The benefits of an FTA for Asia

Next week will see Japan and the Republic of Korea, two of China's important neighbors, going to the polls, which could add to the uncertainty in the East Asia region. Japan's relations with China and the ROK are at the lowest in years because of the islands disputes it has with the two countries.

Income inequality plan a test of will to reform

The release later this month of government proposals to reduce income inequality will provide early evidence of whether a change of leadership in China has given new momentum to economic reform. The plan has had a slow journey to this point: it has been eight years in the drafting.

Dalai Lama works against peace and Buddhism

The New York Post, a US tabloid, recently became the target of harsh criticism for publishing the photograph of a man about to be struck by a subway train on its front page. The newspaper and the photographer were criticized for being "too insensitive and sensationalist", showing how highly the majority of the people across the world regard life.

Double drivers for economy

China is realizing a transformation from an external demand-driven economy to a domestic demand-driven, especially consumption-driven, economy to maintain its sustainable development, and the ever-increasing domestic consumption will be an important driving force for the country's economic growth.

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Transition to sustainable growth

Instead the developed countries are pushing for a consensus on the use of market mechanisms, which implies setting a carbon price applied across all countries for sharing marginal costs of measures, as they define them, with developing countries. This leads to considering the economic potential of reductions and adjustments only in developing countries, as costs there are lower. The dominant approach, shaped by the developed countries, is based on the environmental impacts of future growth in developing countries, rather than on the consumption patterns in developed countries that led to the global crisis in the first place. The policy problem here is that for an acceptable global emissions pathway, international cooperation, in the form of sharing the costs, requires a peak year, which the International Energy Agency suggests should be 2017 to avoid "infrastructure lock-in".

Sticking to reform

The message can't be clearer that the new leadership of the Communist Party of China will not only continue reform and opening-up, but also further it in a pragmatic manner. Xi Jinping's first official visit as the Party's new general secretary was a strong manifestation of this.

Manila's miscalculation

Ever since the Philippines unilaterally raised tensions over its disputes with China in the South China Sea in April, the country has dutifully played the role of a troublemaker in the region. While coveting territorial waters it is not entitled to, it has played one trick after another seeking confrontation with China.

Chance to rethink economic policies

Following the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the new leadership is formulating its economic priorities and policies. The Central Economic Work Conference, an annual policymaking forum, will convene in the coming days. The leadership change provides the conference with an opportunity to take a broad look at the economic challenges facing China and to rethink the policies needed to address them.

Pension gap exerts severe pressure

China's colossal pension gap is expected to greatly increase its fiscal pressure and government debt risk because it faces an ever-increasing aging population.

Desperate expat doomed to failure

The police of Sichuan province have obtained unambiguous evidence proving that the Dalai Lama clique has been the organizer behind the self-immolation incidents in the province.

Small, but essential step

The eight measures aimed at reducing bureaucracy and official extravagance put forward by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China may seem trivial compared to the pledge to rejuvenate China made by Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, on behalf of the new leadership. Yet they are practical steps toward the lofty goal of national rejuvenation that has been cherished by Chinese people for more than 170 years since China fell prey to foreign imperialist invasions during the Opium Wars.