US-China ties: cooperation and competition In the mid-1960s, when the world was dominated by the two superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union China routinely described their relationship as one of colluding and contending for power and influence.
US at a loss over Korea-Japan conflict When Hillary Clinton spoke about Americas pivot to Asia last year, she described alliances with Japan, South Korea and other countries as the fulcrum for Washingtons strategic turn to the Asia-Pacific.
US-China rivalry over Africa Africa has become a major theater in the global rivalry between China and the United States. This was evident during Hillary Clintons visit to the continent, during which she spread the message of democracy and warned Africans against unnamed o..
Chinas negative news? Only four years ago, Beijing played host to the summer Olympics and amazed the world with its modernity and sophistication. The event was widely seen as Chinas coming out party and signaled its readiness to become a major world power.
Vaticans conflict with China Once again, the Roman Catholic Church is in conflict with the Communist Party of China, with the newly ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai having publicly repudiated the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which was established by the Chinese..
New Hong Kong leader and credibility The installation of Leung Chun-ying Sunday morning as Hong Kongs third leader since the 1997 handover was followed that afternoon by tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets calling on him to step down.
Maintaining stability Stability is of overriding importance was a phrase used by Deng Xiaoping many times in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square military crackdown in 1989. The then paramount leader felt that Chinas top priority was economic development, and that..
Cross-strait relations All signs are that Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeous second term, which began May 20, will continue to see a strengthening of cross-strait economic relations but political talks between the two sides, even if they are held, are unlikely to be produc..
Checks and balances The appearance in the Hong Kong legislature of filibustering the practice of allowing one or more members to delay or prevent a vote on a proposal by limitless speechifying signals the danger that the former British colony may embrace extreme..
Human rights in China following Chen saga Without saying so publicly, the Chinese government has surprisingly agreed to almost all requests made by blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng after he escaped from his home in Linyi, in Shandong province, to the American Embassy in Beijing.
North Korea and UN resolutions On April 15, two days after North Korea defied international opinion and fired a three-stage rocket, it held a massive military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Kim Il-sung.
Trilateral discussions In the old days, when Japan was the worlds second largest economy, American officials used to describe the U.S.-Japan relationship as the most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none. Nowadays such words, if spoken, refer to Ch..
Independent role for lawyers in China On March 5, the day the 2012 session of Chinas National Peoples Congress opened, Premier Wen Jiabao promised to enforce the law in both letter and spirit, respect and uphold the sanctity of the Constitution and laws, and govern in strict accor..
Nationality Law in Hong Kong At the opening last week of the annual session of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), Chinas parliament, a retired English professor, Wu Qing, told a Hong Kong television interviewer that the congress is described in the Chinese Constitution a..
Match words with actions An inaugural Friends of Syria meeting last week, attended by more than 70 countries, called for additional economic sanctions against Syria and demanded that the regime there stop all acts of violence.
More assertive China Beijings veto, along with that of Moscow, of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria reflects a more assertive China in contrast with an earlier period in which the Chinese would simply go along with the majority by abstaining.
How to protect core interests The United States has recently, and repeatedly, made clear that its new defense policy is to put greater emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, with a view to playing a leadership role in Asia, to China's evident discomfiture.
