31st December 09

The New York Times

Trade Panel Backs Duties on Chinese Steel Pipe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — An American trade panel gave final approval Wednesday for duties of 10 to 16 percent on Chinese-made steel pipe in the biggest United States trade case to date against China.

China Willing to Spend Big on Afghan Commerce

KABUL, Afghanistan — Behind an electrified fence, blast-resistant sandbags and 53 National Police outposts, the Afghan surge is well under way. But the foot soldiers in a bowl-shaped valley about 20 miles southeast of Kabul are not fighting the Taliban, or even carrying guns. They are preparing to extract copper from one of the richest untapped deposits on earth. And they are Chinese, undertaking by far the largest foreign investment project in war-torn Afghanistan.

The Australian

China on the front foot in iron ore price negotiations

REDRAWING China's battle lines in a bid to control iron ore term prices, a senior official with the China Iron and Steel Association yesterday warned of "a large degree of difficulty" in ongoing price talks because global miners want a 20-30 per cent increase in 2010 ore prices.

The Age

Corruption costs China $US35bn

CHINESE officials misused or embezzled about $US35 billion in government money in the first 11 months of the year, according to a national audit released this week.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Obama blamed for Copenhagen flaws as China writes its version

LONDON: Britain's former deputy prime minister, John Prescott, has defended China's role in the Copenhagen climate change summit, saying the blame for its flawed outcome must lie with the US and its President, Barack Obama

How burgeoning Beijing took its place in the world
JOHN GARNAUT HERALD CORRESPONDENT

BEIJING: Politically and economically, at home and abroad, for better and for worse, 2009 was the year of the rise and rise of the Chinese state. As competing powers stumbled, the competent, formidable yet insecure Communist Party reasserted China's place in the world after a 200-year interregnum.