International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe examines the symbolism of Japanese and Indian military exercises, and their relevance to China. Excerpt: The Japanese and Indian navies are in the second of four days of joint exercises in the Bay of Bengal,
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JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs April 1, 2017 Beijing is reaching back into the excesses of Maoist Stalinism and forward into the high-tech social control of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” to try to contain the restive natives of its colonial outposts, Tibet
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs January 7, 2017 At the heart of one of the most effective and simple human rights campaigns of recent years is a box on a roof in Beijing. In its quiet way, that box has confirmed for the
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs July 16, 2016 The ruling this week by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, that China’s claim to sovereignty over about 90 per cent of the South China Sea is invalid and unlawful, will have profound effects on the
For the first time, Hong Kong’s Federation of Students, a coalition of student unions, will not take part in the Victoria Park demonstrations. Instead, it will help organize a number of events and demonstrations confronting democracy and even independence in Hong Kong’s future.
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs May 28, 2016 Since Tsai Ing-wen was elected president of Taiwan in January, the Chinese regime of Xi Jinping has done everything it can to inflame cross-strait relations by goading her into making an outraged response. Tsai, who
“China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea, and you’d have to believe in the flat Earth to think otherwise” — Adm. Harry Harris JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs February 26, 2016 It has been a long and expensive quest, but Beijing has now
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs January 16, 2016 (Updated) Taiwan has surged over the hump of its 35-year voyage from a military-ruled, one-party state to one of the most successful and vibrant democracies in Asia. Tsai Ing-wen, 59, leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs December 19, 2015 I was wrong when I said in last week’s column there is little reliable information available about the extent of soil pollution in China. Well, half wrong. In my hunt for facts I foolishly neglected to
JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs December 11, 2015 Vancouver’s grossly inflated housing market, the United Nations’ climate conference in Paris and China’s catastrophic environmental degradation were all linked this week in a circle of cause and effect. On Tuesday the authorities in Beijing
The flood of money from China into Canada has not only contorted and distorted the Vancouver housing market beyond redemption, it has changed the sort of community Vancouver is going to be for generations to come, writes Jonathan Manthorpe. And, in a