China's Achilles' Heel

In Corruption Threatens China’s Future, Minxin Pei describes corruption in China.

Reportedly, in China, "roughly 10 percent of government spending, contracts, and transactions is estimated to be used as kickbacks and bribes, or simply stolen." (Corruption Threatens China’s Future.)

The Chinese are said to be the Jews of Asia.

And just as certain Jews are controversial in the USA, and in Russia, certain Chinese are controversial in Asia.

In countries like Indonesia, certain Chinese-Indonesian businessmen are less than popular because of an an alleged lack of scruples and an alleged worship of money.

China's achilles' heel may be a lack of scruples by certain businessmen.

Wong Kwong-yu, also known as Huang Guangyu, has been regarded as China's richest man.

He has been chairman of the national retailer GOME which makes electric appliances.

Reportedly, Wong has been arrested as part of a probe into share price manipulation.

(Corruption Charges for China's Richest Man? - BusinessWeek)

Other top tycoons, such as Yang Bin, Gu Chujun and Zhen Zhongyi, have previously 'come to grief' for alleged corruption or corporate mismanagement.

China's banks have developed a reputation for wobbly deals.

Recently, the Chinese government had to "take some US$130 billion in problem assets and inject over US$20 billion in capital into the Agricultural Bank of China..." (Going, going, GOME)

In Indonesia, ethnic Chinese make up less than 4 percent of the population but control around 70 percent of the major businesses. Twelve of the 15 wealthiest families are Chinese.

Chinese oligarchs are influential in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.

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