In The News

Internet Power Balance Tilts Toward Asia

Eva Duo, Juro Osawa and Wayne Ma September 22, 2014
The initial public offering from Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd., China’s largest e-commerce company, demonstrates a shift of technological and market dominance towards Asia, suggests an article in the Wall Street Journal. With Alibaba hitting the market, four of the top 10 most highly valued web companies in the world are based in Asia, the others being Baidu, JD.com and Tencent Holdings. Nearly...

Beijing Puts Hong Kong Business on Alert

Chris Dodd September 1, 2014
Hong Kong will have elections in 2017, but voters must select from candidates approved by China. Protesters plan to target the financial district. “Beijing’s intransigence and protesters’ plans to bring traffic in Hong Kong’s streets to a standstill are a threat to the city’s reputation as a stable financial centre,” writes Chris Dodd for AsiaFinance. Credit agencies and banks have issued...

Tiny Sellers Can Now Reach Across the Globe

Marcus Wohlsen August 29, 2014
Online distributors like Amazon allow tiny businesses to market their products across the globe – and deliver within a few days. “In 2006, Amazon launched a service that allowed US sellers to use its network of warehouses to ship their goods,” reports Marcus Wohlsen for Wired. Now the company has started a program called Fulfillment. “Merchants in the US who want to expand globally can list their...

Trans-Afghan Pipeline Initiative: No Pipe Dream

Marc Grossman August 28, 2014
Despite a stream of bad news, development plans are underway even among nations with adversarial relations. Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement in early July to move forward with a 1,700-kilometer natural gas pipeline. “This $7.5 billion project known as TAPI, or the Trans-Afghan Pipeline Initiative, has the potential to catalyze investment and trading opportunities...

Globalization’s Worst Crisis

Nayan Chanda August 25, 2014
Sanctions and counter-sanctions in response to Russian intervention in Ukraine will disrupt global trade. Russia is the world’s eighth largest economy. Industries will find stunted growth and respond with new patterns as retail outlets in Russia cope with empty shelves, European airlines mull closure of air space over Russia, agriculture producers confront stockpiles, and energy buyers will...

Pointless Punishment

Ely Ratner and Elizabeth Rosenberg August 23, 2014
The United States and the European Union have stepped up sanctions on Russia for its intervention in Ukraine – and have urged Asian nations like China and Japan to do likewise. Yet the conflict continues. Asia and Europe have more to lose from sanctioning Russia than does the United States. “The majority of the Asia-Pacific governments – including U.S. allies Australia and South Korea – have...

China Must Lift Trade Restrictions on Rare Earth Elements

August 18, 2014
Environmental protections do not justify China’s export duties and quotas on rare earth element, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization has ruled, reports Environment News Service. China is responsible for 90 percent of the worlds’ supply of rare earth minerals, and the ruling is a boost for global auto, computer, television, battery, and other high-tech manufacturers in developed...