AsiaPundit has been tied up with year-end activities, meetings and company events, so he has been a touch remiss in his coverage of Asian Internet issues. Thankfully state-news agency Xinhua has been keeping up with things. Google has just launched a special service for China.

China already has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is expected to swell substantially — an alluring prospect for Google as it tries to boost its already rapidly rising profits.

Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing-based company in which Google owns a 2.6 percent stake, currently runs China’s most popular search engine. But a recent Keynote Systems survey of China’s Internet preferences concluded that Baidu remains vulnerable to challenges from Google and Yahoo Inc.

"We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s senior policy counsel.

Initially, Google’s Chinese service will be limited to searching Web pages and images. The company also will provide local search results and a special edition of its news service.

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, china, , media, northeast asia

Hu Jintao has slipped out of the list of top-five dictators compiled by Parade Magazine, due to a strong showing by Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and a surprise massacre launched by Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov. Kim Jong-Il retains the number two spot.:

A “dictator” is a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit terrible human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on reports by global human-rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. While the three worst from 2005 have retained their places, two on last year’s list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10—not because their conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.

The West is red, and so is the Far East and much of the globe. An interactive map pointed to by Thomas Barnett displays each country’s exposure to China, with higher levels of integration indicated by darker shades of red.:

AsiaPundit is a firm integrationist , and welcomes the pink hues that cover the G7 economies. The dark red that covers Sudan, Angola, Kazakhstan and some other disreputable regimes does give AP some pause. (Curiously, no data is available for North Korea).

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, economy, northeast asia

Create your own subtitles for Japanese commercials.:

(Via Magnoy’s Samsara)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, media, northeast asia

Via Nomad, South Korea’s courts have decided that nude yogurt fights have no artistic merit.:

Naked Dairy Fight Had No Artistic Merit, Court Finds

A Seoul appellate court on Friday sentenced an executive of a domestic milk company to a fine of about US$5,000 for staging a nude yoghurt fight to advertise a new product.

The bench ruled the performance was purely commercially motivated and had no artistic merit whatsoever. It said the show, in which three nude models sprayed each other with yoghurt, was obscene and sensational, adding it could find no justification for using nudity to achieve the goal of the campaign. One model identified as Park, who also serves as head of the Korea Nude Models’ Association, was fined US$2,000, while two other models were fined US$600 each.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, south korea

In an essay that could be applied to much of the developing world, Roehlano Briones argues, rightly, that the dominance of flea markets in the Philippines is the result of too much regulation of businesses.:

1. What do you think does this tiangge (flea market) popularity says about the state of Philippine economy and consumer behavior?

Flea markets are a fixture in the Philippine (and many other) economies. As a matter of routine, they do not give receipts, hardly any sort of registration, and hence belong to the underground economy. The underground economy as a whole constitutes over forty percent of Philippine output. Fancy that.

What the undergroundization of the economy tells us (and flea markets is one sign of that) is that cost of going formal is high. According to the World Bank, the Philippines is ranked 113 out of 155 countries in terms of the ease of doing business. Incredible. Who are the best? New Zealand, Singapore, US, Canada, Norway, Hong Kong, in that order. We are 89th in terms of starting a business, 91st in terms of dealing with licenses, 82nd in terms of ease of hiring and firing workers, 92nd in terms of registering property, and a whopping 121st in terms of getting credit. Just to start a business, the average waiting time is 48 days, whereas in developed countries it is only 19.5 days; the cost of starting is up to one-fifth of per capita income, whereas in the latter it’s below 7%. Now should we wonder why the informal economy is so large? And why the informal economy in New Zealand is less than 13% of its national output?

(Photo of Quiapo Market stolen from Scent of Green Bananas)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, economy, philippines, southeast asia

Yes, this year will see the long-awaited unveiling of Chinese Democracy. AP warns against setting hopes for the project too high.:

The notoriously reclusive rocker is of course referring to Guns n’ Roses’ decade-in-the-making Chinese Democracy, arguably the most anticipated album in rock & roll history. "It’s a very complex record," says Rose, a surprise guest at Korn’s tour announcement bash. (Others in the house: Jessica Alba, cast members of The OC, and members of Linkin Park, Good Charlotte and the Used.) "I’m trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, ‘It doesn’t sound like Axl Rose, it doesn’t sound like Guns n’ Roses.’" He then smiles and adds, "But you’ll like at least a few songs on there."

