Two months ago, just when the Senkaku incident between Japan and China seemed to reach a deadlock, China played an unexpected card. Industries in Japan reported that China began halting exports of rare earth, a vital component in electronics manufacturing, a move that caused Japan to cave in. While Chinese officials have emphatically denied that … Read more
Just this week, the White House announced that during President Obama’s visit to Japan for APEC, he would not be stopping by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as some had initially hoped. While Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Advisor, has given the pretext of wanting “focus” on the APEC meeting, I can’t help but interpret this … Read more
This is a follow-up post on Alastair Su’s blog post “Taking a Cue From Thailand’s Mr Condom”, looking specifically at China’s one-child policy and its economic impacts. Just over a year ago, the first few Chinese babies born in 1979 turned 30 – a significant milestone by any measure, but one made all the more … Read more
Last week’s decision to award Chinese Liu Xiaobo with the Nobel Peace Prize was hailed by many around the world, but condemned by the Chinese government. Calling the award an “obscenity”, China has since cancelled two high profile diplomatic meetings with Norwegian officials and even a concert, though the parties involved had little to do … Read more
Since its inception in 1978, China’s one-child policy has always been marked by controversy. While the government has claimed that the policy has prevented 400 million births, it’s an achievement paid for in blood. Over the years, the one-child policy has seen thousands and thousands of Chinese mothers undergo forced abortion, sterilization and numerous human rights … Read more
In his landmark book, The Clash Of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, Samuel Huntington made the following prediction: East Asia could develop any one of several patterns of international relations in the twenty-first century. A major power, multipolar international system could take shape with China, Japan, the United States, Russia and possibly … Read more
Thomas Friedman, yesterday, in this Times column, found his rhetorical flourish yet lost his practical sensibility. In a fairly particularly common theme for him, Friedman praises the autocratic, oppressive Chinese government as efficient and resourceful, while decrying “our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class”. Friedman goes on further to suggest that politics today in … Read more