News
Key off to Asia
Cuddly pandas, deadly torpedoes and Chinese food safety will be among the talking points when Prime Minister John Key travels to Asia next week. Mr Key leaves on Saturday for a 10-day tour of Korea, China and Vietnam, regarding China as the most important part of the visit. There would be a lot to discuss in his formal...
Haier: no plans to take bigger stake in F&P
Haier, the Chinese home goods maker that bought a 20 per cent stake in Fisher & Paykel Appliances last year, says it does not plan to increase its stake in the New Zealand manufacturer. Although not well known to New Zealanders, the firm clearly has the firepower to take over F&P Appliances. In 2008, Haier...
Time to rethink China - US trade relations
Time to rethink U.S.-China trade relations By James McGregor Wednesday, May 19, 2010 The U.S. government and the business community need to rethink our China strategy and retool our trade bureaucracy to face the tangled web of emerging Chinese policies. Otherwise, American technology companies could be coerced...
Fonterra wants total control in China
As Fonterra rebuilds its presence in China chief executive Andrew Ferrier says the dairy giant wants to control all aspects of its supply chain. In 2008 Fonterra owned 43 per of Chinese dairy company Sanlu - one of 22 firms caught up in a melamine contamination scandal in which at least six infants died. Sanlu...
U.N. Report: India and China Massively Improving Slums
May 11 – China and India have improved the lives of more slum dwellers than any other country, the United Nations Human Settlements Program newly launched State of the World Cities 2010/2011 report said. UN-HABITAT’s report, which was launched in Nairobi on Monday night, says that the two countries have lifted...
North Korea's leader visits China hoping for more goodies
THE timing could hardly have been more conspicuous. After weeks of speculation, early on Monday May 3rd Kim Jong Il, the not-so-endearing Dear Leader of North Korea, arrived in China by armoured train (he prefers not to fly). The trip, his first in more than four years, comes at a time of high tension on the Korean peninsula....
Court Awards record damages to MicroSoft
Shanghai Court Awards Record IP Damages to MicrosoftApr. 24 – Microsoft has been awarded the largest ever amount in intellectual property damages in China after a local court in Shanghai ruled that Dazhong Insurance, a state-backed insurer, was guilty of using pirated copies of Microsoft software.The court awarded...
Migration in China
ON THE hilly streets of Chongqing, men with thick bamboo poles loiter for customers who will pay them to carry loads. The “stick men”, as they are called, hang the items from either end of the poles and heave them up over their shoulders. In a city where the Communist Party chief, Bo Xilai, likes to sing old...
The rise of Asian Universities
May 3 – In an article in the May/June issue ofForeign Affairs, Richard C. Levin, the president of Yale University, discusses the rise of Asia’s universities, arguing that Asia is now focused on building universities that can compete with the finest in the world. Levin says that developing top universities...
Shanghai Expo Fun facts
Shanghai Expo Fun Facts Oh, to be in the middle of it all... The Shanghai Expo, like communism and time shares, looks great on paper, but you don't want to actually experience it. OK, if you live in a city of less than one million, maybe the crowds, lines, and claustrophobia will dazzle...
The Beijing consensus is to keep quiet
In the West people worry that developing countries want to copy “the China model”. Such talk makes people in China uncomfortable May 6th 2010 | BEIJING | From The Economist print edition CHINESE officials said the opening of the World Expo in Shanghai on April 30th would be simple and frugal. It...
Watch China's Gold Consumption
China has a centuries-long cultural attraction to gold, but affordability has historically been an obstacle. However, rising incomes and accumulation of wealth are bound to result in Chinese citizens becoming bigger consumers of gold for jewelry or investment purposes.The chart, courtesy of U.S. Global Investors –...