Can Japan please ASEAN member states?
leadership is not the title and honor that anyone is privileged to call itself but is defined and recognized by others voluntarily. In international relations, leadership is often mismatched as hegemony in theory and practice. Leadership balancing is entangled in various initiatives of Asia-Pacific regional integration, especially in TPP and RCEP in the framework of FTAAP. The US-Led TPP and ASEAN-Led RCEP are competing members and rules for the future FTA regulations. Other bilateral and minilateral FTAs, especially China-ASEAN FTAs of updated edition will be more prevailing in contribution to social and economic welfare in the future. ASEAN has been trying hard to keep its centrality in the East Asian regional integration amid many challenges from internal and external coordination. ASEAN's credibility as the regional leader depends on its community implementation by the end of 2015, its neutrality in regional and international affairs, its contribution to completing the negotiation of RCEP, and continuous supports of public goods from other external countries. China is waiting for the proper timing to participate the TPP while playing a constructive and responsible role in completing negotiation and implementation of RCEP, in order to realize FTAAP conducive to multiple interests of broader stakeholders.
In the past few years, with the rise of a number of emerging powers, the international system has transformed into a new configuration. The development gap between the emerging power and existing powers has been narrowed. International regimes have also been launching comprehensive and deep reforms so that they can accommodate the new situation. The norms and paradigms of global governance of non-traditional security issues and economic issues have developed more new features and trends to meet the needs of emerging powers, as well as the evolving relations between emerging and advanced economies. The great powers have been played critical role in the process of this transformation. They reorganized G20 and empowered it with new missions of global economic governance by the meetings of heads of most prominent great powers and most popular international or regional organizations. However, numerous medium and small countries also play very fundamental role in promoting the evolution of international society. They can be more important if they unite as a whole to advance some specific topics although they're comparatively weaker than great powers individually.
With the everlasting effects of international economic and financial crisis in recent years, the global structure of economic development has undergone tremendous changes. There are more talks about the various development models in the world. Washington Consensus is challenged by the so-called Beijing Consensus which is thought to be the representative economic patterns of developing countries even though its contents are not clarified and its trend is still uncertain. At the same time, East Asia has become one of the strongest engines in boosting global economic development, when some of the regional countries, especially China, Korea, Indonesia and India, have developed very fast in production, trade, investment and finance which promoted growth of the overall strength of these countries. The regional integration with the centrality of ASEAN has become the driving force of this phenomenon, and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP)will be the next attractive initiative which is doomed to enhance the economic development and cooperation of relevant countries. On the other hand, the US is driving the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP)negotiation process in the framework of Rebalancing Strategy. The parallel processes of negotiating RCEP and TPP now are competing and supplementing with each other in the building Free Trade Areas in Asia Pacific (FTAAP).
Leadership is not a hegemonic or dominating force, but a coordinated or shaping force. The former must have the power of keeping offshore checks and balances, but the latter does not necessarily need to have such kind of strength. Hegemony is stronger in coercive nature. The hegemonic country tries to keep the order conducive to the interests of itself and its allies. At the same time, the allies have to commit to safeguard the order and abide by the rules and norms made by the hegemonic country which at the same time provides the public goods to meet the needs of its allies which try to bandwagon its overwhelming security and development dynamics. Commitments of collective security and economic development are usually intertwined with each other as their national interests are much interdependent and mutually entangled amid the interactions in the era of globalization.
The rights and honor of the leadership are usually conferred by members of the group. In this sense, hegemony is more than a leader in international relations with its dominance to its allies and others which recognize its authority in the existing order. However, it's not always necessary for a leader to have so powerful strength even though strength is also as important factor for a country to become a leader. However, the attraction and glamour are usually the quality of a leader who is recognized as the example or neutral coordinator in cooperation with many other countries. Thus, capability is much more important than the strength in dealing with the mutual relations among individual countries. On the other hand, it's not necessary for a leader to coerce the others to obey its instruction because the leader are models for the others and can lead the others to get the right things done in the right way by following the right simple rules, such as understanding what to be done, knowing what's right for the group, developing action plans, making decisions; promoting communication, boosting opportunities but not problems, meeting the needs of cooperation, and enhancing the integrity of the group.
In East Asia, Japan during World War II, as well as the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, once tried to establish a hegemonic system, but failed finally. It's very difficult to say the so-called China's tribute system is a kind of hegemonic system because the neighboring countries didn't recognize the authority and leadership of China by willingness while the system is not an integral one and China didn't supply the public goods to maintain the system in order. At the same time, China didn't have declared the regulations for the others to follow so that the system was a unitary one. Japan tried to build its colony by military force and launched the wars against many countries in East Asia before and during the WWII and dominated most of the region at its zenith. However, Japan lost the unjust and aggressive wars when the anti-fascist countries united together, defeated Japan's army, punished the war criminals, and ended the imperialism. The United States and the Soviet Union built their alliance systems to win the superiority in dominating East Asia regional order. However, most of the East Asian countries kept their independence as the priority even though some of them took sides with either of them or maintained rather close relations with both of them. After the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union collapsed in pursuing hegemony in the world and the United States began to lose its influence when the local countries lost interests in depending on its security support in keeping the balance of big powers. At the same time, the countries of East Asia began to establish the regional order by themselves without the hegemony or superior regional organization to their national sovereignty.
It can be concluded that modernity of East Asian countries are too strong. Modernity originates from the Westphalia traditions and the concept of autonomy in Wilson's Fourteen Points during the Versailles Conference after WWI. From the perspective of the social process, the history of national development can be divided into three periods: First, the pre-modern period, during which countries live in a state of "anarchy" where "all are against all" which is proclaimed as Hobbesian Culture. Second, the modern period, during which countries stress sovereignty and autonomy according to the spirit of Machiavelli principles and Locke Culture. Third, the post-modern period, during which countries can live in perpetual peace embedded in Kant's Culture, which stresses the idea that it is not necessary for the countries to keep security by military conquest. Modernity is also the innermost essence of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence initiated by China, India and some other countries that obtained independence from colonialism after WWII. Charter of United Nations was also formulated to safeguard the modernity of most countries at that time when the United States and some other big powers didn't try to seek the hegemony or empire. On February 24, 1976, as the most important document of ASEAN in history, The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia was acceded and has been treated as the guarding talisman for the ASEAN members against any intervention from other members of ASEAN while promoting perpetual peace, everlasting amity and cooperation among the countries of Southeast Asia which would contribute to their strength, solidarity, and closer relationship. Therefore, we can say that the value of hegemony doesn't have its market currently and in the future, any country trying to seek hegemony or imperialism will be doomed to fail. However, the leadership is formed naturally and gradually amid the closer interactions of countries in the regional integration of East Asia.
There are many initiatives of regional integration in East Asia. However, these initiatives are similar and interactive with each other because all of them just appeared after the end of Cold War. So far, different initiatives have been shaping circles of various free trade areas with ASEAN at the core with different features.
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) took effect in 1992 among the original members of ASEAN, and gradually expanded to all members of ASEAN. When ASEAN came into being in 1967, it declared that economic cooperation was one of its priorities besides lessening the regional security dilemma. The Roadmap of ASEAN Economic Community was formulated with the political and security community as well as socio-cultural community building. With the building of AFTA, ASEAN countries have developed very fast and more integrated in building a single market. During the process, as the least developed countries, the new members of ASEAN have been changing their economic development structure and increasing the productivity when new skills and management ideas are introduced even though they still fall much behind the other members which have implemented the market economy for many years. ASEAN countries have become the attractive destination of international investment and cooperative development projects. Many joint ventures have been built which bring plenty of employments to these countries, which even changes their ways of work and living. However, ASEAN countries as a whole are comparatively not well developed and not strong enough to compete with the big powers like the United States because they are just emerging and not uniting together as one country. Most of ASEAN member states even favor bilateral relations with its counterparts beyond the collective meetings and initiatives. No doubt there will be a huge political impact once ASEAN economic integration is completed.
There are several ASEAN 1 Free Trade Agreements between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, such as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Such kind of free trade agreements was firstly initiated by China in 2001 and negotiation procedures began the next year. In 4 November 2002, China and ASEAN signed "the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China" Phnom Penh. In November 2004, China and ASEAN signed of the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the China-ASEAN FTA which entered into force in July 2005. In January 2007, the two parties signed the Agreement on Trade in Services, which entered into effect in July of the same year. In August 2009, the two parties signed the Agreement on Investment. On January 1st, 2010, China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement was implemented and became the largest FTA among developing countries. CAFTA is the model and driving force for other ASEAN Dialogue partners to negotiate FTA with ASEAN. The negotiation process is like building blocks as different contents of FTA are gradually negotiated step by step instead of one-time effort. Early Harvest Program is the most successful experimental measure for the real FTA. It should be mentioned that the model of ASEAN 1 FTA can't considered as ASEAN at the core because it's more like a bilateral FTA in essence though there are more than two countries concerned in such kind of FTAs. At the same time, there is a two-speed program for respective ASEAN countries. For example, China implemented the CAFTA with all members of ASEAN while new members of ASEAN can only implement the CAFTA by 2015. It's a little unfair for ASEAN dialogue partners but conducive to the success of negotiation and implementation, and will benefit all the parties in the end.
