Author Archives
Living in South East Asia (Vietnam & Cambodia).
At the ending/starting point of the more than 1000 year old SIlk Road.
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Taiwan could resist a Chinese invasion for just one month
The clock is ticking – China grows more powerful by the day as Taiwan withers. In early March, Taiwan’s defense minister Yen Ming estimated the island nation could resist a Chinese onslaught “at least one month” – and that’s assuming… Read More ›
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China claims Japan is secretly developing nuclear weapons
Asia Weekly, a Hong Kong-based news outlet (Chinese controlled), is reporting that Japan is secretly developing a nuclear weapons program in response to increasing hostilities with China over the East China Sea dispute. According to the report, paraphrased by the Want… Read More ›
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China will deploy subs that could nuke Alaska or Hawaii this year
China is set to deploy submarines sometime this year armed with nuclear tipped missiles capable of striking Alaska or Hawaii, according to a January assessment from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Jin-class nuclear ballistic… Read More ›
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Russian expert: China to defeat broke America by 2020
Russian expert Vassily Kashin foresees a war between the United States and China in the East Pacific within the next six years out of which Beijing will emerge victorious due to America’s inability to fund its expanding empire. “It’s highly… Read More ›
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Call made to US Congress for China war plan
The U.S. military needs a more focused war plan specific to China, especially after China’s recent declaration of an air defense zone over the East China Sea, a group of defense analysts told a prominent US House subcommittee. As part… Read More ›
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Housing, spatial price differences, and inequality in China
Many studies find evidence of a growing income inequality in China. However, the majority of these studies may be constructing biased measures of inequality. This column presents evidence from a new study on how inequality in China is overstated if… Read More ›
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China: Why are Japan and America so concerned about this map?
China’s Ministry of National Defense issued this map establishing the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. The ministry claims that the zone is “not directed against any specific country or target,” which is a bit hard to buy given that it overlaps significantly with Japan’s… Read More ›
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Bloomberg kills article exposing Chinese regime, suspends reporter
First, the controversial “media” outlet Bloomberg News, widely regarded by critics as a propaganda megaphone for the radical views of billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, reportedly censored one of its reporters by blocking the publication of an article… Read More ›
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China’s reform blueprint broken down by keyword
China’s new reform plan is a beast of a document that would run to more than 46 pages if you counted each of its 21,000-plus characters as an English word. Analysts are still picking through it, and probably will be for weeks… Read More ›
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India buys a third aircraft carrier amid rivalry with China
India has heightened its rivalry with China by taking possession of its third aircraft carrier, a refurbished Soviet-era vessel. The £1.4bn ($2.3bn) aircraft carrier, handed over at a north Russian shipyard, will help India to counterbalance the expansion of the Chinese… Read More ›
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China: Post-plenum blues?
The third plenum of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central committee, which concluded on November 12th, has left many observers disappointed. After months of efforts by the senior leadership to promote the meeting as a major reform landmark, its… Read More ›
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New Chinese agency to ‘manage’ social unrest
The ruling Chinese Communist Party said it would establish an agency to “manage” growing social unrest, as part of a set of reforms largely focusing on the economy. The new “state security committee” will tackle social instability and unify other… Read More ›
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China’s coming terrorism wave
Prediction time: China will experience unprecedented terrorism over the next few years. On October 28, a carload of Xinjiang residents made headlines by crashing into a Tiananmen Square crowd, killing two people while injuring 38. Then, on October 30, a… Read More ›
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Chinese nuclear submarines capable of widespread attack on U.S.
Chinese state-run media revealed for the first time that Beijing’s nuclear submarines can attack American cities to counterbalance U.S. nuclear deterrence in the Pacific. Leading media outlets including China Central TV, the People’s Daily, the Global Times, the PLA Daily, the… Read More ›
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Chen’s confession: who to trust in China now?
What can you trust in China these days? An investigative journalist who says a well-known company has allegedly been manipulating its financial results? Or the company that denies that point-blank? How about a police force that crosses provincial lines to… Read More ›
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Six wars China is sure to fight in the next 50 years
On July 8, 2013, the pro-PRC Chinese-language newspaper, Wenweipo, published an article titled “中國未來50年裡必打的六場戰爭 (Six Wars China Is Sure to Fight In the Next 50 Years)”. The anticipated six wars are all irredentist in purpose – the reclaiming of what the Chinese… Read More ›
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EU-China investment pact of limited but global significance
In the debate about the transatlantic free trade agreement one issue has remained below the radar: the European Union (EU) is shortly to also commence negotiations with China. On October 18, 2013 the EU member states are set to pass… Read More ›
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Is China building an “aircraft carrier in disguise?”
