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Kusu news 7-Feb-2022

Southeast Asia’s should prepare for a new cold war

The Soviets lost the last great power struggle, now China is giving the U.S. a run for its money

4-Feb-2022 The Japantimes

BANGKOK – Few parts of the world paid as high a cost during the Cold War as Southeast Asia. The superpower conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union divided the region into pro- and anti-communist camps, spawning five wars in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam over four decades. Today, U.S.-China competition is fueling a so-called “new cold war” with familiar structural characteristics.

In fact, the Sino-American great-power confrontation is a continuation of an unfinished ideological struggle, this time pitting the U.S.-led and Western-based alliance system against a China-centric global network of client states, many of them with various shades of authoritarian governance. The Soviet Union lost the Cold War, but China is now giving the West a run for its money in the sequel. And Southeast Asia will once again be a major theater.

For about two decades following the end of the Cold War, America seemed to enjoy a “unipolar” moment enabling it to reshape the global order — and free markets and democratization spread around the world. But liberal democracy and market capitalism were subsequently weakened from within, particularly following the 2008 global financial crisis, enabling a growing challenge by alternative models of authoritarianism and state-directed economic development.

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Olympic delegations should side with Taiwan and leave their national flags at home

All athletes deserve to be treated with dignity, Taiwan’s Olympic delegation is currently the exception

4-Feb-2022 Japantimes

Taiwanese athletes are banned from carrying their national flag at the Olympics. They must compete as “Chinese Taipei,” a made-up name that misrepresents their national identity.

Some countries have announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in protest of China’s reported human rights abuses. Diplomats officially represent their countries, but so do national flags. A flag boycott would, therefore, be in line with a diplomatic boycott, albeit one organized in response to a separate issue.

That said, a more compelling reason for leaving national flags out of the Olympics is fairness.

All athletes deserve to compete on a level playing field and to be treated with dignity. Taiwan’s Olympic delegation is currently afforded neither.

Although the Olympic Charter forbids discrimination, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bans Taiwanese from expressing their national identity, even after a hard-earned victory. They cannot use their country’s real name or national flag. They instead must compete as “Chinese Taipei,” a phrase which to many Taiwanese is an insult given that they do not identify as Chinese or live in Taipei. No other Olympic team is subjected to this sort of prejudicial treatment. It continues only because China insists on it, and the IOC lacks the backbone to stand up against the Asian powerhouse.

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Singapore Airlines ranked top global carrier, leading Asian firm in Fortune's Most Admired list

3-Feb-2022 The Straits Times

The Singapore carrier came in 32nd overall, up two spots from 34th last year. This is the 20th time the company has made it to the annual list.

Tech giants Apple, Amazon and Microsoft held the top three spots while Pfizer came in fourth. It is Apple’s 15th straight year in No. 1 position. 

SIA ranked ahead of Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor, which came in at 34th place, the only other Asian company to have made the list. It also beat other global giants such as BMW, Bank of America, PepsiCo, IBM and Visa.

Global consulting firm Korn Ferry, which works with Fortune on the list, described the annual ranking as the "definitive report card on corporate reputations".

It was based on a survey of 3,740 executives, directors and analysts across a range of industries, who were asked to rank the companies they admired most in any industry.

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Blinken to visit Asia to emphasise commitment despite Ukraine crisis

5-Feb-2022 CNA

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken goes to Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad, the State Department said on Friday (Feb 4).

Blinken is making the trip despite the mounting crisis over Ukraine and policy analysts say the aim is to show the Indo-Pacific region support and that pushing back against China's expanding influence remains Washington's top priority.

Blinken will leave Washington on Monday and be in Australia from Feb 9 to Feb 12 for the meeting of the Quad - the United States, Japan, India and Australia.

Blinken will then meet Pacific Island leaders in Fiji before heading to Hawaii to confer with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

The State Department said the purpose of the trip was "to engage Indo-Pacific allies and partners to advance peace, resilience, and prosperity across the region and demonstrate that these partnerships deliver."

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Russia and China rise from their knees to challenge US dominance

07-Feb-2022 Intellasia | The Telegraph |

Much of the statement released on Friday by Russia and China formally declares what has long been the case: that Moscow and Beijing have similar views and each other’s backs when it comes to quarrels with the West.

But the message here is anything but routine.

At a moment of immense international tension, Russia and China are asserting the arrival of a new geopolitical era.

From now on, the dominance of the US-led global West will no longer be taken for granted or tolerated.

After decades of humiliation, the world’s autocratic superpowers have risen from their knees and will now up-end the inequitable post-Cold War world order.

The immediate winner here is Putin.

On the brink of a war in Ukraine that he knows will cost Russia dearly if it goes ahead, the Russian president is in dire need of allies.

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