ASEAN 3 FTA or APT (ASEAN plus Three) FTA is an East Asia regional FTA in a true sense as all the parties are countries in East Asia. These countries cover most of GDP in East Asia and will be a great breakthrough when three ASEAN 1 FTAs connect together. ASEAN 3 FTA is also promoted by the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) to promote greater financial and monetary cooperation in East Asia in line with greater economic cooperation in general. Economic cooperation is just one aspect and the priority of ASEAN 3 mechanism besides some other 23 fields. However, the negotiation process hasn't proceeded very smoothly because of the following reasons: First, ASEAN is concerned with its role in regional economic integration because its united economic aggregate can't compete with China, Japan or South Korea. Once the ASEAN 3 FTA is implemented, it'll be transformed into the 3 ASEAN FTA and ASEAN will possibly be marginalized in the regional integration. Second, South Korea, and especially Japan are afraid that China will dominate the mechanism as the second largest economy and one of the most attractive market in the world and all the other parties will be more dependent on China too much in the future. Third, there are historical and realistic issues which are intertwined with national interests and emotions between some of the parties, esp. between China, Japan and South Korea. The territorial issues and some other problems usually prevent the progress and depth of the cooperation among them. However, currently, ASEAN 3 is still prominent because it's a much effective and practical mechanism in East Asia with many comprehensive and interdependent initiatives.
There are two versions of ASEAN 6: the first is Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA), and the other is Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The initiative of CEPEA was raised by Japan in 2005 which is composed of all 16 members of East Asia Summit at that time. There were several dynamic for CEPEA: First, East Asia Summit was the most popular forum against the potential superiority of China while India, Australia and New Zealand were included. It seemed that ASEAN 3 Summit would be replaced by East Asia Summit as a multilateral mechanism although issues of fewer fields would be discussed. Second, ASEAN tried to win more popularity and prestige in the world as a regional organization hosting a framework with more parties. That's why ASEAN supported Japan's CEPEA although China insisted on the priority of ASEAN 3 framework at the beginning and accepted the parallel negotiation of CEPEA and ASEAN 3 cooperation at last. Later on, with the growing obstacles in negotiation of CEPEA, ASEAN began losing faith and patience in promoting CEPEA. However, when seeing the US began to lead the negotiation of TPP and some of ASEAN members, such as Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam attended the process, ASEAN felt it urgent and necessary to reshape and reestablish its role in regional integration in case that it would be marginalized by its partners and members when they find more effective trade facilitation arrangements. At the same time, ASEAN wanted to raise its own initiative instead of CEPEA which is embedded with Japan's ambitions of being the leader in regional cooperation. Thus, RCEP was endorsed in the Chair's Statement of the 19th ASEAN Summit in 2011. According to ASEAN Framework for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, ASEAN "resolve(s) to establish an ASEAN-led process by setting out principles under which ASEAN will engage interested ASEAN FTA partners in establishing a regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement and, subsequently, with other external economic partners". The first round of RCEP negotiations was held from 9-13 May in Brunei Darussalam. Round 2 was held in Brisbane from 23-27 September 2013, and Round 3 was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20-24 January 2014. Round 4 will be held in China, March 31-April 4, 2014. Good progresses will be made towards meeting the target of concluding the negotiations by the end of 2015.
However, the ASEAN N FTA model has been challenged by the following initiatives of regional integration: First, FTA negotiation among China, Japan and South Korea, that is CJK FTA. CJK FTA negotiation was the product of CJK Trilateral Summit and started in 2012. The three countries have conducted four rounds of negotiation so far and there will be 3 rounds in 2014 as scheduled even though there are some tensions between the three countries. CJK FTA is really thrillingly big when the overall volume of production and trade of the three countries are considered. Second, TPPA is being negotiated among 12 economies including the United States, the largest economy and Japan, the third largest economy. TPPA dated from the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP or P4) among New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei in 2005, which is only confined but open to the APEC members. The United States tries to complete the negotiation in 2013, but failed, and it tries to finish it as soon as possible. As an FTA with higher standard and quality than WTO, TPPA is designed to be a model for future FTAs with TTIP. It's really tough for Vietnam and Malaysia that are much less developed than the others. Third, APEC members are still promoting FTAAP although the developed economies didn't realize the Bogor Goals in 2010 as planned. As the chair of APEC in 2013, Indonesia tried to rejuvenate the Bogor Goals by 2020. Fourth, many countries have acceded or are negotiating bilateral FTAs, especially the FTA between the US and South Korea, KORUS FTA, and FTA between China and South Korea.
Various initiatives of FTA building and regional integration have formed the "Spaghetti Bowl Effect" in East Asia, where there are many intraregional powers and extra-regional powers interacting and interdependent during the process of the economic globalization, financial facilitation, trade liberalization, social informatization and Cultural exchanges. It's quite natural that there's a little competition amid cooperation between these prominent actors. It seems that they are pursuing the leadership in the regional integration of East Asia.
As East Asia's largest economy, China has become the largest trading partner of many countries in the region, becoming the biggest influential actor in regional cooperation. In recent years, China has rapidly increased its security forces and become more unswerving in protecting its national security and safeguarding regional peace. Therefore, some countries in the region and outside the region take it for granted that China will certainly seek to be the leader in East Asia, and even hegemony. This kind of set thinking which resides in the concept of traditional realism, naturally leads to many countries' vigilance to China, and constrains the greater role of China to play in regional cooperation. However, seeing from the process of regional integration, we can find that China has no intention to seek even leadership by proposing of establishing CAFTA which can't empower China to dominate the relationship between China and ASEAN. China didn't welcome's Japan's initiative of CEPEA at the very beginning not because ASEAN 3 cooperation is conducive to China's dominance but because CEPEA is less operational than ASEAN 3 framework and it's not limited in East Asia which is characterized with ASEAN at the core. At the same time, China's leaders have reiterated that China supports the basic framework with ASEAN as the leader, ASEAN 1 as the foundation, ASEAN 3 as the main vehicle, and East Asia Summit as an important supplement in East Asia cooperation.
However, in the regional cooperation framework of East Asia, ASEAN is the real axis and centrality in East Asia by providing multilateral negotiation platforms for regional cooperation although its overall strength is not too strong, and its individual members are even weaker. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects: in the political security field, ASEAN is the coordinator in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and ASEAN Defence Minister Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus), which are usually held in ASEAN countries, and ASEAN outlines the themes and agenda while its partners echo and express their support to the win-win projects which promote mutual trust among ASEAN and its partners. From the perspective of regional economic integration, there are ASEAN 1 FTA, ASEAN 3 to RCEP. ASEAN is always in the central position by deciding the scale, scope, contents and rules of the various FTAs. Actually, ASEAN stays in the center only when ASEAN N FTAs can be implemented.
In the 21st century, with the gradual formation of ASEAN N models for regional cooperation, some countries are not very satisfied with the centrality of ASEAN, or even to replace it. For example, Japan tried to be the biggest contributor in the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralism and thought it would be conducive to its leadership in East Asia by supplying public goods to the ASEAN countries.
The U.S. strengthens its military alliance in security and promotes TPPA negotiations in the economic field. Nowadays, the US is dominating the process of TPPA negotiations which can be considered as the top secret and most strict agreement before its conclusion. However, almost all the parties in the negotiation are more interested in the exceptions of its sensitive products in the agreements. For example, Japan especially worries about its agricultural products; Vietnam and Malaysia are particularly concerned with their state-owned enterprises. Even so, the enormous market of the US has a great attraction to all the other parties even though some of them have reached FTAs with the US. The leaders of the US, such as President Barack Obama, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once declared that the US is the natural leader in Asia Pacific by promoting regional security and development. This annoyed ASEAN and its member states very much, and many politicians and scholars of ASEAN criticized the remarks the leaders of the US. The US acceded Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2009 and the US became the formal member of East Asia Summit in 2011, but annual meeting between ASEAN members and US leaders was not called ASEAN 1 Summit but ASEAN-US leaders' Meeting which was only transformed as ASEAN-US Summit in 2013. The meetings have been held in the US and an ASEAN country by rotation by year. That is to say, the US has never recognized the leadership of ASEAN in East Asia cooperation or in East Asia Summit. Therefore, the US tries to dominate the agenda and themes of East Asia Summit to shape the regional trends in its favor.
Currently, ASEAN is continuing its strategy of keeping balance of big powers. Namely, the big powers balance each other while ASEAN stands aloof and makes profits from the situation. ASEAN is thus pushed in the centrality of in regional integration. However, overall trend from various signs shows that ASEAN is trying to balance with big powers as a whole, to get its real leadership. Given the strength and capability of ASEAN itself, it isn't a wise choice. Fortunately, due to its little need and urgency, ASEAN's performance in this regard is not too strong yet. After all, ASEAN is just an intergovernmental organization in which all members enjoy the equality between themselves by preserving its independence, sovereignty and territorial integration while the principle of non-intervention is strictly followed.
