International Law

China Investment Corp. Offers to Raise Stake in Morgan Stanley to 49%

Posted on September 18, 2008
Bloomberg TV has just announced Morgan Stanley refused CIC's offer to raise its stake in the bank to 49% from 10%, preferring to remain "independent." More on this as the day goes by. [Update: 10.14am EST -- Bloomberg. This article maintains that talks continue, in contradiction to the report on Bloomberg TV...

3 Chinese Banks Hold US$297.4M in Lehman Debt

Posted on September 17, 2008
Following up to yesterday's post, the International Herald Tribune reports: Three Chinese banks hold a total of US$297.4 million in Lehman Brothers bonds, two of the banks and a state news agency said Wednesday, but analysts said China's total exposure to the failed U...

Lehman Brothers -- Many Asian Banks Among the Top 30 Creditors

Posted on September 16, 2008
A respectable showing of Chinese and Japanese creditors, along with the amount claimed, now vying for the assets of bankrupt Lehman Brothers. Totals (in US million) by institutional location: Japanese 1,521 Hong Kong 275 Taiwan 110 Singapore 93 China 59 Korea 46 Here's the original bankruptcy filing.

Prestigious Sponsorships and Exhibition Opportunities at the ABA Section of International Law Conference, Spring 2009

Posted on September 16, 2008
[Editor?s Note: I?m pleased to be a member of this year?s ABA Planning Subcommittee for this event .] One of the most prestigious legal sponsorship and exhibition opportunities awaits your law firm or corporation: the ABA Section of International Law Spring Meeting...

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Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll be here until Doomsday -- Jokes from Pyongyang

Posted on September 14, 2008
For a good laugh, read these jokes collected in the DPRK, courtesy of Radio Free Asia and North Korean Economy Watch. I've added two in the comment area.

Making Money in Pyongyang -- This is No Hallucination

Posted on September 10, 2008
On the subject of North Korea, it isn't widely known that some Westerners are actually in residence in Pyongyang doing business there -- profitably. Well, not many. Nick Bonner, whom I met in Shanghai several years ago, may be in the black by now...

Is Kim Jong-il Dead?

Posted on September 08, 2008
No one is surprised by the use of look-alikes in tyrannies (Saddam Hussein, Mao, Stalin, et al). But would a look-alike continue to operate five years after the death of the tyrant? Such is the claim of Toshimitsu Shigemura (????), veteran Korea-watcher at Waseda University...

Event: Chinese Investment in Europe

Posted on September 06, 2008
EU Magnets for Chinese Companies: Refuting the Myths, A Research Workshop Wednesday 17 September 2008, 10.00 ? 16.00 Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LE Programme 09.30-10.00 Registration 10.00-10.05 Welcome and introduction Paola Subacchi, Chatham House 10...

Rich Kuslan Available for Speaking Engagements: China Speakers Bureau

Posted on September 04, 2008
I'm pleased to announce my availability for speaking engagements and my inclusion in the China Speakers Bureau, run by Fons Tuinstra, editor of the China Herald. Speakers Fons currently represents include Bill Overholt, Howard French, Shaun Rein, Tom Doctoroff and others...

??????????? -- An Article in Chinese for the World Weekly

Posted on September 03, 2008
[Editor's Note: I continue to write for Chinese Americans about legal issues relevant to their communities. The article below -- on how desperate things can become when a business partnership dissolves -- was published in the August 31, 2008 print issue of World Weekly (??????] ???? ???? (Richard Kuslan, Esq...

Ambassador's IPR Roundtable, Beijing -- Date Announced

Posted on September 02, 2008
From the Embassy circular comes the following announcement: SAVE THE DATE: November 6 and 7, 2008 The Ambassador's IPR Roundtable, Beijing, China. Ambassador Clark Randt?s seventh and final annual IPR Roundtable will be held in Beijing on Thursday and Friday, November 6 and 7...

American Bar Association Gives Go-ahead to Legal Outsourcing

Posted on August 27, 2008
The ABA has issued an ethics opinion dated August 5 and apparently unpublished, but procured by the New York Law Journal. Asiabizblog will post on this shortly.

Scam on Attorneys Claims U.S. Victim

Posted on August 26, 2008
The scam I wrote about here has found success with at least three attorneys, one of whom may now be in the hole for $200,000: Atlanta securities lawyer Gregory Bartko said he is the victim of an Internet fraud scheme that is apparently targeting law firms throughout the country and the banks where lawyers have their escrow accounts...

Technology Heads-up -- An Interview with Wayne Turmel

Posted on August 25, 2008
What's a webmeeting? I've been corporate and know just how tough it is to hold worthwhile meetings with participants on two or more continents. Wayne Turmel, President of greatwebmeetings.com, offers a service that makes things a lot easier...

