The Slow Boat from China

For consumption to play its proper role in China’s economy, three sets of reforms are essential: services-led job creation, urbanization, and a well-funded social safety net. The objective is to boost the consumption of Chinese citizens from its current share of 35 percent of GDP (by contrast, it is 71 percent in the United States) […]

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Some North Koreans Get Business Internships in Singapore

Some North Koreans Get Business Internships in Singapore While world leaders bluster, young professionals in Southeast Asia build bridges with their peers from Pyongyang. TOM BENNER , The Atlantic,  Jun 11 2013 The nuclear threats, rocket launches, and violent rhetoric out of North Korean over the past few months have been countered by the international community […]

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China Is Reaping Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom

An oil refinery in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, in which China has a stake. China has poured money and workers into Iraq. NABIL AL-JOURANI / Associated PressExxon Mobil China Is Reaping Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom By TIM ARANGO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS June 2, 2013 BAGHDAD — Since the American-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has become one of […]

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Asian Nations Are Not Popular Worldwide: BBC Poll

LF Cartoons, by Luke Farookhi, 07/04/2013 Asian Nations Are Not Popular Worldwide: BBC Poll By Zachary Keck, The Diplomat, May 29, 2013 Asia is not very popular around the world and the popularity of many countries in the region is trending downward, according to an annual poll by the BBC. The 2013 edition of the BBC World Service’s Country Ratings […]

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Pole-Land: The world’s third-largest area of ice

The climate of Tibet Pole-Land The world’s third-largest area of ice is about to undergo a systematic investigation The Economist, May 11th 2013 | Dehradun, India OF ALL the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the […]

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US: cyber talks with China and Russia

Patrick Chappatte, NZZ am Sonntag Progress in cyber talks with China and Russia, says US Reuters | May 15, 2013 The United States has made substantial progress in recent talks on computer hacking issues with both China and Russia, a White House official told the Reuters Cybersecurity Summit on Tuesday. Michael Daniel, the Obama administration’s cybersecurity […]

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China in Greenland

Procedence: «Northern rare earth potential», North of 56.  China in Greenland: Way Beyond the Truth? Beijing’s increasing interest in the Arctic has led to intense speculation – and now a warning from the central government By Martin Breum, CaixinOnline, April 12, 2013 It was a startling remark. It was made during an otherwise ordinary press […]

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What’s behind the conflict on the Korean Peninsula?

South Korean soldiers stand guard in fog at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea (AFP Photo / Jung Yeon-Je) What’s behind the conflict on the Korean Peninsula? Alexei Fenenko, Valdai, April 19, 2013 This spring has been marked by an unprecedented escalation of tensions on the Korean […]

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Japan and Taiwan’s Senkakus Play

Kitakojima and Minamikojima Japan and Taiwan’s Senkakus Play By David Cohen, The Diplomat, April 13, 2013 In an ordinary week, an agreement about the Diaoyu / Senkaku Islands, a disputed area that has triggered a series of standoffs between China and Japan in recent years, would have been big news. Such an agreement was signed this […]

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Ferocious, Weak and Crazy: The North Korean Strategy

Cartoon: Patrick Chappatte, The Herald Tribune Ferocious, Weak and Crazy: The North Korean Strategy By George Friedman, Stratfor Founder and Chairman Editor’s Note: George Friedman originally wrote this Geopolitical Weekly on North Korea’s nuclear strategy on Jan. 29. More than two months later, the geopolitical contours of the still-evolving crisis have become more clear, so we […]

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Corea: la hora de la diplomacia

Kerry viajará a China para desactivar la tensión con Corea del Norte. pero sólo parece que adelante un viaje ya programado a mediados de marzo, mucho antes de que la situación llegar a los extremos actuales Kerry viaja a Asia para buscar solución diplomática con Corea del Norte Funcionarios federales de EEUU dicen que el […]

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How Fast Will China Grow in 2013?

How Fast Will China Grow in 2013? Posted by: Michael Pettis, Strategic Europe, March 28, 2013 In his last formal speech as China’s premier before handing over to his successor, Wen Jiabao announced that the 2013 growth target for China’s economy was 7.5 percent. In each of the thirty years leading up to 2011, the country’s economic growth has […]

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Korean nightmare: worst-case scenario

Korean nightmare: Experts ponder potential conflict By Andrew Salmon, for CNN March 27, 2013 Editor’s note: Andrew Salmon is a South Korea-based freelance journalist and author who has written two books on the Korean war. Below, he envisages a hypothetical, worst-case scenario of potential conflict on the Korean peninsula. CNN is not suggesting that war is imminent […]

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China and the BRICS: Unavoidable Hegemony?

China and the BRICS: Unavoidable Hegemony? By Zachary Keck, The Diplomat / China Power, March 29, 2013 As China’s relative economic growth has continued apace, its dominance within BRICS has become increasingly entrenched. Almost regardless of its intentions, China’s size and national power make it the unavoidable hegemon of BRICS. Yet the other member states distrust of […]

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China confirms nuclear deal with Pakistan

Pakistan´s plutonium production reactor at Khushab. Image source: Digital Globe China confirms nuclear deal with Pakistan By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, March 26, 2013 China confirmed this week it will sell a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor to Pakistan that the United States says would violate Beijing’s obligations under a nuclear supplier control group. Chinese Foreign Ministry […]

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The drone mania

When the Whole World Has Drones The precedents the U.S. has set for robotic warfare may have fearsome consequences as other countries catch up This article appeared in print as Standard Deviation Kristin Roberts, National Journal, 22 March, 2013 [An interview with the author] A slim aircraft glided through Israeli airspace, maintaining low altitude and taking a […]

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Work with Moscow in Central Asia

A scene from «Baikonur» (2011), the movie (dir. Veit Helmer) Work with Moscow in Central Asia Jeffrey Mankoff March 21, 2013 When Uzbek security forces killed hundreds of protestors in the city of Andijon in May 2005, both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a bipartisan group of senators called for an international investigation, while […]

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Xi’s visits can help ease West’s anxiety

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands during their meeting in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP – Picture desk live: the best news pictures of the day (The Guardian) Xi’s visits can help ease West’s anxiety By David Gosset (China Daily), MaRch 21, 2013 The insight […]

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China inunda Irán con bienes de consumo baratos a cambio de petróleo

Hora punta del tráfico en Teheran. Fotografía: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters China inunda Irán con bienes de consumo baratos a cambio de petróleo Con la república Islámica cada vez más aislada de los mercados globales a causa de las sanciones, Beijing se encuentra en una posición de privilegio para sacar provecho de ello. Theran Bureau, The Guardian, […]

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Buscar piso en Beijing

Presentamos el blog de Antonio Broto, periodista de la Agencia EFE con una veteranía de más de diez años en Beijing.  El autor «defiende una desdramatización de China, noticias diferentes y un conocimiento más profundo de este país a través de la experiencia cotidiana. Frente a “muchos periodistas que vienen aquí a cubrir la caída del régimen […]

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