International Law

Auto Bailout, Financial Bailout, What Next?

Posted on November 10, 2008
Massive non-performing loans that force major financial institutions into insolvency. Significant state investment in manufacturing industries. National governmental leadership in product planning. Taxpayers "profiting" from equity investments in quasi-private enterprises...

World Bank Chief Asserts World Trade Has Fallen

Posted on November 09, 2008
An update to our earlier post on the contraction of credit used for international trade: According to Mr. Zoellick, the onset of the [credit] crisis caused a "stunning" decline in global trade. "And we believe that you could find in 2009 that you could have an actual decline in world trade, which would be the first time since 1982," Mr...

Yawn! Another Attorney Scam-mail with Webpage for Effect

Posted on November 07, 2008
Here's yet another example of a scam-the-attorney email. I guess you can call me a collector. Crudely conceived email. Its properties: from Rising Sun reply-to WLung@aggies.com to sunr35@yahoo.com date Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:54 PM subject Your Service Needed (Attorney at Law) mailed-by yahoo...

More on Closing Chinese Factories

Posted on November 05, 2008
Chinese banks, despite State prodding to the contrary, refuse to lend to struggling factories. At least, that is what Bloomberg writes. ``It's wishful thinking for the government to try to talk banks into lending to stimulate the economy,'' says Li Qing, a Shanghai-based analyst at CSC Securities HK Ltd...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Off-topic: Electronic Voting Machine Our Next President

Posted on November 04, 2008
I know it has nothing to do with China, but it's just too funny to pass up. Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President

Audio Event: Retail in Vietnam with Giles Cooper

Posted on November 03, 2008
While China occupies center stage for most Western investors, Vietnam's nascent retail sector may provide opportunities, which our guest attorney Giles Cooper, resident in Hanoi, expounds upon, with comments on the legal system as well. Giles Cooper is Special Counsel to Duane Morris...

Melamine and the Chinese Academy of Sciences?

Posted on November 01, 2008
One of my fav blogs suggests that the Chinese Academy of Sciences (?????) was the prime mover in the introduction of melamine into the Chinese food production industries. The Academy has issued a denial.

Video Event: Robert Adanto's "The Rising Tide" -- Chinese Video Artists

Posted on October 29, 2008
     We take a detour today with a clip from Robert Adanto's, "The Rising Tide, a New Documentary on Chinese Contemporary Art." Many thanks to Robert for his kind permission, enabling us to post this clip on Asiabizblog. Get the Flash Player to see this player...

More Reports of Chinese Factories Shutting Their Doors

Posted on October 27, 2008
As we've noted in the past, sporadic reports of factory closings in China seem to be tied to a downturn in orders from Western nations, as summed up in this USA Today article. More than half of all China's toy exporters ? 3,631 firms ? shut their doors the first half of the year, the official Xinhua news agency reported...

Audio Event: an Interview with China Law Scholar and Practitioner, Stanley Lubman

Posted on October 24, 2008
Asiabizblog kicks off a new season of podcasts with an interview of Stanley Lubman, China law scholar and practitioner. Mr. Lubman has, over 40 years, been witness to and participant in China's veritable earthquake of changes. Whether as student of Chinese law at Columbia University School of Law in the 1960s, as delegate to the earliest Guangzhou trade fairs in the 1970s, as attorney for energy deals in the 70s and 80s, as scholar/practitioner at Harvard, SOAS or Allen & Overy in the 80s and 90s, Stanley Lubman always seems to be one step ahead of the pack...

CITIC Pacific's Great Big Bet (Bath) -- Who Else Is Next? China Railway!

Posted on October 23, 2008
Details have emerged in the CITIC Pacific forex scandal: Citic Pacific Ltd.'s attempt to manage currency risk means the Chinese steelmaker and property developer has four times more money riding on the Australian dollar than it earned last year. The unit of China's largest state-owned investment company has contracts committing it to buy as much as A$9...

China's Economic Growth 9% in Third Quarter And Dropping

Posted on October 21, 2008
Statistics compiled by the Chinese state are unverifiable and unreliable, but Western company representatives seem to agree that the bloom is still there, but wilting somewhat. Indeed, the Chinese economy has slowed drastically, even before the American melt-down...

CITIC Pacific Loses $1.89 Billion in Bad Betting on Currency

Posted on October 20, 2008
CITIC Pacific, whose parent company recently offered to raise its equity stake in Morgan Stanley to 49% from 10%, has announced the loss of US$1.89 billion (and possibly $2 billion) in currency trading. Trading of the shares was suspended for one day (October 20) on the Hong Kong exchange...

Impact of the Credit Freeze on International Shipments -- Where's the L/C?

Posted on October 15, 2008
Bloomberg reports that the credit freeze is expected to reduce the number of international shipments banks commonly guarantee: ``Letters of credit and the credit lines for trade currently are frozen,'' Khalid Hashim, managing director of Precious Shipping, Thailand's second-largest shipping company, said in Singapore yesterday...

Alabama Company Cuts Production in China, Brings Work Back Home

Posted on October 14, 2008
In the past six months, production in China has, for some foreign manufacturers, become too expensive. At present, I don't hear this as any more than a minor rumbling, but it could be, possibly, a precursor to a trend. A drop in the dollar, rising transportation and labor costs, and the added difficulties inherent in overseas production have convinced some to pull production out of China and bring it back home...

