Southeast Asian leaders sought to ease tensions with China over maritime disputes before a regional summit tomorrow involving U.S. President Barack Obama as concerns persist over weaker demand in the global economy. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will confine discussions on a set of rules for operating in the South China Sea to the bloc’s meetings with China, […]
The Philippines has fired its first political salvo at China and Cambodia ahead of upcoming regional summits, calling on the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to forge a united front over the South China Sea dispute. Speaking to reporters ahead of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit, which is […]
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. […]
In the last half century, East Asia emerged as the uber-performer on the global economic stage. The various countries in the region found success with substantially different systems: state-led capitalism in South Korea, Singapore and Japan; wild and wooly competitive, entrepreneur-led growth in Taiwan and Hong Kong; and more recently, what Deng Xiaoping once described as […]
To call yourself a state, a government, you must have people you can deploy to carry out the functions of government. In an earlier column, i shared with readers the abysmal figures in India. The Indian problem is not too many officials; it is, instead, that we have too few to deal with the millions […]
Populist economics is on the rise in Southeast Asia. Politicians have been actively adopting policies that aim to impress upon the poor that governments are doing something, however trivial, to improve their conditions. It is generally a positive development but is it sustainable? Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as Prime Minister in 2006 but has remained popular […]
Singapore will continue to take in foreigners even as citizens complain about overcrowding and increased competition for jobs, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said. “We have slowed down the intake of foreigners but we will continue taking in foreigners at a pace” that citizens “find comfortable,” Lee, 89, said at a conference in Singapore. Read Here […]
The rise of information and communication technologies has not only revolutionized how people interact with each other but also forced many governments to operate in significantly altered political landscapes. In some cases governments can help unleash the full potential of an open and free internet; for instance, by ensuring that the web is accessible and affordable […]
During the past four years, the U.S. saw significant declines in nearly all categories of the economic-liberty index. Most significant — and this should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention — is that the size of government grew substantially, particularly when measured by size of government subsidies and transfers and by government consumption […]
In the latest step in its naval modernization and expansion, China recently announced that it is accelerating serial production of an advanced destroyer. This will tilt the regional balance of power at sea in its favor and put it in a stronger position to enforce its sovereignty claims over Taiwan and in the South and […]
looking beyond borders 