Opinion

Controversy is raging in the UK over whether to ‘stay’ or ‘leave’ the European Union (EU) membership, with each camp stuck to its own guns. The ‘stay’ campaign received a significant boost from G20 finance chiefs who warned last week that the departure of the UK from the EU could harm the global economy. And as the debate spirals, it …

Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, spent two days in China this week, meeting with Chinese officials to set a positive tone for both the bilateral relationship and the China-ASEAN relationship. It was Balakrishnan’s first visit to China since assuming his post in October 2015. In an op-ed for China Daily, Balakrishnan cited Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime …

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” represents the new conventional wisdom for some journalists appraising the current state of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Rejected in Mexico due to domestic party politics, whipsawed in Sri Lanka by changes in government, obstructed by protests in Myanmar, scuppered by the U.S. Committee on …

Australia is in the midst of evaluating its strategic partner for SEA1000, the Future Submarine Project. As Andrew Davies, director of the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, wrote, this is a “wonderful case study of defense acquisition” spanning “every aspect of defense decision-making from long-term strategic crystal ball gazing, including the possible impact of future technologies, through military strategy development and …

Donald Trump’s distinctive rhetorical style — think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” under water — poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would …

With the manufacturing sector declining and showing poor figures worldwide partly due to prospects of global economic slowdown, the service sector is widening and may likely fill in the gap to help shore up the world economic growth. The dwindling manufacturing sector isn’t new, as the manufacturing employment has been falling everywhere, including China. By contrast, the service sector has …

Russia remains the largest supplier of military equipment to India, according to information supplied by India’s Ministry of Defense and quoted by TASS. Over the past three years, Russian defense deals with India exceeded 340 billion rupees (over $5 billion), with the United States coming in at a close second with 300 billion rupees (around $4.4 billion) in deals. Over …

In an astonishing fashion, and going against everything political scientists have long thought about U.S. politics, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is shooting to the top of the field of candidates. Moreover, Trump is quietly gaining unexpected support in a far-away country: China. Increasingly, Chinese netizens follow Trump’s primary and caucus wins, which have been coming one after the other. …

Vietnam has been among Asia’s top performers in recent times, bucking a region-wide trade recession despite tensions with China, its biggest trading partner. For the nation’s reformers though, Vietnam’s economic and political rise could be just about to start. In a joint report released February 23 by the Vietnamese government and the World Bank, the authors suggested the Southeast Asian …

China’s growth is slowing, probably for good. But the form that the slowdown is taking isn’t yet known. The question is whether China’s troubles will be more like a typical emerging-market crisis, or more like the typical bust in a large developed country. Every nation undergoes a growth slump at some point. For good background on the phenomenon, check out …