The decision to cut Voice of America (VOA) Broadcasting to China has attracted a good deal of congressional attention, as well it should. While China has launched a worldwide public diplomacy and media offensive, the United States is looking at a greatly reduced international media presence if the projected cuts …
China announced its economic results for the first quarter this morning. GDP was said to grow a strong 9.7 percent, while consumer inflation reached a worrisome 5 percent. Frankly, most Americans shouldn’t care that much. China’s economic importance is being overstated now, and even its considerable economic potential is sometimes …
The Broadcasting Board of Governors will receive $10 million under the compromise spending deal reached last week. President Obama effectively sided with the BBG over his own State Department in a funding dispute involving Internet circumvention work. Obama and lawmakers agreed to language in the fiscal 2011 spending bill cutting the …
It is perhaps emblematic that on the same day that China releases its long-delayed 2010 defense white paper, the U.S. State Department announces that Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg will be replaced by Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns. Coming on the heels of the departure of …
Some of the stiffest competition facing U.S. exporters does not come from Europe—or even China—but the U. S. Treasury Department. Yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that foreign customers spent $1.83 trillion on U.S. goods and services in 2010. They spent $119 billion on U.S. agricultural exports, …
The head of China’s People’s Congress announced Friday that any movements toward a Western-style democracy were off the table. Within the announcement, Wu Bangguo specifically ruled out multi-party elections, the division of the People’s Congress into two houses, separate branches of government with power to balance one another, and formal …
America’s trade deficit rose in January. Many times an expanding trade deficit indicates an expanding economy and more American jobs. In January, this may not have been true. The single biggest factor in pushing the trade deficit higher in January was higher oil prices. Unfortunately, these may also push the …
