CSG news update -- 2006-12-04

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

Drug pirates leave death in their wake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1963363,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-12-04
Jonathan Watts
No one will ever know how many Chinese men - and women - were sexually satisfied after taking the American Number One, Male Exclusive, Great Big Brother pills sold by Xi Yongli.  When the product was raised in court recently, it was not its potency that was on trial. Rather, it was the legality of...

Newspaper shares ban sets back liberalisation
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/28044a90-8325-11db-a38a-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-12-04
Mure Dickie 
China has barred local newspapers from publicly issuing shares following a corruption scandal last year at IPO pioneer Beijing Youth Daily, according to the sector's top regulator.  However, the government was "encouraging" book publishing companies to list shares on stock markets in mainland ...

A Blame Game China Needs to Stop
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101519.html
Washington Post | 2006-12-03
Elizabeth Economy
Last month the International Energy Agency announced that China would probably surpass the United States as the world's largest contributor of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 2009, more than a full decade earlier than anticipated. This forecast could spur China to adopt tough new energy and...

China's Green Debt
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pan1
Project Syndicate | 2006-12-03
Pan Yue
For a decade, the world has wondered when China's leaders will recognize the staggering environmental crisis confronting their country. This year, we got an answer: a new Five-Year Plan that makes environmental protection a priority. A storm of green propaganda has followed, and the government n...

China overtakes Japan on R&D
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/da4ed9f2-82fa-11db-a38a-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-12-03
Geoff Dyer 
China has overtaken Japan to become the second biggest spender on research and development behind the US, a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed.  The country is expected to invest $136bn in research and development this year after growing by more than 20...

Paulson reaches out on China
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b535c010-82df-11db-a38a-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-12-03
Eoin Callan
Hank Paulson, US treasury secretary, will on Monday begin a series of policy talks with industry leaders to discuss the Bush administration's policy towards China ahead of a high-level delegation to Beijing next week.  The former head of Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, will on Monday meet e...

Chinese tycoon, 32, jailed for life
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1962124,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-12-02
Jonathan Watts
The youngest known member of China's super-rich elite was sentenced to life in prison yesterday, the latest in a long line of tycoons to fall foul of the authorities within a year of their fortunes becoming public knowledge.  Amid a crackdown on corrupt and fast-living executives and officials...

Living Memories of Bound Feet, War and Chaos in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/world/asia/02wang.html
New York Times | 2006-12-02
Jim Yardley
AT ages 84 and 83, Wang Zaiban and Wu Xiuzhen are old women, and their feet are historical artifacts. They are among the dwindling number of women in China from the era when bound feet were considered a prerequisite for landing a husband.  No available man, custom held, could resist the picture of...

Fears grow of Chinese entering Russian east
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f0bce4ae-80f2-11db-9096-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-12-01
Arkady Ostrovsky
Alexander Krutikov, a broad-shouldered Russian farmer, leans out of the window of his Japanese 4X4 and shouts a greeting to a worker by the side of a cabbage field: "Viktor, Ni-Hao!"  Mr Krutikov owns 100 hectares of land in a small village 40 miles from Vladivostok, in Russia's far east. Vikt...

China Plans Temporary Easing of Curbs on Foreign Journalists
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/world/asia/02china.html
New York Times | 2006-12-01
Jim Yardley
China announced temporary regulations on Friday loosening restrictions on foreign journalists, a step intended to fulfill the country's promise to allow visiting reporters to work freely in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  The rules, announced by the Foreign Ministry, will supersede exis...

Chinese Labor Law Reform: Guaranteeing Worker Rights in the Age of Globalism
http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2280
Japan Focus | 2006-11-21
Earl Brown
The New York Times on October 12, 2006 featured an article describing fierce opposition by some US investors and employers in China to modest improvements to Chinese labor legislation. I have just visited China with labor lawyers and industrial relations experts who have worked to advance these prop...