Abe Talks Tough to Bank of Japan

Abe Talks Tough to Bank of Japan:

In his first policy speech to the parliament, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reminded the Bank of Japan that it's now responsible for achieving 2% inflation.

China media: Anti-corruption drive

China media: Anti-corruption drive:

Newspaper round-up: High-profile anti-corruption campaign continues, as official channels quash speculation over Bo Xilai trial.

Shanghai licence plates 'precious as gold,' says vice mayor

Shanghai licence plates 'precious as gold,' says vice mayor:

If scoring a licence plate for your car in Shanghai means winning an auction, getting one for your car in the future will be akin to winning the lottery.

Li Na Finishes Second in Australian Open

Li Na Finishes Second in Australian Open:

“She's battered, she's bruised and she's quite possibly buggered," the MC announced in Li Na’s introduction to a packed Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne as she accepted the runners-up prize at the 2013 Australian Open.

Li may not have taken a second major title, but she won the hearts of Australian fans with her skill, humor and fighting spirit.

Pam Shriver, a former American tennis player and present day commentator, said on ESPN: “I’ve never seen anything like this in a major final in my 35 years. This is one of the most dramatic finals we have ever witnessed.''

The Chinese star gave everything on Saturday in the final against the world’s number one ranked Victoria Azarenka. Despite taking the first set 6-4, Li lost the last two sets to the Belarusian and for the second time in three years finished second in the tournament Down Under.

But that was not the full story. Li injured her ankle and also fell and banged her head during the match, calling a medical time out.

"I was worried when my head hit the floor because for two seconds I couldn't see anything,” said Li afterwards.

ESPN commentator and legendary former number one ranked American tennis player Chris Evert said that she couldn’t remember seeing anyone bang their head on a tennis court like Li did in the final.
Cheered on by the Aussie crowd, the 30 year-old battled on, but was unable to prevent her opponent from successfully defending her title.

Until the end, Li received the support of the local fans who cheered her every move, partly due to Azarenka’s choice to take a controversial medical timeout in her semi-final win over Sloane Stephens. Many felt she used the rule to gain an unfair advantage when she was struggling. Azarenka herself said she had a locked rib and was struggling to breathe.

"It was necessary thing for me to do,'' she said. "I just regret that I didn't take it earlier. … It got to the point that it was pretty much impossible for me to breathe and to play.
She continued, "The timing, yeah, it was my bad. The game before that, when I lost my service game, it kept getting worse. I thought I would have to play through it and keep calm. But it just got worse. You know, I had to do it."

One positive for Li to take away from this year’s Australian Open is the reminder that when she lost the 2011 Australian Open final to Kim Clijsters, she went on to win the next major tournament on the international circuit that year–the French Open.

After an indifferent 2012, Li certainly looks as if she means business in 2013. And it looks as if she enjoyed the Australian Open and the Australian Open enjoyed having her.

Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:


PUBLICATION DATE: Mon, 28 Jan 2013

Japan Ex-China Envoy: Tokyo Erred on Islands Row

Japan Ex-China Envoy: Tokyo Erred on Islands Row:

(TOKYO) — Japan’s former envoy to China says his country erred in choosing to buy islands claimed by both Japan and China last fall, infuriating Beijing, and now both sides have no choice but to allow the issue to cool. Uichiro Niwa, a former trading house executive who served as ambassador to Beijing from mid-2010 until late last year, told reporters on Monday that the purchase of the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea by Japan’s central government was poorly timed and seemed driven by factors he could not explain. (MORE: Ready or Not, Japan to Ease Rules on Foreign Intervention) “They may have had access to information that I didn’t know,” Niwa said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “But from my personal point of view the timing was bad.” Niwa, the first private sector figure to be chosen as ambassador to China, found himself at odds with the Japanese government, especially after then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda pushed ahead with a plan to buy several of the islands from their private owner. The purchase was apparently aimed at pre-empting a plan by outspoken Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara to not only buy the islands but develop them, but Beijing was outraged. The islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkakus in Japan, have been under Japanese control for decades, but Beijing says they have been Chinese territory for centuries. Taiwan also claims them. The purchase prompted sometimes violent anti-Japanese protests in China and hammered exports to Japan’s biggest overseas market. “The Japanese government should have taken into account the possibility that this may have been a point of contention,” Niwa said. At the very least, he said, Japan needed to provide “a better explanation to China and to the international community.” Niwa, whose former company Itochu Corp. has extensive interests in China, faced criticism from some in Japan for not being tough enough toward China regarding the disputed islands, which are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of gas, oil and other undersea resources.

Japan erred on Diaoyus, says former China envoy

Japan erred on Diaoyus, says former China envoy:

Japan’s former envoy to China said on Monday that the purchase of the Diaoyu Islands by Japan’s central government was poorly timed.

Teenager survives ordeal in bush

Teenager survives ordeal in bush:

An Australian teenager missing for two months is found emaciated but alive in bush land on Sydney's outskirts.

Okinawans petition Tokyo to remove all Ospreys and close Futenma

Okinawans petition Tokyo to remove all Ospreys and close Futenma:

Okinawans petitioned the Japanese government Monday to kick Osprey aircraft off the island and hurry the closure of a controversial U.S. air base there.

Las Vegas Sands Gets Macau Boost

Las Vegas Sands Gets Macau Boost:

Las Vegas Sands won approval from the Macau government to add 200 more gambling tables to its properties, people familiar with the matter said, ahead of the biggest holiday of the year for Asia's high rollers.

Taiwan launches 'Asian Nobels'

Taiwan launches 'Asian Nobels':

A Taiwanese businessmen puts up more than 3bn Taiwanese dollars ($103m; £65m) to establish what are being dubbed the "Asian Nobel prizes".

Broken Tooth and New Macau - By Benjamin Carlson

Broken Tooth and New Macau - By Benjamin Carlson:

How China crushed the triad gangs and created the world's new gambling Mecca.

Vietnam’s Economy: Sabotaged From Within

Vietnam’s Economy: Sabotaged From Within:

Last year saw a number of Vietnamese state-owned enterprise officials being arrested for economic crimes or “irregularities” at the companies under their care.  As covered previously on Pacific Money, one of the most shocking such arrests was that of Nguyen Duc Kien, a famous tycoon and founder of one of Vietnam’s largest banks.

Less headline grabbing were the arrests of executives from the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development – also known as “Agribank”.  Agribank had been suffering from a dangerously high non-performing loan (NPL) ratio which stood above 6% through the first half of 2012, as general financial distress continued to emerge across the slowing ASEAN country.  Agribank, along with fellow state lender the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), had both undergone inspections which ended in the autumn of 2012.  Agribank is one of the country’s largest lenders, and as with other such state-controlled institutions had seen its business diverted for policy, rather than purely profit-oriented purposes.

Another Agribank related arrest was announced last week. This one involved former bank Chief Pham Thanh Tan, who had already (back in 2011) been removed from his post running the bank. The announcement stated that his arrest was related to his irresponsible actions which caused negative consequences during his time as Agribank chief.  Indeed, the bank’s new management has been struggling to cut down the NPL ratio, and had apparently taken more than 4 percent of the ratio by the end of 2012.

The arrest is just one more shock as the government tries desperately to revive investor confidence and show that it is seriously tackling the problems of corruption and irregularities that have dogged its state-run sector – not just at the financial institutions. 

China finance expert Michael Pettis wrote in a recent note on that country that financial scandals in a closed state run financial system are especially significant, because normally bad lending decisions are suppressed and sorted out behind closed doors.  His observations for China are also coming true in Vietnam, which like China also recently underwent a massive credit expansion.  Professor Pettis goes on to make the very interesting (for both Vietnam and China) point that:

“The late stages of a debt bubble are almost always characterized by the sudden emergence of financial fraud, and the huge extent of the frauds lead many to assume that fraud was the source of the credit problems, when in fact widespread financial fraud is more typically a symptom of a financial system that has already gone to excess.”

As previously noted, Vietnam and China share many similarities economically, and in particular in the functioning of their financial systems. Whether Vietnam is behind China (going through the struggles which affected China in the 1990s) or roughly in step (like China suffering from the problems of an imbalanced economy and an addiction to over-investment and credit) remains to be seen.

Also on January 23rd Vietnam’s central bank, the State Bank of Vietnam, announced that it was stepping up safety measures in the country’s financial system by requiring lenders to set aside larger provisions against non-performing assets. The overall NPL ratio for the country is still officially over 8 percent, and there remain many who believe the true figure to be much higher. The financial distress was exacerbated in 2012 by growth slowly to just 5%, the slowest rate of expansion in 13 years. Meanwhile annual inflation hit more than 7% in December, and is expected to continue picking up throughout 2013.

One bright spot for 2012 was net exports, which provided a modest boost to growth over the year. To keep the momentum going in 2013, the government has announced a more than 1% cut in the dong loan rate charged to exporters.  It is hoped that this will help the country meet the trade ministry’s’ target of a 10 percent growth in trade this year. However the external environment will probably be as, if not more, important in determining if country is able to achieve this goal.

Why China Hands Think What They Think

Why China Hands Think What They Think:

These days, China books are a dime a dozen and so, too, are China analysts. Journalists, scholars, businesspeople, general foreign policy analysts, and random people living in Beijing all have something to say. To stand out, you have to bring something unique to the table—a new finding, a new framing, or, unfortunately, too often, just a willingness to say something controversial.

A new book, My First Trip to China, edited by Hong Kong-based journalist Kin-ming Liu, manages to be exceptional in a few respects. At one level, it is a great coffee table book—no pictures, but some truly fascinating reminiscences of first trips to China by a range of great scholars, as well as officials, businesspeople, activists, and journalists. The time span covering the authors’ first visits is vast—with the first trip recorded in 1942 and the last in 1986. Through the eyes of people such as Andrew Nathan, Jonathan Mirsky, Lois Snow, Sidney Rittenberg, Jerome Cohen, Steven Mosher, and others, the small details of modern—but not too modern—China come alive. The vast majority of stories are quite engaging and, since many of the authors write for a living, quite well-written as well.

At a deeper level, however, what makes this book so valuable is the entry it provides into understanding how some of the most important thinkers and actors in U.S.-China relations have had their perspectives shaped by their first trip to China. To a one, the authors approached their first trip to China with openness and excitement. Almost immediately, however, differences in outlook emerged. Ed Friedman and Jonathan Mirsky, who traveled as members of delegations and were shown a Potemkin world of China, became skeptics; their writings today reflect a continued skepticism of official Chinese proclamations. (No doubt the fact that Chinese officials locked Mirsky in his hotel room did little to endear official China to him.)

There is a special section devoted to first visits to China by Chinese expatriates, such as businessman David Tang, scholar Steve Tsang, and journalist Frank Ching that is quite moving. Each felt a sense of “going home,” although by the end of their first visits, their perspectives were radically different: Steve Tsang, for example, developed a stronger “Hong Kong” identity, while David Tang embraced the mainland as his motherland.

Still others, such as Steven Mosher and Lois Snow, had their views of China upended by a singular experience: for Mosher, it was bearing eyewitness to a forced abortion campaign; for Snow, it was Tiananmen and the heartbreaking case of Ding Zilin, a Tiananmen mother who lost her son. And of course, no “first visit to China” book could be complete without the story of Sidney Rittenberg, whose chance meeting with a group of children changed his life and made his story one of the great personal dramas of U.S.-China relations.

One of my favorite stories is that of my friend and colleague Jerome Cohen, who despite encountering numerous annoyances during his trip—such as having his hotel room bugged—manages to weave together the beauty, darkness, and absurdity of the country and its politics in one thoughtful and humorous account.

If I have one bone to pick with Kin-ming’s story selection, it is that there are so few stories written by women—only two-and-a-half (since one is a husband and wife recounting) out of thirty. I would, for example, have loved to hear from Jan Berris, who was involved in the 1972 ping-pong diplomacy and has been engaged in U.S.-China diplomacy through her work as the vice president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations ever since. However, this really is my one criticism of an otherwise wonderful book that manages to be a great read for the China novice, the China expert, and everyone in between.

VIDEO: Australian town covered in foam

VIDEO: Australian town covered in foam:

Wild weather in the Australian state of Queensland has led to a small town becoming covered in foam whipped up by rough seas.

The Abe Cabinet - An Ideological Breakdown

The Abe Cabinet - An Ideological Breakdown:

A breakdown of the different neo-nationalist Diet member groups to which members of Abe's cabinet belong.

Hong Kong Journalists Protest Proposal to Restrict Information

Hong Kong Journalists Protest Proposal to Restrict Information:

Journalists in Hong Kong have issued a petition urging the government to scrap a proposed law limiting the personal data corporate directors must make publicly available. Critics argue the amendment will restrict press freedom and protect potentially corrupt directors from public scrutiny of their business holdings.

The proposed amendment would end the obligation for business directors to publish home addresses and full identity card numbers on a publicly accessible corporate register. The ...

Rumours swirl around Bo Xilai trial

Rumours swirl around Bo Xilai trial:

The confusing rumours over the trial of former official Bo Xilai are a sign of how little confidence many have in China's authorities, reports Damian Grammaticas.

Royal hoax radio show cancelled

Royal hoax radio show cancelled:

The Australian radio show that made the hoax call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated in December is cancelled.

Along Korea's DMZ, Lone Forward-Deployed US Division Stays Prepared

Along Korea's DMZ, Lone Forward-Deployed US Division Stays Prepared:

At a time of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, a quartet of U.S. Army “Abrams” M1-A2SEP tanks rolls onto the frozen ground of the Rodriguez Live Fire Range near the DMZ during one of the coldest days of the winter.

The tanks and their crews, from Dragon Company of the 1st Battalion’s 72nd Armor Regiment (1-72 AR), are a small but lethal component of the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division stationed close to the tense border separating North and South Korea.


The ...

Bo Xilai trial not until March, says Chinese state media

Bo Xilai trial not until March, says Chinese state media:

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai will not stand trial until March, state media said on Monday, as journalists descended on a court rumoured to be hearing his case this week.

How serious is China on corruption?

How serious is China on corruption?:

How serious is China's corruption crusade?

