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NEW YORK Mar 12, 2005 — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Jennifer Lopez to "Get Right" when it comes to fur. Lopez introduced her Sweetface collection during New York Fashion Week last month. "Please don't support Jennifer Lopez or her bloody business," according to a Web site that the animal rights group has devoted to the singer, actress and now fashion designer. "Many hot designers, including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Todd Oldham, Marc Bouwer, and others have … created synthetic alternatives that are hip, humane, and easily available and don't turn animals into fashion victims." Calls by...

Taiwan's military flexed its muscle Tuesday with a fleet of attack helicopters and heavy artillery demonstrating their determination to fend off any attack on a beach facing the Chinese mainland. Eight AH-1W attack helicopters and as many OH-58D Scout helicopters were shown on television firing missiles, rockets and guns at targets in a drill simulating a Chinese invasion on a beach in western Taiwan. M-109 self-propelled cannons and M-110 eight-inch howitzers, as well as F-16 fighters and Seagull fastboats armed with anti-ship missiles were mobilized in the exercise, which is part of Taiwan's biggest annual manoeuvres codenamed "Han Kuang 20"...

BEIJING, (AFP) - Companies are increasingly moving staff and offices to global investment hotspot China, but while still a developing country it has some of the world's highest living costs for expatriates, according to a new survey. Companies are increasingly moving staff and offices to global investment hotspot China, but while still a developing country it has some of the world's highest living costs for expatriates, according to a new survey. Here Beijing construction(AFP/File/Peter Parks) Conducted by the US-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting firm, the survey says the cost of apartments and tuition for children in China's expat hubs was...

Taiwan — why China will not invade Peter ZhangBrookesNews.ComMonday 19 July 2004 Some American commentators have been warning of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. For years now I have been advising that such an event is not on any Chinese militarist's calendar. As I have said before, two fundamentals must be borne in mind. The first is the fact that for sometime China has been working to undermine American influence in the region. By showing that America is a "paper tiger", "an ally without courage", as one official put it to me, Beijing hoped to weaken the regional powers'...

China power struggles: Resisting reformsBy Tian Jing and Wang Chu HONG KONG - Chinese themselves and China watchers sometimes refer to it as "wrestling", but it's just a plain old, age-old struggle for power. In this case it's the ongoing match between reformist President Hu Jintao along with his ally Premier Wen Jiabao vs their intransigent rival, conservative former president Jiang Zemin and his Shanghai Clique. Hu and Wen are trying to push through - and, more difficult, implement - Communist Party reforms that ensure more intra-party discipline, democracy, accountability, transparency and the rule of law. They also are pressing...

China's growth flickers to a haltby Jonathan WattsBeijing: It looks like the set of a Spielberg science fiction epic. At night, deep in the heart of Sichuan province, miles and miles of vast, silent darkness suddenly give way to the glare of hundreds of spotlights, the frenetic activity of cranes and tractors, and the roar of millions of tonnes of water thundering out from turbines the size of cliff faces. This is the world's biggest hydroelectric plant ?the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river ?which was rushed into operation last year to meet China's seemingly insatiable appetite for energy....

Beijing makes its move in Latin America Peter ZhangBrookesNews.ComMonday 10 May 2004 It's been more than four years since I wrote about the danger that Beijing poses in South and Central America. I stressed at the time that Hutchison Whampoa is an arm of the Chinese government and that the company's chairman, Li Ka Shing, was an unofficial government minister. Despite knowing these facts President Clinton still insisted on the canal passing into Beijing's hands, even though he knew the company had corruptly obtained the lease. China's Defence Minister, Chi Haotian, has said that war with the United States...

US presidential candidates play 'China cards'   Presidential election can be called the biggest event for America in 2004. In a chaotic uproar democrats brought home to Bush's story of "fleeing military service", while republicans tried every means possible to "blacken" John Kerry, the democratic front-runner by saying that the Massachusetts senator "received election campaign fund from China". As the election draws near, signs began to show that the democratic and republican parties would play their "China cards" once again. Newsweek: Kerry accepted election fund from Chinese intelligence departments John Kerry has been leading the democratic nomination campaign, with a...

Why Beijing will not attack Taiwan Peter ZhangBrookesNews.ComMonday 9 February 2004 Beijing's continued sabre rattling should be seen for what it is — sabre rattling. Beijing has no intention of launching an attack on Taiwan, at least not for some considerable time. The name of one almost forgotten island tells it all — Iwo Jima. That battle will never be forgotten by the United States Marine Corps. In 1945 the US launched a force of 110,000 personnel against a tiny island defended by 21,000 Japanese troops. Thirty-six days later it was over and 20,000 Japanese soldiers were dead. These...

France: Arming China Preserves 'Yin and Yang'(2004-01-31) -- Allowing European Union (EU) nations to sell advanced weaponry to the communist Chinese dictatorship will help maintain global balance, according to the French Foreign Minister who wants the EU to drop its embargo on such sales."There is a balance in world affairs -- a yin and yang, if you will," said Dominique de Villepin (who is a man). "There will always be iron-fisted regimes and there will always be oppressed people yearning for freedom. It's part of the circle of life. By selling military technology to China at a time when dictatorships...