It is worth noting that, although Chinese recognizes the centrality of ASEAN in regional cooperation, ASEAN countries instead of ASEAN are the participants in talking DOC and COC on the South China Sea issue. ASEAN's leadership is strictly excluded in the process of consulting the issue. ASEAN couldn't override its members from the very beginning of its formation. South China Sea issue is not an issue between China and all the ASEAN countries, nor China and ASEAN, but China and some of ASEAN members, that is to say, South China Sea issues is also an issue between some of ASEAN members, they are also involved with the territorial disputes in South China Sea between themselves. ASEAN's secretariat didn't sign ASEAN Declaration on South China Sea in 1992, Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002 or Guidelines for implementation of the DOC in 2011. These initiatives are based on the consensus without ASEAN. At the same time, all the parties "stressed the importance of peaceful settlement of disputes through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned", which means non-claimants of ASEAN are also excluded in the negotiation of disputes about the territorial disputes even they play important roles in talking about COC.
First, the ASEAN community can be built by the end of 2015. Although the timeline is postponed from the beginning of 2015 to the end of the year, ASEAN has the confidence in enhancing the unity of all its members. Of course, the so-called ASEAN Community can't be so deeply integrated as European Union, but ASEAN countries try to work in that direction while keeping their modernity all the time. So far, ASEAN has made great progress in promoting economic cooperation. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have already eliminated import duties on 99 percent of trade-tariff lines. Since January 2010 most of the import duties in Southeast Asia have been reduced to 0 percent. As more and more factors of the single market has been arranged, the free movement of trade, investment, labor and others can greatly interconnect all the countries and their society. While the process of the integration has been moving forward for a long time, 2015 is the year when increased and unconstrained regional trade becomes a reality.
Second, ASEAN can keep its neutral and objective role as the leader in the regional integration. ASEAN has little authority over its members or dialogue partners while it provides various forums for all the parties to talk about the diverse issues in different fields. ASEAN has been leading for many years in the agenda setting and theme planning in no matter security discussion forums such as ARF and ADMM Plus, or dialogue mechanisms on comprehensive issues, especially economic issues, such as ASEAN 1, ASEAN 3, and East Asia Summit. ASEAN has shaped its popularity and fame in coordinating all the parties in ASEAN Way. That's why ASEAN can act as the leader when all parties find no threat from ASEAN and its member states. Usually, ASEAN countries hold internal meetings among themselves, such as ASEAN Foreign Minister Meeting, ASEAN Defence Minister Meeting, ASEAN Summit, and so on. They can channel the trends of the regional cooperation in the reciprocal direction.
Third, the US succeeds in completing the negotiation of TPPA before RCEP. TPPA is more advanced with high standards, especially of intelligence property protection, market access, green trade barriers and some others. Generally, RCEP is the configuration of a set of ASEAN 1 FTAs, which is considered as the response to the TPPA. There are many overlapping membership between TPPA and RCEP and they can promote the two initiatives of regional integration in the similar direction. In this sense, TPPA can't go too far ahead of RCEP in operation. However, if TPP can be more effective than RCEP in the future, some members will prefer TPP to RCEP and ASEAN will be marginalized in the regional integration. Although TPPA and RCEP are designed under FTAAP Framework, they are different in membership, scale and scope. All APEC members can get access to TPPA after negotiation in theory, but not all members in RCEP are APEC members. For example, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and India are not members of APEC yet. Thus, the US has the relative superiority to ASEAN in reality and can seize the leadership from ASEAN if possible.
Fourth, China and other East Asian countries continue to support the centrality of ASEAN in the regional integration. All ASEAN dialogue partners would rather work like the ASEAN members. They see ASEAN as an opportunity supplier and coordinator between them. That's why even DPRK is willing to take part in ARF where security issue on Korea Peninsula is usually discussed as an important topic. However, if ASEAN tries to balance with big powers, that is, ASEAN wants to be more assertive and act as a big power or hegemony, it'll be uncertain if the ASEAN's partners will recognize it as the leader any longer. Therefore, ASEAN has usually been very conscious in dealing with internal and external, regional and international issues, and strictly adheres to the ASEAN principles. ASEAN played very little role in the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, expressed almost nothing on junta administration of Myanmar before its political and economic reforms. ASEAN can play the leading role in East Asian regional integration and bandwagon from the tensions and competition among many big powers. As a group of medium and small countries, ASEAN won't boost the so-called East Asian Community too fast but gradually and in order, otherwise it'll hurt ASEAN's interests at the end because ASEAN is not capable of competing with big powers in productivity, investment, technology and management.
Therefore, ASEAN can continue to be the leader in regional integration of East Asia among various initiatives of regional integration if it doesn't pursue hegemony or makes mistakes by taking side with one party amid internal or external, regional or international issues. ASEAN is not qualified as the leader in the eyes of many countries considering its capability and strength of its individual members, but it has acted as the leader in the centrality for many years and is recognized by many countries as a contributive coordinator. The wise and moderate leadership itself can be seen as the public goods in regional integration.
There are some opportunities that China can utilize in promoting Asia-Pacific regional integration. First, China has a gross domestic market which is attractive to many other countries. No matter how the political relations with China are, some countries try to avoid the political and security issues influencing or preventing the economic and trade relations with China as much as possible. Second, China has acceded bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Agreements with various regional actors. ASEAN-China FTA is the biggest FTA among developing countries and has obtained great successes since its implementation on January 1st, 2010. The trade volume and economic relations have grown much faster than the average level of the world. Third, China has become the major trade partners of most economies in the world. This means the interdependence and mutual fragility coexist between China and other economies, the fates of China is closely related with others and the world as a whole. This is why China tries to sustain the existent international trade, financial and monetary regimes even though they have been unfair to China and many other developing countries. China has developed as the second largest economy in the world by benefiting from the stable regional and international system. It's imperative for China to keep the international regimes healthy and effective to the interests of all stakeholders. In this sense, China has no sense to be a revisionist in the transformation of the international system, but tries to reform the international regimes to greater interests of emerging and developing economies.
On the other hand, the challenges that China is currently faced with still multiple and serious. First, China is weak in competing with advanced economies in various fields. China is still inferior in the development level because China's technological creation rather falls behind many developed countries although the gap is narrower and narrower. China can't change the fact that China's large number of cheap commodities exchange expensive technologies and industrial products in a short time. This does mean China's goods are always popular in the international market, but China's enterprises are less capable of making equivalent profits with their advanced counterparts in developed countries. Second, China's external economic policies are not open enough for Foreign Direct Investments and trade partners. There're still many negative lists for the bilateral and multilateral FTA negotiation. At the same time, China is also discriminated in many occasions and given pressures to open and facilitate domestic market in a more comprehensive and deeper scope. Third, China is reluctant to be proactive in creating new initiatives to promoting external economic relations. It's quite ridiculous to conclude that China has no capability of making innovative ideas, but many counterpart countries are often suspicious of China's intention to raise some new concepts or initiatives, and hesitant to welcome or acknowledge them, let alone accept and follow them. On the other hand, China is willing to accept the ideas which are conducive to all partners. However, all these factors don't inevitable prevent China's growing economic relations and activities all over the world.
There're still many controversial arguments on whether China joins the TPP or not. The positive arguments are the following: First, TPP can promote China to further reform external economic policies until they meet the TPP's criteria. The tariffs of TPP members will be reduced to zero, which will greatly boost China's export to the other TPP members. Second, it can improve China's external economic environment by mutually opening market with TPP members, and this can further stimulate China to negotiate TPP-style FTAs with other international economies in a more convenient way. Third, China can flatter the US and other advanced economies and they also will receive China in the equal footing in the future. This can further stabilized the political and security relations by growing economic interdependence, confidence and trust. Fourth, China can develop or rise peacefully at least in economic field. China will be more confident to seek greater discourse privileges in the international economic and trade regime. China can spill over its economic effects gradually over into political and social fields.
Of course, there're also many concerns from domestic and abroad about the whether China joins TPP or not. First, the regulations on the market access of TPP are too strict and the standards are too high for China to accept currently. It's not China isn't willing to join the TPP but can't accede the TPP in fear that possible losses will be beyond its bearing ability. Second, China should balance the relationship among the TPP, the RCEP and FTAAP. The TPP will prevent China from join other various FTAs of lower quality, so hinder China's willingness to boost negotiations of RCEP and FTAAP. Third, it's particularly difficult for the relevant partners to conclude a new kind of creative FTAs. There have been 19 rounds of negotiation since the launch of TPP so far and it's still far from conclusion in the end. Fourth, the TPP negotiations in essence are multiple bilateral FTAs, are combination and accumulation the various minilateral and bilateral FTAs. The hindrances are not from all TPP members but from some TPP members which try to exclude China out of their dominant bloc. Finally, China's negotiation of TPP will prevent its dynamics to promote the negotiation of RCEP, which will cast upon a negative influence on East Asian regional integration.
