Quote of the day: “China is trying to cool down hot trends, but its efforts are a lot like laying a mountain of cheese puffs in the path of a freight train. You’ll get a lot of crunchy noise and powdery dust, but the powerful locomotive will still get through.”

- Motley Fool writer Rick Aristotle Munarriz, on China’s explosive growth

HUMAN RIGHTS

China Tells US To Stop Meddling On Human Rights Excuse – “‘The United States has lorded it over other countries by condemning other countries’ human rights practices while ignoring its own problems which exposes its double standards and hegemonism in human rights issue,’ it said.”

TIBET

Students for a Free Tibet is being honored as Charity of the Day on Goodsearch.com, this Saturday, March 10th 2007. This means that Students For a Free Tibet earns a donation every time a supporter searches the Internet. Goodsearch.com is a new search engine with a unique social mission. They redirect advertising revenue to charities designated by the users. Just go to www.goodsearch.com and enter “Students for a Free Tibet” as the charity you want to support. Every search you make will direct $.01 to SFT. This means just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise $7,300 in a year without anyone spending a dime – an amount that could pay for SFT India’s annual operating costs! Read more…

Austria accused over Tibet training – “THE Austrian government has come under fire from human rights groups and the Austrian Green party for helping to train Chinese soldiers for the repression of Tibetan refugees.”

Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet slim: China – “‘If the Dalai Lama doesn’t give up completely his pursuit of Tibet independence in word and in deed, the hope is slim for him to return,’ Xiangba Pingcuo told a news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual session of parliament.” Since when has the Dalai Lama pursued Tibetan Independence, Mr. Pingcuo? Can you show me one speech or indeed a single piece of literature where the Dalai Lama has advocated independence? The Dalai Lama has for 40 years now advocated the Middle Way, or autonomy, and not independence.

March 10: Where will you be in history? – Courtesy of our friends at SFT Canada.

TAIWAN

FEATURE: China, Taiwan tensions threaten to politicize Olympic Games – “Escalating tensions between China and Taiwan threaten to cast a dark shadow on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. From the route the Olympic torch takes to under which name and flag Taiwan athletes march into the stadium for the Games, everything suddenly seems in doubt.”

ECONOMY

China should open banking to foreigners: Paulson – “China should open its financial sector to foreign competition, including allowing foreign ownership of its banks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday in a speech in China.”

ENVIRONMENT

China denies it is threat to world energy security – “Chinese officials on Thursday went out of their ways to counter allegations that the country was a threat to the world’s energy security in view of its relentless attempts to capture oil and gas assets across the globe.”

Anyone notice a pattern with China’s denials? (Today citing “China denies it is a threat to world energy security” and “China Tells US to Stop Meddling on Human Rights Excuse”) A country or countries make allegations that China is doing something wrong, and the next day China comes out and says it’s not true. It seems to be working pretty well for them, because it’s the last we hear of the allegations.