Asia business writer, Michael Backman (an old friend and colleague), yesterday gave some sage advice telling readers of his column in The Age, an Australian newspaper, to Beware of Chinese bearing gifts.  The gift he was referring to was China’s recently announced $US590 billion stimulus package to get its economy moving again and thereby save the world. 

Backman is certainly right that there has been considerable hyperbole about the size of the package and its expected effect on world markets.  But when Backman goes further to look at China’s coming recession it is clear that he like too many other Western analysts are misreading the China tea leaves.  Indeed there is cause to remain positive about China, even in the throes of the world financial crisis.

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Detroit’s auto chiefs eager for a handout from Uncle Sam might be well advised to lift a page from the book of their Chinese counterparts currently seeking help from the Central Government in Beijing as car sales slow in China.

The Chinese chiefs are showing a lot more sophistication about what’s happening and how to solve it than the American big three.  Before European carmakers start lobbying their governments for a bailout, they might also like to study the Chinese approach.

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There’s an interesting piece on Mercator Net about the op-ed challenge which presents an interesting read for any public relations officer (PRO) interested in getting that all important opinion piece by the CEO published. 

We’ve all been there.  The CEO has a view on something that touches the company or your industry.  He’s drafted an outline and now you need to write the article and get it published.  You write it and submit it, but it doesn’t make the grade.  This piece has a few tips on what you can do to get editors to pick up your boss’ op-ed.  You might even improve your own writing skills as a result of reading it.  Take a look.

There’s a good article in today’s Wall Street Journal’s Opinion pages about China’s News Concession, referring to China’s agreement last week to play by international rules covering foreign financial information service providers in China.   

The change has far reaching implications for both trade and foreign media operations in China.  And it implies changes to come for China’s own media and how they operate.

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