David Pilling



Profile:


Full name: David Pilling

Area of interest: Asia: business, investment, politics and economics

Journals: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:david.pilling@ft.com david.pilling@ft.com]

Website: FT.com / David Pilling

Blog:

Agent:

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Biography:
Education: Jesus College, Cambridge: English; City University, London: Journalism (PG Dip)

Career: African Economic Digest: chief sub-editor; joined the Financial Times in 1990: Chile and Argentina correspondent, Deputy Features Editor, 1994/1998, pharmaceuticals correspondent (covering global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry) 1999/2002, Tokyo Bureau Chief January 2002 / August 2008

Current position/role: Asia editor (based in Hong Kong) from September 2008


 * also writes/has written for: Los Angeles Times - articles

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Awards/Honours: Observer Young Travel Writer of the Year, 1989

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Latest work:

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Current debate: 

Financial Times:
Column remit: Asia: business, investment, politics and economics

Section:

Role: Asian editor

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:david.pilling@ft.com david.pilling@ft.com]

Website: FT.com / David Pilling

Commissioning editor:

Day published: varies

Regularity:

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Articles:

 * the Chinese are not inspired by Egypt'' - Tahrir Square differed from Tiananmen Square - 17th February 2011
 * puts its own twist on casino capitalism'' - Saga surrounding Stanley Ho is sideshow to goings-on in Macao itself - 3rd February 2011
 * of hope amid the Indonesian hype'' - Economies can perform well even when corruption is rife - 27th January 2011
 * foreign policy'' - China’s preference for non-intervention will be strained as its interests become more deeply entangled - 20th January 2011
 * oil affects the price of peas in China'' - Farming increasingly relies on hydrocarbons in the form of fertiliser and fuel - 13th January 2011
 * finds there is more to life than growth'' - Is the sole business of a state to project economic vigour? - 6th January 2011
 * notches on the Chinese doorpost'' - When China has truly risen, we will know about it - 16th December 2010
 * rock lobster lesson for booming Australia'' - There are signs of a boom wherever you turn down under - 9th December 2010
 * is not about to prise lips from teeth'' - WikiLeaks cables are not sufficient evidence of a change of heart in China - 2nd December 2010
 * road ahead for Asia need not run west'' - In very different ways, Chalmers Johnson and Patrick Smith both challenge the idea that, to be modern, a country must assimilate western thinking - 25th November
 * Jong-il plays his aces'' - Trying to fathom why North Korea’s inscrutable and reclusive leader has acted as he has this week is a challenge, particularly when China is his only outside contact - 24th November 2010
 * Poised for a shift'' - Though the eastward tilt in global influence may simply restore an earlier equilibrium, and is not a certain outcome, changes are under way that should have a profound impact on the west - 23rd November 2010
 * milestone for a rising China price'' - Higher wages may bring the rebalancing everyone is screaming for - 18th November 2010
 * in the News: Ai Weiwei'' - Jamil Anderlini and David Pilling on China’s most famous artist - 13th November 2010
 * China and Japan are oceans apart'' - Beijing and Tokyo see their island dispute through a different lens - 11th November 2010
 * electoral enigma wrapped in a farce'' - The election could mark the first step towards change - 4th November 2010
 * has every right to cheat, but shouldn’t'' - Beijing cannot risk bringing down the global free-trade system - 28th October 2010
 * the state that refuses to fail'' - Watershed moments are hardly a rarity in Pakistan, a state that lurches from crisis to crisis like a bus stuck in first gear. Yet Pakistan continues to survive. And in its partial victories against Islamist militants it may even have made some kind of progress - 21st October 2010
 * magnates alone cannot make India'' - The country is in need of the roads and sewerage, the basic education and primary health without which its growth will stall - 14th October 2010
