– Analysis & opinion
We live in interesting times.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. January 1, 2009 How will the economic crisis affect China and her relations with the rest of the world? Although I don’t pretend to have all the answers, as an expatriate who has lived and worked in China for five years now, I figure that I am just as […]
China: Credit where it is due.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. June, 2009 Whether the West likes it or not, and whether the Chinese people like it or not, the reality is that China is a one-party state that we (and they) must live with for the foreseeable future. So let’s separate politics from government for a moment, and take […]
Prediction: a risky business.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. June, 2009 Economics is often called the dismal science. Now I understand why. The proposition that economics is a science is on very shaky ground indeed. Those economists who analyse data and make predictions are too often wrong. Reason enough for this pejoritive moniker. So let me release a little bile on […]
On the Western media and Tibet
Recent commentary in the international media on the pre-Olympics riots in Tibet is typical of most western reporting in this part of the world: surface-level observations which do not do justice to a complex historico-political situation. In the long run, such facile commentary will do nothing to help Tibetan people achieve their goal of cultural […]
Watching CCTV and reading between the lines.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. July, 2009 A couple of days ago on CCTV9, China’s English language TV station that is beamed to the West, there was a short story on China’s diplomats who had been ordered by the government to return to Beijing for a conference. Something was up. Watching CCTV and reading […]
China, iron-0re, and Australia: killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. July, 2009 Corruption in China. A controversial topic. A reality that should be discussed in the open, regardless of what damage it might do to China’s sensitive face. The arrest of Rio Tinto’s man in China, Mr Stern Hu, for allegedly offering a bribe, gives us pause for reflection […]