Myanmar's government. Washington should be wary of overreacting to this Chinese "pivot", or, in turn, fall out of favor in Naypyidaw. -
David I Steinberg
(Mar 18, '13)
A papal mission to close gap with Beijing
Pope Francis is a Jesuit, as was Francis Xavier, the missionary who oversaw the Catholic Church's 16th century near-successful efforts to convert China, which today is the only real opening for the Church to expand in Asia. Perhaps Pope Francis and President Xi Jinping, elected within hours of each other, can close the gap in trust between Beijing and the Holy See. -
Francesco Sisci
(Mar 15, '13)
Beijing's pit bull alliance
China not only benefits from North Korea stealing its limelight as one of Asia's biggest human-rights violators, Pyongyang also serves a key political weapon against the strangulation strategy being visited on Beijing by the US and its allies. Diplomatic efforts to paint China as "renegotiating" terms of bilateral cooperation with the North are a "dog-and-pony" show. -
Brett Daniel Shehadey
(Mar 15, '13)
China cyber-war: Don't believe the hype
Anyone hoping for a reset in US-China relations might feel a twinge of disappointment at Washington's decision to hype Chinese cyber-intrusions. If a measured escalation was its aim, the Obama administration was hijacked by the sequestered US military and security industry's desire for more power and profit. Besides, occupants of the White House throw cyber-stones too. -
Peter Lee
(Mar 15, '13)
China seizes the day
for market forces
A roll-back of the state by restructuring the functions and philosophy of ministries in China and a strong push, ostensibly the opposite direction, to hand control of vital concerns such as energy policy back to the center, are the deep and long-term changes emanating from this month's National People's Congress. Together they suggest real urgency to give space to market forces. -
Francesco Sisci
(Mar 13, '13)
Bo Xilai airbrushed from family album
Defiant gestures by deposed Chongqing chief Bo Xilai from jail, from reported beard-growing protests to hunger strikes, underline why the party needed to him gone before Xi Jinping is endorsed as president this month. US pop historians may overplay Bo's significance, but his is a cautionary tale and highlights that no one is bigger than the party. -
Muhammad Cohen
(Mar 13, '13)
Hong Kong's miser-minister
For a growing number of his critics, the budgets of Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang are a perennial exercise in miscalculation, predicting deficits but ending up with an embarrassment of riches then stashed away in the city's swollen reserves. As Tsang and miserly officials remain bereft of fresh ideas for the future, surely it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. -
Kent Ewing
(Mar 11, '13)
Did China execute the wrong pirate?
Western coverage of the execution of Naw Kham focused on whether it would be broadcast - and if not, why not. All good hackwork over a macabre event in far-off China, and totally missing the point. There seems little doubt the Burmese pirate was a baddie on a considerable scale, but whether he had a hand in the massacre of 13 crew members of two ships on the Mekong River is quite another matter. -
Peter Lee
(Mar 8, '13)
US faces China's 'unrelenting strategy'
Aggressive, self-confident maneuvers by China's military seemingly targeting the US suggest Beijing is following the ancient ''unrelenting strategy" written of in the
I Ching
, which calls for confusing an opponent before creating and deepening internal conflicts and launching an offensive assault. As the sun sets on US power, the method could offer a short-cut to usurping it as the sole superpower. -
Jenny Lin
(Mar 7, '13)
Devil in detail
of grand urban plan
A grand plan announced by the National People's Congress this week envisions spending of US$6.4 trillion over 10 years to bring 400 million people into China's smaller cities. As an economic initiative, the migration could lead to China becoming the largest contributor to global growth within a few decades. As a complex project of structural transformation, the devil is in the detail. -
Francesco Sisci
(Mar 6, '13)
Kerry, Hagel and
While Beijing may welcome US Secretary of State John Kerry's concerns that Washington's Asian rebalancing strategy "creates a threat" where there wasn't one, past accusations from new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that India opened a "second front" in Afghanistan still stick in the craw in Delhi. Instead of fretting over pitfalls in the Obama-era "course correction", India and China should instead focus on creating new traction in their bilateral engagement.
M K Bhadrakumar
(Mar 6, '13)
China homes in on Pacific air supremacy
The likely capability of China's new DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile to cripple US aircraft carrier strike groups threatens the platform that established and maintained post-World War II US supremacy in the Asia-Pacific, with momentous ramifications for regional power equations. If Washington fails to demonstrate adequate countermeasures to such asymmetric weapons, China's leaders will see the Asian "pivot" as a hollow threat. -
Andrew S Erickson
(Mar 6, '13)
Beijing holds seeds of cross-strait pride
Beijing can grow the seeds of Chinese nationalism now appearing in Taiwan if it applies patience and a continued willingness to avoid confrontation. Visiting Kuomintang leader Lien Chan's admiration of achievements such as China's growing space program can be fertile ground for cultivating cross-straits pride. -
Brendan P O'Reilly
(Mar 4, '13)
Foreign, domestic policy blur for Beijing
New foreign policy strategists in the hot seat as Xi Jinping takes the Chinese presidency must navigate relations at a time when international issues are having a greater impact than ever on domestic security and the public mood. From the South China Sea to Afghanistan, past approaches stressing indifference and neutrality simply won't suffice. -
Nadine Godehardt
(Feb 28, '13)
Abe raises ghost of glories past
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Washington proclamation that Japan is "back" may have been unwelcome in a White House preferring a more stabilizing tone in the eastern Pacific. Abe's currency policy, praised by some, is also a cause for worry, its lack of neighborly concern raising the prospect of the yen as official currency of the Japan Sole Prosperity Sphere. What could possibly go wrong? -
Peter Lee
(Feb 27, '13)
Xi's egalitarian streak runs into reality
Incoming Chinese president Xi Jinping's early tenure has been marked by clampdowns on lavish official parties and gifts, with sales of top-end liquor going into a rapid decline as a result. But curbing the elites' most egregious excesses will only appease masses suffering through wealth gaps in the short term. To ensure the party's survival, Xi needs to target deep-seated rot.
Brendan P O'Reilly
(Feb 26, '13)
China should take lead on North Korea
China, as the only country North Korea may listen to, should step in at a potentially explosive time on the peninsula. Much in the spirit of necessary intervention that cooled tensions in 2005, Beijing's leadership of talks that also involve South Korea and the United States will determine quickly if a negotiated settlement to the nuclear issue is achievable and the wider six-party process still viable. -
Joseph R DeTrani
(Feb 26, '13)
Pyongyang tests Xi's populist credentials
North Korea's third nuclear test produced rare protests in China, with pockets of the public infuriated at the impact of such provocation on China's national interests. Security expert Sun Zhe says growing support for a harsher stance on Pyongyang comes as incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping is projecting himself as more in tune with the mood on the street than his predecessors. -
Sunny Lee
(Feb 26, '13)
China's autism oasis
Spiraling autism rates in China and a paucity of modern treatment means competition is intense among parents for places in Qingdao city's Elim Autism school, seen as the premier early intervention center for the disorder. With expectations running so high as a result, one of the hardest task for teachers is explaining that the facility only instills coping skills, and not a life-long cure. -
Nick Compton
(Feb 25, '13)
North Korean nukes: A useful stage device
Washington wants to hand Xi Jinping a lead role on taming North Korea and its nuclear program - to show the world progress on the intractable issue and to make the Chinese government play the part of "responsible stakeholder". This wrongly assumes that China will relinquish its most useful buffer state in return for a promised backsliding of the US Asian "pivot" that's unlikely to take place. -
Peter Lee
(Feb 22, '13)
Change in the Middle Kingdom
Examine the composition of China's Politburo Standing Committee under Xi Jinping and it becomes clear that democracy reform is off the table, while economic reforms and political consolidation are the name of the game. That's bad news for those expecting the domestic security stance to relax, while the good news is that in the name of cooperation and stability, the territorial dispute with Japan will be shelved. -
Stefan Soesanto
(Feb 21, '13)
Chinese doctors pull bullets in Mali
Chinese doctors have been occupied with the treatment and prevention of communicable diseases in Mali since the first medical teams from China began arriving there in 1968. With the surge in violence in the African nation, they are turning their skills to treat victims of the civil war on a daily basis amid the din of gunfire. -
Olivia Rosenman
(Feb 21, '13)
China edges closer to rule of law
Optimizing China's progress and development while maintaining a strong economy will require a more accountable and respected legal system, but Beijing need not abandon its Confucian and legalist traditions and blindly adopt Western ideals. Through a modern outlook, and transforming traditional wisdom into practical policy, China can develop a unique legal system that obtains the best of two worlds. -
Thomas Velk
Shannon Gong
(Feb 21, '13)
Papal vote takes a Chinese hue
The Cardinal of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle is a Filipino of Chinese origin, and a candidate to lead the Catholic Church in the upcoming vote to choose a new pope. While to Beijing, the Catholic question is arcane and in many ways incomprehensible, the prospect (however distant) of a pope of Chinese descent and other Chinese in the church's hierarchy will inevitably turn the Vatican's focus its way. -
Francesco Sisci
(Feb 20, '13)
Radar incident belies China-Japan progress
Allegations that a Chinese Navy frigate locked its fire-control radar onto a Japanese destroyer near the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands fitted well with speculation that China is strategically escalating the situation to put pressure on Japan. However, Beijing's muted response suggests hawkish military elements were responsible for the aiming, and acted out-of-step with efforts to thaw diplomatic ties. -
Andrew Chubb
(Feb 20, '13)
Tibetan self-immolation hard to stifle
A 102nd Tibetan has self-immolated in protest at China's rule despite new repressive measures introduced to stop the burnings. Although critics say that criminalizing the act is unlikely to stop it, Beijing has persisted with steps such as deploying paramilitary forces, shutting down communications and restricting travel in areas where self-immolations have occurred.
