Washington‘s aggressive pursuit of containment of China and Beijing’s difficulty in launching major economic and political reforms will likely prove an explosive mixture. Meanwhile, Japan, India, and other Asian powers exploit the logic of “two ovens”. The 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was to be the springboard for economic and political renewal in […]
Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is on the verge of reclaiming power in Japan, giving him seven months to convince voters he can revive the economy before another round of elections in July. The LDP is forecast to crush Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan in the Dec. 16 election for the lower […]
China stressed its adherence to peaceful development in response to a U.S. intelligence report predicting that China will surpass the United States to become the world’s largest economy before 2030. “China will unswervingly pursue a way of peaceful development. China’s development aims at making greater contributions toward peace and development of mankind, as well as […]
North Korea’s improving missile capability cast a shadow on political campaigns in two of its neighbors, heightening focus on a potential threat that may prompt Japan to stiffen its defense posture and provide a bump to South Korea’s conservative candidate. North Korea yesterday deployed a communications satellite from a rocket eight months after a previous attempt failed, […]
With the European debt crisis, Japan’s return to recession, and the U.S. fiscal cliffhanger, China’s ability to keep on growing is getting a triple test. This week, both China bears and China bulls can point to numbers that seem to prove their cases. For those downbeat about China’s chances, the grim export figures for November […]
Three major forces will be looming behind the headlines, driving events in 2013: the crisis of the Western democratic model, rising sectarian strife in the Middle East, and worries about American withdrawal from the world. The Obama administration must realize that no “foreign policy” issue will matter as much to global economic, political, and ultimately […]
China’s growth rebound, forecast to have gathered pace in November, is bypassing smaller businesses in a sign the government may need to step up policy support to secure a more broad-based recovery. Industrial production growth probably accelerated for a third month to 9.8 percent from a year earlier, while retail sales probably rose 14.6 percent, […]
You hear it all of the time. The problem is that the government is borrowing from China to fund our stupid spending programs, or popular subsidies, or tax cuts. Mitt Romney (remember him?), in a presidential debate, defined his criterion for deciding whether spending is worthwhile thusly: “Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing from […]
Turning around a modern naval warship at sea is a slow and difficult process. Turning around whole fleets of warships, aircraft carriers and other air and naval forces, and reorienting defense spending for weapons systems that are typically planned decades in advance, is a lot harder – especially when it’s being done in the context […]
President Barack Obama may announce his nominees for secretaries of state and defense and head of the CIA in the coming weeks, according to an administration official. Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican, is among Obama’s top candidates to head the Pentagon, replacing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. […]
looking beyond borders 