[Yoon Young-kwan] The shape of Asia’s new Cold War

In retrospect, the decision by the Communist Party of China to impose a new security law on Hong Kong seems to have been preordained. Historically, rising powers always try to expand their spheres of geopolitical influence once they pass a certain stage of economic development. It was only a matter of time before China would do away with the “one country, two systems” arrangement and impose its laws and norms on Hong Kong -- a territory it considers integral to the motherland. From

June 16, 2020

[Therese Raphael] What a slave trader’s statue says about Britain

If Britons wanted a reason to protest against institutional racism, or police brutality, they didn’t have to look 6,400 kilometers away. There have been plenty of local examples over the years. “I can’t breathe” will have resonated with many black families here. That’s why the killing of George Floyd has been a call to action in the UK too. An estimated 137,500 people have attended more than 200 protests in recent days. One produced an iconic picture of global outr

June 15, 2020

[Timothy L. O’Brien] Why Trump has trouble addressing Black Lives Matter

April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent with American Urban Radio Networks and a political analyst for CNN, reported Tuesday afternoon that President Donald Trump is planning a major address on “race relations” in the US. The speech, Ryan said, is being written by Stephen Miller, the young Trump loyalist on the White House staff who has coaxed the president into approving policies like separating migrant children from their parents and incarcerating them at the Mexican border

June 15, 2020

[Digital Simplicity] Does your refrigerator spark joy?

Just like the merciless ransomware which locked down my entire hard disk drive overnight, the sudden demise of my refrigerator turned a whole array of food items into something closer to trash. It marked more than the end of a home appliance; my everyday life, aided by the modern gadget, was melting. Literally. When I woke up in the morning early this week, the beloved and always-reliable fridge had leaked a stream of water that was now trickling across the floor. When I opened the door for th

June 12, 2020

[Andreas Kluth] US must not cut troops in Germany　

It’s always interesting to see who’s celebrating. In German politics, that’s currently the Left Party, a descendant of East Germany’s former dictatorship that likes to brew anti-Americanism and Russophilia into a toxic populist mix. The party’s bosses are delighted about a rumor, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that the US may pull out some 9,500 of the 34,500 American troops stationed in Germany, and then cap their numbers at 25,000. Dietmar Bartsch, th

June 12, 2020

[Nisha Gopalan] The office not dead, just recovering

I returned to the office this week, joining thousands of bankers from Citigroup to Morgan Stanley that are trickling back to their desks in Hong Kong. After almost five months working from home, it’s going to take some getting used to. The easing of coronavirus lockdowns heralds the beginning of the end for the world’s greatest work-from-home experiment. Perhaps. Twitter will let employees work from home permanently even after the outbreak recedes, while others such as Google have s

June 11, 2020

[Andy Mukherjee] Economic nationalism a wrong turn for COVID-hit India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants all 1.3 billion Indians to be “vocal for local” -- meaning, to not just use domestically made products but also to promote them. As an overseas citizen living in Hong Kong, I’m doing my bit by very vocally demanding Indian mangoes on every trip to the grocery. But half the summer is gone, and not a single slice so far. My loss is due to India’s COVID-19 lockdown, which has severely pinched logistics, a perennial challenge in the huge, i

June 11, 2020

[Clara Ferreira Marques] Vietnam breaks out of COVID tourist trap

Vietnam is pulling ahead in the race to reopen Southeast Asia to city-hoppers and sunseekers. International arrivals were down 98 percent in May from a year earlier, after a record 2019. Yet success in containing the coronavirus epidemic means domestic travel has already restarted. Thailand, by comparison, is still under a state of emergency, and other neighbors in the tourism-friendly region are only slowly easing restrictions. The steady reopening will help Vietnam’s convalescing econom

June 10, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Korea caught in the crossfire

A crisis is mounting between the United States and China, and South Korea has found herself suddenly caught in the crossfire of the two superpowers. Now under relentless pressure, the Korean government faces a sobering reality in which the answer to the question “Which side are you on?” will bring decisive or even dire consequences. Such a situation is not new to the Korean people; we were also stuck in the crossfire between China and Japan in the 19th century. Back then, Korea cou

