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Sat, October 20, 2018 | 13:22

Opinion > Columnists > Frank Ching >

Stark choices on N. Korea

In October 1939, when World War II was just beginning, Winston Churchill, in a radio broadcast, described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Today, the same can be said of North Korea, which continues to defy the world with its nuclear and missile programs, despite biting United Nations sanctions. Churchill went on to say, “perhaps there is a key that key is Russian national interest.” The same applies today to North Korea. From its leaders’ standpoint, the nation’s very survival is at stake. They can do without food, but they cannot do without nuclear weapons.

2017-03-24 17:17

Trump-Xi rivalry

At his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump delivered an inward-looking speech in which he promised to “make America great again,” without any reference to its friends and allies overseas. Then Trump withdrew the U.S. from what he called the “job-killing” Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trading bloc that sought to raise standards while excluding China. He also declared the North Atlantic alliance “obsolete.” This led to howls in Washington and overseas that the U.S. was ceding ground to an expansionist China. Even so, the Chinese declared modestly that they had little inter...

2017-03-10 17:22

Trump's bromance with Xi

The telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 9moved the two countries back from the edge of a precipice. Trump had announced that he might reject the “one China policy,” which all American administrations had accepted since the 1970s, unless Beijing made trade concessions .China made it clear that this basic policy was not up for negotiation. The policy means Washington recognizes Beijing as the sole legal government of China and acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China. According to a White House statement, durin...

2017-02-21 16:08

China wants to have cake and want to eat it too

In the confusing environment generated by US President Donald Trump, in which he has criticized his allies more than America’s opponents, the trip by Defence Secretary James M. Mattis to Seoul and Tokyo was reassuring, with the United States reiterating its defence commitments to South Korea and Japan. It was the first such reaffirmation of American policy by a senior administration official since the inauguration of the Trump administration. China responded to the American statements as expected, denouncing the US-Korea decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, a...

2017-02-10 17:29

How Trump to deal with China

Donald J. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 as the 45th President was a defining moment in American history, as the United States turned inward, discarding the mantle of leadership that it had assumed over the last 75 years.

2017-01-24 15:05

Does China want Taiwan or Republic of China?

Taiwan’s leader, President Tsai Ing-wen, arrived in Honduras Sunday for a closely watched four-nation Central American visit but, in China at least, there was much more interest in her stopovers in the United States - Houston on the way out and San Francisco on the way home.

2017-01-11 15:54

China's waiting game on Trump

Despite the uproar in the United States over president-elect Donald Trump’s precedent-shattering Dec. 2 phone call with Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, the Chinese government has been restrained. On Sunday, Trump went further and publicly questioned the need for the U.S. to continue its “one China” policy, adopted since the 1970s.

2016-12-13 16:19

Trump to make US second to China

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump confirmed his intention to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership “from day one” of his administration.

2016-12-04 16:56

Trump challenges Asia's old order anew

The surprise election of Donald Trump has left many people uncertain what he will be like as the 45thpresident of the United States. His victory speech was a pleasant contrast from his tone on the campaign trail. He actually called his opponent “Secretary Clinton” instead of “crooked Hillary” and said, “We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.”

2016-11-18 15:37

Revolution not to remember

Fifty years ago this week, China embarked on what would turn out to be 10 years of turmoil known as the Cultural Revolution. It was not a revolution in the usual sense, in that it was initiated from above, by Chairman Mao Zedong himself, as he set out to destroy the party he himself created and to overthrow party leaders whom he felt had deviated from the socialist path.

2016-05-20 15:29

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