Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (
According to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, Jiang told Lee during their meeting that he admired him for his role as Singapore's elder statesman and said "while you may no longer be in the leadership position, but [you've] kept busy; [people] our age should not make [their] brains idle."
If Jiang sees Lee as his role model, then in all likelihood he is not going to hand over all the reins of power to his designated successor, Vice President Hu Jintao (
There have been an increasing number of less than subtle signs that indicate Jiang's desire to retain power, including efforts to deify him and mold his public image as a great Chinese statesman on a par with his predecessors Mao Zedong (
Around the same time, Jiang signed an order implementing new training guidelines for the People's Liberation Army, which listed the "three represents" dictum as an important lesson, along with the thinking of Mao and Deng. The move was clearly an attempt to secure Jiang's authority within the military, which plays a vital role in securing power and leadership in China.
Jiang's efforts to deify himself brings back memories of Chiang Kai-shek's (
Power is addictive, especially in authoritarian regimes, where one can resort to sheer power to silence all objections and opposition. The international community's hope that economic prosperity and an "engagement" policy toward China would push that country toward democracy increasingly appears to be an unattainable dream.
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
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