#China

Charities and citizen advocacy groups are having a tough time these days in some large developing countries.

On April 30, Ho Chi Minh City, commonly referred to as Saigon, marked the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam, after the army of communist North Vietnam brought down the government of South Vietnam, and drove out the Americans following two decades of unsuccessful military involvement.

This week, leaders from 10 Southeast Asian nations will gather on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi for the 26th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.

On Mischief Reef, in the South China Sea just off the coast of the Philippine island of Palawan, Chinese workers are busy dredging sand and creating an island on top of partially-submerged coral reefs.

While these institutions have made some headway in meeting the infrastructure needs of Asian countries, some critics of the World Bank and ADB argue they are slow and bureaucratic, and impose stifling environmental and social constraints which deter investment.

China recently became the world’s 3rd largest exporter of weapons systems behind the US and Russia. While analysts are concerned with Stealth fighters, Ballistic missile systems and chemical weapons proliferation, the distribution of artillery and anti-aircraft systems will likely have a larger effect on the political and defensive environment in many of the purchasing countries than WMDs.

Beijing’s announcement on Thursday of a 10 percent increase in military spending, to $145 billion, marks the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases, and is not without significant repercussions in Asia.

Last Friday, Beijing reacted strongly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to India’s disputed border area with China, to mark the 28th anniversary of the establishment of Arunachal Pradesh as an Indian state.

On Feb. 19, Chinese from around the world welcomed the year of the sheep, also celebrated as the year of the goat or ram.

In his first foreign trip since assuming power, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will visit India on Feb. 16 for two days, hailing a potential warming of relations between the two countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to Barack Obama to attend India’s Republic Day on Monday was not only a great honor bestowed upon the U.S. president but also packed with implications for Chinese foreign policy and influence in the Asia Pacific.

Before Narendra Modi became the prime minister of India, some observers in China believed that he could well be “the Deng Xiaoping of India,” comparing him with the Chinese leader who led the economic reform that has transformed China to a global power from a Third World country.