Barack Obama’s trip to Myanmar is a gift from the photo-opportunity gods. The sight of the U.S. president standing beside political-prisoner-turned-Nobel- laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon will be a heart-warming moment for a world yearning for good news .The most remarkable thing about Obama’s first trip abroad since his re-election is his itinerary. […]
Japanese leadership, it’s often said, is a revolving door, one that spits out a new prime minsterevery 12 months or so. You know something’s wrong, though, when it’s spun so far around that it begins churning out yesterday’s castaways. Such is the case with Shinzo Abe, the man poised to replace Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who will […]
China‘s ruling Communist Party unveiled its new leadership line-up on Thursday to steer the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years, with Vice President Xi Jinping taking over from outgoing President Hu Jintao as party chief. Xi was also named head of the party’s Central Military Commission, state news agency Xinhua said. The other new members […]
The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded in Beijing Wednesday morning, after a new CPC Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection were elected. Delegates to the congress also passed resolutions on the report of the 17th CPC Central Committee, the work report of the Central Commission for Discipline […]
Recent anti-Japanese street demonstrations in China may signal the start of economic decline for a nation that won its reputation as the “world’s manufacturing factory” in the late 1990s and surpassed Japan in 2010 to become the second-largest economy after the United States. Although the riots were ostensibly meant as a protest against the Japanese […]
IN SEVEN weeks America‘s federal budget will self-destruct and plunge America back into recession unless Barack Obama can persuade the Republicans in Congress to raise taxes, which they have vowed never to do. So what is he doing between now and then? He’s heading off to visit south-east Asia and attend the East Asian Summit. […]
Can China avoid becoming Japan? In a few decades’ time, we may be talking about how today’s up-and-coming economic superpower is starting to look like the Land of the Rising Sun and Falling Expectations. But before that, another country is first in line: the Republic of Korea. Despite differences in politics and size, China can […]
Xi Jinping may have to wait two years to gain control of the world’s largest army after he takes the Communist Party’s top job this week, a delay that may weaken China’s ability to address tensions with Japan and the U.S. In China’s past two transitions of power, the departing leader kept hold of the military for about […]
In the run-up to the U.S presidential polls, when bilateral diplomatic activity was expected to taper off, South Block logged as many as a dozen delegations from Washington between September 25 and end-October. Four of these were headed by cabinet minister-level officials. Even just a couple of days before the Americans went to the polls, […]
It’s time to think legacy. For the last four years, President Obama has had plenty of reasons to pull his punches: at first, he was a new and inexperienced president, relatively unversed in how to make Congress and the executive branch work, and he mostly avoided going out on limbs. Then it was time to […]
looking beyond borders 