Illustration: Liu Rui/GT In October 1943, Max Harris, the editor of Angry Penguins, then Australia’s leading avant garde modernist literary magazine, received a package of poems supposedly written by a deceased poet, Ern Malley. But as it turned out, Malley was a fictitious figure and the poems were in fact forged by a couple of …
Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery in Lumbini. Photo: VCG All planes flying from Kathmandu to Lumbini in southwestern Nepal are air minibuses. Shortly after the aircrafts take off, what heaves in sight is usually undulating mountains on the edge of the mighty Himalayas. Only half an hour later, passengers could see an immense plain. It …
Photo: IC Fresh tensions appeared Sunday between Japan and South Korea, after Seoul announced it would renew the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Tokyo, which was originally set to end on midnight Saturday. Seoul accused Tokyo of deliberately distorting the details of South Korea’s decision to keep in place the GSOMIA, and …
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT US Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam during his recent trip to Asia from November 13 to 21. As Esper sought to strengthen US relations with these countries, he also tried to drive a wedge between China and its regional neighbors. Vietnam was Esper’s last stop …
South Korea’s diplomatic headache seemingly never goes away. As its clash with Japan shows no sign of a quick end, its dispute with the US over cost-sharing for US Forces Korea (USFK) has once again flared up, putting their alliance to a stress test. The military cost-sharing dispute between Washington and Seoul has been around …
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT The Wan’an Tan in the Nansha Islands, claimed by Vietnam as “Vanguard Bank,” has witnessed a protracted standoff between China and Vietnam this year. Against the backdrop, Vietnam has been hoping powers outside the region, including the US and Japan, could endorse it. Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh …
Photo: IC With US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s Sunday declaration of indefinitely postponing a military exercise with South Korea, the chances of tensions reemerging on the troubled Korean Peninsula seem to have been nipped. The suspension of the war games announced during the Pentagon chief’s South Korea visit, however, does not mitigate the complexity of …
Photo: IC US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Sunday that the US and South Korea have indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise in an “act of goodwill” toward North Korea, according to media reports. Yet if Washington wants Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table, it needs to take further pragmatic steps. In an …
Sri Lanka’s new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaks during his first address to the nation in Anuradhapura of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, on Monday. Photo: Xinhua Sri Lanka’s former defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as the country’s new president on Monday, after he won the weekend election. Since Rajapaksa is widely perceived to …
Thousands of opposition protesters protested in Santiago de Chile demanding the resignation of President Sebastian Pinera, on November 12, 2019. Photo: IC Contrary to popular belief, it is not doctrines that are dominating Latin American politics, but globalization. If we still use neoliberalism or any other concept invented by Western scholars to explain what Latin …