The demise in Hong Kong of “one country, two systems” – Beijing’s constitutional arrangement with London that guaranteed its restoration of sovereignty over the British colony – should serve as a lesson for Taiwan. This somewhat undiplomatic observation came from veteran US diplomat Stephen Young, who served as Consul General to Hong Kong while holding the rank of “ambassador” between 2010 and 2013 as well as director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de-facto embassy on the self-ruled island. Communist Party patriarch Deng Xiaoping first mooted the “one country, two systems” concept for the return of Hong Kong as well as the future reunification of Taiwan.
torsdag 22. november 2018
Europe arming itself against Chinese investment, despite denials
It remains to be seen if debt-ridden EU countries such as Italy, Greece or Portugal, which are all keen to attract Chinese investment to spur economic growth and balance their books, will support the proposed vetting system. Relevant legislation must be adopted by EU member states with a qualified majority and approved by the European Parliament before it can enter into force.
XI VS. DENG: FEUD BETWEEN CHINA'S TWO BIGGEST FAMILIES GOES PUBLIC
At the end of last year, an exhibition opened in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen with a frieze at the entrance depicting former “paramount” leader Deng Xiaoping touring the region that is synonymous with China’s reform era. Over the summer, the gallery closed for renovations. When it reopened in August, a quote from President Xi Jinping in Chinese and English, praising the country’s economic transformation, had replaced the frieze.
In September, the entrance was changed again, to include quotes from Xi and Deng. By November, the gallery had reverted to the original plan and the frieze was back. The hasty series of revamps illustrates the dangers lurking in the staid world of Chinese Communist iconography.
China has India surrounded in their new Great Game
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan -- Beijing is pulling South Asia into its orbit. Think of South Asia as a giant Othello board. The squares are countries of slices of coveted territory. The players trying to cover the board with their black and white pieces are China and India.
Nepal to join hands with China on Tibet-Kathmandu railway
Nepal will work with China to link its capital to Tibet by rail as the Himalayan nation strengthens ties with its giant northern neighbor to propel its development, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali told Nikkei in a recent interview. The plan is to extend the railway from Lhasa to Xigaze in Tibet, which opened in 2014, by 660 km to reach Nepal's capital of Kathmandu. This would be the first rail link that crosses the Nepal-China border, and is just one facet of China's drive to expand its influence through the Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative.
"Nepal is a landlocked country. To be developed, we need more and more connectivity," Gyawali said. "We can import goods at lower cost. The main purpose of the train project is to link to the second-largest economy of the globe." A detailed feasibility study will be carried out over the next year and a half, and the construction will take about six years, the minister said.
US and China ruin Asian cooperation with their battle for supremacy
Twenty-five years after the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Blake Island, Seattle, the regional forum has degenerated into a battle for influence between the U.S. and China. The 21-nation body had just 14 members back in 1993, but there was a sense of optimism in the air. "There is a growing sense of community among us," then-U. S. President Bill Clinton said in the leaders' declaration. "Our meeting reflects the emergence of a new voice for the Asia Pacific in world affairs," he added, still fresh in his first year in office aged 47.
Much has changed since then, and the APEC leaders' summit in Papua New Guinea felt quite different this year. For the first time in APEC's quarter-century history, its members could not agree on a joint communique. The host leader, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, was asked by reporters on Nov. 18, which of the members could not agree on the wording. "You know the two big giants in the room," he said. "What can I say?"
Much has changed since then, and the APEC leaders' summit in Papua New Guinea felt quite different this year. For the first time in APEC's quarter-century history, its members could not agree on a joint communique. The host leader, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, was asked by reporters on Nov. 18, which of the members could not agree on the wording. "You know the two big giants in the room," he said. "What can I say?"
Dramatik när Kina och USA drabbar samman under APEC
Dramatiska scener utspelade sig i helgen i Papua Nya Guineas huvudstad Port Moresby, där Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) hölls sitt årliga ministermöte. En öppen strid mellan Kinas president Xi Jinping och USA:s vice president Mike Pence slutade med att kinesiska diplomater bröt sig in på kontoret där värdlandets utrikesminister håller till, för att ändra formuleringen på den gemensamma diplomatiska skrivelse som utfärdas efter varje möte.
Papua Nya Guineas utrikesminister fick sedan kalla på polis för att de fyra kinesiska diplomaterna skulle avlägsna sig från hans kontor. Detta och mer beskrivs av Washington Post i den smått chockerande artikeln ”Inside China’s ‘tantrum diplomacy’ at APEC”:
Behind the scenes, the member countries were furiously negotiating over the joint statement. Chinese officials, not happy with how they were faring inside the negotiations, demanded a meeting with the PNG foreign minister. He declined, not wanting to appear to violate PNG’s neutrality as summit chair. The Chinese officials wouldn’t take no for an answer. They went to the foreign ministry and physically barged into his office, demanding he meet with them. He called the local police to get them out of the building. Every diplomat I talked to in PNG was stunned by China’s actions.
Nonfiction: The Disaster That Was the Vietnam War
As combat heated up in 1964, Hastings relates, Communist operatives strong-armed growing numbers of South Vietnamese peasants into the guerrilla force fighting to overthrow the United States-backed government in Saigon. For many young draftees, it was a soul-crushing experience, just as repugnant as conscription into the government’s army would have been if its recruiters had gotten there first.
“You always criticize the imperialists,” the father of one conscript lashed out at the Communists, “but you are even worse. I want my son back.”
Hastings sees the Vietnam War in much the same way as that anguished villager. In his telling, it was a conflict without good guys, an appalling conflagration in which the brutality, cynicism and incompetence of the United States and its South Vietnamese ally were equaled only by the wickedness of their enemies, leaving the hapless bulk of the Vietnamese population to suffer the consequences. “If America’s war leadership often flaunted its inhumanity, that of North Vietnam matched it cruelty for cruelty,” Hastings contends.
Five Takeaways From Our New China Project
How did China do it? When The New York Times set out to take a big-picture look at China, the what was obvious enough: Across the Pacific Ocean from the United States lies the world’s newest superpower, a rival to American interests both economic and political.
The how was another matter. How did the land once commonly — and with some disdain — known in the West as Communist China come to lead the world in the number of homeowners, internet users, college graduates and, by some counts, billionaires? How did a once-cloistered nation with a flailing economy drive extreme poverty down to less than 1 percent? How did it achieve social economic mobility unrivaled by much of the world?And perhaps most of all, how did a country that rejected all of the conventional wisdom Western economists had to offer arrive at a moment when it is on track to surpass the American economy and become the world’s largest?
The how was another matter. How did the land once commonly — and with some disdain — known in the West as Communist China come to lead the world in the number of homeowners, internet users, college graduates and, by some counts, billionaires? How did a once-cloistered nation with a flailing economy drive extreme poverty down to less than 1 percent? How did it achieve social economic mobility unrivaled by much of the world?And perhaps most of all, how did a country that rejected all of the conventional wisdom Western economists had to offer arrive at a moment when it is on track to surpass the American economy and become the world’s largest?
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