Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful and restful holiday! And thank you for your support of this blog!  I've changed up the design of the blog, hope you guys like it!

Christmas Tragedy

The refugee problem or the boat people as they call it in Australia has been in the national psyche for decades. From the Howard era of the “Pacific Solution”, which remind me of some WWII “solution”, to the softer approach of Labour’s policy, has been a determining factor during federal elections. Although boat people account for a minority of all asylum seekers to Australia, its media coverage has been extensive and much over hyped. 

With the recent tragedy at Christmas Island, it again bought up this topic and revealed the constant problem between satisfying the popularity of a ruling party to finding a real solution to the problem. While many wishes to find the most humane answer to stopping refugees making their perilous journey across the Indian Ocean to reach Australia, the truth is the actual route taken is the one that will yield the greatest number of votes during election; be it sending them packing or putting a welcome mat at Australia’s doorstep. In other words, instead of finding a real answer to the problem, Australia has been dodging the real problem of helping to promote stability in the actual regions where refugees are coming from and tackling to reduce the number of refugees coming by boat.

For more information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12005802

US-Sino Currency Rap Battle

For your viewing pleasure.. from Obama and Hu Jintao

The Atlantic Order vs China

Having just read an article in the Telegraph regarding China and the Nobel Peace Prize (link below), I couldn’t agree more the Nobel Prize is as much as a political tool as it is a weapon for the Atlantic Order i.e. Western Europe, North America. Throughout history, the award did indeed go towards to those fought against powers that did not agree with nor work in the interest of the Atlantic Order. However, the big fuss that China is making is what perplexes me the most. 

First of all, we all know China is playing the long game. It did not get to where it is today on short term planning or goals. However, since the announcement of this year’s winner, why is China making such a high profile statement? This has no doubt made a huge dent in its PR image and their outlandish statement that has been released is close to sounding it might have came from North Korea or Iran. China is not stupid, but why on the surface it seems China is digging a deeper grave for itself?  

In the end, as Mr Swami states “No one in Washington DC, or London, or Paris, or New Delhi is going to withdraw a single dollar in investment from Beijing to help Mr Liu.”  So does this all really matter?

Referring Article:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/praveenswami/100067890/china%E2%80%99s-right-the-nobel-peace-prize-was-a-political-message-for-its-own-good-it-needs-to-listen/

Asian Obsession with Japanese Culture

What I have come to notice recently after living in Asia for a couple of months is the obsession of all things Japanese in all manners of society. From anime to food to language, it is evident around every corner in Hong Kong. This is not exclusive to Hong Kong, Taiwan has long been regarded (at least under my impression) of close to mimicking Japanese culture. A quick search on a restaurant review website (similar to Tripadvisor), the top restaurants in a busy suburb produced a result of more than half of which are Japanese cuisine. On the streets of Hong Kong, every corner you look, there’s a Japanese restaurant. Even restaurants that have no remote connection to Japanese cuisine will have Japanese characters just for the hell of it (and this applies to food bought in stores).  As if like some sort of marketing ploy, products with Japanese characters sell for higher prices. Of course food is just one aspect, other things from mass media to even language has some influence from Japan. So I ask all you readers out there, why this obsession to Japanese culture? What’s the biggest thing that is causing this cultural hegemony on Asia and beyond? 

An example of cultural domination...

China’s soft power or lack thereof.

In contrast to the last, this post will be more serious in nature as it explores the realm of the international political system. I’ll try to make this as accessible as possible (sorry fellow Warwick academics, no IR theory in this *hopefully*). 

The recent crisis in the Korean Peninsula no doubt sparked much debate on what the concerned countries will do next. Will Kim let his son play with the missile controls? Will South Korea retaliate if attacked as they said they would but failed to in each instances? Can the US muster enough bond buyers to fund them another show of force? Needless to say, it’s pretty much impossible to guess what will happen and let’s leave that to the politicians and academics. 

What I will talk about today is China’s role in all of this. After the shelling of civilians and troops on the South Korean Island, China’s response was pretty muted. What was surprising was its initiative to host a de facto six party talk. However, all it got was an unenthusiastic non-reply from South Korea, Japan and the US. Instead these countries hosted their own meeting and responded in the form of military drills. Protests by China regarding the military drill were futile as USS George Washington starts launching F/A-18s at China’s doorsteps.  Shortly after, the Americans started another exercise with the Japanese, its largest since the creation of its alliance. 

All of these come to show all that China has quietly worked for in the past two to three decades of subliminal diplomacy to influence its neighbours was pretty much fruitless, albeit on some small countries south of its border (even Vietnam seems to cause a problem to China). While economic coercion as in the case of halting rare earth exports to Japan to release its fisherman arrested near the Diaoyu Islands, seemed plentiful, its soft power is another matter. If soft power is to influence actors to “want what you want” as proposed by Joseph Nye, then the extent of China’s soft power seems questionable in this respect.   

 ------

If you have any thoughts, comments or topic suggestions, please put them down in the comment section below!

Russia and Qatar?!

Lets start off with something light-hearted. The announcement of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup no doubt caught many by surprise. The Brits were definitely disappointed with major stars like Beckham promoting the bid. However, there seems to be some sore losers among the competitors with Barack Obama saying that Fifa had made: "the wrong decision" in awarding the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

In contrast, (not being bias here..) the Aussies being a good sport stated that "we are obviously disappointed at the outcome in Zurich, however we are proud of the efforts we made in trying to secure a World Cup in Australia." Adding that "Australia's reputation as a potential host for such a major event has been reinforced."

Seeing the gains from a defeat is a lesson that both countries and people should take note of. Before I go, I'll leave you with this quote which fits this post well. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill 


Oh yea, and who can forget Kim's bid for the world cup..

All quotes from BBC News, Image from SCMP

Welcome to the Neo-Observer!

First and foremost, a big welcome to the Neo-Observer!

In my first ever blog ( I know, I'm a bit late on this whole blogging thing!), I will be posting my thoughts and views on everything ranging from everyday ups and downs to social and political events from around the world. I hope you'll enjoy what you read here and please comment with your thoughts and feelings!