June 10, 2020

[Clara Ferreira Marques] China tackles dirty work of finance

Beijing is scrubbing up. Late last week, the central bank excluded so-called clean coal from a draft list of projects eligible for green bonds. It’s a significant move that puts the world’s No. 2 issuer on the path toward consistency with international norms, making it easier to attract the foreign capital required to finance hundreds of billions of dollars of environmental fixes. The next logical step will be to tackle what companies are allowed to do with the cash they raise. So-ca

June 9, 2020

[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge

What was your first reaction when you saw the video of the white cop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck while Floyd croaked, “I can’t breathe”? If you’re white, you probably muttered a horrified, “Oh, my God” while shaking your head at the cruel injustice. If you’re black, you probably leapt to your feet, cursed, maybe threw something (certainly wanted to throw something), while shouting, “Not @#$%! again!” Then you remember the two white

June 9, 2020

[Therese Raphael] How COVID-19 has made Brexit even harder

It came as no surprise that a fourth round of trade negotiations between the UK and the EU has produced no big breakthrough. Once again, there is talk about Britain separating from the EU in December without a trade deal in place; Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey told banks this week to prepare for just that. Why hasn’t the coronavirus pandemic changed the Brexit narrative, forced an outbreak of reasonableness between UK and EU negotiators or at least made compromise more likely? It&rsq

June 8, 2020

[Cass R. Sunstein] ‘Union’ crucial word in Mattis’ text

What pushed former Defense Secretary James Mattis over the edge, to denounce President Donald Trump in the strongest possible terms? Only the former general knows for sure, but a clue is provided by the title of his statement: “In Union There Is Strength.” Another clue is provided by the most important words in his text: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divid

June 8, 2020

[Serendipity] Time for government to step up to the plate

The 1,442nd Wednesday Rally held across the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday proceeded as it has for 30 years, opening with a performance followed by individual citizens and group representatives coming to the microphone to express their support for former Japanese military sex slaves during World War II and call on the Japanese government to officially apologize to the victims and provide legal reparations. The rally was subdued compared to those I had seen in the past, flanked on eithe

June 5, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] What would Biden presidency mean for Korea?

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated many trends that have been gathering force slowly. The pandemic transformed the tense competition between the US and China into a nascent Cold War. To isolate China, US President Donald Trump has proposed expanding the annual G-7 summit to include South Korea, along with Australia, India, Russia, and possibly Brazil. The goal of the strategy is to surround China with major powers that cooperate on global economic issues. South Korea’s participation

June 5, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] ’Comfort woman’ crusader puts us to shame

In the persistent condemnation of Japan’s wartime sex slavery, we have told the descendants of former imperialists to be sorely ashamed of the part of history that they share with Koreans. The recent episode, involving Yoon Mi-hyang, a key activist in the protest movement, brought shame on ourselves. Public complaints stoked when the leader of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery of Japan became a National Assembly lawmaker on the ruling

June 4, 2020

[Noah Feldman] Antifa threat imperils free speech

On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that the executive branch will designate Antifa as a “terrorist organization,” apparently in an attempt to pin blame for the weekend’s violent protests on the loose collection of far-left activists. The president’s announcement was characteristically unclear. Federal law says that if the Secretary of State designates a group as a foreign terrorist organization, then materially supporting that organization becomes a very serious f

June 4, 2020

[Adam Minter] Just one step for SpaceX

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that’s orbiting the Earth with two US astronauts is the picture of New Space Age glamour. It’s a sleek, stylish commercially made capsule that’s destined to be featured beside Italian sports cars in future design textbooks. Just don’t tell that to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive and chief designer. “Is a Ferrari more reliable than a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic?” he once asked a space journalist. The answer, of cou

June 3, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Good government in these troubled times

We need government to run the country for us and represent us in the international community. Unfortunately, however, we often find our government overbearing and oppressive. Sometimes we suffer heavy taxes and other times, tyrannical rule. That is why “governance” has always been a major concern of political scientists. Thomas Paine aptly pointed out the issue, saying, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

June 3, 2020

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] The uncertain pandemic consensus

What is the COVID-19 crisis teaching us about the role of the state? And what lasting lessons will our societies draw from it? It is still very early to be asking these questions, but they cannot be avoided. Postponing their discussion would simply leave the field open for those peddling old obsessions whose time is long gone (if it ever came). The starting point should be that, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump notwithstanding, a new pandemic consensus has been f

June 2, 2020