A Los Angeles firm has quietly assembled a Trojan horse electric car designed to carry the Chinese military-industrial complex deep into America’s auto market. Detroit should be afraid, very afraid. And anyone in the U.S. unemployment line ― along with American taxpayers, who are subsidizing this sham ― should be outraged.The car is branded Coda and debuted at the L.A. Auto Show. While Coda Automotive salespeople were eager to portray it as “All American” ― we got one of them bragging about it o

It has become even more difficult to implement visible steps that would lessen Okinawa Prefecture’s burdens as the host of many U.S. military bases. The government must recognize that this situation is extremely serious.The armed services committees of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed on revisions to a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2012, which includes a freeze on the entire $156 million budget for shifting U.S. marines stationed in Okinaw

Representatives for Taiwan’s three presidential candidates chose their “election numbers” last week. Tsai Ing-wen and Su Jia-chyuan of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ticket got number one. The Kuomintang (KMT) ticket of Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Den-yih drew number two while the People First Party’s (PFP) nominees James Soong and Lin Ruey-shiung ended up with number three. While no one takes the numbers too seriously, staff members for the respective candidates did put their spin on the numeri

The launching of joint patrols on the Mekong River by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand over the weekend is the initial result of the quartet’s efforts to increase security and stability along the waterway. The joint patrols have set a precedent for more transnational cooperation in security issues in the region. On Saturday, five patrol boats equipped with heavy machine guns and carrying hundreds of armed police and military personnel from the four nations, acted as escorts to 10 Chinese cargo

President Lee Myung-bak is visiting Kyoto, Japan, on Saturday and Sunday for shuttle diplomacy with Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda. Glaringly missing from the officially sanctioned summit agenda, however, is an issue concerning Korean women forced into sex slavery during World War II. The summit will have to deal extensively with the case, be it on the official agenda or not.True, presidential aides say that Lee, very much concerned about the issue, may take it up any time he meets Noda. But a curs

The ruling Grand National Party, faced with a leadership crisis, is put to a test over whether it will be able to put itself on the path to its former glory or continue to run adrift until it is shipwrecked. There is no easy prediction about its future, as an ad hoc committee that is empowered to map it out has yet to be created.For the moment, however, pessimism is outweighing optimism. Some demoralized party-affiliated lawmakers are giving up running for reelection, while some others are vowin

Conservatives were quick to accuse President Obama of embracing class warfare in his speech last week in Osawatomie, Kan. And liberal Democrats were thrilled to see a hint of the populist president they had hoped they were voting for in 2008.The polarized reactions suggest that Obama’s speech succeeded in one of its goals: to frame the 2012 election as a clear choice between two philosophies, a contest he might be able to win, instead of a referendum on his own unhappy economic record.But electi

CHONGQING ― A quiet revolution is happening in China’s hinterland.Breakneck growth spurred by government-led economic reforms has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and transformed a poor agrarian society into a global industrial powerhouse in one generation. Yet, the second-largest economy in the world is now at a crossroads. Its spectacular success has brought about byproducts such as a large wealth gap and widespread corruption that threaten the sustainability of its develop

Next year is likely to be another tough year for Korean economic policymakers as economic and political uncertainties are likely to mount at home and abroad. Globally, the eurozone sovereign debt crisis is expected to persist, adding fuel to turbulence in global financial markets and aggravating the vulnerability of the Korean economy.The year 2012 is also an election year not only in Korea but in many countries, including the United States, Russia, France and Spain. A leadership change is also

To scientists and environmental groups, the outcome of the recently ended U.N. climate talks in Durban is a big disappointment. Ostensibly, the two-week-long conference, which was attended by more than 190 countries, delivered results. It produced a package of agreements, including, among other things, the extension of the Kyoto Protocol for another five years.The delegates also agreed to launch negotiations next year to hammer out a new legally binding treaty by 2015. The envisioned pact is aim