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International Law

China Hearsay

Commentary and analysis of law and business in China.
By Stan Abrams

Post Frequency: 8.4/day

Last Entry: May 03, 2010 at 11:04:24

Taiwan Weapons Sale Rhetoric Heats Up

Posted on February 01, 2010
The press seems to have gotten quite excited about this issue finally, spurred on I suppose by some statements put out by the government here through the usual channels. There are certainly precedents for this kind of weapons deal, but the usual rhetoric by the PRC and U...

U.S. Arms to Taiwan is Business as Usual. And Maybe That?s the Problem

Posted on January 30, 2010
Dan at CLB wants to know how the U.S. can sell arms to Taiwan while realistically hoping for China’s cooperation on Iranian sanctions: The contrast is bizarre. It is as though we are stabbing someone right in the gut, and as that person lays bleeding on the ground, we ask if he might be so [...

New PRC Rules on Evictions and Compensation - Enforcement Will Be Key

Posted on January 30, 2010
This story hit my Inbox yesterday, first with news that the new eviction rules would be forthcoming. Several major papers (foreign and domestic) reported on the new development. Here’s a basic description from The Guardian: The draft rules, issued today by the state council ? China’s cabinet ? would ban developers and demolition crews from forcing [...

China Judiciary Reform: the latest rules

Posted on January 28, 2010
These come out every so often, so I wouldn’t call this particularly groundbreaking. It’s also difficult to assess the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures. I don’t usually dive deeply into the literature in this area either, so I’m not following any quantitative data like surveys...

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Fengshui and Western Idiocy

Posted on January 04, 2010
The ancient art of Chinese geomancy, also known as fengshui, has taken a trendy turn over the past few years in expat circles and many Western practitioners are flocking to Beijing’s biggest monuments for lessons in fengshui. (China Daily) OK, first of all, I think it is known as fengshui, also known as geomancy...

China International Relations in 2010: A Gloomy Look Ahead

Posted on January 03, 2010
First off, the new year here in Beijing has started with a relatively nasty snowstorm (yesterday) and deep freeze (today/tomorrow). Since I don’t drive, I could care less about the traffic problems, but I suspect that there are a lot of grouchy people coming back to the office this morning...

Welcome to 2010. Meet the New Boss.

Posted on January 01, 2010
At least 1.5 million items of lewd content and nearly 9,000 pornographic websites and articles have been deleted. (China Daily) And 5400 people arrested, thanks to the vigilance of the porn cops. I, for one, am glad they are on the beat. I’m not 15 years old anymore, and in my delicate, infirm condition, the porn [...

Latest Salvo Fired Against Carrefour in China

Posted on December 30, 2009
This one’s a labor case, and it looks ugly. As you recall, last time Carrefour got into hot water, it was because of France’s pre-Olympic rhetoric regarding China’s policy towards certain, uh, how should I phrase this? . . . Western provinces...

We Interrupt Your Holiday for a Depressing Death Penalty Story

Posted on December 29, 2009
Interesting news has been almost nonexistent during this holiday interregnum (unless you live in Iran), but today we saw the end to the tragic, and highly publicized case of Akmal Shaikh, who was executed this afternoon. Why the interest? Mr. Shaikh was a British national executed by the government of the PRC for drug smuggling...

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 24, 2009
For religious reasons, of course, the staff here at China Hearsay only observes one holiday this time of year. For any readers who might be celebrating one of those other holidays — relax, have fun, stay safe, and we’ll see you after all the merriment dies down and you have to return to your otherwise [...

Lubman: ?Can foreigners do business in China without violating the law??

Posted on December 22, 2009
Great article by China law guru Stanley Lubman on the WSJ Real Time blog. The topic came up several times during my FDI law class, and of course it comes up on a regular basis when talking to clients that are unfamiliar with the China market. Here’s some of what Lubman covers in the article: Suppose, for [...

New Tech Regulators in China Have Been Busy Little Beavers Recently

Posted on December 22, 2009
Hot on the heels of Internet content, website, and domain name controls, here’s the latest control attempt by China regulators: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced that it will cooperate with other related departments to accelerate the legislation for a mobile phone real-name system in 2010...

Why I?m Glad the Weekend is Over

Posted on December 21, 2009
Mostly because I’m looking forward to some real news to read. The past few days has been painfully boring, although some of the news from Copenhagen has been entertaining (more on that later today). So what were the local papers reporting on this weekend? Everything and anything about Macau...

WTO Upholds A/V Products Decision

Posted on December 21, 2009
Chalk up a win for the US Trade Representative folks. The WTO appellate body announced today that they upheld the panel decision, which went against China (for the most part) with respect to the importation and distribution of copyrighted products, including movies, music and books...

Domain Name Registration Rules: What Took You Guys So Long?

Posted on December 18, 2009
Applications for registering domain names will face strict rules as the country intensifies its effort to fight against pornographic websites, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has announced Friday. Applicants for domain name�registration will be required to hand in written application forms, with a business license and the applicant’s ID...

