The Diplomacy Of The Fig Leaf

IT IS regrettable, and worrying, that the annual China-Australia dialogue on human rights issues has been allowed to slip off the diplomatic calendar in this, the Rudd Government's first full year in office. True, Kevin Rudd earned credit for publicly raising human rights issues during his visit to Beijing in April. He was also reported to have stated Australia's concerns about religious and internet freedom, and civil rights in Tibet, to China's Premier, Wen Jiabao, in August. Both Mr Rudd and ...

Cultural Challenge

THE Hunter will be in a position to forge more links with China with plans to establish a Confucius Institute at the University of Newcastle.

Leaders Skip China Rights Talks

THE Federal Government is yet to hold its first human rights dialogue with China after it was skipped this year for the first time since the talks became an annual event 11 years ago.

Chinese Pandas Move To Taiwan As Rivals Learn To Bear It

YEARS of stalled "panda politics" between China and Taiwan was overcome with the arrival on the mainland yesterday of a plane to take a pair of panda cubs to their new home at Taipei Zoo today.

Mao's Memory Remains In Vogue, Even If His Policies Are History

IT MIGHT seem to the outside world that China has spent the past three decades trying to get away from Mao Zedong. In fact the county still has a soft spot for the romantic dictator.

No Turning Back In China's Great Leap Forward

PRESIDENT Hu Jintao marked China's 30 years of reform yesterday by proclaiming "there's no way for us to turn back" in a speech that also rejected calls for political reform.

Wuhan Set To Buy Half Of Sa Iron Ore Project

CHINA'S steel industry has swooped again on an Australian magnetite (iron ore) project, prompted in part by the collapse in local equity values and the increased purchasing power of the yuan.

Chinese Iron Ore Market 'recovering'

SINOSTEEL, China's biggest iron ore importer and trader, says the Chinese ore market is recovering and it wants to "accelerate" shipments from Australia.

China's Industrial Slump Speeds Up

CHINA'S industrial output has slumped to a new low, as leading economists say China's previously irrepressible economy is probably shrinking this quarter and will contract again in the first quarter of next year.

Anniversaries Offer Beijing Little To Celebrate

China's immense progress is jeopardised by its inability to pursue reforms.

Milestones Give Party A Lot To Ponder

Thursday is the official 30th anniversary of the beginning of China's era of reform. It marks a pivotal moment for humanity when a fifth of the world's population turned from poverty, autarky and dictatorship towards prosperity.

China Blast Over Target Statement

AUSTRALIA and other wealthy nations have come under fire from China at UN climate talks for signing off on a greenhouse target statement that merely repeats what they agreed in Bali a year ago.

Sinosteel Losses Shut Rio Mine

HUGE losses at Sinosteel, China's dominant metals trading company, caused the shutdown of Rio Tinto's joint venture Channar mine and will jeopardise the development of the entire Midwest iron ore region in Western Australia, industry sources say.

Sinosteel's Big Losses Seal President's Fate

HUGE losses at Sinosteel, China's dominant metals trading company, caused the temporary shutdown of Rio Tinto's joint venture Channar mine in the Pilbara and will jeopardise development of the entire Midwest iron ore region, industry sources say.

China Is Faltering: Rba Chief

RESERVE Bank governor Glenn Stevens has warned that China's giant economy is faltering, and its industrial sectors are going backwards, putting forecasts of its continued growth in doubt.

China's Taste For Class By The Glass

Our wine industry must aim high-end, writes Jeni Port.

Official Numbers That Cannot Be Relied On

China's Communist Party is paying a price for its long abusive relationship with statistics. For starters, it has no idea how many millions of people have lost their jobs since parts of the economy hit the wall recently.

Number Is Up For Chinese Statistics

CHINA'S Communist Party is paying a price for its long-abusive relationship with statistics. For starters, it has no idea how many millions of people have lost their jobs recently.

Beijing Piles Pressure On Liberal Media

CHINA'S most liberal newspaper stable is undergoing yet another "reshuffle" of editors, in what insiders say is a fresh purge at the behest of propaganda officials.

Gaffe Makes Turnbull A Risk, Says Rudd

KEVIN RUDD is portraying Malcolm Turnbull as a liability to Australia's national security, claiming he doesn't know that Australia's alliance with the US is different to its friendship with China.

The Long March Has Begun As China Starts Building Bridges To Nowhere

Whether China's infrastructure building frenzy will kick start its economy and pull the rest of the world out of the slump remains to be seen.

Alarm Bells Ringing For China's Leadership

CHINA'S economic challenges are now so serious that they are a test of the Communist Party's ability to govern, says President Hu Jintao.

China's Leaders Try To Change Economic Growth Model

CHINA'S economic challenges are now so serious that they are a test of the Communist Party's ability to govern, says President Hu Jintao.

Opaque Reporting A Legacy Of The Leap

THE Chinese Government came under fire a decade ago for allegedly understating the extent of China's economic downturn during the Asian financial crisis. The same allegations are now re-surfacing about the impact of the global financial crisis.

Red Cloud Still Obscures China's Appraisal Of The Global Economic Crisis

During Chairman Mao's great leap, the fudging of production figures reached fanciful levels. Beijing's statisticians are still trying to untangle that mess.