This is a daily collection of links, some with commentary, to news stories and interesting blog posts. It will be updated throughout the day with a new timestamp for the updates.

Scroll down for today's other posts.

• Nick Lesson says it wasn't his fault, though Chris disagrees.
• The Shanghai Communique turned 30, marking the end of Richard Nixon's visit to the PRC.
• Putin doesn't read blogs (via SR). I wonder how many world leaders do?
• Lesson learned.
• I've done this. Even better is to stare at the others in the lift with you, counting them on your hand. Another is to enter a lift with a friend and ask loudly, "Is it contagious?"
• Voting time in a contest where everyone's a winner.
• Liz Hurley really is the devil.
• (13:49) The 22nd edition of Arthur Chrenkoff's Good News from Iraq is up.
• (16:32) Armed Liberal points to the winning essay of the Shell/Economist writing prize (PDF link here). There are some great runners-up essays too.

It's a common dilemma. You've run out of mortar and can't face eating your rice porridge for lunch. What to do? Use the porridge as mortar, of course. Obviously this isn't a shock to anyone who has ever eaten sticky rice. What's more of a worry is these walls were built as long ago as the Sui and Tang dynasties, from 581 to 907 AD. Speculation says rice porridge was even used by workers in building the Great Wall. That stuff sits in your stomach, people.

Another first for China: the first food visible from space*.

* _{Yes, I know.}

With much fanfare China has just released a white paper on "Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China." This has been accompanied by the full state media press:

1. China "endeavors (sic) to protect, foster ethnic minorities' tradional cultures", including this: The Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Korean and Yi languages have coded character sets and national standards for fonts and keyboard. Software in the Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and Korean languages canbe run in the Windows system. Microsoft as a developmental yardstick.
2. "Ethnic autonomous regions account for 64% of China's territory". The 64% of land covered is largely desert or mountains (map here), such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet.
3. "Regional autonomy system benefits all ethinc groups in China".

The 55 ethnic minorities comprise 8% of China's population, the other 92% being Han Chinese. The GDP of the autonomous areas is 1,038 billion yuan, giving a per-capita income of 1,895 yuan, according to the report. This compares to a national per capita GDP of US$1,000 or approximately 8,280 yuan*. That's right, these people earn around 1/4 of the national average. What about health? From the white paper:

The life expectancy of 13 ethnic minorities is higher than the national average, which is 71.40 years, and those of seven of them are higher than the average of the Han people, which is 73.34 years.

...limited and influenced by historical, geographical and other conditions, the economic and social development level of western China, where the populations of ethnic minorities are more concentrated, is still low compared with the more developed eastern areas. "Some remote areas, in particular, are still pretty backward."

It pledges that the Chinese government will adhere to the scientific concept of human-oriented, all-round, coordinated, sustainable development, further explore and strengthen specific forms of implementation of the system of regional ethnic autonomy, continuously strengthen the material basis for implementation of the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and promote the all-round economic and social development of ethnic minorities and their areas.

South Africa tried a similar system. They called them homelands.

* _{Don't start on PPP - it's not relevant here.}

** My maths for someone to check:

Total life exp. = 71.4 years
Han life exp. = 73.34 years
Han % of popl'n = 92%

So assume China's population is 100 people.

Han: 73.34 * 92 = 6747.28 Han people years
Total: 71.40 * 100 = 7140 total people years

Balance: 7140 - 6747.28 = 392.72 minority people years
Ethnic % of population = 8

Ethnic life exp = 392.72 / 8 = 49.09

While 5,000 anti-globalisation morons prepare to be met with Hong Kong's traditional greeting, the Government has been busy trumpeting the "benefits" of December's WTO meeting in the Big Lychee. The conference will bring an estimated HK$100 million in tourism receipts with 15,000 visitors. The event will cost HK$250 million to stage.

Work with me here: income = $100 million; cost = $250 million. The Government says Hong Kong has been facing fierce competition and needs to participate in more international events to boost its image. Even Harbourfest cost only $100 million to stage. Why not boost Hong Kong's image by not participating in these events. It would save us a fortune.

The Peter Pricinple:

The Peter Principle is a theory originated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter which states that employees within a hierarchical organization advance to their highest level of competence, are then promoted to a level where they are incompetent, and then stay in that position.

This follows from the use of promotion as a reward for success. As long as a person is competent in his current position, he will be promoted to the next higher one. By iteration, the only way a person can stop being promoted is to reach a level where he is no longer able to do well, and thus does not appear eligible for promotion.

In an unprecedented move that has renewed speculation that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa may step down before his term expires in mid-2007, Beijing authorities have signaled their intention to appoint him to a senior mainland position often given to officials near retirement...According to sources in Beijing, Tung was also nominated as vice-chairman of the CPPCC. If elected and he accepts the post, he will be one of 25 vice-chairmen.

If Mr Tung is to become a CPPCC vice-chairman, [it] actually [means] he is promoted to the rank of a state leader.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains a funny Singaporean morning show, repopulating Hong Kong, reverse offshoring, non-performing pandas, China's censorship, North Korean flip-floppery, Maoists reviewing video games plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Hong Kong: one country, two systems, three children.
• An American leather firm competing with low cost Chinese producers (full article here). For all the worries of China's low cost advantage, there are other ways to compete besides price. Dan Drezner looks at a related issue: offshoring....or should that be homeshoring?
• A translated article from within China on avoiding the Great Firewall, which was blocked in Beijing but not in Shanghai or Xinjiang. John suspects blocking efforts are being stepped up. Fons says a lot of problems are blamed on "blocking" when they are unrelated. China's censorship policies are complicated and, in part, only symbolic.
• Graphic photos of a Chinese execution.
• The dilemmas facing China's middle class. An example of just how far and how quickly living standards have risen.
• Taiwan's President has agreed to not seek independence in return for domestic political support.
• "If tropical timber were people, China would be raping Nanking once a month."
• The China journalism cliche machine gets a workover.
• A photoblog of Beijing, via Danwei.
• Is China heading for an inevitable clash unless it broadens its thinking? Running Dog says China has its diplomatic sights set on the Japan-Taiwan relationship. Thomas Barnett notes America cannot control how China integrates with others such as Europe, India and Brazil.
• Another Chinese first: diamond cutting.
• Yesterday was the Lantern Festival, aka Chinese Valentines day. Quizas gives a first hand account.
• Is the overseas English teachnig gravy train coming to a halt? A glut of Westerners...talk about reverse offshoring.
• I'm not quite sure how they are going to achieve it, but a group in Shanghai is aiming to build houses for 30% below the market rate.

Korea and Japan

• Andy reports on a lecture by Dr. Andrei Lankov on the background to the Korean Workers Party and the attempted overthrow of Kim Il-sung in 1956. Fascinating must read material.
• The North Koreas changed their mind and said they "might" return to talks. Amongst other demands, North Korea has demanded the Japanese stop making "serious problems" over the abduction issue. There wouldn't be any problem if they handed over the right ashes and admitted what had happened. Thomas Barnett thinks a great chance is being missed to offer a Grand Bargain: concessions to China in return for North Korea. Alternatively some argue give the South Koreans nukes too. That's M.A.D.
• The South Koreans don't think the Norks have nukes.
• Repeating the Berlin Wall fall of 1989 is irresponsible and a poor example to follow for the PRC-North Korea border. Marmot looks at the "peaceful, moral and multilateral" alternative.
• Japanese education isn't doing such a great job.
• It's not just China and Japan fighting over tiny islands. It's also South Korea and Japan.
• The Economist's summary of recent East Asian events. Budaechigae has a copy of Thomas Barnett's letter of advice to George W for East Asia.
  * Inequality within South Korea.
• Japan's constitutional reform inches forward.
• Kurdish refugees aren't doing so well in Japan.
• Forget Hunter S. Thomson. Lee Eun-ju, a 24 year-old Korean actress, committed suicide. Some suspect a movie role drove her to it.
• Some people shouldn't make jokes, like central bankers.
• OhmyNews turned 5.
• The UN and North Korean refugees.

SE and Other Asia

• An interview with newly released Vietnamese Buddhust monk Thich Thien Mink (via Dean).
• Another blog from Nepal. What are India's intentions as its army applies the squueze on their Nepalese counterparts.
• Muslim terrorists in SE Asia and their goals, with additional comment from Huichieh. Also America's efforts at counter-terrorism in SE Asia and the domestic political sensitivities they face.
• Mr Brown looks for alternatives now the Straits Times online has become fee-based. It's a surprisingly popular move...it's one less Government sponsored source. It reflects Singapore's "free" media.
• A morning show from Singapore with a twist. A small taste:

  Richard Lui: Welcome everyone to a brand new morning show on Channelnewsasia.
  Suzanne Jung: That’s right Richard. After months of contemplating and then revamping, we are proud to launch this new morning program aptly named “Wake Up your Fucking Ideas Singapore”. A name that’s sure to ring some resonance among our viewers.
  Richard: In this revamped morning show, we’ll be discussing all the hot and controversial issues gripping the nation. We’ll also be inviting viewers to call in and share their views.
  Suzanne: Talking about hot and controversial issue, the announcement by the government to consider setting up a casino is already polarizing the country into 2 distinct camps, each with their own arguments and views to be heard.
  Richard: Yes, it is indeed refreshing to see a fierce debate happening right here in sterile Singapore. So what’s your own opinion on this issue Suzanne?
  Suzanne: Who cares. I’m a Korean.
  Both laugh heartily.

• Snail fever's return was easily preventable.
• Thomas Barnett says there is no point in choosing between India and China...it's India and China.
• Java Jive is a great photoblog from, well, Java.
• Some Vietnam mythbusters.
• In Singapore, Redrown asks what cost economic success?
• Afghan stand-up comics.

Miscellany

• Meet Gish Jen, the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants who converted to Judaism.
• Hong Kong and Japan are not the same thing.
• It ain't easy being a panda.
• Maoists review video games.
• Now that's a rice cake.

You've got a new breast enhancement cream, but they're a dime a dozen. How do you prove that yours is the real deal, avoid the regulators and make headlines? In Thailand, you hold a public demonstration and ride the resulting furour.

A promotion for breast enhancing cream that involved three models having a 15-minute mammary massage in public has caused a furore in Thailand, with family groups saying it violates traditional values and morality...Ying, one of the models, was embarrassed at having to bare herself in front of the cameras, but did believe her breasts had become firmer and the gap between them smaller as a result of the treatment.

St Herb [the cream maker] is likely to evade the wrath of regulators because the cream is "breast beautifying" rather than "breast enlarging" - a trick missed by makers of a "breast enlarging bra" now under scrutiny from the Thai Food and Drug Administration.

(Thanks AB)

This is a daily collection of links, some with commentary, to news stories and interesting blog posts. It will be updated throughout the day with a new timestamp for the updates.

Scroll down for today's other posts.

* Combine reality TV with blogging and what do you get: a money spinner.
* In the Catalano vs. Malkin debate, Ilyka has a clear preference. Michele is also running one hell of a contest.
* (14:43) Will blogging end in tears or blandness? I suspect there are some real issues here that not many are ready to contemplate.

1. Hong Kongers smoke, which is bad for your health.
2. Hong Kong is smoggy, which is bad for your health.
3. Hong Kongers work hard, eat badly and don't do enough exercise, which are bad for your health.

I just saved three broadsheet pages of newsprint. Now that's doing something for the environment.

This is a daily collection of links, some with commentary, to news stories and interesting blog posts. It will be updated throughout the day with a new timestamp for the updates.

Scroll down for today's other posts.

