The death toll from the latest earthquake to rock Sichuan is beginning to mount. Xinhua now says at least 28 people died in the strong quake that hit on Saturday afternoon and destroyed 100,000 houses southeast of Panzhihua City and over the provincial border into Yunnan.
The quake, which Xinhua said was a 6.1 but the [...]
Entries from August 2008
August 31, 2008
Another Strong Earthquake Rocks Sichuan, And Why
August 29, 2008
Bank Of China Dumps U.S. Agency Debt
The FT reports that Bank of China, China’s fourth largest commercial bank, has sold a net $4.6 billion of debt issued by the two giant but troubled U.S. mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Two points to be made about this: first, foreign investors have been the mainstay of this market, averaging purchases of $20 [...]
August 29, 2008
Lost In Translation
EastSouthWestNorth led this Bystander to Black and White Cat’s post entitled “How The New York Times (should have) covered the Olympics“. It shows how the Beijing Evening News translated a New York Times piece on the Beijing Games and the editing that went on in the process, a taste of which below.
The net effect is [...]
August 28, 2008
More Violence In Xinjiang
More violence in the far west, with reports of a gunfight close to Kashgar in which two police died in a clash with seven suspected Uighur militants. At least, two more police are reported to have been wounded.
It is the fourth such deadly incident in the border regions of Xinjiang province in as many weeks. [...]
August 25, 2008
Chinalco Gets Australia’s Limited Nod For Rio Tinto Stake
Australia is walking a fine line over Chinese investment in its natural resources. It has approved Chinalco’s recent purchase of a minority stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, but said any further share purchases will require prior approval. Nor can Chinalco have a seat on Rio’s board, Wayne Swan, Australia’s Federal Treasurer, ruled on Sunday.
State-owned [...]
August 24, 2008
Olympic Gold Medals: Its All About The Economics
The Games are over. Beijing and the rest of China now faces the inevitable post-party hangover.
It was certainly quite a show both on and off the track. China got its craved for position atop the gold medals table, but the U.S. won the most medals overall, so both countries can claim to be No. 1 [...]
August 21, 2008
Chasing Gold
Following the gold medal table at the Beijing Games is rather like watching a middle distance race in which the front runner has taken a big early lead, but in which his main rival is now chasing him down. Can he hold on for victory? Or will he be pipped at the tape?
China’s lead in [...]
August 21, 2008
Hua Guofeng’s Single Mark On History
Thinking back to the overthrow of the Gang of Four in 1976, I have to pinch myself to remember the disarray that the country was in then following a decade of Cultural Revolution, and how difficult it was to piece together from the outside what was really happening in the power struggle between the radicals [...]
August 20, 2008
The 10 Worst Laws In China
Props to Foreign Policy for its list of the 10 Worst Chinese Laws: A reminder that the legal system in China remains an agent of the state, not one of its checks and balances.
August 19, 2008
CNPC and Sinopec Bidding Jointly For Petro-Tech Peruana?
Word reaches this Bystander of an unusual possible takeover bid by a Chinese firm, or rather pair of firms.
CNPC, parent of PetroChina, and Sinopec are bidding between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion for Petro-Tech Peruana, which holds eight licences for drilling in 5 million acres off the Peruvian coast, Reuters reports. Plenty of Chinese companies [...]
