The World Today

Chinese nationalists are especially angry over the bitter standoff between Beijing and Washington. World leaders need to tune in to the Chinese psyche if greater long term damage is to be avoided.

The Taiwan question has quickly become a major problem for President George Bush – as it has been for all other US presidents since the Chinese communist victory in 1949. But the ‘question’ mutates over time. The downing of the US spy plane and the sale of weapons to Taiwan are only the tip of the iceberg: there are much deeper issues.

South Africa is failing its first real foreign policy test – dealing with an increasingly ugly situation in Zimbabwe. The African National Congress government has shown itself to be a paper tiger and risks serious domestic difficulties because it has not dealt firmly with its northern neighbour.

The internet is changing government more than politicians or civil servants can imagine. Being able to pay taxes, receive pensions or improve technical skills on the web will ultimately revolutionise democracy. But those who pay will ultimately want more say over what they get.

Turkey is the only European Union candidate country with which membership negotiations are yet to commence. Some Turks want negotiations to begin before 2004, the earliest date earmarked by Brussels. Late last year the Union outlined the criteria which must be fulfilled before full membership can be considered. Now Turkey has responded with its own programme. But caught in a new economic crisis, joining seems as far away as ever.

Are all informal payments to officials to be classified as bribery and ultimately theft? Or can a modest sum in the right hand smooth the course of honest business? And what is at stake for the companies concerned – can their reputations survive the greed of graft?