On October 5, most Chinese were still enjoying their “Golden Week” national holiday. However, at the same time, a huge development occurred halfway across the world that might have a fundamental effect on their lives. This was the announcement that the long-delayed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal was finally reached, thanks to heavy pressure fronted by […]
Not too long ago, the Chinese economy appeared to defy both gravity and doomsayers. Despite years of unbalanced growth, Beijing has managed to rely on investment to power its economy and keep growth high. The country’s binge on credit since 2009, which has brought the debt-to-GDP ratio close to 300 percent, a perilous level for […]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun famously never set on the British empire. A commanding navy enforced its will, yet all would have been lost if it were not for ports, roads, and railroads. The infrastructure that the British built everywhere they went embedded and enabled their power like bones and veins in […]
China’s moves to explore for oil and undertake land reclamation projects on contested islets in the South China Sea have upset a number of its neighbors, including Vietnam. But none has taken a tougher stance against Beijing’s moves than the Philippines. The archipelago has shaped up as the loudest voice in Southeast Asia against China’s […]
China is conducting ‘cabbage’ or a militarily overwhelming strategy and ‘salami-slicing’ – insidious land-grabbing tactics to strengthen its power in the South China Sea By Huseyin Erdogan China is following a long-term strategy with its so called “Cabbage Tactic” to increase its power in the South China Sea, said an expert from China’s Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, on Tuesday. “At […]
In this excerpt from “Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea And The End Of A Stable Pacific,” author Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor and former member of the Pentagon’s Defence Policy Board, explains how the region’s unique geography fosters aggression. The South China Sea functions as the throat of the Western Pacific […]
The United States and not China should write the trade rules for Asia, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday night as he called on his country to speed up regional trade deals. In his annual State of the Union address in Washington, Obama warned that if China prevailed, American workers and businesses would be […]
NEW DELHI — On a Sunday four months ago, a vessel pulled unannounced into Sri Lanka’s Colombo harbor: the Chinese Navy submarine Great Wall No. 329, which is designed to carry torpedoes, a cruise missile and a 360-pound warhead. Sri Lanka’s defense minister shrugged it off as an “operational good-will visit.” But anxiety was already […]
Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time and shook hands last November 21 in Beijing. It was a historic occasion because the two countries had been locked in territorial disputes over islands and reefs in the West Philippine Sea ( South China Sea) for the past few […]
China has denied excluding the Philippines from its planned revival of an ancient Maritime Silk Road, which aims to build infrastructure across the region to bolster trade among nations. “The media report of ‘China bypassing Philippines in its 21st century Maritime Silk Road’ is incorrect,” the Chinese embassy in Manila said in a statement, referring […]