October 21, 2004

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Asia by Blog

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains Afghan's President at 30, questions over control North Korea if it collapses, China's lack of progress in fighting poverty, is OBL in China and plenty on Indonesia's new President, just for starters...

Hong Kong, China and Taiwan

  • Breaking Hong Kong news: 1997 never happened.

  • ESWN wants the real culprits behind the Taiwan bus crash that killed 5 Hong Kong tourists: the tour operator.

  • China takes their lion statues seriously. Very seriously.

  • One night in Hong Kong: The Eagles, thirsty gweilos and one running dog. Funny stuff.

  • 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.

  • Come get exploited by evil Western movie producers and star in a film to boot.

  • The Lama offered, and China said no.

  • Being a journo in China is easy.
  • Chinese football is in dire straits.

  • One Chinese newspaper says China has no reason to be proud in its war on poverty.

  • 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.

  • Matthew comprehensively looks at China's foreign policy.

  • China's financial regulator says half of the country's brokerages are risky or very risky.

  • Is Osama bin Laden hiding in China?
  • Korea and Japan

  • If North Korea fell apart, who would take it over? South Korea or China? More on this question at NKZone and from Infidel.

  • Duophony is not impressed by the North Korean Human Rights Act. And some are saying Kerry would be harder on North Korea than Bush.

  • Spielberg wanted a Korean actress to play a Japanese geisha. She declined, and Jodi and others are questioning her decision.

  • It's OK to spy for North Korea now. Which is just as well, because Marmot has pics of the very latest in North Korean military technology. Juicy stuff.

  • South Korea's first astronauts are going to be a housewife and a missionary. Please start jokes on positions now.

  • Japan's been hit by a massive and deadly typhoon.

  • 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.

  • Lee always comes up with the crazy stuff that makes you shake your head about the Japanese. The latest is the "SushiDisk".
  • SE and Other Asia

  • 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.

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

  • India's most wanted has been killed: take a squiz at the reactions.

  • Afghanistan's likely President Hamid Karzai, at age 30.

  • Hicky looks at Singapore's twisted application of the death penalty.
  • 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".

  • Looking for a Hong Kong wife? Mr B is here to help. Otherwise you can try this way instead.
  • posted by Simon on 10.21.04 at 04:37 PM in the Asia by blog category.




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    Comments:

    Simon, thanks again for the linkage. I am resistant on using the name Myanmar for the country, but I do accept it as the dominant international practice.
    While the name Myanmar was chosen by thugs, the name Burma is part of a colonial legacy that also wasn't pretty (though it was still, no doubt, better to be ruled by gin-drinking poms than murderous narco-generals). As well, only 65% of the country is Burmese, so the name doesn't completely reflect the composition of the nation.
    I'd be happier if a representative government in the country were responsible for the change of the name. However, if I were to disregard every name change introduced by murderous thugs I'd still be referring to the Chinese capital as Peking.

    posted by: myrick on 10.21.04 at 05:56 PM [permalink]

    Hey, just wanted to let you know your link to the story on the 8th century toilet goes to the Asahi Japanese news site. My translation of it is here for those who don't read Japanese. Great site you've got here, by the way.

    posted by: Adamu on 10.21.04 at 06:57 PM [permalink]

    Adamu: link's been fixed

    Myrick: I agree with you on the name game, but it's a point worth making - I wasn't having a go at you, just at the new convention of naming the country Myanmar.

    posted by: Simon on 10.21.04 at 07:01 PM [permalink]

    Not a problem, it wasn't taken personally. And I also prefer Burma. For the record, I have to force myself to use some of the 'new' names chosen by democratically elected governments (i.e., Bombay and Pusan come more naturally to me than Mumbai or Busan). I just try to be a stylebook junkie. It pays the bills.

    posted by: myrick on 10.23.04 at 10:11 AM [permalink]




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