Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, ‘Inside China’, Geostrategy-Direct.com “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t […]

Growing political crisis in South Korea could impact critical security ties with U.S.

Growing political crisis in South Korea could impact critical security ties with U.S.

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The populist revolt against President Park Geun-Hye has grave implications for governance amid economic unease and high youth unemployment. In this uncertain transition period, Korea’s relationship with the United States is sure to undergo strains if not change while foes of her conservative pro-American policies line up in search […]

Report: Satellite images confirm China has advanced weapons on all 7 artificial islands

Report: Satellite images confirm China has advanced weapons on all 7 artificial islands

by WorldTribune Staff, December 14, 2016 New satellite imagery shows China has installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems on the seven artificial islands it constructed in the South China Sea. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said it had been tracking construction of “hexagonal structures” on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly islands […]

Trump: Why should U.S. be ‘bound’ by a ‘one China policy’?

Trump: Why should U.S. be ‘bound’ by a ‘one China policy’?

by WorldTribune Staff, December 12, 2016 Unlike his predecessor, analysts say U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is signaling he won’t capitulate to China early in his presidency. “I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China […]

China’s richest man to Trump: I’ll take Hollywood, Americans can keep their jobs

China’s richest man to Trump: I’ll take Hollywood, Americans can keep their jobs

by WorldTribune Staff, December 12, 2016 The Chinese tycoon who is on a Hollywood spending spree sent a message to President-elect Donald Trump: 20,000 jobs will stay in the U.S. as long as nothing “goes wrong.” Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man and chairman of real estate and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group, said: “I met […]

Strategic surprise: With Dec. 2 Taiwan call, Trump challenges China’s breakout from containment

Strategic surprise: With Dec. 2 Taiwan call, Trump challenges China’s breakout from containment

Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs The Dec. 2, telephone conversation between Republic of China (ROC: Taiwan) President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump very deliberately ushered in a new era in U.S. engagement in Asia, one designed to stop the rapid decline in U.S. credibility and […]

Seventy-five years after the ‘day of infamy,’ a new challenge from the Far East

Seventy-five years after the ‘day of infamy,’ a new challenge from the Far East

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — On December 7, 1941, the United States was shocked and stunned from its nervous neutrality and thrust into the crucible of the Second World War. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor instantly changed the narrative for American involvement in WWII which had already been raging […]

Trump’s Taiwan call seen pre-empting Chinese provocation early in his administration

Trump’s Taiwan call seen pre-empting Chinese provocation early in his administration

by WorldTribune Staff, December 6, 2016 Did Donald Trump beat China to the punch? The President-elect’s interaction with Taiwan’s president was seen by some observers as a pre-emptive hit on Beijing, which some analysts suggested was intent on delivering a testing Trump early in his administration. Trump’s 10-minute phone conversation with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, […]

Trump tweets back after China’s threat over Taiwan call; Bolton hails ‘creativity’ in U.S. policy

Trump tweets back after China’s threat over Taiwan call; Bolton hails ‘creativity’ in U.S. policy

by WorldTribune Staff, December 5, 2016 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump responded to Chinese threats over his unprecedented conversation with Taiwan’s president by challenging Beijing’s trade policies and its provocative military buildup in the South China Sea. A front-page editorial in the overseas edition of People’s Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party of China, […]

Trump’s call with Taiwan sparks international crisis . . . with U.S. ‘experts’ on China

Trump’s call with Taiwan sparks international crisis . . . with U.S. ‘experts’ on China

by WorldTribune Staff, December 4, 2016 “Donald Trump took the call. The voice on the other end of the line was Taiwan’s president [Tsai Ing-wen] congratulating him,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Browne in Taipei, Taiwan. Why the furor that subsequently erupted in the U.S. media? “No president-elect, or president, has spoken to a […]