Aboard the metaverse, business should not lose touch with reality

Anja Engen The metaverse, a $1 trillion annual revenue opportunity, has increasingly attracted businesses seeking to boost growth in virtual spaces. Despite not having an official definition, several businesses have already established their metaverse headquarters. As more companies start operating in these shared virtual environments, several of our daily activities will occur online. For example, […]

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The world must move past ‘spheres of influence’

Ding Gang Professor Da Wei, a professor at School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, recently published a paper called “Security Concerns are Reasonable, Spheres of Influence are Not (The Washington Quarterly Volume 45, 2022 – Issue 2).” The essay provides a Chinese perspective for those willing to understand China’s position on great power diplomacy, particularly […]

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South Korea should not blindly follow the US and the West in making its China policy

Zhan Debin Since taking office, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been participating in multilateral mechanisms or events that more or less took China as the target. This includes strengthening trilateral cooperation among the US, South Korea and Japan, attending the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, and attending the NATO summit. Many […]

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Partisan divides impede US response to climate change

Kerry Boyd Anderson US President Joe Biden promised major progress toward addressing climate change, including significant cuts in US emissions. More than a year into his presidency, his climate agenda has hit obstacles in Congress and from the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Americans increasingly are feeling the real-life impacts of climate change, including record high temperatures, […]

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China stresses legal status of Taiwan Straits to deter US provocation

Hu Xijin Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday that according to UNCLOS and Chinese laws, the waters of the Taiwan Straits, extending from both shores toward the middle of the Straits, are divided into several zones including internal waters, territorial sea, a contiguous zone and the Exclusive Economic Zone. China has sovereignty, sovereign […]

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America’s abysmal human rights record at home reveals its hypocrisy abroad

Dakotah Lilly The United States has the dubious distinction of having a reputation for a multitude of things. These include leading the world in school shootings, having stereotypically unhealthy food and having prohibitively expensive healthcare. However, one of the things that the US government has also earned itself a reputation for is the continuous lecturing […]

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‘Economic Article V’ a blatant incitement to undermine security order of others

Ding Gang Recently, two European and US politicians presented NATO with a proposal called “Economic Article V” to counter the coercion of authoritarianism. One of these two politicians is former NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the other is former US ambassador to NATO Ivo Darder. Because of their past positions, their proposals for […]

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Greener cities are critical to regional sustainability

Sara Al-Mulla From megacities to metropolises, cities of all kinds are experiencing an unprecedented spectrum of threats associated with climate change, necessitating a serious debate on the importance of transitioning toward greener cities in order to remain sustainable and resilient. Currently, those living in urban areas make up just over half the global population. But […]

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Turkey’s EU accession prospects remain bleak

Yasar Yakis The European Parliament this month issued its periodical “progress report on Turkey.” Turkey’s pro-opposition media considers these reports to be the country’s magnetic resonance imaging, allowing an accurate picture of Turkey to be seen. The pro-government media regards these reports as aiming to blackwash Ankara’s reputation. The latest report is not much different […]

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US attempt to weaponize sea against China brings unprecedented maritime challenges

Wu Shicun The Shangri-La Dialogue resumed from June 10 to 12 in Singapore following a two-year hiatus. Judging from the deliveries of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the security forum, as well as some related information, the maritime environment surrounding China is set to experience new characteristics […]

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Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee: Diplomat queen has helped UK overcome the pain of history

Alistair Burt The UK this weekend celebrates the unprecedented achievement of Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee with genuine affection and warmth. Whatever the questions surrounding other elements of the UK constitution at present — and indeed the prospects for the monarchy itself, as set out by Andrew Hammond in his Arab News piece of May […]

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Talking China down will again fall flat

Wang Wen Recently, many international financial institutions have continued to downgrade China’s economic growth forecasts. Badmouthing China is not something new, and China’s economy is indeed facing a lot of downward pressure due to factors like the COVID-19 epidemic. But objectively speaking, these pessimistic opinions are based on either groundless accusations or exaggeration to deliberately […]

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COVID-19 pandemic’s innovation lessons for the climate crisis

Antonio Andreoni & Rainer Quitzow While the COVID-19 crisis has brought much suffering and many socioeconomic burdens, it has also shown how targeted cooperation between the state and business can speed innovation. Addressing the climate crisis calls for similarly creative collaboration. In both cases, accelerating innovation and experimenting with local solutions is necessary but not […]

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