• Move over Atkins, it's the Fumier diet.
• Pepsi might be confused about the difference between Hong Kong and Japan, but SF is here to help.
• (13:30) A quiz for bloggers and Jim's answers.
• (14:37) Bird flu is the next candidate for "exotic disease of the year". Vaccines are already being tested and stockpiled, at considerable expense. Which brings us to these three interesting posts on the topic by "Reconbinomics": the real case fatality rate of H5N1 avian influenza; false negatives in bird flu patients in Vietnam; and best of all human transmission of bird flu media myth. I'd prefer panic. That'd give us another SARS-like dip in the stock and property markets to be taken advantage of.
• (16:47) Joe Jones is back blogging from Japan.
• (18:17) Not a landslide. 136 people in Indonesia have died in a garbageslide. A shanty town built on the edge of a massive rubbish tip and after strong rains the rubbish slides over the houses. A complete tragedy.

There's a simple rule in poker: if you don't know who the is the patsy, it's you. The same applies in the currencies game. A group of concerned central banks met this week to discuss the sliding US dollar. The group included the central banks of China, Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN countries. It did not include the Fed. Those at the meeting speak for banks that own trillions of US dollar assets which they know they cannot sell or even stop buying. The Fed, will not admit it but wants a weaker US dollar, albeit an orderly depreciation. Brad Sester (via Brad deLong) notes there have now been some breaks in the ranks. Billmon makes the analogy with a famous Monty Python scene (one of my all-time favourites).

It's one thing to be the patsy. It's another to be the last patsy at the table.

Hong Kong's Public Accounts Committee delivered its report yesterday. Amongst other things the PAC was "astonished and seriously dismayed" by the Discovery Bay debacle. Sir David Akers-Jones, the public servant most directly involved, was not directly criticised because, in the words of PAC Chairman Philip Wong, "Over the years, the committee seldoms names a particlar official to criticise. What we normally do is focus on the departments." So that's OK then. The developer got to avoid paying a land premium, drop a public golf course and turn a tourism development into a luxury residential one with no documentation. That's why they are called the good old days. While they were at it the PAC got stuck into the ESF, although the ESF are already reforming themselves after the lashing they got from the Audit commission report in October. They've got a subvention to protect. Anyone for vouchers yet?

But best of all was PAC Chairman Philip Wong Yu-hong's rejection of the need for a press conference to present the PAC's report. The SCMP reports:

The committee chairman said he only met the media for "PR" reasons, after being lobbied by fellow committee members to hold a news conference. But Mr. Wong insisted he had nothing more to add to the report and repeatedly told reporters to dig out the answers themselves..."I really don't see the need for a press conference. As the chairman, I shouldn't go beyond what has been said in the report...It is rather difficult to respond to reporters' questions in an hour or so."

Courtesy of Phil

It is a shock to expect the committee chairman to be able to talk about his committee's report. Even more of a shock to discuss the contents with reporters. Hell, that could mean Mr. Wong would have to read the thing.

Two Hong Kong kids, studying at university in Sydney. They become good friends, despite one of them returning to Hong Kong. They are such good friends they start investing money together. After a while one friend gets suspicious and starts asking questions. And it turns out his friend has bled him for A$5.5 million over 4 years (try this for registration). Was it a sophisticated web of deception? Not really:

The tall tales Mr [Michael] Chin spun began in 1999 when he falsely claimed to be the director of Edin Investments Pty Ltd...Before long, he had Mr [Joshua Wai Kim] Chu pouring millions of dollars straight into his personal ANZ savings account at Chatswood to pay for bogus investments including property in Japan and shares in companies not even publicly listed...Mr Chin so convinced him of his investment prowess that Mr Chu eventually dipped into his own family's businesses for cash...He [Chin] never presented his friend with a single document from their "investments" on the share market and in property amounting to 11 complicated business proposals.

Mr Chu even paid $4376 for several "hotel bookings" for Mr Chin when he was supposedly overseas drumming up business for Edin. He would call Mr Chu, saying that he was terribly busy, and could he book him a room at the Bangkok Marriott Hotel.

"Make sure it's a suite on the higher floors," he said, according to Mr Chu's claim. "Then book me two nights at Banyan Tree in Phuket ... make sure I've got a double bed there. I need you to then book accommodation for me in Seoul at the Grand Hyatt for three nights ... The company will pay you back."

This is a daily collection of links, some with commentary, to news stories and interesting blog posts. It will be updated throughout the day with a new timestamp for the updates.

• HK reports a record 268 HIV infections in 2004, while infection rates from AIDS are rising in South Africa. A CUHK team has found a potential treatment for hepatitis B. And a quarter of all HK mobiles are owned by kids under 13.
• James Bond was half-Swiss.
• The Indian Ocean briefing is up at Winds of Change, with plenty on Nepal and much more.
• Rusty has some interesting questions for the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
• Top Shelf blogger Jeff from Protein Wisdom is raising money for a new PC. If you ever gave to Andrew Sullivan, you've got no excuse. For the cost of a couple of movie tickets you get daily entertainment. It's a bargain.
• Australian police are getting closer to their Chinese counterparts.
• Interesting new book from noted Korea watcher Andrei Lankov.
• A list of Malay words borrowed by English, including Manadarin. Check the comments too (via Mr. Brown).
• The gender imbalance in China is titled in favour of men. Maybe the women of Busan could help?
• (14:22) Jason Kotke is also staging a fund raising drive...to become a full-time blogger.
• (18:49) Can we panic yet?

A key part of the resurgence of China's panda population has been due to a successful breeding program. You'd think the life of a male giant panda would be great. Your job is to eat, sleep and produce sperm. A steady supply of bamboo, panda porn and Viagra are the only requirements.

Alas, that is not the case...

From the SCMP:Bear necessities: Workers lift 10-year-old giant panda Sisi onto a table as before trying to gather his sperm to refrigerate for artificial insemination in the future. However, yesterday's attempt at the Giant Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was not a success. Associated Press photo

Is it any wonder the procedure was not a success? The panda is being dragged by its ears, has ropes attached to each limb and has a crowd of media and handlers. While I know there are some humans that would find such a situation the perfect setting to produce sperm, I fear for normal pandas it is not the right setting. They've only given Sisi a wooden table on which to perform his stuff and the only enticement I can see are the cutesy logos on the handlers' jackets.

It's enough to make a panda crave extinction.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains Singaporean conscription, the North Korea nuclear talks, China and the Japan/America alliance, China's developing economy, Sadaam in Shanghai, blogging from Nepal, Japanders plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Is Hepatitis rather than selective abortion responsible for the growing gender imbalance in China?
• Is China America's strategic competitor, it's banker, or both?
• Hong Kongers are learning a new greeting for tourists. Then they can go see the hottest show in town.
• Chinese literature has a rich body of work. ESWN digs up a gay novel..from the 1650s.
• Even if you get the right numbers you may not win the lottery.
• China can expect to be a fully developed economy...by 2080.
• Are China's peasants about to revolt?
• Sadaam is found on a slipper in Shanghai...the start of a new brand?
• Foreign Policy had 7 China experts talk about China's rising (via CDN).
• Can Tung Che-hwa rid Hong Kong of the invaders?
• Henry Blodget asked for China business stories. He got a great one from Perry Wu (via Fons).
• In Sino-American relations, misunderstandings and mistrust are now the norm, but the two have more in common than they realise. The question remains how China will interpret the various messages coming out of the White House, State and the Pentagon. Plenty more on this theme in the Korea section.

Korea and Japan

• China is trying to get NK back to talking over the nuclear issue even though NK isn't interested unless unnamed conditions are met. Thomas Barnett thinks America is missing a chance to make a deal with China out of all this, although I'm not convinced China has as much leverage over NK as many think, a point Howard French echoes in looking at China's pessimism and worries over North Korea. Infidel has an in depth look at the Barnett article. Oranckay says China is the problem when it comes to NK and GI Korea adds his thoughts. Sean has the reaction in Japan. In the Agora has a roundup of political developments across East Asia including all of this.
• The US and Japan are upgrading their security pact and and co-ordinating on Taiwan as well as North Korea.
• South Korea's Uri Party signs an agreement with the CCP.
• There's strong support in Japan for the death penalty. On the other hand suicides are reaching record highs too.
• Japan's growing Korea craze.
• Women during Meiji Restoration.
• The NK casino closed due to a Chinese gambling crackdown is going to become a tourism centre instead.

SE and Other Asia

• Al-Qaeda took 2 Indonesians hostage (they were later released) to "clarify" why they are in the country. Isn't it just easier to ask?
• A massage-palour king is starting his second career: as a politician. Is there a difference?
• Lots of interesting stuff from Radio Free Nepal blog. Look how Democracy Day was "celebrated".
• The Swanker looks at the latest in the tsunami relief efforts.
• Singaporean bloggers have been debating conscription. Redrown has a five part series: The 3 Mentalities; Social Anomalies; Pointing Fingers; False Security; Is Attack the best form of Defence? In response a detailed critique from Singapore Angle comes in 3 parts: critique on parts 1-3; critique on part 4; critique on part 5. A more detailed overall critique is here with final thoughts on the conversation. The Singapore Commentator lives up to the blog name and also posts comments on the issue. Next is the counter response to the critique from the original author. The posts and responses lay out many issues around conscription. Fascinating reading and all the better for the debate of ideas rather than descending into ad hominem attacks.

Miscellany

• Japanders galore. See Mariah Carey, Sean Connery and California's Governor hocking products in Japan.
• There are some places chili oil is not meant to go.
• Honesty in advertising.

Lucas has done a fantastic job with the New Blog Carnival Showcase Extravaganza No. 2. Lots of great new blogs to check out. Next week is at Karin's.

If you're interested in hosting an edition or want to follow the upcoming locations, check out the Showcase HQ.

Hong Kong's next Chief Executive, Donald Tsan, wants each family to have at least three children to deal with declining birth rates and an aging population. To encourage this the Government is considerng bigger tax allowances for children. HK has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world with only 0.9 births per woman. Unfortunately for the Government financial incentives have not improved birth rates in any country. Singapore has extensive and generous benefits and incentives which have done nothing to stop the falling birth rate there.

There is an easy answer to the problem: increased immigration of young people. It's cheaper for the Government and better for the economy. There are plenty of Mainlanders and others desperate to come and live in HK, prepared to work hard and procreate. If declining and aging population is such a worry immigration is the answer, not financial incentives. Mr. Tsang should learn the old lawyer trick: don't ask questions if you don't want to know the answer.

Update 1: Maybe HK could look at importing husbands?

Update 2 (18:22)*: David Webb has used HK's freedom from of information code to obtain more about this plan. He notes the irony that the same Government that in 1999 desperately overruled the Court of Final Appeal to trample on the right of abode and later moved to restrict births in HK by mainland women now finds it in this dilemma. Amongst the "Triple Trio's" plans:
* a 500% tax on condoms, with the proceeds to fund a new kind of bank.
* ovulation leave
* TV broadcasting to end at 10pm with one important exception. This is would have the added benefit of limiting Hong Kongers' exposure to inane Government advertising.
* Cigarettes sold with Viagra.
* Increased electricity prices for the Mid-Levels after 10pm to encourage lights out.
* A special oyster subsidy for the struggling members of the Hong Kong Club, to get the juices flowing.

“Donald Tsang is mentally diseased,” I inform the buxom civil servant. “The average family in Hong Kong lives in a 400 square foot apartment. Where the hell are they supposed to put three kids?” She puts down her chopsticks and looks away, lost in thought. Stupid lateral-thinking gwailo decimates visionary Government policy for breakfast. She was born in a 200 square foot public housing unit, she starts. “Yes, yes,” I interrupt. “Eight to a room, shared toilets and kitchen, school on the roof, everyone assembling plastic flowers all night, scholarship to Hong Kong U – the great Fragrant Harbour success story. Well done. Heard it before.” She nods. “It’s OK for us,” I go on. “We’re single and get lost in our 1,000 square foot Mid-Levels flats. Mr and Mrs average middle class have less than half that space for themselves, her shoes, his DVDs, a five-year-old who needs somewhere to do his homework. Where do two more brats go? In the cupboard under the kitchen sink? No! There’s an Indonesian girl who sleeps there.”

