Friday December 4, 2009 MYT 2:01:00 PM

Foreign banks rapped for selling derivatives with "fraudulent characteristics"

BEIJING: A senior Chinese official criticized foreign banks for selling derivatives with "fraudulent characteristics" that led to heavy losses for state-owned airlines and other companies.

"Some international investment banks are the biggest villains," said Li Wei, deputy chairman of the agency that oversees China's biggest state companies, in a newspaper published by the school of the Communist Party's Central Committee.

The commentary in this week's edition of the Study Times was the Chinese government's most pointed public criticism yet of foreign financial institutions.

Li's agency said in September it would support companies that want to challenge the contracts in court.

Li made no specific accusations against individual banks.

But he noted that airlines and shipping companies suffered huge losses on fuel contracts bought from Goldman Sachs Group, Merrill Lynch - now a unit of Bank of America Corp. - and Morgan Stanley, while banks bought derivatives from Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.

He said Chinese companies were to blame for most of their losses but complained that derivatives tied to oil prices and other commodities or investments were too complex and made potential risks too hard to identify.

"Of course, first of all we need to find problems in the companies themselves," Li wrote in the front-page commentary.

"But it also is largely related to international investment banks maliciously peddling high-leverage, complex products with fraudulent characteristics."

Some 68 major companies, half of them directly controlled by the Cabinet, invested in derivatives and recorded book losses totaling 11.4 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) by the end of October 2008, according to Li.

Spokespeople in China for Goldman and Citigroup declined to comment.

Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch did not immediately respond to phone messages and e-mails.

Li's agency, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, oversees 136 major banks, insurers, phone carriers and other companies including China Telecom Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and China National Petroleum Corp.

Li said Chinese companies still should use derivatives but should comply with regulations and shouldn't "give up eating for fear of choking". - AP

German baby powder taken off shelves in China

German baby powder taken off shelves in China
Apr 06, 2009

SHANGHAI (AFP) - China's state quality watchdog said baby skin powder manufactured by German housekeeping and healthcare products maker MAPA has been removed from shelves in China for allegedly containing asbestos.

Authorities sealed up 48 cans of the baby powder in Suzhou Debao Baby Supplies Co Ltd, the brand's general agent in China, in an inspection Saturday, the General Administration of Inspection and Quarantine said.

MAPA, part of French rubber and plastics conglomerate Hutchinson Worldwide, markets its baby care products under the NUK brand.

A spokesman of Hutchinson's China subsidiary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed sales of NUK baby powder had been suspended but refused to comment on whether it contained the forbidden chemical.

South Korean authorities reportedly tested 30 brands of baby powder and found 12 contained the carcinogen asbestos, including the NUK baby powder, the quarantine agency said in a statement on its website late Sunday.

The agency said it would continue to "closely watch the matter and take effective measures proactively to safeguard the health and safety of infants."

China was last year rocked by a scandal over milk contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine that killed at least six babies and left almost 300,000 others ill.

The scandal came to light in September, causing deep international concern and leading to recalls and bans around the world of products made in China.

China's rich get richer

China's rich get richer

by China Daily/Asia News Network|01 April 2009

Even with the global financial crisis, more people are getting richer in China.

By the end of this year, 320,000 people will each possess at least 10 million yuan ($2.2 million) of assets, up 6 percent from last year, according to a report on private wealth released on Monday by China Merchants Bank and consultancy Bain & Company.

The total assets covered in the report, including cash, stocks, funds, securities and real estate investments, are expected to surpass 9 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) this year, up 7 percent from 2008.

The 3-month survey, which started in late December on the mainland, polled 700 respondents through face-to-face interviews or questionnaires. All the interviewees had assets of at least 10 million yuan.

Guangdong province had the largest number of wealthy people, with 46,000, or 15 percent of the country's richest, last year. It was followed by Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The results of the survey did not surprise Ma Hua, who counts the rich among his friends.

"The current crisis has had no impact on them because most of them are conservative investors," said Ma, deputy director of CCTV.com's R&D center.

Ma said his friends made their fortunes by investing prudently in stocks. "Since they create wealth, and have not inherited it, they tend to be conservative in how to use it."

The report found that 80 percent of the interviewees prefer investment with medium or low risk, contrary to previous assumptions that the rich prefer risky ventures.

Liu Zhishuo, an angel investor in high technology, describes himself as a conservative investor. "I don't do short-term. I care about long-term value. I invest if a company's value can increase progressively in 10 to 20 years," said Liu, who did not reveal his wealth.

He observed that the odds of becoming rich quickly are getting thin. "You needs years of experience to grasp opportunities, not luck."

HK action star to play Confucius in new film: Chinese media

HK action star to play Confucius in new film: Chinese media
Mar 19, 2009
AFP

BEIJING, March 19, 2009 (AFP) - Hong Kong action movie star Chow Yun-fat will play ancient philosopher Confucius in a new film backed by the Chinese state, media reports here said.

Chow, 53, made his name in violent Hong Kong action films in the 1980s and 1990s but is perhaps best known to many movie-goers for his role as a martial arts master in 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Filming was to begin next month under director Hu Mei, the Beijing Times said.

The reports did not say when the biopic would be released but reports late last year had said the China Film Group was hoping to screen the movie on the October 1 National Day holiday.

The ancient teachings of Confucius (551-479 B.C.), centring on peace and social harmony have enjoyed an officially-backed renaissance here in recent years, after being suppressed in Maoist China.

Why are the Chinese skinny?

Why are the Chinese skinny?
Nov 28, 2008
China Daily

WHAT makes Chinese people so skinny? Is it all due to genes? A more active lifestyle?

In her new book, Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories, British writer Lorraine Clissold set out to discover what it was that kept the Chinese so skinny when they were eating large, delicious meals, while she and her British and American counterparts were suffering on bland salads and still not managing to lose weight.

Interviewed from her home in North Yorkshire, Clissold's ultimate answer for the secret to the slim Chinese physique is not surprising: the traditional Chinese diet, supported by a strong cultural background.

Humorous and insightful, Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories is a thought-provoking analysis of what makes the Chinese diet work. Drawing on Clissold's 10 years in Beijing as a teacher of Chinese cooking and presenter of a cooking programme on CCTV, it will likely have many readers re-examining their lifestyles and eating habits.

Although it isn't your usual dieting book, it also includes tips and recipes for non-Chinese readers so they can incorporate some of the healthier aspects of Chinese diet into their lives.

Clissold lays out several ideas for why the Chinese diet is so healthy, ranging from what is actually eaten to attitudes toward food.

Vegetables play a much stronger role in Chinese cuisine than in a British or American one. Instead of being relegated to limp supporting roles, vegetables are much likely to be stars of the show, and appreciated on their own with meat used as a flavouring or side dish.

