Sunday, 13 January 2013

As China’s navy grows, end of Deng’s dictum of keeping a low profile?

Beijing’s strategists, in responding to US domination of the oceans, are taking on board the ideas of a 19th century American historian

Lawsuit threat reminds critics of caution in more open Singapore

Singapore’s long-ruling government is reacting to discontent about rising prices, foreign workers and a sluggish economy with unprecedented openness but threats of lawsuits show it remains testy with critics deemed to have crossed the line.

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Government brings out Big Chiller to freeze property prices

Sweeping cooling measures take in several sectors, expected to dampen speculation across the board

Monday, 31 December 2012

Apple Maps glitch could be deadly: Australian police

Australian police Monday warned motorists about using the map system on new Apple iPhones after rescuing several people left stranded in the wilderness, saying the errors could prove deadly.

Robert Parker’s newsletter moving to Singapore

Influential US wine critic Robert Parker is moving the headquarters of his newsletter to Singapore after selling a major stake to investors based in the city-state, a report said yesterday.

Exposé reveals ascent to riches by ‘Immortals’ heirs

Study shows how descendants of eight party founding fathers are multibillion-dollar players at the forefront of country’s ‘red aristocracy’

Exodus of China’s rich and skilled for better lives

Politics, pollution and education among factors that saw 150,000 leave last year, report says

Mysteries surrounding Heywood murder begin to unfold

An investigative report about China’s most infamous former police officer Wang Lijun by China’s Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine has answered some unanswered questions relating to the murder of British businessmen Neil Heywood, whose death precipitated the downfall of China’s once powerful and ambitious politician Bo Xilai.

Friday, 28 December 2012

Heirs of Mao’s Comrades Rise as New Capitalist Nobility

Lying in a Beijing military hospital in 1990, General Wang Zhen told a visitor he felt betrayed. Decades after he risked his life fighting for an egalitarian utopia, the ideals he held as one of Communist China’s founding fathers were being undermined by the capitalist ways of his children -- business leaders in finance, aviation and computers.

“Turtle eggs,” he said to the visiting well-wisher, using a slang term for bastards. “I don’t acknowledge them as my sons.”

Read more...

Billionaire Princelings Ruin a Chinese Vision

This week’s Bloomberg News expose on the so-called Eight Immortals is a case in point. Building on a June article tracing the accumulated wealth of the family of Xi Jinping, China’s next president, it described the vast fortunes being amassed by the offspring of the founding fathers who were instrumental in Mao Zedong’s rise to power in 1949. Mao changed the world by meeting U.S. President Richard Nixon, and Immortals such as Deng Xiaoping engineered the economic boom that has unfolded since then.

Read more...

Monday, 24 December 2012

China’s anti-corruption drive triggers frantic property dump among officials

Real estate agents in provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu have been frantically trying to push deals for a torrent of second-hand flats suddenly released on the market – many of which belong to government officials, the Oriental Morning Post reported on Monday.

Friday, 21 December 2012

Agony endures 75 years after Nanking Massacre

Three quarters of a century after Japanese soldiers butchered her family and left her for dead, Xia Shuqin says she relives her terror with every denial that the Nanking Massacre ever happened.

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Microsoft ditches Windows Live Messenger for Skype

Microsoft said Windows Live Messenger (WLM) would be turned off by March 2013 worldwide, with the exception of China.

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Neil Heywood Killed in China Had MI6 Spy Links

Cruising around Beijing in a silver Jaguar with "007" in the license plate, Neil Heywood seemed to relish the air of intrigue that surrounded him.

Monday, 5 November 2012

Chinese Messaging App Gains Ground Elsewhere

WeChat, a mobile messaging application created by Tencent Holdings, China’s largest Internet company, is aggressively trying to buck the trend and establish itself in the expanding global market for smartphone apps. Based on some analysts’ predictions, the company may actually have a shot.

Thursday, 1 November 2012

China’s new leaders face tough economic choices

model that delivered three decades of double-digit growth is running out of steam and the country’s next leaders face tough choices to keep incomes rising. But they don’t seem to have ambitious solutions. Even if they do, they will need to tackle entrenched interests with backing high in the Communist Party.

China’s former Japan envoy accuses US of exploiting territorial rows

Former Chinese ambassador to Japan says Washington should distance itself from Tokyo

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Xi Jinping sharpened his political skills in Fujian

Leader-in-waiting had setbacks in early years in Fujian, but learned fast. In the second of a three-part series, we look at his 17 years in the province

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Xi Jinping began career as cadre in rural Hebei

Why did the well-connected son of a revolutionary leader swap a job in the capital for life as a party cadre in on obscure rural community?

Communist Party journal suggests it could learn from Singapore's PAP

Article says party could learn much from island's brand of authoritarianism