In The News

China Owes Japan for Riots

April 21, 2005
Citing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Japanese officials and experts in international law say that Beijing must apologize to Japan and compensate for property damage incurred in recent anti-Japanese demonstrations. The windows of the Japanese embassy and consulates were shattered and the walls smeared with paint by protestors throughout China. Many Japanese businesses have also...

Companies Question Benefits of Outsourcing

David Wighton April 19, 2005
A new survey by Deloitte Consulting shows that outsourcing information technology and other services may be more trouble than it's worth in many cases. Three-quarters of the companies surveyed reported that the savings were far less than expected, and the complexity of outsourcing often required more management than was expected. Large companies like Dell Computer and Capital One are now...

Nike Lists Abuses at Asian Factories

David Teather April 15, 2005
Multinational apparel companies like Nike have long been accused of running their factories abroad as sweatshops, milking the desperation of poor workers in the name of the bottom line. In a report released by the company itself, Nike further substantiates the allegations of abuse. The report details the terrible working conditions in many of Nike's factories across East Asia and other...

China's Strategy Gives it the Edge in the Battle of Two Sock Capitals

Don Lee April 12, 2005
At first glance, the Robin-Lynn Mills sock factory in Fort Payne, Alabama, seems impressive – with some the world's most advanced knitting machines, costing over US$25,000 each, a single sock is spun in 75 seconds. The Three Star factory in the Chinese city of Datang, on the other hand, stands in stark contrast: Its machines only cost US$1000 and take much longer to complete a sock....

Asia Battles over War History

David McNeill April 11, 2005
The worsening relations between Japan and its northeast Asian neighbors sank a few notches as demonstrators in China attacked Japanese diplomatic missions and businesses. South Koreans, too, have vented their anger at Japan's attempt to whitewash history. Recently, Japan's Ministry of Education has approved history and civics textbooks for use in schools that are either silent over past...

Crouching Tiger, Swimming Dragon

Nayan Chanda April 11, 2005
Nearly six hundred years after Chinese ships visited the Persian Gulf, the ground is being laid again for a permanent Chinese presence in the area through which some 40 percent of the world's oil resources travel. As Nayan Chanda writes, Chinese diplomatic visit to Pakistan last week resulted in an agreement to expand a Chinese-built port there, leaving US, Japanese, and Indian governments...

China Can Gain from Unshackling its Currency

Rob Trudel April 8, 2005
A significant lobby in Washington is pressuring Beijing to revalue its currency relative to the US dollar, claiming that the artificially low renminbi gives China an unfair competitive advantage. To be sure, Chinese resent the pressure and worry that an appreciation of the renminbi relative to the dollar would raise the price of Chinese goods and curb its dominance of the export market. But in...