Update 4: (23/2 13:13) Fumier has a different way of tackling the aging population problem.

*_{I'm going to start adding the time of updates and if necessary the date as well.}

Those intending to protest at December's WTO meeting in Hong Kong already know what to wear. Now the protesters are gathering for a HK taxpayer subsidised conference to discuss their tactics. Today's SCMP, ironically headline Anti-WTO activists in HK to draw up war plan:

More than 100 anti-globalisation activists will arrive in Hong Kong this week to draft protest plans for the WTO's sixth ministerial conference in December. More than 100 anti-globalisation activists will arrive in Hong Kong this week to draft protest plans for the WTO's sixth ministerial conference in December. They will join 70 local unionists, students, green activists and social workers at a City University seminar at the weekend to discuss the World Trade Organisation meeting.

Groups include the Focus on Global South, Public Services International, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty Campaign and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. But no representatives from radical groups such as Global Resistance and the World Development Movement would take part at this stage, Ms Au said..."We will ask police if they have a blacklist of activists, so we'll know who will not be able to come."

Come October the Government will replace the current inane ads for Hong Kongers to smile and greet visitors with open arms. In it's place, a simple three word greeting: "Sod Off, swampy."

The Chinese economy is the wind beneath the world's wings. As a consequence the world is dealing with China's rise as a global geopolitical and economic power while China's citizens benefits from increasing living standards in a developing economy. But when will China finally make it as a developed country? Around 2080, according to one estimate. The Chinese Acadamy of Sciences estimates it will be a moderately developed country by 2050, reach adjective-free developed country status by 2080 and join the top 10 industrialised countries by 2100.

The China cliche industry has a long future ahead of it.

As predicted in October, Hong Kong's media is unhappy with the new digital and secure police communications system. The SCMP reported:

Police have been accused of holding up major breaking news for more than 6 hours on average since blocking media access to police radio calls...Reporters are no longer able to hack into the police communication system to race to a crime scene and must rely on the public and police controlled information.

The journalist association's chairwoman, Cheung Ping-ling, said Hong Kong should follow the practice of major cities such as New York and allow media to be station at major police stations to access communication systems jointly with police.

But Chief Superintendent Alred Ma Wai-luk said there was no justification for police adopting Ms Cheung's suggestion. "There is no Utopia on Earth. It is impossible for any department or government to be 100 per cent transparent. We will release news which involves public interest."

On Friday I wrote about domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Today's SCMP reports on the rapidly changing make-up of this workforce. At the end of January there were 120,400 Filippino domestic helpers compared to 91,700 from Indonesia, according to the Immigration Department. In 2000 there were more than 150,000 Filippinos and around 50,000 Indonesians.

Why the rapid change?

A survey by the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers showed about 90 per cent of Indonesian helpers were earning between $1,500 and $2,500 a month...
"The Indonesian recruitment agencies are the ones facilitating the underpayment so that even before the helpers arrive in Hong Kong, they are not aware that there is a minimum wage. They only know how much salary they have agreed on when they were in Indonesia," he [Eman Villanueva for the Asuian Migrants Co-ordinating Body] said.

Update: Chris also examines Mr. Phooey's original article.

Update 2: (14:03 23/3) HK Macs suggests a deposit with the government and compulsary standing orders.

The Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree, which lost a branch in the leadup to Chinese New Year, is receiving emergency help from 2 Australians. With apologies to my countrymen, given the last Australian expert was the spectacularly unsuccessful crocodile hunter John Lever, is it such a wise idea for the HK Government to use Aussies again? At least the tree isn't evading capture.

We were watching Star World TV last night for our weekly fix of reality TV. Every ad break included an ad for UNIFCEF's tsunami relief fund. Being a pan-Asian channel each ad had a listing of three different Asian countries and the bank account details for donations. Impressively there were details for Burma/Myanmar. Amazingly there were also details for the People's Democratic Republic of Korea for those with money to donate, once they've finished smelling the flowers. Do they get Star TV in North Korea? Did they get any private tsunami donations?

The Economist (reproduced below in full) looks at amahs (domestic helpers) in Hong Kong. Somewhat more condesendingly, so does HK Phooey (already the cause of much angst).

The Economist begins with a question: why are people the reporter presumes should be miserable actually happy? The article has the interesting theory that is the nature of Filipinos in general. However it misses some rather important facts. A major bone of contention is the de facto tax on helpers in Hong Kong. The Government cut the minimum wage for helpers by HK$400 a month while imposing a new HK$400 per month tax per helper. The minimum wage is now HK$3270, implying a tax rate of 12.25% whereas a Hong Konger earning this amount pays zero. Furthermore the tax is regressive, being a flat HK$400, so the lowest paid helpers effectively pay proportionately more in tax. That's a grievance The Economist curiously overlooks.

More puzzling for a magazine of The Economist's ilk is the absence of free market forces. No amah is forced to work here. They come by choice to pursue higher wages than are available in the Philippines. It is demand and supply and globalisation at work. Low priced labour goes to better paid jobs with a minimum of Government interference. The HK Government mandates minimum living conditions, although the article indicates this is more observed in the breach. That is true but needn't be - amahs can and do stand up for their legal rights. The isolated incident mentioned in the article where one amah was burnt by her employer for not cleaning properly forgets to mention the outrage in the press, the woman being charged and the matter dealt with by the law.

As an aside, the article notes although the Filipinos in Hong Kong come from poor families, over half have college degrees. 'Tis true. As anyone who has ever interviewed amahs would know some of these degress come from such institutions as beauty colleges. There are degrees of degrees.

The article contains a telling paragraph:

It was not always thus. Two generations ago, the Philippines was the second-richest country in East Asia, after Japan, while Hong Kong was teeming with destitute refugees from mainland China. Among upper-class families in the Philippines, it was common in those days to employ maids from Hong Kong. But over the past two decades Hong Kong has grown rich as one of Asia's “tigers”, while the Philippines has stayed poor. Hong Kong is the closest rich economy to the Philippines, and the easiest place to get “domestic” visas. It has the most elaborate network of employment agencies for amahs in the world.

I'm not saying life is all rosy for amahs here. They work damn hard for their money and earn a low amount compared to Hong Kongers (median HK wage is HK$10,000 a month). But they are here of their own volition. Don't be so patronising as to decide they "should be miserable but aren't". Like any adult, their decisions should be respected rather than questioned. They may be happy because that is their nature; they may be happy because they earn more than a doctor in the Philippines; they may be happy because they work and live in a first world economy. Hell, they may not be happy but choose to do the work for the wages regardless. The point is it's their choice.

And so we move to Mr. Phooey. He has partially paraphrased The Economist's article and turned it into a condsending screed on the nature of amah employers in Hong Kong. His generalisations are patronising at best and racist at worst. For example:

Considering that the 'minimum' (i.e., set) monthly wage for foreign maids, the backbone of middle class HK Chinese society, is but HK$3,670 a month, we may assume that the 'free' in the superlative "the world's freest economy" refers to the freedom the HK Chinese (and others) enjoy to openly enslave and exploit workers from poorer states, who, perhaps not wholly coincidentally, typically have darker skin, (which in fact, at least as regards the comparison with the HK Chinese, is principally and purely a result of the Filipinos' not squandering their pennies on skin whitening products).

Mr. Phooey airs and rebuts two of the justifications for hiring helpers. They can be summarised as (a) amahs are paid a lot compared to where they come from and (b) if we didn't employ them they'd have nothing. (a) is a statement of fact while (b) is an insidious and meaningless remark. My justification is far more simple: as an employer I offer a wage, interview candidates and make an offer. A consenting adult evaluates the offer and accepts or rejects as they see fit. They are paid a lot compared to where they come from. That's why they're here, away from family and home. It's called economics. If Mr. Phooey thinks there should be a higher minimum wage for amahs he's welcome to campaign for it. I fear it would mean many the amahs he professes to help would end up being fired and forced to leave HK if that was the case. But otherwise what are "HK wages" that amahs should earn? Does the opposite apply as well? Should those that are paid higher than "HK wages" earn less?

Mr. Phooey says:

"It is a lot of money where they come from". This is clearly as outlandish as it is hideous. For, working by this logic, the slave master-to be may as well go to the poorest country in the world to recruit their maid so that it is even more 'where they come from'. In concert with this logic, we may very well ask how long it will be till HK is busting at the seams with domestic helpers from the Mainland. After all, one would only have to pay them a mere $500 a month, for that too would be 'a lot of money where they come from'. Of course, there are very good reasons why this is not the case now, not least the fact that they have no English to speak of.

The Economist's article redeems itself with some insights into the culture and condition of Filippinos in Hong Kong. Mr. Phooey, on the other hand, has nothing but disgust and disdain for HK Chinese and most western expats employers with his holier-than-thou attitude and crass generalisations. It's a shame because deep within his post there are good points made. Some amahs are treated atrociously by their employers. Some employers do seem to put a greater value on their car than the helper who minds their children and home. But covering it all with bile and malice obscures the points behind his almost hatred of employers.

Both articles miss the main point. Amahs are adults who are here because they want to be. They are free to leave or complain if they are unhappy or conditions are not up to scratch. Given 240,000 helpers are in Hong Kong with many more desperate to come the numbers speak for themselves.

No-one said the free market was pretty. But the alternatives would be enough to make even the happiest amah frown.

The Economist - An antropology of happiness

ONCE a week, on Sundays, Hong Kong becomes a different city. Thousands of Filipina women throng into the central business district, around Statue Square, to picnic, dance, sing, gossip and laugh. They snuggle in the shade under the HSBC building, a Hong Kong landmark, and spill out into the parks and streets. They hug. They chatter. They smile. Humanity could stage no greater display of happiness.

This stands in stark contrast to the other six days of the week. Then it is the Chinese, famously cranky and often rude, and expatriate businessmen, permanently stressed, who control the city centre. On these days, the Filipinas are mostly holed up in the 154,000 households across the territory where they work as “domestic helpers”, or amahs in Cantonese. There they suffer not only the loneliness of separation from their own families, but often virtual slavery under their Chinese or expatriate masters. Hence a mystery: those who should be Hong Kong's most miserable are, by all appearances, its happiest. How?

The Philippine government estimates that about 10% of the country's 75m people work overseas in order to support their families. Last year, this diaspora remitted $6 billion, making overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, one of the biggest sources of foreign exchange. Hong Kong is the epicentre of this diaspora. Although America, Japan and Saudi Arabia are bigger destinations of OFWs by numbers, Hong Kong is the city where they are most concentrated and visible. Filipina amahs make up over 2% of its total and 40% of its non-Chinese population. They play an integral part in almost every middle-class household. And, once a week, they take over the heart of their host society.

It was not always thus. Two generations ago, the Philippines was the second-richest country in East Asia, after Japan, while Hong Kong was teeming with destitute refugees from mainland China. Among upper-class families in the Philippines, it was common in those days to employ maids from Hong Kong. But over the past two decades Hong Kong has grown rich as one of Asia's “tigers”, while the Philippines has stayed poor. Hong Kong is the closest rich economy to the Philippines, and the easiest place to get “domestic” visas. It has the most elaborate network of employment agencies for amahs in the world.

