Global virus lockdown was ‘madness’

It was called “lockdown madness.” But the line was not coined on some obscure conspiracy-mongering website. And, no, it was not part of a rant from US President Donald Trump. Instead, “Lockdown Wahn” (lockdown madness or insanity) is the term first used by Stefan Homburg, the professor of public finance at Leibniz University in the German city of Hannover. Read More

Malaysia’s rush to reopen risks a viral revival

Malaysian businesses may resume operations beginning today (March 4) in a partial easing of Covid-19 restrictions that aims at to revive the nation’s shuttered economy. Time will tell, however, if the government has moved too soon in easing amid concerns that relaxing restrictions could give rise to new infection clusters, including among foreign workers. Read More

China squeezes debt repayments from virus-hit nations

Amid the psychological rubble of the Covid-19 crisis, strands of China’s ‘New Silk Roads’ have been fused into a web of debt. What was a high-risk game of loans is now threatening cash-strapped countries as they struggle to combat the deadly coronavirus outbreak. In short, the Belt and Road Initiative has gone from the jewel in Beijing’s foreign policy crown to what many see as a poison chalice during a catastrophic world event. Read More

Korea shifts to ‘everyday life quarantine’ system

Amid fine spring weather and a five-day national holiday, the South Korean government, which has applied one of the lightest social-distancing policies in the developed world, announced further easing and school re-openings. The country has been widely praised for its early and wide-ranging testing, and more recently for its high-tech contact-tracing methodology, which has synchronized police, mobile phones, credit cards and other databases. Read More

This is not the China debate the US needs

Elections are a democracy’s way of deciding big questions and one of the biggest questions facing the United States today is what to do about China. So why do I have an uneasy feeling about China becoming a focus of this year’s presidential election? Maybe it’s because of the way the question is being framed. It looks like we voters are being asked to decide which candidate will be tougher on China, as if toughness were a policy. Read More

Beware the Pentagon’s pandemic profiteers

At this moment of unprecedented crisis, you might think that those not overcome by the economic and mortal consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic would be asking, “What can we do to help?” A few companies have indeed pivoted to making masks and ventilators for an overwhelmed US medical establishment. Read More

US-China blame game a lose-lose proposition

The Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated the already sinking US-China relationship attributed to the two countries’ trade, technology and geopolitical wars. The US is increasingly blaming China for the spread of the coronavirus, the damage it has done to the economy and the large number of deaths. Read More

From the archives

Oil price rally belies hard Covid-19 realities: There is little if any supply or demand indication that the speculative spike is sustainable.

Lebanese elites flee as banks come under attack: One protester killed after confrontations with army, as six-month-old uprising returns with vengeance.

Why the US withdrew its bombers from Guam: Tactical retreat raises questions about America's commitment to forward deterrence vis-a-vis China in the Pacific.

What Asia Times staff are reading

The End of Emerging Markets?: Economies such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, Russia, and Turkey face a daunting new reality.

Global Backlash Builds Against China Over Coronavirus: As calls for inquiries and reparations spread, Beijing has responded aggressively.

China's young spenders say #ditchyourstuff as economy sputters: Hit by job losses and salary cuts, young people are no longer buying – they are selling.