[Shang-Jin Wei] Why is China‘s growth rate falling so fast?

In early 2021, the consensus forecast for Chinese GDP growth this year among 25 major global banks and other professional forecasters was 8.3 percent. In contrast, the Chinese government’s own growth target was around 6 percent, lower than the best guesses of 24 out of the 25 institutional forecasters. Did the government know something that outsiders had missed? Did it plan to do something that it regards as desirable even though it might compromise growth? More recently, international b

Nov. 22, 2021

[Takatoshi Ito] Beware of Japan‘s ‘new capitalism’

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida survived the general election on Oct. 31, which came just weeks after his arrival in office as the new leader of the nation. Losing only 15 seats, the Liberal Democratic Party performed better than expected and will maintain a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives, with 261 of 465 seats. The relative loser was the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, which lost 13 seats, leaving it with 96. It performed worse than p

Nov. 22, 2021

[Robert J. Fouser] South Korea and COP26

The recent 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Scotland ended to mixed reviews. The purpose of the conference was to develop detailed plans to implement the goal of limiting global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050. This goal agreed to in the Paris Agreement in 2015. The scientific community is in broad agreement that warming beyond this level will have grave implications for people and ecosystems. Scientists and climate activists

Nov. 19, 2021

[Song Jong-hwan] Freedom, is it automatic?

On March 23, 1775, American Founding Father Patrick Henry (1736-1799) famously declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” When this declaration spread to the world, it ceased belonging to just one person, and became truth. The liberty he claimed is an innate human right to think and act autonomously without external oppression or interference, and no political authority can deprive one of it. The Liberty International Movie Festival which highlights liberty as its motif, exists

Nov. 18, 2021

[Parmy Olson] Facial recognition has its limits

London is one of the most watched cities in the world: Its inhabitants are caught on camera about 300 times a day on average and the British capital has become a test bed for police use of live facial recognition. But the technology, which powers a multibillion-dollar market for security firms and building management, has troubling limitations. To show it up even more, a special team of human officers have, anecdotally, been doing a better job than the cameras. London’s Metropolitan Polic

Nov. 18, 2021

An advanced weather radar network: The first line of defense against severe weather

“An instrument called Cheugugi was made in Seoul from iron for measuring rainfall. It measured one cheok and five chon (about 32 cm) deep and seven chon (about 15 cm) in diameter.”  - May 8, 1441, 23rd year of King Sejong’s reign This is the first record of humanity’s first step in the scientific measurement of rainfall, as written in the Veritable Records of King Sejong on May 8, 1441. The cheugugi was similar to modern rain gauges except for the ways of communica

Nov. 17, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] Coined English words are for domestic use only

These days, the Korean people have invented a few new English words, such as “untact” or “with corona,” which means, respectively “no contact” and “living with the coronavirus.” When Koreans say a “notebook,” they refer to a “laptop.” When they say, a “hand phone,” they mean a “cellphone.” Other examples include “po-doc” for “post-doc,” and “oil” for “gasoline

Nov. 17, 2021

[Mihir Sharma] COVAX needed for climate

When he stunned the Glasgow climate conference by committing India to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a crucial caveat. Without the “transfer of climate finance and low-cost climate technologies,” he said, developing nations such as India would never be able to achieve their ambitious targets. That’s not an idle worry. If we have learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that the developing world cannot count on

Nov. 17, 2021

[Josep Borrell] A strategic compass for Europe

A compass helps one find one’s way, and the “Strategic Compass” that I have drafted at the behest of the European Council will serve as an operational guide for the European Union’s development and decision-making on security and defense. It is now heading to EU foreign affairs and defense ministers for discussions next week. The compass is designed to answer three questions: Which challenges and threats do we face? How can we better pool our assets and manage them eff

Nov. 16, 2021

[Michael R. Strain] Big business can’t rely on Republicans anymore

The marriage between big business and the Republican Party has long been one of the strongest in American politics. But that relationship is on the rocks, and the rift is growing wider and wider. The conflict puts business leaders in the agonizing position of being caught between newly hostile Republicans and traditionally antagonistic Democrats. The correct response is not to commit to either party, but to find allies in both. Importantly, executives need to engage in a campaign of persuasion