A bed in a cupboard

Although the Filipinas in Hong Kong come from poor families, over half have college degrees. Most speak fluent English and reasonable Cantonese, besides Tagalog and their local Philippine dialect. About half are in Hong Kong because they are mothers earning money to send their children to school back home. The other half tend to be eldest sisters working to feed younger siblings. All are their families' primary breadwinners.

Their treatment varies. By law, employers must give their amahs a “private space” to live in, but Hong Kong's flats tend to be tiny, and the Asian Migrant Centre, an NGO, estimates that nearly half of amahs do not have their own room. Some amahs sleep in closets, on the bathroom floor, and under the dining table. One petite amah sleeps in a kitchen cupboard. At night she takes out the plates, places them on the washer, and climbs in; in the morning, she replaces the plates. When amahs are mistreated, as many are, they almost never seek redress. Among those who did so last year, one had her hands burned with a hot iron by her Chinese employer, and one was beaten for not cleaning the oven properly.

The amahs' keenest pain, however, is separation from loved ones. Most amahs leave their children and husbands behind for years, or for good, in order to provide for them. Meanwhile, those families often break apart. It is hard, for instance, to find married amahs whose husbands at home have not taken a mistress, or even fathered other children. Some amahs show their dislocation by lying or stealing from their employers, but most seem incapable of bitterness. Instead, they pour out love on the children they look after. Often it is they who dote, who listen, who check homework. And they rarely stop to compare or envy.

Under such circumstances, the obstinate cheerfulness of the Filipinas can be baffling. But does it equate to “happiness”, as most people would understand it? “That's not a mistake. They really are,” argues Felipe de Leon, a professor of Filipinology at Manila's University of the Philippines. In every survey ever conducted, whether the comparison is with western or other Asian cultures, Filipinos consider themselves by far the happiest. In Asia, they are usually followed by their Malay cousins in Malaysia, while the Japanese and Hong Kong Chinese are the most miserable. Anecdotal evidence confirms these findings.

Happiness is kapwa

Explaining the phenomenon is more difficult. The usual hypothesis puts it down to the unique ethnic and historical cocktail that is Philippine culture—Malay roots (warm, sensual, mystical) mixed with the Catholicism and fiesta spirit of the former Spanish colonisers, to which is added a dash of western flavour from the islands' days as an American colony. Mr de Leon, after a decade of researching, has concluded that Filipino culture is the most inclusive and open of all those he has studied. It is the opposite of the individualistic culture of the West, with its emphasis on privacy and personal fulfilment. It is also the opposite of certain collectivistic cultures, as one finds them in Confucian societies, that value hierarchy and “face”.

By contrast, Filipino culture is based on the notion of kapwa, a Tagalog word that roughly translates into “shared being”. In essence, it means that most Filipinos, deep down, do not believe that their own existence is separable from that of the people around them. Everything, from pain to a snack or a joke, is there to be shared. Guests in Filipino homes, for instance, are usually expected to stay in the hosts' own nuptial bed, while the displaced couple sleeps on the floor. Small-talk tends to get so intimate so quickly that many westerners recoil. “The strongest social urge of the Filipino is to connect, to become one with people,” says Mr de Leon. As a result, he believes, there is much less loneliness among them.

It is a tall thesis, so The Economist set out to corroborate it in and around Statue Square on Sundays. At that time the square turns, in effect, into a map of the Philippine archipelago. The picnickers nearest to the statue itself, for instance, speak mostly Ilocano, a dialect from northern Luzon. In the shade under the Number 13 bus stop (the road is off-limits to vehicles on Sundays) one hears more Ilonggo, spoken on Panay island. Closer to City Hall, the most common dialect is Cebuano, from Cebu. Hong Kong's Filipinas, in other words, replicate their village communities, and these surrogate families form a first circle of shared being. Indeed, some of the new arrivals in Hong Kong already have aunts, nieces, former students, teachers, or neighbours who are there, and gossip from home spreads like wildfire.

What is most striking about Statue Square, however, is that the sharing is in no way confined to any dialect group. Filipinas who are total strangers move from one group to another—always welcomed, never rejected, never awkward. Indeed, even Indonesian maids (after Filipinas, the largest group of amahs), and Chinese or foreign passers-by who linger for even a moment are likely to be invited to share the snacks.

The same sense of light-hearted intimacy extends to religion. Father Lim, for instance, is a Filipino priest in Hong Kong. Judging by the way his mobile phone rings almost constantly with amahs who want to talk about their straying husbands at home, he is also every amah's best friend. He is just as informal during his Sunday service in Tagalog at St Joseph's Church on Garden Road. This event is, by turns, stand-up comedy, rock concert and group therapy. And it is packed. For most of the hour, Father Lim squeezes through his flock with a microphone. “Are you happy?” he asks the congregation. A hand snatches the mike from him. “Yes, because I love God.” Amid wild applause, the mike finds its way to another amah. “I'm so happy because I got my HK$3,670 this month [$470, the amahs' statutory wage]. But my employer was expecting a million and didn't get it. Now he's miserable.” The others hoot with laughter.

The Filipinas, says Father Lim, have only one day a week of freedom (less, actually, as most employers impose curfews around dusk), so they “maximise it by liberating the Filipino spirit”. That spirit includes communing with God. Some 97% of Filipinos believe in God, and 65%, according to a survey, feel “extremely close” to him. This is more than double the percentage of the two runners-up in the survey, America and Israel. This intimate approach to faith, thinks Father Lim, is one reason why there is virtually no drug abuse, suicide or depression among the amahs—problems that are growing among the Chinese.

The lifeline to home

There is, however, an even more concrete expression of kapwa. Quite simply, it is the reason why the Filipinas are where they are in the first place: to provide for loved ones at home. Most spend very little of their monthly HK$3,670 on themselves. Instead, they take it to WorldWide House, a shopping mall and office complex near Statue Square. On Sundays the mall becomes a Philippine market, packed with amahs buying T-shirts, toys and other articles for their siblings and children, and remitting their wages. More than their wages, in fact: many amahs borrow to send home more, often with ruinous financial consequences.

Father Lim tells a story. An eminent Filipino died while abroad, and it was decided that local compatriots should bid the coffin adieu before its journey home. So amahs showed up to file past it. When the coffin arrived in the Philippines and was re-opened, the corpse was covered from head to toe with padded bras, platform shoes, Nike trainers, and the like, all neatly tagged with the correct addresses.

It is their role as a lifeline for the folks at home that has earned the OFWs their Tagalog nickname, bayani. By itself, bayani means heroine, and this is how many amahs see themselves. Another form of the word, bayanihan, used to describe the traditional way of moving house in the Philippines. All the villagers would get together, pick up the hut and carry it to its new site. Bayanihan was a heroic, communal—in other words, shared—effort.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that Bayanihan House is the name the amahs have given to a building in Hong Kong that a trust has made available to them for birthday parties, hairstyling classes, beauty pageants and the like. One recent Sunday, during a pageant, one of the contestants for beauty queen was asked how she overcame homesickness, and why she thought the people back home considered her a hero. She looked down into her audience of amahs. “We're heroes because we sacrifice for the ones we love. And homesickness is just a part of it. But we deal with it because we're together.” The room erupted with applause and agreement.

“Nowadays, bayanihan really means togetherness,” says Mr de Leon, and “togetherness is happiness”. It might sound too obvious, almost banal, to point out—had not so many people across the world forgotten it.

It's GM time. China is about to introduce a new genetically engineered rice. The new rice will boost ouput by 30 billion kilograms, enough for 70 million people. As a bonus it will require far less use of pesticides. Greenies will wail about the dangers of GM, even though GM has been a part of agriculture since the beginning. It was first called domestication, then splicing and cross-breeding. The greenies are prepared to deny millions of farmers the opportunity for better yields, higher incomes and lower health problems from their use of chemicals to sustain their guilt and scare campaigns. Makes you wonder who they are protecting.

Hong Kong will be offering a collective thank you to Singapore this weekend. They have just cut their personal income tax rate by 2% to 20%. Given the perpetual fear HK has of its competitors in Asia combined with an improved budget, this should be enough to stop the next increase in HK's tax rate. We can sleep well knowing only 16% of our income is to be wasted, rather than 17%.

Thanks, Lion City.

Hong Kong's finest legal minds gathered to wear silly wigs and gowns and open the legal year yesterday. The city may no longer be a British colony but by golly the judges and lawyers love an excuse for an anchronistic dress-up party. Chief Justice Andrew Li spouted the usual stuff...avoid political interference, no fear or favour, only serve the law. It's a noble intention, even if logically it makes no sense. Next the chairman of the Bar sounded dire warnings over the state of legal aid.

He said the [legal aid] scheme was no longer "up to the job of ensuring that lawyers, both barristers and solicitors, are fairly remunerated for the essential public service that they provide in defending persons accused of a crime".

1. Create an independent Government financed agency that provides lawyers for those who qualify for legal aid. This way the essential public service that legal aid provides turns for a private sector subsidy into what it really is: welfare.
2. Abolish the distinction between barristers and solicitors. Whatever the historical background, there is now no reason to distinguish between the two.
3. Allow contingency fees - i.e. you get paid only if you win. Worries about an American style litigation explosion don't wash. If you bring a case and lose, costs can still be awarded against you to compensate the other side. On top of that there are laws to deal with vexatious litigation.

That's only a start. It's about opening up the profession to competition and the Government providing legal aid via lawyers rather than money. Any objections?

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains a new blog from restricted Nepal, the aftermath of NK's nuke announcement, the Chinese Last Supper, the EU arms embargo on China, a Hello Kitty stress meter, the new Communi$t Party plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Welcome to the new Communi$t Party.
• Chinese industrial espionage in the USA. And the CIA report on China's rise, which Richard sees as baiting and pandering to the right. Others say the statement was a mistake.
• Some background and history on author Eileen Chang by the son of her agent and friend.
• The last supper with Chinese characteristics.
• Forget Superbowl ads. Now American beer companies are bringing you Chinese propaganda.
• China's gone to the dogs.
• China's demand for tissue and toilet paper is causing shortages.
• A critique of a study of educational differences between rural and urban Chinese.
• The French are arguing lifting of the EU arms embargo will stymie China's advanced weapon systems development because they'll be buying it from Europe instead. Winston Marshall has a far more detailed and nuanced look at the issue.
• The city of Guiyang is fighting back against the scourge of female infantcide and selective abortion.
• Is the US$7,000 car on the way?
• China's campaign against porn continues. Meanwhile official media keep pumping out the babes.
• Another massive coal mine disaster.
• A great set of China photos (via CDN).

Korea and Japan

• Japan and Russia are getting cosier in response to the perceived threat from China. Is this the early 1900s all over again? The end of Japan's aid program in China is also coming, not co-incidently there is also a flare-up over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. It's part of racheting up of the tensions between the two countries.
• NK declares they have nukes. But why now (another take is here)? The South Koreans don't believe it and the Chinese aren't impressed. An anonymous NK official tries to rationalise their declaration. Marmot was all over the media punditry and reaction. The attempt to drive a wedge between the other members of the 6 party talks has also backfired, although it is a sign the talks have been a failure. Some say the Bush Administration wanted the 6 party talks to fail, which makes little sense given the effort involved. An insider sees it as a sign of desperation. Jonathan Dresner argues for "pragmatic inconsistency".
• The US is perfecting its North Korean sanctions toolkit. Maybe using capitalism? Those crafty North Koreans have even managed to turn American food aid into a propaganda victory.
• Happy birthday, Mr Kim. Or is that Mini-me?
• Japanese's language problems.
• What do American hardliners and North Korea have in common?
• Is Japan's rising nationalism a threat?
• Japan's love hotel industry boasts a 260% occupancy rate and 500 million couples visit a year. No wonder the economy's in the doldrums - they're all too busy having nooky.
• Some North Korean announcements you might have missed.
• Some details for Westerners on working in Japan.

