Opinion

While the attention of the United States continues to be focused on the Middle East and the battle against IS — despite President Obama’s hope to “pivot to Asia” — China has been behaving in an increasingly aggressive way in the Eastern Pacific, claiming large swaths of ocean as its territorial waters. It has built artificial islands on reefs in …

  Pending government approval, a group of 35 doctors and nurses based in Shanghai will soon become the nation’s first medical team to join the World Health Organization’s emergency response system, specializing in disaster relief. It’s a big step, but China is no tenderfoot. Long gone are the days of the chijiao yisheng, or “barefoot doctors,” when farmers with rudimentary …

  The biggest source of fresh cash in American equities isn’t speculators or exchange-traded funds — it’s companies buying their own stock, by a 6-to-1 margin. There’s been a lot of chatter about stock buybacks the past few years. Some people believe share repurchases are propping up the market; others think this is a myth, or a non-story. There is …

As Republicans head toward what could be a stalemated convention, they might recall how the party healed itself in 1952 in what was known as the “winter of discontent.” The Republicans drafted a military leader, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, as their presidential candidate. The looming showdown between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is a potential “train wreck,” to quote my …

In its drive to diversify economy, the UAE’s government has outlined several strategies, notably the scheme to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by giving foreign investors attractive incentives. Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), a world leading emerging markets’ FDI platform, is being held in Dubai within this context. It connects the top FDI investors, experts, and practitioners in the world. The …

Brennan O’Connor SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Investor confidence in the long-delayed Dawei special economic zone (DSEZ) is growing after Japan signed on as a third equal partner with Myanmar and Thailand this December. Japan’s backing may finally kick start construction of the billion dollar project that has been crippled by funding shortfalls since 2013. If it’s ever finished, the deep-seaport …

In a number of recent discussions I’ve been a part of, “nationalism” has been repeatedly raised to describe China’s policies toward its territorial disputes with its neighbors. Also, this term has often appeared in international media stories about China’s stance in the East and South China Seas disputes. The idea is that “nationalism” is unnecessarily — or even dangerously — …

One hopes that Park Geun-hye and Shinzo Abe enjoyed their meeting last week with Barack Obama, because the show of unity that the South Korean, Japanese, and U.S. leaders displayed in opposition to North Korea’s nuclear defiance would simply not be possible in a hypothetical Trump administration. Instead, Donald Trump, the front-runner to serve as the Republican candidate in this …

Mariah A.V. Hays / Hannah E. Haegeland SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS The fourth and likely final Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) again highlighted the greatest security threat to the world: nuclear terrorism. U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders in the Summit have consistently championed the “central and unique role“ of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the lead …

Khang Vu SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS As the race to the White House is heating up, Asian countries are paying close attention to the candidates’ foreign policy platforms. For the last few weeks, international headlines have focused on Donald Trump’s vision of a nuclearized Northeast Asia and his proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea and Japan if the …