Right to belief needs State protection

Officials at Nanchang, Jiangxi province, didn't expect to catch the attention of the entire nation when they rolled out an ambitious urban development plan of demolishing three Buddhist temples and building a composite one - called "Nanhai Palace" - to "replace" them.

Letters

Amendment to food law necessary

Global vision for the future

Today countries are gaining in influence more because of the size of the economy than the strength of their military, and the new government in India may well respond to the global rebalancing and join hands with China to shape the "Asian Century" According to an analysis of long-term economic trends by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Asia will be the world's powerhouse around 2030, just as it was prior to 1800.

So-called referendum deceptive and dangerous

The "Occupy Central" campaign supporters have asked the Hong Kong public to select from three proposals, each of which includes an element of civil nomination for the Chief Executive in the 2017 election. This is a deceptive tactic - undemocratically decided upon - by the civil disobedience movement. They also plan to lead a massive occupation of Central to paralyze the financial heart of the city. The organizers believe this will make the central government bend to local pressure.

A dangerous double act

PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III made it crystal clear in Tokyo that he does not care whether Japan nullifies the pacifist nature of its current constitution, nor what that means for regional peace and stability, as long as his country can get Japanese money and military hardware.

Confucius teaches culture

The great Chinese sage Confucius might have pardoned the American Association of University Professors for their criticism of Confucius Institutes, as it probably stemmed from either fear or ignorance of other cultures, perhaps both.

Cartoon

Hong Kong will always be part of China

A large number of Hong Kong residents are taking part in an informal - mainly Internet-based - poll to "determine" whether they want to have a more direct say in nominating candidates for the post of Hong Kong's "chief executive" in future elections. More than 700,000 Hong Kong residents had voted until the third day of the 10-day "referendum" organized by "Occupy Central" forces.

Obama faces the great Iraq dilemma

US President Barack Obama, as senator from Illinois, opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002 (much before it was actually invaded), and his dim view of this unnecessary war hasn't changed. Instead of criticizing and opposing Obama (as his sliding popularity shows), people should be applauding his consistency of vision and decision-making integrity. Obama didn't get the United States into the mess that is the "war on terror"; on the contrary, he courageously proposed to get Americans out of it. So people who say the US president has no vision or consistency or is decision-adverse are almost psychotically counterfactual.

Letters

Little boxes... look just the same

From the Chinese press

Stop illegal buildings' racket

Showing sincere intent

During his visit to the UK, Premier Li Keqiang once again conveyed to the world China's commitment to peaceful cooperation