Letters

Donate organs, serve a noble cause

Scholar's fantasy of a treaty

Masahiro Matsumura, a professor of international politics from St. Andrew's University in Osaka, Japan, recently wrote an essay entitled "From San Francisco to the South China Sea", which has garnered wide attention. However, the opinions he expresses are beyond the bounds of common sense.

Cartoon

Room in 'elevator' for emerging economies

I have heard some pundits in the United States, such as Edward Luttwak, a military strategist, describing fast-growing China as a fat man entering an elevator. They say that because the man is so large he should be ultra-polite to people already in the elevator.

Time to apply healing balm on Mideast

Three years ago, the self-immolation of Tunisian hawker Mohamed Bouaziz ignited a much bigger fire across North Africa and West Asia which the world labeled the "Arab Spring". Since that fateful day of Dec 18, 2010, the Middle East has undergone profound changes, with countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria riding a bumpy road toward social and political transition.

Pulling together for prosperity

US Secretary of State John Kerry recently proclaimed that the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over. But it remains to be seen whether this is so. Meanwhile, Washington is sparing no efforts in claiming China is pursuing its own version of the Monroe Doctrine with its vision of a China-ASEAN community of common destiny.

Cartoon

Diplomatic row or a storm in a teacup?

The Indian establishment sees it as an affront to one of its diplomats in New York, and thus to the country. The US administration insists it has played by the rules. The incident, which has now snowballed into a major diplomatic row, started with the arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York on Dec 12.

Ripples from US' QE exit

Meticulous as it is, the first step the US Federal Reserve has taken to end its addiction to cheap money could still spell more trouble for the fragile global recovery than the euphoric initial response might suggest.

Details about officials

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China recently made public 10 typical cases involving violations of regulations and measures aimed at promoting frugality and checking extravagance, and extended disciplinary or administrative punishments to several violators, including Fu Xiaoguang, a senior official in Heilongjiang province.

Stop double standard on terrorism

A group of terrorists, armed with daggers and homemade bombs, attacked police officers investigating terrorist activities in Shufu county of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Dec 15. The clash that ensued left 16 people - two police officers and 14 attackers - dead. Six suspects have been arrested with incriminating evidence during the investigation and raids that followed in the county, which is administered by Kashgar.

Junk the online junkies, save the innocents

A recent piece of news has highlighted the cruel side of online violence. Qiqi, a high school student in Lufeng city of Guangdong province, committed suicide because she could not bear the humiliation of being called a thief. The tragedy has its seed in a CCTV footage of Qiqi that a store owner posted online, accusing her of stealing goods from the store. The video triggered a flood of online attacks on the girl, which didn't stop even after her death, with some heartless netizens saying, "she deserved it".