Startups should not expect to find the Promised Land in China, told VC-veteran William Bao Bean an investment conference on China in Tel Aviv last month. 95 percent of you should not be here, he told according to the Times of Israel. With one exceptions: Chinese internet companies cannot deal with algorithms. They urgently need mathematicians.Read More →

Twice last week China´s stock markets were forced to stop trading, sending panic signals across the globe. That drove even economist Arthur Kroeber to despair, writes the Washington Post. China´s financial authorities did not learn their lessons from last year´s disaster, he writes.Read More →

China is not only struggling to manage its unruly financial markets, North-Korea´s latest nuclear test shows that international diplomacy is not yet one of its strong point, says political analyst Paul French in America Magazine. Managing North-Korea from Beijing is no longer possible.Read More →

North-Korea´s lastest nuclear test came not really as a surprise, writes Pyongyang-watcher Paul French. And they might most likely get what they wanted: a resumption of the 6-party talks, led by China, he writes for Reuters.Read More →

Despite recent crackdowns on feminists and human rights activists, China´s judicial systems is slowly but surely moving into a more independent force in China´s bureaucracy, says Judge Jiang Huiling of the Supreme Court in an interview with journalist Ian Johnson for the New York Times. Courts get more autonomy, be it limited.Read More →

For more than a decade the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post has been destroying its image as a quality paper it still was in the 1990. Key journalists were fired or walked away voluntarily. The purchase by Alibaba gives observers new reason for worry. It does not make sense, says business analyst Shaun Rein in the Star Beacon Herald.Read More →

“Should I bother to come to China, people ask often, The answer generally is: No.” William Bao Bean talks to a group of Israeli startups in Tel Aviv. “When you use your gut feeling in China, you are mostly wrong. In China technology is not important, its about cash, friends or both.” Lessons from a seasoned investor, who says you can only succeed if you have an “unfair advantage”.Read More →