• OPINION

  Confucius' guide to foreign trade

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 12/08/2016

  » Confucius was once asked if there was a single word that could act as a guide throughout one's life. "Reciprocity", the sage responded. He then preached a form of the Golden Rule: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

• OPINION

  Protests point to more than scandal

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 02/12/2016

  » The first big story I covered as a young correspondent in South Korea was a corruption scandal. Two former presidents were found guilty of, among other things, amassing fortunes with payoffs from the country's major business groups, called chaebol. That was 1996.

• OPINION

  Asia's strongmen not strong enough

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 21/02/2017

  » Across Asia, the world has supposedly been witnessing the return of the strongman. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been grasping more and more control in his own hands since claiming power in 2012. Two years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and President Joko Widodo (known as "Jokowi") in Indonesia won office by selling themselves as forceful economic and political reformers. All three were heralded as the firm hands these giant developing nations needed to rejuvenate their promising but troubled economies.

• OPINION

  Zombie firms threaten Asia's future

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 04/04/2017

  » Any horror aficionado knows that the only good zombie is a dead zombie. Don't risk trying to bring one back to life. It'll just come back to bite you.

• OPINION

  Trump and Xi could well break the global system

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 07/04/2017

  » The world's two most powerful leaders appear to come from different planets. Real estate billionaire Donald Trump craves media attention, loves golf and governs through Twitter. Communist Party boss Xi Jinping evades the public, shutters golf courses and bans Twitter. Sure, at their first meeting at Mr Trump's Florida club this week, the two men may discover some mutual interests -- say, a shared contempt for The New York Times. But they seem unlikely to hit it off.

• OPINION

  South Korea's next leader must focus on growth

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 10/05/2017

  » So much attention is being lavished on the nuclear-edged tantrums of Kim Jong-un in North Korea that the presidential election on the southern half of the Korean peninsula has gone practically unnoticed. But the outcome may be nearly as critical for the region's future as the fate of Mr Kim's weapons programme.

• OPINION

  South Korea has some lessons Trump should heed

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 13/09/2017

  » Advisers seem to have convinced US President Donald Trump not to trash the country's free-trade agreement with South Korea -- for now. Mr Trump himself still seems intent on extracting concessions from the Koreans and could yet withdraw from the deal. The irony is that, more than any other, South Korea's own story shows how foolish that would be.

• OPINION

  South Korea's president tries to rescue liberalism

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 27/09/2017

  » While much of the world's attention is fixated on North Korea and its nuclear ambitions, something with the potential to be equally globe-rattling is taking place, generally unnoticed, in South Korea. There, new President Moon Jae-in is charting an entirely contrary course in economic policy than much of the rest of the developed world. If successful, the experiment could alter how governments tackle the most challenging problems of our day.

• OPINION

  Turning communists into capitalists

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 03/10/2017

  » As it heads into a major leadership transition, China is attempting a strange breed of corporate reform. Rather than privatising state-owned enterprises outright, the government is testing whether selling minority stakes to private investors may improve their performance.

• OPINION

  Show might be over before it begins

  News, Michael Schuman, Published on 08/05/2018

  » North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to dismantle his nuclear test site, and supposedly, he's even inviting the international press into his usually off-limits kingdom to witness the extravaganza. The gesture is meant to prove he's serious about eliminating his weapons programme -- and he wants all the world to see it.

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