Tai Wei Lim is Adjunct Research Fellow at East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore and Senior Lecturer at Singapore University of Social Sciences.
New technologies can bring military applications to new heights. The X-41 Common Aero Vehicle Falcon program is a glimpse of the future. The X-41 operates like a missile that can fly at high altitude and carry nuclear and non-nuclear warheads.
The Eurasian Economic Union, started in 2015 by Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, followed by Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, is now acknowledged as one of the world’s major blocs organized for intra-regional cooperation and trade.
Facilitated by under-the-radar low-tech boats, collusion with local corrupt officials, and integration with legal trade and activities, piracy in Southeast Asia remains a challenging problem. Multinational agencies are cooperating to counteract.
On January 27-28, 2018, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono visited Beijing to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. The Chinese side reciprocated and publicly announced its intention to improve relations with Japan.
China’s activities in Southeast Asia indicate that the region remains an important one. The leadership of some countries in Southeast Asia are aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative’s vision of infrastructural connectivity.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs the cooperation of Keidanren for persuading Japan’s large MNCs to raise their wages to stimulate consumer spending. These are all necessary ingredients for Abenomics to work and run its full course.
Canada’s economic exchange with China started in the 1960s with wheat exports to China. Today, 50 percent of Canadian exports to China are based on natural resources and the Canadian government believes that they have more resources to offer.
The majority of Chinese state media appears to consider the current US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem as unfortunate and untimely. The stronger op-eds in the Chinese state media conceptualize the decision as an avenue that may incur retaliation against the US.