Inbox

China’s Slowing Economy
The world’s expectations of China have gotten out of hand, such that even a respectable annual growth rate of 6% to 8% seems like an economic crisis [“Why China Must Push Reset,” June 18]. Face it, anything from 3% to 5% GDP growth is commendable. The world is not in as terrible a crisis as the media portray; it just has been jolted out of its dream bubble back to reality.
Victor Looi Yi En,
Singapore

China’s solar-panel industry is experiencing a process that eventually affects all products. In the past century, the U.S. and Europe lost their less popular automakers, leaving only the dominant car companies we have today. Yahoo, Google and eBay survived the dotcom bust of the 1990s amid hundreds of wannabe competitors. In any market, with or without significant government subsidies, it is generally true that only a few companies will survive when everyone is trying to do the same thing.
Andrew White,
San Antonio

A Case for Change
A democratic China would benefit not only its people but also the world [“Two Steps Forward, One Step Back,” June 18]. Democratization would transform China into a responsible stakeholder in Asia and beyond. If Chinese leaders wish to successfully guide the country to the next leap forward, this is their only choice.
Song Xiaowen,
Pingzhen City, Taiwan

Unseen Enemies
Michael Crowley’s dispassionate examination of the risks associated with waging war by flying robots ignores the biggest risk of all: the loss of the moral high ground for the U.S. in the eyes of its friends and allies and in the hearts of its people [“Drone Dilemma,” June 18]. When the U.S. attacks essentially defenseless peoples, “occasionally killing their children” on the basis that this method is “a cheap and convenient military tool” for killing suspected terrorists, would the ordinary people of Pakistan and Yemen be forgiven for asking who is the terrorist?
Paul Tierney,
London

I find it worth considering that drone strikes occasionally kill children and “may be engendering support for al-Qaeda.” Turning a blind eye to collateral damage is a serious mistake. Pakistanis suffer and live in danger because of the war on terrorism, which seems to be achieving only modest success, leaving the region with a tumultuous future.
Arshad Altaf,
Karachi

Building Skills
Re “Broken and Obsolete” [June 18]: Fareed Zakaria writes that Americans “do assimilation better than anyone else.” I think it’s time to encourage integration rather than assimilation, to create a diverse rather than uniform nation where immigrants’ varying skills can be recognized.
Robert Eriksson,
Gnesta, Sweden

Control on Food
New York City and Disney’s initiatives to crack down on junk food do not go far enough [“The Big Gulp,” June 18]. The best approaches are to ban food advertisements that highlight positive sides of food products while ignoring the negatives, and to place a tax on processed foods.
Mark Dymiotis,
Melbourne

Imbalance in Arab Workforce
The brave individual stand of Bothaina Kamel, who was the only female candidate in Egypt’s presidential election, suggests a more subtle tactic for Arab women to improve their lot [“The Price of Sexism,” June 4]. Women with a firm footing on the career ladder could pair up with an unemployed female compatriot. The goal would be to give an insider view of what must be a largely unknown world — the everyday triumphs and setbacks, and the know-how that got them where they are and that keeps them there against the odds. Those shared drops of inspiration could build momentum toward boosting female fortunes.
John Haslette,
Bielsko-Biala, Poland

Kudos to Carla Power for her article. But I was disappointed that the graphic did not include Indonesia, the most populous majority-Muslim nation, as a comparison of labor equality in various countries. It would have been interesting to see how our women compare.
Jeffrey Ng,
Jakarta

Clicks of Protest
I liked the article “Change Agent” [June 4]. Change.org offers the opportunity to express one’s opinion and support people and their work in a new way besides writing letters or demonstrating on the streets. Hopefully this can raise public awareness for causes all over the world. On the other hand, maybe websites like Change.org will reinforce society’s Facebook mentality: Why express your opinion in person if you can just click “Like” or “Sign”? I hope even more people will be willing to work for a better world and express their opinion loudly if it is necessary. Because in the end we won’t be able to change unjust situations only by clicking a button — although that might be the first step.
Ann-Kathrin Rau,
Tapfheim, Germany