Taking in liquid food also plays an important role. Chinese and Western ideas about soup are extremely different. Western soups are often hearty and sometimes even 'a meal in its own right', but Chinese soups tend to be based on simple broths, providing a liquid element to the meal that is full of nutrients.

'By drinking the liquid in which the vegetables are cooked, Chinese diners ensure that no vitamins are lost during the cooking process,' she says.

Clissold also believes that China has a much stronger culture of eating as an enjoyable communal activity, making every meal an occasion.

She says that while she has always been fascinated by food, British attitudes toward food were often based on guilt over how many calories were consumed, and unhealthy cycles of guiltily eating rich meals only to punish herself by having a bland meal afterwards.

Clissold says: 'In China, I found myself surrounded by people who enjoyed eating, ate until they were full three times a day and never worried about getting fat or talked about cutting back to compensate after a good meal.'

One of the most intriguing parts of Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories is in Clissold's examination of how Chinese food culture is influenced by Taoist ideas about food and the body.

'Chinese people have never doubted that what you eat is directly related to your state of health. They eat to nourish the whole body, rather than being concerned with just its outer shape, which is the case with many Western diet regimes,' she said.

She describes the need for balance in a diet, balancing out both yin and yang foods as well as the five flavours: sweet, pungent, salty, sour and bitter. Each flavour affects a different organ; for instance, sweet flavours affect the spleen and the stomach, while bitter flavours affect the heart and the small intestine.

'The right amount of a flavour will benefit an organ; too much will put it out of kilter and damage the organ. A good Chinese diet will feature a mixture of yin and yang foods and the five flavours.'

Even a properly cooked, traditional Chinese meal will reflect this kind of balance, as no one flavour will overwhelm the others, or a bitter dish may balance out a sweeter one.

Clissold believes that Westerners tend to overindulge in particular flavours in their diet, leading to bodies that Taoist food theory would consider unbalanced and dysfunctional.

'Sweet (and bland) foods are the pre-dominant flavours in most Western diets, which is why many Western waistbands are stretched to the limit and digestive disorders are so common.'

She also compares the way that Chinese food is holistic with Western ideas of breaking down foods to their nutritional components, a notion that does not acknowledge that foods work in tandem with each other.

'Modern nutritionists break a meal down into proteins, carbohydrates and fats,' she says. 'There is increasing awareness of the need for vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients but the Western nutrition model combined with the ready availability of food in the West tends to promote very limited eating.'

One surprising discovery that Clissold made during her research was that the Chinese actually consume 30 per cent more calories than Westerners but stay 20 per cent slimmer, a claim originally made by T Colin Campbell in The China Study, a comprehensive survey that examined the link between diet and disease in China and other countries.

The China Study debunked the idea that the Chinese are thinner because of a more active lifestyle and therefore consume more to maintain this lifestyle. In fact, to make its point, the survey compared the least active group of Chinese, office workers who led sedentary lives, with a more active group of average Americans who exercised moderately.

But even as The China Study extolled the way that rural Chinese ate, one danger that Clissold sees is that as China modernises, the Chinese themselves are moving away from their own traditional diets with their accumulated knowledge and falling into Western practices of eating on the run, snacking, buying processed foods and consuming empty calories, leading to the diseases of the industrialised world: cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Still, she ends her book on an optimistic note about the role of foreign influences in Chinese cuisine, saying, 'I have faith that the influence will not be long-term. Chinese culture has done a pretty good job of withstanding invasion to date.'

China Daily/Asia News Network

Melamine in 3 more items

Oct 9, 2008

Melamine in 3 more items

		Three more products imported from China have been found to be tainted with melamine, bringing the total number of affected items in Singapore to 13. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

THREE more products imported from China have been found to be tainted with melamine, bringing the total number of affected items in Singapore to 13 since the China milk scandal exploded into the open in early September.

They are Cadbury Choclairs - Blueberry and Coffee flavours - and Panda Dairy Whole Milk Powder (industrial pack), said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) of Singapore on Thursday.

RELATED LINKS List of affected products

However, the Panda Dairy Whole Milk Powder is meant for manufacturing use and is not available in the retail market.

AVA said the milk powder has also been sealed in the manufacturer's warehouse since the authority suspended the import and sale of all milk and milk products from China since Sept 19.

"We would like to assure the public that the milk powder has not been used in any food production," added the AVA.

All importers must destroy the tainted products under AVA's supervision.

Melamine is an industry chemical not approved for use in food manufacture.

Anyone who find such products still on sale should inform AVA immediately.

AVA reiterated that the levels of melamine detected in the affected products are low and hence unlikely to result in any adverse health effect.

"Consumers have to consume large quantities of the contaminated products over a prolonged period of time to be at risk of potential ill effects on health.

"As melamine is not allowed for use in food, AVA will continue to suspend the import and sale of milk and milk products from China until we are very sure that such products are safe for consumption."

Up to 53,000 children in China were sickened and four have died after the industrial chemical melamine was added to a range of dairy products, including infant milk formula, falsely making the goods appear to contain higher levels of protein.

Some 47,000 of the children have been hospitalised for kidney problems caused by melamine.

Although the tainted milk was discovered as early as March this year, industry and government cover-ups kept the scandal out of the state media until early September.

Melamine found in 2 Cadbury products

Melamine found in 2 Cadbury products
Oct 06, 2008
AFP

HONG KONG, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A Hong Kong laboratory has found excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in two types of Cadbury Plc chocolate made in China that the firm recalled last week as a precaution.

Thousands of children in China have fallen sick and four have died after drinking melamine-laced milk. The dairy scare, China's latest in a long line of food safety problems, also prompted mounting recalls and warnings abroad.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate Bulk Pack 5kg was found to contain with 6.9 parts per million (ppm) of melamine and Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate Bulk Pack 5 kg had 56 ppm, a government statement said.

Under Hong Kong regulations, the limit for melamine in these products is 2.5 ppm.

"Based on the levels detected, the public is advised to stop consuming the products concerned," a spokesman for Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety said.

The British confectionary group last Monday announced the recall of 11 Chinese-made products from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia as the scandal snowballed.

Tests in Hong Kong cleared another of the recalled products, which was not named in the government statement, bringing to six the number of Cadbury products with satisfactory levels of melamine so far.

Three products were not available for tests, the Hong Kong government statement said.

Chinese police have detained six people suspected of producing and selling melamine, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Cadbury melamine levels ok

Oct 1, 2008

Cadbury melamine levels ok

		Cadbury said the Hong Kong test results did not change their decision to recall the products from the Beijing plant. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

HONG KONG - HONG KONG authorities said the amount of melamine found in samples of chocolate made at British candy maker Cadbury's Beijing factory was legally acceptable for human consumption.

Tuesday's announcement came a day after the company recalled 11 items sold in parts of Asia and the Pacific.

Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety said it ran tests on six Cadbury products, two of which had been made in Beijing and had been recalled, and found them to have melamine levels lower than the territory's legal limit of 2.5 parts per million.

It did not say whether it was testing the other nine products being recalled.

Cadbury said the Hong Kong test results did not change their decision to recall the products from the Beijing plant.

'It was tested as satisfactory but we are still withdrawing it,' said Simon Taylor, head of corporate relations and communications at Cadbury.

'That makes no change from what Cadbury announced on Monday.'

Baby formula containing melamine has been blamed for killing four babies and sickening more than 50,000 in mainland China. The state-run China News Service says 27 people have been arrested so far in connection with the scandal.

Since melamine-tainted infant formula was uncovered in China, the banned chemical as been found in an array of food products forcing a wave of recalls, mostly in Asia.

Experts say some amount of melamine, which is used to make plastics and fertilisers, may be transferred from the environment during food processing.

But in China's case, suppliers trying to boost output are believed to have diluted their milk, adding melamine because its nitrogen content can fool tests aimed at verifying protein content.

On Tuesday, China's President Hu Jintao made his strongest public comments yet regarding the scandal.

'We need to ensure that all products on the market are up to standard, so that consumers don't have to worry,' Mr Hu said during a tour of dairy farms broadcast on China Central Television's evening news.

The Dutch food safety watchdog announced on Tuesday it had found slightly elevated levels of the industrial chemical melamine in cookies imported from China and sold under the 'Koala' brand.

The cookies have been pulled from shelves in the Netherlands and the chance they have made anybody sick is 'extremely small', the agency said.

Also Tuesday, Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever said it was recalling its Lipton-brand 3-in-1 milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after it was found to contain melamine.

Last week, Unilever recalled Lipton Green Milk Tea from the Taiwan market because the product used Chinese-made milk.

Hong Kong authorities also said they had found unacceptably high levels of melamine in Pocky Men's coffee cream coated biscuit stick, produced by Japan's Ezaki Glico. The company had no immediate comment on the reported contamination.

Two samples of coconut and walnut cakes manufactured by Tian Le Yuan Foods in southern China were also found to contain unacceptably high levels of melamine, authorities said.

The South Korea Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday melamine had been found in Nabisco Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches and in rice crackers made by Danyang Day Bright.

Melamine has now been found in six products imported to South Korea and the country has banned imports of all Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. -- AP

Melamine found in 2 more China products

Melamine found in 2 more China products
Oct 01, 2008
AsiaOne

AVA has detected melamine in 2 more products imported from China.

This brings the total number of affected products found locally to 10.

If you have any New Sshma Ows Mallow Dippers or Silang - House of Steamed Potato Tomato Crackers, it may be time to stop eating them, as they are the 2 latest products to be added to the list of melamine-tainted products.

Strawberry flavoured New Sshma Ows Mallow Dippers

Silang - House of Steamed Potato potato & tomato crackers

Earlier, Silang - House of Steamed Potato Potato crackers were also found to contain melamine, along with other products including Yili dairy fruit bar yoghurt flavoured ice confection, Dutch Lady banana, strawberry and honeydew milk, White Rabbit candy and Xu Fu Ji puffed rice rolls.

As with the other products, the levels of melamine detected in the affected products are not high enough to result in any adverse health effect, a child would have to take 50 cups - and an adult 101 cups - of New Sshma strawberry flavoured dip everyday over a lifetime to exceed the daily intake he can tolerate.

However, the amount of melamine found in the ten products above is higher than what can be considered as naturally occurring. It is clear that Melamine has been artificially added to adulterate these products.

AVA also clarified that companies should verify with them before making claims that their China-made products are safe.

As long as the milk or milk products are produced in China, such products are suspended from import and sale in Singapore. AVA will not hesitate to take enforcement actions against any company who violates this ban.

Chinese milk scandal seen as risk in Europe

Chinese milk scandal seen as risk in Europe

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

Friday, September 26, 2008

European Union regulators Thursday ordered rigorous testing of imports containing at least 15 percent milk powder after concluding that food containing tainted milk powder from China may well be circulating in Europe and putting children at risk.

The action, announced by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Commission, significantly expands the potential geographic reach of a milk adulteration scandal in China to now include a range of foods sold around the world. The Europeans said cookies, toffees and chocolates were the major concerns.

The World Health Organization and the Unicef also expressed concern Thursday about the Chinese milk contamination and the implications for other foods. In the United States, some consumer groups called on the Food and Drug Administration to restrict imports of foods that may contain suspected dairy ingredients from China.

In China, milk products contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine have sickened more than 50,000 young children in recent weeks and created a spiraling government scandal.

While it is illegal to import dairy products and baby formula from China into the European Union, European nations can and do import many processed foods containing milk powder as an ingredient that are manufactured outside of Europe. Such products could contain milk powder from China.

In 2007, the European Union imported from China about 19,500 tons of confectionary products, including pastries, cake and cookies, and about 1,250 tons of chocolate and other prepared foods containing cocoa.

"Children who consume both biscuits and chocolate could potentially exceed the TDI by up to more than three times," the European Food Safety Authority said, referring to the tolerable daily intake of melamine that the agency regards as safe. Levels above that could result in kidney stones, Ian Palombi, a spokesman for the agency, said in a telephone interview.

In Brussels, the European Commission was trying to assess the extent of the risk. "The problem is with the composite food products, which can be imported, even if they contain milk powder from China," said Nina Papadoulaki, a spokeswoman for the commission. She said the commission did not know how many companies sell snacks in Europe that were manufactured in China or included ingredients from China.

She said that member states and food companies in the European Union had been asked to test products for melamine in the past 10 days and so far had not detected a problem, although the testing was continuing.

In the United States, some consumer groups called for stricter regulation as well.

"It is now clear that China has exported dairy products like powdered milk and milk protein products around the globe and we know that some of them came to the United States," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch. "It is time for the FDA to take this issue seriously and stop the import of dairy products from China until this situation is under control."

The United States has imported 2 million pounds, or 900,000 kilograms, of a milk protein called casein this year, along with other powdered milk proteins that are used as ingredients in many processed foods, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This includes 293,000 pounds that were imported in July. The Food and Drug Administration did not immediately return calls for comment on Thursday.

Melamine is a chemical used in plastic manufacturing that can be added to foods to artificially increase their protein content in testing. Its presence was detected in pet foods originating from China last year.