Therefore, China can have such following measures to its interests: First, China can manage and consolidate the existent FTAs which have been concluded or implemented, such as ASEAN-China FTA and some bilateral FTAs. These FTAs can boost China's economic growth and close relations with its partners. Second, China can wait for the proper timing to participate in the TPP if it is testified as an efficient project. Even though it'll be more difficult for China to join the TPP in the future, China has confidence to be a member of it because China is potentially qualified to be acceded into the TPP as an APEC member. As the second largest economy in Asia pacific and the world, any regional economic bloc is not complete without the involvement of China's deep engagement. At the same time, Hong Kong and Taiwan might also join the TPP as a proper identity affiliated to China. Third, China should also promote the negotiation of FTAAP in the framework of APEC, to reset and realize the Bogor Goal in the due time, so that more economies to join the regional integration. China can enhance Asia-Pacific regional integration in the perspective of global economic governance, in which Asia Pacific is one of the indivisible parts. Fourth, China can promote WTO Doha development round negotiation process to supplement the linkage to the multilateral and bilateral FTAs all over the world. China can broaden and deepen its global FTA architecture as the instrument to realize the fair and reasonable international trade order.
The prospects of Asia-Pacific regional integration may appear various intertwined circles of "Spaghetti Bowl" effect with two biggest potential centers, that is, the dominance of the US in TPP and centrality of ASEAN in RCEP. The two initiatives will compete with each other, but actually between the US and ASEAN, to show can be the real rule-maker and leader in the Asia-Pacific regional integration. The two actors have been competing in APEC for many years in a different form, though three members of ASEAN, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are not members of APEC after the Kuching Consensus in 1990. In this sense, China can find a neutral policy in seeking its special role in coordinate the two initiatives. Currently, China is supporting to some degree ASEAN by promoting the negotiations to conclude RCEP and not join the TPP when ASEAN is nervous and a little worried about its marginalization in the regional integration. After the conclusion of RCEP, China can find an appropriate way to join the TPP in a proper identity and overwhelming involvement. Amidst the process, China should consistently adhere to two types of relationship, the New Model of Major Power Relations with the US and the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity with ASEAN. At the same time, China should learn not to seek leadership or dominance like hegemony in regional affairs. Only in this way, China's actual role and interests can be realized eventually.
Asia Pacific is a region with the diversity of development levels and models, as well as the political cultures and social cultures among so many countries. There of course will be tensions between individual countries because of modernity, independence, sovereignty, territorial disputes which can't be solved in a day or in one-time effort. However, all the relevant countries can benefit from cooperation other than competition, coordination other than isolation. When they won't accept a big power as a strong leader, ASEAN may be the best choice for us as a weak leader so far even though there might be some other alternatives in the future. At the same time, with more and more initiatives of regional integration, more and more expansion of cooperative areas, scopes and scales of them in Asia Pacific, it'll be more important while difficult for ASEAN to sustain the leadership with greater responsibility and willingness in regional integration. All the various stakeholders in East Asian regional integration should support and even help ASEAN to play a better and constructive role, keep self-constraint of its ambition and aspiration to be the hegemony. Currently, ASEAN is developing very fast but it's still less advanced, less advantaged to compete with the US in leading the regional integration. China can prioritize its policy options of softly balancing the two as the third power by joining the RCEP and TPP in its own interests and way, so that it can constrain the ambitions of the US and ASEAN to dominate the process of regional integration.
Armstrong, Shiro, The Politics and the Economics of Integration in Asia and the Pacific, Routledge, 2011.
ASEAN, "ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea", 22 July 1992.
ASEAN, "Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia", 24 February 1976.
Basu Das, Sanchita, Achieving the ASEAN Economic Community 2015: Challenges for Member Countries & Businesses, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012.
Fort, Bertrand, Regional Integration in East Asia and Europe: Convergence or Divergence? Routledge, 2006.
Hong, Ma, Economic Integration in East Asia: New Opportunity and Regional Development, Chinese Economic Publishing House, 2006.
Hu, Richard Weixing, East Asian Economic Integration: Law, Trade and Finance, Edward Elgar, 2011.
MacDonald, Scott B., Asia's Rise in the 21st Century, Praeger, 2011.
Nakamura, Tamio, East Asian Regionalism from a Legal Perspective: Current Features and a Vision for the Future, Routledge, 2011.
Petri, Peter A., Michael G. Plummer, and Fan Zhai, The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Asia-Pacific Integration: A Quantitative Assessment, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2012.
Stamlin, Margaret E., Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and U.S. interests, Nova Science Publishers, 2011.
Tiejun, Wang, Global Production Network and Regional Integration of Southeast Asia, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2013.
United Nations, Growing Together: Economic Integration for an Inclusive and Sustainable Asia-Pacific Century, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 2012.
 Robert Cooper, "The Post-Modern States", The Observer, April 7, 2002; Robert Kagan, "Power and Weakness", Policy Review, No. 113, June-July 2002. Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, Chapter 6.
 The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. It was 60th anniversary of FPPC last year.
 Zhonghe Mu, "TPP's impacts and China's Strategies in Response", SCID Working Paper, No. 490, January 2014, pp.10-14.


Q: My mother is 79. She has depression and mild Alzheimer's dementia. She lives in an in-law apartment attached to my home. We bring her meals and supervise her bills and medications, but otherwise she manages around the home just fine. The problem is that she wants to visit her family in Italy one last time before she isn't able to do it anymore. My brother and I will take her over on the airplane and, once she gets there, family will keep a close eye on her. My concern is this: Will she get confused with all the changes, and is a long plane flight safe for someone like my mother?
A: Your question is quite timely as many folks are making their summer vacation plans. There are several parts to your questions. Let's take them one at a time.
The first concern is about your mother's dementia and the possibility of her getting confused. This depends on the individual. There are a number of signs that may indicate that travel is not a good idea, such as disorientation, confusion or agitation even in familiar settings; asking to go home when away from home on short visits; delusional, paranoid or disinhibited behaviors; anxiety when in crowds; or difficulty managing continence.
It is good that you and your bother will go with her on the flight, and that she has family to help her once she gets to Italy. It is important that the family in Italy is aware of your mother's memory condition. Make sure you take all her medications and bring enough pills to last for the duration of the trip.
Have a list of all her medical conditions and any other important instructions for your family. It might be helpful for your mother's doctor to write a letter describing her medical condition. While she is there, have her wear or carry some form of identification in case she wanders away or gets lost. You might want to consider travel health insurance for the time she is away. It can be expensive, but if she gets sick or needs medical attention while overseas, most Medicare insurance won't cover her.
Try to get a nonstop flight to make the trip easier. If a nonstop flight is not possible, pick connecting flights with plenty of time between them to avoid the stress of rushing at the airport. Make sure to let the security teams and flight crew know in advance that your mother has memory problems so they can accommodate her better. Having a wheelchair, even if your mother can walk just fine, can be helpful in getting through long lines and security.
Your doctor can prescribe some anti-anxiety pills in case the travel makes her agitated, but use them sparingly since they can make your mother sleepy and predispose her to falling down and getting hurt.
The second concern you have is about long plane flights. There is a small risk for developing blood clots during long periods of sitting. That risk can be lessened by wearing elastic support stockings and loose clothing, not smoking, avoiding alcoholic drinks and drinking plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, not crossing your legs when seated, taking strolls up and down the aisles when possible, and doing calf and foot stretches whenever possible. Before leaving, check with your mother's doctor. If she is particularly susceptible to blood clots, for example if she has any kind of vascular disease or has cancer, your doctor may want to prescribe a blood thinner or aspirin for the trip. Also there are some other heart and lung conditions that require people to travel with oxygen even if you don't need oxygen at home. The high altitude makes the air thinner and less oxygen is in the air on the airplane. Your mother's doctor will know if this is needed and help you with letters to the airline to make arrangements.
Once you get to Italy, make sure to give your mother time to recover from the stress of the flight. Give her a few days to adjust before she goes out and starts travelling and seeing family. Schedule time for her to rest or nap in the afternoons and make sure family watches that she doesn't get overly tired or stressed by the changes to her routine.
To combat jet lag, have your mother take a zinc supplement daily in the weeks leading up to her trip. Try to get her to sleep during the flight. If her doctor prescribed an anti-anxiety pill, once she is safely on the plane and it has taken off, the anti-anxiety pill may help her sleep during the flight. Once arriving at your destination, the best way to minimize jet lag is to go to sleep at the normal bedtime (based on the local time zone). Also avoid alcohol and caffeine for the first few days and drink plenty of water. Dehydration makes jet lag worse.
If you follow these suggestions, your mother should be able to enjoy her trip. Safe travels.
