Archives: September 2008

Tainted Chinese Milk Producers try damage control

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on September 30

It sounds like China desperately needs a truth in advertising law. Some Chinese milk producers implicated in the melamine contamination are attempting damage control by running ads that simply ignore...

China Goes on Vacation

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 29

Today marks the start of another week-long Chinese holiday, this time to celebrate the country's National Day. The Chinese government started these hyper-holidays during the aftermath of the Asian financial...

World Economic Forum and China's Milk Crisis

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on September 26

Opening day of the World Economic Forum meeting in China, this year held in the coastal city of Tianjin, one of China’s four centrally-administered cities (others include Beijing, Shanghai, and...

Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim meets investors in Hong Kong

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 25

Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia and now the top opposition figure, was in Hong Kong yesterday to speak at a CLSA investor conference. For years, Anwar was...

China has More Super Rich than Japan

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on September 25

Chalk up another one for China. Not only does it have the biggest haul of Olympic gold medals. Now it can claim the most super rich individuals in Asia. According...

More on China’s awful milk scandal

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 25

Alarmed by the news from China, more countries are banning the import of products containing Chinese milk. The latest: South Korea. The French are taking matters even further: They’re banning...

Will Mariah Carey lift mood of Investors in Chinese Stocks?

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on September 24

At the CLSA Investor Forum here in Hong Kong there haven't been a lot of backslapping and hi-fives, which isn’t surprising considering the headlines these days. But as one CLSA...

India drug scare = U.S. protectionism?

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 23

According to the Economic Times, there are Indians wondering about what the U.S. is really up to by banning the import of 30 drugs by Ranbaxy. The FDA announced the...

Japan's Banks to the Rescue

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 22

Who would’ve guessed that the Japanese would come to the rescue in a U.S. banking crisis? The first inkling of this was Mizuho Financial Group’s $1.2-billion stake in Merrill Lynch...

China's Poisoned Milk Scandal Spreads

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 22

The American financial crisis may be dominating the headlines in most of the world, but in China the top story is the scandal involving milk contaminated with the industrial chemical...

China's Stock Market Makes a 9.46% Dead Cat Bounce

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on September 19

How do you say “dead cat bounce” in Chinese? The Shanghai stock market surged 9.46% on Friday, but it’s still down more than 60% this year. The jump came on...

Ranbaxy Calls Rudy Giuliani for Help

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 18

We’ve been covering the ongoing problems that Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy has been having with the FDA in the U.S. Now, just days after the FDA announced a ban on the...

Chinese again victimized by poisoned products

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 17

The scandal surrounding China's tainted milk once again is calling attention to the shoddy state of consumer protection in China. During the big Made-in-China scares last year surrounding tainted Chinese-made...

Indian Pharma Ranbaxy Slammed by FDA

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 17

Drug companies hoping to outsource production to low-cost locations in India are probably following closely the news about Ranbaxy Laboratories, arguably India's premier drugmaker and a big seller of generic...

Fewer flights from U.S. to China

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 16

It wasn't that long ago the big U.S. airlines were all dying to add more flights to China. The Olympic Games were going to provide a big boost in American...

Panasonic’s Camera Strategy: Women and Elderly First

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 12

Panasonic could have spruced up its digital camera lineup with another feature-packed product. But instead it chose to survey women and elderly consumers and to design a camera with them...

China and India: Looking for Common Ground

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 11

As longtime readers of Eye on Asia know, lots of readers get animated talking about the pluses and minuses of India versus China. There are plenty of reasons for the...

Sony Gets a Life-X

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 10

Sony (SNE) has a reputation for making finely crafted electronics with clumsy software. That’s because the company’s engineers have long focused on cramming as many whiz-bang technologies into their products...

Is North Korea's Dear Leader Seriously Ill?

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on September 09

The absence of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in a military parade commemorating the country’s 60th birthday on Sept. 9 is fanning speculation over his health. His absence followed...

Astronauts, Earthquake Relief, the Olympics, and Chinese Pride

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on September 09

With national pride at a peak following the just completed Beijing Olympics, China’s government has plans for another major pride—boosting gesture. Between September 25-30, China plans to send three astronauts...

Would you pay $290 to watch Sex And The City?

Posted by: Ian Rowley on September 09

So much for Japan's economic downturn. According to a report in Japan today, a theater operator which recently introduced the world's costliest movie seats recently is doing brisk business. In...

Japan's Sumo Mired in Drug Scandal

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 08

Drug scandals in the sporting world aren’t uncommon these days. Usually they’re about athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs to get an unfair advantage, as was the case at this year’s...

Why Beijing Will OK Coke's China Deal

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 08

In his China column on MarketWatch Craig Stephen writes investors are worried the Chinese government might nix Coke's proposed $2.4 billion takeover of Huiyuan, the country's top juice maker: "Rumblings...

The Honda Insight is back

Posted by: Ian Rowley on September 04

Honda's name for its new Prius killer is perhaps the least innovative thing about it--it's going to be called the Insight. The old Insight was the first mass-produced hybrid...

Korea’s Online Gaming Craze

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on September 04

South Koreans just can’t seem to resist the sheer entertainment value that their online fantasy and combat games deliver. According to statistics recently released by Korea Game Industry Agency, Korea...

Anime Stocks Rise with Aso's Prime Ministerial Ambition

Posted by: Ian Rowley on September 03

Would-be Prime Minister Taro Aso isn't expected to have much impact on Japan's economic prospects should he take over the top job in Japanese politics. But his candidacy is...

Medical tourism: Thailand Troubles Could Lift Philippines

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 02

A few days ago, columnist Tony Lopez wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Manila Times complaining about a new report on medical tourism from Deloitte. The report talks about Asian...

Another Japanese Prime Minister Quits But Can You Name Him?

Posted by: Ian Rowley on September 01

Big news tonight in Japan. The Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda just resigned. Appearing at press conference at 9:30pm local time, the 72-year-old leader blamed opposition parties, which have been using...