Picture this: Beneath a towering portrait of Chairman Mao, brutal Chinese dictators bask in the warm glow of international good will as the world's top volleyball players romp across imported sand spread over Tiananmen Square -- the same bloodied site where government...
Asia
Asian American Pity Party
Here are some of the racial epithets I've been called in my lifetime: Chink. Gook. Jap. Nigger. Slant eyes. Dog-eater. Those are just the printable ones. I'm an American of Filipino descent, but have been mistaken for everything from native Hawaiian to Caribbean. I've...
Dealing with the China-Taiwan Puzzle
As the guarantor of regional security in Asia, the United States should be paying closer attention to the military buildup and strident anti-Taiwan rhetoric of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Other nations may be able to dismiss these threats as just another...
Conference Report: NYU’s “ASIA: Restructuring in Action”
Last week I attended a full-day business conference "ASIA: Restructuring in Action," at NYU's Stern School of Business. There, professors and industry experts met to discuss how post-crisis Asia was progressing. We discussed macroeconomic trends, the restructuring of...
Bush Should End the Clinton Sponsored Appeasement of China
President Bush meets today with Qian Qichen, China's deputy prime minister and the first senior Beijing official to visit the White House since the new administration began. Uppermost on Qian's agenda is the question of arms for Taiwan, which he calls "the most...
The U.S. Needs to Stop Arming and Training China’s Military
Part of the reason U.S. military leaders give away too much is naiveté, not disloyalty. Part of the explanation for such actions is this romantic sense of wanting to give China something in the hopes of developing a friendship. People do really dumb things.
“Blood In The Streets” in Asia — Again.
While the eyes of the world have been focused on the spectacular rise and fall of the NASDAQ over the past 12 months, Asian stocks have had an even more spectacular ride, declining to levels not seen since the depths of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The Asian...
Bank of Japan Interest Rate Hike is a Canard
On August 11th, Japan's central bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), announced its first interest rate hike in ten years. For seventeen months, the BOJ had lent money overnight to the banking system at a rate of zero; that is, no interest. Now, with the hike, it will charge...
Here Comes Mickey Mao: Hong Kong’s new Mickey Mouse economics
Hong Kong's new government appears to be losing its inhibitions about contradicting market prices, favoring some industries over others, and using taxpayers' money to dispense windfall profits to those in favor. The deal recently signed with Disney to build a theme...
Clinton-China vs. Taiwan-America: Independence Day’s Meaning Long Forgotten
On July 4, the US celebrated its 223rd birthday with hot dogs, cotton candy, ice-cream and fireworks. There was much self-congratulation but few tributes to the day's real meaning. July 4, 1776 was the day the Continental Congress approved and signed the Declaration...
The “Bubble” Theory is Full of Hot Air: A Case Study in Japan
What the market at large did not foresee [which] perhaps could be called a ‘widespread error in thinking’, was that Japanese politicians would [take] political issue [with] the quickly increasing prosperity.
Appeasing Dictatorship: From Munich to Hong Kong
With little regard for this recent history, Britain is appeasing dictatorship once again. On July 1, 1997, Britain will officially give back political authority over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.
Tell the World: What Happened in China and Why by Liu Binyan
China’s turmoil and tragedy are almost certainly far from over.