Special to WorldTribune.com South Korea and Japan have agreed to push for a resolution to a long-time dispute that weakens both nations’ critical alliance with the United States and has damaged ties between the two nations for decades. Japan and South Korea are key U.S. allies in a joint geopolitical posture that counters expansionist communist […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Parris H. Chang In the wake of Xi Jinping’s leadership ascendancy since the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012, Beijing’s aggressive posture in the Asia-Pacific region has become clearly discernible. China’s steady thrust into the South China Sea and sudden establishment of an air defense identification zone near […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com China-Malaysian ties appear to have become an unintended casualty of the tragedy revolving around the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Senior Chinese officials have made no secret of their dissatisfaction with the search and rescue operation handled by the Malaysian government. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced at a Central Committee plenum last November that it was setting up a Central National Security Commission (CNSC), most analysts compared it to the American National Security Council. Since then, few details have emerged about this secretive superagency, aside from the fact […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The 12.2 percent budget boost for the People’s Liberation Army has stolen the limelight at China’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which opened in Beijing on Wednesday. Also remarkable are assertive foreign policy-related remarks made by Premier Li Keqiang and the NPC spokesman Fu Ying, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Beijing has announced the line-up of a super-agency charged with overseeing the directions of economic reform. President Xi Jinping, who is already in charge of party and foreign affairs in addition the army and the police, has been appointed the Head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Leading Group […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The Beijing propaganda machinery has gone into overdrive to advertise the upcoming plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, which is scheduled to endorse an economic-reform blueprint. Yu Zhengsheng, the No. 4-ranked member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), has asserted that “the scale […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com A series of diplomatic moves among the three members of the BRICS group has thrown into relief Beijing’s latest strategy to counter what it perceives as an anti-China containment policy spearheaded by Washington. Earlier this week, the Indian and Russian prime ministers, respectively Manmohan Singh and Dmitry Medvedev […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The Chinese leadership has stepped up its “smile diplomacy” vis-à-vis Southeast Asia even as President Barack Obama has been forced to stay home to handle the government-shutdown crisis. Immediately after President Xi Jinping’s high-profile appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Bali, Indonesia last week, Premier Li […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — People’s Republic of China president Xi Jinping went on a charm offensive in Southeast Asia, preening and posturing about the widening role Beijing plans to play in the business of this vital region. United States President Barack Obama was stuck back in Washington pouting and posturing over the partial […]