Monthly Archives: May 2009
Will Australia Please U.S. By Taking Gitmo Uighurs–Or Please China By Not
U.S. President Barack Obama has dropped a hot potato in the lap of Australia’s pro-Beijing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He has asked him to take at least six and as many as 10 of the remaining 17 Uighurs being held … Continue reading
Filed under China-Australia, China-U.S.
Timothy Geithner Goes To Beijing
The U.S. has needed China to buy its debt for some years. Now it needs it to buy its goods as well. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s first trip to Beijing in that role next week will see him pushing … Continue reading
Filed under China-Koreas, China-U.S.
Blowing Up Bridges To Nowhere
It would seem a 40-year old bridge in Sichuan sufficiently well-built to withstand last year’s devastating earthquake should be let well alone. Yet local officials with stimulus money to spend tried to blow it up so they could replace it … Continue reading
Filed under Economy
Dollars, Coppers, Any Old Iron
A new twist in the saga of what China is doing with its still mostly dollars foreign exchange reserves: Brian Jackson, senior strategist at Royal Bank of Canada, reckons that it is using them to stockpile commodities such as copper … Continue reading
Filed under China-U.S., Economy, Markets
China Expands Stealth Stimulus Package
This Bystander noted a couple of days back that there was a risk that the stimulus cash would run out before the underlying economy regained vigor–and that might mean the additional stimulus money Prime Minister Wen Jiabao says he has … Continue reading
Filed under Economy
Top-Up Stimulus On The Way?
This Bystander has noted before that the signs of revival in the economy are more to do with stimulus spending and pressed lending by state banks than a revival of trade and industry: exports in April were still down 22.6% … Continue reading
Huntsman Reportedly Set To Be U.S. Envoy To Beijing
Jon Huntsman is set to be named as the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, according to the Associated Press. Huntsman is the moderate two-term Republican governor of Utah and was consider a potential presidential candidate in the U.S. elections due in … Continue reading
Filed under China-U.S.
5/12 Quake One Year On
The first anniversary of the Sichuan quake that killed nearly 90,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands more is upon us. It would be cheering to think the coverage would be about a mix of remembrance and rebuilding, physical, social and … Continue reading
Filed under Media, Politics & Society, Sichuan earthquake
China’s Automakers Likely To Cross Taiwan Strait For Parts
Taiwan’s three largest auto parts makers, Tong Yang Industry, TYC Brother Industrial and Depo Auto Parts Industrial, are open to investment from the mainland, Bloomberg reports. China’s car makers would get core design and manufacturing technologies they lack as assemblers … Continue reading
Filed under China-Taiwan, Economy
Swine Flu Quarantine — Prudent or Discrimatory?
China knew SARS and the 2004 outbreak of avian flu in its pigs, made mistakes in dealing with both, and is trying to make good on those in its reaction to the current outbreak of swine flu. Has it overreacted? … Continue reading
Filed under China-Latin America, Politics & Society
