Xi Jinping cracks down, taking a page from Chairman Mao’s radical playbook

Xi Jinping cracks down, taking a page from Chairman Mao’s radical playbook

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com While China’s new supremo has made rhetorical pledges about following in the reformist footsteps of Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary Xi Jinping has adopted measures that smack a lot more of the philosophy of Mao Zedong. Mao launched in 1951 the so-called “Three Antis movement” against corruption, a wasteful […]

Sale of Exxon Mobil stakes makes Beijing top consumer of Iraq’s oil

Sale of Exxon Mobil stakes makes Beijing top consumer of Iraq’s oil

Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com The U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp has decided to sell its stakes in the West Qurna phase 1 oilfield in Iraq. Exxon will sell its stakes to Chinese state-run oil giant China National Petroleum Corp [CNPC], China’s official newspaper China Daily confirmed on Jan. 24. With […]

As U.S. ‘pivots’ to East Asia, Taiwan is drifting into Beijing’s orbit

As U.S. ‘pivots’ to East Asia, Taiwan is drifting into Beijing’s orbit

Sol W. Sanders   TAIPEI – The U.S.’ 50-year-old alliance with [Formosa] Taiwan is eroding slowly but surely in the face of Beijing’s siren call and growing indifference of the Obama administration. Yet at a moment when U.S. strategy ostensibly calls for a “pivot” toward Asia, the de facto alliance could never have been more […]

A modest solution to the China-Japan dispute over islands: They belong to Taiwan

A modest solution to the China-Japan dispute over islands: They belong to Taiwan

Special to WorldTribune.com By Sol W. Sanders TAIPEI – Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, former Taiwan vice president, proposes a demilitarized settlement of the East China islands flash point between China and Japan. In an interview with WorldTribune, Lu claimed Taiwan actually has the best claim to the Diaoyutai/Senkaku chain of uninhabited islands. Although China seems to […]

Congress silent as Gore defends terror TV deal with ‘relatively independent’ Al Jazeera

Congress silent as Gore defends terror TV deal with ‘relatively independent’ Al Jazeera

Special to WorldTribune.com By Cliff Kincad It is fun to watch Big Oil critic Al Gore squirm as he is questioned about selling out to the oil-rich dictatorship in Qatar. But his sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera is not a laughing matter. This transaction is a homeland security threat that violates numerous U.S. […]

High speed trains make sense in bustling S. Korea, but not in depressed Britain

High speed trains make sense in bustling S. Korea, but not in depressed Britain

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com MANCHESTER, England — The Brits face a problem that Koreans might — or might not — appreciate. By now Koreans have gotten thoroughly used to zipping up and down the Republic of Korea, that is, the Korean peninsula south of the DMZ, on super-fast trains at relatively inexpensive […]