Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) arrives in Australia today to do some serious business. How serious? Billions of dollars in the years to come, largely involving energy. Most observers will be denied access to his most telling conversations with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, but it is likely that Howard will make only a token nod to human rights abuses before moving on to settle a uranium deal to end them all. And it is a done deal: Wen would not travel so far from the Central Kingdom unless it were a fait accompli, and Australia would not dare allow the premier to lose face on such a critical matter.

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If there's one thing more annoying than inept and noisy tourism campaigns for Taiwan, it's an article in a peer-review journal on Taiwanese security that redefines "drivel" (the sex lives of aging politicians come a close second).
By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
I was taking a nap while returning to Taiwan the other day via China Airlines, when I was awakened by an awful squeal:

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By Huang Tien-lin 黃天麟
In 2002, Japanese academic Kenichi Ohmae boldly predicted that Taiwan and China would be unified by 2005, and that the 2004 presidential election campaign would pivot around the question of how to unify with China, instead of whether or not to unify.

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While Russians blame Mikhail Gorbachev for the loss of Soviet power, there were deeper causes for the empire's demise - namely the decline of communist ideology and economic failure
By Joseph Nye
Earlier this month, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev celebrated his 75th birthday with a concert and conference at his foundation in Moscow. Unfortunately, he is not popular with the Russian people, who blame him for the loss of Soviet power. But, as Gorbachev has replied to those who shout abuse at him, "Remember, I am the one who gave you the right to shout."

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Dubai is booming, but the foreign laborers whose sweat is responsible for the gleaming highrises and luxury malls are growing increasingly frustrated -- and desperate
By Rory McCarthy
At the heart of a vast construction site in the center of Dubai is a cone-shaped building that is rising at the rate of one floor a week. When it opens in two years, the Burj Dubai -- the flagship among a dozen lavish building projects in this boomtown emirate -- will be the world's tallest skyscraper and home to a Giorgio Armani hotel.

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By J. Bradford DeLong
As support for President George W. Bush in the US has crumbled over the past year, perhaps the most surprising element is the revolt of economists and observers of economic policy. Last week, Peggy Noonan, a speech writer for both former president Ronald Reagan and the first president Bush declared in the Wall Street Journal that had she known what Bush's fiscal policy would be, she would have voted for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election.

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By John Hanna
In reply to Alun Arnold (Letters, March 29, page 8) about applying for a Permanent Alien Resident Certificate (PARC), please allow me to give some tips and advice, as I recently received mine.

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By Bill Parkhurst
Many Taiwanese right now may be wondering about the US' stance towards Taiwan. First of all, we must remember that most Americans just think of Taiwan as a major hotbed and place to avoid because of potential bloodshed.

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