China :: Asia

Does Trump really what to do with China? Apparently the answer is yes to the Trump empire, but not to the rest rest of the world. Trump already got all the intellectual rights from China by calling Taiwan the first he enetered the Whitehouse, and then simply said he endorsed "one Chine Policy". As for the rest of the world, especially China's little neighbouring countries involved in the dispute of the South China Sea ... One will have a better chance of getting an answer by asking the mirror on the wall. How Trump can solve his Chinese puzzle Getting tough with China is a central part of President Donald Trump's plan to "make America great again". During the election campaign, he claimed that China was "raping" American industry. Since the election, he and senior aides have denounced Chinese policies over trade, North Korea and the South China Sea. These facts alone would make Mr Trump's summit meeting this week with China...

Reimagining China and Asia by Chas W. Freeman, Jr. Seventeen years ago, the turn of the 21st century marked a phase change in global geopolitics and economics. The age of Euro-American global dominance that began with Vasco da Gama and Columbus five centuries before is well on the way to ending, if it is not already over. China’s national resurgence is the most recent phase in a half-millennium-long contention between great powers for politico-military control of areas under historic Chinese and Indian influence as well as China and India themselves. Meanwhile, the two-century-old global infatuation with American aspirations for a more moral political order has faded. The Trump administration has replaced previously complacent American assumptions of global supremacy with a whining narrative of victimization by exploitative foreigners. U.S. dominance of the international state system is expiring– a process accelerated by the new administration’s determination to unilaterally d...

Opinion  By Rhondaki Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit out at the European Union on Friday for hypocrisy and called the bloc "sons of bitches" after its lawmakers issued a resolution calling for restraint and a rethink in his bloody war on drugs. Duterte castigated the EU for urging him to focus his campaign on drugs rehabilitation and stood by his security-centered approach to a crackdown that has left thousands of people dead since he took office nine months ago. He turned angry during a speech to Chinese businessmen, where he praised China for its no-strings-attached loans and aid and said he did not need the EU, or "idiotic" rehabilitation programs that failed to stop addicts committing robbery, rape and murder. "So we're getting a relief now from our hardships because a lot of (Chinese) money is coming in. The EU, they communicated to us, and they want a health-based solution for the drugs. These sons of bitches," he said. The EU...

Asia's Critical News  Asia has become the focus point of the Trump administration. North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and China continues to militarize the South China Sea and bully its neighbors such as Taiwan and Japan. Asia is quickly becoming the most important area of the world that effects American interests. Japan is America’s closest military and economic ally, China is America’s largest military and economic rival, and North Korea has now become America’s biggest short-term concern. Below is a succinct summary of the current developing situations in Asia that you should know about. South Korea – President Park Geun-hye has officially been impeached and removed from office after being implicated in a corruption and extortion scandal. A new election will be held within 60 days to elect the new president of South Korea. North Korea – The communist country successfully launched four ballistic missiles, and now appears to be pr...

AYUTTHAYA, Dec 27 - Honda Automobile (Thailand) began destroying the first lot of 1,055 passenger cars badly damaged in severe flooding at its car delivery centre at Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok. Several models, destroyed today include the 217 Brio, 213 Jazz, 353 City, 150 Civic, 91 Accord, 30 CR-V and one Freed. Pitak Pruittisarikorn, executive vice-president of Honda Automobile, representatives from the Thailand Automotive Institute, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute, the Provincial Excise Department and the media witnessed the event. Mr Pitak said all processes were supervised by the company, and related state agencies and industrial organisations to prevent re-use of all destroyed parts in order to regain public confidence. All processes were being carried out within the Honda premises will be complete by February, when production is expected to resume. The plant has a production capac...

BEIJING Chinas home-grown satellite navigation system launched a limited positioning service Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said, as the country seeks to break its dependence on foreign technology. China started building its space-based navigation network in 2000 to stop it having to rely on the US-controlled Global Positioning System (GPS), and previous reports have said it will provide a worldwide service by 2020. The Beidou, or Compass, navigation system was now providing services for China and surrounding areas, Xinhua said, and Beijing would launch another six satellites in 2012 to expand it to most of the Asia-Pacific region. The first Compass satellite was launched in April 2007, after four other experimental satellites were placed in orbit earlier in the decade. It is not clear how many satellites have been launched so far. Once completed, the system will have 35 satellites developed using Chinese technology, and will provide services for mapping, fishery, transport,...

BANGKOK, Dec 27 -- The cabinet will today consider the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management's urgent plan for flood prevention covering six issues in its regular Tuesday meeting. Yesterdays water committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra approved the flood prevention plan focused on six main issues: a permanent organisation to deal with water management overall; rebuilding and repairing all water gates and dredging all canals; to effectively manage water stored in dams; measures to help agriculturists with land in water retention areas; drawing up flood response and flood water drainage plans to expel water into the sea. Wichean Chawalit, secretary of the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management, said most of the proposals the cabinet will consider today are short term or urgent measures to fight floods that could happen in the next rainy season. Long term plans would only be forwarded to the cabinet for approval in principle before goi...