Earlier this month a series of pictures posted on Chinese military forums appeared to show that China was building its first indigenous aircraft carrier, prompting much speculation and commentary including from The Diplomat. Now some claim that this narrative might have been mistaken. According… Read More ›
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Heat wave in China
For the entire month of July and the first half of August, eastern China baked in a record-breaking heat wave. Nineteen provinces endured above-normal temperatures. Shanghai broke its all-time record high three times in as many weeks. The current record –… Read More ›
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A gaffe-prone Japan is a danger to peace in Asia; China concerned
The Abe government’s disastrous public diplomacy risks alienating not just China but also the US. Japan’s public diplomacy hovers between the ludicrous and the sinister. In recent months, the country has specialised in foreign policy gaffes that seem designed to give maximum… Read More ›
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China watches as India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier launched
The launch of India’s first locally built US$5 billion aircraft carrier is a major naval milestone as China’s growing assertiveness is drawing world powers in the region. When the INS Vikrant comes into full service in 2018, India will become the fifth… Read More ›
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Japan’s giant new destroyer sends a clear message to China and the world
Sixty-eight years to the day of the Hiroshima bombing, Japan unveiled its new naval “destroyer” that happens to have a flat top – dubbed “Izumo” – capable of carrying various rotary-wing aviation units, reports Eric Talmadge of ABC. Consequently, it’s also the biggest… Read More ›
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Joint China-Russia exercise more political than military
China and Russia made headlines this past weekend when they participated in the rather blandly titled Joint Sea 2013. Despite the name, Joint Sea was China’s largest ever joint naval exercise, and one of the more noteworthy bits of naval activity… Read More ›
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What to make of Xi Jinping’s Maoist turn
With a number of Mao-like pronouncements emanating from Beijing in recent months, some observers of Chinese politics think Xi Jinping might be turning Maoist. The most recent example is an editorial published earlier this week in the authoritative People’s Daily… Read More ›
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27 die in rioting in Western China
At least 27 people died in rioting in far western China, when protesters attacked a police station and government offices and the police fired on the crowd, state media said. It was the worst spasm of violence for years in… Read More ›
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How the world benefits from Chinese piracy
Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman have a fantastic article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs about IP laws and piracy in China. The title, which I love, is “Fake It Till You Make It,” and the gist is clear: Given that Chinese… Read More ›
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Russia turns away from Europe, signs $270 billion oil deal with China
Russian oil giant Rosneft and Chinese state firm CNPC signed a $270 billion deal to supply China with oil over 25 years as Russian President Vladimir Putin pushes to diversify the country’s energy customer base away from Europe. The agreement… Read More ›
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China’s Communist party takes page from Mao’s playbook
China’s Communist party has unleashed a rectification campaign of a scale and tone not seen in more than a decade as the leadership seeks to address the frustration over corrupt officials while avoiding bold political reforms. As investors wait for party chief… Read More ›
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China’s latest discount product: drones
Want to buy a military-grade drone? That won’t be easy, unless you’ve got a good relationship with Beijing. A new market has emerged for inexpensive Chinese weapons, changing the regulatory calculus. The recent Paris air show highlighted the trouble with the… Read More ›
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China heading for unprecented credit bubble implosion
China’s shadow banking system is out of control and under mounting stress as borrowers struggle to roll over short-term debts, Fitch Ratings has warned. The agency said the scale of credit was so extreme that the country would find it… Read More ›
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Former US cutter to help Philippine claims in South China Sea
The former U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas is en route to Manila as the newest ship in the Philippine Navy, according to Philippine sources. The re-christened BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) underwent a 13-month refit in Charleston, S.C. before it departed… Read More ›
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Chinese censors target Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
China’s army of internet censors has picked an unusual target in their battle to wipe dissent from the country’s computer screens: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Following the recent California summit between Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping, Chinese… Read More ›
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Getting China’s Tower of Babel on record
Michael Wu, 20, a student at Peking University, grew up in Shanghai. But when he wants to talk to his cousins in Hainan, he needs to bring his mother along to interpret the conversation. The cousins in Hainan speak two… Read More ›
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China destroys Belgian chocolates as trade spat intensifies
Belgians are justly proud of their nation’s reputation as one of the world’s finest chocolate producers. So when Chinese authorities announced this week that they had destroyed an unspecified amount of their chocolates because they contained toxic substances, alarm bells rang. The Belgian… Read More ›
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China and USA: The Xi Jinping-Obama Summit
Though not a ‘state’ visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit (June 7-8, 2013) to the US as President has been described by the US as “unique” and “enormously important”. The Summit received close international attention, particularly because of the… Read More ›
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The China Syndrome
To the ham-lovers of Smithfield, Virginia, it is American weakness that explains why Chinese tycoons may soon own the giant pork producer that dominates their home town. Local hams, made from peanut-fed pigs and then hickory-smoked, first earned fame in… Read More ›
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Wine: China hitting the bottle!
