UPDATE: TAIWAN's PRESIDENT FALLS INTO A DEADLY PATTERN

This reminds me of Japan's Abe and Thailand's Thaksin. Whenever their domestic performances go down, they try to look for foreign enemie that their country can unite against. In Japan, as Abe's popularity dipped, he went nationalistic with his controversial war denial and historical revisionist stance (lots of related posts in this blog). In Thailand, when Thaksin was being hit by billion dollar corruption charges, he tried to rally his people against the Philippines by fueling allegations of cheating in the South East Asian games.

And just recently, Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian went to the the conflict area Spratly Islands to assert his country's claims against several others like China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. This was said to have been done after his Democratic Progressive Party suffered a humiliating loss in the legislative elections three weeks ago.

The pattern seems to be so evident. So what's next? Chen's downfall? It happened with Thaksin and Abe...

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US PRESIDENTIAL CONVOYS

A columnist for a Philippine newspaper talks about the costs and massive preparations required by the US Secret Service whenever President Bush and other (US Presidents) travel outside of Washington DC. I remember watching a CNN report that showed how big a US presidential convoy is, compared to the two vehicle transport being used by Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK.

Competitive Advantage of the Philippines II

Despite being a newcomer in the global BPO industry, the Philippines have steadily increased its foothold as a top outsourcing destination. Rest of Asia ready to grab BPO jobs from India, RP--study INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse Last updated 08:44pm (Mla time) 11/05/2006 THE PHILIPPINES and India have to boost their overall competitiveness, as Asian countries gear up to get their share of the global offshore outsourcing pie, a recent global study showed. These top two outsourcing destinations will eventually compete with China, and other Asia Pacific countries that have similarly positioned themselves as outsourcing destinations, the latest Offshore City Competitiveness Report of market research firm neoIT showed. The study noted that companies have "moved beyond India" and the Philippines into not so well-known cities in the world since companies want to create a "global footprint." China and Eastern European countries are starting ...

DOHA Round Updates & Preferential Tariffs in Practice

T he DOHA round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations intends to promote the opening of markets and promoting free trade. This April, the latest meeting failed to reach a conclusion. Director-General Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization delivered a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce on April 23, 2007. Here are excerpts from his speech. "T oday we know that the Doha Development Round will not be concluded until and unless all these participants are ready to walk the extra mile and table additional contributions to the collective success of this multilateral enterprise. It is clear that the contributions will be linked to the degree of development and wealth of each participant, with the world poorest countries making the smallest contribution. It is also clear that no one will be asked to move first: countries will have to move in concert, like a big orchestra playing to the same tune. For the moment, a group of major actors — the EU, US, Brazil, India — d...

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