Simon's E. Asia Briefing: 2004-10-27

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on East Asia, courtesy of Simon World.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature at my blog, posted on Mondays and Thursdays (the latest edition is here). You can be notified by email when it is updated, just drop me an email at simon-[at]-simonworld-[dot]-mu-[dot]-nu. The following is a digest of highlights from the past month's Asia by Blog series.

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong: Politics, Economy & lifestyle, History sport & culture, Information
• Korea & Japan
• South-East Asia
• Asian Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Politics

• There may be more to the case of arrested NYT researcher Zhao Yan than just the breaking of the Jiang resignation story. The IHT is saying China should release NYT researcher Zhao Yan as a sign of Hu Jintao's new reign. However Hu's rule will not be a massive shift from the old regime, but rather an extremely "subtle" change.

• Meet John Kamm, someone you should know about.

• Phil looks at the Taiwan/China arms race and predicts a winner.

• China's navy is making inroads into South Asia. And elsewhere China takes its first steps in international peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

• Taiwan's Foreign Minister slags off plus the response from Mr Brown and Satay look at the lost in translation stakes. Itsnot fair.

• The authors of the now banned Study of Chinese Peasants have won a major European prize.

• America is send a naval battle group to patrol the Sea of Japan - close to both Taiwan and North Korea.

• Hong Kongers are both smarter and more patriotic than TV gives them credit for. ESWN looks at the issue of anthems and sums up: If this national anthem thing bothers you, you just hold it against them and don't let them get the satisfaction. Just remember who these people are and make sure they don't get what they want. Ever.

• Kevin pointed me to this little known incident in Beijing recently, with international implications. Read it...very funny.

• Beijing is sending peacekeepers to Haiti, in America's backyard. The world's changed.

• China and Russia sorted out where their border is, but don't want people to know.

• Matthew comprehensively looks at China's foreign policy.

• The Dalai Lama offered, and China said no.

• Is Osama bin Laden hiding in China?

Economy and Lifestyle

• Amongst others, Disney, McDonalds and Coke are staking their business models on China.

• Tom discusses the possibility that China might start dumping their US dollar investments, with the inevitable "blame Bush" angle. Problem is where else will they go? The yuan is pegged only against the US dollar - it would be taking a hell of a gamble to start investing in Euros or even (perish the thought) Yen instead. China and Japan are hostages of their large US dollar holdings. Dumping them only hurts themselves.

• Property is all the rage in Hong Kong again. ESWN explains why those in 40 square foot units are living in relative luxury. I looked at the growing demand but lack of supply of bigger units in HK and why property in HK is forming a new bubble.

• Driving on China's roads can be murder. And even worse the WHO says Beijing is underestimating the numbers by more than 100,000 deaths a year. Phil looks at solutions.

• Chris looks at the huge value of Hong Kong's helper army.

• To get a credit card in China don't worry about your financial history.

• China's mining disaster is unfortunately nothing new. Liberalisation and reform may be the answer, although Infidel worries about nuclear power in China.

• The latest form of Western cultural imperialism has breached China's defenses...and they seem happy about it. Conrad, however, has a problem with the advertising.

History, Sport and Culture

• Not all Ferrari drivers were winners at the Shanghai Grand Prix.

• The Qing dynasty also had an Idol show.

• Jodi points out China celebrated National Day by speeding up its death machine.

• China is taking concrete steps in its fight against AIDS, on the subways and in the pubs.

• The Chinese are actually Jewish.

• China's children are going crazy and Jodi's worried.

• All is not well in Chinese football with more developments and what this means for broader China here.

• China takes their lion statues seriously. Very seriously.

• John comments on a repulsive TV ad on Chinese TV for an abortion clinic. On the other hand Jeremy has ads we'd like to see.

• The CIA have released a set of documents analysing China's leadership and the CCP back in the days of Mao. They're generating a lot of interest.

Information

• Google responds to the China news censorship story, although many, including Fons and Andres, are unconvinced. Adam has an open letter to Google. Would you rather not have Google News in China at all? (Jeremy agrees, as does the WSJ.)

Korea and Japan

• A memo to North Koreans: if you're going to invade an embassy, don't make it a Canadian one.

• In order for Japan to get its permanent seat on the UN Security Council, China has helpfully laid out the barriers it sees, which Chinese Suburbia has helpfully scored.

• Even ex-Kamikaze pilots don't like being compared to suicide bombers. Gordon has no sympathy for them.

• Joe looks at the new Japanese Cabinet.

