Telstra Clicks On In $76m China Deal

TELSTRA has again staked millions of dollars on its belief that China's online classifieds growth is yet to peak. Telstra has paid $A76 million for 55% shareholdings in both Norstar Media (owner of Che168.com and IT168.com) and Autohome/PCPop

Blackstone Changes Tack In China And Japan

BLACKSTONE Group, manager of the world's biggest buyout fund, plans to invest in property companies in China and Japan struggling to obtain financing as the firm seeks to benefit from rising borrowing costs.

Ministers' Travel Bill Nears $1m

THE Premier and his ministers have spent more than $800,000 on overseas travel in the past year, including $433,000 on Morris Iemma's trip to China and India last year, during which the Government picked up the tab for lavish dinners and lunches.

Swan And Co Tread A Fine Line In The China Shop Of Progress

The worrying thing about Wayne Swan's comments on foreign investment yesterday is that he didn't hose down speculation that the Federal Government was considering a ban on state-owned Chinese corporations owning more than 50 per cent of Australian companies.

Swan's Unfinished Song Needs A Coda To The Effect That There'll Be No China Ban

Today's share buying by China is what Japan's joint-venturing was in the 1960s-1980s.

Travel Bill Approaches $1m

THE Premier and his ministers have spent more than $800,000 on overseas travel in the past year, including $433,000 on Morris Iemma's trip to China and India last year, during which the Government picked up the tab for lavish dinners and lunches.

The Long March

To tell a moving true story, a top international cast crosses china.

Rudd's Mugabe Rhetoric Needs Action

Simply speaking the same language won't convince China about Zimbabwe, writes Tony Parkinson.

Rio's Coup: China Settles For 85% Rise In Prices

CHINA's steel industry has caved in to demands for massive increases in contract iron ore shipments from Australia.

Rio's Ship Comes Sailing In

CHINA'S steel industry has caved in to demands for huge increases in contract iron ore shipments from Australia.

The Blame Must Lie In Verbeek's Tactics

AS AGAINST Singapore, and against Ghana, Australia's second-stringers blew their chance against China last night, but there was one major difference. This time there were World Cup points at stake.

Inexperience Is No Excuse: Team And Coach Must Lift Their Game

AS AGAINST Singapore and Ghana, Australia's second-stringers blew their chance against China last night, but there was one major difference: this time, World Cup points were at stake.

China Eyes Tibet Torch Relay

THE Beijing Olympic torch began passing through Tibet's capital, Lhasa, yesterday in a three-hour display of Chinese national unity that organisers hope will wipe aside memories of deadly independence riots there three months ago.

Smoggy Smoggy Smoggy, Oi Oi Oi

AUSTRALIAN athletics officials seemed surprised that China was offended by its decision last week not to send athletes to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because of pollution fears.

Verbeek To Get Fresh

PIM VERBEEK will inject fresh young fringe players and give them a chance to show their quality in tonight's match against China. But the coach has warned he is no gambler and has every intention of ensuring a win to finish the Socceroos' early stage of World Cup qualifying.

From Tiananmen Square To Sydney

IN 1988 and 1989 Chinese society was grappling with the onslaught of Western and other foreign influences - ideas, fashions, trends - after Deng Xiaoping had 10 years earlier declared that China and the Communist Party had to embrace market reforms.

Wistful Wilkshire On Watch Detail

SOCCEROO Luke Wilkshire is disappointed to be missing tomorrow's World Cup qualifier against China, but had been relishing a break.

A World Of Worries To Chew On

Among all the problems besetting us at present, which is the most pressing and most important: the soaring price of oil, the global food crisis, the rise of China and India, or global warming?

Sydney Is China's New Friend

THE University of Sydney has become the latest institution to join a Chinese Government bandwagon by establishing a Confucius Institute, which critics say may compromise its academic integrity.

Swan Lands Beijing Gold

Treasurer Wayne Swan is the envy of the diplomatic community after his visit to China.

China Aims To Make An Impressive Splash

Champion diver Gao Min says much has changed for the better in China. This is true for many, but state control remains formidable.

Athletes Sign Up For Human Rights Site

AUSTRALIAN Olympic athletes are signing up to a Facebook group offering detailed information about China's human rights violations.

Rise Of The Humanist Heart

In a culture of serial disengagement, China's Sichuan earthquake has produced an uncharacteristic outpouring of kindness among strangers. But where will it all lead?

Spice Aplenty In Chinese Property

FOUR years ago, China was Australia's third-largest trading partner behind Japan and the United States. China passed the US three years ago and then passed Japan last July to take the top spot. In just over six years, total trade with China has increased threefold.

Dalai Lama Asks Tibetans To Respect China's Glory

THE Dalai Lama is feted for his patient forbearance, but he admitted yesterday that after 60 years of conflict with China, Tibetans were getting resentful.

Dalai Lama Makes Conciliatory Gesture To China Ahead Of Talks

THE Dalai Lama chuckled with wry amusement yesterday when he suggested some people had described China's rapid economic growth as "communist capitalism".

Chinese Keen For Slice Of Bhp

CHINA'S state-owned steel makers are looking to buy a significant stake in BHP Billiton, despite a warning by the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, yesterday that he would set a high bar for state-owned corporations investing in Australia.

Chinese Steel Rivals Combine To Seek Bhp Stake

CHINA'S state-owned steel makers are looking to buy a big stake in BHP Billiton, despite a warning by Treasurer Wayne Swan that he will set a high bar for state-owned corporations investing in Australia.

Border Battle: A Prickly Trade Alliance Comes Up Trumps For China

Amid Russian suspicion, China is pulling off one of the great export ambushes of modern history.

Russia On Edge As Neighbour China Grows And Grows

WANG YONG, a 33-year-old entrepreneur in the town of Manzhouli, has been waiting all morning on the Chinese side of the Russian border for his Russian truck drivers to arrive.

Draining The Life Out Of A Paradise

An internationally precious, and supposedly protected, wetland in China is threatened by a mining company.

Lost In The Supermarket

A member of China's 'New Generation' of writers uses satire to good effect. I Love Dollars And Other Stories Of China By Zhu Wen Penguin, 256pp, $24.95

China Revealed

The BBC's Wild China has captured an elusive world, writes Michael Idato.

Tiananmen Square 'incident' Remains China's Top Taboo

Nineteen years on, the quelling of a student protest stays out of local public discourse.

Tiananmen Square Still An Almost Taboo Topic

OF ALL the taboos in modern China, the violent quelling of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests on June 4, 1989, remains the most sensitive.

Miner On Verge Of China Joint Venture

THE boom in nickel production could be extended to include Young in NSW under a deal by Melbourne-based junior Jervois Mining with a Chinese consortium headed by construction giant China Railway Group.

China's Rivers Of Foreign Exchange Keep Flowing

ONE of the great mysteries of global economics is how China's trade surplus has stabilised this year while its foreign exchange reserves continue to explode. The mystery is compounded if, as many well-informed economists believe, the official figures hugely understate reality.