Society

After a week of alarming news from the Korean peninsula, we have arrived at the only thinkable conclusion: Talks and more proposed talks, with China playing the role of broker. This may be cause for sighs of relief, but not for celebration, regardless of whether six-party talks resume soon as Beijing hopes.

Talks are the logical next step after Kim Jong-il provokes the world; talks are, in fact, what almost every Korea analyst says Kim is seeking whenever he threatens to blow up the neighborhood (which is pretty often). Why? His economically broken country needs a steady stream of oil, food and cash to keep both his weapons programs running and his populace fed enough to avert chaos and collapse.

China wrapped up the Asian Games with a record 199 gold medals, more than double its nearest rival, but team leaders won't relax preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Chinese appear driven to repeat their performance from Beijing two years ago, when they topped the gold medal count for the very first time at the Olympics.

China faced little resistance at the Asian Games, widely seen as an Olympic warm-up event, winning so many golds that the result sometimes just seemed like a foregone conclusion.

If you thought His Holiness the Dalai Lama was 100% Tibetan, think again.

“I am a son of India,” he declared during questions after his appearance at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. Not only has India been his transplanted home since he fled Tibet about 50 years ago, but “this body has survived by Indian daals, Indian rice, so therefore I describe myself as a son of India.”

No city is immune from tragedy. But in the wake of a heart-wrenching apartment fire in Shanghai this week, which killed at least 58 people and injured well over 100, public anger is smoldering.

Shanghai is no ordinary city: It’s the site of the just-ended World Expo, designed to showcase China’s efforts to meld modernization and globalization. High profile projects, massive infrastructure, and a glistening skyline are promoted as public policy done right.

The fire, though, was a reminder of the many shortcomings of governance in China – failings that were underlined by the government’s hesitant and divided response to the disaster. Shanghai officials appeared to be operating on one agenda; central officials another.