Syrian government forces shelled parts of the besieged city of Homs for the fifth consecutive day Monday, causing numerous casualties, as a team of Arab League observers headed to the Syrian capital, Damascus. Syrian government forces pounded the districts of Bab Amr and Bab Sibah in Homs, using tank shells, field artillery and mortars. Videos on opposition websites showed bodies lying in the streets and others being piled onto trucks. Other opposition videos showed buildings pock-marked by shrapnel, store-fronts blasted open, and rubble in the streets. A young man named Ibn Ayoush explained what happened to him. He said he lost his father, his house and his car in the shelling. He asked why the Arab League observer team has not yet made it to Homs to see what is happening and to see how people are being killed. He asked why the world is doing nothing. Numerous witnesses indicated that electricity was cut and food was running short in many parts of Homs. A video on Facebook showed wome...

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba has met with Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, seeking to assure her of Tokyos full support for expanded democratic governance in the Southeast Asian nation. Gemba held talks Monday with the Nobel laureate at her residence in Rangoon, and later told reporters he wants her and leaders of the countrys new civilian government to attend a summit in Japan next year. I invited President U Thein Sein to attend the Japan-Mekong sub-region summit due to be held in Tokyo sometime next year. I also invited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to visit Japan. For her part, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest, thanked Japan for its support. Our country is bound and determined to march towards the democratic goal. In doing so, I expect Japan to be at the forefront of friendly nations who will help us. Earlier Monday, the Japanese minister agreed with Burmese leaders to open negotiations on a bilateral investment pact. He a...

A Chinese police raid on a religious gathering follows the detention of unofficial "house" church members across the country. Police in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan fired tear-gas canisters at worshipers at a mass outdoor unofficial Christmas service, and moved to detain other members of "house" churches who tried to organize Christian worship elsewhere in the country, according to participants and rights groups. Sichuan-based church member Li Ming, who attended the Christmas service on a public square in Langzhong city, said police had raided the gathering and detained three people. "[On Christmas] morning at about 8.00 a.m. our church was holding a Christmas activity on Binjiang Road in Langzhong city," Li said in an interview on Monday. "There were around 20-30 police officers, and they used tear-gas canisters," he said. "My eyes were so swollen I couldn't see at all." Li said police had confiscated the group'...

LONDON Jose Mourinho says he has his sights set on an eventual return to England but only once he has made the most of the great experience of being at the helm of Real Madrid. The former Chelsea manager has long stated his love of the English game and many observers feel he will ultimately be headhunted to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United after the latter eventually retires. Mourinho joined Real on a four-year contract in 2010 fresh from delivering a first European Cup for Inter Milan in four decades, having already won the competition with Porto. Having landed the Spanish Cup in his first season Mourinho has now taken Real to the top of La Liga but he told the BBC on Monday he still dreams of returning for a second spell in the English Premier League. I am very, very happy to be in Real Madrid. It is a great experience for me, Mourinho stressed. I believe it is probably the biggest club in the history of football, I didnt want to miss the chance to work here. But my p...

Policy debate heats up as economy cools. Signs of a slowdown are rippling through China's economy, raising concerns about the effects of government policies. Reports suggest the economy has belatedly heeded Premier Wen Jiabao's call to cool overheated sectors like property development and drive down inflation. The question now is whether the government has gone too far. "They put in place a policy for slowing the economy down and that policy has been very successful," Harvard economist Dale Jorgenson told RFA. "Now they have to navigate to the proverbial soft landing." Monetary policies appear poised between tightening and loosening after the government eased reserve requirements for banks on Nov. 30 for the first time in nearly three years. Earlier this month, officials seemed ready to declare victory in Wen's fight to curb price growth after November inflation fell to 4.2 percent from 5.5 percent the month before. Similar success was seen in housing as...

Karachi : The recently launched computerized arms license management information system by the defunct city district government Karachi (CDGK) has become almost dysfunctional just after one month of its inauguration, sources informed PPI. The system was inaugurated on November 11, 2011 and the purpose of the system was to garner record of all arms licenses issued under the tenure of defunct CDGK and in the second phase it was to be digitized. It had also a facility that a license holder could get his information by typing his National Identity Card number on its website that was supposed to be launched by February 2012. Sources told that the data of more than 2,000 arms licenses had already been already been computerized, however after the revival of commissionerate system, the computerization of arms licenses project became dysfunctional. It is learnt that after the restoration of commissionerate system, all such records have now transferred to commissioner office. Sources informed th...