East Asia

China’s growing influence on international affairs is nowhere more evident than in Latin America, a region pejoratively regarded as the ‘backyard’ of the United States.

In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, Francis Fukuyama asked whether the world had reached ‘the end of history’.

Kathleen McLaughlin reports from Beijing on the strengthening economic ties between China and the US.

The 20th anniversary earlier this month of the Tiananmen tragedy has given China-watchers an opportunity to take stock of their analyses over the past two decades. And, given the recent media and policy attention lavished on China’s maritime ambitions, it is worth looking back at Western studies of the Chinese navy and its impressive advances in recent years.

However, a closer look at many of those predictions shows, at best, a patchy record of success – and, at worst, some worrying analytical shortcomings.

The Diplomat’s China correspondent Kathleen McLaughlin considers why the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre is a topic for discussion everywhere but China.

With North Korea’s latest acts of defiance again grabbing the world’s attention – an underground nuclear test last week and several missile firings – all eyes have turned to China to rein in its secretive neighbour.

Last month was the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). At the naval parade held to commemorate the event, in front of delegations from 29 countries, PLAN Commander General Wu Shengli declared that Beijing intended to build aircraft carriers, spurring widespread speculation over China’s blue-water ambitions.

Two years ago, Hong Kong marked the 10th anniversary of its reunification with China with the usual fanfare and fireworks, and perhaps some relief – if not satisfaction – that 10 years had indeed passed.

In stand-alone terms, Hong Kong’s statistics are impressive. It was the world’s 12th largest trading economy in 2007, with a GDP in excess of US$200 billion.

The dramatically titled World at Risk report released in December 2008 by a US congressional commission predicting that a bioterrorist attack is likely in the next five years may have been aimed primarily at a domestic American audience, but it has also served to remind Asian nations of their vulnerability.

Hong Kong’s strong institutional framework, location and flexible workforce have positioned it as an ideal place to do business in Asia, particularly as an entry into mainland China.

Living in Kemalist Turkey is instructive in how a country can nourish a Great Leader cult and still veer short of dictatorship.