Even if present in foods in Europe, milk powder contaminated with melamine is not likely to cause the kind of public health disaster that is occurring among Chinese infants. In China, babies drank contaminated milk powder as their sole source of nutrition for weeks if not months, and a handful have died.

Because the harm caused by melamine is related to someone's weight, it is far less harmful to older children and not likely to be dangerous for adults. Also, for children and adults in Europe, melamine-contaminated milk powder is one small component of a broader diet. The toxic effects of melamine are cumulative, creating kidney stones that can in severe cases lead to kidney failure. Still, children who eat very large quantities of sweets could be at risk.

This week, a number of countries and companies that had previously removed Chinese dairy products from supermarket shelves have started removing snack foods containing milk powder as well. On Thursday, members of the Philippine Association of Supermarkets removed Chinese food products with milk ingredients.

In an increasingly globalized food economy, manufacturers use raw ingredients from all over the world, often making it difficult to track the origins.

For example, Kraft Foods, the maker of Oreo cookies, recently moved one of its large cookie factories from Australia to China. But Claire Regan, a spokeswoman for the company, said that most of the products Kraft made in China were distributed within China, although a limited number were exported. Most do not contain milk products from China, she said, and, when they do, the levels of such ingredients are very low. The Oreo product line does not contain milk ingredients from China, Regan said.

69 baby milk brands tainted

Sep 16, 2008

69 baby milk brands tainted

BEIJING - A CHEMICAL blamed for killing two infants in China has now been found in 69 brands of baby formula nationwide, state television said on Tuesday, in an apparent dramatic escalation of the scandal.

The government has ordered a halt to the sale of the 69 milk powder brands tainted with the chemical melamine, said the report by state-run CCTV, adding the products were made by 22 different companies spread across China.

Tainted milk powder has sickened more than 1,200 infants so far across several provinces in a scandal that erupted last week but had originally focused solely on the Sanlu brand.

CCTV said in its nightly news broadcast all 69 brands, which included Sanlu, had been pulled from shelves.

'In order to ensure the safety of the milk products, the relevant government departments have pulled them from shelves, sealed them, recalled them and destroyed them,' CCTV said in its broadcast.

The report said China's top product-quality watchdog would dispatch inspectors to all milk-product manufacturers nationwide in a bid to contain the spreading health threat.

It said the moves were meant to 'uncover the causes, pursue those responsible and severely deal with them in accordance with the law'.

The initial scare had prompted a nationwide probe and the additional tainted brands appeared to have been detected through testing linked to that investigation.

The government has said milk collectors deliberately contaminated the milk, possibly to boost its protein content, according to state media reports.

Sanlu, however, had blamed dairy farmers.

Police have arrested two more suspects, state press said on Tuesday, bringing the total to four arrests, in reports that warned more sick babies were expected.

Police in Hebei province said that in the two latest arrests, both suspects confessed to adding melamine to milk, Xinhua news agency said.

The 22 companies mentioned by CCTV included Torador Dairy Industry, a China-Australia joint venture in the northern city of Tianjian. Calls to Torador on Tuesday evening went unanswered.

The companies affected also included Guangdong Yashili Group, the report said, adding that the firm has exported its products to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Yemen.

However, it added that tests of the Yashili products made for export had shown no melamine traces.

Melamine, which is used for making plastics and glues, is being blamed for causing kidney stones in the affected babies.

Normally rare in babies, kidney stones give rise to a range of infant health risks.

The two infant deaths occurred in May and July, the health ministry said on Monday.

The government has criticised Sanlu for not going public sooner with the health concerns, which began to emerge as early as March when babies fell ill in northwestern Gansu province.

Tests in early August began to show melamine in the product.

Sanlu, which publicly apologised on Monday for the scandal, has fired its chairwoman and general manager Tian Wenhua, state-run China News Service said on Tuesday.

The scandal is the latest to rock China's food industry, which has been tarnished by a series of health scares over dangerous products in recent years.

Andrew Ferrier, the head of New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, which owns 43 per cent of Sanlu, said on Monday that Fonterra knew of the contamination in early August and pushed for an immediate recall but that Sanlu was slowed by Chinese rules.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government learned of the contamination problem on September 5, then 'blew the whistle' three days later by informing Beijing after local Chinese officials refused to act. -- AFP

Chinese babies hospitalised 'after drinking milk powder'

Chinese babies hospitalised 'after drinking milk powder'

Thu, Sep 11, 2008 AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - - Fourteen babies have been hospitalised in China suffering from kidney stones and unable to urinate after drinking a cut-price milk powder, state press reported Wednesday.

The infants, all aged below 11 months, shared symptoms including vomiting and were being treated in the same hospital in northwest China's Gansu province, Xinhua news agency reported.

"It was rare for babies to get kidney stones, let alone so many babies at the same time," the report quoted Zhang Wei, a doctor involved with the treatment, as saying.

The babies were all from remote farming regions and had all been fed the same brand of cheap milk powder, identified as the "Sanlu" brand, manufactured by a leading Chinese dairy products company, the report said.

The Sanlu Group has maintained that the product in question was produced by market pirates illegally using the group's brand name and has dispatched teams to independently investigate the Gansu incident, Xinhua said.

The provincial health bureau was also investigating the milk powder and any links to the Sanlu Group, it said.

Zhang said other babies could have also been sickened, but parents may have refrained from seeking help due to the high cost of medical treatment.

It is not the first time alleged substandard milk powders have been linked to health risks in China.

In 2004, 13 infants in eastern China's Anhui province died of nutritional deficiencies after being fed substandard milk powder, the report said.

In that case over 170 other babies, most raised in rural areas of Anhui, suffered from malnutrition and other symptoms including swollen heads and an inability to grow after being fed deficient milk powders, it said.

Authorities have been seeking to improve the reputation of China's food and drug industries after scandals surrounding exports of a range of goods, from toxic seafood to fake medicine, made domestic and international headlines.

Last year, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed after being convicted of taking bribes in return for approving hundreds of drug products, some of which later proved dangerous.

Grade A men and women?

What makes a Grade A?

Sun, Jul 27, 2008 The Star

DANNY Zhong is a tour guide in Shanghai and as such is a wealth of information about China's most dynamic city, especially its people.

His first remarks as our car left the brand new Terminal 2 building of the Shanghai International Airport in Pudong was: "Did you know that in China, Shanghainese men are considered the best husbands in the world?"

My host Liz and I were stunned as well as amused by his remark.

Zhong quickly explained.

"A woman who marries a Shanghainese man does not have to do any house work.

"It is very expensive in Shanghai, and men here do their very best to keep their wives happy. The men will rush home from work to cook dinner, wash the clothes and clean the house.