Questions can be mailed to Center for Geriatrics, AskDrViv, at 95 Armory Road, Stratford CT 06614 or emailed to askvivmd@gmail.com.
Ever since he appeared on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" — and continuing on into "Iron Chef," "Top Chef" and "Chopped" — Ted Allen has been the traveled, sophisticated, bespectacled foodie America has looked to for culinary wisdom.
The host of the Food Network program "Chopped" hadn't had a break in a long time when the New York Post spoke to him a little while back; he had been shooting 12-hour days, as well as hosting dinners, like a Pepcid Taste Maker's dinner at Andy Ricker's Pok Pok in Columbia Heights, Brooklyn that was co-hosted by Eater.
Still, Allen is not easily dulled by a busy schedule. Even early one Saturday morning from his home in Brooklyn, he was sharp and eager to chat food and travel.
England — in particular, London. I grew up in central Ohio, which was not particularly full of the old castles I wanted to visit. England and France were definitely at the top of my list, and that later expanded to Italy. My first international trip was when my parents took us to London, York, Liverpool — we did a week in England and a week in Paris. I was 15, my sister was 12; I remember, my sister ordered a seafood platter at a restaurant in Paris, and she was unaccustomed to seeing a langoustine with tentacles intact.
Now, food dictates where I want to travel — it plays a huge role in where we go. If it's winter in New York and we want to go some place warm, instead of the Caribbean we'd rather go to Mexico, which has astonishing, staggeringly awesome food.
You spent a lot of time in Chicago — where do you eat when you go back?
I've been gone so long now that the references I make to Chicago are going to be dated, but I like Rick Bayless' restaurants; Rick is major force to have educated most of us in the variety of cuisine Mexico has to offer — it's more than carne asada. We owe him a great debt. But things change so fast in this business. I eat at Spiaggo and Max's Italian Beef, where I always have my sandwich dunked in the juices. It's a treat — some of the greatest food is street food.
I usually stay with friends — but I like the James. It's a great location. Usually if I'm there for business, they put me up pretty well, like the Park Hyatt.
How did you first figure out you wanted to write about food?
We take a cooking class everywhere we go — Barry [Rice, Allen's husband] and I went to Bangkok, where they took you to a market and you get to see all these crazy fruit and fish and then we went back to the home of the cooking school and cooked lunch. It's a chain called the Blue Elephant; they have a Blue Elephant Cookbook and the classes take place in a beautiful old colonial house. … It really paid off. I think it was $75.
One of the ways I love to travel is I have a group of close friends, this Chicago gang, when a friend got married in Maine we rented a giant old shingle house; 15 stayed there and subsequently we went on to rent houses in Costa Rica, Umbria, the upper coast of Michigan. And it's affordable. This pallazo in Umbria amounted to $250 per week.
What's the most underappreciated food city in America?
There are so many. It's really such a great time to be an American food lover. I feel we've just awoken from a generation that was trying to get away from cooking and produced terrible food. Now there's been a long renaissance. Particularly with food trucks. What I think is profound is they're making available for office workers food from scratch, like Korean tacos by Roy Choi.
I love my job for a lot of reasons — and one is exposing me to these kinds of things. Until you go to Portland or Seattle and see parking lots full of food truck, you don't know. In Portland, that's a permanent collection of stalls and carts.
I take it you cook — what's your specialty?
Ironically, considering where I work — where I force people to cook very quickly — I'm a slow food person. I like to cook food that take a long time to develop flavor, low and slow, like barbecue. I like to put a pork shoulder in a smoker, turn it down to 250 and cook it for eight hours. I don't do a lot of delicate fancy fussy stuff. I do a little bit of Asian, Thai-inflected, for most part.
You own a house in Clinton Hill — why did you want to be there?
We ended up finding a brownstone we could swing. Previously, we had a condo in Chelsea. It was a nice place. But there was no dirt to stick plants into — I like having outdoor space and Brooklyn makes it slightly easier.
Where do you like to eat in Clinton Hill?
Tonight we're going to Umi Nom, which is by a guy named King Phojanakong, who was a contestant on "Chopped" who's also got a place called Kuma Inn on the Lower East Side; that's sort of the stuff I gravitate towards, a blend of Malaysian and Vietnamese and possibly Thai. It's BYO, the chicken wings are super hard crispy — I literally burned my lips. There's Walter's. There's Dino, a small, beautiful Italian restaurant on Dekalb. And there's Lulu Po.
Now that you're famous, where have you been recognized?
Food Network gets picked up in places that nobody tells me — I might find out that we're big in Peru or something. It's funny, when I'm recognized on the street in Rome, it's usually by tourists.
What's the one food that you'd risk a bust by customs to bring back to New York?
I would never! But what I love to do is bring home a leg of prosciutto from Italy. I try to go to the market and bring home spices — but I'm a relatively law-abiding guy, not a big smuggler. The things I bring back are probably not illegal, like peppercorns. In Mozambique once I brought back five pounds of raw cashews — that might be frowned upon.
I think Charleston is the trip I'm going to be proposing to friends next. We've also been kicking around Mexico City, north of Puerto Vallarta. This is not a new discovery, but there's a boutique hotel [called Casa Kimberley (Calle Zaragoza 445, Puerto Vallarta)] which used to be Richard Burton's house.
What's the food you would never eat?
Andrew Zimmern from "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" won't eat walnuts. I don't understand it, but he hates walnuts. The show I'm on now I kinda felt my obligation to taste anything, even though I'm not one of the judges. But on one episode of "Iron Chef," Ken Oringer was on and the ingredient was squab, and he served squab brain. I absolutely did eat the pigeon brain on the half-skull. He somehow sawed a squab head in half, sideways, including the beak.
I've always thought that for a competition to be fair, the judges need to thoughtfully taste everything. Although I will admit that organs sometimes give me a little pause … But he celebrated that complicated, tiny bird in a bunch of ways — his dish was amazing, and he won. And now, at Toro, he and Jamie [Bissonnette] are the toast of downtown!
Travel during retirement can be much more than just an enjoyable activity. Travel and its associated activities have been linked to healthy aging – boosting physical, cognitive and social benefits. Those who travel tend to be more active, and research shows that older adults who are physically active have lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and cancers, and a reduced risk of falling.
Travelers can't avoid being introduced to different experiences and environments. Meeting new people and learning about their cultures, navigating new places, and trying new things stimulates and challenges the brain, which promotes cognitive function. In fact, research shows that maintaining or starting social participation later in life has positive benefits on the mental health of older adults. "Americans are only just beginning to understand the value of travel for physical and mental well-being and social connections," said Collinson.
Instead of viewing travel as something that can only be accomplished if health allows it, it is worth looking at travel as an investment that can improve your health and well-being, which can ultimately lead to a more enjoyable and fulfilling retirement.
While the majority of Americans dream about traveling during retirement, most are financially unprepared – an unfortunate reality considering the many physical, cognitive and social benefits of travel. When calculating retirement needs, it's important to factor in saving and budgeting for travel to ensure your dreams become a reality. "We are beginning to see this powerful relationship between travel and healthy aging, which should motivate us all to begin saving for it now," said Hodin.
It can be helpful to make a list of all the places you've wanted to see and create a budget for each trip, including costs for transportation, lodging, food and activities. Of course, it's difficult to predict the exact cost of future trips, so it's OK to estimate based on current figures. For a very general budget, add up all the trips and divide by the number of years you expect to be actively traveling, and that's about how much you'll need each year. Even if you have no idea where you'd like to travel, you can still budget X amount of dollars per year to cover travel costs, then make sure your plans fit into the budget.
Off-season travel. Many retirees have the flexibility to travel during the off season, which can lead to significant savings on airfare, accommodations and attractions.
Group trips. Travel companies buy tickets in bulk and can pass on the savings to you. Other perks of group travel include expert guides (who know the best places to go) and meeting new people.
Road Scholar. Road Scholar is a not-for-profit organization that offers 5,500 educational tours in all 50 states and 150 countries, including "Budget-Friendly Programs." It also awards $250,000 in scholarships towards programs in North America each year for those who do not have the financial means to participate.
Senior discounts. Many retailers and organizations offer discounts for older people. AARP, for example, negotiates member discounts with tour providers, hotels and car rental agencies. Also, the National Park Service sells $10 lifetime passes to parks, and certain airlines (including Southwest and United) offer a limited number of senior fares – though these fares may not always represent the best deal, so check around.
Volunteer vacations. Several organizations host volunteer vacations in which participants work toward a common goal, such as trail maintenance in the U.S. Virgin Islands or habitat restoration in Chile. Although the trips aren't free, they can be very rewarding and offer a more affordable way to visit a particular area.
Retirement planning involves much more than finances, including decisions about when you'll retire and what you'll do (not that these factors aren't also driven by finances). Travel offers many physical, cognitive and social benefits, which can lead to a better experience during retirement. "Armed with this new knowledge [the value of travel for physical and mental well-being], Americans must now take action and begin saving for travel as a means to live longer, healthier and more fulfilled lives," Collinson said.
