china

Eccentric Beijing resident builds rock villa atop apartment skyscraper

"Neighbours have complained about China’s latest architectural oddity, which covers more than 1,000 square metres (10,000 square feet), saying they fear it could cause the structure to collapse on top of them, the Beijing Morning Post reported. Authorities have posted notices that the villa in the Haidian area in the west of the city is illegal, it added. Houses standing on top of multi-storey buildings are not unknown in China, where a rising property market is making land more and more expensive. A developer in central China built 25 luxury villas on top of a shopping mall, which became migrant workers’ residences after authorities declared them illegal." Continue reading →

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PetroChina to join Exxon on giant Iraqi oilfield

"China’s biggest energy firm PetroChina will join Exxon Mobil in developing Iraq’s giant West Qurna oilfield and is in talks with Lukoil to buy into a second project at the field, industry sources said on Friday. China is already the top foreign player in Iraq’s southern oilfields and a deal at West Qurna would boost its dominance and could make PetroChina the biggest single foreign investor. PetroChina partners BP at Rumaila, Iraq’s biggest oilfield, and operates the Halfaya field. The company was the first foreign firm to sign an oil service deal in Iraq after U.S.-led forces toppled former president Saddam Hussein." Continue reading →

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China Tests Japan on Senkaku Island Claims After Philippine Success

"China deployed ships to waters near islands disputed with Japan for a record 28 hours, drawing a formal protest as it repeated a strategy of pressing its territorial claims through bolder projections of maritime power. Ships from China’s newly formed coast guard remained in the Japanese-controlled waters for the longest time since Japan bought the islands last year, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned a Chinese diplomat and 'sternly protested,' he said. The Chinese action around the islands comes two days after Japan unveiled the largest military ship it has produced since World War II." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina Tests Japan on Senkaku Island Claims After Philippine Success

BRICS emerging economies to expand co-operation on internet & security

"Edward's Snowden's revelations about US cybersnooping appear to be pushing its rivals closer together as China and other major emerging economies agree to expand co-operation on internet security. The consensus to emerge from a meeting of senior security officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa shows a broad desire to carve out their own turf in cyberspace and reduce reliance on American technology. The bloc is already collaborating on the BRICS cable, a US$1.5 billion marine fibre optic cable linking the BRICS countries and the US with 21 countries in Africa. It is due to begin service in mid-2015." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBRICS emerging economies to expand co-operation on internet & security

Mining the Gobi: The Battle for Mongolia’s Resources

"The country, whose economy has been growing faster than almost any other, is almost entirely dependent on the export of raw materials. Mongolia has things everyone wants -- coal, copper, gold, uranium, rare earth minerals -- and that potential wealth is reflected in the high-ranking visitors it draws. Donald Rumsfeld has been to Ulan Bator, as have Angela Merkel and several Japanese prime ministers. Beijing especially is making an effort to reach out to its northern neighbor. This July the first flat-bed trucks set out from Oyu Tolgoi to China, each bearing 36 tons of a brown, cement-like powder, from which copper and gold would be extracted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMining the Gobi: The Battle for Mongolia’s Resources

Chinese baby ‘sold by doctor’ reunited with parents

"Zhang Suxia, the doctor responsible for the birth, allegedly persuaded the parents to give up their child last month after informing them he had serious congenital diseases. The paper reported that a farmer with three daughters bought the baby boy from the alleged traffickers for 60,000 yuan ($9,800). Trafficking of children is a serious problem in China, blamed in part on the 'one-child' policy which has put a premium on baby boys, with girls sometimes sold off, abandoned or put up for adoption. Chinese police rescued 89 children and arrested 355 suspects in December after breaking up a series of child trafficking rings." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese baby ‘sold by doctor’ reunited with parents

Meet Tian Yu: The woman who nearly killed herself making your iPad

"Tian Yu worked more than 12 hours a day, six days a week. She had to skip meals to do overtime. Then she threw herself from a fourth-floor window. Without its No 1 supplier, the Cupertino giant’s current riches would be unimaginable: in 2010, Longhua employees made 137,000 iPhones a day, or around 90 a minute. That same year, 18 workers – none older than 25 – attempted suicide at Foxconn facilities. Fourteen died. Tian Yu was one of the lucky ones: emerging from a 12-day coma, she was left with fractures to her spine and hips and paralysed from the waist down. She was 17." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMeet Tian Yu: The woman who nearly killed herself making your iPad

China Is Ending Its “One-Child Policy” – Here Are The Implications

"The one-child-policy is very unpopular. [..] Currently, a second child is permitted if both parents are singletons. Rural families can have a second child if the first-born is a girl. Some provinces have even looser policies for rural families. There are also other exceptions for a second child, and minority ethnic groups are allowed to have two or even more children. Families which have more children than the policy allows are subject to fines under the name of social maintenance fees. The fee amount varies across the nation, but usually is at least 2-6 times of the higher of annual family income and average local household disposable income." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina Is Ending Its “One-Child Policy” – Here Are The Implications

Why U.S. Policy in East Asia is Dangerous

"The United States contained the Soviets until the government collapsed because of economic stagnation and a plummeting price of oil—the only thing anyone ever wanted to buy from the USSR. Now, the United States’ latest pivot to East Asia is intended to reinforce the already existing containment policy towards China by building up U.S. military forces and augmenting Cold War alliances in the region. This is unlikely to stem China’s rise. While Russia was supposedly on the rise, their economy was sinking. In China’s case, their economy is largely the reason behind their new status as an international power broker." Continue reading →

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Visitors flock to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir valley in rare tourist boom

"Success stories can be rare in Pakistan, but business is booming in one Kashmir tourist spot as the region rebuilds after a devastating earthquake and shrugs off associations with violence. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani tourists drawn to the lakes and glaciers of the Neelum valley are injecting desperately needed money into one of the poorest parts of the country. With a new road built by the Chinese after the 2005 earthquake killed 73,000 people and a ceasefire holding with India, Pakistanis are discovering the snow-capped peaks, glaciers, lakes and lush-green meadows of the Neelum valley." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVisitors flock to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir valley in rare tourist boom