Full Contents - March 2004

Taking a punt on the RMB
Currency speculation is more akin to gambling than many people like to make out and speculating on future Chinese government policy is probably in the same league.

Bullet train to nowhere
Ghosts from the past have derailed Japanese bids to build the Beijing-Shanghai rail line.
Outsource influx
Outsourcing to China offers the cost-saving advantages of India plus the opportunity to gain first-mover advantage in the domestic market.
SOE Leadership Crisis
In a departure from leadership based on 'political ideology', China is now seeking world-class business leaders to turn ailing SOEs around.
Avian shades of SARS
A poultry infection killed more than 20 people in Southeast Asia and popped up in chickens in many areas of China. But the panic that accompanied SARS is missing.
Ice city
Harbin, in the remote northeast of China, is shrugging off its corrupt history as it looks to develop a middle class.

Super CEPA
The new accord giving preferential access to the China market for Hong Kong firms appears to be a win-win for everyone, including foreign firms using local subsidiaries to get into the act.
Revaluation?
China's currency intentions continue to puzzle the market, but it could surprise everyone by doing what it said it would.

The pragmatic straits
The cross-straits dynamic is threatened by a new turn in the political cycle. Fear not, cooler heads (and economic necessity) should prevail.

Ross Predicts
Ross Terrill is an Old China Hand who has been reading the tea leaves of Chinese politics for decades, since the days when clues to what the Chinese leadership were thinking were to be found only between the lines of <i>People's Daily editorials</i>.

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