U.S. health officials on Thursday warned Americans not to travel to the three West African countries hit by an outbreak of Ebola.
The purpose of the travel warning is to not only protect U.S. travelers, but limit their use of overburdened clinics and hospitals for injuries or other illnesses, he said.
For more than a month, CDC has advised travelers to simply take precautions when in the outbreak region. Thursday's alert is the highest-level. The World Health Organization, however, has not issued a similar travel warning for the West Africa region. The last time the CDC issued a high-level warning was in 2003 because of a SARS outbreak in Asia.
The current outbreak is the largest since the disease first emerged in Africa nearly 40 years ago. The virus is contagious and is spread by direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from a sick person. Ebola can't be spread like flu through casual contact or breathing in the same air.
Experts estimate that in this outbreak, about 60 percent of the people who have gotten sick with Ebola have died — a frightening fatality rate that is among the highest of any disease. There is no vaccine and no specific treatment for it.
Two American aid workers in Liberia have been diagnosed with Ebola, and one of them was getting an experimental treatment.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is looking into options to bring them back to the U.S. While the U.S. government would facilitate the trip, private companies would be used to transport them.
Late Thursday afternoon, officials at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital said they expected one of the Americans to be transferred there "within the next several days." The hospital declined to identify which aid worker, citing privacy laws.
The hospital, which is near the CDC's main campus, has a special isolation unit built in collaboration with the CDC. It is one of only four facilities of its kind in the United States.
The CDC has about two dozen staffers in West Africa to help try to control the outbreak. Frieden on Thursday said the CDC will send 50 more in the next month. CDC workers in Africa also are helping at airports to help screen passengers, he said.
The CDC has said that the risk of the Ebola virus coming to the United States remains small. On Monday, the agency sent a health alert to U.S. doctors, updating them about the outbreak. The alert stressed they should ask about foreign travel in patients who come down with Ebola-like symptoms, including fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea.
Even if someone infected with Ebola came to the U.S., the risk of an outbreak is considered very low, Frieden said. Patients are contagious only when they show symptoms and U.S. hospitals are well equipped to isolate cases and control spread of the virus.
Frieden also noted that relatively few people travel from West Africa to the United States. He said about 10,000 travelers from those countries come to the United States in an average three- or four-month period, and most do not arrive on direct flights.
The CDC has staff at 20 U.S. airports and border crossings. They evaluate any travelers with signs of dangerous infectious diseases, and isolate them when necessary. The agency is prepared to increase that staffing if needed, he said.
TripCommon, the startup behind traveling app Hitlist, gave its iOS app a slick revamp earlier this week. Now Hitlist looks poised to become an all-in-one social network, discovery tool, and booking service for globe-trotting travelers.
The app has already racked up more than 50,000 users, but TripCommon believed they could make it better.
"We weren't really seeing the kind of retention we wanted to see in the product," Gillian Morris, TripCommon's chief executive and a co-founder, said in an interview with VentureBeat.
So the team went to work improving the search mechanism and other components in Hitlist. Their efforts could help the app become useful for more people who are looking for places to go — and stand out in the world of travel apps.
And it is a crowded world, with lots of competition.
So at least for this moment, Morris thinks Hitlist is in a good position to take off in a big way.
The original app came out in November, after developers built it with the PhoneGap mobile development framework. Now they've taken development into their own hands and dropped design elements like the Tinder-style swiping through destinations.
"[Y]ou were forced to say whether you were interested in a city before you got a new suggestion," Morris explained in an email. "This was fun for some people but not as useful as the way we've structured things now." Now cities stack up vertically; you can see a whole bunch at a glance.
When you first sign up for Hitlist and connect it with your Facebook account, the app shows you the top cities where your Facebook friends live. With the push of a button, you can select the cities you want to visit. At that point, Hitlist can start looking out for good-priced flights to those cities.
The user profile page calls out the percentage of the world, the number of countries, and the number of cities you've visited.
In the new version of Hitlist, you can check out the places where your friends have been. That might sound like a cute gimmick, but it can actually be helpful.
"Sometimes looking at who's been to a place gives me a much better sense than any Google search can possibly do of what the place is like and whether I'd like that," Morris said.
The five-person team based in New York has worked on version two for the past six months. It hit the iTunes Store on Monday. A new version of the Android app should ship next month.
The startup is working with airlines to see about providing discounted fares to Hitlist users.
TripCommon has raised $325,000 to date. Investors include former Orbitz chairman Jeff Clarke and JetBlue co-founder John Owen.
The startup receives a commission every time someone books a flight through Hitlist.
Meanwhile Morris and her colleagues would like to make more of the data the app collects about people and their destination preferences.
"For example, when airlines are evaluating their marketing strategies, it might be useful to know what demographic is interested in what flights," she said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Growing up in the Republic of Belarus — a small landlocked country in Eastern Europe — Hanna Belaya would fantasize about traveling to exotic locations across the globe.
After immigrating to the United States in 2005, she put her interest in travel to good use by working for a small travel agency in Brooklyn. There, she enjoyed working with newlyweds and those planning romantic getaways.
After nine years of working for other companies, she started her own travel agency, but with a twist: romantic vacations.
"I believe in the importance of romance in this world. When people travel together it creates a special bond between them and makes them closer," said Ms. Belaya.
From gondola rides in Venice, Italy to the secluded beaches of the Caribbean Islands, Ms. Balaya specializes in creating romantic vacations for everyone from newlyweds to busy parents seeking a quick getaway.
To make sure the vacations she plans provide the perfect opportunity for a romantic getaway, she travels several times per year to search out new destinations.
"I'm really passionate about planning travel for my clients and making sure they have the best time. I like to see the destinations and do site inspections so that I can recommend them," said Ms. Belaya.
"I also spend hours keeping up with the latest trends and changes in the wedding and travel industry," she added.
One of her specialties is planning destination weddings.
"When couples decide to get married abroad it's really romantic, has a 'vacation' aspect in it, and is sometimes more affordable than traditional weddings," she said.
No Problem Travel specializes in a variety of romantic vacations, from destination weddings in Costa Rica and vow renewals in Mexico, to "baby-moons," or "family-moons" (When couples take their children with them) and "Say Yes" trips.
"Couples can choose whether they want pre-packaged vacations or custom-made. The latest trend is that brides want their weddings to be customized and not cookie-cutter. They don't want the same wedding in Cancun or Jamaica that their cousin had. We can do ceremonies off site and in unique locations, " said Ms. Balaya.
No Problem Travel can also take care of all legal requirements necessary to tie the knot abroad.
"My growth strategy is based on word of mouth. I know that if I do a good job I'll get recommended," she said.
In addition, Ms. Belaya participates in bridal showcases and is looking to partner with other wedding vendors.
Ms. Belaya wants to remain a "boutique" business to provide the most personalized service to her clients.
If you have a new business on Staten Island, contact Tracey Porpora at Porpora@siadvance.com.
A U.S. congressman has asked the Obama administration to impose an immediate travel ban on the citizens of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as on foreigners who have visited those countries, to contain the spread of Ebola to the United States.
Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the restriction should be lifted only when 90 days have passed without a newly reported case.
He said the ban should be expanded to any other country that reports a case of Ebola.
Grayson said the Ebola virus presents an enhanced danger to the American public.
"The countries represent a danger to the rest of the world and because the best way to deal with the situation is to isolate the areas that are affected until hopefully the infection burns itself out, as it has in the past," Grayson said. "We are talking about this time a fundamentally different circumstance, however.
"This is the largest outbreak in history; it's the deadliest outbreak in history," he added.
Grayson said, with Liberia already taking steps to close its borders, his travel ban request will only be assisting in that effort by saying that the Ebola-affected countries remain isolated until the infection disappears.
He said his travel ban, if granted by the Obama administration, would not include Nigeria, at least for now.
The U.S. Peace Corps announced Wednesday it was temporarily removing its volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea due to the increasing spread of the Ebola virus.
Grayson said the travel ban he's requesting would only apply to foreign visitors to the United States and not Americans returning from abroad.
"If they are Americans, then we're expecting that, when they return, they'll take prudent measures," he said.
"There are ways that can be employed to try to identify people who have been infected, and I would hope that they will voluntarily and enthusiastically submit themselves to those tests so that we can make sure that, if they are returning, they're not returning with disease," Grayson said.
The World Health Organization recently said nearly 700 people have died from Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the current outbreak of the virus that began in February.
There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, which is characterized by fever, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, and unstoppable bleeding from areas such as the eyes, ears and nose.
A 1989 visit to create woodblock prints in Hangzhou set American artists Janis Provisor and Brad Davis on a new geographic and creative course. In the following years, they launched their first collection as Fort Street Studio, today one of the world's leading luxury contemporary carpet-design houses.
Baggage handlers unload luggage from EasyJet Airbus aircraft at Ljubljana's airport Brnik February 16, 2012.