(Feb 19, '13)
Xi Jinping's imperfect inner circle
The network of incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken shape, with consolidation of his authority a remarkable feat given that he lacked the powerful Chinese Communist Party cliques enjoyed by Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. As the military remains the princeling Xi's premier power base at the expense of liberals, his inner circle could yet shape pugilistic foreign policies. -
Willy Lam
(Feb 19, '13)
Catholic Church faces
brave new world
The Pope's unexpected decision to resign presents the Catholic Church with a challenge to defy its conservatism, and presents a particular challenge for Western culture. Finding a pope from Asia, a dynamic frontier for the Church, is one option being considered by one of the most momentous conclaves in history, even as one-twentieth of the world's Catholics live there. -
Francesco Sisci
(Feb 15, '13)
Hong Kong's colonial acres under threat
A drive by Hong Kong's development bureau to reclaim land to ease the severely squeezed housing market has seen it target lavish clubs built and enjoyed by past colonial masters. While withdrawing the privileged status and token rents enjoyed by institutions like the Cable & Wireless Recreation Club seems an overdue concept, critics fear it will further deprive the city of green space and recreational opportunities. -
Kent Ewing
(Feb 15, '13)
Time for Chinese culture to strike back
Failure to care about "cultural property rights" as much as Beijing frets over sovereignty of lands and seas has seen too many Chinese concepts and words co-opted and replaced by inferior Western examples. China has taken its place as the world's biggest trading nation, now it needs to re-write so-called "world history". -
Thorsten Pattberg
(Feb 15, '13)
Rethinking the US-China-Taiwan triangle
The asymmetric security triangle that has defined US-China-Taiwan relations since the Cold War is becoming obsolete as the mainland becomes vital to Taipei's economic prospects and as Beijing develops the army, naval and air forces needed to counter American military support. A new inclusive triangle is the answer, with Taiwan serving as multi-dimensional entrepot for the two larger powers' business and political connections. -
Brantly Womack
(Feb 14, '13)
North Korea nukes the Year of the Snake
China made plain that North Korea would pay a high price for the nuclear test even before the ground shook as the Year of the Snake slithered into view. While Beijing is showing itself increasingly to be on the "right side of history" and will likely support new sanctions against Pyongyang, competing geopolitical priorities mean that incoming leader Xi Jinping will be hard-pressed to make a seismic shift. -
M K Bhadrakumar
(Feb 13, '13)
Beijing nurtures new
foreign policy thinking
Stern warnings to North Korea over its third nuclear test alongside a new openness on the territorial dispute with Japan show that new thinking on international affairs is blooming in China. This offers the United States the prospect of rethinking its focus in Asia and considering less confrontation and more cooperation with Beijing, which would have huge repercussions globally. -
Francesco Sisci
(Feb 13, '13)
China's Sudan challenge
Sudan's partition in 2011 has presented China with a new set of challenges after cordial relations dating back to mutual estrangement from the West more than two decades ago. The tense crisis between the two Sudans is compelling Beijing to question how well its foreign policy principle of non-intervention advances its geostrategic interests. -
Giorgio Cafiero
(Feb 8, '13)
Snakes, ladders, deities and presidents
Far from the satanic serpent seen in the West, the snake in China represents intelligence, wisdom and self-discipline. While next week's dawning of the Year of the Snake thus appears to benefit the country's rise and incoming president Xi Jinping, himself born under that sign of the Chinese zodiac, conflicting elements of fire and water suggest both will face earth-shattering conflict. -
Kent Ewing
(Feb 8, '13)
Rocky road ahead for Mongolia
The Mongolian government is advancing a strategy of resource nationalism and retreating from an open investment policy to increase its leverage with major customers, particularly China, in the extraction of considerable mineral reserves. While welcoming rough treatment meted out to Beijing, other foreign investors will be discouraged by the fact they are likely next. -
Peter Lee
(Feb 8, '13)
Legal push in the South China Sea
Vietnam's new Law of the Sea and the Philippines' decision to take its dispute with China over areas of the South China Sea to an international arbitration tribunal both serve notice to Beijing that its territorial claims in the region will be hotly disputed. They also put pressure on new Association of Southeast Asian Nations chairman Brunei and freshly appointed Secretary General Le Luong Minh (from Vietnam) to find a way to ease tensions. -
Roberto Tofani
(Feb 7, '13)
China steps into Kachin conflict
Beijing's hosting of peace talks between Myanmar's government and the Kachin Independence Army reflects its increasing involvement in their conflict, as civilians seek refuge across the border and as the fighting threatens the supply of resources to China. It could also be a prelude to a greater Chinese third-party role in other regional disputes. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Feb 6, '13)
China-Japan tango treads on regional toes
Unless Chinese and Japanese policymakers start to appreciate the consequences of "their" bilateral tensions on the wider region, realize the limitations of simply holding conferences and start to approach historic faultlines with creativity, what some see as insignificant issues - such as the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island dispute - could easily escalate into a deep freeze in relations or worse, militarized conflict. -
Jean-Marc F Blanchard
(Feb 6, '13)
US goads Japan into China confrontation
A US delegation sent to Japan in late 2012 purportedly to diffuse island tensions with China was headed by two senior officials who in the past have stated that the US-Japan alliance can only survive if Tokyo renounces its pacifist constitution and develops a "capable military force" to face the "re-rise" of China. By becoming the US's "bait", Japan puts itself in the firing line. -
John V Walsh
(Feb 5, '13)
Ang Lee shows
China the way forward
China's future standing will depend on cultural as well as political factors. The United States' success is built in part on its use of overseas talent and absorption of "foreign" culture - both necessary for the rising Asian giant if it is to pass the US as a global power. Movie director Ang Lee, loved in both countries, has shown what can grow from such cross-cultural awareness. -
Francesco Sisci
(Feb 5, '13)
Washington's dilemma on a 'lost' planet
US policy since reaching the apex of global power following World War II is premised on the US owning the world and fighting anything that weakens its control. Like China in the 1940s, countries that move towards independence are considered "lost". That hegemonic outlook makes supposed US yearnings for democracy and stability appear as the ranting of a commissar. -
Noam Chomsky
(Feb 4, '13)
All that pivots is gold
Mali's gold reserves and China's frenetic buying spree of the shiny stuff as it tries to unseat the petrodollar likely motivated the United States to step up its AFRICOM project by building a drone base in nearby Niger. But shadow wars in Africa are just a sideshow, the real deal is a pivot to Asia that maintains the exorbitant Pentagon budget. -
Pepe Escobar
(Jan 31, '13)
Beijing needs a papal line
The campaign for the election of the next pope has started in earnest, with all countries preparing for the transition - except China. The real possibility that the Vatican may seek to convert more Asian souls with the appointment of an Asian pontiff during Xi Jinping's tenure as president, means that China can no longer afford to ignore the world's most influential religious leader. -
Francesco Sisci
(Jan 30, '13)
'Pivot' could cost Obama, Asia dearly
Recommendations of a leading US think-tank to mark President Barack Obama's second inauguration inadvertently exposed the archaic nature of most American foreign policy discourse regarding China's rise. Yet criticism of the "pivot to Asia" correctly underlined the schizophrenic policy, which rather than improve security outcomes is helping fuel all-out confrontation in East Asia. -
Brendan P O'Reilly
(Jan 29, '13)
Japan pivots south, with eye on China
A "democratic security diamond" is a key formation for newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he intensifies a charm offensive across the Pacific to create a strategic alliance of Indo-Pacific countries that share his anxieties about China's growing naval might. The southern pivot will have profound implications for regional security. -
Richard Javad Heydarian
(Jan 25, '13)
Powder keg in the Pacific
Will China-Japan-US tensions in the Pacific ignite a conflict and sink the global economy? It is widely assumed in Washington that a showdown with Iran will be the first major crisis to engulf the next secretary of defense. China's determination to assert control over disputed islands in the East and South China Seas is a potential crisis of far greater magnitude and possibly far more imminent. -
Michael T Klare
(Jan 25, '13)
China's energy industrial revolution
China's carbon-intensive industrial revolution is exacting a heavy toll in terms of polluted skies, waterways and earth. Yet, the country's pursuit of "green growth" strategies as national policy serves as an important lesson for the West and suggests a future decline in emissions. -
John A Mathews
Hao Tan
(Jan 25, '13)
Russia, China grapple with Mali's future
Moscow and Beijing, which condemned the West's intervention in Libya as unlawful, are being more reticent in their reaction to events in Mali. Russia has little to gain or lose in the present adventure. China is a different matter. The West cannot compete with its broadening relationships with African nations. Containment and recolonization is the name of the game. -
M K Bhadrakumar
(Jan 24, '13)
China-Mexico ties hitting 'all-time low'
A multi-hectare retail complex planned by China for the south of Mexico, to serve as a Latin America hub for Chinese-made goods, is attracting increasing local and national concern at a time when the Mexico is struggling to identify how to improve and rebalance ties with the Asian giant. -
Emilio Godoy
(Jan 24, '13)
When soft power fails
China's attempts to expand its influence through soft-power are being undermined in Asia by hard-power posturing. The US, reluctant to reevaluate its own "soft power" when it seems so obviously a fig leaf for the assertion of military dominance, should consider China's failed efforts, while aspiring Japan and South Korea should also take note: you rarely can have it both ways. -
John Feffer
(Jan 23, '13)
Chinese mafia thrives in Europe
Chinese criminal syndicates based in Europe are succeeding by co-opting rather than battling resident outfits, with Sino-European joint ventures in money-laundering, sex trafficking and extortion springing up from Italy to Spain. However, more than the threat of tightened custom laws stemming the tide of counterfeit goods, it is the continent's creeping recession that is leading these criminal groups to consider greener pastures. -
Emanuele Scimia
(Jan 23, '13)
China mourns loss
of policy prophet
Zhang Xiaodong, who passed away on Sunday, was the first Chinese foreign policy scholar in the 1990s to predict China's increasingly proactive role in the Middle East, and the first to see how China would need to develop a global worldview to uphold even its local interests. His death, aged 51, makes the world an emptier place for China and its rivals. -
Francesco Sisci
(Jan 23, '13)
Xi raises bar on PLA 'combat readiness'
Xi Jinping has moved quickly to stamp his authority as commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army to demand that the 2.4 million-strong force profess "absolute loyalty" to the party leadership. The ferocity of measures to scale up combat capabilities could spell a watershed in Beijing's use of military prowess to safeguard national interests. -
Willy Lam
(Jan 22, '13)
Can Asians be funny?