Looks like France is waking up with a hangover and will be in need of some hair of the dog to get through China’s statement that there will be an anti-dumping probe carried out by the latter on wine exports… Read More ›
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China’s reverse imperialism – West contains China’s East, China moves West
The US still has not learned that China does not move in a linear, predictable, pattern. As the US and its allies gain geopolitical ground in the Pacific and power balancing shapes a semi-circle in China’s East, China projects its… Read More ›
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US war against Iraq is paying off – for China
Remember the US government assurance that the Iraq War would pay for itself, once those oil revenues began gushing forth from a liberated Iraq? A decade later, the Iraq War is paying – for China. “We lost out,” said Michael Makovsky, a… Read More ›
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European companies complain about China’s regulatory discrimination
An unlevel playing field in China costs European companies € 17.5 billion in missed revenues annually, according to a survey of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. The findings – which also highlight alleged regulatory discrimination as a key concern… Read More ›
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Cannes 2013: The rise of Chinese cinema
A scattering of awards at the Cannes Film Festival has given international prominence to what experts say is an exciting era in Asian film-making, where China is emerging as the creative powerhouse. Directors from China, Japan, Singapore and Cambodia were… Read More ›
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Chinese developer ‘rescues’ London docks with $1.5 billion deal
London Mayor Boris Johnson sealed a 1.5 billion USD deal with a Chinese property developer to turn a historic London dock into a 21st-century “Asian business port”: the Royal Albert Dock is set to become London’s third business district. The deal… Read More ›
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China calls Japanese leaders ‘petty burglars’
Piqued over Japan’s warm ties with India, an influential Chinese daily said New Delhi‘s wisdom lies in dealing with its disputes with Beijing calmly, undisturbed by “internal and international provocateurs“. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a visit to Tokyo amid reports of defence deals between the two… Read More ›
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While Belarus borrows, China makes money
China is building an entire city in the forests near the Belorussian capital Minsk to create a manufacturing springboard between the European Union and Russia. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko allotted an area 40 percent larger than Manhattan around Minsk’s international… Read More ›
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As China’s middle class grows, so do its concerns
Beijing is facing increasing public pressure to deal with issues such as pollution, food safety and education driven by the 10 percent of its population who now count as middle class. With two cars, foreign holidays and a cook for… Read More ›
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China, Switzerland sign MOU on concluding Free Trade talks
In relations with China, symbols often have a greater importance than details of contracts. During the stay of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in the Alpine country which he visited in 2010 as vice premier, Li has met political, business leaders and… Read More ›
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Restraint is the new red in China
President Xi Jinping is pressing the Communist Party’s elite to cut back on lavish living amid growing public resentment. The economic effect is far-reaching. Exports of elegant Swiss watches to China have plunged. Sales of Mercedes-Benz and other premium sedans… Read More ›
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China’s underage sex scandals spark anger over ‘weak’ law
A series of sex scandals involving underage girls has prompted widespread public anger and calls for a review of Chinese laws. Early May 2013, official media reported that six primary schoolgirls aged around 10 and 11 were taken by a… Read More ›
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China and it’s neighbours: A tale of two fishing boats
Is the Chinese government’s uneasy friendship with North Korea costing it the public’s confidence? A curious confluence of recent events involving two fishing vessels suggests that might be the case. The crisis began in the waters of Scarborough Shoal, a… Read More ›
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China to lend $580 million to Sri Lanka
China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) will lend $580 million to Sri Lanka to help carry out key infrastructure projects. The loan will bring CDB’s total lending to Sri Lanka to more than $1.4 billion. China‘s increasing influence in the island nation… Read More ›
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