Opinion

Tom Pu-chih Hsieh Le Cordon Bleu and Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (NKUHT) have been trying to set up a branch of the famous French cooking school in Taiwan since 2011. However, due to protectionism sentiment and bureaucracy on the island, the French chefs cannot show Taiwanese students how to cook and instead can only teach the …

Lyndon Johnson simply was exasperated. Barack Obama’s mischief was methodical. Four days before the 1966 congressional elections, Johnson, asked about criticism from Richard Nixon, testily responded: “I do not want to get into a debate … with a chronic campaigner like Nixon.” Johnson’s disparagement endeared Nixon to Republican voters, thereby propelling him toward the presidency. Four days before Saturday’s South …

Unrestrained growth has a price. The case in point is China’s overcapacity in heavy industries whose over-proportional development is causing damage to its own and the global economy, even as Beijing struggles to regulate and reform its industries. The hardest hit is China’s steel industry, which manufactures more than the next four largest producers combined — Japan, India, the US, …

In assessing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to stay in power and defy the West, one crucial question is how much longer his government’s finances can stand extremely low oil prices. Judging from an analysis by economists at Deutsche Bank, he might be able to hold out longer than previously thought. Russia is peculiarly sensitive to energy prices, in part …

The so-called war on cash has been getting a lot of airtime in recent days. On one side of the battleground are European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, calling for the abolition of high-denomination banknotes to (they say) combat crime. Opposing the plan are skeptics who fear it will lead to abolishing cash …

When Kazakhstan bid to host the 2017 EXPO in its capital Astana, it must have surprised many observers. It was not just that no country from the former Soviet Union had yet to host EXPO, but the theme we chose was future energy. After all, Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers. Promoting new energy sources …

Last week, global equity investors got a much-needed reprieve from volatile, loss-inflicting markets. But rather than signaling the start of a calmer market phase, this may well prove a prelude to renewed volatility in the weeks ahead. After ending the last trading session of the previous week with a gain, global stocks got off to a good start last Monday. …

China’s overseas investment has long worried Western observers. From the constant updates on the soon-to-be operational Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to the rather more nebulous One Belt One Road initiative, China’s trade and economic influence is spreading on multiple fronts. This has fed into broader anxieties in the West, who feel that important allies and opportunities are slipping into …

Blaming President Obama for his past mistakes in Syria may be satisfying, and is largely deserved, but it’s not a policy. This is the most complicated battlefield the world has seen in decades, and the next moves by the US and its allies have to be deliberate, and carefully considered. The US should move forward with the cease-fire process begun …

Users of smartphones wonder where the technology take them amid markets reaching point of saturation and army of customers looking for cheaper smartphones or reluctant to buy new ones. And with the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicking off in Barcelona, the world’s biggest manufacturers are set to feature their latest products that may address tastes of more tech-savvy customers. …