New Bird Flu Case Raises Fears in Cambodia

New Bird Flu Case Raises Fears in Cambodia:

Two Cambodians have already died from bird flu in 2013, making a worrying start to the year.

Now a two-year-old Cambodian girl is in a serious condition in Phnom Penh after being hospitalized with the H5N1 virus, also known as avian, or bird, flu.

Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan, the communications officer for the World Health Organization in Phnom Penh, says the development has health professionals concerned.

“This is the fourth case this month of human influenza H5N1," Krishnan ...

Seven still missing after 'freak wave' capsizes Russian fishing boat off Japan

Seven still missing after 'freak wave' capsizes Russian fishing boat off Japan:



Fifteen fishermen have been saved after a Russian vessel with 30 on board sank in the Sea of Japan Sunday afternoon. Survivors say eight fellow crew-members died of hypothermia and their bodies were eventually dumped to...

Read Full Article at RT.com

It's Time To End Japan's Defense Dependence On The United States

It's Time To End Japan's Defense Dependence On The United States:

America’s war in Afghanistan is winding down, but the U.S. must worry about conflict elsewhere.  Once viewed as inconceivable, war between China and Japan now looks possible, though thankfully still unlikely.  Tokyo should get serious about its own defense.

Eight Dead as Rescuers Search for Boat Crash Survivors

Eight Dead as Rescuers Search for Boat Crash Survivors:

At least eight sailors are presumed dead after a Russian fishing vessel sank in the Sea of Japan on Sunday, possibly because of safety violations, Russian officials said Monday.

Subversion trial opens in Vietnam

Subversion trial opens in Vietnam:

The trial of 22 people charged with attempting to overthrow the government has begun in the central Vietnamese province of Phu Yen, officials say.

Miss Wu Trademark Gets Second Look in Taiwan

Miss Wu Trademark Gets Second Look in Taiwan:

Despite his popularity, Taiwanese-Canadian fashion designer Jason Wu had his trademark application for his Miss Wu women’s label shot down recently in his native Taiwan. According to the Taiwanese Intellectual Property Court in Taipei, the brand name doesn’t stand out enough in Taiwan, where Wu is the rough equivalent of Jones or Smith.

News of the rejection came just as Michelle Obama strutted across the stage for the inaugural ball wearing an eye-catching red dress, made of chiffon and velvet, created by Wu. The First Lady has also selected a Wu creation for the 2009 inauguration.

“#Inshock!!!” he tweeted when the First Lady stepped out, adorned in his red gown.
“When I saw it, I was just floored,” he told CBS. “I just couldn’t believe that she chose me for the second time.”

After designing Obama’s presidential inaugural ball dresses in 2009 and 2013, it would seem safe to assume that Wu, now 30, has proven himself to the patent overseers of Taipei. These gowns, after all, will be displayed in the Smithsonian’s hallowed halls and in the Presidential Library.

But he’ll have to try harder. When he applied for trademarks for haute couture and accessory lines in 2011, alongside Miss Wu, the first two were approved. Miss Wu, however, was not.

Making his case after the rejection, Wu claimed the name “Miss Wu” resembles the hoot of an owl, which is the icon featured on the label. Approved in the United States and in many European countries, the label’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection is now on sale at Nordstrom. Items in the line are priced from U.S. $195 to U.S. $795.

Taiwanese patent officials have explained that Wu is a very common surname in Taiwan. According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Interior’s Department of Population, Taiwan has 1,989 surnames, of which Wu ranks seventh, accounting for 4.04 percent of the population. For perspective, the top ten surnames on the island account for 53 percent of its population.

What would it take to change the verdict in Taiwan?

According to Wang Mei-hua, director-general of the Intellectual Property Office in Taipei, Wu has not yet provided enough evidence in terms of sales volume, market share, retail foothold and advertising figures to make a definitive case.

“Since both Taiwan’s First Lady Chow Mei-ching and Michelle Obama have worn Miss Wu-branded dresses over the past couple of years, Wu may be granted a trademark registration for the label if he applies again this year,” Wang told Focus Taiwan, adding that he must prove that “Miss Wu” is a fashion label uniquely linked to him.  

It remains to be seen whether Wu can win over Taiwan’s patent authorities this year. And while the preferences of America's First Lady may help his case, even in matters of style, data prevails.

Jonathan DeHart is assistant editor for The Diplomat.

Abe tones down his China rhetoric

Abe tones down his China rhetoric:

JAPAN'S hawkish new Prime Minister has avoided any mention of China in his first major policy speech.

Latitude: Is Moscow Setting the Russian Opposition's Agenda?

Latitude: Is Moscow Setting the Russian Opposition's Agenda?:

Has Putin's regime hijacked the Russian opposition's agenda by provoking it to protest increasingly absurd and aggressive laws?