The Korea Herald

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[Yao Yunzhu] Thawing China-U.S. military relations

ViewpointsJan 21, 2011

The recent visit by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Beijing has been widely interpreted as marking the restart of Sino-U.S. military ties, which were damaged by the Barack Obama administration’s decision to approve a $6.4 billion arms sale package to Taiwan in early 2010. Both sides described the visit as successful and positive and agreed to build stable military relations by taking gra
Meet the Chinese as the landlord for U.S.

ViewpointsJan 20, 2011

All the bluster on Capitol Hill about punishing China for suppressing the value of its currency misses the bigger picture: We and the Chinese need each other to remain strong.China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. debt. That gives it a huge stake in our nation’s future. Much like a landlord or banker, China relies on us to pay our bills. Considering how the U.S. is asking the world to keep lending
Growing demand for high-tech health care

ViewpointsJan 20, 2011

Healthsense, a technology company based just outside Minneapolis, uses wireless sensors to provide an early warning system for health problems among the elderly or frail. The sensors send out an alert when they detect trouble ― a fall, for example, or a significant change in sleep patterns. Demand for this kind of innovation is soaring, and companies are responding with a host of new products that
[Alden C. Mayfield] Asian and Euro-American economic crises

ViewpointsJan 20, 2011

When the needles of greed, corruption, and cronyism popped the economic bubbles of Asia between 1997-98, much of the Western world gloated and wasted little time in criticizing irrational Asians for their lack of financial transparency in borrowing and expanding beyond their means. From their mighty computers, some Euro-Americans thought it was self-evident that Asians were not only irrational, bu
[Editorial] Another Sejong debacle?

EditorialJan 19, 2011

The government and the ruling Grand National Party are at odds over the location of the planned International Science and Business Belt. The discord is not only creating a new fault line within the ruling camp but fueling friction among local governments keen to host the 3.5 trillion won science hub.The belt is one of the campaign pledges of President Lee Myung-bak. He promised to build the scienc
[Editorial] Investment impetus

EditorialJan 19, 2011

Korean companies’ facility investment surged in 2010 after sharply dropping for two years due to the global financial crisis. As overseas demand for their products soared, they rushed to invest in plant and equipment to ramp up production. The government’s plan to terminate a tax credit program for corporate investment starting 2011 also prompted many companies to make investment in strategic area
[Eric Chaney] Euro’s Spanish showdown needs some ‘shock and awe’

ViewpointsJan 19, 2011

The major battle in the fight for the survival of the euro will be fought on Spanish soil. Greece, Ireland and soon Portugal should be regarded as skirmishes. But Spain is different, in terms of scale and solvency.If the strategy implemented by European Union policy makers is appropriate, the markets will shift their attention to other risks, such as inflation, after the decisive event has taken p
The use of yuan as international currency

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

The dazzling steps China has taken recently to expedite wider and better use of the yuan in cross-border trade and investment mark the country’s latest efforts to make its currency truly international. This accelerated pace to internationalize the yuan was long overdue. But given the complexity and problems with the global financial and currency systems, Chinese policymakers need not go too fast o
A new culture of giving as a social movement

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

The year of the rabbit has just begun, but in the first few weeks of 2011, it has been the tiger gaining all the attention. In a spontaneous Tiger Mask movement, anonymous citizens throughout Japan have been donating school backpacks and other items to orphanages and child welfare centers in the name of Naoto Date, the hero of the “Tiger Mask” manga and anime popular some 40 years ago. Date, a wre
[Matthew Lynn] Portuguese bailout will make euro crisis worse

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

New year, new crisis. No sooner had Europe’s bond traders, politicians and central bankers gotten back to their desks than it was time to begin tussling over the fate of a small economy on the periphery of Europe.This time around, it’s Portugal. And yet the script seems very similar to the one played out already in Greece and Ireland. Bond yields surge. The government denies furiously there is any
[Aryeh Neier] Is blasphemy a form of hate speech?

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

NEW YORK ― The assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan and an outspoken critic of religious extremism, has focused attention on his country’s draconian blasphemy law. Adopted in its present form by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq’s military dictatorship more than three decades ago, the blasphemy law imposes a mandatory death penalty on anyone convicted of insulting
[Albert R. Hunt] GOP’s immigration stance bodes 2012 risk

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

Republicans, riding high in Washington and in most state capitals, are sitting on a time bomb: immigration.There’s a division coursing through the party; many of the Tea Party types and social conservatives believe the tough-on-immigration posture paid dividends in the November congressional elections and want to ratchet up the pressure. Congressional leaders want to put the issue on the back burn
[Ann Woolner] Appealing a case against Facebook

ViewpointsJan 18, 2011

In the film, “The Social Network,” one of the Winklevoss twins digs in his heels when his furious brother urges a lawsuit against a fellow Harvard student for stealing their idea and turning it into Facebook.(Which twin was which, I don’t know. Who could tell the difference between Cameron and Tyler, played by the same actor?)But one of them, along with their partner, really, really wanted to sue
Obama in Arizona: A time to heal our wounds

ViewpointsJan 17, 2011

There are moments in a presidency when a leader delivers a speech and everyone goes about their business thereafter as if nothing happened. Other times, a president rises to the occasion in such extraordinary fashion that the audience is somehow changed.President Obama delivered a brilliant eulogy honoring victims of Arizona’s shooting rampage. He offered comfort to an aching nation.Americans of a
Tampering with legal principle on citizenship

ViewpointsJan 17, 2011

Legislators from five states have unveiled model legislation with complicated provisions but a simple and pernicious premise: that children born in this country aren’t citizens if their parents are illegal immigrants.That assertion, however, is no match for more than 100 years of Supreme Court precedent holding that anyone born in the United States is an American citizen. If the states enact laws