• They've got some odd houses and neighbours in Japan.

• Sean looks at the massive task of reforming Japan's Postal Service (even if it doesn't interest voters much), which is actually the world's largest financial institution amongst other things. As he points out, the Government should heed the lessons of California's energy crisis and learn the difference between privatisation and deregulation.

• The wrong people have remembered South Korea.

• For an interesting contrary view on living in North Korea, try Part 1 and Part 2. Plus more on why North Korea's rulers have popular support of North Koreans, although perhaps it is because the populace don't know much about the wider world.

• One Japanese export made good in America.

• The future is here for school kids in Japan. It sounds scary until you realise that mobile phones are extremely effective personal locators as well.

• A Japanese cartoonist came under fire for portraying the Rape of Nanjing, and eventually was forced to withdraw the cartoon.

• South Korea has laid claim to a chunk of Chinese territory but didn't want anyone to know, so they buried it in a Parliamentary report, which a newspaper then exposed. Oops. On the same topic Tom Plate says China should waive its territorial claims in the Koguryo controversy for its own sake and that it is not yet time to lift the arms embargo.

• Japan was hit by a massive and deadly typhoon, then an earthquake (more here) and now Japan's bullet train had its first derailment in 40 years. Also look at the scale Japan uses to measure these things.

• Japan's to restore an 8th Century historical ruin: a flushing toilet.

• If I were in South Korea, I'd be getting mad now: Team America won't play there. I'm so keen on this movie I might actually pay to see it rather than wait for the Shenzhen copies. It's getting rave reviews. Tony isn't impressed with Korean movie quotas, either.

• There is an excellent discussion on the potential for China to annex a collapsing North Korea over at Marmot's.

• There is plenty more at Robert's monthly Korea briefing here at Winds of Change.

SE and Other Asia

• Brad DeLong eloquently fisks a stupid article pleading for a boycott of products made by Indian labour; as Richard points out you could easily substitute China for India.

• India can teach the US a thing or two about voting.

• It's not strictly Asia, but Jodi has the details and thoughts on the rape trials starting on Pitcairn Island.

• Single men, you might consider Kemukus mountain for your next holiday.

• Brunei is imitating Hong Kong: votes that mean nothing. Macam-Macam has a no-holds-barred look at this land of his birth.

• Is Pakistan preparing for the famed October surprise? They'd better hurry up if they are.

• In Malaysia the fallout from the Jeff Ooi incident continues. His blog has come under investigation for a comment by "Anwar", who has now apologised. It is now getting more attention, including at Slashdot and Reporters sans Frontieres. All the fuss seems to have done is boosted Jeff's traffic. "Anwar" has been identified and is likely to be charged.

• Piracy in the Straits of Malacca is getting worse.

• Indonesia officially got a new President and a sore loser. Megawati's sulking. Not impressed. More importantly is what will SBY do now? Pieter wants him to tackle the economy and corruption first, not terror. Winston has a very thorough look at the task ahead and Jakartass has a poll of what the public want him to do. Agam was on the ground during the inauguration. Macam looks at SBY's cabinet.

• Conrad has excerpts from the five part Asia Times series on the Philippines. And he has a plan.

• Singapore's Temasek Holdings, the Government company that controls most of Singapore's major businesses, has opened its books.

• Cambodia has a new king.

• Burma's Prime Minister was fired for being "moderate". You've got to use scare quotes when it comes to Burma (not Myanmar).

• Jihadis crossed the final line when they took and killed Chinese hostages in Pakistan.

Miscellany

• Just like elsewhere, oil is a big factor in East Asian foreign policy. Also what Asian issues feature in the US election?

• Unsurprisingly Asia has done poorly in the Corruption Perceptions Index. Bangladesh "won".

• As Joel points out, only in Asia can "Nazi fashion" be ever considered a good idea.

• Rajan asks that age old question that puzzles so many in Asia.

• Did the USSR collapse because of Western powers or because senior officials lost faith in socialism?

• Spirit Fingers is doing the police's job for them. Some people are taking the 'Asian tiger' thing too seriously.

• They're good enough to die, but not good enough to be British.

• Lost Nomad discovers why Asians are better at maths.

• Turning the tables on Engrish comes Hanzi Smatter, a site dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters (via John). Funny stuff in whatever language.

• Japanese men are taking things sitting down.

• Love often is the victim of tortured analogies. But this could be a first for cabbage. While on love, looking for a Hong Kong wife? Mr B is here to help. Otherwise you can try this way instead.