Torn Between Two Lovers – US, China Woo ASEAN
As the 10-member ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ summit in Bangkok starts, the real action is how China and the United States interact with the trade block. I discussed with Monocle radio:
The Trump Asia Doctrine – Where Do We Go After the Hanoi Summit?
The failed Hanoi summit was followed immediately by the U.S. announcing it would not hold its usual massive military maneuvers with South Korea any more. What does this actually mean for the U.S. in Asia? Korea expert Ramon Pacheco Pardo and I discussed this and more on Monocle Radio.
“My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island” – China/Taiwan tension at the Lunar New Year
The always heated rhetoric between China and Taiwan has ratcheted up another notch at the Lunar New Year, with China even issuing a soft-porn like military video entitled “My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island”. The video, which should be seen to be believed, can be viewed here. Monocle radio invited Professor Steven..
Rollercoaster: predictions for 2019 and a look back to what I said in 2018
Making predictions is fools’ work, but every year Robert Ciemniak of Real Estate Foresight Ltd. asks me to put my neck out for his China Property Outlook seminar. Here’s my January 2019 view, with a look back to 12 months earlier
What’s In A Name – Taiwan, Chinese Taipei, Province, Country, Region, Whatever?
With Beijing successfully pressuring foreign airlines to stop referring to Taiwan as a separate region, and instead show the implication that it is a part of China, the issue of the island’s status is again in the news. I discussed the issue on Monocle radio 24.
US -China – Taiwan … A Messy Triangle
I talked about the messy state of U.S. – China-Taiwan relations with Monocle Radio, which asked me about it during a visit to the island by former US Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Here’s what I said:
My views on China’s First Domestically-built Aircraft Carrier
Making a huge statement about wanting to project military might, China is beginning sea trials of its first home built aircraft carrier, the same week it conducted exercises with its first carrier, a rebuilt Soviet ship bought from Ukraine. The country began a massive modernization program for its military in the 1990s. One catalyst was..
Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right
NewsDecoder, a non-profit startup I support aimed at getting millennials involved in the news, asked me write a few lines on China, North Korea and the United States. The original is available here. The complete text is: By David Schlesinger Pity China’s foreign policy leaders. An unpredictable, mercurial, untested, perhaps irrational leader in its neighbor,..
New ChinaFile conversation: Uncomfortable Bedfellows: How Much Does China Need America Now?
I took part in a new ChinaFile conversation today spinning off the US debt ceiling/government shutdown kerfuffle. The whole conversation is here. My contribution said: “The debt standoff is temporarily over, apocalypse isn’t now and everyone can take a deep breath. For China, its big dance partner, the U.S., is still too big and..