10th February 09

The Australian

Crisis devastates China toy factories

NEARLY half of China's toy factories closed last year as the financial crisis tightened its grip. The country started the year with 8,610 factories producing and exporting 70 per cent of all the world's toys. By the end of 2008, only 4,388 remained _ a decline of 49 per cent, figures from the Customs office showed.

Sydney Morning Herald

Our love affair with China is cooling but far from over
Peter Hartcher

I reached a point a few years ago where I stopped reading anything on China that included this quote from Napoleon: "China is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep. If he wakes, he will shake the world." … Well, China did awake when Deng Xiaoping began modernising in 1978. And it was shaking the world as it became the world's third-biggest economy. But now the world has shaken China. It is so badly shaken that it is facing its biggest crunch since the protesters in Tiananmen Square demanded political reform in 1989.

Asia Times Online

Tycoon madness in Hong Kong
By Kent Ewing

HONG KONG - This city, with its low-tax regime and free-wheeling business environment, has long been a haven for tycoons and their fortunes. Alongside the dominating view that that this is a city in which to make money, the business ethics and personal behavior of these masters of the Hong Kong universe at times fall short of being exemplars of probity and decorum.

Iran's new satellite challenges China
By Peter J Brown

A provocative new satellite named Omid (Hope), which was launched by Iran last week, has certainly made its mark in space. For China, Omid represents an unusual opportunity, indeed a gift from Iran. The longstanding debate about China's role with Iran in space has suddenly changed. Now China has a chance to step onto the world stage as the world evaluates what Iran is doing, and whether or not China is true to its word when it talks about its peaceful activities in space - which definitely involves its longstanding relationship with Iran.