In The News

Roll Over, Godzilla: Korea Rules

Norimitsu Onishi June 28, 2005
Celebrities, television shows, movies, music and other cultural products from South Korea are exploding in popularity across East Asia. As a result, the country has witnessed an upsurge in tourism and trade, as well as a cachet of being “cool.” This newfound soft power stems from past South Korean government decisions to nurture and protect its own cultural industries against infiltration from...

Art from China Displays Dreams and Doubts

Caroline MacKinnon June 23, 2005
Chinese identity has undergone major changes in the past several decades as the country has altered its social, cultural and economic landscape. Recently, seventeen Chinese artists exhibited work dedicated to exploring the theme of Chinese identity at the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City. Photographer Xing Danwen showed work that portrayed the similarities in urban...

It's Time for Pakistan to Play a Larger Regional Role

Aparna Shivpuri Singh June 23, 2005
With the completion of diplomatic visits to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brunei, Pakistan now participates in the growing trend of bilateral alliances in Asia. As Pakistan's economy opens to foreign investment, the government is courting Southeast Asian nations and promoting a bid to become a full member of ASEAN. Success thus far is partly due to its cooperation with Asian countries...

A Moment to Seize with North Korea

Donald Gregg June 22, 2005
Last Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il issued a statement indicating his willingness to return to six-nation talks and reverse his nuclear program. In this commentary for The Washington Post, Donald Gregg and Don Oberdorfer analyze the import of Kim's message. According to the authors, Kim's statements present "a golden opportunity to take the US offers to the one and only...

Patent Pitfalls on China’s Road of Clones

Chris Buckley June 21, 2005
As part of a drive to both improve the rule of law and encourage entrepreneurship, China is seeking to improve its patent regulations. For Chinese inventors, patents both in China and abroad mean increased revenue and access to new markets. Unfortunately, despite the many efforts that Chinese innovators are making to protect their creations against intellectual property theft, the terms of...

In Spite of Offshoring, US Students Can Still Engineer a Career

David Wessel June 20, 2005
A new report by McKinsey & Co. concludes that the nominal demand for engineering jobs in the US will not wane in the next few years in spite of the potential of offshoring. While there are more university-trained professionals in low-wage countries, many of them, according to the report, are unfit for the jobs demanded by foreign employers. Furthermore, it concludes that by the end of the...

Peace the Only Option for Aceh

Aguswandi June 16, 2005
The prospect of achieving sustainable peace in the tumultuous Indonesian region of Aceh is being undermined by comments from politicians denouncing the ongoing peace negotiations in Helsinki. While the majority of Acehnese support the talks as a step towards ending violence, these voices of dissent ignore the positive results and denounce foreign assistance for fear that Aceh will become the...