CHINESE WHISPERS

Source: Reuters

“Those were righteous wars, Mr. Putin fought for the unification of his country”

-Qiao Damo, co-founder and President of the Confucius Peace Prize Committee on the choice of Vladmir Putin as the recipient this year. He refers to the wars against Georgia and Chechnya.

New York Times

"You very much feel like you're playing soccer alone against an entire team," 

-Ai Weiwei on dealing with Chinese authorities regarding tax fraud allegations

Wall Street Journal

"I'm chasing bubbles"

-Professor Robert Z. Aliber, economist and co-author of Manias, Panics and Crashes, answering the former dean of the University of Chicago's business school, who spotted his ex-colleague in a Beijing hotel lobby and asked what he was doing in China.

"We hope the South China Sea will not be discussed at the East Asia Summit," 

-China Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin on the South China Sea discussion. The topic caused tension last year when United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed US national interest in the protection of the Sea.

Wall Street Journal

''There is a high probability that the Indians are not going to use the uranium for nuclear energy,''

-Jia Qingguo, associate dean of Peking University's Centre for International Relations.

The Age

“Audi is still the de facto car for government officials…It’s always best to yield to an Audi — you never know who you’re messing with, but chances are it’s someone self-important.” 

- Wang Zhi, a Beijing taxi driver who has been plying the capital’s gridlocked streets for 18 years.

New York Times

"We have millions of soldiers in China [...] We can't stop one or two or a few from going crazy like this, but when such things happened before, they never reported it. Now because of the Internet and new media, it is impossible for the government to control the flow of information."

-Ni Lexiong, a military expert at the Shanghai Institute of Political Science and Law referring to the chase of four army deserters this month.

LA Times

“There's no doubt at all the Chinese will have serious reservations about this''

 Alan Dupont, the Michael Hintze professor of international security at Sydney University referring to Obama’s decision to increase military presence in Australia. 

The Sydney Morning Herald