The Curious Diary of Mr Jam
Nury Vittachi
A endearing collection of Hong Kong humorist Nury Vittachi's observations on everything from global politics to family life, this "diary" of his alter-ego Mr Jam also sets out to prove that despite blacklisting by oppressive regimes, post-modern Asian
, or jesters, can indeed raise a smile. The author succeeds, it just takes a few too many pages to get there. -
Kent Ewing
(Jan 18, '13)
Faded war wounds
still raw in Asia
The legacy of World War II and the Cold War faded in Europe following German reunification. In Asia, the ideological divides that prompted those conflicts have blurred into geopolitical rivalries. Because its growth is built upon these unresolved regional issues and scars, China must decide whether to relent to historic hatred or stray from the warpath. -
Francesco Sisci
(Jan 17, '13)
Winds of change in China's smog
As pollution in Beijing in recent days has climbed off the charts, signs are emerging that China's leaders are beginning to take air quality seriously. Beyond incremental policies to ease the choking haze accompanying breakneck economic growth, the most important indicator of change is the state-run media's extensive coverage of the ongoing "Airpocalypse". -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Jan 17, '13)
The historical significance of Mao
New Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of upholding Mao Zedong Thought, even as revisionists under the spell of neo-liberal market fundamentalism fail to appreciate the late leader's contributions to the Chinese collective consciousness. Deng Xiaoping argued that to get rich is glorious; Xi and his colleagues would do better to follow Mao's advice: serve the people.-
Henry C K Liu
(Jan 11, '13)
Hagel cordial, but outdated on China
China has welcomed the chance that closer engagement between the United States and Chinese militaries may come should Chuck Hagel become US defense secretary. President Barack Obama's nominee for the role has made reassuring statements of cordiality towards Beijing, yet has also displayed misconceptions that need to be corrected. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Jan 11, '13)
Xi Jinping: China's first 21st-century leader
Incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping is already ringing the changes with a down-to-earth, modern style exemplified by a ground-breaking tour of Guangdong province presented to the public through an informal microblog. Pledges to end corruption and eschew lavish privileges are also welcome signs that he's ready to break with tradition - but will the party truly allow that? -
Kent Ewing
(Jan 11, '13)
India wades into the South China Sea
Hawkish pronouncements by an Indian admiral declaring that the country will enter the South China Sea "when it is required to" are an expression of growing naval and political ambition, as a Southeast Asian-US alliance also gradually forms against China. By pushing back an increasingly aggressive Chinese posture, India risks rapprochement on other fronts. -
Richard Javad Heydarian
(Jan 10, '13)
China's Fourth Estate fights for freedom
A mini-revolt of journalists in southern China against excessive provincial government interference and skewing of reportage is testing the limits freedom to expose unscrupulousness in a country that is becoming more information-saturated, web-savvy and impatient about the glacial pace of political reforms. -
Sreeram Chaulia
(Jan 10, '13)
Bureaucratic reforms
to test Xi's power
China is about to embark on a drastic reform of its bureaucracy, with the number of ministries expected to be halved. That should create greater efficiency for the state and the market, but will also create an army of malcontents facing a loss of power and source of wealth. Negotiating the change and reining in conservative forces will be a severe test for incoming president, Xi Jinping.
Francesco Sisci
(Jan 10, '13)
China soybean needs
shaping West's farms
China's neglect of soybean culture - and increasing use of the commodity - as it focuses on grain self-sufficiency is driving up production in exporting Western nations, mostly by cultivating new areas rather than boosting yields. As land runs out, the likes of the Amazon basin must be tilled unless demand falls. -
Lester R Brown
(Jan 9, '13)
Taiwan executions put Tseng on the spot
Claims that Taiwan Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu "illegally" ordered the December 21 execution of six convicts in Taiwan have brought promises from lawyers to seek his impeachment and prevent "a return to authoritarianism". While the minister says correct procedures were followed, activists allege that the six were denied rights. -
Dennis Engbarth
(Jan 9, '13)
China legal reform hopes are premature
Hopes that China's next leader, Xi Jinping, will pursue legal and political change have risen over recent weeks, yet may prove premature. Much air has been given to reformist language, but whether it marks real change or is simply a transitory artifact of party divisions exposed in the leadership succession is the key question. -
Carl Minzner
(Jan 8, '13)
China's short-lived North Korean shift
A solution to the riddle of why China abandoned staunch support for North Korea with a stern warning in the prelude to the North's rocket launch in December has its origins in Cambodia. It was there that outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao gave the warning as a personal favor to United States President Barack Obama. That may also explain why the shift was so short-lived. -
Sunny Lee
(Jan 8, '13)
Asia should go within, not ape the West
Economic dynamism and a position as a crucible for tensions between global players give Asia a crucial place in the multipolar world emerging as centuries of American and European domination stutters to an end. Across the region, new centers of political power should adapt ancient civilizations and culture to conditions today rather than import failed Western economic and social models. -
Francesco Brunello Zanitti
(Jan 7, '13)
Beijing prizes loyalty over skill in reshuffle
A reshuffle of party and administrative chiefs following last year's 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress has seen top leaders select new faces that balance different factions, administrative specialties and places of origin. It's also clear that candidates willing to toe the party line - and ruthlessly implement it - took priority over anyone displaying skills in finance, management or information technology innovation. -
Willy Lam
(Jan 7, '13)
The siege of Baghdad
and China's rise
The failure of the last Abbasid Caliph to prepare Baghdad for an onslaught of Chinese innovation led to his gruesome death at the hands of Mongol invaders in the siege of 1258. Like Baghdad then, Americans have no idea what is about to hit them as China's deep pockets source whatever technology is required. By any means other than a resurgence of US innovation, resistance is futile.