Famous Chinese Film Director: Western Workers are Lazy -- Podcast

Posted on August 21, 2008
Chinese Film Director Zhang Yi-mou teaches Westerners a thing or two about the laziness of Western workers. A lesson about opinions commonly held by Chinese in business.

Famous Chinese Film Director Expresses Commonly Held Opinion of Western Workers: Lazy! Therein Lies a Lesson for Business Managers

Posted on August 21, 2008
Chinese, as we well know well, are supremely capable of putting in long hours. Indeed, suffering quietly is a badge of honor. Hong Kong Chinese work even while asleep (or so it seems). Well, they do often pass the evening in the office or factory...

Work in China Job Sites -- Podcast

Posted on August 18, 2008
Looking to work in China? Listen to a brief introduction to a China job site.

Work in China Job Site -- NewChina Career

Posted on August 18, 2008
Several years ago, I was surprised to hear from a number of friends at the midpoint of their careers who expressed the desire to work in China. A number of them were, as we say, "on the beach," but the suntan lotion had dried up. A few had significant international experience, some had none...

Asiabizblog Announces Podcasts to Return in Fall

Posted on August 14, 2008
Asiabizblog announces that its informative and popular podcasts will return to the Web this fall, in English and Mandarin.

Reach Out and Touch Someone -- China's Metals Traders Touched by U.S. Agency Fine

Posted on August 13, 2008
China's international reach for precious commodities extends as far as Cuba, lately earning the Minxia Non-Ferrous Metals Company a substantial Office of Foreign Assets Control (?OFAC?) fine. (Not this far more delightful Minxia.) How is it that a Chinese metals dealer has been ordered to pay $1...

The China Downturn Bandwagon

Posted on August 07, 2008
Hmmm... Now everyone is jumping on the China downturn bandwagon. Textile exports fell 4.2 percent in June from the same month last year, a serious blow to an industry that employs millions of people. Overall export growth in June was 18.2 percent, down from May's 28 percent rate...

German Companies Planning to Pull Production Out Of China

Posted on August 06, 2008
Der Spiegel reports that one out of five German companies has ceased or is planning to cease production in China due to rising costs. "The big story here is that globalization is for real -- and China is no longer what it was," says Ronald Haddock, a vice-president at consultant Booz Allen Hamilton...

Event Reminder: Chinese Income Tax Online Seminar

Posted on August 05, 2008
While it may be true that tax collector is one of the two oldest professions, no pejorative comment affects the fact that tax collection, wherever it may occur, will put its hand in one's pocket and scrounge around for even loose change. The multinational, whose pockets are considered fertile territory for treasure hunting, feels the touch of many-fingered hands of all nationalities...

Family Ties and the Chen Liang-yu Scandal

Posted on August 04, 2008
Chen Liang-yu (???) was Shanghai Party Secretary (??????) until removed in 2006 following an alleged scandal involving Social Security. [In Chinese.] Was the Social Security scandal the fundamental reason for his removal?. His swift rise to the Politburo in 2001 as a protégé of Jiang Zemin and the Shanghai faction preceded an even swifter fall following the presidency of Hu Jin-Tao in 2003...

Event: China's Corporate Income Tax -- Online Seminar

Posted on July 21, 2008
Last year, Chinese legislators enacted a new corporate income tax, effective January 1, 2008. Just before the close of 2007, the state Council approved regulations regarding its implementation. A number of circulars, attempting to further clarify the law and regulations, have issued since the law has become effective...

Private Equity Funds in China -- Boom or Bust or Just Beginning?

Posted on July 21, 2008
One has heard of the promise of private equity investment in China at various times since the early 90s. What is really going on? BusinessWeek, which curiously seems to mistitle its articles often, implies a boom. Shaun Rein's article implies great potential, but no boom yet...

Recent China-related Enforcement Activities of the Bureau of Industry and Security

Posted on July 16, 2008
Many small and mid-sized manufacturers in the United States are unaware that their exports may be subject to Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The implementation of those regulations is overseen by the Commerce Department?s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and enforced through that bureau's Office of Export Enforcement (OEE)...

Library of Congress Includes Asiabizblog in its Historic Internet Collections

Posted on July 08, 2008
Asiabizblog is honored to have been selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs.

RMB Freely Bought and Sold on Taiwan as of Today

Posted on June 30, 2008
"????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????" [Editor's Translation: Today, the RMB is freely convertible throughout Taiwan, and it is estimated that banks have prepared 500 million RMB for that purpose...

Fright of the Day: Justice Breyer Argues Value of American Judges Consulting Foreign Law

Posted on June 25, 2008
It is a scary day in June when a justice of the United States Supreme Court insists upon the value of looking to foreign law and practice as an aid in the interpretation of American law. Curiously, Justice Breyer, in yesterday's brief defense of this argument at Brookings, adapts the shabby and insubstantial construct of "displacement," offered in explanation by his wife, a psychologist, to dismiss out of hand the purportedly few critics of this world-consultative approach...

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