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September 16, 2004

You are on the invidual archive page of Asia by Blog. Click Simon World weblog for the main page.
Asia by Blog

As seen on Instapundit...

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

  • There's a fundraiser next Tuesday in HK for Beslan victims.

  • Will AIDS lead China to democracy?

  • Tom looks more deeply into the winners and losers in HK's recent election.

  • There's now a HK politician with a blog, says Andrea.

  • ESWN explains and defends HK's functional constituencies by saying "experts" are needed to defend each interest group and commonly elected politicians are unable to grasp the issues. Which is complete baloney. Countries such as the UK, USA and Australia seem to manage just fine without special interest groups directly electing members of Parliament. ESWN's example of the financial services candidate (an "colourful" fellow elected with 275 votes, whereas it took over 60,000 votes to get a directly elected seat. In other words one stockbroker's vote is worth 218 "ordinary" votes) fighting for minimum conditions is the perfect example against these seats. The investing public loses out to the stockbrokers who create their own self-determined minimum commissions. If the small stockbrokers are worried about "collusion" in the long term, collusion in the short term isn't the answer. Proper anti-trust and competition laws are. Special interest seats perverse democracy by making those lawmakers answerable only to that sector, to the exclusion of the broader society they should actually serve.

  • ESWN also looks at the US House of Reps resolution on HK.

  • Could there be trouble at the upcoming NPC Plenum?

  • Lost in translation.

  • Spike spiked.

  • Google News arrives in Chinese, but for how long?

  • China has been clamping down on sex sites, with one important exception.

  • ACB measures the damage of China's recent massive flooding.

  • Joi Ito on how China's music industry doesn't work.

  • The Ruck wonders why the US is now announcing China's economic policies for it?

  • Andres is back. Following on from his massive article on China's sex trade, have a look at this one as well.

  • China is rapidly overtaking Canada.

  • Real estate is coming off the boil.

  • An argument for maintaining the status quo in Taiwan and how it relates to China's leadership battle.

  • What price China's desperation for oil?

  • A novel use for mobile phones.

    • Korea and Japan

  • Marmot was comprehensively over the North Korean mountain moving efforts (as opposed to the natural kind) although he is sceptical of North Korea's explanation. Budaeuchigae explains why it took NK several days to telling its side of the story and finds they were planned, not accidents. Oranckay uses this as a chance to look at NK's provincial make-up and Marmot looks at the surprisingly simple NK geographical naming policy.

  • Will trade change North Korea? A second view.

  • Joi Ito on being a rubber stamp in Japan.

  • Taste test Japan's soft drinks.

  • The option of last resort on North Korea's nuclear ambitions (via Budaechigae). Well worth a read on the choices facing America in dealing with NK.

  • Scott Sommers on Japan's English.

  • Japan is potentially using the threat of China as a stalking horse for other changes; Joe Jones (thanks for the links) has more on potential changes in Japan's defence policy and Jodi believes it is unnecessary provocation.

  • Gord talks about kids, the lack of protective services and cultural differences in Korea.

  • Joe Jones on immigration and Japan.

  • Tony says South Korea's President is a good joke-teller, especially in a country that does this. It makes the blog block seem positively mild.

    • SE Asia

  • Islamic terrorists deliberately target countries like Indonesia. And Singapore is holding on to a group of JI terrorists in what Myrick thinks is a good use of Singapore's ISA.

  • Conrad details the plight of the Hmong people and follows up with Laos's attempt to establish normal trade relations with the US.

  • Anwar's got a few years to cool his heels, which isn't that surprising.

  • In Thailand, they don't get mad, they publish a book.

  • Public servants in the Philippines are not as badly paid as they make out.

    • Miscellany

  • Big D explains what's wrong with this picture.

  • How to turn right in Beijing.

  • China's hottest new sport.

  • Forget about the American Express Card, here's what you really need to pack when you travel.

    •  posted by Simon on 09.16.04 at 04:01 PM in the Asia by blog category.




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    TGIT
    Excerpt: There are only really 2 good things about Thursday. One is that if you work a 5 day work week, the next day is Friday and we all know what that means. The other is of course this.
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    Excerpt: I'm off to Colombia in the morning. As soon as I find an internet I’ll update this swine. If you don’t hear from me within about four days, assume I’ve been kidnapped. I might put a PayPal box up so that well-wishers can chip in tow...
    Weblog: CHASE ME LADIES, I'M IN THE CAVALRY
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    Courtesy of Simon World
    Excerpt: As usual, Simon World is providing excellent links for news all over Asia. Two reports I've found over there: First, something bad is in the soil in Singapore...SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A soil-borne bacterial infection called melioidosis has killed 24 peo...
    Weblog: eclexys
    Tracked: September 18, 2004 03:00 PM

    America's North Korea Options
    Excerpt: Marshall of Power Politics looks at the situation and the options facing the USA re: North Korea. Is America moving toward a "strong containment" strategy?
    Weblog: Winds of Change.NET
    Tracked: September 20, 2004 12:02 PM

    Examining Washington's NK options
    Excerpt: Winston Marshal at Power Politics examines the Bush Administration's North Korea options and concludes: "...however the Bush administration hopes to resolve the North Korean crisis, it is clearly hedging its bets. If the current strategy fails (which i...
    Weblog: NKZone
    Tracked: September 20, 2004 06:26 PM


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