Opinion

  This month, the rule of law and China’s legal profession at large have received a lot of attention. This is out of recognition that both will be necessary to advance the country’s economic development, and yet both present a challenge to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) domination of China’s political agenda. On June 8, the “Hundred Jurists and Hundred ...

  It was 22 years ago this month when the U.S. was preparing for combat. North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons program prompted President Bill Clinton to order reinforcements. The administration was lining up votes in the U.N. Security Council to impose economic penalties on the Pyongyang government, which repeatedly denounced sanctions as a “declaration of war.” Any investors could see ...

  Mong Palatino SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On June 9, the European Parliament passed a resolution expressing “deep concerns about the worsening climate for opposition politicians and human rights activists in Cambodia.” Meanwhile, 41 international NGOs signed a letter urging the Cambodian government to stop the harassment of groups working for people’s rights. Cambodian authorities were quick to dismiss these ...

  Shannon Tiezzi SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Well before Taiwan held its elections on January 20, Beijing made it clear that the “1992 consensus” was its bottom line for cross-strait relations. During an historic meeting with then-President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that “as long as the 1992 Consensus and its core values are acknowledged, we ...

  WASHINGTON On June 1, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its latest economic forecasts. In 2016, it predicted that the world economy would grow 3 percent, the United Kingdom 1.7 percent and the euro area (the 19 countries using the euro) 1.6 percent. We don’t know how these figures will now be revised, but we do know ...

  Sunday was the day for festivities and pride in Panama as people there marked the inauguration of newly expanded multibillion dollar Panama Canal that will link the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans and boost the regional and international trade. Currently, some 5 percent of global maritime commercial traffic uses this strategic waterway, which provides a valuable shortcut between North ...

  Mohamed A. El-Erian As global financial markets convulse in response to British citizens voting to leave the European Union, the stunning outcome of the U.K.’s referendum provides more questions than answers. As discussed on Monday, the heightened uncertainty, fueled by sudden institutional instability now compounding long-standing economic fragility and financial fluidity, is likely to cause an unprecedented mix of ...

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union is creating a lot of losers: London’s finance industry. British Prime Minister David Cameron. The pound. The grand cause of European integration. But out of all of the market turmoil and uncertainty will emerge at least one big winner: China. In the short term, of course, China’s struggling economy may take a ...

  Sometimes, an economic paper delivers such a disturbing result that you have no choice but to sit up and take notice. That was the case for me, when I saw this new study by Stony Brook University’s Marina Azzimonti. Azzimonti’s disquieting hypothesis is that political partisanship is deterring overseas investment in the U.S. When we think of foreign direct ...

  David A. Welch SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS There has been a great deal of commentary recently on Beijing’s strident refusal to participate in the Philippines’ arbitration case and the almost desperate vehemence with which it is preparing to greet the tribunal’s final judgment. This is not terribly surprising, as most analysts agree that the Philippines will win on a ...