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December 23, 2024
 

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Harvey Stockwin
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2005
Myanmar ranks high on Bush's radar
HONG KONG -- One significant though insufficiently noticed aspect of U.S. President George W. Bush's weeklong visit to Asia was his consistent effort to focus attention on Myanmar, and to pressure Asian allies, notably Japan, to be more forthright in their criticisms of the military junta's shortcomings....
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2005
Sinophobia complicates takeover bids
HONG KONG -- In quick succession, the previously intangible reality of "China Rising" has taken on tangible form for Americans, as China has used the wealth that has accrued as a result of its rapid development and huge trade surpluses to try and takeover three U.S. businesses.
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2005
Lively politics worries China
HONG KONG -- Although Taiwan's lat est constitutional reforms preclude any declaration of formal independence for the foreseeable future, they do strengthen Taiwan's democratic development.
COMMENTARY
Jun 17, 2005
Enveloped in a nuclear fog
HONG KONG -- Any day now the mere oscillation of a seismograph needle could precipitate uncertainties and greatly increase tensions: North Korea may become the second East Asian nation to shock the world with an underground nuclear test explosion, just as China did at Lop Nor in 1964.
COMMENTARY
Mar 18, 2005
China flaunts wish to control
HONG KONG -- At the very moment that the world is captivated with the promise of China rising economically, China itself has provided two vivid examples of the danger that it is plunging politically.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 13, 2005
Iraq election exposed two faces of China
HONG KONG -- One unintended consequence of the Jan. 30 election in Iraq was that it exposed the hypocrisy and shortsightedness of China's policy toward Hong Kong and reunification with Taiwan. China not only expressed support for the rushed national election in its controlled press; it also donated $1...
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2005
Zhao Ziyang: the death of a nonperson
HONG KONG -- While it seems unlikely that the death of China's former leader Zhao Ziyang will provoke mass unrest, the way in which it is being handled indicates the profound official insecurity still aroused by the mass unrest in 1989.
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2004
China's discordant note on election eve
HONG KONG -- As Americans went to the polls, a section of the Chinese communist leadership clearly and unmistakably indicated its extreme distaste for the present, and likely future, policies of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2004
Straw poll on Net lands knockout punch
HONG KONG -- In Japan, the Democratic challenger for U.S. president, Sen. John F. Kerry, has so far garnered 88 percent of the Japanese popular vote compared to 11 percent for the incumbent George W. Bush.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2004
Anwar release burnishes Badawi's image
HONG KONG -- Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has unexpectedly taken a meaningful stride away from the authoritarian rule of former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad. As a result, the charismatic former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will now be free to influence the course of Malaysian...
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2004
Beijing entering Hong Kong cul-de-sac
HONG KONG -- On July 1, Hong Kong, figuratively speaking, stuck to its democratic guns. It was just as well since China, naturally, has stuck to its antidemocratic guns.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2004
A tale of two occupations
HONG KONG -- History did not repeat itself in Iraq as the Americans naively expected. While it has become obvious that U.S. intelligence reports and analysis were deficient in the runup to the war, less attention has been paid to the fact that the United States occupied Iraq imbued with a dubious historical...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2004
Philippine election brings anxiety, not hope
HONG KONG -- The Philippines is lurching toward a crisis in which democracy is part of the problem instead of part of the solution. While, in theory, a long, arduous presidential election should leave a nation better aware of itself and eagerly awaiting a new beginning, in the Philippines it has left...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2004
New democracy masters coalition-building
HONG KONG -- Ironically, at a time when the United States is trying to bring instant democracy to the Middle East, Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, is undergoing a complex, three-tiered democratic election virtually unnoticed.
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2004
China forfeits high ground
HONG KONG -- From 1842 to 1997, with two exceptions, British governors of Hong Kong avoided democratic reform. In the 20th century they did so believing that China would react badly if they enacted it.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2004
Death of Deng's triangular relationship
HONG KONG -- One certainty emerges amid the democratic turmoil in Taiwan and Hong Kong and amid the authoritarian turmoil in the higher reaches of the Chinese Communist Party, which is skilled at concealing its innate factionalism: The triangular relationship between China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as envisaged...
COMMENTARY
Mar 13, 2004
Poll severely tests Indonesia
HONG KONG -- As the campaign for the triple-tiered Indonesian general election gets under way, the world's fourth-largest nation is displaying its democratic aspirations. It is also giving its weak administrative structure a severe test.
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2004
Flu brings out worst in Asia
HONG KONG -- Amid the spread of bird flu, developing Asian nations face a challenge they are failing to meet, because a degree of modernity is required that they are unable to attain. On the one hand, Asia pursues the skyscrapers, the summit conferences, the high-tech industries seen as symbols of modernity....
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2003
Beijing's Taiwan policy costly for China
HONG KONG -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has asserted that China would "pay any price to safeguard the unity of the motherland," clearly implying that Beijing would not shrink from the war option against Taiwan.
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2003
Fear, posturing cloud Sri Lanka's fate
HONG KONG -- The latest Sri Lankan political crisis is still unfolding. The peace process, expected to end the state of civil war, is endangered. So is the future of Sri Lankan democracy. At the very moment when foreign-aid pledges worth more than $4 billion are waiting to be fulfilled, some Sinhalese...
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

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