(Jan 7, '13)
US, China set for a year of surprises
Power transitions in the United States and China have left comparative moderates at each helm, but tensions are deepening in the world's most important bilateral relationship. The US military "pivot" towards Asia and its support of Japan in the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute rear as the most obvious flashpoints in 2013, but more policy surprises can be expected from both sides. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Jan 4, '13)
Beijing finds limits in Mid-East role
China backs international calls for a resumption of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians but faces geopolitical trauma in balancing concomitant Israeli and Arab interests, at a time when the Sino-Israeli dialogue is on the rise. Much though it tries, Beijing is not yet changing the game in the Middle East. -
Emanuele Scimia
(Dec 21, '12)
A Confucian Christmas in China
As long as Western scholarship on China floats on a platform of misleading cultural imperialism, such as historic European notions painting Confucius as a Christian saint rather than a sage, the West isn't learning anything new from Asia. It has more to offer than British, French, and German philosophers could ever satisfactorily translate. -
Thorsten Pattberg
(Dec 21, '12)
China's year of living anxiously
The past 12 months gave China an opportunity to get a close look at what the United States' pivot back to Asia entails - and it looked a lot like containment. Initial moves on both sides suggest this will be a costly, grinding war of attrition fought on multiple fronts - with Japan suffering mightily - instead of a quick triumph for either side. This year, let's call it a draw. If Japan turns its back on its pacifist constitution, the pivot could turn into a death spiral for US credibility and influence in the region. -
Peter Lee
(Dec 21, '12)
China's year of celebration and disgrace
There is only one candidate for China's man of the year, and he's not from the new leadership. Disgraced Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai's popularity and lust for power brought him down. But he was nevertheless the catalyst who shook the Chinese Communist Party to its core, revealing the depth of its internal rifts and corruption to the world. -
Kent Ewing
(Dec 21, '12)
Xi has to get the party started
The Chinese Communist Party has dragged millions into the middle class through economic and home-ownership reform, giving them an undeniable stake in the country's future. While almost no Chinese want revolution, neither do they feel attached to the political system. The key to political inclusion more likely lies in public debate and elections than short-term salves like administrative change and anti-graft crackdowns. -
Francesco Sisci
(Dec 21, '12)
Chen marks new tone for Chinese dissidence
Blind Chinese human-rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng's escape from house arrest this year was significant for more than the feat itself, as Chen's background transformation from grassroots activist to renowned rights advocate also reflects accelerating growth and evolution of the Chinese dissident movement. From liberals within the party to democracy activists and Christian liberals, groups are increasingly overlapping as bottom-up momentum grows. -
Man Yee Karen Lee
(Dec 20, '12)
Mongolia takes a chance to move on
Mongolia's new and self-described "government of change" will have to manage the country's inevitable transition from an agricultural to a mining-based economy while avoiding all the associated social, environmental, and political pitfalls. It is working hard to deliver much-needed development and overcome the temptations of supposedly "endemic" corruption. -
Nyamosor Tuya
(Dec 20, '12)
Autism grows into silent epidemic in China
Autism centers are springing up across China in response to an increasing diagnosis rate that mirrors global trends, yet pricey treatment and limited class sizes severely limit access to their Western, science-based methods. Stigmatized in a society where childhood already faces the pressures of the one-child policy, the rest have few opportunities for learning useful skills for their adult lives. -
Nick Compton
(Dec 19, '12)
China, Japan set a confrontation course
The victory of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Japanese elections, with the hawkish Shinzo Abe back as prime minister after five years, will probably result in an escalation of tensions with China, just as Beijing is launching new provocations. As the tide of nationalism rises in both countries, the dispute over three barren islands looks like it will become a major element in the realignment of geopolitics. -
Roberto Savio
(Dec 19, '12)
China reforms target internal security
Though signs of the areas that will be at the forefront of China's reform process are difficult to divine, shifts in power structure at the top suggest change is in the offing for whoever holds the reins of the internal security porfolio. Controversy surrounding former Political-Legal Committee secretary Zhou Yongkang, an ally of ousted Bo Xilai, could be the cause of the reforms, which are likely to have a significant effect on China's intelligence apparatus. -
Peter Mattis
(Dec 18, '12)
Xi Jinping reignites reform promise
China's newly anointed top leader Xi Jinping lost no time in reassuring the world that his administration will persevere with reforms, replicating the "southern tour" taken by Deng Xiaoping when the late patriarch championed his "open door" policy. The onus is on Xi and his Politburo inner circle to demonstrate whether they have what it takes to be Deng's worthy successors. -
Willy Lam
(Dec 17, '12)
China's rise can be peaceful
The US intelligence community acknowledge that within two decades the country will no longer be the world's sole hegemon. Beijing's response that a rising China "will unswervingly pursue a way of peaceful development" is well and good, but for conflict to be eluded it must avoid stoking US fears, while the Washington must be willing to accommodate China as an equal. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Dec 17, '12)
China's leaders face stark challenges
China's new leadership faces one main priority - to bring stability within the country's boundaries and to prevent civil protest against the government. That will require resolving the looming demographic crisis while closing the wealth gap and curbing corruption. Meanwhile, overseas resources must be secured while avoiding conflict in the South China Sea. Xi Jinping faces a challenging decade. -
Billy Tea
(Dec 13, '12)
World won't wait for China to change
China's aging Chinese Communist Party leadership, still raw from the harshness of the political struggle that accompanied their ascent, view political reform as a process to be gradually drawn through opaque mechanisms for a decade. This allows the US to coax regional neighbors onside by painting Beijing as a threatening, destabilizing force. Paradoxically, US-China tensions could create new Asian powers. -
Francesco Sisci
(Dec 13, '12)
Mongolia nurtures ties with North Korea
Mongolia's hosting of direct senior-level talks between Japan and North Korea about the issue of the North's abduction of Japanese nationals will help extend the landlocked-country's foreign policy reach. Its increased role in the region may also help Ulaanbaatar towards its economic goals. -
Alicia J Campi
(Dec 12, '12)
Doomsday phobia hits China
A recent 3D screening of Hollywood disaster flick
in China has seen a resurgence in odd behavior by believers in Mayan-inspired predictions of a December 21, 2012, doomsday. Some mortgaged their apartment to give poor children a pleasurable last few days, while others exhausted family savings on wine and fine dining. An "ideological vacuum" is blamed for the phenomenon. -
Wu Zhong
(Dec 11, '12)
Sino-Indian ties border on the amicable
China's deep strategic interest in maintaining stable relations with India can be seen in last week's progress on disputed borders, as changes in the political and economic order open up vital new areas for cooperation. While domestic pressures demand that neither side backs down on fronts like the South China Sea, even such contradictory signals underline the emergence of a better-natured rivalry. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Dec 10, '12)
Mongolia steps in the wrong direction
A Mongolian jury finds former president Nambaryn Enkhbayar guilty of corruption and the city government in Ulaanbaatar pulls down the statue of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. At face value, these are symbolic steps to support the narrative that Mongolia is developing into a country committed to rule-of-law and capitalism. Dig deeper, and both suggest the country is flirting with a system led by cronyism. -
Jeffrey Reeves
(Dec 7, '12)
How beauty shapes
power in China and Japan
Asian and Western history show that power relations and perceptions of hierarchy play their part in estimations of what is "beautiful" and "charming" in the human form. Ancient Chinese and Japanese depictions offer insights into how trends such as bound feet and shaved eyebrows evolved into today's double eyelid surgery. -
Cho Kyo
Kyoko Selden
(Dec 7, '12)
China makes a splash with coastguard rules
Beijing's poor public relations management in announcing new regulations for the Hainan Coast Guard gave Western media a chance to claim this was a "PRC threat to freedom of navigation" - a canard the United States happily encourages to justify its own claim to relevance in the South China Sea. None of the scaremongering registered that China isn't the first power to upgrade rules to pre-empt chest-thumping nationalists. -
Peter Lee
(Dec 7, '12)
China's forgotten children
A tragic tale of five boys freezing to death in a Guizhou dumpster after their parents left to pursue migrant work is an indictment of China's household registration process, designed to stop peasants reaching cities, and of official promises to make China more equal. An outcry about modern values and a mini-purge of officials have ensued, but the boys were victims of a callous system. -
Kent Ewing
(Dec 5, '12)
China to rule the seas - unmanned
Fast forward a few years beyond the current crop of territorial skirmishes in Asian seas and drones, rather than naval ships, will be ruling the waves. China's declared intention to deploy marine surveillance drones heralds a brave new world of perception politics, eyes in the sky and military conflict - a future in which it is likely to emerge the winner. -
Elizabeth Van Wie Davis
Margaret Albert
(Dec 5, '12)
Hope and pay soar in China's soccer league
The arrival of international stars such as Didier Drogba in China's Super League reflected a massive growth in credibility for a former "hobby club" league that graft took to the brink in 2010. But as $300,000 per week salaries attract top players, the fact that club owners see teams as back-handed investment vehicles suggests a rapidly inflating bubble. -
Nick Compton
(Dec 3, '12)
China Youth clique maintains clout
Premier-designate Li Keqiang is the only member of the Communist Youth League clique, meticulously nurtured by President Hu Jintao, to have made it onto China's inner circle of power. While that result of the 18th Party Congress looks like a setback, the close-knit network remains the ruling party's largest faction, and its predominance will manifest itself no later than the next congress in 2017. -
Willy Lam
(Dec 3, '12)
Passport to a Greater China
A contentious map printed in China's latest passport, which shows Taiwan and disputed South China Sea and Himalayan territories as part of a sovereign China, reflects raw ambition that jars with Beijing's efforts at economic integration with Asian neighbors. While India sees the passports as a blueprint for future strategic encirclement, Southeast Asian countries fear that stamping them represents acquiescence to Chinese claims. -
Derek Henry Flood
(Nov 30, '12)
Powering up Asia's super-grid
A super-grid linking the electric power systems of China, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and perhaps Russia may hold greater potential for East Asian integration than a monetary or political coming together. Vast wind farms would lessen carbon emissions and might also erode protectionist and nationalist tendencies. -
John A Mathews
(Nov 30, '12)
Is China trying to implode Japan's economy?
