South-Korea is not the first country to see China can fight an argument without sending the army in: Japan and France are just a few examples where tinkering with economic power was more effective, for example by redirecting its tourists. It is easier to bully South Korea than Japan,” says business analyst Shaun Rein in the South China Morning Post.Read More →

Journalist Howard French, author of the forthcoming book Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China’s Push for Global Powerdiscusses with Jeff Wasserstrom China´s mindset as a geopolitical power and its problem to reinvent itself in developing a new, true Chinese story during the upcoming era of US president Donald Trump.Read More →

China-bashing has been part of the US elections for ages, and in 2016 the ritual is the same, although China has become a much stronger force than in the past and the US candidates have failed to adjust their tone, writes author Zhang Lijia of the upcoming Lotus: A Novel. Few Chinese leaders lose sleep over the US elections, she writes for Aljazeera.Read More →

A Hurun rich list survey under China´s rich millenniums, The Chinese Luxury Traveler 2016, shows that Asia is loosing out as travel destination. Japan and South-Korea still do well since they are close, says Hurun chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf at TTG-Asia, “But in terms of aspirations, this generation wants to go farther.”Read More →

China is ahead of a range of challenging decisions, writes economist Arthur Kroeber in BloombergView. There is a real danger China will enter economic stagnation just like Japan did in the past, and Kroeber is not sure China´s leadership can avoid the same mistakes Japan made.Read More →

China can avoid the economic traps Japan and Brazil fell into, but only when it is going to take the liberalization of its financial markets serious, writes economist Arthur Kroeber for the Nikkei Magazine. But “on the core issues of debt control and pruning the state sector there is little evidence of progress.”Read More →

The Fukushima disaster and a flare of nationalism made a dent in Japan´s position as favorite tourist destination for Chinese. But, helped by a slumping currency, Japan is back on the agenda for Chinese tourists, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in Japan Times.Read More →

Author Paul French of North Korea: State of Paranoia reviews for the Washington Post. Blaine Harden´s latest book on North Korea The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and The Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom.Read More →