Europe urgently needs to repair a banking system that’s weighing on the region’s economy. Governments say they understand, but they still aren’t taking the task seriously.The issue is global standards for capital -- the bedrock financing that makes banks capable of absorbing losses without going bust. Lack of capital in 2008 turned financial setbacks into a full-scale crisis. Regulators agreed on tougher capital standards back in 2010; now, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which inclu

Viewpoints Oct. 30, 2016

All the recent presidents here encountered difficulties in the final phase of their presidencies due to wrongdoings committed by their relatives, aides and associates. Some of them went to jail on charges of exploiting their close relationships with the president and engaging in corruption or influence-peddling. President Park Geun-hye has fallen into crisis due to the snowballing scandal that centers on her longtime associate Choi Soon-sil. For all the similarities, there is one big difference

Editorial Oct. 27, 2016

The US and South Korea have held a ‘two-plus-two’ meeting of foreign and defence ministers in Washington, during which they positioned the improvement in North Korea’s nuclear and missile capability as ‘a direct threat’ while also announcing specific policies to deal with the situation.　The policies include a US pledge to continue providing South Korea with extended deterrence, the main pillar of which is a nuclear umbrella. The two nations have also agreed to establish high-level dialogue aimed

Viewpoints Oct. 27, 2016

Goa has just played host to an impressive group of heads from different parts of the world, weighty figures who lead countries that have recently emerged into prominence and collectively bid fair to reshape processes of international cooperation. Brics, whose Summit meeting brought these high dignitaries to India, is a relatively new grouping of emerging countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- that is to say of countries that have come out of relative obscurity in global co

Viewpoints Oct. 27, 2016

As the US political campaign encourages simplistic views of foreign affairs, with candidates assuming falsely that voters cannot handle the complexities, the view of China making the rounds tends to be left out a lot.In fact, that nation of 1.3 billion, with an enormous, growing economy, governed through an archaic, at least in principle highly ideological structure, tends to be so preoccupied with its own internal problems as to be virtually incapable of presenting any real threat to the United

Viewpoints Oct. 27, 2016

With stinging words in Beijing against our top ally, America, President Rodrigo Duterte is taking the Philippines on a foreign policy adventure that carries with it immense socio-economic import and potentially dangerous geopolitical repercussions.If he goes beyond catchy rhetoric and actually sets in motion policies and events that cuts the Philippines’ deep and complex ties with America -- a paradigm shift that will place it firmly in the political-military orbit of such countries as the hermi

Viewpoints Oct. 27, 2016

The Chinese government appears to be embarking on economic retaliation against South Korea over the decision by Seoul and Washington to station the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on the peninsula.Beijing’s action targets the tourism industry here, as it has instructed its private travel agents to cut the number of tourists to Korea by 20 percent on-year. The state-led regulations will also reportedly include curbing low-price package tours and discouraging shopping in Korea.The trave

Editorial Oct. 26, 2016

For a moment last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte seemed to have orchestrated one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in Asia since the end of the Cold War -- abandoning the US, his country’s longtime ally, for rival China. Characteristically, he did so with zero subtlety. In responding, the US should avoid making the same mistake.That’s not to say Duterte’s anti-US comments in Beijing last week should be dismissed as the ravings of a hot-tempered diplomatic lightweight. He remai

Viewpoints Oct. 26, 2016

Apparently we’re supposed to sympathize with giant conglomerates AT&T and Time Warner. They’re so beleaguered by changes in their core businesses that their only path to survival, so they say, is a merger valued at $84.5 billion that will keep their fleeing customers corralled.　Consumer advocates aren’t buying this. Politicians across the spectrum aren’t buying this — who would expect to find Donald Trump, the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democrats in the US Congress, who all are expressing doub

Viewpoints Oct. 26, 2016

The French mathematician Blaise Pascal famously said, “It is not certain that everything is uncertain.” Had he been around for Brexit, he might not be so sure. While a moderate outcome remains likely, uncertainty and animosity have been on the rise in recent weeks. This is the Brexit paradox: The longer it takes for pragmatism to re-enter the debate, the higher the chance that the chilling effect of the unknown will cause permanent damage to both the United Kingdom and the European Union.This wa

Viewpoints Oct. 26, 2016

A promise between Japanese and Chinese leaders appears to have been one-sidedly discarded similar to a mere scrap of wastepaper, and this should not be overlooked.China has started operating two gas fields near the Japan-China median line in the East China Sea. In early October, the Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed gas flares at the production sites and photographed them.This means 12 of the 16 offshore facilities that China has constructed are now in operation.Demarcation between Japan and

Viewpoints Oct. 26, 2016