China's high-handed response to the Japanese government's purchase of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands go beyond the apparent blunderings of a disoriented elite or a decision to use the dispute as a demonstration against the US pivot into Asia. Beijing may be thinking seriously about trying to kick away a key prop of the US initiative - a vital, but weakened and vulnerable ally: Japan. -
Peter Lee
(Nov 30, '12)
China's change brings needed urgency
Western pundits disappointed by the absence of their favorites in China's new reduced leadership team are missing what is important: the sense of urgency and acknowledgment that bad economic numbers and political discontent demand decisions. Economic reform is coming - but won't assuage public discontent over unfairness. Political facts will soon become as compelling as the economic numbers. -
William H Overholt
(Nov 29, '12)
Wen 'wealth' probe
can boost Xi
Outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wishes to defend his reputation against claims of his family being linked to hidden great wealth. A court case is unlikely, but the Communist Party could do worse than conduct the investigation he has requested. That at least would convince the public that the party can honor its commitment to combat corruption and strengthen the authority of new leader Xi Jinping. -
Wu Zhong
(Nov 29, '12)
Beijing signals new hard line on Hong Kong
A mainland Chinese official's claim that unnamed "external powers" are interfering in Hong Kong affairs is the clearest signal yet that authorities in Beijing have completely lost the plot in their management of the city. With resentment of mainland visitors and leaders at a record high, this is hardly the time for Cold War-style allegations of foreign interference and calls for anti-sedition laws. -
Kent Ewing
(Nov 28, '12)
Smoke and mirrors fail the CCP
The Chinese Communist Party will find it impossible to maintain its grip power by suppressing its membership, using foreign scapegoats, and ignoring deeply needed political reforms forever. There is an alternative, but the absence of any real attempt to redefine itself means the party faces impending extinction from within. -
Brett Daniel Shehadey
(Nov 28, '12)
Respect for elders trumps reform
As China's leadership change takes full shape, it's becoming clear that less-popular officials who demonstrated hard-earned, on-the-job experience have triumphed over the younger, more reformist and enterprising. As long as those who escape the complex institutional process unscathed are chosen over those who display educated ambition, there is less scope for trumpeted change. -
Zhengxu Wang
(Nov 27, '12)
Xi feels threat of a China Spring
Xi Jinping, the newly minted General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, has delivered some of the harshest warnings to date about the threat that corruption poses to China. His comparison with social unrest in the Middle East underlines his concern, even though the anger of the Arab Spring grew out of poverty, while China has enjoyed three decades of remarkable economic growth. If that continues to falter ... -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Nov 27, '12)
Beijing set to adjust its diplomacy
Speculation that China's leadership change will see the country abandon its low-profile foreign policy to grasp its place on the diplomatic stage ignores that this has always depended more on domestic conditions and history than the international climate. With the economic transition far from complete, an aggressive stance on sovereignty issues only risks undermining the regional environment needed for growth. -
Jian Junbo
(Nov 27, '12)
Obama the Pivot
You could almost hear the rush of faraway drones during President Barack Obama's defense of Israel on his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia. Wise heads won't get fooled by the inherent hypocrisy, while it's clear that no amount of presidential spin on the Asian 'pivot' cannot hide the sacrificial offshoring of American jobs to contain China's rise. -
Pepe Escobar
(Nov 21, '12)
US pivot bumps Asian economic reality
The United States "pivot" to Asia is either based on a selfless desire to protect the sovereignty rights of smaller Southeast Asian nations or a concerted effort to wrench the Asian economic focus from Beijing and towards the US. Key is whether Washington has the sustained will to drive events in a region where it is becoming a peripheral player. Smaller players in the region will hedge their bets. -
Peter Lee
(Nov 21, '12)
China's aviation industry coming of age
China's latest domestically made aircraft signal that it no longer has to rely on reverse engineering and derivative technologies. Western airline manufacturers should perhaps scale back their expectations of sales in China, while neighbors concerned about Beijing's intentions in the South China Sea will find such progress potentially ominous. -
Carl O Schuster
(Nov 21, '12)
China searches for an Afghan 'pivot'
Just as Chinese companies have won the most lucrative oil contracts in Iraq, Beijing may reap the massive potential of Afghanistan's natural resources without deploying a single solider. China's economic focus is paying dividends, while the overly militaristic strategy of the United States is incredibly costly and largely ineffective. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Nov 20, '12)
Xi opens generation gap
The most significant part of China's power transition was not the shift to a new leader, but the resignation of his predecessor from posts of influence. For the first time in Chinese Communist Party history, Party Secretary Xi Jinping can govern alone, out of the shadow of the older generations. Steps have been taken to ensure elements of the past survive, but its unlikely these can hold back reform. -
Francesco Sisci
(Nov 20, '12)
China's stunning setback to reform
Calls from outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao for reform of China's leadership system stood in contrast to his predominantly conservative end-of-term report and the backroom skullduggery behind the choice of politburo members at the Great Hall of the People. Taken together, these points make it unlikely that China's new leaders will push reformist goals and policies. -
Willy Lam
(Nov 19, '12)
Bhutan switches focus to China
Concerned it will one day be swallowed by its giant neighbors, Bhutan is aggressively seeking a bigger role in international relations. For the first time, it is turning to China to meet its ambitions, raising security fears for long-term friend and ally India and forcing a re-evaluation in New Delhi of diplomacy towards countries in its traditional sphere of influence. -
Vishal Arora
Vijay Simha
(Nov 19, '12)
World braces for Syrian trainwreck
The reorganized overseas Syrian opposition still looks ill-equipped (where are the death squads?) to counter the Salafist jihadis filling the power vacuum created by the civil war, and a political settlement remains unlikely, barring the emergence of a Sunni strongman. The continuing bloody chaos is, however, another opportunity for Beijing to advance its interests in the neighborhood.-
Peter Lee
(Nov 16, '12)
Hu hands military baton to Xi
Xi Jinping, as expected, is to head up a reduced Politburo Standing Committee when he takes over as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. As well as becoming China's new president, he will head the Central Military Commission, signaling outgoing Hu Jintao's intention to fully retire from politics. Xi's task of battling party corruption will be led by economist Wang Qishan. -
Wu Zhong
(Nov 15, '12)
China's carrier forces US Navy rethink
The geopolitical implications of China's first operational aircraft carrier underline that the growing Asian superpower's long-held strategy to counter US military dominance has had a corrosive effect on Western naval confidence. The US Navy should not attempt to shoulder the burden of responding to China's maritime strategy alone. -
Sukjoon Yoon
(Nov 15, '12)
The China challenge: War or peace
Political reform is more than the main issue confronting the Chinese Communist Party as President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao step aside. Harmonization of China's political system with the rest of world is also of paramount importance. After years of ineffective containment by the United States, the two countries could recognize that their differences can pave the way for positive partnership rather than outright war. -
Francesco Sisci
(Nov 14, '12)
PLA reshuffle draws battle lines
The reshuffle of China's top military brass prior to the party congress reinforces the People's Liberation Army's increasing dedication to promoting professionally savvy officers. The personnel changes also reflect intense horse-trading among the Chinese Communist Party's principal factions that will likely consolidate Hu Jintao's power as the military's political boss. -
Willy Lam
(Nov 14, '12)
China sets out its future
The Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress will be memorable for appointing new leaders lacking a direct link to the giants of the revolution - Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. As Xi Jinping plots a new coarse for prosperity, out will go Deng's "crossing the river by feeling the stones", and it will no longer be glorious just to get rich. "People power" is making a comeback, of a sort. -
Wu Zhong
(Nov 13, '12)
China moves to new era
The Chinese Communist Party's national congress now underway in Beijing is set to bring in a new leadership for the first time in a decade. It opened with a warning by outgoing President Hu Jintao that corruption threatens the party and the state, but major political and economic reforms under his successor, Xi Jinping, are considered unlikely.