"The men are worried that if their wives are unhappy they may demand all sorts of things, from new clothes to jewellery, and these things are very expensive in Shanghai."

Furthermore, he explained, wives of Shanghainese men were doubly lucky because their husbands do not go out at night, as they cannot afford to do so in this expensive city.

He also told us of another urban legend in Shanghai that men and women were also graded based on their position and potential.

Grinning again at our puzzled faces, Zhong said a Grade A woman is one who has married a rich foreigner, obtained a foreign passport, lives overseas, and comes back occasionally.

Grade B is a woman who is married to a rich local man, especially one who owns a public-listed company, and lives the life of a tai-tai.

Women in Grade C are those married to men holding high positions in a multinational company (MNC) in China.

Grade D women are working professionals, and not married.

"The rest of the women do not even qualify to be graded," added Zhong.

As for the men, Grade A are those who own public-listed companies, while Grade B hold high positions in MNCs, and Grade C the professionals working in local companies.

We had a good laugh at Zhong's tale and wondered how Malaysians should be graded.

A couple of weeks ago I broached this subject with my "focus group" of girlfriends at a farewell dinner for one who was migrating to Australia.

Before we go any further, I think it best that I describe this group of women. Sam, who is now in Australia, is a marketing person who last year ended a long-term relationship.

Yvette, who holds a senior position in a bank, is single and lives with her family.

Sally is happily married but still finds plenty of time to hook up with her girlfriends.

Laura is in advertising and is about to get married to a Canadian. Pearly is single and has changed jobs three times in the past year.

Expecting to be skewered for even daring to raise such a subject, I was however pleasantly surprised by their response.

"Cheh! Malaysian men are not worth even grading," was Yvette's initial reaction.

But Sam quickly pointed out there were some men who were of a "certain class".

After much banter, we came to an agreement that Malaysian women were easier to grade.

A Grade A Malaysian woman would be one who is independent and has enough money to not have to depend on any man. But if she is married, it would be to a doting, RICH husband.

Those in Grade B would be those who married rich husbands and who do not have to work, while those in Grade C would be married, but would need to work.

"There is no Grade D Malaysian woman," declared Pearly.

How about Malaysian men? Who would fit the Grade A category?

"Those who are married to Grade A women," said Sam cheekily, to which the others nodded in assent.

Sally pointed to Laura and said: "If there were any Grade A men left she would not be running away to Canada!"

Laura quoted something I wrote not too long ago - "50% of Malaysian men are married, 30% cannot be trusted and the rest are gay!"

Looking at Sam, I told her that she would probably be a Grade A Shanghainese woman "married to a foreigner, holding a foreign passport and living overseas" now that she was migrating.

The group concluded that Malaysia was a diverse country and it would be difficult to come up with a proper grading system.

While they agreed that young women here have difficulty finding life partners, they nonetheless felt that it was just fine to be single.

"It is not as if we need them," said Sam as a parting remark.

Deputy Executive Editor Wong Sai Wan is too old and too married to be graded.

Investment gurus differ on China

Posted by Mark Bunting on July 23, 2008

They are gurus of a different kind, if for no other reason than their ideas usually pan out far better than, say, Mike Myers’ ill-conceived brainstorm, The Love Guru. Yes, these gurus of the investment sort might be the most successful and well-respected emerging market investors there are:

Jim Rogers, author of many books including the recent A Bull in China, which makes a very compelling case for investing in that country for years to come.

Mark Mobius, he of the Man from Glad look, when he’s wearing a white suit, that is. Mobius handles $47 billion US in assets for Templeton Funds and is highly-regarded for his stock-picking. (BNN’S managing editor Marty Cej recently interviewed Mobius.)

And Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report. You might have guessed that he’s slightly more bearish than other money managers.

Two of these gurus think the time is right to put money to work in some beaten-down emerging markets, especially China and India.

China’s CSI 300 Index is down 45% year-to-date. It’s the third-worst performing index this year of 88 tracked by Bloomberg. Only Iceland and Vietnam have performed worse in 2008.

China’s gross domestic product is rising at the slowest pace since 2005, albeit at about a 10% clip. India’s Sensitive 30 Index is down 30% this year. And inflation in that country is running at the fastest pace in 13 years.

But Rogers and Mobius smell opportunity.

Rogers is well-known for predicting the commodity bull market way back in 1999. That’s also the year he started buying Chinese stocks. He says he’s never sold any of them. Rogers says it’s no time to give up on China.

At the same time, Mobius has been rearranging his portfolio to take advantage of valuations for Chinese stocks that have fallen ‘’pretty dramatically’’ as he puts it. The price/earnings ratio on the CSI 300 is now at 21 after having hit a balloon-like 53 as the index rose over 160% in 2007.

The Sensitive 30 Index p/e is a reasonable 14.

Mobius also likes Brazil and Russia because of the energy and mining companies. He says the countries are ‘’swimming in liquidity." Having said that, Mobius’s main fund is down 19% this year.

As for Marc Faber, he thinks piling into Chinese stocks right now would be a mistake. Investors doing that would be setting themselves up for more losses.

Three gurus, three opinions and not a weak idea in the bunch.

Mistresses spill beans on corrupt officials

Mistresses spill beans on corrupt officials
William Choong
Jun 27, 2008
The Straits Times

BEIJING - THE anti-graft authorities in a southern Chinese city are questioning mistresses of suspected corrupt officials and finding the information is paying off, state media said yesterday.

'At least 80 per cent of corrupt officials exposed in Dongguan had mistresses who gave us important information that we did not possess,' Mr Zhou Yuefeng, deputy director of the industrial city's anti-graft bureau, told the China Daily. He declined to give details.

Under regulations that came into effect a year ago, China's civil servants would be automatically dismissed from their posts if they have a mistress.

China's top prosecutor's office last year said that among 16 provincial-level officials punished for serious graft in the previous five years, most were involved in 'trading power for sex', gambling, money-laundering and shady land sales to developers. Nearly 90 per cent of them kept mistresses, it was reported.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Singaporeans biggest online spenders: survey

Singaporeans biggest online spenders: survey
Jun 25, 2008
AFP

SINGAPORE, June 24, 2008 (AFP) - Singaporeans and South Koreans are the region's biggest online spenders, a survey by MasterCard said Tuesday.

Singapore online shoppers spent US$770.70 (S$1054.00) over a three-month period, followed by South Koreans who spent US$707.50 (S$968.00) , the survey found.

It studied the behaviour of more than 4,000 people with bank accounts who used the Internet at least once a week, in Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, Japan, India and Thailand as well as Singapore and South Korea.

