Compared to the robust Sino-U.S. trade ties and the frequent exchanges at official and people-to-people level, Sino-U.S. military exchanges have remained dormant in recent years. But thanks to the efforts of both sides, Beijing and Washington are making headway in fixing this weak link in their bilateral relations. A group of high-ranking Chinese military officers, led by Chief of the General Staf

Viewpoints May 20, 2011

Now that there are 47 days left before the election ― Thailand’s 26th and by far the most important at this political juncture ― just look at the ways various contesting parties are positioning themselves to win or cheat votes. They will be like the spaghetti-western movies ― the good, the bad and the ugly. There are plenty of the last two groups already.In the past few days, quite a few alarming

Viewpoints May 20, 2011

The nation has recently experienced severe conflicts between local governments over the location of state-promoted projects such as the science-business belt, an international airport in the southeastern region and the relocation of LH Corp., a state-run property development agency. The sites for these projects have all been chosen but the government needs to tackle the following challenges to pre

Editorial May 19, 2011

It is encouraging that Korea’s national competitiveness ranking keeps rising. According to Switzerland-based IMD, Korea placed 22nd among the 59 countries surveyed in the World Competitiveness Yearbook for 2011. That is the highest spot Korea has taken since IMD started to evaluate the competitiveness of major countries in 1997. Korea climbed in the IMD global rankings for the third consecutive ye

Editorial May 19, 2011

A federal jury last week answered a challenge that armies of government regulators and enforcement officials largely have ignored: The jurors convicted a major Wall Street financial figure for crimes committed during the sleaziness that led to the 2008 financial collapse.Raj Rajaratnam, 53, once the manager of the Galleon Group, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, was convicted Wednesday

Viewpoints May 19, 2011

Who would you figure to be America’s highest-paid CEO?Someone from the tech industry, maybe. Or bioscience. Or petroleum. And to be sure, some sweet compensation packages and bonuses are to be had in those fields.But according to Forbes, America’s highest paid chief executive officer hails from the industry that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are roundly accused of trying to de

Viewpoints May 19, 2011

Will the killing of Osama bin Laden really be “a game-changer” in the Afghan war?Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it may be. And this is the big question I’ll be exploring on a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan.Will bin Laden’s demise speed the U.S. troop exit? My gut tells me it will make a difference, but not as big as Congress and a war-weary public would like.The state of play in Afghanistan

Viewpoints May 19, 2011

PARIS ― A new and important acronym has entered the French political lexicon: QPC, which stands for the rather austere-sounding “Priority preliminary ruling on the question of constitutionality.” Under QPC, which was part of the constitutional reforms that France implemented in July 2008, any citizen involved in legal proceedings can now contest the constitutionality of a legislative provision.Thi

Viewpoints May 19, 2011

The Navy SEALs who raided Osama bin Laden’s compound aren’t the only members of the mission to be cloaked in mystery. The military dog the commandos took along is too. The government won’t even release his ― or her ― breed, although most military dogs are German shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Labradors or Lab mixes. We do know the canine was included in the very private meeting President Obama held

Viewpoints May 18, 2011

A federal appeals court will soon consider a challenge to an Oklahoma measure prohibiting the use of Sharia, or Islamic law, in the state’s courts. The constitutional amendment is part of a national trend in which politicians ― including Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich ― argue that it is vital to prevent Sharia from insinuating itself into the administration of justice in U.S. cour

Viewpoints May 18, 2011

One school of thought about the so-called jobless recovery of the American economy blames high unemployment on the federal deficit. But that’s blaming the wrong deficit.To achieve an authentic recovery that includes new jobs, the deficit we need to cut is in trade.For 20 years, America’s exports have been surpassed by its imports, with a big bite of that trade deficit composed of oil imports. Addr

Viewpoints May 18, 2011

If, two years ago, reports of Timothy Geithner possibly leaving reached the White House, some advisers would have seized on them as an opportunity; President Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary got off to a very rocky start, and was considered a short-termer.Today, if rumblings that he’s thinking about stepping down made their way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there would be near panic. Geithner is a

Viewpoints May 18, 2011