Another Attorney Scam -- India, China, Japan, This One's Got It All

Posted on October 10, 2008
As we in the U.S. find ourselves inching ever closer to the nationalization of private banks -- despite Treasury denials -- let's take a break in the turmoil for some humor and at least an instance of successful self-preservation. Here is another example of the attorney scam with an Asian, about which I've written many times...

More Chinese-Style Financial Steps Planned for American Banking System?

Posted on October 09, 2008
The Fed has discussed a plan to take ownership stakes in American banks, even healthy ones "It is the policy of the federal government to use all resources at its disposal to make our financial system stronger,'' Paulson said. ``We will use all of the tools we've been given to maximum effectiveness, including strengthening the capitalization of financial institutions of every size...

ABA Hiring for the Rule of Law Initiative, China Program

Posted on October 08, 2008
The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program is currently hiring for the following positions (click each link for a job spec): - Deputy Country Director - Program Officer - Staff Translator/Interpreter These positions are available immediately...

Fed to Set Up Special Purpose Vehicle to Purchase Bad Debt

Posted on October 07, 2008
Just over the wire: the Fed will set up an SPV (special-purpose vehicle) to purchase bad commercial paper directly from banks and non-banks. Echoes of the Chinese experience... An extraordinary step, which appears to be authorized by the Federal Reserve Act, Section 13: 3...

IRS Allows Multinationals to Borrow Larger Sums of Cash from Overseas Subsidiaries

Posted on October 07, 2008
As a further response to the credit crisis (crash?), the American Internal Revenue Service issued a temporary guidance last Friday allowing multinationals to borrow cash from overseas subsidiaries for as long as 60 days, three times a year, without incurring corporate tax...

North Korea on Google Earth

Posted on October 03, 2008
These brilliant Google Earth maps of North Korea [download here] are unsurpassed by anything I've seen made available to the public. You can't bring one in with you on a laptop, but you can surely prepare for your trip to the DPRK with it. Once again, thanks go to the

Onion Video: China Launches First Willing Manned Space Mission

Posted on October 02, 2008
I'm not sure why this gave me an attack of chortles and belly-laughs. Perhaps it was simply that I wrote this morning on a serious subject? But as to this video, the juxtaposition of...well, you take a look. China Launches First Willing Manned Mission Into Space

US Requirement of Cervical Cancer Vaccination for Immigrants Stirs Up Backlash

Posted on October 02, 2008
Part of my law practice includes immigration, primarily for Chinese. The incidence of cervical cancer among Chinese women, according to a recent study, is relatively low in comparison to world statistics, but is, nevertheless, the fifth most prevalent cancer among women in China...

UPDATE: Chinese Regulators Give Green Light to Borrow from Foreign Banks

Posted on September 29, 2008
Further to this Asiabizblog post, WSJ reports: Chinese regulators said the finances of foreign banks in the country are sound, a message that appeared aimed at reassuring local banks that have been reluctant to lend to their foreign counterparts because of concerns about the U...

Yet Another Email Scam Targeting Lawyers: A Different China Twist

Posted on September 29, 2008
The so-called Nigerian scam turned its attention to attorneys, as we reported in prior posts, at that time purportedly emanating from Hong Kong. Already, in the past year, several attorneys, in California and Georgia, are on the hook for six-figure debts...

AIG Turns to Asia-interest Blogs In Media Relations Program

Posted on September 26, 2008
I wasn't quite sure how to handle this one. Incredulous that a friendly AIG media relations exec would even send it my way. (If they haven't gotten this out in Chinese, Malay, Thai, etc., they are not getting through to their customers directly.) The text clearly shows that AIG is seriously concerned about counter-reaction in Asia to its recent, most fortunate bail-out...

Rumor: China Banking Regulators Tell Local Banks Not to Lend to U.S. Banks

Posted on September 25, 2008
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has denied a report that it instructed local banks to halt interbank lending to U.S. banks. "The CBRC has never, through any channel, issued a statement or told domestic commercial banks not to lend to or borrow from U...

Doing Business with North Korea Seminar To Be Held in Beijing

Posted on September 22, 2008
Event: Doing Business with North Korea Where: Capital Club, Beijing When, Sept., 29, 18:30 (6.30pm) For further information, click this.

U.S. to Employ Chinese-style Financial Regulatory Techniques

Posted on September 19, 2008
It wasn't too long ago when American officials excoriated PRC banking authorities for establishing asset management companies to take the nonperforming loans off of the books of technically insolvent banks and to recapitablize them. A ruse, it was shouted to the rooftops, to clean up the books of banks desperately in need of a listing on worldwide stock exchanges, but prevented by numerous "technical" deficiencies...

US University Researcher Convicted of Export Violations -- with a China Connection

Posted on September 19, 2008
[Editor's note: Doug Jacobson has graciously provided the text of today's post. I recommend readers visit his International Trade Law News blog, well-written, informative and worth your time. Doug Jacobson is a partner in the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Strasburger & Price (www...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.