This column originally appeared on February 8, 2023, in the South China Morning Post. DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR TOM PLATE WRITES – Hot air propels not just balloons. Embattled President Joseph Biden and his battle-prone Washington – the American capital more divided, presumably, than that of Chairman Xi Jinping’s Beijing – clashed…
Author: Asia Media Staff
CHINA: HOW MUCH CREDIT DOES THE NEW SYSTEM MERIT?
AHMED AL SHAHRI WRITES – The Chinese Communist Party developed the social credit system in 2014 to monitor the behavior of its population and assign every citizen a ranking based on individual credit. So how is it working out? According to Business Insider, in an article published in 2021, the…
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: UNDERSTANDING DOOMSDAY
RYAN BYRNE WRITES – For the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2021, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has adjusted “The Doomsday Clock.” The clock, which is reassessed annually, is meant to symbolically show how close the world is to man-made destruction, with midnight representing…
NEW ZEALAND: A NOT SO SUNNY SUMMER
FARRAH PADILLA WRITES – New Zealand, a country located in the Southern Hemisphere, is a wonderful place to visit in January and February—the summer months— with its sunny beaches, luscious greenery and “hobbit style,” Lord of the Rings appeal (where the blockbuster series was filmed). No doubt travelers around the…
JAPAN AND ELSEWHERE: OH BABY! THAT’S SUCH A CUTE AND UNUSUAL NAME!
THU-HUONG HA OF THE JAPAN TIMES WRITES – Japanese social media loves to hate on kira-kira names. These unusual or unpronounceable names, so called for their flashiness, like 心人 (Haato, Heart), or 今鹿, (Naushika), as in the heroine of Ghibli film “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” are fun…
JAPAN: AMID US-CHINA TENSIONS, JAPAN MUST CHOOSE DEFT DIPLOMACY, NOT TOP GUN TOMFOOLERY, TO ENSURE PEACE
This column originally appeared in the South China Morning Post on January 4, 2023. CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Is it conceivable that the risk-taking pilot of the Chinese Navy J-11 fighter that flew within metres of a US Air Force RC-135 over the South China Sea two weeks ago…
THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL’S FUTURE: WHY REPORTS OF ITS DEMISE ARE PREMATURE
Fergal Mythen, Ireland’s envoy to the United Nations, represented his country in the Security Council for the last six months of its two-year term, ending Dec. 31. He concludes his role, explaining that despite the Council’s brittle divisions, it “remains much too soon to write an obituary of the body.”…
COUNTDOWN TO THE TOP 10 BEST FICTION FROM ASIA AS REVIEWED IN 2022
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Want a personal list of the top ten best Asian novels and novellas that were either published in translation or English-authored by Asian-American writers? Look no further! And if you’d like to view our inaugural MiniMag: A Review of Asian Fiction, click here!…
SEOUL-WASHINGTON ALLIANCE: LET’S GET TRUTHFUL ABOUT THE JEJU APRIL 3 MASSACRE
WRITES MOON CHUNG-IN, chairman of the Sejong Institute -South Koreans were long forced to remain silent about the tragic Jeju April 3 Incident. Over 30,000 residents of Jeju Island were killed by the police, the military and paramilitary groups such as the Northwest Youth Association during the incident, which began…
US-CHINA RELATIONS: BOSS XI’S ‘OVERREACH’ CUTTING BEIJING DOWN TO SIZE?
This column originally appeared on Dec. 7, 2022, in the South China Morning Post. CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Did you know that, in American-speak, a group of flying Corvids is not called a “flock” but a “murder.” You could look it up! Right now, amid the warm Laguna…
WORLD CUP 2022: THE SOARING FLIGHT OF THE GREEN FALCONS
MOHAMMED ALKANDARI WRITES – We celebrate the Saudi Arabian National team’s biggest upset in World Cup history in its extraordinary 2-1 triumph over Lionel Messi’s Argentina in their first match-day of the World Cup. The world’s bookies had Argentina as heavy favorites, and Saudi Arabia as all but certain losers…
SINGAPORE: THE HIGHER YOU GO, THE BETTER IT GETS?
ALEXANDER KYDONIEFS WRITES – On October 27 of this year Singapore announced that it will usher in its most ambitious building project yet — its first ever ‘super-tall’ skyscraper, overtaking Guoco Tower—that will reach 300 meters (984 feet) or higher. This 63-story project represents a partnership of e-commerce giant Alibaba,…
JAPAN: CAN JAPANESE YOUTH TRANSFORM GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE?
AGNES CHONG WRITES – It started over two years ago when the hashtag “don’t be silent” was created by political activist Keio Nojo, as she has made big strides in the fight against gender inequality in Japan. The hashtag was created in response to remarks from Tokyo Olympics chief, Yoshiro…
IRAN: POLITICIANS, CELEBRITIES AND NEWS OUTLETS SPREAD MISINFORMATION ABOUT JUSTICE SYSTEM’S RESPONSE TO PROTESTORS
HEATHER CREAMER WRITES – News about Iran sentencing 15,000 protestors to death predictably spread like wildfire across various publications and social media outlets. Posts from celebrities, politicians, publications, and other users condemning the action have been seen by millions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted about it, before deleting it, furthering…
LMU, LOS ANGELES: FORMER UNSG BAN KI-MOON ZOOMS A CLASS FOR A CHAT
BY THE AMI STAFF – The Asian and Asian-American Studies professor’s ‘Future of the United Nations’ course is not the usual kind of university class. There is no extended lecture, and the enrolled students do much of the talking. That’s because the design for this experimental course empowers them as…
SRI LANKA: A HUNGER FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE FOOD CRISIS
SAMANTHA LUNDIN WRITES – Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in July and its people are starving, as the nation state continues to suffer under its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. Sri Lanka defaulted more than $51 billion dollars a few months after the Russian…