Foreign Policy Blogs

Asia & Pacific

Al Qaeda at 20 Dead or Alive?

Peter Bergen, one of the leading terrorism analyst and the author of The Osama bin Laden I Know wrote this piece for Washington Post on Sunday, 8/17/08 Al Qaeda at 20 Dead or Alive? By Peter Bergen Sunday, August 17, 2008; B01 Two decades after al-Qaeda was founded in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar […]

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Few Words About Pakistan

What comes to mind when we hear Pakistan? Bombings? Angry mobs? Terrorism? Violence against women and religious minorities?  The answer is all of the above. But, is this the true picture? After all, this is all we hear whenever Pakistan or anything about Pakistan is mentioned. The question is whether this picture is correct or […]

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Musharraf & AQ Khan

It was reported in The News International that Henny Khan, the wife of AQ Khan has suggested that Musharraf be treated the way Musharraf treated Dr. Khan after Dr. Khan's supposedly illegal activities surfaced. This is a remarkable fall from grace for Musharraf, a man who ran Pakistan like his personal estate. Just to remind […]

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XPost // China Abroad 2008: Chinese Communities and Culture in the Americas

Catch this post by R. Basas on the Latin America blog, which explores emigration patterns and Asian settlements in the Americas. Truly a timely piece with the steady streams of media infiltrating our inboxes, television sets, newspapers, and ipods – covering all things China.

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Olympics Watch: Counting Medals, Trading Suspicions

Olympics Watch: Counting Medals, Trading Suspicions

US:    10 Gold, 8 Silver, 11 Bronze  = 27 Medals PRC:  17 Gold, 5 Silver, 5 Bronze    = 29 Medals Last night, China clinched the gymnastics gold from US in an unprecedented upset. US coach Bela Karolyi and Chinese coach Lu Shanzen went head-to-head in an unimpressive round of PR blows. US media outlets are […]

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World's Largest Manufacturer

World's Largest Manufacturer

 In the next year, China will edge out the US as the world's largest producer of manufactured goods – an achievement that is coming 4 years earlier than originally expected. A substantial reason behind this premature development is the weakening US economy. Stats from last year showed the US produced one-fifth of all manufactured goods, […]

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Falling Short

Falling Short

  At the end of July 29, Lamy announced that ministers’ efforts of long hours and hard negotiations failed to produce result on the 9th day of WTO trade talks. Today, he has called a formal Trade Negotiations Committe meeting to provide a forum for comment from members, but he advises nations to allow the “dust […]

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Stalemate in Geneva

Stalemate in Geneva

BBC news is reporting that multilateral trade talks in Geneva have ended without consensus. The epicenter of the rift blocking resolution was that of market access. While the US and EU push for greater access to provide services to the fast emerging economies of India and China, the two developing countries are instead focused on fighting […]

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Bananas to the rescue?

Bananas to the rescue?

  Blaming developing countries for the failure of Doha Round trade negotiations is counter-productive to global trade relations and WTO efforts, China said July 28 via its official news outlet, Xinhua Press. China's ambassador to the WTO, Sun Zhenyu, represented the country's interests on Monday, saying: “They have to remember that this is a Development […]

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No China, No Doha

No China, No Doha

  In revving up for next week's planned WTO trade liberation talks (opening Monday in Geneva), US trade officials stated this past Thursday that China will critcally impact the direction and outcome of these talks, voicing concerns that China has a “particular obligation” to make concessions on matters of trade.  One issue of particular importance is the benefit China […]

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China at G8 in Tokayo

China at G8 in Tokayo

  Wednesday, July 9 brought an outreach session during July 7-9, facilitated by the Group of Eight (G8 ) Summit in Tokayo, Japan.  The outreach session was convened at the Windsor Hotel, where the G8 leaders (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and US) invited leaders from key developing nations to weigh in on energy security and climate change. As […]

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Ted on US, China – "Our future is so tied together." // Watch it: 07/09/08, 10p EST.

Ted on US, China – "Our future is so tied together." // Watch it: 07/09/08, 10p EST.

  Premiering this Wednesday on the Discovery Channel, is episode 1 of Ted Koppel's 4-part series on China's economic growth (and its impact on the US), entitled, The People's Republic of Capitalism. Each successive Wednesday for three weeks, installments 2, 3, and 4 will be aired. If there is a resoundingly persistent mantra here, it […]

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Week in Review: Rice in China

Week in Review: Rice in China

SecState Condi Rice's visit to Beijing carried a number of items on Washington's agenda. She and China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi came to the table on a number of current events. ZIM. With the recent swearing-in of Mugabe for his sixth term as President of Zimbabwe, Bush has called the UN to action against “Zimbabwe's illegitimate government,” […]

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SED, Round IV: Washington

SED, Round IV: Washington

  When: June 17 and 18 Where: US Naval Academy – Annapolis, MD Who: Co-Chairs US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and Vice Premier Wang Qishan Why: To strengthen and deepen the bilateral economic relationship through actions to: raise questions seek consensus implement results prevent trade protectionism and conservatism from hampering the trade cooperation […]

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China Moving Forward on IP

China Moving Forward on IP

  After the US initiated two WTO cases* against it last year, China has since worked to develop a National IP Strategy, requiring China to “explore the possibility of establishing specialized IP courts to deal with IP-related civil, administrative, and criminal cases.” The strategy was developed by China's National Working Group for IPR Protection, which […]

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