Neil Heywood 'Was MI6 Informant'
on November 6, 2012
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, gave MI6 info on Bo Xilai.
If China Voted, It Would Be Obama in a Landside, Surveys Show
on November 6, 2012
An AFP-Ipsos poll in late September showed 63% of about 800 Chinese respondents wanted Obama.
The Spillover Effects of a Downturn in China’s Real Estate Investment
on November 5, 2012
Real estate investment accounts for a quarter of total fixed asset investment (FAI) in China. The real estate sector’s extensive industrial and financial linkages make it a special type of economic activity, especially where the credit creation process relies primarily on collateral, like in China. As a result, the impact on economic activity of a collapse in real estate investment in China—though a low-probability event—would be sizable, with large spillovers to a number of China’s trading partners. Using a two-region factor-augmented vector autoregression model that allows for interaction between China and the rest of the G20 economies, we find that a 1-percent decline in China’s real estate investment would shave about 0.1 percent off China’s real GDP within the first year, with negative spillover impacts to China’s G20 trading partners that would cause global output to decline by roughly 0.05 percent from baseline. Japan, Korea, and Germany would be among the hardest hit. In that event, commodity prices, especially metal prices, could fall by as much as 0.8–2.2 percent below baseline one year after the shock.
Topics:
Economy
Organization:
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Scenes from a Leadership Transition
on November 5, 2012
Jiang Zemin’s Lyrical Memory
Compiled by Caixin
(Beijing)—A glance at off-hours correspondence between two veteran leaders has added a lighter dimension to the recent public appearances of former Politburo members in the run-up to the party’s 18th National Congress.
Li Lanqing, who served as vice premier between 1998 and 2003, described in a newspaper article October 31 his recent correspondence with Jiang Zemin, China’s president from 1993 to 2003, about some of their favorite songs from the past.
Thanks, But No Thanks
on November 5, 2012
On the last day of Zhao Xiang’s short life, her request to donate every organ possible to save the lives of others was brushed off by the president of Shenzhen Liulian Hospital.
Zhao, her parents, and transplant specialists from the Shenzhen branch of the Red Cross Society of China were told the hospital had no operating room available where doctors could surgically remove organs after she died from an incurable brain tumor.
The Big Enterprise
Beijing is on edge as it gropes its way toward new leadership
on November 5, 2012
In days of yore, when a new dynasty was established in China and a new emperor was enthroned, it was known as dashi, “The Big Enterprise,” and it usually involved mass social upheaval and civil war. The latter-day version of changing leaders now takes place at Party Congresses which, except during times of turmoil like the Cultural Revolution, are supposed to occur every decade. It is here that agreements are reached, after various factions have slugged it out without public involvement, and new leaders are installed.
China Leads in Foreign Direct Investment
on November 5, 2012
China reclaiming from the FDI leadership had as much to do with the fall off in FDI into the U.S. as it had to do with events in China.
When Madison Met Handan – A Tale of Two Cities
on November 5, 2012
It’s unlikely that many of the 60 Chinese investors who visited Madison in September had heard of the Wisconsin state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin Badgers before agreeing to visit the U.S. Similarly the city of Handan, the Chinese home of about a third of the tourists including the organizer, is hardly a household name in Wisconsin – or for that matter to anyone outside of China’s steel industry. And yet on Sept. 26, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkerplayed host to half the group(the other half was busy wine tasting in Oregon) at a banquet in the governor’s mansion, where they could get to know some local firms in need of capital.
CCTV Comes to America
on November 4, 2012
CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed of controversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and cultural stories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence. Reporting on topics sensitive to Beijing, like unrest in Tibetan regions of China or the Tiananmen Square Massacre is off limits. Coverage of scandals involving disgraced Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai and dissident legal activist Chen Guangcheng -- topics that dominated U.S. and European headlines over the summer -- were confined to reports that echoed official government statements. (CCTV America broadcast a stern-faced anchor in Beijing reading the statement "China has called on the United States to apologize over the issue of a Chinese citizen entering the U.S. embassy here in Beijing in late April," after Chen escaped to the U.S. embassy there.)
The Five “Vermin” Threatening China
on November 4, 2012
In Yuan Peng’s 2012 repertoire of what are now popularly known as the ‘New Black Five Categories of People’ were identified as: rights lawyers, underground religious activities, dissidents, Internet leaders and vulnerable groups