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CommentaryInflation is about to hit China at a very inopportune time.Inflation and specters of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike could present a double whammy on China’s economy as it struggles to come out of COVID-19 lockdowns.Official National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed Chinese factory-gate prices, or the cost at which wholesalers purchase from factories, increased 13.5 percent in October compared to a year ago. This is the fastest rise in China’s producer price index (PPI) since 1996. The index tracks purely the price of goods at “factory gates” and doesn’t include transportation or logistics costs, which are...

/begin my translation Kim Jong-il's Reappearance to Calm Things down 2008-10-04 If it is true that Kim Jong-il resurfaced after 51 days of absence to watch the soccer match of Kim Il-sung University as KCNA reported, this could have been an attempt to quiet down disaffected residents in Pyongyang, according to a high-ranking Chinese official who recently visited N. Korea and met Kim Young-nam, the Chairman of Standing Committee. After his Pyongyang visit, he met Chinese businessmen in a city next to Sino-N. Korean border, in which he said that general mood in Pyongyang is the worst (he has seen,)...