Carrefour Searches Blocked By Censors

China’s Internet censors have blocked searches on the name Carrefour, China Tech News reports.
The French superstore chain that is one of the largest foreign retailers operating in China with sales of €3 billion ($4.6 billion) last year, was the target of anti-French demonstrations earlier this month in retaliation for pro-Tibet protests when the Olympic Torch [...]

Beijing Looking To Lease Foreign Farmland

China has already gone abroad to secure supplies of energy and minerals by investing in mines and oil fields, so why not do the same for food? The Beijing Morning Post quotes Xie Guoli, a senior trade promotion official with the agriculture ministry, as saying that China is looking at leasing farmland in Russia, South [...]

Ma Picks A Harliner To Steer Taipei-Beijing Relations

Taiwan’s president elect Ma Ying-jeou has made the curious choice of a hardliner to lead the Mainland Affairs Council, the cabinet level agency in charge of relations with Beijing. The China Post has details of the announcement.
Ma, whose election was seen as bolstering rapprochement with Beijing, has named Lai Shin-yuan, a former lawmaker of the [...]

China Moves Fast On Jinan Train Crash

A couple of notable points in the aftermath of the fatal train crash near Jinan on the high-speed Beijing-Qingdao line, the country’s worst in a decade.
First is the extent of the coverage in state media. In the past China, has played down such accidents. Case in point: an accident earlier this year on the same [...]

Facing Protectionism, Slowdown, Beijing Eases Up On Exporters

China is easing off on some of its low end manufacturers because of the global economic slowdown and worries about protectionism.
Reuters reports government officials as saying they will stop further cuts in value added tax refunds to help hard-pressed exporters. The VAT refunds have been scaled back to rein in labor intensive low-end manufactured exports, [...]

China To Meet Dalai Lama’s Envoys

China says it will meet the Dalai Lama’s envoys. It is a change of tactics in what has been a campaign to vilify the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader since the anti government protests started in March, though Xinhua claims the door of dialogue has remained open.
China has been under international pressure to talk to the [...]

Government Intervening To Prop Up Shanghai Stock Prices

With the Shanghai stock exchange’s bench mark index having fallen earlier this week to 50% of its all time high, the regulators have cut stamp duty on share trading from 0.3% to 0.1%.
The announcement, not a surprise though the timing was unexpected, sent share prices soaring. The Shanghai Composite Index closed Thursday’s trading up 9.3%, [...]

Olympic Torch To Visit The Land Of The Mass Games

The Olympic torch relay will have a leg in Pyongyang on April 28, its 18th.
Xinhua reports a pre-leg reception held at the Chinese embassy in the North Korean capital this week with duly hospitable expressions of how the event will promote cooperation and exchange between the two countries, demonstrate their traditional friendship etc, etc, etc…  [...]

Shanghai’s Stock Bubble Deflated By Half

Shanghai stock prices have fallen through what analysts usually describe as a psychological level for the want of a more meaningful term. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 50% at one point today from its all-time high last October of 6092.06. Investors are being rattled by inflation in China, close to an 11-year high, and [...]

Paris Honors The Dalai Lama

After a weekend of intensifying anti-French protests in China in response to the pro-Tibet protests in the French capital on Apr. 7 when the Olympic torch was there, the Paris city council has bestowed the title of “honorary citizen” on the Dalai Lama. This may be taking Gallic insouciance a step too far.
Update: “The [...]