Europe is quite a popular travel destination—more than 11 million Americans visited the continent in 2013 alone, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. With so many countries in close proximity to each other, you can spend one day climbing the Eiffel Tower and the next day posing with Big Ben.
After studying in London for a semester, I know that traveling on a budget in Europe is not always easy.
According to an article in USA Today, one week in Europe costs approximately $2,000 (plus airfare) per couple, and that's if you stay in just one city for your whole trip.
It is, however, possible to have the vacation of your dreams without shelling out a ridiculous amount of money.
Here are six cheap ways to travel between countries while you're staying in Europe.
1. Fly budget airlines: Europe has a bunch of budget airline carriers, two of the most popular being easyJet and Ryanair. They aren't the most luxurious planes by any means, but they get you where you need to go for cheap. For example, Ryanair is currently offering flights from London to Oslo for only $30 per ticket.
Many of these planes also have impressive on-time performances—Easyjet arrived on time 91% of the time in March 2014. I flew on budget airlines six times while in London, and every plane departed and arrived on time.
2. Book flights in advance: It's crazy what a difference one or two months can make in terms of flight prices. I tried to book a flight from London to Barcelona one week before my trip, and flights were way out of my price range. When I looked at the prices for flights two months from my intended travel date, the tickets were $30 cheaper.
Google Flights is a great tool for comparing flight prices between airlines so you can get the best deal. If you can't make your plans in advance, check out lastminute.com for some good prices.
3. Be sure to pack light: Many of the budget airlines have very strict height and weight restrictions for carry-on bags and checked baggage, so try to pack as few unnecessary items as possible. If you know your checked baggage is over the weight limit, you should pay the baggage fee online instead of at the airport. It will be significantly more expensive if you wait.
4. If you have the time, travel by bus: If you're traveling between countries, taking a bus might not seem like the most appealing option since the journey can be long. However, if you're only traveling to a neighboring country, it might be worth your while. Bus tickets between London and Paris for about five weeks from now are as low as $25 on Eurolines, versus a $55 flight on easyJet the same day. The bus ride is quite long at approximately 9 hours, but you can save a little money if you have the time.
5. Stay in hostels: Hostels have kind of a bad rap (the horror movie Hostel probably didn't help), but many don't deserve this reputation. Every hostel I stayed at while traveling in Europe was very clean, and I never felt unsafe. The website Hostelworld is a great resource for finding hostels; you can view available rooms by location and have the search results sorted by "overall rating" to get the best options. The dorm-style rooms are cheapest because you have to share your room with a group of strangers. I've had friends book these rooms for as cheap as $15 per night, and they've met a bunch of interesting people through the experience.
6. Book trips through tour groups: If you're planning a trip of one week or more and want to make sure you see everything, it might be worth traveling with a tour group. These trips are often more affordable than traveling alone, and they typically include extra perks like guided tours and a few meals. The tour group Trafalgar has an option called CostSaver where travelers can depart from the U.S. and travel throughout multiple countries. One of their trips is the 11-day Britain Ireland Delight, which costs approximately $1,600 per person. If you're a student, you can enjoy great rates from the tour group Bus2Alps. I took a one-week trip to Italy with them, and it cost only $784 and included all of my accommodations, multiple meals, tours in every city, and more.
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I love to travel. In fact, since my father worked for the airlines, I was able to travel all over the world. I have been to more than 30 countries on 5 continents and I have a few travel tips you might not find anywhere else that will hopefully make traveling a little easier.
Firstly, always call your debit credit card companies and advise them when, where and for how long you will be traveling. This ensures your credit card will be active when you arrive, especially if you are traveling internationally. Since a large amount of fraud occurs overseas, companies will automatically assume this is the case when they don't hear from you.
Also, take at least 3 credit cards with you when you travel, because when you check into a hotel or rent a car, a lot of the time a hold is placed on the card, which can take up to 3 days to be released. As for cash and travelers checks, both can be counterfeited easily, which is why many places do not accept them.
Check-in for your flight as soon as possible. If the possibility of a seat upgrade exists, you may be able to take advantage of it. Recently, I was on a flight to Hawaii and about half of first class was empty. Those seats could have been sold or upgraded on the website, or even at the gate, often for only a small fee.
Take a picture of your luggage with your phone before you give it to the airlines. In the event that it is lost, you will at least have a picture of the bags. Put an address label inside and outside of the bag. I put two on the outside (different ends) and at least one on the inside.
After the security check point, buy a water bottle, maybe two. Just do not board the flight without your own full water bottle. Why you ask? You may get stuck on the runway or have your plane diverted to the south of France, for example. Why do I say the south of France?
On a trip in 2007 from Rome to Geneva, my plane was delayed for 7 hours. By the time we left Rome, the Geneva airport was closed and our plane had to land at Lyon, France. Three hours later, we returned to Rome. All of the drinking water was consumed on the plane in the first hour we were on the ground.
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When you check into the hotel, use the hotel safe for valuables.
Keep your cash and credit cards in at least two different places just in case you lose them or they are stolen, they are not all in one place. This also applies to your medications and clothes.
Put some in your carry-on (possibly a bathing suit if you're traveling to a tropical location) and some in your checked bag. If your bag is lost, you can at least sit by the pool and wait for it. Hopefully this will begin to make your traveling a little easier.


text:
Maurice Guichard (1884-1915) est un footballeur international français mort pour la France. Gardien de but parisien licencié à l'US parisienne, il dispute le premier match de l'histoire de l'équipe de France de football le  1904 à Bruxelles (3-3).

Exerçant le métier de pâtissier, Maurice Guichard eut une courte carrière internationale, comptant deux sélections avec l'équipe de France.

Sergent du  régiment d'infanterie lors de la Première Guerre mondiale, il disparaît au combat le 30 mai 1915 au cours de la bataille de l'Artois. Sa mort est constatée en janvier 1918 et il est inhumé à Neuville-Saint-Vaast.

Ses sélections

Notes et références

Liens externes

Footballeur international français
Militaire français mort au combat lors de la Première Guerre mondiale
Mort pour la France
Naissance en décembre 1884
Décès en mai 1915
Décès à 30 ans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Brasserie Du Village, brewery, listed under "Breweries" category, is located at 2 Henderson St Huntingdon QC, J0S 1H0, Canada and can be reached by 4502646613 phone number. Brasserie Du Village has currently 0 reviews.
Browse all Breweries in Huntingdon QC.


Hudson's Bands of Hope: No profound thoughts... just my heart.
The one year anniversary is so tough, but you'll get through it. You have an amazing family and they will help you. You also have friends that love you and understand where your heart is. I know what this time feels like.
I think the idea of throwing Hudson a birthday party is a fabulous idea! The beauty that is your son has touched more people than you can ever know and just like every child he deserves a special day. My thoughts and prayers will be with you all in the coming weeks and should you need to talk, I'll be here.


Tax-exemption for nonprofits is a privilege — not a right — that must be earned. All nonprofits, secular or religious, should be held to the same IRS rules and oversight that hold them accountable to the taxpayers subsidizing their tax benefits.
All nonprofits should be transparent and held accountable to American taxpayers. Religious organizations should be held to the same tax filing standards as all other charities.


Autonomous Ground Vehicle lab is one of the very few labs in India with state of the art sensors like Velodyne LiDAR, Carnegie MultiSense S7 stereocamera, SICK LiDAR, Microsoft Kinect, etc. Use of this sensors becomes very important for self-driving problem statements. One of the PS is localization of the vehicle which certainly cannot be achieved using only with GPS data. Hence, we instead thought of generating a Map of surrounding (college campus) first and then localizing the vehicle according to instances/features seen by the sensors. This Alum Meet (January'17), the dune buggy vehicle was installed with all the sensors present in lab and a dataset was collected around the campus. My team is planning to collect many such datasets in future and we are soon going to make them public.
In my previous blog, I had also mentioned arrival of a powerful server at the lab which we are now using not only for Deep learning purpose but also for running simulation platforms like Autoware. Recently, the Autoware package was installed some available algorithms were tested on our collected dataset. So, with such powerful resources in hand, I decided to generate a complete 3D map of IIT Kharagpur both for group benefit and personal satisfaction.


Blue Waters assistant coach Armando Pedro has ended his 14-year relationship with the Birds, to concentrate on his business concerns.
The long-serving coach has often been deployed as a caretaker coach in the past six years, each time a coach has left the club.
Pedro, who first signed with Blue Waters as a striker in 1993, will now devote his time to his business, which he said had suffered while he was volunteering his services to the club in various roles.
"I have worked for the club without getting paid for the last six years, but now I have decided I will not continue doing that," Pedro told the Windhoek Observer this week.
"The club wanted to offer me an extension, so that I can coach them next season, but I think I am done with football for now.
"My business has suffered greatly, while I was devoted to the club, and that is something which has triggered my decision to move on.
The Angolan-born coach first joined the Birds in 1993, where he played for three seasons, before joining Cape Town outfit Hellenic in 1996.