(Via iZ)

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

John at Sinosplice links to patriotic Chinese flash animation.:

It’s time for a special treat. In fact, today you get two great treats in one: Flash animation and modern Chinese propaganda! It’s cheesey. It’s trippy. It’s got music, a disembodied constitution-procuring hand, voting, lime green birds, and a scene stolen directly from Disney’s “It’s a Small World After All.” Perhaps most mystifying is the fact that for all the people that appear in the cartoon, there is exactly one nose. Check it out for yourself.

This is the second sighting of Chinese cyber police in a week. For reasons AP cannot explain, Jing Jing and Cha Cha are also noseless.

Technorati Tags: china, east asia, northeast asia

Via 3Yen, a Japanese website dedicated to girls with guns:

And via Mingi, North Korean women with bigger guns:

And from ESWN, a less attractive male model from Beijing poses with a truly freaky grappling gun.:

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, korea, north korea, northeast asia

This is cute.:

AsiaPundit would still prefer OS X bento.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, northeast asia

Well, not necessarily a vegetarian, but Japanese ratsnake Aochan clearly :

Hamster named Gohan, right, and snake Aochan live together in a cardboard box at Mutsugoro Okoku zoo, outskirts of Tokyo, in this January 14, 2006 photo. Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one’s a 9 centimeter dwarf hamster; the other is a 120 centimeter-long (yard-long) ratsnake. Zookeepers at Tokyo’s Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster _ whose name means ‘meal’ in Japanese _ to Aochan as a tasty morsel in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice. But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since. (AP Photo/Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo, Kyota Nomura)

Damn, this is the cutest animal story since the tortoise and the baby hippo.

AsiaPundit usually doesn’t link to sites with graphic depictions of sex acts, but everyone is talking about the fucking pandas.:

From Tuesday morning, the pair began to take turns sniffing each other, an act believed by expects as clear signs of the impending mating. Lin Hui, the female, kept walking by Chuang Chuang and turned her rear toward him, but only was pushed away by the male with his paws.

As zoo officials were frustrated by the lack of developments in their contact for hours, Chuang Chuang seemed to understand what he was supposed to do. He discarded his resistance, sat and leaned backward while spreading his legs. Lin Hui then moved backward and sat on top of him.

Magnoy’s Samsara has a picture of Chuang Chuang enjoying a post-coital bamboo shoot.:

BANGKOK, Thailand — At first, it was a purely platonic relationship. But after two years in the same enclosure, giant pandas Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui have started mating, raising hopes they could give birth to a baby in the coming months.

The pandas started the mating dance Sunday with a mock wrestling bout, according to officials at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand. From there, the pair began sniffing one another on Tuesday and mated later in the day.

Jason has more panda porn.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, southeast asia, thailand

AsiaPundit is a fan of the friendly neighborhood Spider-man and admits to preferring traditional renditions of the wallcrawler. Still, AP has no serious objection to the introduction of giant transforming robots to this 1978 Japanese live-action version of Spider-man.:

Everything is better with giant robots. Giant transforming robots should be in all movies relating to Japan regardless of the source material. Pearl Harbor, the Last Samurai and Geisha could all have been much improved with the addition of giant robots. Bill Murray would have won that Oscar had the robot scene not been shortened in Lost in Translation (and if the robots had been taller).

(via Flea)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, northeast asia

Lee Kwan-yew did not enrich himself during his tenure as leader of Singapore. Nor did his family gain any undeserved influence over the country. It is a meritocracy and don’t suggest otherwise.

In fact the only reason Lee can sustain an affluent lifestyle in retirement is because he gets shedloads of cash from irresponsible Western media groups that dare to suggest such nasty and untrue things.:

We recognise that the statements attributed to Mr Lee in the obituary on Devan Nair and which are referred to in Mdm Yeong Yoon Ying’s letter, are false. We apologise to Mr Lee for having published them, and we unreservedly withdraw them. We have agreed to pay Mr Lee damages and to indemnify him for all costs incurred by him in connection with this matter.

The Economist last apologized to the Lee family in September 2004. Other media groups that have had to apologize to the Lee family include Bloomberg, the Far East Economic Review and the International Herald Tribune. Typical settlements are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, media, singapore, southeast asia

A Hong Kong firm has just taken over the makers of FRISBEE®, the HULA HOOP® and the SUPERBALL®.  There has been no disclosure on whether Cornerstone Overseas Investments Ltd is in any way affiliated with the Communist Party, although AsiaPundit thinks this may be an attempt by the Chinese to gain a strategic advantage in the development of iconic round plastic objects.   

How did this happen without a Congressional hearing?!?

Chinese investors couldn’t buy an oil company or the maker of Maytag appliances, but now one Hong Kong group will be able to claim a real American icon — Wham-O Inc., the maker of Frisbee, Hula Hoop, Hacky Sack and Slip ‘N Slide toys.

Wham-O today said that it had been acquired by an affiliate of Hong Kong toy distributor Cornerstone Overseas Investments Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.

The 58-year-old company, headquartered for most of its existence in San Gabriel before moving to Emeryville in Northern California, in recent years has bounced around more than a Super Ball — another of Wham-O’s famed inventions.

(Photo stolen from the Tribune of India)

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, hong kong, northeast asia

Blogger interviews to note: Japundit was ‘intraviewed’ by Kokuryu. As well, Tian of Hanzi Smatter was interviewed by NPR.

AsiaPundit has not yet been interviewed. Although AP has been this week picked up by a Dutch newspaper and a very good - and authorized - Times of London blog by Richard Lloyd Parry: Asia Exile.
(AP has also appared in CNet and BusinessWeek blogs, plus a BBC magazine. No bribes were exchanged.)

Technorati Tags: asia, blogs, china, east asia, japan, northeast asia

AsiaPundit honestly did not expect the shutdown of Michael Anti’s blog to cause as much of a global outrage as it did. Blogs are deleted regularly in China. Papers are censored. Magazines are pulled off the shelves. Satellite television signals are blocked. Journalists are arrested, detained and jailed. This is all quite normal. (There’s nothing new to see here, move along.)

The outrage from Reporters Without Borders could be expected. It’s also normal for the New York Times and Washington Post to run outraged editorials. But it’s fairly new to see a top columnist for business newswire Bloomberg call for a boycott:

Would a Hong Kong-based economist publishing a report suggesting China understates GDP be committing a crime against the state? How about a journalist or a blogger getting leaked information about a politician or a company doing dodgy things? No one knows for sure.

Censorship is a sign of weakness, not strength. It’s also a reminder that China lacks a key economic ingredient: self- confidence.

Along with being one of the world’s oldest civilizations, China is the most populous nation and remains the fastest-growing major economy. And yet China expends so much energy controlling what’s said about it.

Technology companies claim they need to follow local laws where they operate and they’re in a tough spot in China. Western companies need to bend over backward to get a foothold in capitalism’s latest frontier. Yet in their giddiness over future profits, they can go too far. Corporate America may be doing just that in China.

Let’s Boycott

Why, with all his wealth and global prestige, isn’t Microsoft founder Bill Gates standing up to Beijing? Why isn’t Google taking that $467 share price out for a spin and challenging China? Why is a global household name like Yahoo bowing to a repressive regime? Companies seem to think their mere presence will help open China. That’s just bunk.

“Microsoft, Yahoo and others are helping to institutionalize and legitimize the integration of censorship into the global IT business model,'’ said Rebecca MacKinnon, a former Beijing bureau chief for CNN now specializing in Web censorship.

It’s all futile, though. China will find it harder and harder to police fast-changing technologies and fast-learning bloggers. All Chinese consumers may remember years from now is how the biggest names in technology once helped keep them down. Along with a Chinese firewall, they may be creating barriers between themselves and future users.

I’d like to see the country’s consumers boycott Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and others. It’s just not clear that the message would reach many in China.

Pesek’s views, as the Bloomberg site states, are his own.

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, china, east asia, media, northeast asia

Curzon at Coming Anarchy produces an item by Stratfor arguing that leaders of large countries generally cannot get there by being insane or morons.:

One of the ways to avoid thinking seriously about foreign policy is to dismiss anyone who does not behave as you would. Such a person is unpredictable, scary, and cannot be controlled. You are therefore relieved of the burden of doing anything about him. In foreign policy, it is sometimes useful to appear to be insane or stupid. Insanity is a great tool of unpredictability, and the less predictable you are, the more power you have. Stupidity lulls opponents into falsely believing that they can deal with you at any time they like. Thus some leaders deliberately cultivate an aura of insanity or stupidity to their own advantage.

    However, people who climb to the leadership of nations containing many millions of people must be highly disciplined, with insight into others and the ability to plan carefully. Lunatics rarely have those characteristics. Certainly, there have been sociopaths—like Hitler—but at the same time, he was a very able, insightful, meticulous man. He might have been crazy, but dismissing him because he was crazy—as many did—was a massive mistake.

Stratfor has noted on several occasions that the above description applies to a number of politicians, namely President Bush, Kim Jong Il, and President Ahmadinejad. In truth, all these men rose to power through a complex process by which they were vetted by a number of different powerful interests and groups. All three men must answer to a number of backers, many with differing if not competing interests. And none got to where they are by being dumb or nuts. Labeling them as such might feel good, it is neither helpful nor clarifying.

AsiaPundit would argue that none of the three is dumb, though he would say that "evil" and "crazy" can be applied to at least one of the above leaders. Crazy does not have to imply that someone is incompetent - as Stratfor notes, Hitler was a sociopath. This is not to suggest that we should dismiss the man because he is crazy; AP would suggest that he should be taken as a more serious threat because of that fact.

Kim actually fits the archetype of the evil genius or mad scientist quite well.

Here we have a reclusive tyrant with a massive cult of personality, lording over a land of peasants while engaging in criminal activities and spending most of the land’s resources on building advanced weaponry.

That said, AsiaPundit thinks living conditions in Latveria would still exceed those in North Korea.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, kim jong-il, korea, north korea, northeast asia

(more…)

Light posting today as Mr and Mrs AsiaPundit were having beer this evening at one of Asia’s 25 million British-styled pubs. However, we offer some of the best Asian beer posts in the past few days.

The good: Manish at Sepia Mutiny recounts the origin of India Pale Ale, which AP often cites when making an argument that the British Empire did bring good things to the continent.:

After the British East India Company had established itself in India… it had a large number of troops and civilians demanding beer… Ships typically left London, cruised south past the equator along the coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then crossed the Indian Ocean to reach Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. The temperature fluctuations were huge, it was a very long trip (about 6 months) and the rough waters of southern Africa resulted in an extremely violent voyage…

Early shipments to India contained bottled porters, the favorite beer in London, which generally arrived flat, musty, and sour… Hodgson took his pale ale recipe, increased the hop content considerably, and raised the alcohol content. The result was a very bitter, alcoholic, and sparkling pale ale that could survive the challenges of travel and shelf life in India.

High hop levels can preserve a beer’s flavor in two ways: they have a limited ability to protect beer from spoilage by some microorganisms, and, more importantly, their bitterness can mask stale flavors. While the beer arriving in India would certainly have suffered from oxidative staling during the long voyage, it could still taste acceptable because of the masking effect of alcohol and hops.

The Bad: One of the better lagers in Southeast Asia is losing market share in its home country:

I love cradling the squat brown bottle in my hand, seeing the beads of condensation gathered around the engraved logo, feeling the first slug hit the back of my throat … most of all, I love San Miguel Pale Pilsen for the very reason that Filipinos are deserting it in droves, because it is quintessentially and timelessly Filipino.

Unfortunately, quintessentially and timelessly Filipino is not what today’s beer drinker is looking for. According to yesterday’s paper:

San Miguel Pale Pilsen, the flagship beer of San Miguel Corp. in the ubiquitous squat brown bottle, has seen its market share dwindle to a record low of 29 percent as of September 2005, according to records obtained from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Asia’s oldest brew, Pale Pilsen, which is exported to other countries and rated as one of the world’s largest selling beers, has been on a downtrend since 2001, when its market share hit 50.76 percent—and further tumbled to 39 percent in 2003.

From 50.6% to 29% in four years is a precipitous decline. There is nothing surprising about this though. Like beer drinkers from Covent Garden to Greenwich Village, Philippine drinkers are looking for that chic beer style. I can’t blame them. When I lived in Britain, my fridge was full of French, Czech, and German beer, not Carling Black Label.

However, when it comes to the squat brown bottle I’m bucking the trend. I guess I’ve drunk more San Miguel Pale than any other brand and I’m not stopping now! Apart from the attributes I mentioned above, San Miguel Pale Pilsen tastes better better than any beer I know. I shall just have to drink harder to make up that deficit.

The Ugly: Much like a opening a box of crackerjacks, the excitement of having a brew in Taiwan is enhanced by not knowing what you are going to find inside:

While there probably isn’t a solution at the bottom of that bottle of Taiwan Beer that you’re enjoying, the Taipei Times reports that there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find something in there.

"Over the past few years, a "condom-like" object, live insects, dead cockroaches, cigarette butts, bottle caps and betel nut shreds have all been discovered in bottles of the nation’s favorite brew, Li said."

Technorati Tags: asia, blogs, india, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia, taiwan

Oranckay says the South Korean president has three blogs:

It’ll probably be in the English press by morning but president Roh Moo Hyun has got his own blog.

Or two.

Or three.

One at Naver, one at Daum, and one at Paran.

Some have said one of Roh’s biggest problems is that he’s got his head buried in the internet. You know, instead of just governing without constantly trying to be best buddies with The Netizens all the time. I wonder if he is going to be able to sleep at night without wondering what kind of comments he’s been getting. (He’s been known to leave a few himself here and there.)

Hopefully these will be more active than the three blogs of his northern counterpart. Kim Jong-il has let two of them slide. Speaking of that, we should have all checked the infrequently updated Beloved Leader site for details of his China trip. It would have spared us a lot of speculation:

Screw those Beijing Clowns

I am going Shopping!
Damn! Is today a holiday? I had some of my Overseas Bureau lads put me ashore this morning so I could shop for some hard-to-get items. Are those little LG things the same as iPods?

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, north korea, northeast asia, south korea

Singapore’s ‘white-elephant’ MRT station is opening, and after some clever investigative work, the Singapore Police have decided that a group of school girls selling T-shirts does not constitute a public disturbance.:

CONTROVERSY has trailed the Buangkok MRT station for the past two-and-a-half years - right up to its long-awaited opening day.

On Friday, while preparations went into overdrive for the carnival to celebrate the opening of the $80-million station on Sunday, drama knocked on its doors yet again. This time, it was over some "Save the White Elephants" T-shirts that former Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) students were planning to sell at the carnival.

That day, the students and Punggol South organisers received a reminder from the police that they needed a fund-raising permit before they could sell the T-shirts to the public, in line with existing regulations. The 27 students were also told that they might break the law if the T-shirts were worn "en masse".

The last minute reminder had apparently caught the 17-year-old students — who had created the T-shirts last year after the infamous white-elephant incident — off guard. When contacted, a police spokesperson confirmed that the advisory was sent out.

"In view of the nature of the event, we had advised the organisers that they should be aware that the wearing of T-shirts en masse may be misconstrued by some as an offence under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public & Order & Nuisance) (Assemblies & Processions) Rules. Should Police receive any report or complaints, we would have to look into the matter. This is consistent with all reports made to the Police," he told Today.

But the police have no objections to the fund-raising initiative per se, and are prepared to expedite the permit, which normally takes three days to process.

"In this case, we have made an exception for the students. We have communicated to the event organiser that the fundraisers can still apply for a permit on Saturday, as long as they are able to produce a memo of understanding with the charitable organisation," said the police spokesperson on Friday night.

It’s nice to see the boys in blue were hard at work. Wankers.

If any of the 60 unsold T-shirts are available AP is interested in buying.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

Julien of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) mentioned in the comments that the RSF did send its petition to European authorities as well as US ones, and that the concentration on US companies is due to the fact that they have a higher visibility. As that is the reason AP has a Cisco logo in his left-hand sidebar, instead of one by Alcatel, the point is well taken.

In other RSF news, China climbed a few notches in the most recent Press Freedom Index, Running Dog reports.:

Beijing. January 16. Xinhuanet: China has now overtaken Libya in the annual press freedom index compiled by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders organization, marking the growing opportunities for open media enquiry in the country.

Since 2002, China has also moved above Burma, Turkmenistan, Nepal, Iran, Eritrea and Cuba, signifying the progress China has made in protecting journalism and developing the harmonious society.

“We’re not as bad as those North Koreans, make no mistake,” said Xiao Huang, a former editorial assistant with The Beijing News.

Meanwhile, the US has plummeted more than 20 places since last year, and Japanese press freedom has also fallen in the last three years, according to the index.

“That Koizumi bloke should stop visiting that shrine, the bastard,” said Xiao Huang, who now drives a cab.

Given the Beijing News incident, AP expects the country will drop a couple of notches in the 2006 index.

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, china, east asia, northeast asia

More evidence of the creepy emergence of the new left.:

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) — A senior Chinese leader Monday urged the country’s Marxism researchers to enhance research on the application of Marxist theory in China and put forward sound theories for China’s development.

“Results of the research should be able to enhance the appeal and influence of Marxism,” said Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee at a work conference on Marxism Theory Research and Construction Project held here.

Li called the project, which has been in implementation for a year, a major theoretical innovation project and an important component of the drive to build China into an innovation-oriented country.

AsiaPundit assumes that conclusions such as “Marxism is bollocks” won’t be permitted.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia