The Week: Most Recent East Asia

Why a Chinese company is buying AMC movie theaters

The Week — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:40:00 -0400

China's Dalian Wanda Group is buying AMC Entertainment, America's second-largest chain of movie theaters, for a cool $2.6 billion. The deal marks the biggest Chinese takeover of an American company to date, and by adding AMC's 5,000 screens to its existing roster, Wanda will become the world's largest theater operator. The acquisition is just the latest step in an increasingly close relationship between China and Hollywood, though it usually works the other way, with Hollywood aggressively moving into China to take advantage of the country's expanding movie market. So what's Wanda up to? Here...

5 reasons China's economy is slowing down

The Week — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:22:00 -0400

China recently released data showing an "across-the-board" slowdown in its economy, sparking concerns that it could drag down the global economy, too. "China has been the largest single contributor to global economic growth in recent years," says Keith Bradsher at The New York Times, and it's unlikely that the country's problems can be contained. "Remember: What happens in China, does not stay in China," says Thomas Mucha at Global Post. Here, five reasons why China's economy is faltering:

1. Economic weakness in the U.S. and Europe
China has long relied on its cheap export machine to fuel growth...

The Chen Guangcheng exile deal: Happy ending or disaster?

The Week — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:48:00 -0400

The diplomatic crisis over Chen Guangcheng isn't over yet. Chen, a blind activist who escaped from house arrest and hid for six days in the U.S. embassy, had hoped to stay in China under a deal brokered last week by the Obama administration, but that arrangement quickly unraveled. Now, Chen says he's hopeful that Chinese leaders will respect a new agreement allowing him to go to the U.S. for a teaching fellowship, and take his family with him. "I still don't know when I'll leave, but it shouldn't be too long," Chen, a self-taught lawyer, tells Reuters. Is this a good deal for all concerned...

The Chen Guangcheng deal: Who won?

The Week — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:08:00 -0400

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng has had a "change of heart," U.S. diplomats said Thursday. Chen now reportedly wants to leave China with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who's on a high-level visit until Saturday, despite a U.S.-brokered deal in which the Chinese government guaranteed he wouldn't be mistreated. Chen, a rural, self-taught lawyer, had been held under de facto house arrest by local officials, but escaped to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing last week. He left to be reunited with his family and seek treatment in a hospital on Wednesday after receiving assurances that he would be able to...

Showdown in Beijing: Is the U.S. wrong to shelter a Chinese dissident?

The Week — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:14:00 -0400

The U.S. and China are locked in tense negotiations over the fate of Chen Guangcheng, a blind dissident who made a bold escape from house arrest and reportedly sought refuge in the U.S. embassy. The drama comes at a sensitive moment — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are traveling to China this week for potentially critical strategic and economic talks. Will tensions over a single dissident disrupt U.S. relations with Beijing? Here, six key questions:

Who is Chen Guangcheng?
Chen is a blind Chinese civil rights activist, a self-schooled legal advocate...

Crisis in North Korea: 'Obama's Jimmy Carter moment'?

The Week — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:21:00 -0400

The November election is expected to hinge on the economy, but rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula are pushing foreign policy into center stage. Vice President Joe Biden says President Obama's overseas successes, including the killing of Osama bin Laden, prove he's better equipped to be commander-in-chief than the untested Mitt Romney. But Romney says he'd be tougher than Obama on belligerent countries, including North Korea, which is reportedly set to test a nuclear device in an attempt to shake off the embarrassment of its recent failed missile launch. Will Obama prove his mettle in the North...

Is Hollywood bribing the Chinese government?

The Week — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:35:00 -0400

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether major Hollywood studios have bribed members of the Chinese government to get a leg up in the country's fiercely competitive movie market. The SEC is pursuing the probe under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which bars U.S. companies from making illicit payments to foreign officials. Reports of the investigation are shedding light on the often opaque business deals that proliferate in China, and could become an embarrassment for the Obama administration, which has pushed China to give Hollywood greater access to its markets...

North Korea's latest threats: Mere bluster or a real danger?

The Week — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

After being threatened by its enemy-neighbor to the north, South Korea has put its military on alert and increased police patrols around conservative newspapers and TV stations. The North Korean military on Monday accused the South's government and news media of slandering its leaders, and vowed to reduce "ratlike groups" in Seoul to ashes soon "by unprecedented peculiar means." Is this just typical, over-the-top chest-thumping from the volatile hermit kingdom, or could Pyongyang really mean it this time?

North Korea might follow through: Usually, these rants from Pyongyang are just for show, says...

Kim Jong Un's surprise speech: 6 talking points

The Week — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:05:00 -0400

North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un, presided over a massive military parade in honor of the centennial of the birth of his grandfather, country founder Kim Il Sung — something that leaders of the isolated country have been known to do. But then Kim did something completely unexpected: He spoke. His televised 20-minute address was the first his country, and the world, had heard from the young leader, and it suggested to outside observers that Kim is charting a different course than his late father, Kim Jong Il, and will easily survive the humiliating failure of a satellite rocket launch...

North Korea's mysterious satellite launch: 3 theories

The Week — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:45:00 -0400

North Korea is moving ahead with plans to conduct a satellite launch — sometime between April 12 and April 16 — to commemorate the 100th birthday of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung. Of course, suspicions abound that the rogue nation is up to no good, and the launch is seen as the most aggressive move that North Korea has made since Kim Il Sung's grandson, Kim Jong Un, came to power four months ago. U.S. officials say the launch is a cover for a long-range missile test, which would shatter a February deal to provide North Korea with much-needed food aid in exchange for a moratorium...

Will the U.S. regret suspending food aid to North Korea?

The Week — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:24:00 -0400

In North Korea, promises are apparently made to be broken. The Obama administration confirmed this week that it had suspended planned food aid to the rogue communist regime in response to Pyongyang's proposed April launch of a satellite-carrying rocket. The U.S. says the hermited nation is violating a February deal that secured aid in exchange for freezing its controversial weapons programs. Will America's food refusal bring North Korea back in line, or merely aggravate the situation? Here's what you should know:

How badly does North Korea need this aid?
Quite desperately. The government's disastrous...

Tibet's 'horrific' wave of self-immolations: An instant guide

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:10:00 -0400

A Tibetan exile set himself on fire in India on Monday, during a march to protest the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao. "From head to toe, he was full of fire," Dorjee Tseten, national director of Students for a Free Tibet, tells The New York Times. The activist, Jamphel Yeshi, is in severely critical condition, the latest casualty in a "horrific" wave of often-fatal protests against Chinese rule in Tibet. Here, a brief guide:

How common is this form of protest?
In the last year, roughly 30 people have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule of Tibetan areas. Twenty-two of them...

Is China better at capitalism than America?

The Week — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:05:00 -0400

The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union seemingly put to rest any doubts about the supremacy of America's capitalist system. Guided by the magic hand of the market, the U.S. had created more prosperity than any other country in history, while the Soviet system crumbled under the weight of its creaky, bureaucratic machine. But the subsequent rise of China, whose economy combines aspects of capitalism and central planning, has thrust the U.S. model under new scrutiny. While Uncle Sam continues to limp his way out of the Great Recession, China has hardly broken its stride. Is China's brand of capitalism...

Obama's upcoming visit to Korea's DMZ: 3 talking points

The Week — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:10:00 -0400

The White House announced Wednesday that President Obama would, for the first time ever, visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea during his trip next week to Seoul, where he'll attend a nuclear security summit with other world leaders. The DMZ is among "the most dangerous places on Earth," says Voice of America, "with heavily armed North and South Korean forces aligned against one another." The two countries have been "in a formal state of war" for nearly 60 years. Further heightening tension, President Obama's trip comes as North Korea appears ready to launch a long...

One man's 'astonishing' escape from a North Korean death camp

The Week — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:07:00 -0400

"His first memory is an execution," begins a riveting excerpt from the new book Escape From Camp 14 about a young North Korean man born and raised in a work camp for political prisoners. Journalist Blaine Harden's book, available at Amazon, tells the "astonishing" story of Shin In Geun, believed to be the only person ever to escape from one of the isolated communist nation's infamous gulags. What was life like for Shin and his fellow Camp 14 inmates? Here, a brief guide:

What was the camp like?
Camp 14 is massive — 30 miles long, 15 miles wide, with its own farms, factories, and mines, and...

Is China's 'inevitable' slowdown good for the global economy?

The Week — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:24:00 -0400

The Chinese government's recent projection of a slowdown of economic growth this year caused hand-wringing in markets from Shanghai to New York. (China still projects GDP growth of 7.5 percent this year — an enviable rate by almost any standard.) Since the 2008 financial crisis, China has been the primary engine of the global economy, and anything but its usual white-hot growth could imperil the nascent recoveries in U.S. and Europe. While most agree that China's eventual slowdown is "inevitable," economic tea-leaf readers are debating the effect it will have on China and the...