SE and Other Asia

• Radio Free Nepal - a new blog with this intro:King Gyandendra of Nepal has issued a ban on independent news broadcasts and has threatened to punish newspapers for reports that run counter to the official monarchist line. Given that any person in Nepal publishing reports critical of "the spirit of the royal proclamation" is subject to punishment and/or imprisonment, contributors to this blog will publish their reports from Nepal anonymously. (via Joel, Rconversations and Buzz Machine)
• Monogolia has adopted a second official language: English.
• The Wall St Journal is wrong on Pakistan's President.
• Cowboy Caleb has an amusing interview with Mr. Brown.
• Salman Rushdie - democracy is not a tea party.
• Bali's land politics.

Miscellany

• Japan's chin-dong bands - proof they are the goofiest nation on Earth.
• If she doesn't stress you out, Hello Kitty can check your stress levels.
• Sometimes people need to really think about their logos.
• The successor to the Little evil angel's bra, complete with key.

Today's SCMP:

In the article "Chips are down for cadres" published on December 31, 2004, it has been drawn to our attention that some readers might read the article to mean that mainland officials use the Sands casino to launder money. For the purpose of clarification we wish to clarify that the article was not meant to imply that we had knowledge that any money laundering activities by mainland officers had occurred there.

Chips are down for cadres

Macau's booming casino industry has highlighted the problem of gambling by senior political and government figures from the mainland, writes Mark O'Neill

If the governor of China's central bank wants to know how billions of yuan are being laundered out of his country, he should take the escalator to the third floor of the Sands casino in Macau.

Among the hundreds of gamblers crowding the tables below, Zhou Xiaochuan would likely see the odd mainland official betting public money and the bribes they have received. Down the corridor, through a locked door, are the VIP rooms, where access is reserved for high-rollers. There, too, Mr Zhou would find government colleagues.

'About half of our clients come from the mainland and the number is increasing, especially after Beijing allowed individual visas from many cities,' said one of the casino's staff.

Mr Zhou told a national meeting in the autumn that the fight against money laundering was 'falling behind' and a law was to be presented to the standing committee of parliament early next year. 'The situation is developing rapidly and we cannot keep pace with it.'

The love of gambling among officials has become so serious that, on February 17, the Communist Party issued an order banning senior cadres from betting abroad as well as at home, with severe punishments if they were caught.

The problem is so widespread among officials of the Guangdong government that the party has ordered those above the rank of deputy-director in the tax, finance and currency departments to surrender passports and Hong Kong and Macau entry permits to their personnel departments. To visit Macau, they must receive individual approval from their superiors.

In September, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) announced its most important conviction in a money-laundering case. A court in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, sentenced a money-changer named Feng Weilong to three years and a fine of 10,000 yuan and a Macau loan shark named Chen Zhifang to a fine of 4.95 million yuan, a record sum imposed against an individual by the agency since 1949.

The Zhejiang branch of Safe was alerted by heavy movements of foreign exchange through 11 accounts of one individual held at the Construction Bank in Hangzhou. Between December 2002 and July 2003, these accounts handled 522 transactions totaling US$16.9 million.

Working with the Zhejiang police, Safe discovered that this account was part of a sophisticated network run by Feng and Chen to launder money for mainland officials who went to Macau to bet. Since the casinos want payment in foreign currency, Feng and Chen took yuan from officials and gave them Hong Kong and US dollars in exchange and arranged, through illegal channels, for money to go back into Zhejiang banks.

The two charged a commission by exchanging money at lower than the official rate and took a fee for arranging the transfers, which is also illegal. The renminbi is not convertible and mainlanders are strictly limited in the amount they can exchange for foreign currency when they leave the country.

A dozen Hangzhou police officers pounced one afternoon last December arresting four of Feng's men with suitcases containing HK$4.4 million.

Chen was the lynchpin of the operation. A native of Shanghai, he emigrated to Macau in his teens and his name card identifies him as president of a trading company. But his real job was to lend money to gamblers from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and collect from them after their 'holiday', win or lose.

Chen knew his clients better than the banks they did business with. He knew their worth and what they could repay, enabling him to judge instantly how much to lend them when they asked for it in the heat and passion of the tables.

The Cantonese call loan sharks like Chen 'big ear hole'. The word comes from the Indians who were the first to offer high-interest loans and wore gold jewellery on their ears that made them appear larger than they actually were. Gamblers in Macau have been able to obtain the funds they needed from such creditors since the middle of the 18th century.

The margins on loan sharking are high, with interest ranging from 10-50 per cent a month. It is a high-risk operation. The sharks employ an army of men who watch their clients and, if they lose at the gamble, follow them when they leave the tables, to ensure that they repay.

'All methods are permissible to obtain the money,' said Leung Wai-hing, the owner of a watch shop in Macau. 'They include beating up the client, threatening or kidnapping his family members, and blackmail. The only way you can avoid repaying is to commit suicide. Death wipes out the debt.

'In the case of government officials, the sharks can go for 'black or white' - either the traditional methods or report the person to his superiors or state prosecutors, to ruin his career.'

Mr Leung said that officials who had taken bribes or stolen public funds bet heavily because they had to launder the money, preferably outside the mainland, into real estate or gambling.

'You have stolen 10 million yuan,' he said. 'You gamble the money. If you double it, you repay the original 10 million and keep the rest. If you lose, then it is gone. They have the sense that the money does not belong to them. In other cases, it is rich businessmen who give money to officials to bet. It is their gift, in exchange for favours and licences they need at home.'

The former vice-mayor of Shenyang Ma Xiangdong was one famous example. He lost more than 40 million yuan during 30 trips to the Macau gambling tables before he was arrested and executed.

Another well-known case was Lan Pu, former vice-mayor of Xiamen, who flew to Hong Kong in late 1999 after spending a week of study at the Central Party School in Beijing. He lost 3.5 million yuan in one day in Macau. But Lan won more than he lost. After his arrest, mainland investigators calculated that, over several years, he made a profit of US$650,000 and HK$330,000 from betting in Australia and Macau. The courts gave Lan a suspended death sentence.

Li Jianyang, director of Guangdong Taishan Sports Administration was given a life sentence for gambling in Macau from 1999 to 2001.

Last week, a Guangzhou newspaper reported that the head of a transport bureau in Yanbian, Jilin province, had spent seven million yuan, stolen from public funds and borrowed from his family and companies he supervised, at the gambling tables in Rason, North Korea. He is on the run. The Yanbian government said that any officials found gambling overseas would be dismissed from government and party positions.

Of 250,000 mainlanders who visited North Korea this year through Yanbian, an estimated 50,000 went to the Rason casino.

Planning to come to Hong Kong in December? Not sure what to wear? You could follow the constantly good advice over at Spirit Fingers, or you can take mine: flak jackets, gas masks and a thick hide.

Hong Kong will host the World Trade Organisation's gab-fest from December 13th to 18th this year. This means 10,000 politicians, public servants and media will descend upon the Big Lychee. It also means the anti-globalisation crowd are headed this way. Despite wearing their Nikes and Levis, despite being rich enough to be critical of globalisation, despite being patronising in knowing what's best for "the world's poor", the typical ragtag crew will do their best to disrupt the meeting. Ironically the meeting is being held in China, the world's greatest beneficiary of globalisation and a major factor in raising literally millions out of poverty.

If you intend to engage with the protesters, please don't bring logic, facts or rationality. For example check this picture from a small protest in HK yesterday.

From the SCMP: Taxing tactics: A passer-by watches protesters from the United Filipinos in Hong Kong as they denounce moves by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to raise value-added tax by 20 per cent. Rallying at the Philippine consulate-general in Admiralty, the group branded the Philippine president a "reverse Robin Hood for stealing from the poor and giving to the rich".

The sign on the left reads "Globalization = Low Wages and Taxation". I would have thought low taxes were a good thing, especially if wages were low. Does it not strike the young lady holding the "No to Neoliberal Globalization" sign that she is actually a beneficiary of globalisation by her being and working in Hong Kong? And what the hell does "neoliberal globalization" mean anyway? Are there different political types of globalisation.

Oh, I forgot. I tried to use reason to understand. We should all retreat to our native lands and barricade ourselves against the evils of the rest of the world. Although that could cost the Philippines quite a bit: overseas remittances were US$8.5 billion last year, or 10% of GDP.

If you don't want to enjoy the many benefits of globalisaiton, that's up to you. But don't foist your idiotic views on the rest of us.

Update: From Hemlock:

A PHONE conversation with Morris, the greatest living Scotsman in the Hong Kong Police. I ask him about the space-age crowd control materiel Asia’s finest are acquiring ahead of the World Trade Organization’s ministerial conference next December. “Oh aye,” he replies. “We’re tooling up big time. The first anti-globalization protestor to step over the line gets it – Pooof!” So what’s the story behind the rubber bullets? “Och – forget ‘rubber’. We call them baton rounds. They’re made of depleted uranium. The first hairy European anarchist with an Arab scarf and a ‘save the whales’ T-shirt to stick his ugly head over the barricade – Zap! Don’t mess with the HKP, Jimmy! And we got tons of tear gas, too.” I wonder aloud whether it might be better to give the protestors economics lessons. Morris considers this. “Erm…” I hear him scratch his head. “No,” he concludes. “Tear gas.” Fine. We’re in capable hands. There are times when it’s a privilege to pay tax in this town.

Hong Kong's two pro-Beijing political parties have merged to form the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). Given the Progressive Alliance was decimated in the Legco elections this was only a matter of time and more a takeover than a merger. Besides being one of the most atrocious names for any political party it they will wield considereable power. The new DAB is being touted as the "kingmaker" for the next Chief Executive and Government.

With the merger, the new DAB could double its representation to 125 members [out of 800] in the Election Committee that will elect the next chief executive in 2007...

A DAB member said plans are under way within the party to interview candidates for the next chief executive one by one at a closed-door party forum. It is understood the DAB aims to lobby the most likely candidate to form a partnership with the party in exchange for support for the candidate's election bid.

In collusion news, PCCW's Cyberport property project is going great guns (for background try here and here). Thanks, Hong Kong. Soon the whole city will be Disneyland.

Hamish McDonald from the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the Liaoning mine blast under the headline Beijing gags local media after mine blast kills 203:

Local reports said Chinese authorities ordered a news blackout on the disaster, tightening its grip on press freedom.

Chinese media said 180 mine rescue specialists had been sent to the mine in the heart of the industrial "rust belt" in the region once known as Manchuria.

With much fanfare Disney announced their two hotels for the HK Disneyland site are open for bookings. Bargain rates are on offer, thanks partly to Disney's itself. Peter Lowe, general manager of hotel operations, said:

The hotels will offer a tremendous return for the city.

I'll take the cheque, thanks. It's the least we can expect from a multi-billion dollar Government subsidy investment.

China invented toilet paper. Now they are using too much of it. A survey has determined high toilet paper demand is affecting wood supplies. Shanghaiese use an average 8.5 kilograms of tissues and toilet paper a year, compared to the world average of 3.5 kg. This equals 140,000 tons of toilet and tissue paper, equal to 300,000 tons of wood for just Shanghai. Luckily technology is coming to the rescue before China's forests are literally wiped away.

A factory in Jiangsu Province has invented technology to make toilet paper and tissue from straw, and another one in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region can produce tissue from the dregs of sugarcane.

