Showing 1-10 of 21 results
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Indonesia refuses to be railroaded into China deal
News, Adam Minter, Published on 10/09/2015
» It was a deal that a developing nation such as Indonesia wasn't supposed to refuse. In return for a $5.5 billion (199 billion baht) Chinese loan to be repaid over 50 years, Indonesia would receive its first high-speed rail line, a 150-kilometre high-tech bauble to run from the capital, Jakarta, to the country's third-largest city, Bandung. But late last week, President Joko Widodo's government did the unexpected and refused it -- and a less-attractive Japanese proposal -- in favour of soliciting bids to build a slower train that will cost about 40% less. According to Bloomberg News, the high-speed line was not considered "commercially viable".
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Putting traditional Chinese medicine to the test
News, Adam Minter, Published on 17/09/2015
» Toad skins and turtle shells aren't the cures most westerners turn to when they learn they've developed cancer. But in China, the market for traditional remedies like these grew 35% last year, twice as fast as the overall anti-cancer market. Though the effectiveness of these treatments is unproven, Western doctors, elite medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies are starting to put them to the scientific test.
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Plans for big science face big hurdles
News, Adam Minter, Published on 10/11/2015
» As in so many other things, China's seeking to play a leading role in 21st century science. And it's using a familiar weapon: money.
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Consequences of overfishing in the South China Sea
News, Adam Minter, Published on 18/11/2015
» President Obama's visit to the Philippines this week will train a spotlight on the fiercely contested South China Sea. Both he and his hosts will likely call on China and other claimants to maintain the status quo in the region until their various differences can be resolved. Yet while that may be the best one can hope for geopolitically, it could be a disaster environmentally.
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What's good for China isn't always good for Alibaba
News, Adam Minter, Published on 16/12/2015
» Late on Friday night, Alibaba's Jack Ma joined Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the latest tech billionaire to acquire his own newspaper, by purchasing Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) for US$266 million (9.6 billion baht).
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Chinese company wants to turn the world's lights on
News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/04/2016
» China's State Grid Corporation, the world's biggest power company, is on an impressive buying binge. As Bloomberg News reports, the company is "actively in bidding" for power assets in Australia, hoping to add them to a portfolio of Italian, Brazilian, and Filipino companies. The goal isn't simply to invest, however. State Grid's Chairman Liu Zhenya has a plan that he believes will stall global warming, put millions of people to work and bring about world peace by 2050.
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China's chance to save Asia's oceans
News, Adam Minter, Published on 19/08/2016
» On Wednesday, Indonesia celebrated its Independence Day with a bang -- blowing up several Chinese boats that had been caught fishing illegally in its waters and impounded. China doesn't dispute Indonesia's territorial claims, but Chinese fishermen have more pressing concerns. According to reports in Chinese state media this week, overfishing and pollution have so depleted China's own fishery resources that in some places -- including the East China Sea -- there are virtually "no fish" left.
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Is the age of Asian sweatshops coming to an end?
News, Adam Minter, Published on 07/09/2016
» For 30 years, the word "sweatshop" has conjured up a very specific image: low-wage Asian workers making branded clothes in crowded, unsafe factories for consumers overseas. The power of that image has launched human rights campaigns, altered how major companies source their products and informed (often incorrectly) how politicians in rich countries shape their trade policies.
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Beijing wants GMOs but the Chinese people don't
News, Adam Minter, Published on 29/09/2016
» The latest food safety scandal in China might be its most damaging. Earlier this week, a former doctoral student at one of the country's national testing centres for genetically modified organisms went public with allegations of scientific fraud, including claims that records were doctored extensively, that unqualified personnel were employed under illegal contracts and -- most seriously -- that authorities refused to take action when his concerns were aired privately.
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Can Jack Ma spur global job rise?
News, Adam Minter, Published on 19/10/2016
» Alibaba's Jack Ma has big dreams. Having transformed Chinese retail, he's now determined to reinvigorate globalisation.
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