Opinion

  The differences between China and the U.S. over the South China Sea issue have become a matter of concern and even anxiety. But some of the perceptions in the U.S. and elsewhere about China’s policy and intentions in the area are misplaced. A pressing task is to understand the facts and China’s intentions correctly so as to avoid real …

LONDON Sitting on the sun-dappled terrace of the House of Lords, watching the Thames flow, Lord Nigel Lawson explains that the June 23 referendum, which he hopes will withdraw Britain from the European Union, was never supposed to happen. It is, he says, the fulfillment of a promise Prime Minister David Cameron expected to be prevented from keeping. Going into …

  2015 saw record worldwide investment and implementation of clean energy such as wind, solar and hydropower. This might have been driven by strategic sustainable development plans that aim to reduce dependence on fossil energy, with an ultimate goal set on the reduction of CO2 emissions. Prompted by environment awareness and sustainability plans, many countries have started to opt for …

  John Brandon SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Get ready to take some Tylenol VR, folks. We might need that (totally made-up) medication someday if a Forrester prediction comes to fruition. Analysts are saying there could be as many as 52 million headsets sold by 2020, made up mostly of the recently released HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. The Forrester …

  Earlier this month Greece’s government announced the formation of a privatization “superfund” to sell off state-owned assets, including the Greek railways, postal service and a number of utilities. Its scope – the sale of 50 billion euros in state assets – comes a close second in scale to the privatizations of the 1980s in Britain under Margaret Thatcher. The …

WASHINGTON Hong Kong television commentator Wu Jun observed recently that despite Donald Trump’s anti-Beijing rhetoric, he “could in fact be the best president for China.” The Chinese analyst is right: A Trump presidency could open the way for China’s strategic dominance in Asia and elsewhere. Wu’s comment was focused on Trump’s mercantilist style, evoking a world in which Trump and …

  Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) stern caution on Wednesday is another fresh warning that the global economy could slip into recession if the top and emerging economies do not step up spending on development. The wariness follows weak recovery since the global economic crisis in 2008 and signs of global economic growth slowdown sparked by poor performance …

  Dingding Chen SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently made some controversial comments about China’s actions in the Asia-Pacific, especially the South China Sea, saying that China is “erecting a great wall of self-isolation” there. Not surprisingly, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying refuted Carter’s comments by referring to them as reflective of a ‘Cold War’ …

While some parts of Asia are setting the pace for the global Internet, other areas are being left far behind. For example, while Indonesia may have over 90 million people on the Internet, this number is far short of the true potential in a country with a population of over 250 million. The “digital divide” is real and it encompasses …

Each time the European Union’s sanctions against Russia come up for renewal, there’s speculation that some countries might break ranks and vote against the trade and financing restrictions. There will probably be no deserters this time around either; but a softening of the sanctions is on the cards in the near future. In December, the sanctions, which include travel bans …