Asia

It’s about time someone made the connection between the Japan economic hysteria in the U.S. of the late 80s and early 90s and how China is being talked about now. In the United States we have a Presidential election campaign that is going to be covered for two full years, 24/7 on cable news, the Internet etc. China and its big bad …

Flying back to Beijing from Sichuan, I come across a jolly group of
newly minted parents in the Chengdu airport. It’s a familiar sight to anyone
who has traveled in China in the last decade or more, a bunch of middle-aged
westerners oohing over Chinese babies, some awkwardly cradling them, others chasing after
toddlers, their faces …

Taiwan’s Vice President Annette Lu is upset at the Associated Press and CNN. The issue? An AP story on Lu’s presidential run, which quoted a old slur from Beijing that Lu was the “scum of the nation.” Apparently CNN (which, like TIME, is owned by Time Warner) used the quote as the headline of the story on their website.

This whole thing …

Give Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing credit: at least he’s honest! An exchange between him and a Taiwanese reporter at the opening ceremony of the CPPCC…

Li Zhaoxing exchange with a Taiwanese reporter on democracy:

At the opening ceremony of the CPPCC annual meeting, foreign minister Li Zhaoxing was surrounded by reporters. …

An interesting survey just out from McKinsey on how executives in Asia perceive the China market. I’m amazed that only 30 per cent of the respondents’ companies have operations in China. I’d have thought at this point the percentage would be higher. I’ll try to clarify what the sample base is, ie are they surveying only large …

As you’ll see from the photo, it is a glorious day in Beijing. A glorious day to head down to Tiananmen Square and take in the action at the National Peoples Congress and the Chinese Political People’s Consultative Conference. These two bodies–often referred to by cynical Western reporters who clearly have no faith in the democratic …

For all of you hard core fans of the so called six party talks on North Korea, here is the transcript of a recent session Ambassador Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator, had at the Asia Society. In it he talks at some length about China’s role in the talks. This transcript is 41 pages long, and obviously not all of it deals with …

To follow up on Simon’s post, it’s worth also considering Chen Shui-bian’s statement on independence within the context of Taiwan’s political situation. Chen clearly has his problems, most notably his wife’s indictment, but he is sitting pretty these days compared to Ma Ying-jeou, who stepped down last month as head of the opposition …

As the responses to my last post about Taiwan and China’s military spending bear out, mention of the island inflames high passions (and sometimes foaming at the mouth incoherence) in some people. It seems that the same button gets pushed regularly by Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian when he’s feeling in need of a blast of invective from …

Greetings and happy year of the pig! With apologies to vegetarians and Muslims, here’s a picture from a recent holiday of a particularly apposite golden piggy.

Last night, as China residents will be all too well aware, was the last day of the 15 New Year celebrations and marked by a six hour long barrage of fireworks that made the …

Amnesty International has a new report out today on the difficulties faced by migrant workers in China. I don’t know if anybody’s going to be shocked by this. The problems caused by the massive movement of rural Chinese to work in urban areas have been clear for a while. This document does cover them exhaustively. The topics discussed …

Jim Mann, former LA TIMES Beijing bureau chief and author of, among other things, Beijing Jeep–a classic on one of the early joint ventures after China’s economic opening–is out with a new book that’s raising a ruckus. It’s called The China Fantasy, and it’s a must read for anyone interested in the debate over China’s likely political …

Earlier this month I mentioned an inflammatory quote from the British Olympic Association (BOA) boss, who said that the world was “at war against China” when it came to athletic competition. Now the BOA has some numbers to go along with that statement. In a report released last week the group that said if the Summer Olympics had been …