Death Penalty Laws
China's Foreign Policy Thinking
Diabetes Drive
Dying For A Drink?
Workers Move Inland
Death Of A Panda

Main Stories in today's BON News:

Kim Hints At Talks
RMB Policy Remains Firm
Naval Officers Meet At Sea
Shanghai Expo Ferryboats
Poll Position: Kidnap To Save A Life
Net Check: Anti-Japan Feeling?
Feature: Ming Tombs Flying

BON recently reported on new data from the independent Pew Research Center in the US, which shows how Americans view China. In Center's report, 44 per cent of Americans think China is the largest economic power in the world, more than voted for any other country.

That compares with last year, when just 30 per cent of Americans thought China was the largest economic power.

Fifty three per cent of the American public surveyed think China is a main threat to US security. But just 21 per cent of American foreign policy experts polled think China is America's biggest threat, down from 38 per cent in 2001, and 30 per cent in 2005.

With its over 1.3 billion people, almost one fifth of humanity, China has had to take stringent measures to deal with its population explosion. For the past three decades, China's one-child policy has effectively prevented four hundred million births, a number greater than the entire U.S. population. In many ways, the policy seems to have worked: With fewer mouths to feed, poverty has fallen, living standards have improved dramatically, and China has become an economic power to be reckoned with. However, as a result of the one-child policy, China faces new problems: a looming demographic disaster as the population ages, social and psychological problems of the only-child generation, and criticism from overseas concerning human rights violations. After 30 years' of implementation, the government-established deadline for the policy is just around the corner, and a fierce debate rages over whether to keep the policy in place, or to abolish it.