Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1307

China’s Troubling Robot Revolution

Over the last decade, China has become, in the eyes of much of the world, a job-eating monster, consuming entire industries with its seemingly limitless supply of low-wage workers. But the reality is that China is now shifting its appetite to robots, a transition that will have significant consequences for China’s economy — and the world’s. Read more

The Sinocism China Newsletter, June 7, 2015

Get smarter about China. Read more

Souring China business climate risks U.S. investment treaty talks

China and the United States will swap initial demands for an investment treaty as early as Monday, sources said, but U.S. investors are already worried that an emerging raft of Chinese regulations could threaten the future of talks. Read more

This weekend, nine million Chinese teens will take the most important test of their lives

About nine million Chinese teens will take the National College Entrance Exam, or gaokao, this Saturday and Sunday. Read more

How Myanmar and Its Neighbors Are Responding to the Rohingya Crisis

Myanmar and its neighbors see the Rohingya minority group and the trafficking of migrants in the region very differently, complicating the refugees’ plight. Foreign ministers from three nations met on May 20 to address the humanitarian crisis that has stranded thousands at sea, but the countries that most of the refugees are fleeing — Myanmar and Bangladesh — did not take part in the talks. Here

The Big Story Behind China’s New Military Strategy

China’s participation in globalization has catalyzed an irreversible explosion of overseas interests. It has also afforded China greater resources and capabilities with which to advance and defend them. This combination has drawn China inexorably outward to become “more willing and able” – that is, active in international security affairs. Read more

Why China's Political Reforms Failed

The gunshots on June 4, 1989 in China signaled the failure of the political reforms sought by the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party during the 1980s. This failure wasn’t accidental – it was a result of a complex competition between different factions within the CCP. Read more

Kinas kritiske røster tvinges til å tie

- Vi sensurerer oss selv. Det blir stadig farligere å kritisere regimet, sier en kinesisk dissident til Aftenposten i forbindelse med årsminnet for Tiananmen-massakren. Les mer

Continued Hacking Highlights U.S-Chinese Cyberwar Worries

The latest massive computer hack suggests the Chinese had it right: it may be time for the U.S. to build a great wall to protect its data and that of 320 million Americans. That’s why the U.S. secretly expanded the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program to root out hackers in 2012. But, as a rash of recent data breaches makes clear, the hackers retain the upper hand. Read

Vietnam sends message to China with bid to buy fighter jets and drones

Vietnam is seeking to upgrade its air defences by acquiring western fighter jets and drones, a move which would further militarise a dispute with Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Read more