China's military and Sun Tzu: What every American should know James HenryBrookesNews.ComMonday 19 January 2004 The Chinese military is extremely nationalistic in the worst possible way. There seems to be little doubt that China sees Asia and the Pacific region as its own special sphere of influence, an interest threatened by a powerful American presence. This is common knowledge in the intelligence community. For example, Al Santoli, an analyst at the American Foreign Policy Council, went public with it several years ago. Clinton was even briefed on the Chinese military's ambitions and nationalistic fervor — and a fat lot...

Myths about China-Taiwan reunificationBy Daniel McCarthy Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. Many myths about the China-Taiwan disagreement have appeared in the press lately, particularly in the Western media. Inaccurate statements in the People's Republic of China (PRC) media can be attributed to political propaganda, and inaccurate statements in the Hong Kong media can be attributed to either political propaganda or to taking sides. But inaccurate statements about the China-Taiwan disagreement in the Western press usually can be attributed to the...

Japanese warships attack Chinese fishing boats Ten Japanese warships and a plane attacked two Chinese fishing boats using a water cannon Thursday night at areas off Chinese Diaoyu Islands, injuring one Chinese boatman, a Chinese activist told Xinhua. Two fishing boats carrying 20 people from two Chinese companies and a non-governmental group were attacked about 10 nautical miles off the islands at about 7:00 p.m. Thursday (Beijing Time), said Li Nan, who is on the Chinese mainland and in charge of logistics and coordination for an inspection tour of sea areas off the islands. Under the attack by high-pressure water...

China to revalue yuan in first quarter   China will make a one-off revaluation of the yuan within the first quarter of the year and move to a trade-weighted basket of currencies to set its exchange rate by the second half, investment house Goldman Sachs said. The measures will lead to a five percent cumulative appreciation over the next 12 months, it said. With low interest rate expectations and yawning current account and budget deficits, the US dollar has been hitting fresh lows against the euro and other major currencies on an almost daily basis. This is pressuring China to...

Top U.S. General Making Highest-Level Military Visit to China During Bush Administration WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. military ties with China have been slow to recover from the forced landing of a Navy spy plane on a Chinese island more than two years ago. But the prospect of closer military relations as well as Washington's push to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program are among the chief reasons for a trip to Asia by the top U.S. general. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, left Saturday for a tour that will take him...

Happy New Year (?) Hong KongBy Ray Heath HONG KONG - New Year's Day is unlikely to be one of celebration for Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's besieged chief executive. The occasion will be marred by the knowledge that thousands of pro-democracy supporters will be marching in favor of political reform. It could actually be hundreds of thousands, for exactly six months earlier, on July 1, officials in both Hong Kong and Beijing were shocked when half a million demonstrators gathered in Hong Kong amid blistering heat to take part in a peaceful, but telling demonstration of the growing support for...

Will China's rise trigger Sino-US confrontation? At the invitation of the Global Times, John J. Mearsheimer, professor of political science of Chicago University, on November this year had a dialog with Professor Qin Yaqing, vice-president with the Foreign Affairs Institute on big powers' political issues. While predicting Sino-US relations in the next 20 to 50 years, Mearsheimer said that China is gaining rapid development in the economic field, whereas the United States cannot tolerate the existence of rival that maches it in force. The result will be fierce and dangerous competition for security, such competition is similar to the...

Chen Shui-bian's independence stance may trigger war   Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's extreme push for independence is crossing Beijing's red line and runs the risk of triggering a war between the island and mainland, a senior government official warned Tuesday. Wang Zaixi, vice-minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said curbing Taiwan's independence crusade is the bottom line of the mainland's Taiwan policy and war will break out if the island declares formal independence. He stressed Beijing hopes to peacefully settle the Taiwan question and does not want to have to resort to its military might as...

Muddling toward Democracy Political Change in Grassroots ChinaMuddling toward Democracy Political Change in Grassroots ChinaAnne F. ThurstonContents SummaryForewordIntroduction Muddling toward Democracy: Rural Sichuan Province, November 1995 The Roots of Political Reform in China’s Villages The Varieties of Village Self-Governance The Requisites for Success The U.S. Responses to Chinese Political ReformNotesAcknowledgmentsAbout the Author   SummaryAmong the most significant political reforms implemented by the Chinese government since 1989 is the introduction of competitive elections into rural villages. This study, based largely on fieldwork conducted between 1995 and 1997, examines China’s efforts to bring competitive elections to the country’s rural areas and attempts...

Despite intensive lobbying by Russia in recent months, India is moving decisively toward missile defense cooperation with the United States, according to the September 29th edition of Defense News. The paper reports that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee floated a request for U.S. assistance in the creation of national missile shield “which will be designed to counter growing threats from China and Pakistan” during his September 24th New York meeting with President Bush. In his proposal, Vajpayee agreed to the establishment of an extensive nonproliferation regime, as well as American oversight over New Delhi’s deployment of defenses “a role...