THE United States does not seek to 'contain' China, said President Barack Obama in Tokyo yesterday as part of a major policy speech on future US policies on Asia.

RUSSIAN President Dimitry Medvedev yesterday called for world economies to co-ordinate their withdrawal of stimulus measures, and spoke out against protectionism.

VIETNAM President Nguyen Minh Triet yesterday drew from his country's experience to offer three ways for a developing economy to effectively engage foreign direct investment (FDI).

FACED with one of the lowest fertility rates in the developed world and a rapidly ageing population, Japan will try and re-invent itself to become a country that will be 'more inviting' to foreigners, said new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

CHINESE President Hu Jintao yesterday called for formal talks on a landmark economic pact with Chinese Taipei to start by the end of the year, in a rare meeting here with a top politician from the island.

APEC leaders yesterday pledged to push for the conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks by the end of 2010 and reiterated their opposition to protectionism.

CLOSE to 90 per cent of the 1,500 businessmen attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit yesterday agreed that Apec and Asean have played a useful role in Asia.

SO which economics management books did Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read to guide him through the worst economic slump since the Great Depression of 1929?

CLIMATE change sparked a heated debate at an Apec CEO summit dialogue yesterday.

SOVEREIGN wealth funds are a benign force and should be welcomed as such, said representatives of four country funds managing over a trillion dollars in total.

CONCERNS over China's currency policy are 'seriously overblown' and critics should let the country decide how it wants to manage the yuan to ensure growth, Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach said.

ASIA may be the fastest growing major economic region in the world, but that doesn't mean investors in Asian equities will earn the highest returns, says the head of Norway's S$631 billion sovereign wealth fund.

THE man charged with managing Norway's vast petroleum wealth fund holds a completely sober view of why it needs to promote sound corporate governance practices through its investments.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has defended America's recent imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made tyres and metal pipes and played down their significance in the context of the wider US-China relationship.

WITH the US unemployment rate hitting double digits, jobs have become the key concern of the Obama administration.