The Robert Kissel murder has generated a huge amount of interest. Last week I noted the SCMP finally covering the upcoming case, 3 months after I had obtained the same information. Today "Spike" from the SCMP left this comment:

Why the bitchy tone Simon? You moan when the papers don't report the story and then you moan when they do...just because a piece of info apears on an obscure website, surely this does not preclude it being given a much wider audience in a newspaper at a later date?

Spike's implication is the SCMP has performed a service in its report by bringing the story to a wider audience. That's true...to some extent. The article is reproduced in the extended entry. It is a recap of the case with the details of the upcoming trial. There is not a single shred of new information in the article. Yet the editor felt it deserved a banner headline and the top spot above the fold on the front page. I'm glad the SCMP are finally starting to cover the case. I hope they continue to cover the case. But I hope they do so in a timely manner. That was my implication in my "bitchy" post. At least we seemed to have moved on from if they will report it to when. That's progress of a sort.

It begs a broader question. When does news cease to be news? It would seem according to Spike it is when a newspaper decides. Information is not exclusive. If it appears on an obscure website it is obviously not precluded from appearing in a newspaper as well. What is odd is when it appears in a prominant position in a hundred year old newspaper three months (and more) after the same information appeared on the obscure website of an amateur.

That's why the bitchy tone, Spike. It's all in the timing.

Wife of Merrill Lynch banker to stand trial for his murder

Niall Fraser

A woman accused of killing her husband, a top American banking executive, has been free on bail since November and will stand trial for his murder in three months' time.

Nancy Ann Kissel was released on bail after a closed-door Court of First Instance hearing before Mr Justice Michael Burrell on November 4.

Her release came almost a year after the body of her husband, Robert Kissel, was discovered near their luxury apartment in Parkview, Tai Tam.

Kissel was Asia-Pacific managing director of global principal products for banking giant Merrill Lynch.

Nancy Kissel, 40, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and the trial is due to start in the Court of First Instance on May 19 before Mr Justice Michael Lunn. The proceedings are expected to last at least 20 days.

A pre-trial review hearing has been set down for April 25.

The last public records of Kissel's progress through the courts were those of her non-appearance at two hearings before a magistrate in Eastern Court because she was unwell.

In June last year in Eastern Court, Kissel pleaded not guilty to murder and was remanded in custody. No bail application was made at that point and the case was transferred to the Court of First Instance.

On November 1, at a chambers hearing before Mr Justice Michael Burrell, Kissel was granted bail pending reports.

She was formally released on bail three days later.

It is understood that the couple's two daughters, who are aged nine and six, and their three-year-old son have returned to the United States.

This has been cross-posted at Winds of Change.

This is a digest of highlights from the Asia by Blog series. Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region.

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Politics

• ESWN is annoyed by the British Foreign Office's press release on HK democracy. Tom takes issue with the post.
• Taiwan's major arms deal is stalled.
• Did China's Vice President really criticise Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Che-hwa? It comes to but a single but.
• Reformer and ex-Premier Zhao Ziyang died. Dan Drezner looks at how much China has changed since Tiananmen. ESWN looked at how the death was covered by China's media. His funeral caused the CCP all sorts of headaches. At first they refused refused a state funeral and recognition. The authorities roughed up mourners. But finally they changed their minds. Reports said it was a low-key funeral. The official obit balanced his contributions with In the political turbulence which took place in the late spring and early summer of 1989, Comrade Zhao committed serious mistakes. Bill notes the importance of the word turbulence rather than turmoil in the Chinese version.
• The first direct flights between Taiwan and China in 55 years touched down this week. Except they had to go via HK airspace...not the most direct route.
• Has the World Economic Forum been used to broker a Sino-European arms deal?
• China's space ambitions: Glenn Reynolds believes a space race between China and America is a good thing. Mark Whittington also talks about the coming space race. But I'm with Rand Simberg: China's efforts in space a demonstration of Government waste and mispalced priorities.
• China is building military bases and listening posts in Pakistan to keep an eye on key (oil) shipping lanes and project its reach in the region. Elsewhere China's balancing act in Africa.

Economy and Lifestyle

• China's executives are quickly learning about Western style pay.
• Collusion in Hong Kong is getting so bad even tycoons are complaining. Tom looks at the difference between co-operation and collusion between business and HK's Government. Then there was the Cyberport Collusion corrabaree. Tom points out James Tien's hypocrisy...again. In China they are so proud of collusion they tell the FT about it.
• Is China bankrolling Russia's renationalisation of Yukos? And was this just a step in a broader battle between India and China?
• China files less than 1% of the patents in the US and Europe. Not a surprise - China's advatnage (at the moment) is its ability to marry cheap labour with capital rather than to innovate. But in 20 years or so...
• Are crime and disorder indicating the central government is losing its grip?
• Bill Gates does a Rupert Murdoch on China's leadership and economy. This is the same leadership selling missiles to Iran and which is asserting more Communist control of business.
• Hong Kong: not the world's free-est economy. Even China is installing anti-trust laws while "free" HK has none.
• "As safe as banks" is not a Chinese saying.
• The lessons of SARS were obviously not remembered.
• Will words turn to deeds for the CCP's promises over rural problems.
• There are some arguing the yuan is not undervalued. Brad Setser lists the points and argues why each is wrong.
• How big is Wal-Mart? They buy 1.1% of all Chinese output.
• Roland compares the "prices of life" in various Chinese cities.

History, Sport and Culture

• Is a crackdown on supersitions coming?
• Take a few hundred students, lock them in a dark room and pretend they're in a tsunami. It's education Hong Kong style.
• "Freedom" of religion in China.
• Why don't Chinese stand in line?
• The Jews of Shanghai.
• A day in the life of a living god.
• Another billion dollar corruption scandal.
• Are there parallels between Iraq and 1912 China? Does that mean Iraq will be running by Communists in 2035? China is prepared to sponsor elections in Iraq, but not at home.
• First it was the Reds, now it's the Red Ants taking over Hong Kong.
• To get rich might be glorious, but it will also get you kicked off the Olympic team.
• An interview with the late Susan Sontag and her thoughts on a range of issues concerning China and Asia (via ESWN)

Information

• Just as many journalists suspect, newspapers are made of gold. It's journalistic freedom that's really precious. Some journalists you should know: Abdulghani Memetemin; Zhu Yufu; Zhang Honghai.
• China will have 134 million internet users by the end of 2005, although growth in China's internet users has dramatically slowed.
• ESWN demonstrates the gap in reporting between the English and Chinese press in Hong Kong. Also a look at the de facto undermining of official book publishing in China.
• Hong Kong has clamped down on file sharing, arresting a man for using BitTorrent. Amy interviews two Americans involved in BitTorrent for their views.
• China is watching Gmail.
• The students at WOW have been having an ongoing discussion on the case of Zhao Yan, the NY Times researcher arrested by the Beijing SSB. The introduction is a good place to start for background; Lianne Li discusses press freedom in the wake of the case; Charlotte Li takes NYT journalist Kristof to task; Julia Zhu looks at the role of the press and different models of expression and speech; and Christina Liang doesn't think individuals should sacrifice in the face of powerful Government. It's heartening to read the next generation of Chinese journalists confronting these issues.
• Hong Kong doesn't need to bother following China's example in having a state owned press. The Government can get its articles published regardless.

Korea and Japan

• North Korea announce they have nukes. Plenty on it at NK Zone.
• Japan's most important Shinto shrine is about to be dismantled, again.
• A major diplomatic spat between North Korea and the Czech Republic over "Team America". The Czechs have said it's an unrealistic wish. Man, I really need to see that movie.
• A look at the parallels between Japan's kamikaze and today's suicide bombers.
• They cranked up the thermostat ahead of the Japan vs. NK World Cup soccer match, but would be there to watch? Turns out they did - Japan won 2-1.
• The privitisation of Japan Post is inching forwards.
• Japan 1868 has lessons for at least one newly democratic Middle East country.
• Interested in becoming a Japanese citizen? Read this first. Also Joi Ito has a case of a South Korean national being banned from taking a managerial promotion civil service exam in Japan due to her nationality. He's not impressed. Sean looks into the same issue in greater detail.
• Scholars from China, Japan and Korea are working to produce a combined modern East Asian history textbook.
• Even North Korea is cottoning on to this private property idea.
• A new kind of North Korean is breaking into China: banks. But China's clampdown on official gambling is hurting North Korea.
• A guide to drinking in Korea, with a follow-up.
• Anyone for golf in Pyongyang?
• The questionable basis of East Asian nationalisms and Infidel's take on the South Korean variety.

SE and Other Asia

• How close are the links between Pakistan's military establishment and "rogue" nuclear arms dealer Khan.
• Thailand's Thaskin had a thumping election win - plenty of links and coverage.
• Vietnam and China are hashing out a territorial dispute via a web forum (via CDN)
• Nepal's King launched a coup. Nitin says cancelling the South Asia summit was a bad idea. But King Gyanendra has an admirer.
• A student stands up to Singapore's PAP and the Straits Times toes the line. And Wannabe Lawyer has an excellent piece on freedom of speech after the fuss over Steve McDermott's site and more thoughts on the original comments over whether Lee Kuan Yew is a despot. More also from Agagooga and Mr Brown.
• No kissing in Indonesia please.
• An amazing group blog documenting volunteers help(ing) women in war-torn countries grow sustainable businesses. (via Jakartass)
• The blogging of the tsunami (via Jakartass). Collin May has an interesting article on the impact of the Asian tsunami and the changes in international relations.
• Sassy has a roundup of what Filipino bloggers are talking about.
• Intrigue in the top ranks of Myanmar's junta.
• Sepia Mutiny was all over the disgusting Miss Jones "Tsunami Song" controversy, as was Anna.
• Has offshoring hit America's intelligence activities?

Miscellany

• Andres Gentry has been profiling a series of Asian bloggers.
• Everything you need to know about Japanese fish sausage and pencil carving:
• For those with some free time, you can go to Shanghai and check out Chinese bullfighting over the CNY holiday.
• Move over Segway, it's the Sweeper.
• Sanyo's PR people strike back...with a Hello Kitty toaster.
• Chairs that can grow on you.
• Learn to fold a t-shirt, Japanese style. Who knew you there was a way to fold t-shirts? Then learn to draw Manga comics.
• Key differences between Chinese and Korean men.
• Now you know why you hate camera phones.

My Da told me money doesn't grow on trees. He's right. It comes out of my dog's backside.

Chinese New Year means lai see. These red packets usually contain money and are given to singles, employees, children and others with a hearty "Kung Hei Fat Choi". On Thursday the family attended a traditional lion dance at our apartment complex. While scaring away evil spirits it also scared the hell out of the kids. To make them feel better the God of Fortune dolled out lai see. Over the break we also saw many of the kids' playmates*. By the weekend we were had many lai see packets and it was too hard to keep track.

Fast forward to yesterday. While everyone else was napping, JC and I took Misti the wonder-dog for a walk. In the bracing park air we were enjoying some quality Daddy/daughter bonding time. Misti ran merrily ahead, at one stage snatching a sandwich from a too-slow hiker who had left it sitting on a bench. She frolicked and pranced, rolled and ran, huffed and puffed. Eventually she had business to attend to. Being the dutiful owner, I used a plastic bag and picked up her production. While not normally in the habit of closely examining dog excreta, I noticed something unusual. I looked again. On closer inspection it was true: Misti had shat a $10 note. Ironically JC has been reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, with its golden eggs. We both knew exactly what to do. We raced home, hopeful and happy with our new fountain of wealth. We pampered the dog, we tended to her with extra love and affection and waited. Her next droppings were eagerly examined. But alas, nothing. Yet. But I remain hopeful.

A dog pooing money has to be a good omen for the Year of the Rooster. Better than a broken Wishing Tree, that's for sure.

* _{No, not Daddy's playmates. Daddy has a very different interpretation of the word.}

As discussed elsewhere, this is the first of a weekly showcase of new blogs from around the world. Next week it will be hosted by Lucas.

The idea is simple: give blogs less than 3 months old a chance for greater exposure. Please check them out and let people know about this new carnival. The Showcase website will be updated with the latest information.

Now without further ado, here is this week's Showcase.

NOTE: these are not my views, they are those of the various bloggers who's posts are linked.

1. Coldhearted Pragmatism: a look at how Europe is dealing with Bush's re-election and asking if it is Bush or the USA itself that is different.

2. The Calculus of Insurgency: the insurgency in Iraq is being defeated. Part 2 develops the theme further.

3. Pizza Hut pizza to go: pyramids, the Sphinx and a pizza.

4. Family matters: John rouses the family in discusses his views on his blog.

5. We women, our wants, our needs, gee: WWMD - what would mother do?

6. Everything happens for a reason: No it doesn't. Sometimes, such as in the tsunami, it's just luck.

7. Egotists on NPR: Radio personalities are making themselves the story. And what's with "commentator"?

8. Generation What?: Karin isn't so sure about labels like Generation X and Y.

9. Retuers misrepresents survey to bash church-goers: Here's a shock - a news organisation getting it wrong.

10. Mr. Rumsfeld's Jihad: how to tell if war's been successful.

The list of upcoming carnivals:

Feb 21 - Lucas Brachish
Feb 28 - Karin
Mar 7 - Sadie
Mar 14 - Josh Cohen
Mar 21- Snooze Button Dreams
Mar 28 - Mookie
April 4 - Disintegrator
Apr 11 -
Apr 18 -
Apr 25 -
May 2 -
May 9 - Baboon Pirates

If you are interested in hosting an edition please let me know.

Excitement is building as the opening of HK Disneyland approaches. The latest example in HK's history of non-collusive public boondoogles is due to open in September. The SCMP, grateful for a press release to pad it out, covers the exciting design and opening of the fire station at Disneyland:

How do you design a fire and police station that is functional yet part of the Disney fantasy? Hong Kong government architects hope they have found the answer - paint it green and keep it low key..."We [the Government architects] went to Orlando's Disneyland during vacation to look at theirs [fire station]. Things are very different there but they still made us understand what standards the theme park is looking for," he said.

Total construction cost is around $16 million, about 15 per cent more than a conventional one.

On the first day of Chinese New Year Japan formally took control of a lighthouse on deserted Uotsuri Island, part of the Diaoyu chain. Problem is sovereignty over these islands is contested by both China and Taiwan. China has naturally less than impressed, branding the move illegal and invalid and calling it a severe provocation. What are they really fighting about? Fish and oil. The Chinese aren't blameless. They were doing "geography research" in December last year.

At
the same time Japan is starting negotiations on ending its development aid program for China.

Rationally war between China and Japan is not feasible. But as with Taiwan, rationality may not be a factor. When you read of the depth of feeling and animosity many Chinese have towards Japan you get the feeling it's China's Government that is being restrained.

The Chine$e Communi$t Party has found one third of private business owners are party members. Interestingly many had already joined the party before moving from the public or government to private sector. That raises two questions. How private is China's private sector? And does the word Communist actually mean anything anymore?

Tung Che-hwa probably breathed a sigh of relief when the number 13, neutral in Chinese numerology, was drawn in the annual fortune stick ceremony. 83, the unluckiest possible number, was drawn in both 2002 and 2003. But the gods had the last laugh. A branch of the Lam Tseun Wishing Tree snapped off. The Government is expected to ban oranges as a result.

At least in Hong Kong you can ostenatiously display your wealth. Those unlucky enough to be rich in China cannot even do that.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains collusive corporations, fake tsunamis, phoenix Shinto shrines, North Koreas denied entry to the US, a spat over Team America, Nepal's coup, Singaporeans speaking out, married gay Commies, Chinese bullfighting plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous Year of the Rooster.

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• It's a Cyberport Collusion corrabaree. Tom points out James Tien's hypocrisy...again.
• They can't be serious. "Why are Chinese disinclined to show wealth". Bentley and Louis Vuitton would disagree.
• They're already queuing for HK Disneyland, 6 months early.
• ESWN is annoyed by the British Foreign Office's press release on HK democracy. Tom takes issue with the post.
• China's executives are quickly learning about Western style pay.
• Some journalists you should know: Abdulghani Memetemin; Zhu Yufu; Zhang Honghai.
• Is a crackdown on supersitions coming?
• Take a few hundred students, lock them in a dark room and pretend they're in a tsunami. It's education Hong Kong style.
• China's 24.
• ESWN isn't impressed by Alex Ho's press conference.
• How to complain in Shanghai.
• The fuss over Chinese made Canadian lapels.
• Taiwan's major arms deal is stalled.

Korea and Japan

• Japan's most important Shinto shrine is about to be dismantled, again.
• A major diplomatic spat between North Korea and the Czech Republic over "Team America". The Czechs have said it's an unrealistic wish. Man, I really need to see that movie. Meanwhile they're cranking up the thermostat ahead of the Japan vs. NK World Cup soccer match. I wonder if anyone will be there to watch?
• North Korean defectors were caught trying to get into the USA.
• South Korea's hoju system has been declared unconsitutional.
• Not quite taking it on the chin, more like the calves...
• The privitisation of Japan Post is inching forwards.

SE and Other Asia

• How close are the links between Pakistan's military establishment and "rogue" nuclear arms dealer Khan.
• Thailand's Thaskin had a thumping election win - plenty of links and coverage.
• Vietnam and China are hashing out a territorial dispute via a web forum (via CDN)
• A student stands up to Singapore's PAP and the Straits Times toes the line. And Wannabe Lawyer has an excellent piece on freedom of speech after the fuss over Steve McDermott's site and more thoughts on the original comments over whether Lee Kuan Yew is a despot. More also from Agagooga and Mr Brown.
• Nepal's royal coup, led by King Gyanendra, has an admirer.
• A couple of gay Communists got married in the Philippines.
• Matthew's take on religion in Vietnam.
• No kissing in Indonesia please.
• An amazing group blog documenting volunteers help(ing) women in war-torn countries grow sustainable businesses. (via Jakartass)

Miscellany

• Everything you need to know about Japanese fish sausage.
• For those with some free time, you can go to Shanghai and check out Chinese bullfighting over the CNY holiday.
• Orz and nice guys.
• Move over Segway, it's the Sweeper.

My brother got a phone call today from a bank:

Bank: Hi, i'm from Ubermegabank. please give me your identification details.
Bro: Um, you phoned me. Why do I have to identify myself?
Bank: For your security and protection.
Bro: But I know who I am. How do I know who you are?
Bank: I require your identification details before I can go any further.
Bro: (gives details out of lack of effort)
Bank: You would have received a letter after you were sent your credit card indicating you needed to complete a 100 point identification check, this hasn't been done so I will be stopping your card.
Bro: I never got a letter.
Bank: But one should have been sent.
Bro: But it was never recieved.
Bank: OK. I'll fax one to you now. if I don't get a response by the end of the day, I'll cancel the card.
Bro: That's stupid. Because you never sent a letter you were meant to send, I have to drop everything?
Bank: The letter should have been sent.
Bro: As you said, but it was never received. Can you at least give me a day or two to get the documents for the additional card holder as well?
Bank: Of course. I can give you till the end of the day.

David is running the JIB awards and yours truly has been nominated for Best Designed Blog. Vote here - you can vote only once. Plenty of other good blogs to check out while you're there.

It's now official: Hong Kong's Government has entered the laundry business. David Webb's efforts to test the non-binding Code on Access to Information to extract accounts data on Cyberport may ostensibly appear fruitless. But it proved two things. Unsurprisingly the "collusion-free" Government has absolutely no interest in sharing information on Cyberport. But far more amazing is this from Webb's latest must read report:

OGCIO* had provided to LegCo sanitized accounts without the commercially sensitive information.

Webb has previously looked at the Cyberport debacle. This latest newsletter was based on his requests for information after the orginal article. There's more in the new report, such as why the Government keenly opposed measures to have directors' reports and financial statements open for public inspection. It also hints at why HK has a non-binding information access code, rather than true Freedom of Information laws. Mr. Webb got the Ombudsman involved and eventually extracted a clenched-teeth apology from OGCIO. No information, but an apology. It would be funny if it weren't so serious. Read it all.

Best of all is Webb's conclusion:

Given the secrecy surrounding the Cyberport, and the way the Government claims to have bound itself into confidentiality obligations by contract, the public has good reason to wonder whether Government will do the same thing with the so-called West Kowloon Cultural Development, or Cultureport (yes, it is by the harbour, like our windowless Cultural Centre in Tsimshatsui). Perhaps, 5-10 years from now, you will be hearing that the accounts of the single developer, and the accounts of the cultural facilities, cannot be divulged due to commercial sensitivity - they won't want the public to know just what a huge profit the developer has extracted from the 40 hectare site in return for a few more museums and performing venues to subsidise some of the arts.

Even if you agree that in a free market, the Government should subsidise certain sections of our creative economy with taxpayers' money (which we do not), this is an incredibly inefficient way to do it. The Government should parcel up West Kowloon into normal sized chunks, install the basic infrastructure such as access roads to ensure co-ordinated development, determine what waterfront areas should be set aside for public enjoyment, and then auction the development sites to the highest bidders in the normal way, including a staggered auction schedule to prevent hitting the market with up to 40 hectares in one go. If legislators agree that a site on the headland for a subsidised cultural facility should be set aside and funded from the public purse, then so be it, but that should be a separate matter.

It gives new meaning to "Chinese laundry".

* _{Office of the Government Chief Inforation Officer}

Four hundred and eighty 12 to 14 year old students at Hong Kong's Buddhust Ching Kok Secondary School were locked in a darkened hall, blasted with the sound of crashing waves and simulated being swept to their deaths by a tsunami, says the SCMP. Next week the school intends to re-create a LegCo session with the students being locked in a darkened hall, blasted with the sound of crashing bores and simulated being swept to their brain deaths by a Policy Statement.

Free Che Guevara t-shirts to the survivors.

This site, November 10th, 2004: On April 25th 2005 there is a pre-trial review of the [Nancy Kissel murder] case at the High Court, estimated duration 30 minutes.
On May 19th 2005 the case proper begins, estimated to take 20 days.

South China Morning Post, February 6th, 2005: exactly the same information, plastered on the front page above the fold.

Expect to read the SCMP's coverage of the Kissel murder trial in May...2006.

I've established a category of the Kissel case with all the relevant posts on the topic.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains partially trusted lawyers, Korean-Japan football, gold-plated Chinese newspapers, Chinese funded Russian oil, history repeating, the blogging of the tsunami, blogger interviews and a Hello Kitty toaster, plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Collusion in Hong Kong is getting so bad even tycoons are complaining. In China they are so proud of collusion they tell the FT about it.
• Calculated at last: how much can you trust lawyers? 20%.
• China will have 134 million internet users by the end of 2005.
• Is China bankrolling Russia's renationalisation of Yukos? And was this just a step in a broader battle between India and China?
• Ranking China's richest cities.
• Intellectuals are dying in China in more ways than one.
• Just as many journalists suspect, newspapers are made of gold. It's journalistic freedom that's really precious.
• While on freedoms, try "freedom" of religion.
• Did China's Vice President really criticise Tung Che-hwa? It comes to but a single but.
• You might be out of China, but you can still get CCTV.
• Are crime and disorder indicating the central government is losing its grip?
• Parallels between the EU's approach to both Cuba and China.
• Take Bill Gates's quotes on China's new capitalism, juxtapose them with waffle from NGOs and what do you have? Not much at all.
• Why don't Chinese stand in line?
• The lessons of SARS were obviously not remembered.
• China's football Super League has lost its main sponsor and all credibility.
• Another billion dollar corruption scandal.

