The most recent blah blah blah about NSA whistleblower Eddie Snowden, now running about somewhere in Hong Kong (I’m guessing Lamma Island, with all the other hippies), is that he may defect to the PRC with all his ill-gotten intelligence booty. To which I question: with the Cold War decades behind us, what does it [...]
I missed quite a few good China stories during my trip to India, but this proposed takeover of Smithfield Foods by Chinese meat powerhouse Shuanghui (also trades under the oleaginous name Shineway) is probably the most important one in the cross-border biz world. This deal will be valued at $4.7 billion, making it #1 in [...]
I’m not so sure about that, but here’s an update: The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced a deal Friday with Chinese regulators to access documents held by Chinese auditors, defusing but not fully resolving serious disputes with China. The Memorandum of Understanding with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and China’s Ministry of Finance [...]
The American Chamber of Commerce in China regularly publishes surveys of its members, which routinely include criticism of the government/legal system/business climate and complaints about anything from IP infringement to protectionism. So I’m not too surprised to see this pushback from the Ministry of Commerce put out by Xinhua:
Not exactly my most eloquent post title, but really, did anyone out there actually notice that once again, the U.S. Treasury Department decided that China shouldn’t be on the list of currency manipulators? Yes, the wire services ran little blurbs, as did the major papers that have good China coverage. But they were just going [...]
You might remember a strange little case that was filed back in 2011 by some Chinese dissidents in New York. Their weak ass sadly untested argument was that Baidu was censoring search results such that their anti-China content did not come up when folks did a search. The plaintiffs argued that this was a violation of [...]
I’ve successfully made it through the first work week at my new in-house job, so I’ll reward myself with some blogging. You may recall the Ralls case, where some Chinese investors (backed by SOE Sany) purchased a U.S. firm that owned several wind farms. However, the siting of one of these was problematic (too close [...]
Here’s a weekend recommendation for those of you interested in China outbound investment to the United States. As you know, the national security gatekeeper in the U.S. is a body called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS. CFIUS has made many prominent appearances on this blog, including in several posts in [...]
I note that Ken Rapoza at Forbes has written yet another good post on the issue of China’s holding of U.S. debt. The occasion is a report issued by the US-China Business Council, which says “Nothing to worry about. Go about your business.” Yes, they are a pro-China lobbying group, but as Ken says, in [...]
On Monday, Huawei CFO Cathy Meng talked to the press about various and sundry Huawei issues, including recent performance as well as some of the long-term global political issues that have made overseas markets challenging for the Chinese IT giant. For the record, I wasn’t present and did not read a transcript or anything, so [...]
No, I’m not talking about myself, although I am a Californian and I am suffering through the Biblically nasty Beijing Airpocalypse. Rather, I’m talking about actual residents of the U.S. West Coast, which is apparently enjoying all kinds of icky goop that floats across the Pacific Ocean from the PRC and into U.S. airspace. They [...]
After 85 years, the world’s most famous movie theater will finally be living up to its name. Chinese TV maker TCL has paid more than $5 million for the naming rights to the venerable Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opened in 1927 by showman Sid Grauman. (LA Times) If you’re a native Angeleno like myself, the thought of [...]
Foreign Policy magazine has been very hit or miss lately when it comes to China coverage. Given that the U.S.-China relationship is so important and that FP is the preeminent foreign policy periodical, this is a worrisome trend. I like to keep an open mind, but I have to admit that I was ready to [...]
When last we left Huawei, Chinese IT giant and wannabe North America player, it had run into a nasty reception at the U.S. House Intelligence Committee (yeah, I know, an oxymoron), which issued a report about Huawei, ZTE (another Chinese IT firm) and potential national security vulnerabilities. The conclusion was essentially “We don’t trust these [...]
I know I said recently that I would limit my comments on the ongoing fight between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Chinese counterparts over access to audit materials, but an Op/Ed in yesterday’s Financial Times forced my hand (or mouth, as it were). I’ll just do the lazy man’s cut-paste-comment method [...]
Chinese wanting to invest in the US should not have to undergo “political background checks”, a top Communist party official said at the close of high level trade talks with his counterparts in Washington. Wang Qishan, the outgoing vice-premier responsible for commerce, trade and finance, said at a dinner attended by US cabinet members there [...]
I’ve had a couple of people ask me about the current U.S.-China bilateral meeting, which is part of the U.S-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) framework. Not much to say, really. The following quote in Reuters is indicative of the type of progress that is expected this time around: The United States expects [...]
Still a lot of chatter out there about the mass school slaughter incidents in Connecticut (a shooting spree) and Henan (slashing spree, if that’s the appropriate term). Lots of folks are comparing the differing body counts, noting that the dramatic loss of life in the U.S. was partially the result of lax gun control laws. [...]
The last couple of weeks have brought us numerous accounts of the U.S. government’s attempts to investigate certain U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The Americans say they need working materials from accounting firms to check out what these companies have been up to, while their Chinese counterparts say no, this information is protected under China’s state secrets [...]
Remember the post I wrote last week about the tiff between U.S. and China regulators concerning disclosure of auditor working papers? I don’t have an update for you, but there is a wrinkle here that I hadn’t thought about before. Actually, the entire issue wouldn’t have occurred to me at all if I hadn’t seen [...]