Online shoppers in Thailand spent the least, at US$406.30 (S$556.00) over the three months, while those in Japan spent US$581.00 (S$795.00), the survey said.

Shoppers in the region averaged 3.1 purchases during the period, it said.

It added that 63 percent of survey respondents said they made purchases online. That figure was even higher in Japan and South Korea, where 83 percent said they shopped using the Internet.

The MasterCard study said that by 2010 China's online shopping population is projected to increase to 480 million, contributing 58.6 percent of the region's total online shopping population, up from 49.9 percent now.

India's online shopping population is also set to increase rapidly and is poised to overtake Japan and Korea in terms of the share of over regional Internet shoppers, MasterCard said.

Emerging Asia's Growth to Slow to About 7%, ADB Says (Update2)

Emerging Asia's Growth to Slow to About 7%, ADB Says (Update2)

By Dinakar Sethuraman

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Asia's emerging economies may grow at a slower pace this year than earlier forecast, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda said.

Asian economies excluding Japan and Australia may expand about 7 percent in 2008, Kuroda said in an interview in Singapore today. That would be lower than the ADB's April estimate of 7.6 percent, and last year's 8.7 percent expansion.

``We expect some economic slowdown in Asia this year but the growth will still be robust in emerging Asia,'' Kuroda said, when asked about the impact of high oil prices and accelerating inflation on the region's economies.

Surging food and energy prices are fueling runaway inflation in Asia, leaving consumers with less to spend and threatening growth from South Korea to the Philippines at a time when a U.S. slowdown is hurting demand for the region's exports.

Crude oil has doubled in the past year to reach a record $139.89 a barrel in New York on June 16. Higher fuel prices contributed to India's 11.05 percent increase in wholesale prices in the first week of June, the fastest in 13 years.

Inflation in China accelerated to 8.1 percent in the first five months from 4.8 percent for all of 2007 and may worsen after the government increased the price of gasoline and diesel by at least 17 percent last week.

Rising consumer prices have led to higher borrowing costs around the region, as authorities in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines moved to cool inflation.

`Constrict Growth'

``Inflation concerns are leading central banks to hike interest rates and that will definitely constrict growth,'' said Philip McNicholas, an economist at IDEAglobal in Singapore.

The International Monetary Fund in April cut its forecast for global growth this year and said there's a 25 percent chance of a world recession, citing the worst financial crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression.

Still, Asian economies need to speed up infrastructure development to keep pace with current growth rates, Kuroda said at the World Cities Summit in Singapore today.

``For most major cities in Asia, growth rates are too rapid for their infrastructure to keep up,'' Kuroda said. ``Each year there's a $30 billion shortfall in urban infrastructure investments.''

The ADB was formed in 1966 to improve the welfare of people in the Asia and the Pacific. The group comprises 67 member countries, both from within and outside of the region.

Blogger Arrests On The Rise

Blogger Arrests On The Rise

By Mike Sachoff - Mon, 06/16/2008

Arrests predicted to increase in ‘08

An increasing number of bloggers are being arrested for criticizing governments and exposing human rights abuse, according to a report from the University of Washington.

Since 2003, 64 citizens have been arrested for expressing their views on a blog. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006. Over half of the arrests in the last five years were made in China, Egypt and Iran.

The report said the increasing number of arrests was evidence of the "growing" political importance of blogging. It found that arrests typically increase in times of "political uncertainty," like elections or large protests.

Many bloggers faced jail time after being arrested. The average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months. The longest sentence was eight years.

The actual number of bloggers who are arrested is probably higher, since many arrests in China, Zimbabwe, and Iran are not reported. For example the Committee to Protect Bloggers has released details about 344 people arrested in Burma, some who are thought to be bloggers.

The report said that many countries, possibly as many as 30, have implemented technological restrictions on what people can do online. In countries such as China this has made it challenging for people to use a blog as a way to protest.

The report estimated that the number of bloggers arrested in 2008 would surpass the 36 seen in 2007 due to the popularity of blogging, more enforcement of online restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S.

Asia's blog star

Asia's blog star

By Shefali Rekhi
Asia News Network
First Posted 01:54:00 06/22/2008

SINGAPORE--Bloggers no longer just create the buzz about politics, pop culture and other obsessions of the day--they are the buzz.

Indeed, models and movie stars sashayed around during Australian Fashion Week (April 28 to May 2) in Sydney but the real stars of the show turned out to be the fashion bloggers flown in by the organizers to cover the event.

Front row

For instance, in the front row, rubbing shoulders with fashion editors and other famous faces, was none other than Bryanboy, a Manila-based web developer-turned-fashion blogger.

Nearly 180,000 visitors a day--some from as far away as the United States--read his blog. For the average actor, that is a following to die for.

"We've invited some of these guys here because our role is to get people talking about Australian fashion," said Simon Lock, Australian Fashion Week founder.

Immediate

"And when you've got bloggers who provide immediate commentary within hours, even minutes, of a show finishing, and they are communicating to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people around the globe, why wouldn't you get them here?" Lock said.

In a growing global trend, some of Asia's celebrity bloggers are attracting international attention with their witty remarks and comments.

Pecking order

Others are upsetting the existing pecking order with their criticism and cynicism.

As their ranks in the region grow by leaps and bounds, today's cyber stars are prompting a rethinking of the notion that Asians are reluctant to express their views or reveal their thoughts.

"It is interesting that many in the region want to express themselves," said Claus Mortensen of market research firm IDC, who monitors blogs as part of his advisory role.

"Nurturing of self-expression is usually not encouraged in Asian societies and this could be an indication of the change taking place in this region," he said.

Survey

A survey by Microsoft's MSN and Windows Live Online Services of more than 25,000 MSN portal visitors in seven markets across Asia found that nearly half, or 46 percent, of all those online in the region had a blog. The survey was conducted 19 months ago.

Young people and women dominate, except in India, where the domain is overwhelmingly male, and South Korea, where blogging is a part of everyday life.

For the report, titled "Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report," residents of Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand were surveyed.

But the trends are similar elsewhere in the region.

Recent research by Technorati, the Internet search firm monitoring blogs, suggests that more than half of the postings on the Internet could originate with Asians.

Japanese ahead

Technorati's research shows that 37 percent of all recorded postings in the fourth quarter of last year were in Japanese and 8 percent in Chinese, compared with 36 percent in English.

Japanese has been ahead of English for three years, said the company, even though the world's English-speaking population outnumbers Japanese speakers by five to one.

Junko Kenetsuna is a typical Japanese blogger. Five times a week for the past three years, she has written about her midday meal. She calls her blog "I had my lunch," and she seldom criticizes the meals.

Mobile devices

Hardly anybody reads her blog, but she posts her reviews nevertheless.

