MARKET WATCH

正OPINION Worries of the Trade Champion The General Administration of Customs recently announced that China outstripped the United States in international cargo trade last year.For some,this implies that China has risen to become the largest trading country on the globe.It is arguable that China’s great performance in trade comes at the expense of economic     

引渡制度发展与反腐败国际合作前瞻

引渡是国际公法的主要制度之一,是国家间在相互尊重主权基础上展开的国际刑事司法合作。引渡理论精微渊深,一直以来与国际刑事司法合作实践的发展休戚相关,直接关系到国家主权权利的实现途径。以引渡实践为依托,对引渡理论特别是引渡诸原则进行历史梳理,同时结合反腐败国际合作的大背景,讨论引渡实践的困境和引渡替代措施的前景,对我国反腐败国际刑事合作实践将会大有裨益。     

打造国际品牌提高企业经济效益--以格力电器为例

任何一家企业其生产经营的核心目标就是追求利润,因为利润是企业的血液,如果没有利润,企业就无法生存,更谈不上长足发展。经历了一场全球性的金融危机后,在全球经济举步维艰、市场需求持续不振的大环境下,海内外家电巨头纷纷陷入困境。然而在激烈的国际竞争市场上,在国内劳动力和原材料价格不断提升、难以取得核心技术突破的情况下,格力电器却做出了非常明智的抉择,即通过专业化生产、实施精品战略、走国际化道路打造国际品牌,进而提升格力产品价格、获取规模经济效益、吸引优秀人才、占领国际市场并实现供需双赢,最终使格力电器成功实现了迄今为止、全球首个依靠单一品类突破千亿元的家电品牌,从而保持了格力电器在全球家电产业中的霸主地位,让"中国制造"再次领跑在全球家电行业的最前列。     

Sowing the Seeds of Colombia

正COLOMBIAN to the core,Carmenza Jaramillo became the first Latin American woman to serve as an ambassador to China,two decades after her post as consul general of Colombia in Hong Kong.With her usual ease,she talked to China Today about the current state of relations between the two countries.     

Forensic examination of security features of the CDC-issued COVID-19 vaccination card and suggested improvements to minimize counterfeiting

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States released the CDC-issued vaccination card to document the status of immunizations. It eventually was used as a verification system to allow patrons to safely access public venues. This is/was apparently a simple printed piece of paper with minimal security features which made it an easy target for counterfeiters with little expertise required. Those unvaccinated who wished to enter areas that required proof of the COVID-19 vaccine were soon finding alternative illegal methods to do so which led to public health concerns. This research was divided into two parts. Part A aimed to forensically identify the security features with a video spectral comparator and a stereomicroscope. Ten “known” blank cards were collected directly from dispensaries that administered the vaccine and 68 “unknowns” from individuals who received the COVID-19 vaccine. Part B aimed to evaluate the authentication systems employed by countries outside the United States to propose a model on how the vaccination card could be improved and what security features should be included for future instances requiring proof of immunization. The results revealed the CDC document was produced with minimal security features making the document prone to counterfeiting. Furthermore, based on the information collected from other countries' vaccination certificates, it is recommended to develop a dual authentication system, with digital and printable aspects, that contains a QR code linked to a database. Other security features may include a non-optical brightener substrate, security fibers, a watermarked logo, offset printing, and a geographical color-coded system.     

al Qaeda and Global Governance: When Ideology Clashes With Political Expediency

In recent years, statements by al Qaeda leaders have included references to topics often associated with global-governance proponents’ critique of the state. This article examines the organization's attitude toward symbols of global governance, giving particular attention to its view of the United Nations as the foundation for global governance, and to the manner in which al Qaeda approaches the central questions of environmental threats and human rights. The organization is seeking to insert itself into the discourse of global governance and use it in an instrumental manner; it focuses on anti-Western narrative and seeks to expose the existing order as designed by Western powers, particularly the United States, for self-serving reasons. However, the article argues, notwithstanding al Qaeda's reputation for sophistication in manipulating public opinion, the organization's references to global governance underscore the limitations its rigid ideology imposes on its messaging efforts. Even though adopting the global governance discourse is in line with the group's effort to improve its image, al Qaeda's extremist ideology limits its ability to take full advantage of the benefits this discourse offers.     

The Demand for Protectionism: Democracy,Import Elasticity,and Trade Barriers

Numerous studies suggest that democracies employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. In this article, we examine the conditioning role that the elasticity of import demand at the commodity level plays on the relationship between democracy and import barriers. Beginning with the assumption that democracies are more responsive than nondemocracies to the preferences of mass publics, we demonstrate that the value of free trade as a public good depends on the elasticity of import demand. When import demand for a given commodity is inelastic, trade barriers are more harmful to consumers; as such, democracies will employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. However, as import demand becomes more elastic, publics find it easier to adjust to higher prices; as a result, the difference in imposed trade barriers by regime type decreases. We find support for this argument in statistical analyses of crosssectional data covering 4,656 commodities imported by 73 countries Furthermore, we find that democracies raise higher trade barriers than nondemocracies on commodities for which import demand is very elastic.     

Do Democracies Attract Portfolio Investment? Transnational Portfolio Investments Modeled as Dynamic Network

For many, transnational capital is an important driving force of economic globalization. However, we know little about the political determinants for cross-border portfolio investments. Recent economic literature focuses upon information asymmetries. We move beyond this and introduce an explicitly political element into the study of international asset flows. Democratic institutions attract portfolio investments because they reduce the chances of government predatory practices. Applying a dynamic latent space model on the bilateral portfolio investment data from 2001 to 2005, we empirically examine the effects of important country-level characteristics of both exporters and importers of portfolio investments. The empirical findings suggest that democracies are often associated with higher levels of inward portfolio investments. Interestingly, we also find that portfolio investments are associated with business communities’ subjective estimate of property rights protection, but not with more comprehensive, index-based aggregate measures from international think tanks.     

On the Razor's edge: The liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam

Throughout the summer of 2000 United Nations officials, both military and civilian, toiled long and hard to establish "The Blue Line" between Israel and Lebanon. The author, a former UN Military Observer who was part of that process, casts a critical eye over the manner in which the "withdrawal line" was delineated and examines its potential to endure. He concludes by arguing that regional pressures may well conspire against the long term survivability of the Blue Line project and suggests that the time is ripe for the UN to undertake a re-evaluation of its operations in the region.‐     

International communication: shifting paradigms,theories and foci of interest

Abstract

This article aims to be a stock-taking exercise of the development of paradigms and foci of interest, in attempts to theorise the vast developments and far-reaching changes as well as the impact and effects of global communication in the world of today. Attention is firstly given to the current nature, impact and implications of global communication in the first decade of the 21^st century, as well as to a shift in emphases in the (sub)discipline of international communication. A critical overview is then given of discourses on the free flow of information, modernisation theory, dependency theory, the structural theory of imperialism, world system theory, hegemony, political economy, critical theory, the public sphere, cultural studies, the information society and globalisation. Since many of these paradigms have been borrowed or taken over from media studies, international relations or other (sub)disciplines, attention is given specifically to their application in theorising international communication. The article concludes with a critical overview of the current ‘state of the art’ with regard to the body of theory in international communication.