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Wealth among the richest in the Asia-Pacific region could surpass that of North America as soon as next year, a joint report by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management showed on Wednesday. The total wealth of high net-worth individuals in the region – defined as those with investable assets of $1 million and above – is expected to rise to $15.9 trillion by 2015, compared with $12 trillion in 2012. Wealth of the equivalent group of individuals in North America stood at $12.7 trillion last year.

From India's Look-East policy emerges Vietnam an ally to tackle the Asian dragon By lashing out against India for its dealings with Vietnam and other states in East and Southeast Asia, China has shown it will try to deter strategic competitors from collaborating against it. Both India and Vietnam must stand firm.In a significant move India decided to offer a $100-million credit line to Vietnam to purchase military equipment which will be finalized during the visit of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam later this year. Usually, a privilege reserved for its immediate neighbours, this is the...

I was watching a cooking show and the cast preparing a Engagement Feast for a Guy and this Smoking 1/2 Korean Girl. I have known quite a few Koreans but she looked like a semi-round rye, Viet Nam term. It kicked me back to late 1967, when driving through the front gate of Cu Chi base camp, I saw a hot smoking young lady sitting out side the gate, as opposed to squatting, waiting for someone. I had done a tour through the cat houses of Cu Chi so I knew she wasn't one of the local talent. I asked...

A new documentary, which airs tonight on PBS, explores the psychology behind yellow fever - the phenomenon that sees white men attracted to, and sometimes even obsessed with, Asian women. Filmed and directed by Debbie Lum, a fourth-generation Chinese-American from St Louis, Missouri, Seeking Asian Female looks to discover why many men see Asians as ideal wives, a concept that is 'very painful for the Asian-American community,' Ms Lum told ABC News.

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier. The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters (820 feet) long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials say it will be used in national defense — particularly in anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance missions — and to bolster the nation’s ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami...

“And why shouldn’t we?” With a thumping Upper House election victory behind them, this question is likely on the minds of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his political allies as they contemplate a visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the day Japan commemorates the end of World War II. If they do visit the shrine, they will probably insist that they are doing what politicians do in every other country with military conflicts in its past — proudly commemorating their war dead, with an utterance seemingly indifferent to the rights and wrongs of that past: “They sacrificed their...

A new defense paper published by Japan’s government today urges Tokyo to set up a rapid marine deployment force to counter threats to its territory and acquire offensive weapons, like surveillance drones and missiles that could strike enemy bases. Shinzo Abe’s government is clearly trucking on with plans to revamp Japan’s military and even considering changing the pacifist constitution, under which some of these new capabilities are questionable. The paper pushes the limits of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which states, “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use...

China's three-week border stand-off during April in Ladakh, in Indian-administered Kashmir, had misfired, an Indian security expert told a forum in Manila, saying Beijing's move galvanised Indian leaders into finally sealing an historic security deal with Japan. The dispute strained ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but both sides pulled troops back ahead of a visit to New Delhi by Premier Li Keqiang, who agreed to fresh talks to settle their long-running border row. [India could help provide] security architecture in the region to restrain China Retired army major general Vinod Saighal, saw the subsequent India-Japan deal last month as possibly...

Welcome to the strange -- and terrifying -- underground world of Chinese military fantasy novels. It is the year 2049. China's economic development has so disturbed the world's other major powers that the United States, Japan, and Russia form an alliance and invade China. Fierce battles break out on the plains of northeast China, where Japanese troops and U.S. fighter jets besiege Chinese infantry. Caught by surprise, China's army nonetheless stages a glorious counterattack by deploying levitating tanks, and employing a strategy based on lessons learned from the Anti-Japanese War and the Resist America War (better known in the West...

CANBERRA: Australian officials on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny whether Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints of a new spy agency headquarters as a news report claims. A tiny party essential to the ruling coalition's government demanded an inquiry into how much damage may have been done. Australian Broadcasting Corp. television reported on Monday night that the plans for the 630 million Australian dollar ($608 million) Australian Security Intelligence Organization building had been stolen through a cyberattack on a building contractor. Blueprints that included details such as communications cabling, server locations and security systems had been traced to a...

Signalling the formation of a new strategic axis in the Indo-Pacific region, Defence Minister A K Antony will travel to Australia on Monday to forge new military ties between the two nations, both of which are seen by the US as linchpins to its “Asia Pivot” strategy. Canberra has accorded special status to Antony since he is India’s first defence minister to visit Australia. The defence minister will arrive in Perth where he would be received by his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith. Antony will lay a wreath at the State War Memorial and proceed to Canberra along with Smith in...

