Asia

When I heard the breaking news about a bombing of a hospital in Kunduz yesterday, I immediately thought of a suicide bombing, of an “act of terror” how it is phrased too often. The fact, that the attack most likely was conducted by the US military did not change my disgust for this happening, but when I found out that it was ... Read More »

In our modern Western world, sugar is seen as something that is hidden in comfort foods that will make us fat if we overindulge. We think we are safe from it outside of candy stores and fast food establishments. Still, great amounts of sugar is to be found in a lot of processed foods. We try to avoid it because we ... Read More »

On the 23rd of March this year, Asia lost one of its most peculiar leaders: Lee Kuan Yew, the very first prime minister of Singapore. This man, who was known for his seemingly totalitarian regime was nevertheless a dearly beloved and admired leader among his citizens. Through Western eyes it seems a strange paradox to have a population bound by ... Read More »

Corruption in China has been a longstanding truth that remains today. In 2013 the PRC was ranked 80th out of 178 countries in the Transparency International’s Corruption Preceptions Index. Since the 1980s widespread surveys have been carried out to the public and have shown that corruption represents one of the top concerns of the general public. However, as China has ... Read More »

About seven months ago I was waiting in line at Schiphol Airport, jumping around like a little kid seeing a puppy for the first time. This very moment was what I had been waiting for ever since I was in my last year of high school. Finally, I was going on my exchange and the destination was even beyond what ... Read More »

With China’s economy having experienced a rise that is second to none, the government often boasts about having lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. What is often forgotten is that this has also led to one of the greatest migration movements in human history. China booms, but it does not do so everywhere. While the overwhelming majority of industrial ... Read More »

For years, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was criticized and seen as stumbling block for the improvement of diplomatic relations. Today, this multilateral organization is only a few steps away of forming an economic community and has already concluded free trade agreements with China, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and India. Have we now been proven wrong in our criticism of ... Read More »

On March seventeenth, the Guangzhou Orphanage in China announced the shocking amount of disabled children dropped off at the baby drop-off hatch that had opened no more than two months earlier. Many babies had died due to a lack of care or too severe diseases and the world was shocked. How did it get to this, and is the Chinese ... Read More »

By Yuri van Hoef With corruption scandals coming to light in December 2013, Istanbul’s Taksim square once again became the site of major anti-government protests. Earlier, in May 2013, what started as a small environmental protest against the demolition of parts of the park, quickly escalated into full-blown protests against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ... Read More »

While the US and the EU continue their negotiations about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) under disputable circumstances, namely the lack of public oversight, negotiators should maybe take a look at Taiwan: The student-led mass protests give a striking example of what can happen if governments try to implement questionable trade agreements behind closed doors or even against ... Read More »