In The News

China Begins to Fulfill Its Potential for Big Profits

Andrew Batson October 19, 2007
Multinational corporations look to China for huge potential profits. The investment climate has transformed – a decade ago, less than half of foreign companies in China ran profitable operations and now more than 80 percent collect profits. China’s WTO bid lowered bureaucratic barriers, thereby allowing foreign businesses to tap into the domestic market. Meanwhile, personal consumption has...

Thanks China, Now Go Home: Buy-up of Zambia Revives Old Colonial Fears

Chris McGreal October 5, 2007
Sino-African trade has reached unprecedented levels, but the debate over its benefits for Africa rages on. Intent on acquiring natural resources to continue its blistering rate of economic growth, China turns to African nations for oil, metals and other valuables. In return, African governments, like the one in Zambia, receive huge aid and development packages and loans at below-market rates...

Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up

Jim Yardley October 2, 2007
China teeters on the edge of a water crisis. The country has five times the population of the United States, but less water, with the bulk of that supply in the south. Past policy mistakes, a dense population, climate change and galloping economic growth has shrunk China’s water supply. Agricultural irrigation accounts for most water usage, and pollution taints sources nationwide. The...

Venturing Into Unreported China

Dan Griffiths September 26, 2007
The job of a journalist is to discover new people and locales, reporting stories of conflict and cooperation in accurate and unbiased ways. But local officials in China fear media exposure and discourage both domestic and foreign reporters from setting out to find “scoops” – the stories not yet told by other journalists. Dan Griffiths discovered the limits to practicing journalism in rural China...

Japan Sweats It Out as It Wages War on Air Conditioning

Sebastian Moffett September 18, 2007
In August, Japan's three biggest banks joined the ranks of the "Cool Biz" initiative, a movement to reduce energy use and decrease carbon output. "Cool" businesses maintain building temperatures at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Bank officials discovered that the move was good for both the environment and business. Concerned about global warming, Japanese customers avoid firms...

The Great Leap Backward?

Elizabeth C. Economy September 7, 2007
China has become a leading polluter in the world, with its citizens suffering from air pollution, decreasing supplies of potable water and reckless development. Consumers around the world buy inexpensive goods from China, but do not pay the true costs. The country has environmental laws, but businesses and local leaders ignore them in order to increase jobs and profits. The nation is capable of...

China's New Revolutionaries: US Consumers

Nathan Gardels August 24, 2007
China’s communist form of government is secure as long as the economy grows, steadily supplying jobs and opportunity. Multinational firms set up shop in China, pressuring factories and workers to deliver products quickly at low costs. But a string of problems – including counterfeit medicines, poisonous pet food, dangerous tires, toothpaste laced with anti-freeze and children’s toys covered in...