The liturgy in the West is that so long as China becomes a responsible stakeholder in the international economic system — conforming to the western created rules and norms — its accommodation into the global economy is guaranteed. The same liturgy used to be cited when Japan was on...

Real estate advisory arm of Korda Mentha have  revealed that the Australian Government’s Significant Investment Visa scheme is booming, with the number of approved visas growing exponentially in the second half of 2013. The visa requires, a “significant investor” to commit at least $5 million worth of investment into...

Those of us in China recognise that outbound China FDI is about Food Safety more than it is about Food Security or Food Sovereignty – which are domestic issues. State Owned Enterprises and their corporate offshoots will invest outside of their core industries but there is a barrier  to...

As markets commence the new year in a sense of panic on the back of an uncertain outlook for China’s economy, I am brought back to a bookshop discovery I made in 2001 and the pending doom and gloom which loomed as I completed Gordon G. Chang’s The Coming Collapse...

The number of web users in China has surged to 618 million, a government agency says, underscoring the rapid growth of online connectivity in the country with the world’s largest internet population. Its online population – defined as those who have used the internet at least once in the...

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.   Year of the Horse. 2014 is the year of the Wood Horse. Unlike the year of the Water Snake in 2013 foretelling diplomacy and planning, the year of the Wood Horse is about decisive actions and fast victories. Be certain of your choice, as once...

China proves immune to Murdoch-style regime change By Harry Blutstein, RMIT University Having created an empire on which the sun never sets, it must have been a heavy blow to Rupert Murdoch when his company, 21st Century Fox, announced last week it had sold its 47% stake in Star...

The social side of e-commerce: lessons from rural China By Barney Tan, University of Sydney Every year, for the foreseeable future, another 30 million Chinese will go online to shop, according to a new Boston Consulting Group report. Pushed by a government-subsidised rollout of internet – and poor bricks-and-mortar...

Screen Daily have released the epitome of studio performance in 2013 – which is topical given The Merkin Group’s newly expanded  footprint in the global tentpole film acquisition and distribution business. Sony’s China box office swells 22% Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) top brass reported significant year-on-year gains in...

On 16 October 2013, Treasurer Joe Hockey stated in a speech to the American Australian Association that “Australia is open for business, open for investment and is going for growth”1. Just over a month since making that bold statement, the Treasurer has created uncertainty over Australia’s foreign investment policy...