In The News

A Window of Opportunity for Reforms in Vietnam

Dien Luong February 4, 2016
Vietnam has a long history of conflict with its large neighbor to the north, China. Conservative and incumbent Nguyen Phu Trong bested populist Nguyen Tan Dung in a contest for chief of the Vietnamese Communist Party. “Reforms will continue, albeit at a slower pace, as would increasingly closer ties with the United States,” explains Vietnamese journalist and Fulbright scholar Dien Luong. Likewise...

Global Trade Conflict Looms Over China's Market Status

Guy de Jonquieres January 29, 2016
Trade tensions rise as China, the United States and the European Union quarrel how far each can go with anti-dumping measures to prevent exports at low prices to control markets, reports Guy de Jonquieres for Nikkei Asian Review. “Anti-dumping laws, which are employed by many countries, including China, are a glaring exception from world trade rules that prohibit governments from unilaterally...

Faulty Mission?

Nayan Chanda January 12, 2016
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Make in India” to create jobs and attract foreign investment, but the campaign “remains mired in political battles and cultural battles,” explains Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online who also consults for the publication. “India’s hope to take up the slack from China’s … increasingly expensive labour force may have come too late.” The...

The New Geo-Economics

Joseph E. Stiglitz January 11, 2016
Global economic growth, offering connections and solutions that have enriched many and lifted more out of poverty, has slowed in recent months. Economist Joseph Stiglitz compares the processes in negotiating two agreements – the global climate agreement approved in Paris and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, yet to be ratified, a trade agreement among 12 nations including the United States, but not...

Is Australia Fully Aware of China's ChAFTA Aspirations?

Geoff Wade December 29, 2015
China and Australia have developed a free trade agreement, one of many as China forges new economic alliances through programs and investments like the Silk Maritime Route and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank. “The ‘Chinese Dream’ that modern China is pursuing under Xi Jinping involves the reassertion of the economic and political primacy which China claims to have enjoyed among neighbours...

Trade Talks Lead to “Death of Doha and Birth of New WTO”

Shawn Donnan December 21, 2015
Members of the World Trade Organization committed to a global ban on agriculture export subsidies, with some exceptions. The WTO also signaled a move toward incremental changes as member states did not reach consensus on reaffirming the Doha round – a broad attempt underway since 2001 to reduce trade barriers and poverty for the world’s poorest nations. Shawn Donnan, writing for Financial Times...

APEC Leaders Silent on South China Sea

Trefor Moss November 19, 2015
The attacks on civilians in Paris by the Islamic State have rallied world leaders to cooperate on combatting terrorism. Such coordination could ease tensions in other areas or distract attention. At the summit for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, held in Manila, 21 leaders urged cooperation on fighting terrorism and improving economic growth. “On the sensitive matter of the South China Sea, the...