The following tweet by Gady Epstein, a correspondent for the Economist based in Beijing, is not surprising. The way I read it, he seemed dissatisfied that China and Japan haven't yet escalated their tension into war. Yes, this is that same trash magazine that had a sort of mea culpa not too long ago for their role in justifying British imperialism against the Chinese. … [Read more...] about The Economist’s Anti-China Stance on Diaoyu Islands
“The Inconvenient Truth Behind the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands” by Han-Yi Shaw
The following short article is by Han-Yi Shaw, a Research Fellow at the Research Center for International Legal Studies, National Chengchi University, in Taipei, Taiwan. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has decided to publish it on his blog, with a short forward. It is an important piece of work tracing the history of the ownership of the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands, using … [Read more...] about “The Inconvenient Truth Behind the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands” by Han-Yi Shaw
Baidu, Tencent, Google, and Apple among The World’s Most Innovative Companies
Is Apple one of the most innovative companies in the world? Most people would think so (so-so iPhone 5 specs notwithstanding). Google? Ditto. Baidu? Sure. Tencent? You know jack about Chinese companies if you don't think so. All these companies made the recently published Forbes' "The World's Most Innovative Companies." The authors of this study, Jeff Dyer and Hal … [Read more...] about Baidu, Tencent, Google, and Apple among The World’s Most Innovative Companies
Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
A lot has been discussed on this blog recently with regards to censorship, most of the discourse so far have revolved around the justice and standards of censorship. I want to take a different but related direction, and discuss yet another myth propagated by the democracy/freedom advocates - the notion that "free" societies are always more innovative than their "non-free" … [Read more...] about Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi
Whenever a for-profit - or even non-profit - organization professes to do good, to be a society's guardian - as Google has - I feel queasy. It's not that I think Google (or more generally corporations, NGOs, charities, even churches) is inherently evil. It's just that no non-government entity owes society at large a fiduciary duty per se, as governments do. Take as a case … [Read more...] about The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi