Monthly Archives: May 2008

‘Malaysia Bans Foreigners’? Look again.

An inexplicably terse headline has been making its rounds in my news feeds for the last couple of days. It would be big news, if only it were true. “Malaysia Bans Foreigners,” cries the headline of an AP story published … Continue reading

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Bank of America and China Construction Bank, or No-Fee USD Withdrawls in China

My personal favorite transpacific investment tie-up is one that made a frustrating and expensive process free, if not easy. Bank of America has an 8.2 percent stake in China Construction Bank (jiàn háng), a major institution that went public in … Continue reading

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Demonstrations in Tokyo During Hu Visit: Could Be Worse

From Reuters: But even as Hu spoke, about 200 protesters waved signs outside the university gate saying “Free Tibet” and “No Pandas, No Poison Dumplings,” the latter referring to Hu’s offer to lend two pandas to a Tokyo zoo and … Continue reading

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How to ‘Pressure’ ‘the Chinese’ on Human Rights

At Foreign Policy, former Amnesty International Executive Director William F. Schultz considers how to “pressure Beijing.” Aside from taking a little too literally Chinese government statements about “the Chinese” and their supposed hurt feelings, Schultz, who is now a senior … Continue reading

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Celebrating May Fourth With Slow Internet

The internet is unusually sluggish today. I wrote a bit about some possible reasons why at Sinobyte. Blogspot has re-disappeared, MSN Messenger is inaccessible from an artsy Beijing cafe, searches for Carrefour are just back from going unanswered, and the … Continue reading

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