Opinion

Just as Thailand looks ready to displace Chinese parts and products in American cars and kitchens, dysfunctional politics may cause the opportunity to slip out of its grasp. After five years of military rule, the Southeast Asian nation has returned to a fragile democracy. A pro-junta alliance is still negotiating with potential allies to form the next government following elections ...

Once every decade or so, the world goes through a collective freak-out about rare earths. The suite of 17 elements strung towards the bottom of the periodic table are notable in that they’re essential in several high-technology applications such as wind turbines, electric cars and lasers, and largely made in China. That makes them a scary-sounding weapon in economic and ...

At last count, China held slightly more than $1 trillion in US Treasury securities. One fear has been that, should China and the United States engage in an economic war — as they clearly are now — those dollars could become a weapon against us. The Chinese would sell dollars in foreign exchange markets, raising US interest rates and perhaps ...

China’s tech giants have upended the country’s payments system and promise to shake up its consumer-banking sector. The rest of the region won’t be so easy. Asia is quickly becoming next battlefront for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Ant Financial and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat Pay, after both secured licenses to set up online-only banks in Hong Kong this month. Singapore’s ...

Florida this month became the latest state to allow teachers to carry guns at school — even though there is no evidence to suggest this can reduce school violence, and ample reason to fear the unintended consequences. The new law coincides with the release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most recent report on active shooters — the armed and ...

It’s hazardous to see elections to the European Parliament as a barometer of European Union politics. Turnout was higher than in previous EU elections, but still only about 50%; voters in many countries aren’t sure what the parliament does; national anxieties predominate. In many ways, ballots have just been cast in 28 separate national elections, rather than in a single ...

Last weekend, Russia launched the last of a new crew of atomic icebreakers meant to consolidate the country’s dominance of commercial traffic in the Arctic. As much of the rest of the world recognises climate change as an emergency, Russia is working hard to capitalize on it — and the US appears to be far behind. The icebreaker Ural, launched ...

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s potential plan to raise $20 billion in Hong Kong is huge. That’s not just because $20 billion is a lot of money. After going public in New York, the Chinese e-commerce giant is considering a secondary listing in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported– a coup for the city that’s still sore from missing out on the ...

At the time of his first bid to become India’s prime minister five years ago, Narendra Modi was seen by many in Mumbai as a reformer rising to slay crony capitalism, corruption and policy paralysis. It was the bureaucracy in New Delhi that had misgivings about the then chief minister of Gujarat state, known for his highly centralized style of ...

President Donald Trump has long said the goal of his trade policy is simply to get better deals for Americans. But as the trade war intensifies, it seems increasingly likely that his policies will lead to something more: a lasting break with China and a new alignment of global power. First, consider the evidence for the break. The current impasse ...