(Nov 9, '12)
Iran pays price for Chinese support
China's rising international profile and reliance on energy imports have created a perfect answer to Iran's need to contain the negative effects of a confrontational policy towards the West. However, Beijing's persistence in seeking deeper oil discounts and reluctance to offer real support on the nuclear issue underline the pitfalls of a lop-sided relationship. -
Richard Javad Heydarian
(Nov 9, '12)
China, Russia and Obama's second coming
Obligatory congratulations to Barack Obama from Russia and China show the Kremlin decidedly more cagey on what the US president might bring to his second term in office. Beijing, notably soon-to-be-president Xi Jinping, was more upbeat - though state media were not slow to put big dollar numbers into their commentaries. Much may depend on whether John Kerry or Susan Rice is Obama's secretary of state. -
M K Bhadrakumar
(Nov 8, '12)
Hong Kong nibbles the hand that feeds it
An anti-mainland "secessionist" group in Hong Kong has been accused of ingratitude in the face of seemingly non-ending Chinese economic favors to its reclaimed territory. Beijing calls the pro-independence sentiment and nostalgia for colonial times a virus and heartbreaking, and perhaps it has a point. -
Kent Ewing
(Nov 7, '12)
A way ahead in the South China Sea
Hopes that unity can counter Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea have been dashed as some ASEAN members cozy up to Beijing and others turn to the United States for naval support. A better route back from the brink of conflict is for nations with rival sovereignty claims to China to agree sea boundaries and a code of conduct among themselves. -
David Brown
(Nov 6, '12)
UN Tibet statement welcomed and rejected
Tibet-focused activists are hailing a strongly worded statement by the United Nations' top official on human rights drawing attention to growing public discontent in Tibet just ahead of a major leadership shuffle in China. Beijing rejected the statement, while in the US the subject appears to be too hot to handle in the presidential race. -
Carey L Biron
(Nov 6, '12)
China 'pivot' trips over McMahon Line
Beijing is looking for a "Western" pivot to counter the United States' diplomatic and military inroads with its East Asian neighbors. The Central Asian "stans" lacks disputed islands and the Seventh Fleet, but cozying up to India will prove trickier. In particular, there is the contentious issue - and shady history - of the hastily drawn McMahon Line and New Delhi's insistence that it has historic legal standing. -
Peter Lee
(Nov 5, '12)
China's Central America
investments a one-way street
Central America, like much the rest of the world, is receiving plenty of interest and investment from China. Selling stuff back to the Chinese is a different matter, with low volumes of beans or fruit having too little value to justify the distances and costs involved. -
Danilo Valladares
(Nov 2, '12)
China no country for young women
Young rural women navigating the complexities of making it in a wealth-obsessed new China have to overcome deep-rooted traditions and customs designed to prevent females from climbing the social ladder. Leading Chinese author Sheng Keyi told Asia Times Online how she has created independent female characters and broke sexual taboos as she highlighted their plight. -
Muhammad Cohen
(Nov 2, '12)
Scandals lay bare China's insecurities
Scandals pulling in China's highest (and not so high) officials before the Communist Party's National Congress next week undermine confidence in the "Beijing Model" of economic progress. Endemic inequality and corruption also add fuel insecurity at a time when the United States is doubting its own future. Each country would do well to attend to its own needs rather than highlight the other's shortcomings. -
Benjamin A Shobert
(Nov 1, '12)
Wen versus Bo
gets more explosive
Western media bombshells into the personal wealth of China's leaders were likely primed by the neo-Maoist camp of Bo Xilai, as the disgraced Chongqing communist party chief fights to avoid the death penalty. Their timing, and the possibility that corruption allegations of the kind levied against Prime Minister Wen Jiabao could target other leaders, lend an increasingly explosive air to next month's party congress. -
Francesco Sisci
(Oct 31, '12)
Tibetan burnings reach new level
The wave of Tibetan self-immolation protests against Chinese rule may have entered a new phase following a record number of burnings, as Tibetans show an unrelenting determination in their campaign to restore their rights in a land where there "are more Chinese than Tibetans, more troops than Tibetan monks and more surveillance cameras than windows". -
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
(Oct 30, '12)
Insider trading, Chinese style
The epic financial machinations allegedly practiced by the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao drew a thrilled response from Western media - not unreasonably. The Wen family appears to have navigated the loopholes, opportunities, and shoals of personal enrichment in fashion immediately recognizable by their spiritual brothers and sisters across the sea: the robber barons of Wall Street and the City of London. -
Peter Lee
(Oct 30, '12)
Ghosts of '62 can't rest in peace
Half a century after blood was spilled in the world's highest battlefield, the brief Sino-Indian War is bitterly remembered in India and largely forgotten by the Chinese public. As the borders fought over remain under dispute, and the giant neighbors locked in a state of mutually assured destruction, fertile ground for improvements in economic, political, and cultural ties is still being lost. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Oct 30, '12)
Beijing, Delhi tread fine line
China takes
over Bryce Canyon
Past the "loneliest road in America", beyond Mitt's Mormon paradise in Salt Lake City, and at Bryce Canyon, Nevada, early-rising expeditioners from Guangzhou were surveying the fractured landscape of the American dream. In that scene Roving Eye heard an echo to answer the futility of Mitt Romney's proposed trade/currency war against China: the Chinese are going to take over everything. -
Pepe Escobar
(Oct 29, '12)
Beijing, Delhi tread fine line
The 1962 conflict between India and China was in many ways a mere blip, limited in time, range and use of force. The next time tensions reach breaking point, war will not be confined to a disputed land border, will involve air forces and navies, and will have repercussions for global security. All the more reason for Beijing and New Delhi to avoid extreme rhetoric. -
Chietigj Bajpaee
(Oct 29, '12)
Tomorrow: Laying the ghost of war
China's wealthy seniors dodge time-bomb
Western entrants into China's market for care of the elderly have emphasized solutions for the wealthy - a segment that's easily defined and has shown a propensity for Western luxury goods and health services. Yet, China's government knows that long term, it will have to encourage investment and foreign expertise to cater for seniors at the bottom of the pile. -
Benjamin A Shobert
(Oct 26, '12)
US learns hard lessons of Asia 'pivot'
The US "pivot" toward China's backyard has had the apparently unintended consequence of Beijing lashing out at America's valued allies in the region, especially Japan. To try to mend the damage, the US sent a high-powered bipartisan team of retired diplomats to Asia, but they found out what regional players already knew: China's once-cuddly "soft power" panda has grown fangs. -
Peter Lee
(Oct 26, '12)
China's 'old buddy' diplomacy dies a death
The Chinese government marked the death of Norodom Sihanouk with solemnity befitting more than just a long-time ally. The former Cambodian king was an "old buddy", one of a group of friends to China who for decades were an important feature of the country's diplomacy. Modernization, economic growth, and age, have wrought the end of an era. -
Jian Junbo
(Oct 25, '12)
Construction tensions
in the South China Sea
Manila is becoming more anxious over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, protesting over China's construction blitz there, including establishment of a prefecture-level city in the disputed Paracels. Though other rival Southeast Asian claimants have built up fortifications and even tourist spas in the region, they too are worried that more Chinese structures will eventually carry more diplomatic weight than China's oft-stated "historical claims". -
Richard Javad Heydarian
(Oct 25, '12)
Chinese bogeyman resurfaces in US
The blather between Barack Obama and the guy who wants his job about who is "tougher on China" is neither surprising nor new - it happens in every US presidential election. It will also come as no surprise if this campaign rhetoric is a hot topic at the Chinese Communist Party Congress after the November 6 vote. There is always the danger that heated words will translate into action, such as a trade war that is in no one's interest. -
Kent Ewing
(Oct 25, '12)
US race shames China's leadership change
The opacity of China's upcoming leadership shuffle is in stark contrast to the United States' presidential race. The lack of substance in rumors over potential winners and losers of the Communist Party congress proves that for Beijing to achieve world influence it will need to stop hiding truths from its own people.
Francesco Sisci
(Oct 24, '12)
Can Europe prevent Asia's rise?
The West, increasingly preoccupied with Asia's rise, is mounting rearguard action to delay the redistribution of power in international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund. It's a losing battle since as influence grows these institutions will be molded in an Asian image, just as European and American power shaped the past century's international rules.
Barry Desker
(Oct 24, '12)
China's need to find a voice
Growing debate in China recognizes that gap between the country's power as the world's second-largest economy and Beijing's ability to shape discussions and values needs to be closed. The challenge for Beijing is to project its right to voice on the international stage what kind of world China wants. -
Peter Mattis
(Oct 22, '12)
A farmer needs a wife in China and India
China and India both face a sex-ratio crisis that leaves men getting a bad press as the consequences of "missing women" work their way through the demographic pyramid. Solutions are needed, and some balance can be found in encouraging urban women to marry rural sweethearts. -
Lauren Johnston
(Oct 19, '12)
China's reformers hope for a game-changer
As their nation, in their view, lurches into crisis, Chinese reformers are grasping at the Bo Xilai affair to push their agenda in the run-up to the Communist Party Congress and change of leadership. And this time, there are indications that party leadership accepts the reality of crisis and the need for reform. But it could take an asteroid-like catastrophe to force meaningful change. -
Peter Lee
(Oct 19, '12)
Challenges ahead for comeback kid
Making use of a town-hall format that suited his strengths, President Barak Obama was able to make Mitt Romney squirm on issues from Benghazi to Beijing, likely recouping some of the poll space he gifted his Republican opponent with his earlier "disengaged" performance. Perhaps most importantly, Obama emerged with the image of a team player - not a back-biter. -
Dinesh Sharma
(Oct 17, '12)
China's slowdown raises
human rights hazards
Each year, a congressional committee issues a report on China's progress, or lack thereof, on its human-rights practices, and on each occasion Beijing reacts with righteous indignation. This year, given a slowing of China's economic boom, its citizens may not be easily distracted from their frustrations. -
Benjamin A Shobert
(Oct 17, '12)
Xi to guide CCP from revolution to rule
Long-held views of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping that the Chinese Communist Party must evolve from a "revolutionary" to a "ruling" party are being idealized, with top scholars backing an emphasize reforms and democracy in a new political outlook. While stopping far short of a multi-party system, incoming leader Xi's plan envisions the CCP abandoning revolutionary trappings. -
Wu Zhong
(Oct 16, '12)
China's economic power
mightier than the sword
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has created a new Department of International Economic Affairs aimed specifically at achieving foreign-policy goals by using, or withholding, its massive economic power. These goals are not just in the field of commerce; from now on, Beijing will use economic means to further its political and territorial interests while the US, the EU and Japan flounder in economic disarray. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Oct 15, '12)
US digs in for cyber warfare
The US Congress' Intelligence Committee has in effect blocked Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE from doing any business, government or otherwise, in the United States, out of "national security" concerns. The true nature of these concerns is obfuscated in the committee's report, and for a very good reason: The real fear is the vulnerability of the US to cyberwar, in which the Obama administration itself upped the ante when it unleashed the Stuxnet weapon on Iran. After opening this Pandora's box, the US is hoping against hope that its cyber-rivals will play nice and "obey the rules". -
