Beijing: China on Friday dismissed accusations that it was responsible for the lack of a joint statement after a meeting between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. "China believes that at the meeting series of the ASEAN Regional Forum, parties involved exchanged ideas on East Asian regional cooperation and major regional and international issues," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular news briefing.
A new approach to tackling the structural effects of Australia’s record terms of trade on non-mining industries is needed from both business and government, argues one of Australia’s most eminent economists, Dr Ken Henry. In a speech to the Business Symposium of the Australian Conference of Economists at Victoria University in Melbourne, Dr Henry has argued Australian businesses outside the booming resources sector will continue to face falling international competitiveness and options such as “offshoring” will need to be considered.
Beijing: To be a very powerful state in world politics does not make for an easy life. China increasingly realizes the predicaments it faces while its power has been growing rapidly. Indeed, the disturbance of China's regional diplomacy in recent years suggests that it is encountering daunting challenges on exercising and securing power. The re-emergence of China as a global power does raise a number of questions on what grand strategy China may chose, how China's power is managed, and what the consequences may be. Against a backdrop of intense, often quarrelsome debate about these issues, five power predicaments facing China must be acknowledged.
Beijing: Brazil's mounting protectionism against China could backfire as it might undermine the trade between the two BRICs nations and also dampen the latter's enthusiasm to invest in Brazil, trade experts said Thursday. "Under the current global economic slowdown, many countries are resorting to protectionism," Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times.
Rio de Janeiro: Developing countries like Brazil and China have played an important role in helping achieve consensus on sustainable development at a just wrapped-up UN conference, a Brazilian delegate said here Friday. "Thanks to partners like China, we managed to reach an ambitious document, which preserved the main concerns of developing countries," Andre Correa do Lago, Brazil's chief negotiator to the conference, told Xinhua.
Los Cabos: China on Monday offered $43 billion to the IMF's crisis-fighting reserves, rounding off a global push to nearly double the Fund's war chest to $456 billion to help protect countries from fallout from the euro zone debt crisis. China's contribution was part of a pledge by Group of 20 countries made in April to supply the International Monetary Fund with extra firepower.
Beijing: China said Monday wealthy countries should take the lead in tackling climate change, repeating its long-held stance ahead of a global UN summit on poverty and the environment in Rio de Janeiro. Premier Wen Jiabao will outline China's approach when he addresses the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio this week, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng told reporters at a briefing in Beijing.
Beijing: China ranks top among emerging economies in exercising intangible power, according to the soft power index report released by consulting firm Ernst & Young. China wins the intangible power race, with a score of 30.7, 10.3 points higher than India. Russia is third, while Brazil and Turkey round off the top five, the report said.
Sydney: We can't necessarily blame the government for not knowing how to deal with the problem of rising strategic rivalry between America and China. But we can blame it for pretending the problem doesn't exist. By denying the obvious, the government looks ridiculous and dishonest, and puts Australia's future at risk. Julia Gillard's Asian century white paper provides an opportunity to acknowledge the problem and start looking for solutions.