He later joined African Wanderers in Durban, where he spent one season, before rejoining his old club Blue Waters in 2005.
Pedro joined the Blue Waters' coaching department, when he finally hung up his boots at the end of the 2007/08 season.
Although he has occupied various roles as assistant coach since 2008, he acted as the team's main coach from the beginning of the 2015/16 season.
A father of four, Pedro is into fashion designing.
The 45-year-old said he will forever cherish his football journey, despite the ups and downs he endured in his long career.
"I wish the club and all its personnel well, because even if I am no longer there, I will always carry them in my heart.
"One never knows what the future holds, and who knows, I might make a return, but for now I am done and ready to take my business to another level," Pedro said.
Blue Waters executive Robert Shimoshili said that Pedro's exit will be a great loss, but not as big as people imagine.
He believes that although the former Blue Waters legend will no longer assist the team on a full-time basis, he will still give advice, whenever he is needed.
"Pedro will always be a part of this team and he will obviously give his advice to coaches, whenever he is available.
"Therefore I would not believe that he is gone forever, because the love he has for this club is great enough to keep him on the scene," Shimoshili added.


Today is Monday, the 18th week of the "ABC with the Accidental Knitter's meme".
Nine years ago Ross and I moved into an Active Adult Community in Barnegat, NJ. The community is one of many that have popped up down at the Jersey shore.
According to Wikipedia the population of our once little town has grown from 2,817 in 2000 to the nearly 21,000 which it currently is. I'm sure the six new senior complexes have contributed somewhat to the growth of the population.
Primarily what enticed us to move an hour away from everyone and everything was the close proximity to the beach. Secondly, the main selling point so aptly described to us in detail by a very competent salesperson was the "Lifestyle".
Have you ever seen the ads for these communities? Photo montages of very young looking people actively swimming, jogging, biking, playing tennis, working out in the on-site fitness centers, etc.
I'm sure these four would have never thought to skip through the woods in the rain or dance on a picnic table before they moved into the "Lifestyle".
Anyway, we signed on the dotted line.
Three months later on the day of closing we were handed a copy of the By-Laws along with a copy of "Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions", each weighing about 3 pounds. Okay, they might not have actually weighed three pounds, but they certainly were not light reading material.
There are also documents on Rules and Regulations along with stated punishments for each violation.
Here are a few excerpts from the "Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions".
"No building, fence, wall, or other structure shall be constructed or maintained up any Lot, nor shall any exterior addition, change, or alteration be made until the plans and specifications showing all details of the sam are submitted to and approved in writing by the Board or the Architectural Review Committee, if one has been appointed. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to authorize the Board to approve any structure or plating in the easement described in Article XXI herein."
"No Signs window signs, notices or displays of any nature oor kind shall be shown or displayed up the Lots or Units"
"No outside clotheslines, solar panels, antennas, or satellite dishes over 20 inches in diameter are permitted on any Lot. Satellite dishes under 20 inches in diameter are permitted on the rear portions of roof areas provided same are not visible from the street."
And it goes on an on.
Ross has been on a committee for the past three years. These seven folks have been re-writing the by-laws, rules, regulations, covenants and restrictions.
This was a very huge undertaking to say the least.
Their task was to wade through mounds of papers, line by line and attempt to make the documents more understandable, with less legalize, and perhaps even a little less restrictive.
One of the more controversial restrictions is the one regarding vehicles. In the original document, which was written by the developer 15 years ago, it was stated that no trucks of any kind would be allowed to be parked on the street or in a home owner's driveway. They had to be parked in the home owner's garage.
One home owner spent thousands of dollars extending his garage so that he could fit his truck in. Many others had to sell their trucks because they couldn't fit them in their garages.
This is one of the restrictions the committee wants to ease.
After all many people have boats down here at the shore. I'm sure that was one of the selling points used. I bet somewhere in the brochure is a photo of a couple speeding along the bay.
Most people who have boats need some kind of truck to haul their boat.
Also I see many SUV's around here, parked in driveways. Aren't they basically trucks?
But as in any group there are always the squeaky wheels. People who I am sure suffer from "middle child" syndrome.
One of them insisted that a major reason he moved into this type of community was so that he wouldn't have to deal with seeing trucks parked willy nilly all over the place. Yes, he said willy nilly.
Another complained that he had to sell his truck, so why should the rule be changed now?
I wonder if Ross and I would have been so quick to sign on the dotted line if, instead of showing us the "Lifestyle", the salesperson handed us the three pound Covenants and Restrictions document.
Salesperson: Okay before I will even attempt to show you the models, which are professionally decorated and include all of the upgrades which you probably won't be able to afford, but which you will want because you basically want that model, which we created expressly to entice you into buying all of the upgrades...and before I show you the two swimming pools, indoor and outdoor, and the tennis courts and bocce courts and the ball room, and pool tables, and ceramics room, and card room...you must read this three pound document. I expect to see you back here tomorrow morning with a written report on said document showing that you completely understand all of our Rules and Regulations.
LOL!! You summed that up great - with a nice touch of humor too!! We live in a neighborhood with an "association" and it was the same thing. Blah, blah, blah. So, my husband did the same - get on the committee and change some of those crazy rules!! We've been here almost 15 yrs and to be honest, the association has kind of faded away and nothing is enforced. Probably because no one has really moved (except a few and the new owners don't seem to care) and we didn't want to be bothered with all those rules! Enjoy the beach and the games - just keep your truck out of site and your satellite dish on the back! Haha!!
We have friends who live in one of these communities. When ever we visit I think I would love to live there. However, my DH would never do it. He hates the rules. We live in a mobil home park and he pushes the rules all the time. I'd be a wreck if we lived in one of those realllllly manicured communities.
I always find it amazing reading some of the restrictions on places like this, especially the no washing lines one... I know seeing washing lines isn't always pretty, but who wants to dry everything inside/electrically when the outdoors is a perfect place for it?!


Teen Challenge of the Smokies Men's Center's Mission is to provide men with an effective and comprehensive Christian, faith-based solution to life-controlling drug and alcohol problems in order to become productive members of society. By applying Biblical principles, Teen Challenge endeavors to help people become mentally sound, emotionally balanced, socially adjusted, physically well, and spiritually alive.
The program consists of Group studies, Personal studies, Bible study, counseling, chapel and work. New life skills and coping skills are taught to give men "new tools" in their tool box to handle the stress and problems of life. At Teen Challenge of the Smokies Men's Center we believe that the success of a changed life is due to the "Jesus Factor". 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2. We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miraculous ministry, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His Ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return to earth, at which time He will judge the quick and the dead.
4. We believe the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
5. We believe in the ordinances of the church: Holy Communion and Water Baptism.
6. We believe in the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and reliance on His power working in and through us.
7. We believe the redemptive work of Christ on the cross divine healing of the human body through prayer and petition according to God's will.
8. We believe in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a life of devotion and integrity.
9. We believe in the Blessed Hope, the imminent return of Jesus Christ followed by His reign on the earth for 1,000 years.
10. We believe in the resurrection of the saved and the lost, the one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting damnation.
11. We believe the biblical order for human sexual expression as being between one man and one woman who have committed to a life-long marriage covenant (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5). Any expression of human sexuality outside of the marriage covenant between one man and one woman is sin (Ex. 20:14; Lev. 18:22-23, 20:13; Matt. 15:19). God wants us to avoid sexual immortality and live holy and honorable live of faithfulness.
Residents follow strict rules and disciplines, but in an environment of Christian loving-kindness. Although you don't have to be a Christian to enter our program, we do however challenge our residents to embrace the Christian faith and when they do, that is when their lives are transformed and they find true meaning and purpose. When a resident enters our program they are assigned to a coach (counselor). This coach is there to help them along as they battle the difficult challenges they face. Our programs have been developed to encourage our residents to cope with everyday life issues. Residents typically rise early and have little free time, due to a busy schedule starting at 7:00am for wakeup, tidying room, breakfast, devotions and then classes. The afternoons include work detail and recreation. The students have study hall each evening.
Why is the Program so Long? Overcoming life-controlling sins isn't an overnight job; it requires repeated exposure to spiritual truths and surroundings. In fact, 12 months is just a start – God continues to work on us all our lives!
Program Requirements: Please see pages 1 -3 of Application to see if you qualify to enter our program.
Teen Challenge was launched in 1958 from a small office in Staten Island, New York. Pastor David Wilkerson conducted street rallies on "gang turf," meetings through which many gang leaders and members were converted. Through this program, many street-hardened young men and women came to Christ, allowing God's Spirit to transform their lives. In 1958, many people thought David Wilkerson was crazy to try taking the gospel to drug-addicted teens in New York City. Today, few of those critics are willing to question the success of the Teen Challenge ministry. Teen Challenge has grown to include over 200 programs and numerous evangelism outreach centers in the United States and 1400 centers in 122 other countries. All Teen Challenge centers operate autonomously.