In The News

Asia's Security Depends on Opportunities for All

Surin Pitsuwan January 15, 2004
Since 1997's economic crisis in East Asia, many countries in the region have struggled to cope not only with economic problems but also pressing security issues. Surin Pitsuwan, former foreign minister of Thailand, writes here that Asia's security problems are deeply intertwined with its economic and political woes. Education, nutrition, healthcare, and basic social services are all...

Chinese Chess in Space

Joan Johnson-Freese January 13, 2004
As the White House prepares plans for a new US manned space initiative, President Bush might want to invite China to the drawing board. Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert in Chinese space technology at the US Naval War College, believes that China's recent successful manned space flight signifies that Beijing is committed to exploring space. Rather than ignore China's achievements and...

How to Reduce Poverty: Lessons from China

David Dollar January 6, 2004
Conventional economic wisdom holds that foreign investment and trade boost economic growth and help alleviate poverty in developing countries. So why is it that some countries that seem quite open to the outside world are stagnating economically? David Dollar, Director of Development Policy at the World Bank, writes that a comparison of economic conditions in several Chinese cities points to...

The Likely Surprises of 2004

Moises Naim December 29, 2003
The Iraq war may have dominated headlines, but it was not the only significant geopolitical event of 2003. Moises Naim, the editor of Foreign Policy Magazine, reminds us that while moving forward in 2004 we cannot overlook the fundamental changes that occurred in 2003 within the European Union, the global trading system, the American and Chinese economies, and Russia. As a new year begins, the...

Even Labor Unions Can Gain from Free Trade

Tamara Kay December 23, 2003
In the long negotiations before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pundits, politicians, and unions alike predicted that NAFTA would bring increased animosity between transnational unions. They would now be competing for the same jobs, the argument went, and so labor solidarity will obviously break down. Instead, says labor scholar Tamara Kay, North America...

China's "Peaceful Ascendancy"

Yoichi Funabashi December 19, 2003
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, some international observers have predicted that China would be the next major counter-balance to US power and the only country with the potential to challenge American hegemony on a global scale. But, Chinese officials are now at pains to deny that they have any ambition to reign supreme again in Asia or destabilize the world economically, politically, or...

Anti-Separatist Taiwan Parties Changing Tune

Ching Cheong December 18, 2003
The 'pan-blue' political camp in Taiwan has traditionally been Beijing's best line of defense against those who want full separation from China, as pan-blue members aim for maintaining the status quo separation of Taiwan and China with an eye to eventual unification. The 'pan-green' camp, which is committed to an eventual Taiwanese independence, has traditionally been...