Technorati Japan's Steve Rife has said that such is the urge to stay connected that the trend now is for people to post "mobile blogs or microblogs to update what they are doing or what they ate, etc., from their mobile devices."

Of course, there are dozens of celebrity bloggers across Asia who boast of page views that run into the millions. Some are content just to get noticed; others are obviously out to create controversy.

Stock market

One of China's most popular bloggers is Sha Minnong, deputy editor of Nanjing-based newspaper Modern Express, who writes on the swings in the Chinese stock market.

His popularity? More than 178 million page views since March last year. And the number has been growing, with many seeking his insights into the stock market.

In Singapore, some of the best-read blogs are even archived by the National Library Board.

The list includes the satirical www.mrbrown.com, the "Air-Conditioned Nation" by media academic Cherian George and "Yawning Bread," which comments on social and political issues.

Raising eyebrows

In India, 20-something journalist Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan has been raising eyebrows and some concern with her personal blog titled "The Compulsive Confessor."

In it, she tackles a topic that is still taboo in the country--sex. In fact, she does not want her parents to read her blog.

"Today, we're going to talk about oral sex" is a typical opening to her postings on the hidden lives of young Indian city girls.

Book offer

With her candid and witty style, Madhavan has attracted a readership that is growing so fast that she has received a book offer from Penguin India.

Bloggers in Malaysia, on the other hand, have been accused of causing turbulence in the country with their political debate. It has been widely acknowledged that their postings helped turn voters against the ruling Barisan Nasional, which lost five states in the recent elections.

Now, leaders of the ruling coalition are scrambling to gain a foothold in the blogosphere.

But research shows that politics is not a popular theme with those who read blogs. They prefer topics such as travel, food and entertainment.

Microsoft's survey of Asian bloggers showed that an overwhelming majority--74 percent--were interested in reading blogs about family and friends.

Those who wanted to read the blogs of politicians were only 14 percent and there was even less preference for the blogs of sports personalities.

Growth

IDC's Mortensen believes that in the years to come, the trend will continue to grow.

"We are seeing communities of bloggers building up in this region, especially in places like China and India," he said. "Users of the Internet are seeking ways to connect with each other, and you will see more of these communities develop as distances continue to grow between members of Asian families.

"For them, blogging will be the way to stay connected" Mortensen said.

Consequences

Yet, there are consequences that necessitate a certain degree of monitoring.

Bloggers in China, for instance, played a part in whipping up antiforeign sentiment when China's policies in Tibet ignited protests in many countries that the Olympic torch passed through en route to Beijing, host of this year's Games.

One of their targets was the French supermarket chain Carrefour. That led to some concern among multinationals, which are now being told to look at blogging as part of their online marketing and public relations strategies.

Cyber watchers say bloggers do have a certain amount of credibility: In the Microsoft survey, half of the respondents said they trusted the blogs as much as the traditional media.

But the challenge that this could pose for the mainstream media remains to be seen, given issues over quality and the fact that bloggers prefer to give a verdict or opinion without really reporting on the views of the people.

Besides, in the spirit of competition that exists out there, bloggers will battle it out as they express themselves.

THE PHILIPPINES
Bryan Boy
Web developer-turned-fashion writer

Blog address: www.bryanboy.com
Blogs about: Fashion, accessories, pop culture
Popularity indicator: His blog reportedly attracts 180,000 visitors a day
The flamboyant fashion blogger started blogging when he was 17, from his parents' home in Manila. He is known for his witty and bitchy commentary, and his blog attracts overseas readers as well as those within his country.

CHINA
Xu Jinglei, 34
Actress-turned-director

Blog address: http://blog.sina.com.cn/xujinglei
Blogs about: Her work and daily life
Popularity indicator: Page views of more than 149 million since October 2005
Xu apparently did not start the blog herself. In October 2005, she was told by one of her colleagues that Sina.com, one of China's largest Internet companies, had set up a blog under her name and that she could opt to write or post photographs. And so she did, to the delight of millions of Chinese Internet users.

TAIWAN
Hu Jia-wei (Wanwan), 27
Comic artist

Blog address: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/cwwany
Blogs about: Everyday life
Popularity indicator: Has drawn more than 120 million visitors since October 2004
Hu used to work with a computer game design company before becoming an independent online author. She started blogging to share her everyday life and reflections with friends and family.
But her diary entries on grouses about working life have become a major hit among online users.

SINGAPORE
Lee Kin Mun, 38
Full-time writer/Podcaster/TV host

Blog address: http://www.mrbrown.com
Blogs about: Current events, music, gadgets, family
Popularity indicator: About 10,000 people read his blog daily
Lee took to blogging quite by accident in 1997. Under the popular Singapore National Education series, he wrote about life in the Lion City--on issues such as why it was OK for a sandwich to cost S$8 (US$6) as long as it had a French name. Now he writes on a range of topics.

JAPAN
Naoto Amaki, 60
Former ambassador to Lebanon

Blog address: http://www.amakiblog.com
Blogs about: Diplomatic and political affairs
Popularity indicator: Figures among the top 10 political bloggers in the country
Amaki, who is now a nonfiction writer, joined the foreign ministry in 1969 and has served in Malaysia, Australia, the United States and Canada, among other countries. It is said that he was obliged to resign from the ministry because of his opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, which Japan supported.

INDIA
Amit Agarwal, 31
Personal technology columnist

Blog address: http://labnol.org
Blogs about: Technology
A computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Agarwal quit his full-time job in 2004 to become a full-time blogger. Most of his income is generated from advertisements on his blog.

MALAYSIA
Ahiruddin Attan, 47
Former editor of Business Times and Malay Mail

Blog address: http://rockybru.blogspot.com/index.html
Blogs about: Political affairs
Popularity indicator: Has attracted more than 4.3 million visitors since May 2006
Better known as Rockybru, Ahiruddin said he took to blogging after he was stopped from publishing some articles when Abdullah Badawi took over as prime minister in 2004. He once wrote that Abdullah had bought a yacht, forcing the Prime Minister to publicly deny the purchase.

The Straits Times/ANN

A booming China faults U.S. policy on the economy

A booming China faults U.S. policy on the economy

By Edward Wong

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

BEIJING: Not long ago, Chinese officials sat across conference tables from American officials and got an earful.

The Americans scolded the Chinese on mismanaging their economy, from state subsidies to foreign investment regulations to the valuation of their currency. Your economic system, the Americans strongly implied, should look a lot more like ours.

But in recent weeks, the fingers have been wagging in the other direction. Senior Chinese officials are publicly and loudly rebuking the Americans on their handling of the economy and defending their own more assertive style of regulation.

Chinese officials seem to be galled by the apparent hypocrisy of Americans telling them what to do while the American economy is at best stagnant. China, on the other hand, has maintained its feverish growth.

Some officials are promoting a Chinese style of economic management that they suggest serves developing countries better than the American model, in much the same way they argue that they are in no hurry to copy American-style multiparty democracy.

In the last six weeks alone, a senior banking regulator blamed Washington's "warped conception" of market regulation for the subprime mortgage crisis that is rattling the world economy; the Chinese envoy to the World Trade Organization called on the United States to halt the dollar's unchecked depreciation before the slide further worsens soaring oil and food prices; and Chinese agencies denounced a federal committee charged with vetting foreign investments in the United States, saying the Americans were showing "hostility" and a "discriminatory attitude," not least toward the Chinese.

All this reflects a brash new sense of self-confidence on the part of the Chinese. China seems to feel unusually bold before the Summer Olympics, seen here as a curtain raiser for the nation's ascent to pre-eminence in the world. The devastating earthquake last month helped by turning world sympathy toward China and dampening criticism of its handling of Tibet.

The Chinese attitude is no doubt bolstered by the lame-duck status of the Bush administration and by the fact that the United States is widely seen as having squandered its political and military leadership during the war in Iraq, which China opposed. Likewise, Chinese officials and state news media have suggested that the relatively quick mobilization of the Chinese Army during the recent earthquake in Sichuan Province contrasts favorably with the Bush administration's reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

The aggressive stand comes at an inopportune moment for the White House. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. and other cabinet members are to meet with Chinese officials in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday in the latest round of semiannual economic talks. The Americans have a laundry list of complaints, among them that the Chinese use regulations to favor domestic companies over foreign rivals and that Beijing does too little to police the theft of copyrights and patents held by Western companies.

The United States is also pressing China to address concerns about the safety of food and drugs it exports.

But China has its own list of grievances, topped by management of the dollar and restrictions on foreign investment in the United States. And the Americans could find themselves with little negotiating leverage.

"U.S. credibility and the credibility of U.S. financial markets is zero everywhere in the world," said Joseph Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia University who has sharply criticized the Bush administration and praised China's economic management in the past. "Anybody looking at this from the outside says, 'There's been a lot of hot air coming out of the U.S., so why should we listen to these guys when they didn't know how to manage risk?' "

Here in China, economic observers are noting that the Chinese posture toward the Americans has decidedly shifted.

"This time, the Chinese side is trying to change its attitude to be more active, to be more aggressive, to balance the two sides," said Song Hongbing, author of "The Currency War," a best-selling if conspiratorial book on the American economy. "They just started to change their attitude for the future."

Chinese officials are expressing their disdain in forums around the world. Last month, Liu Mingkang, the chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, delivered a lecture at the British Museum in London in which he blamed the American government for the subprime mortgage crisis that came close to freezing Western debt markets and required extensive intervention by the Federal Reserve. The turmoil, he said, was "counteracting the course of global civilization."

"Does moneymaking or doing business justify the regulators in ignoring their duty for prudential supervision and their job of preventing misbehavior?" he said.

One of Liu's colleagues, Liao Min, told the newspaper The Financial Times in late May that the "Western consensus on the relation between the market and the government should be reviewed."

"In practice, they tend to overestimate the power of the market and overlook the regulatory role of the government, and this warped conception is at the root of the subprime crisis," said Liao, director general of the commission.

China is grappling with its share of economic problems, including high inflation. But it has reasons to feel optimistic.

Some economists say it has improved its state-owned banking system by writing off bad debt and overhauling management even as it rejected American pressure to privatize banks and allow unfettered competition in the financial sector. Its financial system is more tightly regulated and less dynamic than the American one, but also more stable, Chinese economists argue.

On currency management, China has been under heavy pressure to raise the value of the renminbi, which foreign critics say is maintained at an artificially low level to make Chinese exports less expensive. So far China has managed to walk a tightrope. It has allowed the renminbi to increase in value against the dollar in tiny increments, for a total of 20 percent since 2005, a less dramatic change than the Bush administration and Congress demanded.

The gradual approach has allowed the export sector to adjust while preventing a currency shock that might derail growth.

Meanwhile, the Americans allowed the dollar to plunge in value. That angered the Chinese, which keeps most of its $1.76 trillion in foreign reserves in dollars. Chinese officials have accused the Americans of mismanaging the dollar at a time when Washington is still pressing China to appreciate the renminbi to narrow the trade deficit.

Earlier this month, the Chinese envoy to the World Trade Organization said in Geneva that the United States had failed to safeguard the value of its currency, worsening the pain for people around the world who pay high oil and food prices in dollars.

The envoy, Sun Zhenyu, also said the United States was engaging in protectionism by imposing unfair duties on Chinese goods and subsidizing American products.

Earlier this month, several Chinese institutions submitted sharp critiques to the Treasury Department of proposed new regulations relating to foreign investment in the United States. Some of the remarks were scathing.

"The regulations still include some sections and procedures which reflect the enshrouded protectionism, an obvious contradiction to the spirit of free competition the U.S. has championed since long time ago," wrote the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The commission said the proposed regulations reflected a "self-evident hostility" and "discriminatory attitude" to certain types of foreign investments and "will ultimately hurt enthusiasm of foreign investment in the U.S."

China was particularly stung in 2005 by opposition in Congress to a bid by its third largest national oil company to buy the Unocal Corporation, an American oil company, for $18.5 billion.

Paulson, the Treasury secretary, said Monday that he agreed that there had been a "general trend" of China becoming increasingly vocal in its criticism of American policies, but that this was not a cause for concern.

"We've had a relationship where both sides have been pretty frank privately and pretty frank publicly," Paulson said in a telephone interview in Washington. He said China's criticism of American policies grew out of its rise as an economic power, with greater voice in global discussions on trade, currency and the flow of capital.

Nicholas Lardy, a China expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said in an interview that "the Chinese are reacting adversely, and I think with some justification."

He added, though, that he interpreted China's recent aggression more as a reaction to specific events or policies involving the American economy rather than the result of a new surge in national confidence.

If that is the case, China might be able to avoid the pitfall of hubris. Japan attacked the American government's economic management in the 1980s, only to find itself tumbling into recession and stagnation ever since. Some economic experts here warn that China's economy could soon feel the full brunt of the downturn in the world economy, and that the American economy, in the long run, could stay on top.

"The U.S. has always considered its economy powerful and is reluctant to listen to other countries," said Lin Jiang, the head of the economics department at the China Youth College for Political Sciences in Beijing. "Of course China now is more confident than before and Chinese people are more proud of China's economy, but we can't be blind. It's still hard to challenge the U.S."