What is now known as the Asian Financial Crisis began in July 1997 in Thailand where the baht fell victim to massive speculative attacks. Before the currency was finally devaluated to lose over half of its value, the country’s economic growth came to a grinding halt amid disastrous layoffs in previously booming sectors as finance […]
China is building up its fleet, but it is not building the infrastructure needed to support a global naval presence.
China and Taiwan are expected to agree to a preliminary free-trade agreement later this month in a effort to normalize relations across the Strait after more than six decades of bickering and mistrust. According to The Economist, the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) calls for cuts on 539 categories of Taiwanese exports to China […]
A corporate tax cut would improve Japan’s competitiveness among industrialized nations.
Since North Korea sank a South Korean corvette in the Yellow Sea last March, the Hermit Kingdom proved once again just how capable it is of causing international consternation. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak promised “firm, responsive measures against the North.” The world’s last bastion of Stalinism threated with “all out war” in turn which […]
In the wake of North Korea’s sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan last March, the Obama Administration has been trying to muster Chinese support for renewed sanctions against the Stalinist regime. So far, its efforts have been frustrated by division within Beijing’s ruling class. After international investigators proved that the North had been responsible […]
After just nine months in power, Japan’s prime minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns.
As evidence mounts that the South Korean warship sunk last March was indeed brought down by a North Korean torpedo, tensions in Korea are rising. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has pronounced economic sanctions on the North which has reportedly begun to ready troops. The intentional sinking of a foreign naval vessel is certainly cause […]
With American secretary of state Hillary Clinton underway to the East Asia, a crisis is looming in the waters of the Yellow Sea where a South Korean corvette sunk last March, killing 46. South Koreans authorities have ascertained that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the sinking. The North has denied any involvement, threatening […]
Robert Kaplan points out that China’s blessed geography is so obvious that it tends to get overlooked.
Bankers and bureaucrats want peaceful ties. Hardliners are convinced the West is conniving to keep them poor.
Pestering China won’t get America anywhere. It must be consistent in its policy of “strategic reassurance”.
The region still far outperforms Europe and the United States in terms of economic growth.
Just a couple of decades ago the naval forces of China (People’s Liberation Army Navy or PLAN) was a weakling, barely capable of defending the Chinese Coast. Hong-Kong, a British station until 1997, was almost considered secure by naval if not military means even with just a few British warships at the station. Since then […]
Discord between China and the United States should be overstated. Disputes can be resolved.
