Cartoon

Premature sex education cause for concern

The other day I heard an 8-year-old boy say that he had "a small crush" on a girl in his class. I asked for the difference between a big crush and a small crush. A big crush, he said, is when you go "mmmmmoooch", demonstrating a kiss. I sighed out of relief. "A small crush," he explained, "is when you stare at somebody and think peaceful thoughts." That is just so beautifully naive.

DPRK satellite launch

The democratic people's republic of Korea said on Wednesday morning it had successfully sent a satellite into orbit. It is a pity that a chance for diplomatic mediation, which emerged after Pyongyang said on Monday it was extending the launch window, has been lost.

Disclosing officials' assets

In a move widely anticipated to help more effectively fight corruption, South China's Guangdong province has decided to launch a pilot program in Hengqin New Area of Zhuhai and Shixing county of Shaoguan, requiring Party and government officials to report and disclose their assets.

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.

Cartoon

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.