In The News

Seoul Unfazed by U.S. Move Against Piracy

Kim Min-hee January 10, 2004
Washington's efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of Hollywood and the American music industry have yet to meet with success in South Korea. Claiming that South Korea's government has not done enough to prevent copyright infringement, the US government has placed Korea on its Priority Watch List. South Korea's high internet saturation has meant that millions of...

Bitter-Sweet of GM Crops

Pennapa Hongthong January 7, 2004
Genetically modified crops have been hailed as the great savior for farmers in their never-ending struggle to ward off pests and achieve higher productivity. But these claims should be taken with caution, says this commentary in Thailand's The Nation. Before Thai farmers jump on the bandwagon with GM crops, the author warns, they would be wise to learn from the experience of cotton grower...

10,000 Animals to Be Culled as SARS Returns to China

Jonathan Watts January 6, 2004
After a six-month absence, SARS has re-appeared in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, with a 32-year old man confirmed to be infected with a new strain of the virus. Provincial officials have declared a "patriotic" extermination of civet cats - the animal from which the virus is believed to have passed to humans - and variety of vermin. The World Health Organization, however...

The China Threat?

Nicholas D. Kristof December 20, 2003
Writing from Shanghai, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof says that what worries him isn't China’s growing military prowess, but the fervent nationalism the government has cultivated among its youth. Kristof believes Chinese attitudes towards the Japanese exemplify the destabilizing effects of “blind nationalism.” Such attitudes originated during Japan’s occupation of China before...

Taiwan's CDC Expands Personal Health Check

Joy Su December 19, 2003
After several months with no new SARS infections reported worldwide, a Taiwanese medical researcher has contracted the disease while working in a lab. Singaporean health officials have ordered 70 people in that country into quarantine because they came in contact with the Taiwanese man during a recent medical conference in Singapore. In Taiwan, national health officials are ordering increased...

China's "Peaceful Ascendancy"

Yoichi Funabashi December 19, 2003
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, some international observers have predicted that China would be the next major counter-balance to US power and the only country with the potential to challenge American hegemony on a global scale. But, Chinese officials are now at pains to deny that they have any ambition to reign supreme again in Asia or destabilize the world economically, politically, or...

Australia Tips in with Bt250m to Help with People Trafficking in ASEAN

Jim Pollard December 18, 2003
Trafficking in humans brings thousands of people against their will from Southeast Asia to Australia each year to serve as sex workers or virtual slaves. To help prevent such gross human rights abuses at the source, Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thailand and other countries in the region and promised to devote 8.5 million Australian dollars to an anti-trafficking...