Protectionism and China?s High Tech Procurement Rules

Posted on December 18, 2009
China on Tuesday defended rules that foreign companies claim lock them out of the multibillion dollar market for selling computers and office equipment to government departments. Beijing stipulates that sellers of high-tech goods must have them accredited based on “indigenous innovation” — meaning they must contain Chinese intellectual property — to be [...

The Editors at Time Magazine Are All High On Goofballs

Posted on December 17, 2009
I have no other explanation for Time’s selection of “The Chinese Worker” as the runner-up “Person of the Year.” WTF? (h/t China Digital Times) Read the weird writeup first, and then we’ll talk: A year ago, many thought hitting such a [GDP] figure in 2009 was a pipe dream...

Why Are China Video Sites Buying More Copyrighted Content?

Posted on December 17, 2009
Why am I such a suspicious bastard? Could be I’m just cranky from this flu I’m still trying to kick (the doctors have narrowed down the origin as either 1) an inter-species crossover from a rare group of penguins that lives in the Brazilian rain forest, or 2) a Cardassian bioweapon)...

Free At Last

Posted on December 15, 2009
Well, I will be in about five hours. Today is the last class of the semester, and I’m sort of limping to the finish line. Since last week, I’ve been inundated with last-minute work, including school-related activities such as writing the final exam, coming up with review materials, and preparing a lecture on anti-corruption law...

China P2P Shakeup Latest in Gov?t Effort to Clean Up Video File Sharing Sites

Posted on December 09, 2009
Something funky is going on with some P2P sites, notably BTChina, Xunlei, VeryCD and Garden of Eden, which have (been) closed. The State Adminstration of Radio, Film, and TV (SARFT), possibly working with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is behind all this, which is interesting since it has been engaged in a fight [...

Ratings System for Online Games?

Posted on December 08, 2009
Under a system similar to film classification, the Ministry of Culture is planning to introduce a rating system for online content, including games, that would only allow players older than a certain age to join in. “We will ask the game operators to improve the rules of their game, adjust product structure and [...

?Made in China? Can?t Catch A Break

Posted on December 07, 2009
A 30-second TV commercial remains a hot topic in China nearly two weeks after four Chinese industry associations launched a “Made in China” ad campaign on the CNN news network. The ad, currently airing on the International, US and Headline News channels of the CNN, highlights international involvement in producing high-quality Chinese [...

Property Values Are Fine. Trust Me. Now Go Buy A House

Posted on December 05, 2009
I don’t know where to start with this one. After reading this China Daily article, which was entitled “Property Market Growth Not Bubble,” I was so pissed off that I decided to get off my weekend ass and actually post something (yes, I have a weekend ass, and it’s famously lazy)...

How To Fix The Public Corruption Problem? Officials Should Just Keep A Low Profile

Posted on December 04, 2009
From a Xinhua Op/Ed. I saw this a few days ago, but finally today it struck me what it reminded me of. Meet me below the excerpt. The Internet has been lately abuzz with The 10 Commandments for Public Servants, coupled with real cases to illustrate each of the imperatives...

This Doesn?t Bode Well for Global Problems

Posted on December 04, 2009
Despite the recent rise of countries like China, India and Brazil, the United States is still the global leader by most accounts. Since we all face possible climate change annihilation, severe financial imbalances, terrorism/extremism, and raw materials shortages, all nations need to be onboard with multilateral discussions...

Another Ridiculous IPR Protection Awareness Event

Posted on December 03, 2009
Shanghaiist’s “Laugh of the Day” is news from the run-up to the Shanghai Expo: Oh my: apparently China is very concerned over the illegal and improper use of licensed emblems for the Shanghai Expo. In fact, they’re so concerned about intellectual property theft that they decided to have a mini expo about it...

Gov?t Studies One Child Policy Reform - Western Critics Still Clueless

Posted on December 03, 2009
China needs to adjust its one-child family planning policy to fight a worsening gender imbalance and an aging population with too few children, experts said. China launched its nationwide, one-child family planning policy in the 1970s. Though it prevented 400 million births, it has been criticized for leading to gender imbalance, a [...

College Entry Still Biased in China (in favor of academic achievement) - WTF?

Posted on December 03, 2009
OK, I understand that college admissions is a complex art and that you can’t just look at grades and test scores. On the other hand, aren’t those still good predictors of performance? This seems a bit much: A new way of selecting students for higher education being piloted by the nation’s top university has been slammed by [...

My New Favorite Symbol of China?s Income Gap

Posted on December 02, 2009
This one is simply breathtaking. I can’t think of a better example of the excesses of the rich, the dangers of fast economic growth, and the challenges currently facing Beijing. Chinese officials have promised to crack down on illegal golf courses, threatening harsh punishment to developers catering to “the rich man’s game” at the [...

Disney Latest MNC to Come Under Scrutiny for PRC Labor Practices

Posted on December 02, 2009
I’m a political lefty from way back, so I’m nothing if not sympathetic to labor. On the other hand, I’m starting to feel sorry for these multinationals who are being hit over the head in the press for their China labor practices. Recently it was Wal-mart, now it’s Disney...

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