“Almost the single worst abuser of everybody.” This was how US President Donald Trump described Vietnam’s approach to trade in an interview in June. His damning verdict was followed a few days later by an announcement from the US Department of Commerce that it would be imposing duties of up to 456 per cent on Vietnamese...Read More

On July 24, the Chinese government released “China’s National Defense in the New Era.” The Defense White Paper, Beijing’s first major military policy document in four years, basically summarized or expanded the main ideas and slogans that China’s paramount leader, Xi Jinping, previously said in his key domestic and international speeches in recent years. READ THE...Read More

While a visiting senior politician from Vietnam and her Chinese hosts talked in Beijing about the friendship and comradeship between the two communist neighbors, it was reported that their coast-guard vessels had been involved in a confrontation over a reef in the South China Sea. READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON ASIA TIMES.Read More

Preaching is one of the things that Chinese leaders and officials do –and do brilliantly – on the international stage. Wherever they go, they always preach about how international relations should be conducted and paint their country as a responsible, benign and altruistic power. READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON ASIA TIMES.Read More

On and in the lead-up to June 4, many people in Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yet in mainland China, any mention or coverage of the Chinese army’s violent crackdown on the peaceful student-led protests was totally forbidden. READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON ASIA TIMES.Read More

Countries often mark landmark anniversaries of their normalized relations. But instead of commemorating the 40th anniversary of their normalization of ties with fanfare, the United States and the People’s Republic of China are engaging in a multi-front conflict. READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON ASIA TIMES.Read More

In a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, which took place just hours before his sit-down with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, on February 27, US President Donald Trump invited his Vietnamese counterpart to visit his country this year, and the latter accepted the invitation. Though they did not say when the...Read More

On 17 April (2009), the second meeting of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and AAF (Asia Forum) meeting took place in Singapore. This one-day conference was organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) and was attended by some 300 representatives of the region’s governments, private sector and think-tanks. Given the timing of...Read More