The anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre came and went without any major incidents and Beijing is no doubt breathing a sigh of relief. Mourning was — as usual — banned, authorities harassed those trying to commemorate the day in Beijing and a silent parade to grieve for the victims of the June 4, 1989, massacre passed through Hong Kong.

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By Ralph Cossa
The US is a “resident” power in Asia that has been and will remain fully engaged in the region, supportive of and involved in the development of any regional security architecture: This was the central message delivered by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend.

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By Chiang Huang-chih 姜皇池
Various Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) VIPs, including former chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), have visited Beijing in attempts to improve cross-strait relations. After returning to Taiwan, Wu humbly declared that he was well-treated by the Chinese before dispatching Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) to negotiate the details of weekend chartered flights and Chinese tourism to Taiwan. But there were previous statements that, once dialogue resumed, Taiwan’s participation in the WHO would be the main priority for discussion.

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Clinton’s campaign didn’t need to be successful to trigger a much-needed conversation about issues like gender, age and power
By Jessica Valenti
It’s official. Americans won’t be inaugurating a woman president next January. From a feminist perspective it’s hard not to feel a bit defeated. Even for those who, like me, preferred Senator Barack Obama, there’s still that chilling feeling that maybe sexism scored a point this campaign season. But even though Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy is at an end, the effect it has had on women and politics is reason enough for feminists to cheer up.

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When US President George W. Bush was elected, he said tax cuts for the rich would cure the economy’s ailments. They didn't
By Joseph Stiglitz
Around the world, protests against soaring food and fuel prices are mounting. The poor — and even the middle classes — are seeing their incomes squeezed as the global economy enters a slowdown. Politicians want to respond to their constituents’ legitimate concerns, but do not know what to do.

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A plan to print suggested reading ages on kid’s books has their authors up in arms, with Philip Pullman and JK Rowling preparing to do battle with publishers
By Mark Lawson
The cause of this war occurred in April, when the kid-lit wing of the Publishers Association announced plans to print a suggested reading age on all children’s books. This followed research apparently showing that many adults are wary of choosing junior volumes as gifts because of the risk of, say, giving a novel about an adolescent being hired as a drug mule to a sensitive eight-year-old.

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