SCO's role for peace

The prime ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is scheduled to be held in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meeting will inject new vitality into the future development of the regional organization as it sets out to turn the pledges and commitments of the SCO Summit held in Beijing in June into concrete actions.

Anti-corruption action

The concern the media has shown to the anti-corruption seminar convened on Saturday by Wang Qishan, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, points to the hopes the public has pinned on the new Party leadership for more intensified action against corruption.

Xi offers hope of clarity

China watchers will be paying close attention to the speeches of Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, as they seek clues to the future direction of government policies. Sometimes it is not easy to do this from the speeches of Chinese officials and I am tempted to paraphrase the quote from that great wordsmith, former US president Bill Clinton, who, when speaking about the very tight election campaign in the United States in 2000, said that while the American people had spoken it was going to "take a little while to determine what they said". It might truly be said that while some Chinese officials have delivered speeches, it has taken a while to figure out what the message was.

Cold facts of a warming world

The Doha climate change conference - the 18th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - is barely halfway through, but it has become abundantly clear already that a resolution on any key issue is unlikely to transpire. It is equally clear that the confabulations on climate change have become a reenactment of history - annually as farce.

An amendment that could hurt US interests

The US Senate passed an amendment to the national defense authorization bill for 2013 on Thursday, stressing Washington's right to navigate freely in the East China Sea, which, it said, was an inalienable part of Asia's maritime interests.

Pragmatism is the way forward

'Empty talk harms the country, hard work prospers the nation," remarked Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, when he and the other six members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee visited The Road Toward Rejuvenation exhibition on Thursday. This epigram is rich in its connotations, a better understanding of which helps explain why pragmatism must be further practiced for China to realize its dream of rejuvenation.

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Doha is going the Durban way

The annual theatrics of the climate change conference has entered the second half of its intense but, by all accounts, futile negotiation process in Doha. If the world, especially the developing world, didn't get anything out of the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, which was supposed to finalize a binding agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, it cannot expect anything from Doha either.

The wrong decision

By approving an amendment to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act concerning the Diaoyu Islands on Thursday, the US Senate is sending a dangerous signal that could have dire consequences for regional peace and stability.

Protecting farmers' rights

In a substantial step toward better protecting farmers' rights and interests, the State Council on Wednesday passed a draft law amendment revising the rules on compensation for land expropriation.

Way forward for new leadership

China will continue to rebound in the short term but its challenges will increase in the medium term. With reforms, though, China's new leadership can build on the country's huge long-term growth potential.

Nuclear power a key issue in Japan polls

Energy is indispensable when it comes to powering human civilization, and economic and social development. It is also a strategic resource for a country's economy, defense and security. No wonder, countries across the world have been trying to figure out how to ensure a stable and continuous supply of energy.