Peter Lee
(Oct 12, '12)
Bo: political implications
of a non-political crime
Similarities between the trial of the infamous Gang of Four and that of Bo Xilai are undermined by the fact that the disgraced former party chief of Chongqing is going down for a simple murder. The fact that Bo's crime and the political fall-out are distinct could make the consequences starker for those associated with him and his neo-Maoist tenets. -
Francesco Sisci
(Oct 11, '12)
Taiwan shaken by US conference confusion
An unusual no-show by US State Department officials at an annual meet on defense cooperation with Taiwan has pundits on the island in a tizzy. The US cancellation, they insist, is linked to Taipei's recent aggressive behavior over the disputed Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands. There are other plausible explanations for the no-show, however, not least the US presidential election campaign. -
Jens Kastner
(Oct 11, '12)
Ashes of Sino-Indian war stay warm
Half a century after the China and India war in the eastern Himalayas, aggressive posturing by both sides has seen increased militarization of the region - Beijing plans to deploy new fighters to support its 300,000 troops there, and Delhi has stationed Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles in Arunachal Pradesh. The region continues as a Sino-Indian flashpoint. Frameworks are required that can deal with misperceptions on both sides. -
Namrata Goswami
(Oct 10, '12)
China's shake-up to shape foreign policy
China, just as it prepares for its once-per-decade shift in leadership, is being rocked by uncertainties arising from daunting economic and political challenges. Though these are primarily domestic, they will have an impact on the foreign policy of the Communist Party's incoming leadership. How the rest of the world reacts to this policy will determine whether, and to what extent, China's rise remains peaceful. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Oct 10, '12)
DPP swallows pride, hooks up with CCP
A recent visit by Frank Hsieh, a heavyweight in Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, to the mainland marks the DPP's recognition that it needs to forge closer ties with Beijing as favored by many moderate Taiwanese. However, political gains made in distancing itself from the independence movement could be lost as its traditional support base turns to more hardline elements. -
Jens Kastner
(Oct 10, '12)
It is the world or
nothing for China
Had Britain had a better understanding of the geopolitics of its sphere of influence 30 years ago, it might today still own Hong Kong, while the Falklands would belong to Argentina. Today, China may be making similar errors of judgment as it throws its weight around in the East and South China Seas, while missing the bigger picture - that as a rising power it has no need to bully the rest of the region or the world, but to embrace it, and respect others' values and aspirations. -
Francesco Sisci
(Oct 9, '12)
Transatlantic dream or joke in Asia
The United States has urged the European Union to join in strengthening its Asian pivot, even as it tries to sabotage EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton's dreams of developing strategic ties with China. Try as it might, Brussels' desire for a more prominent role in Asia keeps on being thwarted, and a common transatlantic stance on the Pacific Rim is a risible proposition. -
Emanuele Scimia
(Oct 5, '12)
Hong Kong's $500 million marriage proposal
Though modern and hip in many ways, Hong Kong has been slow to eliminate official discrimination against homosexuality, especially lesbianism. Inadvertently, one of the city's most noted homophobes - and a top-rank septuagenarian Lothario - has given the struggling LGBT community a boost with his offer of a huge bribe to any man who wins the hand of his openly lesbian daughter. -
Kent Ewing
(Oct 4, '12)
India renews Taiwan embrace
India is promoting itself as an alternative market for Taiwan to mainland China as a thaw in cross-strait relations eases Beijing's sensitivities over such flaunting of the "one-China" policy Delhi adheres to. The newfound push for improved trade ties with Taipei also reflects a new Indian assertiveness as its counters a Chinese encirclement strategy of building ties with countries like Pakistan and Myanmar. -
Anindya Batabyal
(Oct 4, '12)
China, Japan dodge anniversary
Planned celebrations of four decades of diplomatic relations between Japan and the People's Republic of China have been put on hold as the two Asian giants remain bogged down in a dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Behind the deteriorating ties is mutual distrust rooted in history and aggravated by huge shifts in economic power and regional influence. The souring of relations, if allowed to continue much longer, will be damaging to both nations. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Oct 3, '12)
Shanghai Goodfellas
The 1920s and 1930s were years of vicious organized crime in both West and East, with Shanghai a particularly brutal example of violence and excess. Affluence, growth and good times have now returned to the "Pearl of The Orient", rejuvenating its reputation for expatriate and Chinese high-living party life - this time without the crime. -
Ronan Thomas
(Oct 3, '12)
Curtain not down
on Bo Xilai scandal
While the announcement by the Chinese Communist Party of the fate of Bo Xilai was not unexpected, it entailed procedural circumventions designed to bring a quick conclusion to this embarrassing saga so it does not cast a dark cloud over the upcoming party congress and handover of the nation's leadership. Questions remain about how this scandal was allowed to continue for so long, and how Bo rose so high in the party ranks so quickly. -
Wu Zhong
(Oct 2, '12)
China's pedagogic pitfalls
Although the English language will the medium for future Sino-US exchanges on economics, politics, and diplomacy, English-language training in China suffers from a misguided pedagogical mindset that views classrooms through a factorial lens and flaunts enrollment numbers as if these alone underscore linguistic success. The answer is to have Western instructors in the classrooms, new facilities and performance incentives, but Beijing doesn't seem interested -
James Fishback
(Oct 2, '12)
China pushes back against Japan
Beijing overreacted two years ago when Tokyo put a Chinese fish-boat captain on trial for an incursion into disputed waters, and the result was a damaging disruption to trade. This time, things are different. Japan enjoys little international support for its "nationalization" of the Senkaku Islands, its ally the US is staying as far as possible from the issue, and Beijing is keeping anti-Japanese street protests under control (sort of). All things considered, the PRC has a pretty strong hand, played with cool calculation. -
Peter Lee
(Sep 28, '12)
The end of translation
As a result of Western media and academia mistranslating ancient Chinese concepts into convenient biblical or philosophical terminology, few in Europe or America have any real grasp of Chinese culture. The same is true of the tens of thousands of unique non-European concepts in the Sanskrit-Hindu tradition. It's if billions of Chinese and Indians in 3,000 years invented nothing. -
Thorsten Pattberg
(Sep 28, '12)
Republican extremes threaten Sino-US ties
The insipid and inappropriate move by Mitt Romney to try to pin recent Muslim violence overseas on President Barack Obama is just one example of how the Democrats' rightward shift has pushed the Republicans toward extremes that, should they become a reality after November, would be disastrous for US trade and foreign policy. -
Benjamin A Shobert
(Sep 27, '12)
Asia poll prospects make for choppy seas
It's no coincidence that the increased vitriol in Northeast Asia over sovereignty issues comes as leadership changes loom in South Korea, China and likely Japan. While Beijing is overcompensating for a mediocre economic performance by yielding to ultra-nationalist demands, Tokyo similarly needs a bogeyman to end political instability limiting the state's effectiveness. -
Yong Kwon
(Sep 26, '12)
Nervous Malaysia eyes China dancefloor
On the surface, the first ever defense and security consultation between China and Malaysia points to relations at an all-time high. Yet, immediate benefits of cozying up to Beijing aside, divergences are such that Kuala Lumpur continues to pursue a hedging strategy amid the uncertainty posed by China's rise. -
Prashanth Parameswaran
(Sep 26, '12)
China's security boss surveys Hindu Kush
An historic visit by Politburo member and security boss Zhou Yongkang to Afghanistan on Saturday signaled China's readiness play a much larger role there following the 2014 Western withdrawal. Zhou's focus on futue reconstruction, security and economic cooperation was unlikely to have been missed by the United States or Russia. Beijing's interest gives Kabul added leverage with Washington, and has momentous implications for China's "all-weather friendship" with Pakistan.
M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 26, '12)
Taiwan angles for the big fish
While Taipei may be keen to show the world that the Diaoyu/Senkaku island dispute is trilateral, and not just a row between Beijing and Tokyo, Taiwanese fishermen simply want to fish those seas. For its own reasons, Japan is considering accommodating the fishermen without backing off from its "nationalization" of the islands, but it is hard to see how it could do so without making the political situation even worse. -
Jens Kastner
(Sep 26, '12)
Egypt gains balance and leverage in China
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi returned from his recent visit to Beijing with strengthened ties between the two countries in the form of nearly US$5 billion worth of agreements that also help give him improved leverage in dealings with the United States and the International Monetary Fund. -
Chris Zambelis
(Sep 25, '12)
US pivots toward trouble in West Pacific
Washington wants to be seen as an honest broker in the maritime disputes between China and its neighbors, but its actions betray its bias against Beijing. The result of America's meddling has been a resurgence of rivalries that had been dormant for decades, and aggravation of the underlying distrust between the nations of East and Southeast Asia and China. -
Jian Junbo
(Sep 25, '12)
Realities debunk CCP reform rumors
An apparent "downgrading" of propaganda and law enforcement ministries expected at the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress and Premier Wen Jiabao's past pleas for political reform hint that the congress could set the stage for liberalization. However, the retooling of party organs is simply administrative restructuring, while Wen's demands merely reflect the CCP's evolutionary nature. -
Willy Lam
(Sep 24, '12)
The dangling Chinese princeling
The sentencing of former Chongqing vice-mayor Wang Lijun to 15 years on Monday over a murder cover-up, corruption and a defection attempt leaves almost complete the Communist Party's strategy to minimize fallout from the Bo Xilai scandal. Damning testimony hints at what Bo will face in a trial likely as swift and definitive as this and his wife Gu's. -
Kent Ewing
(Sep 24, '12)
Benghazi, Beijing show limits of power
Violent protests in the Middle East, particularly in Benghazi, were a nasty reminder that liberation from dictatorship does mean unfettered affection for the "liberators". Anti-Japanese demonstrations in China may more instructive in how the madness of mobs can be a tool for a government's foreign policy goals. One thing is certain, these were not a pathetic charade. They were dead serious - and successful. -
Peter Lee
(Sep 21, '12)
America's futuristic DNA with a Chinese twist
directed by
Rian Johnson
Thirty years from now, China is a utopia, a refuge from barren, dystopian America. But escape is complicated by the invention, and outlawing, of time travel. Hit-men work to close the loops created by time-travel anomalies, yet themselves are vulnerable to self-doubt - and romantic love. This film plays on the deep anxieties related to the demographic and cultural shifts taking place in today's America, demographically and culturally. -
Dinesh Sharma
(Sep 21, '12)
False targets and
the rise of fascism
In post-Habsburg Europe, a disputed decision sparked first a minor skirmish, and then the rise of European fascism. Today, Mao-shirt-clad mobs in China disturbingly mirror the black and brown shirts of fascist Italy and Germany. The louder the Chinese nationalists become, the more they strengthen Japanese nationalists. But the unelected Chinese leadership lacks the legitimacy to quell this 21st-century rise of fascism. -
Francesco Sisci
(Sep 20, '12)
China loves a crisis
The eurozone crisis has coincided with a huge increase in Chinese investment in Europe. Counter-intuitive perhaps, but good sense to Chinese companies in a number of ways, and welcomed by struggling European businesses.
