11th September 08

The Australian

Fleet plan feeding into China's fears

KEVIN Rudd had underestimated China's growing military strength and his blueprint for an expanded navy would feed Beijing's fears it is the target of a containment strategy, defence analysts said yesterday. The head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, Hugh White, said China already had the potential to challenge US power in Asia, particularly in a Taiwan contingency.

The Age

China may leave media doors ajar
 Mary-Anne Toy, Beijing

WITH the Olympic spotlight on China fading, speculation is increasing about whether controls on foreign journalists, relaxed in the lead-up to the Games, will be allowed to expire next month. The more relaxed rules allowing foreign, but not domestic, reporters to travel virtually anywhere in China and interview anyone on almost any topic, came into effect on January 1, 2007.

Asia Times Online

Hong Kong's middle class warms to Beijing
By Augustine Tan

HONG KONG - Beijing chalked up significant middle-class support in Hong Kong's Legislative Council (Legco) elections on Sunday, with pro-government stalwarts like ex-security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and academic Priscilla Leung Mei-fun winning seats in the law-making chamber.