In The News

China Edges Towards a Greener Shade of Red

Jonathan Watts March 7, 2007
China’s rapid economy must slow in order to protect the environment, according to the nation’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in his annual report to parliament. In the speech, which sets policy direction for the upcoming year, environmental protection took priority over many other issues confronting the nation, reports journalist Jonathan Watts for “The Guardian.” China is the world’s most populous...

Not a Force to Be Trifled With

Richard A. Bitzinger March 5, 2007
China does not reveal many details about its defense spending and releases only an annual total expenditure. In its annual budget report, China announces plans to increase defense spending for 2007 by 10 percent, for a total of about US$40 billion. China’s military expenditures have quadrupled since 1997, reports analyst Richard Bitzinger. Analysts debate the credibility of Chinese budget figures...

Member of the Axis of Evil No More

Gavan McCormack March 5, 2007
Crisis can and seems to have opened new opportunity in the Korean peninsula. Having gone to the precipice of a nuclear confrontation, the parties in Northeast Asia have woken up to the need for a realistic approach. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the US and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle the latter's nuclear-weapon program in exchange for fuel aid, opening the door to...

China Builds Commerce Codes

Andrew Batson March 3, 2007
China's economy is the second largest in the world after the US and, with more than a billion people, growing fast. But the nation’s legal system is immature and fails to protect all business interests, particularly private-property rights and other elements not traditionally part of a communist system. After establishing rules on corporate bankruptcies, the National People’s Congress is...

US Had Doubts on North Korean Uranium Drive

David E. Sanger March 2, 2007
In 2002, US officials used intelligence reports not only to expound the danger of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, but also build a case against North Korea. The US accused Pyongyang of seeking to enrich uranium for use in a nuclear bomb and North Korea expelled weapons inspectors. Nearly five years later, as North Korea once again opens its doors for inspectors, American intelligence...

Taking It to the Brink

Daniel Sneider March 1, 2007
The Six-Party agreement may require North Korea to shut and seal its nuclear facilities, but does not immediately require the nation to hand over nuclear weapons already made. “There is ample evidence that this agreement is yet another demonstration of North Korea's uniquely successful brand of negotiation via escalation,” writes Stanford researcher Daniel Sneider, “a use of brinkmanship...

Satellite Row Rich in Contradictions

Siriporn Sachamuneewongse February 28, 2007
Thailand bristles about the sale of telecommunications assets to a Singaporean state-owned firm by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A few months after the sale, in September 2006, a group of military officers accused the prime minister of corruption and took control of the government. Still distraught about the sale of assets to a neighboring nation, the military officers suggest that...