Benjamin A Shobert
(Sep 20, '12)
Hu's legacy - the good, bad and ugly
Chinese President Hu Jintao's legacy is muddied by the country's (technology-driven) greater freedom of expression, and the emergence of new enemies with the demotion of Bo Xilai. Yet as he reaped the success of earlier reforms he can claim real achievement in some areas, notably in relations with Taiwan. -
Francesco Sisci
(Sep 19, '12)
China's gilded age
The official Chinese Communist Party line is that the 10-year reign of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao has produced a "golden decade" of economic growth and social stability, and they leave a legacy of peace, harmony and prosperity. Critics say credit for prosperity goes to their immediate predecessors while the incumbents have overseen an increasingly corrupt and divided society. -
Kent Ewing
(Sep 19, '12)
China faces double challenge
China's policymakers understand that new economic and political models are required for the country to continue its ascendancy. No less a challenge to its new leaders may be in how the established Great Powers - in particular the United States view China and its intentions. Misperceptions could lead unwittingly to disaster. -
Benjamin A Shobert
(Sep 18, '12)
Beijing faces protests dilemma
The recent anti-Japanese protests, many violent, across China coincide with Japan's 1931 invasion of the country. The Chinese government now faces having to crackdown fiercely at home or allow its foreign policy to be hijacked by popular will to run into military conflict with Japan and then with other neighboring countries. Neither is desirable for the Party during a time of power transition. -
Wu Zhong
(Sep 18, '12)
Uneasy crowd control in East China Sea
The dispute among Japan, Taiwan and mainland China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands gets more stressful by the day, as the surrounding seas teem with vessels from all three powers. Though - primarily for economic reasons - none of them want an actual shooting war over these barren rocks, the chances that domestic politics and face-saving - or simply an accidental escalation by trigger-happy coast guards - will trump calm judgment are too high for comfort.
Jens Kastner
(Sep 18, '12)
Beijing more sensitive to war tremors
Japan's decision to try to tighten control over disputed islands in the East China Sea looks like a serious miscalculation. It's not extraordinary that protesters in China are baying for war. The difference from times past is that rifts surfacing at the top of the Communist Party render Beijing more sensitive to the popular mood. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Sep 17, '12)
A tale of two (China vs US) stimuli
The world is in a Dickensian dilemma, with two starkly different models of economic stimulus - China's and America's. Viewed rationally, China's favored path to prosperity is now riddled with too many hurdles to be navigable in the long term, while the US has its own, very different, problems. However, rationality is beside the point in both economies: Ideology is guiding the debate, not toward heavenly success but "direct the other way". -
Peter Lee
(Sep 14, '12)
Chinese juggernaut
Bertil Lintner
Seemingly insignificant stopovers by US diplomats in Asia-Pacific backwaters are one pointer to the expansion of Chinese interests in the region. The author has done an excellent job of tracing the country's increased role over the past three decades, but the absence of some developments means the work already seems dated. -
Kent Ewing
(Sep 14, '12)
Point of no return in the South China Sea
As tensions over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea rise to worrying levels, serious actions are required to turn back from a point of no return. In this effort, much will be expected from the United States and China to lead the way toward stability. -
Nazery Khalid
(Sep 13, '12)
US election sets poser for Taiwan
At first glance, it would appear from the Republicans' campaign bluster that a Mitt Romney administration would be a boon for Taipei at Beijing's expense, but neither major Taiwanese party is betting heavily on that. In the first place, campaign rhetoric is often quickly forgotten once a candidate is installed in the Oval Office. In the second, the new state of cross-strait relations has changed the rules of the game. -
Jens Kastner
(Sep 13, '12)
China's new
leaders on a tightrope
The new leadership that will lead China over the next decade will confront challenges at home and with neighbors that are quite different to those faced by earlier generations. The government need only return to excessively cautious policies to alarm everyone, and the world could witness the chill of a new Cold War sweeping across Beijing. -
Francesco Sisci
(Sep 12, '12)
Keeping Beijing at arm's length
Legislative Council elections are always a channel for Hong Kong people to send a complex amalgam of messages both to their own city government and to the central regime in Beijing. The latest vote was no exception, made even more complicated by the Democratic Party's (and the media's) campaign against "mainlandization". And the result was a stunner. -
Augustine Tan
(Sep 11, '12)
Clinton's strained swan song in China
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent visit to China was tense, to put it politely. While this could be explained by the pending leadership changes in both Beijing and Washington - with Clinton herself probably set to step down - there is no doubt Sino-US relations have become highly strained, given the US "pivot" into China's sphere of influence and America's reluctance to rein in its increasingly assertive ally Japan. -
Peter Lee
(Sep 10, '12)
Beijing steers clear of skirmishes
Beijing can hardly be accused of a sanguine response to calls to arms in China and the usual display of combativeness from Japan in their 40-year-old dispute over island sovereignty. That's because ultimately it can count on carrot-and-stick ploys to persuade Tokyo to keep emotions in check. -
Willy Lam
(Sep 10, '12)
Asia's free-trade bandwagons to nowhere
The United States' Trans-Pacific Partnership smacks of burnish for the Asian pivot, with the hook of no trade tariffs if members smite intellectual property pirates, but it is leading smaller states to believe they can take a swipe at China. While Beijing is oiling the wheels of its own free-trade vehicle, with cozy characteristics, all roads are leading nowhere. -
Peter Lee
(Sep 7, '12)
Clinton brush off marks new Sino-US rivalry
Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping's snub of visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Beijing's harsh rebuff to soft US criticism on the Syrian crisis underlines China's increasingly assertive stance towards its sole competitor for global influence. China now has the clout to back up strong words, helped by a decade establishing economic ties around the world rather than building costly military bases. -
Brendan O'Reilly
(Sep 6, '12)
Chinese, overseas and insecure
The remarkable rise in the number of Chinese projects and workers overseas, notably in Africa, brings a concomitant increase in the security risk facing company property and individuals. The government in Beijing must tread softly - and brave domestic claims of weakness - or take a stronger stance that would bring charges of "imperialism". -
Jacob Zenn
(Sep 5, '12)
Taiwanese frigate captures Chinese cadre
Chinese Vice Transport Minister Xu Zuyuan last week made history by boarding a Taiwanese frigate in a joint maritime search and rescue drill. After Taiwanese activists upset the United States-Japanese alliance by sailing to disputed East China Sea islands, the photo-opportunity created by the exercise gives Beijing further excuse to cast doubts on Washington's role as Taipei's guarantor of security. -
Jens Kastner
(Sep 5, '12)
US eyes spoiler role in Japan-China dispute
China and Japan have allowed nationalism to hijack the real national interest in their ongoing row over the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. Rather than allow the sovereignty tensions to affect rising interdependence and potential Asian solidarity against United States hegemony, Tokyo and Beijing would be better to shelve the dispute for future generations living in a climate less replete with patriotism, unilateralism and US interference. -
Jian Junbo
(Sep 4, '12)
Calling the China-Russia spilt isn't heresy
Beijing is not amused at the Kremlin's refusal to reciprocate over the United States' "pivot" in the Asia-Pacific, especially since returns from its diplomatic support for Moscow's embattled ally in Damascus are expected. The symbolism of Russia hosting the Vietnamese president and the Japanese foreign minister in quick succession in July was not lost on China either - and so the Sino-Soviet chill now descending is a far easier call than in cold days of the 1950s, when such forecasts were greeted as acts of heresy. -
M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 4, '12)
Taiwan verdict exposes
death-penalty danger
Quashed convictions in Taiwan's most controversial death-penalty case left supporters of the "Hsichih Trio" cheering. It also leaves the entire island sanguine that were it not for President Ma Ying-jeou's refusal as justice minister in 1995 to sign the order and 21 years of legal battles to take on the courts, the trio would now be dead, wrongly executed after false confessions were beaten out of them. -
Dennis Engbarth
(Sep 4, '12)
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