"Economic Asia" ... is a dynamic, increasingly integrated, rising and successful region. "Security Asia” ... is a dysfunctional region with rising nationalism, escalating territorial disputes and distrust among the key players. The question ... is whether security Asia in the next few years would destroy economic Asia, thus, Asia is actually heading toward a profound crisis. If ... rivalry [between China and the US] escalates, countries in Asia could drift into bipolarity and indeed the dynamics of economic development in the region would be affected.

SNIPPET - quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1955.aspx Treasury Announces New Sanctions Against Iran Actions Target Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Proliferation Activities 5/23/2013     WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking action today against 20 individuals and entities for their involvement in Iran’s nuclear and missile proliferation networks and Iran’s continued attempts to circumvent sanctions. These networks are responsible for moving supplies and providing essential services to Iran’s clandestine nuclear and weapons programs. These actions are designed to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by tightening sanctions against Iran’s energy sector and exposing key proliferation related networks that span the...

Four vessels from the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet, on operational deployment to the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, made a port call here today.Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral P. Ajit Kumar, who is officially in the country with the vessels for the second time, said he was looking forward to enhance ties with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).< He said a Passage Exercise (Passex) had been planned with the RMN, adding that it would immensely contribute to furthering peace and maritime security in the region. “The spectrum of this exercise encompasses both conventional war fighting drills...

If news reports correctly reflect public sentiment, it seems fair to deduce that worry and frustration are rising in the Philippines amid diplomatic tension with Taiwan, triggered by the tragic killing of a 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman by members of the Philippine Coast Guard on May 9 in Balintang Channel. Angered by the incident, Taiwan has made four demands: a formal apology, compensation, punishment for the guilty officers, and fishing talks. Taiwan has since stopped issuing work visas to Filipinos and has conducted military exercises near Philippine waters. To make matters worse, Filipinos, especially politicians, did not immediately recognize the political...

NEW DELHI — The Indian government is evaluating the possibility of stationing troops in Afghanistan after the international forces begin leaving the country in 2014. An Indian Ministry of Defence source said no decision has yet been taken, but the possibility of putting boots in Afghanistan is under consideration by the Indian government. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting New Delhi May 20-22 and the issue of stationing of Indian troops is likely to be discussed, said an official of the Indian External Affairs Ministry. “It is in India’s interest to enhance security and defense cooperation with Afghanistan,” added the...

The Indian Navy plans to deploy its medium-range Dornier surveillance aircraft at its furthest air station at Campbell Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar islands to keep a regular watch on the oil and cargo traffic passing through the strategic Malacca Strait and two other crucial sea lanes used to ferry these materials to China and South East Asia. Almost a year after a 3,500 ft runway was made operational at the “INS Baaz” – the Navy’s eastern most air station in the Campbell Bay – Defence Minister AK Antony told the navy commanders on Tuesday to go ahead with...

Filipino police shot a 65-year old Taiwanese fisherman in the neck a few days ago in the latest dispute to heat up the South China Sea. Things escalated quickly after the “accident” and now two American allies are at each other’s throats. The Philippines apologized twice for the “accident,” in which the coast guard riddled the fisherman’s boat with dozens of bullets, but Taiwan was having none of it. Taiwan recalled its ambassador and stopped accepting applications from Filipino workers applying to live in Taiwan. Then the Taiwanese navy held threatening drills near the spot where the fisherman was killed....

Few diplomatic overtures have generated loftier expectations in recent years than Washington’s rapprochement with New Delhi. Frequently at loggerheads during the Cold War, then kept apart by the U.S. commitment to counter-proliferation and India’s pursuit of a nuclear deterrent, the two sides have never had a warm relationship. That began to change during the George W. Bush administration, a transformation that was symbolized by a controversial agreement allowing the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India, despite its status as a nuclear-armed nation that is not recognized by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Obama administration has since picked up...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1908.aspx Treasury Identifies Kassem Rmeiti & Co. for Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. as Financial Institutions of “Primary Money Laundering Concern” 4/23/2013 In First Use of Section 311 Against a Non-Bank Financial Institution, Treasury Acts to Protect the U.S. Financial System from Foreign Exchange Houses Tied to Global Narcotics and Money Laundering Networks and Hizballah WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today named two Lebanese exchange houses, Kassem Rmeiti & Co. For Exchange (Rmeiti Exchange) and Halawi Exchange Co. (Halawi Exchange), as foreign financial institutions of primary money laundering concern under...