In The News

Japan will not slash aid budget for East Asia

Kwan Weng Kin August 13, 2002
As the largest provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to East Asia, Japan plays a crucial role in maintaining regional economic stability. However, domestic concerns over Japan’s declining fiscal health have left others anxious about its role as a benefactor to China’s growing prosperity . Some feel that Japan is financing China’s economic growth. Nevertheless, recognizing East Asia as...

…And Click Here for China

Erik Eckholm August 4, 2002
Though the Chinese government is notorious for keeping tabs on the information its citizens can access, it is having a harder time now that the Internet’s popularity has surged in recent years. Surfing the web is cheap and fast at any of 200,000 cyber cafes around the country. Though many anticipated that the Internet would be primarily a forum for dissidents and a force for political change,...

Latin America Turns Left

Richard Lapper July 28, 2002
As privatization, currency devaluation, and tight fiscal spending fail to solve Latin America’s economic woes, analysts see a leftward shift in the region’s politics. Leaders of well-known protests have cashed in their publicity for new political capital, as witnessed in recent elections. And long dead populist movements have been resurrected by the current frustration with free-market economics...

25 Million Around the World Learning to Say Ni Hao

July 24, 2002
In the last century, only English, French and Spanish could claim the title of an international language. But thanks to Beijing’s new policy of increased communication and cooperation with the international community, the study of Mandarin is growing rapidly at colleges and universities worldwide. Though regional dialects persist throughout China, Beijing's insistence that Mandarin become...

Gephardt Is Preparing a Measure to Legalize Illegal Immigrants

Carl Hulse July 23, 2002
The United States is home to millions of illegal immigrants, many of them from Mexico, who have become a major chunk of the American labor force. Before September 11, President Bush talked with Mexican President Vicente Fox about the possibility of granting amnesty to some of those immigrants, but heightened concerns about national security have left that plan hanging. Democrats in the House of...

Falungong’s Signals of Defiance of China

Jason Leow July 10, 2002
Using relatively cheap technology, followers of Falungong were able to interrupt the World Cup Finals and the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover broadcast on Chinese state television. Their purpose was to counteract state propaganda that has branded Falungong as an evil cult. While most of the interruptions were in rural China, which often receives TV programs celebrating China’s modernization...

In the U.S. Nowadays, Little Love for France

Emily Eakin July 6, 2002
The US and France have a long history of harboring snide cultural stereotypes, one that scholars trace back as far as 1797. And neither country is averse to verbally bashing the other whenever the two disagree politically. Thus, the spate of anti-Semitic incidents and a rise of anti-Americanism in France as a result of the war in Afghanistan have conspired to re-ignite francophobia in the...