Peter Lee recently penned an interesting article in the Asia Times. There has been a lot of posturing and false reports about China's use of rare earth ban as political leverage against Japan - and maybe even against the U.S. and the E.U. Despite the hot air, none of these reports have been substantiated and most are probably media reports (i.e. propaganda) planted by … [Read more...] about Rare Earth Rebalancing
Archives for October 2010
A Japanese view of the U.S. national debt
Today, I am writing this post from Japan. I had a chance to speak with a Japanese colleague about the general financial crisis in the developed world, particularly as relates to Japan and the U.S.. In this post I simply would like to share that conversation. It started out with him telling me the Japanese government is trying to take austerity measures to address the … [Read more...] about A Japanese view of the U.S. national debt
Surfing Tidal Bores in China
One of my surfing friends tipped me off to this recent surfing event in China. This is the first time I learned about the phenomenon of tidal bores. The Qiantang River appears to feature the biggest tidal bores in the world (up to a height of 9 meters or 30 feet!). Seems pretty cool ... at least from a distance.... Enjoy! Surfing China 2010 … [Read more...] about Surfing Tidal Bores in China
Aloha from the island of Kauai
Kauai is one of the most beautiful places on planet earth. I have just returned from a one week vacation on the island with my family. The vacation has given me a chance to step away from blogging and put a pause on every day life. You might begin to wonder how this post is going to relate to China. While on Kauai, a number of thoughts did occur to me. Before getting into … [Read more...] about Aloha from the island of Kauai
A lesson from the history books – “Our Chinese Allies”
In response to Wukailong's recent comment, I dug up an old post I had left undone from a few months ago. In the run up to the World expo, I was surprised to see how the coverage of Shanghai in the West had been much less politicized than those on Beijing (and China in general) in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics. Check out for example, these interesting articles on Shanghai … [Read more...] about A lesson from the history books – “Our Chinese Allies”