Korea and Japan

• Japan 1868 has lessons for at least one newly democratic Middle East country.
• Will textbook by committee help or hinder the cause of better East Asian relations?
• The South Korean Soccer Research Institute will sponsor the NK soccer team. Who knew there was a soccer research institute? Of course the game is never just about sport.
• American scientists believe NK was the source of Libyan enriched uranium. Plenty more background and links as well. But on second thoughts, the scientists aren't so sure...
• Nomad's "Assclown of 2005" has already been awarded.
• Interested in becoming a Japanese citizen? Read this first.
• A new kind of North Korean is breaking into China: banks.
• The useful idiots who help support North Korea.
• Japan's top internet queries for 2004.
• Sanyo's PR people strike back...with a Hello Kitty toaster.

SE and Other Asia

• The blogging of the tsunami (via Jakartass).
• Today in Singapore: D stands for despot.
• A novel pitch: invest in Pakistan to save it (and yourself) from terrorism.
• Sassy has a roundup of what Filipino bloggers are talking about.
• Nepal's King launched a coup. Nitin says cancelling the South Asia summit was a bad idea.
• Take the train, win a car.
• Both the Sultan of Brunei and John Howard visited Aceh.

Miscellany

• Andres interviews Jodi from the Asia Pages. And the entertaining Mr. Miyagi gets interviewed.
• Chairs that can grow on you.
• Learn to fold a t-shirt, Japanese style. Who knew you there was a way to fold t-shirts? Then learn to draw Manga comics.
• Japanese civilisation hits an all-time high...or low.

China's people officially feel safe...well, at least 34% of them do. Another 55% feel "basically safe". There's a big difference between being "safe" and "basically safe". Running Dog has a good article on all of this. Most worrying are the 10% who don't feel safe at all. In China that means there are 130 million people fearing for their safety.

It's enough to get me worried.

Elsewehere last week we had a glimpse of a day of the life of the Panchen Lama. Mr Lama celebrated his 15th birthday. Amongst the well-wishers were China's President, Hu Jintao who reminded the Lama to be "a Living Buddha with full love to the country and his religion." Note the order: country first, then religion. That was deliberate.

Now I know at least one of the 130 million.

The SCMP reports a taxi driver refused a US$1,000 reward for returning a bag containing US$100,000 cash (reg. req'd, try this) to its owners. Which begs the question: why are so many people walking around this city with so much cash?

Andrew Sullivan semi-retires from blogging. His premium Blog Ads cost US$3,200 a month and the standard ones US$1,300 a month. Do they get refunds? What about those that donated to his pledge drive? Do they get half their money back?

Caveat emptor.

Hong Kong has a new word of the year: collusion. In a canny strategy to deflect attention from his Government's poor record, Tung Che-hwa has instead focussed everyone's attention on the too-close links between big business and Government instead. A masterstroke!

Yesterday Legco was presnted with a series of letters between the Government and PCCW over the Cyberport development debacle. They all point to the same conclusion: PCCW was given a wink and a nod that its residential development project would be dressed up in high-tech clothes and have full Government support. The SCMP reports a top public servant involved in the project, former secretary for information technology and broadcasting Kwong Ki-chi, sent a letter on Jan 26, 1999 to PCCW chief Richard Li asking a series of probing questions. These questions include asking why there was no need for open tender, why the Telegraph Bay site, why there was a residential component to the project and why Cyberport and IT were chosen in the first place. Mr. Li promptly replied within a week, but without answering any of these questions. Remarkably only one week later the very same Mr. Kwong wrote ot Mr. Li saying "The government fully endorses the proposed development of the Cyberport." What happened?

Mr Tung, who discussed collusion between the government and business in his policy address last month, travelled to Israel on January 31, 1999, on a three-day information technology fact-finding mission. He was accompanied by a number of business leaders, including Richard Li.

Europe is getting ready to lift its arms embargo on China and replace it with a code of conduct, although some suspect it is not yet a done deal. Condi Rice isn't impressed, nor are some others.

The situation closely mirrors another: the EU's change of heart on human rights activists in Cuba. Glenn Reynolds quotes Vaclav Havel:

I can hardly think of a better way for the EU to dishonor the noble ideals of freedom, equality and human rights that the Union espouses -- indeed, principles that it reiterates in its constitutional agreement. To protect European corporations' profits from their Havana hotels, the Union will cease inviting open-minded people to EU embassies, and we will deduce who they are from the expression on the face of the dictator and his associates. It is hard to imagine a more shameful deal...

It is suicidal for the EU to draw on Europe's worst political traditions, the common denominator of which is the idea that evil must be appeased and that the best way to achieve peace is through indifference to the freedom of others.

First there was the Boxer Rebellion; now there are the lucky boxers. The money quote:

If you have a dragon on your underpants you will be protected.

The new blog showcase is turning into a weekly carnival. If you know of or have a new blog, or you would be interested in hosting the carnival, please check out the details and let me know. The first carnival will be held here on Feb. 14th.

Time for something different. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.

• You know more about medicine than most doctors.

• You discover your parents were right, damn it.

• You find yourself doing and saying things your parents did and said to you despite your childhood vows to the contrary.

• 8:30pm seems like an ungodly hour but 5am does not.

• There is a three letter word that beats sex: bed.

• You can hold a conversation, monitor 360 degrees around you, eat, hold a baby and think it all normal.

• You can spot another parent without speaking or even knowing them.

• The idea of a good night is no phone calls, all errands done and everyone in bed before 8pm.

• You miss hangovers.

• The sight of vomit/blood/poo/pish/drool and any other bodily fluids have no impact on you whatsoever.

• You can video, take a photo with a separate camera, sing happy birthday and blow out the candles at the same time.

• You can patronise your single and childless friends with "just wait until you have kids"

• You realise what non-returnable really means.

• Adult interaction consists of reading emails...including spam.

• The thought of watching kids sing old songs out of tune for an hour fills you with excitement and pride.

• Juggling looks easy.

• You can actually be not two but three places at once.

• You can hand out advice like this.

• You can watch your kids make and do all the same stupid things you did.

• You can listen to your kids going through the same with their kids as you went through with them...and laugh about it.

• You can sing the theme songs and know the characters of 72 different kids shows and movies.

• Your TV is permanently set on the cartoon channel.

The Yukos affair was a re-nationalisation of Russia's biggest oil firm. Eventually Rosneft, the state owned oil company, bought the major production subsidiary in a knock-down auction. And who bankrolled this US$9 billion purchase? China, in return for a guarantee of future deliveries of crude. Even Xinhua sounds a little suspicious.

For China it's a great deal. They get to trade depreciating US dollars, which they have US$600 billion or so, for a far more precious (and rare) commodity: oil. Canny traders.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains parallels between modern Iraq and 1912 China, parallels between kamikaze and suicide bombers, the world's not quite free-est economy, Zhao Ziyang's funeral, Korea's troops in Iraq, Bill Gates and Reds, a WEF cover for a Sino-EU arms deal, North Korea falling apart, Gmail being censored, an almost smoke-free Bhutan, Chinese journalism students discussing Zhao Yan and the perfect Valentine gifts, plus much more...

The round-up has four key areas of focus:

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East & Other Asia
• Miscellany

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Are there parallels between Iraq and 1912 China? Does that mean Iraq will be running by Communists in 2035?
• Hong Kong: not the world's free-est economy. Even China is installing anti-trust laws while "free" HK has none.
• Will words turn to deeds for the CCP's promises over rural problems.
• There are some arguing the yuan is not undervalued. Brad Setser lists the points and argues why each is wrong.
• ESWN demonstrates the gap in reporting between the English and Chinese press in Hong Kong. Also a look at the de facto undermining of official book publishing in China.
• Zhao Ziyang's low-key funeral. The official obit balanced his contributions with In the political turbulence which took place in the late spring and early summer of 1989, Comrade Zhao committed serious mistakes. Bill notes the importance of the word turbulence rather than turmoil in the Chinese version.
• First it was the Reds, now it's the Red Ants taking over Hong Kong.
• The Emperor and his tree.
• The best 70 year old map of Shanghai you'll ever find. Meanwhile Beijing's older sites are falling prey to the bulldozer and modernisation.
• Psychics are no longer allowed to advertise on radio and TV. They'll need to resort to telepathy instead. And in pseudo-science news, Chinese people are apparently better at controlling their emotions than Westerners. Running Dog suspects otherwise, as does Laosan.
• The first direct flights between Taiwan and China in 55 years touched down this week. Except they had to go via HK airspace...not the most direct route.
• A group of HK writers and journalists are working on setting up a platform for HK blogs (via CG).
• Bill Gates does a Rupert Murdoch on China's leadership and economy. This is the same leadership selling missiles to Iran and which is asserting more Communist control of business.
• Has the World Economic Forum been used to broker a Sino-European arms deal?
• Some Hong Kongers are trying to expunge the records of the 1967 rioters. Roland looks at the various issues and crimes involved.
• China is prepared to sponsor elections in Iraq, but not at home. Instead it's democracy with Chinese characteristics.
• An interview with the late Susan Sontag and her thoughts on a range of issues concerning China and Asia (via ESWN)
• China is watching Gmail.
• Making a racket Chinese style.
• How big is Wal-Mart? They buy 1.1% of all Chinese output.
• The students at WOW have been having an ongoing discussion on the case of Zhao Yan, the NY Times researcher arrested by the Beijing SSB. The introduction is a good place to start for background; Lianne Li discusses press freedom in the wake of the case; Charlotte Li takes NYT journalist Kristof to task; Julia Zhu looks at the role of the press and different models of expression and speech; and Christina Liang doesn't think individuals should sacrifice in the face of powerful Government. It's heartening to read the next generation of Chinese journalists confronting these issues.

Korea and Japan

• A look at the parallels between Japan's kamikaze and today's suicide bombers.
• All soy is not the same.
• A report on Korean troops in Iraq
• Is North Korea falling apart? Much more debate at NK Zone as well.
• What do Sumo champions do once they retire?
• A summary of recent developments in North Korea and inter-Korean relations.
• Taiwan's President Chen has a friend in Japan.
• Scholars from China, Japan and Korea are working to produce a combined modern East Asian history textbook.
• A look at the relationship between Japanese women and Western and Korean men.
• Sanyo has found a way to boost its sales: beg its staff to buy its own products. But if they aren't buying them already, why would anybody else.

SE and Other Asia

• In India, Goa has tourism, Assam has tea and Bihar has kidnapping.
• Intrigue in the top ranks of Myanmar's junta.
• If you're a journalist in the Philippines, check your life insurance.
• Bhutan is smoke free...but you can still hang out at the back of the Royal Palace for a quick one.
• Malaysia's bloggers had a get-together.
• A review of economic blogging on India.
• Details of an upcoming forum in Singapore titled Towards an open and inclusive society

Miscellany

• For the person who has everything, some Japanese (edible) Valentines ideas. Or how about this?
• Do these things really require instructions?
• NSFW: the story and picture of the infamous Hello Kitty "massager".

Thanks to the Asia Blog Awards January saw plenty of hits from many new sources. My thanks to the top 10 referrers for January - go visit them all:

Mr. Brown
Curiosa Felicitas
Extra Extra
2004 Weblog Awards - Asia Section
2bangkok
Hemlock
Masamania
Evangelical Outpost
Tim Blair
Bingfeng