Word: states
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have been occurring at the frequency of at least one every month. What is Beijing up to? When China declared 2006 to be the "Year of Africa," hosted 48 African nations at the annual 2006 China-Africa summit and rolled out the red carpet for 17 African heads of state, we assumed it was all about gaining access to oil and minerals to fuel China's awesome economic growth. But there is much more going on than a meet, greet and grab from the African continent. China has big economic plans and ambitions in Africa that go beyond...
...suggests that China needs to act aggressively to boost rural incomes, by, for example, extending banking systems deeper into the countryside to give farmers better access to credit to start small businesses. MasterCard's Hedrick-Wong argues that China should also open up service industries now dominated by large, state-owned companies, such as finance, to allow new entrepreneurs to flourish, creating more jobs with higher wages...
...Bush, kept ASEAN at arm's length. One reason was Burma's accession to ASEAN in 1997, which put the U.S. in a tough spot. Washington had been tightening sanctions on the Burmese junta because of its dismal human-rights record. By participating in ASEAN confabs, Bush's State Department worried that it would send an overly conciliatory message to the pariah regime...
...were members. And, in truth, Burma wasn't the only factor. With more pressing foreign-policy priorities in the Middle East, Washington was naturally distracted from courting other parts of the globe. Nonetheless Southeast Asian ministers couldn't help but spot a deliberate snub when then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice skipped two ASEAN summits that historically had been attended by a U.S. envoy...
Obama's Administration moved quickly to change the mood. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took part in the ASEAN regional forum earlier this year, pointedly announcing that ?the U.S. is back in Southeast Asia.? Since then Washington has designated an Ambassador to ASEAN, and its Southeast Asia love-fest will culminate with the Nov. 15 summit between Obama and the 10 regional leaders...