Direct China-Taiwan flights start

What a great moment in the history of the Taiwan-PRC relationship. May friendship between the two chinas live forever!

What do you think?

China's economy grows 9.5 percent in 2004 vs 9.3 percent in 2003

BEIJING, Jan 25 (AFP) - China's booming economy grew even faster in 2004, expanding at a blistering pace of 9.5 percent after 9.3 percent the previous year, official statistics showed Tuesday.

Copyright (c) 2005 Agence France-Presse

China just keeps on getting richer, and bigger, and more powerful, and suddenly..... will it become the world's next "superpower"?

What lies ahead for the Chinese economy? a bust? An explosion? an implosion? political reform?

Japanese military deploys to tsunami-hit Indonesia

Japan's largest military deployment since World War II has arrived in Indonesia to help tsunami victims and improve the country's image in a region wary of its past aggression.
Other foreign troops are scaling down their presence in the badly-hit Aceh region one month after the disaster.
But the three Japanese navy ships carrying 950 Self-Defence Force personnel have dropped anchor in Indonesian waters.
AFP. ABC News.

Complete article

Perhaps this is the start of Japan as a regional "builder" towards peace and integration?
Is Japan going to really help Indonesia?
What is Japan's motive?

For Beijing Students Now, Protests Aren't Even a Memory

BEIJING, Jan. 21 - For Yu Yang, a mop-haired biology major, the small notice posted this week on Beijing University's Web site about the death of a former Communist Party leader seemed like an irrelevant historical footnote.

Growing up, Mr. Yu, now 21, barely knew about Zhao Ziyang, except that he had "played a prominent role in 1989." And Mr. Yu acknowledged Thursday that he barely knew about 1989. He knew students had protested at Tiananmen Square; he had heard that Chinese soldiers fired into the crowds to end the demonstrations.

But Mr. Yu, an aspiring scientist, described that as hearsay. "Rumors say so," he said of a bloody crackdown witnessed by a worldwide television audience outside China, "but I need a lot of evidence to believe it."

By Jim Yardley. The New York Times. 1/22/04.
Full article

Is the lack of regard for history as an "exact science" a problem for the Chinese population?
Would this impact the regional dynamics in the future?

Credit card use at highest level in two years

Credit card usage during the fourth quarter of last year was the highest in two years, card issuers reported.
The companies told the Ministry of Finance and Economy that consumers charged 44,865 billion won in the October-December period.
That was a 10.6 percent year-on-year increase and the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2002, when shoppers put 45,825 billion won on their credit cards.

The Korea Herald. By Kim So-hyun.
Full Article Link

Will the high rate of credit card debt become a potential downfall for the Korean economy?
Rational exuberance?

Beijing greets 1.3 billionth mainland baby

Chen Zhiyong writes in China Daily:

The 1.3 billionth Chinese person was greeted Thursday morning in Beijing.
Just two minutes after midnight, a boy of 3.66 kilograms drew his first breath and uttered his first cries at the Beijing Hospital of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

Complete article

What do you think about the one-child policy?

Should it be discontinued?

What is your experience with this policy?

Hasn't capitalism moved past this law, since rich families can afford the fine for having a second child?

Is it psycologically damaging to not have any siblings?

North Korea prepares for war with US

The AP writes (in The Sydney Morning Herald):

North Korea has ordered its people to prepare for a protracted war against the United States, issuing guidelines on evacuating to underground bunkers with weapons, food and portraits of leader Kim Jong Il.

article link

Is there anything new here?

Hasn't North Korea technically been at war for the past 50 years?

What can the evacuation of Kim Jong Il's portraits tell us?

Did you hear that North Korea contributed with $150,000 to help the Tsunami victims?

What are YOU doing to help the Tsunami victims?

Tell Asia East Blog what YOU are doing to help the victims, or what you think might be a good idea to re-build the many towns, communities and families that were destroyed as a result of the Tsunami.

As always, Cookiesap advocates donations to UNICEF - an always progessive and good-spirited organization!!

Also, visit http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com for a blog dedicated to the disaster.

Share your brain waves with us......