EP025 - Two Clocks Running

This past week, two things were true about the world at the same time. The first: markets surged. A peace deal was signed. Oil prices fell. Taiwan’s stock market hit all-time highs — twice. The economy is now expected to grow nearly ten percent this year. A respected Swiss business school ranked Taiwan the fourth most competitive economy on the planet. By every measure that usually gets reported, this was a week of good news. The second: Taiwan’s military launched a five-day exercise rehearsing the transition from peacetime to wartime. A Chinese research vessel was warned out of Taiwan’s territorial waters — waters where China’s coastguard ran what it called a normalized patrol just two weeks ago. The United States quietly renamed its military command for the Pacific, dropping a word that once signaled its commitment to the broader region. And at a summit of the world’s seven wealthiest democracies, America’s closest allies left without a joint statement — for the second year in a row. Same week. Same world. Two completely different pictures. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn