Last month, Republicans bashed President Barack Obama for not meeting with the Dalai Lama during his swing through Washington, portraying the president as caving to pressure from Chinese “tyrants” who hold trillions of dollars in U.S. debt and view the Tibetan spiritual leader as Public Enemy No. 1. “You can bet the Chinese are using their influence in ways we do not even know about,” warned Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, the Republican co-chair of the Congressional Tibet Caucus. “This goes way beyond the Dalai Lama. The U.S. has permitted China to have a one-way free trade policy for decades, and now [...]
China’s fifth generation of leaders is coming of age at a critical juncture in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Slated to assume power in 2012-2013, they will face both opportunities and challenges. Despite the current global economic and financial crisis, most projections of China’s continuing rise have it assuming the No. 2 spot in the international pecking order by that time, with further enhanced economic and political influence, but also heightened expectations and demands for Beijing to take the lead in global and regional affairs. At the same time, domestic issues, from ethnic unrest to growing income [...]
This year, every country in the world has had to confront H1N1 influenza, also known as “swine flu.” The newly identified influenza virus caused great concern when it appeared unexpectedly in Mexico and the United States, before spreading quickly to all continents around the globe. But we are now breathing a collective sigh of relief after discovering that — so far, at least — the health impact of this virus has not been much greater than that of the “seasonal” influenza viruses we face every year. At first glance, the international community displayed an admirable level of cooperation and collective [...]
