The Chinese administration of Xi Jinping has reiterated its intention to push ahead with a “strong army” policy. This policy centers on building China into a maritime power.

Increasing the number of foreign visitors and turning this into economic growth — this goal of making Japan a tourism-oriented nation will require combined efforts by the public and private sectors.

Tragedies often bring in their wake the realization of common vulnerabilities as well as greater clarity of vision. Hopefully, the tragedies that resulted from the bombing of the Boston Marathon will result in closer cooperation between governments in the ongoing war against the agents of terrorism.

It has been three weeks since North Korea closed its border to commuters and vehicles carrying textiles and other materials to South Korean factories operating in the Kaesong industrial complex. It does not even permit the shipment of foodstuffs to South Korean staff manning the factories, whose number is now cut to 190, one-third of the usual level.

One thing Chiang Kai-shek learned during his brief Moscow stay in 1924 was how to organize the Kuomintang along the Leninist line. A Leninist party is one consisting of mostly intellectual revolutionaries organized not democratically but as a bureaucratic or semi-military hierarchy.

Forgive me for first offering a caveat. The words that follow are not cool or objective in tone. That may sound odd, given that this column appears on page 4 of the China Post.

The brief period of 50 years, that corresponds between the Great Depression and the oil-shocks of the 1970s, marked the height of consensus regarding the value of social democracy.

In pursuing current events as in playing cards, evaluating the wider atmosphere is as important as studying the specific hand one has been dealt.

“Trade is the cheapest way to produce growth,” exclaimed European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso before an executive audience adding, that a planned Transatlantic trade pact between the U.S. and Europe Union would produce a “win-win solution in trade” for both sides of the Atlantic.

Japan as the third-largest economy has for years had to endure criticism for failing to support an equitable global rebound. Stimulus packages were misspent on patronage projects, as an example. Deregulation to spur new investment was never seriously attempted.