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Xi’s Trip to Korea: SK as a Hole in the Pivot in Exchange for Help w/ NK
Xi’s Trip to Korea: SK as a Hole in the Pivot in Exchange for Help w/ Tweet This is a re-post of an essay I wrote last week at the Diplomat. I guess South Korea-China relations is a hot topic, because...
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Relax, Korea is not ‘finlandizing’ for China
Relax, Korea is not ‘finlandizing’ for China TweetThis is the first of two part series (one, two) I wrote for the Lowy Institute last month. I have the feeling that the centenary of WWI this summer...
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My August Diplomat Essay: Can China Legitimate its Would-Be Hegemony?
TweetThis is a re-up of an essay I wrote at the Diplomat a few weeks ago. Basically, I ask if China can find a way to pull its neighbors into a cooperative project in east Asia, or if Chinese hegemony...
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My November Diplomat Essay: If We can’t Stop Fighting in the Middle East,...
TweetYou think that guy to the left cares about China or ASEAN? Gimme a break. This is a point I have made again and again on this blog: Asia does not activate the racial/cultural/religious paranoias...
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Blatant Pimping: The Worst Motorcycle in Laos
TweetWe usually don’t demean the fair cyber pages of this blog by something as base as promotion, but screw it, I’ll shed my secret identity and let the cat out of the bag: I, Chris Tharp, aka “Mr....
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My first point of action after arriving in China was getting a...
TweetMy first point of action after arriving in China was getting a SIM card for my phone. A friend recommended the company, China Unicom, to me. 3G data and a modest phone plan for my iPhone for 150...
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I have been staying at the Happy Dragon Hostel in Beijing, and...
TweetI have been staying at the Happy Dragon Hostel in Beijing, and it’s been great! The location is pretty central. It’s easy to get to the forbidden city and other great sites. My only complaint is...
View ArticleThe S2 train from Beijing to Badaling
TweetI see tours all over Beijing advertising organized tours to the Great Wall, starting at 180RMB (or $30 USD). This is affordable and somewhat convenient. They often even feed you free lunch. What...
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My Top 5 List for 2014: 5 Biggest Foreign Policy Events for the US in Asia
TweetI love these hoky, end-of-the-year lists. But I don’t know much about genuinely interesting or cool stuff, like the top 5 classical music pieces or architectural masterpieces of the year. So...
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My Top 5 List for 2104: 5 Biggest Foreign Policy Events in Korea
My Top 5 List for 2104: 5 Biggest Foreign Policy Events in Korea TweetThis is a follow-up to my previous post– a top 5 list of events for US power in Asia in 2014.South Korea had a good year....
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Looking Back on What Predictions for East Asia 2014 I got Wrong…and a little...
TweetI have always liked these end of the year prediction check-ups, and new year prediction-making exercises. It’s fun, but it also is an important check on irresponsibility in our punditry. Month...
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Northeast Asia 2015 Predictions: Another Year of the Repetitive, Uninspiring...
TweetThis is another of my end of year prediction/look-back posts. The others, on 2014, are here and here. This time I want to look forward to 2015, and I’ve got to admit that I see little that...
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Hong Kong
Tweet This is to be my penultimate blog post from Asia and documents my final trip in Asia for what could be a while. My contract finishes at my current school towards the end of February and I have...
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Low Blows in Shanghai
TweetPudong International AirportIt was 9:00 on a Thursday morning and I had just landed in Shanghai, the largest city in China by population and the largest city proper by population in the world. I...
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Missionary Imposition
Missionary Imposition TweetThe first Koreans I met were in Xi’an, China. They were missionaries and so was I. We had bubble tea on a university street on a hot evening and talked about miracles. Mean...
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Note to Congressional Republicans: Please Don’t Send One of Your Iran Letters...
TweetDoes anyone wonder what it would be like it neoconservatives brought their unique blend of bluster, recklessness, and belligerence to Asia? I kept thinking about that in the wake of that wildly...
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This Week Out There – May 11th – 17th
TweetA selection of this week’s expat-related stories Into the Wild… of Hong Kong? Idiot Patrol to the rescueA 27-year-old British expat living in Hong Kong was rescued by helicopter after somehow...
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Happy 2,578th Birthday Siddhartha Gautama (a.k.a Buddha)
TweetBuddha’s Birthday was celebrated all over East Asia yesterday. Held on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month, Buddhists attended their local temples for free vegetarian meals, sermons and to view...
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The Flipside
Tweetby Fred ColtonThey were supposed to practice writing Mandarin characters but Luke always just sat there and drew dicks. 4,000 hanzi to learn and not a single one Luke couldn’t turn into a thin...
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Separating China from NK is Worth SKs Silence on the South China Sea
Separating China from NK is Worth SKs Silence on the South China Sea TweetI got this map from here. Very useful. The article below was originally published at the Lowy Institute last week, here.In...
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