NOBODY doubts that China has joined the ranks of the great powers: the idea of a G2 with America is mooted, albeit prematurely. India is often spoken of in the same breath as China because of its billion-plus population, economic promise, value as a trading partner and growing military capabilities. All five permanent members of […]
The longest-serving leader of a central bank of a major world economy is not to be found in Europe, or North America, or Japan. It is a 65-year-old man named Zhou Xiaochuan who was recently reappointed to the job he has already held for a decade, namely governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). […]
The Obama administration’s “pivot” to Asia made sense, because China was starting to doubt U.S. staying power. Now that Washington has sent Beijing a clear message it will be around for the long haul, however, the time has come for the two countries to deepen and institutionalize their relationship in order to secure Asia’s lasting […]
China is on course to overtake the U.S. as the world’s top crude importer by 2014, as the Asian country’s growing refining capacity boosts demand and America’s fracking boom cuts the need for foreign oil, OPEC said today. Imports to China may surpass 6 million barrels a day by the end of this year, according to […]
As head of reformist party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Khan has emerged as the political curveball and popular favorite for the PM seat. Khan’s bold political platform provides sanctuary to those in Pakistan who have long associated government with the country’s deteriorating state. As the opposition frontrunner to incumbent Zardari, Khan is selling “hope” and “change” […]
The ascendance of the emerging markets was supposed to be brought into sharp relief as the world recovered from the financial crisis. But since they peaked in late 2007, the BRICs—Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the supposed core of the emerging-market dynamo—have on a total-return basis vastly underperformed the U.S.’s Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. […]
The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. The official U.N. tally showed 154 votes in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions, though diplomats […]
We have had enough of this ridiculous, two-year-old question: Did the Arab Spring have any impact on the six Arab Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE? The one-word answer is an emphatic yes. Obviously these states not only survived the tough challenges of the two-year-old Arab Spring, but also […]
The world’s task in addressing North Korea’s saber rattling is made no easier by the fact that it confronts an impoverished and effectively defeated country. On the contrary, it is in such circumstances that calm foresight is most necessary. The genius of the Habsburg Empire’s Prince Klemens von Metternich in framing a new international order after […]
There are many reasons that the fate of Cyprus is being followed so closely in Britain. One is sympathy for those who are about to pay the price for the sins of a banking sector that was at one point seven times the size of the island’s economy. Another is shock at how the island, […]
