On Friday, the U.S. Navy officially announced another episode of its planned “freedom of navigation” series in the South China Sea, shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a nuclear summit in Washington.
The smallest, most ordinary scrap of information can often speak volumes about the direction in which a nation is going. A case in point from China is a Fuzhou, Fujian Province public schools memo dated Feb. 29, 2016, on the subject of “moral education” and “education for the Chinese Dream.”
When attacks such as the one in Paris last year or the latest in Brussels take place, the world rises up in solidarity. Having spent the better part of my life in Pakistan, I know that our loss is ours alone, any solace we seek must come from within our borders.
On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work warned Beijing against declaring an exclusion zone in the South China Sea, calling any potential announcement as “destabilizing,” and vowing the United States would not recognize such a zone.
China has responded to its apparent loss of influence in Myanmar by unleashing an aggressive propaganda and organizing campaign aimed at countering Western influence and cultivating a pro-Beijing grassroots political base particularly among ethnic Chinese in Myanmar.
By defying international law using “traditional fishing grounds” as an excuse, China’s latest show of aggression in the South China Sea has only heightened tensions among its neighbors, and provided the region’s militaries an excuse to increase defense spending.
China tried to save face last week, by lashing out at those critical of its human rights record during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
The erratic behavior of the Kim dynasty has long enraged and exasperated both its enemies and allies, though larger states have certainly used North Korea’s existence as a fig leaf for moves of their own.
In the past, scholars tended to believe that the internet was an effective tool to challenge authoritarian regimes and facilitate the development of civil society. However, as an expert that has been investigating the issue for a number of years, I disagree with this widely held belief.
After protracted negotiations, China has finally withdrawn its opposition, joining in the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and ballistic missile test.
In a show of counterforce, the U.S. has sailed an aircraft carrier, two destroyers, two cruisers, and the command ship of the Japan-based 7th Fleet into the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
The U.S. State Department has issued a request for China’s navy to refrain from harassing fishermen of other countries in the disputed South China Sea.
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