Nov. 16, 2021

[Lynn Schmidt] Pop goes the progressive bubble

Time to pop some bubbles. Sorry progressives, there are some pins coming your way. Recently I wrote a column with the headline “Just tell them no, Joe,” in which I suggested that progressive Democrats were pushing President Joe Biden too far to the left with his domestic agenda and that Americans elected Biden to restore a sense of normalcy to the presidency, not to launch a spending spree. I received quite a bit of email from those on the progressive left. Most suggested that I wa

Nov. 15, 2021

[Kent Harrington] NK should see changes affecting Korean Peninsula

Nearly three years after his failed bromance with Donald Trump, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is once again angling for US attention. North Korea has tested a new, high-tech missile and hinted that it may agree to restart talks with South Korea, where President Moon Jae-in desperately wants to resuscitate his moribund outreach to the North. But if Kim is expecting a positive reaction from US President Joe Biden, he shouldn’t hold his breath. With issues like China and the rebuilding o

Nov. 15, 2021

[Conor Sen] Investor pressure speeding EV arrival

As the automobile industry evolves toward an electric future, incentives will be a big driver of the transition -- not just potential tax credits to accelerate demand, but investor behavior that helps shift automakers’ priorities. Manufacturers are going to try to ramp up spending on future electric models while maintaining profit at a level acceptable to their shareholders. That will inevitably lead to fewer dollars spent on their gasoline-powered models, and eventually product stagnati

Nov. 11, 2021

[Lee Kyong-hee] ’Squid Game’: A binge-watcher’s view

I finished “Squid Game” in one sitting. The binge-watch was borne out of necessity. Anxious to see why the Korean series was soaring to No. 1 on Netflix’s global list, my overloaded schedule was unrelenting. But then an eight-hour gap cobbled into place. Honestly, I got trapped, willingly. Past the noisy opening scenes of betting on horse racing, it was easy to remain glued to all nine episodes. Thus, I joined the estimated 142 million households worldwide who watched &ldquo

Nov. 11, 2021

[Melvyn B. Krauss] Germany’s Chinese kowtow

The Greens and the Free Democratic Party, the kingmakers of Germany’s prospective three-party coalition government, favor confronting China over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang and its crackdown in Hong Kong. Despite this, Germany’s authoritarian-friendly China policies are unlikely to change when Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic Party leader who is expected to succeed outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, takes office. This is because Germany is simply too hooked on exports to C

Nov. 10, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] Living with the coronavirus

Experts have been issuing dire warnings that we may not be able to overcome the coronavirus pandemic completely and may thus have to live with it forever. An article from the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, titled “Living with coronavirus (COVID-19): A brief report,” begins with the following proclamation: “The world will never be the same after the current COVID-19 pandemic. We may have to live with the coronavirus for a long time.” Another re

Nov. 10, 2021

[Trudy Rubin] ‘We are witnessing a large shift in geopolitical power’

The world is changing faster than our sluggish political leaders -- let alone the public -- can manage. The COVID-19 virus and climate change move far more quickly than the international community, as we saw last week at the G-20 in Rome and the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Back home, rapid social shifts push many Americans to embrace fraudsters who promise to save them. The urgent need to upgrade our fraying democracy is blocked by Republican Party naysayers and Democratic Party

Nov. 9, 2021

[Tim Culpan] Next big hack could come from the stars

For decades, IT administrators have waged an endless war to protect their systems from hackers. That struggle started half a century ago with audio tapes and floppy discs the primary weapon, before faster wired and mobile communications allowed an adversary to breach a target’s network to steal credit card information or shut down oil pipelines. Take that battle 20,000 kilometers into space where satellites roam and you have the final frontier of cybersecurity. And with it come the same v

Nov. 8, 2021

[Andreas Kluth] Climate change and national sovereignty

As we collectively hurtle into the era of climate change, international relations as we’ve known them for almost four centuries will change beyond recognition. This shift is probably inevitable, and possibly even necessary. But it will also cause new conflicts, and therefore war and suffering. Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, diplomats have -- in peacetime and war alike -- for the most part subscribed to the principle of national sovereignty. This is the idea, enshrined in the Chart

Nov. 8, 2021