 * being big helps and hinders China'' - A huge internal market gives it the economies of scale to develop globally competitive industries - 7th October 2010
 * recipe for trouble in China’s backyard'' - If Japan cannot stand up to the Chinese, what hope for smaller nations that have territorial disputes with Beijing? - 30th September 2010
 * ghost that haunts Gome’s boardroom'' - This is anything but a routine battle for control. It sheds a light, of sorts, on the wild-west world of Chinese capitalism - 16th September 2010
 * in China is something to celebrate'' - The march of Mandarin is not an inevitable part of nation-building, although many Chinese would argue – probably correctly – that it is a potent symbol of China’s unity and strength - 9th September 2010
 * perils of Japan’s Andy Warhol politics'' - In two decades Japan has had no fewer than 14 prime ministers - 2nd September 2010
 * march to renminbi convertibility'' - An enormous leap for non-convertible currency - 26th August 2010
 * at Number Two ... and counting'' - There are important similarities and differences between Japan in 1968 and China in 2010 - 19th August 2010
 * still clouds a postwar friendship'' - If the US-Japan alliance is to endure, it would be sensible to put it on a more honest footing - 12th August 2010
 * America sees red in corporate China'' - There is a price for blocking deals on security grounds - 5th August 2010
 * tortoise must turn on the speed'' - Foreign direct investment has quadrupled since 2005 but it could be more - 29th July
 * Keynesians take pride in prudence'' - There is little debate about how well the stimulus worked – spectacularly - 22nd July 2010
 * Chinese way'' - More than ever, we must understand a country that is the only serious challenger to the US for superpower status. Four books aspire to write about China as it is, while avoiding the clichés or false dichotomies that have dogged much literature on the subject - 4th July
 * bear hug has benefits for wary Taiwan'' - The thaw was symbolised by Beijing’s delivery of two giant pandas with names that combined to spell the word ‘reunion’ - 25th June 2010
 * and America still march out of step'' - There is an atmosphere of distrust between the two countries’ militaries - 17th June 2010
 * do it’ is no mantra for Japan'' - The problems facing Naoto Kan are not simple - 10th June 2010
 * is finally afoot for China’s workers'' - Beijing may continue to offer cautious support to an emboldened workforce - 3rd June 2010
 * dark side of China’s enduring dream'' - A look at the darker crevices of China’s factory system - 27th May 2010
 * crisis goes beyond red and yellow'' - Attempts to portray the thousands who took to the streets as ‘terrorists’ or mercenaries do not wash - 20th May 2010
 * Asia resumes its economic ascent'' - Asian states are, if anything, in danger of overheating - 13th May 2010
 * fantastical dream of a united Korea'' - In reality, many South Koreans are sniffy about Northerners - 6th May
 * is robust in Asia'' - The view that democracy has lost its appeal is worth challenging - 29th April 2010
 * wobbles on the American alliance'' - There is a possibility that the base squabble is an early warning of a strategic realignment - 21st April 2010
 * splendid isolation may be at risk'' - Only eight months after an opposition party wrestled power from the Liberal Democrats, disillusion has set in - 15th April 2010
 * and democracy collide in India'' - India’s tribal population has failed to benefit from government policy - 8th April 2010
 * tough call on China'' - For both Rio Tinto and Google, China is too big to ignore - 25th March 2010
 * blights the dream of Hong Kong'' - The city's income inequality is the worst in Asia - 18th March 2010
 * China’s rural exodus'' - Urban rights are threatening revolutionary distress - 11th March 2010
 * reform can help India spend better'' - Rationalisation must not be an excuse for the withdrawal of the state - 4th March 2010
 * Korea is no longer the underdog'' - An economy that was once on a par with sub-Saharan Africa is now snapping at Britain’s heels - 25th February 2010
 * Toyota engineered its own downfall'' - It has been unable to comprehend that its cars could be less than perfect - 11th February 2010
 * gets the better of China’s sage'' - Confucianism has its limits - 4th February 2010
 * will not be the world’s deputy sheriff'' - The country is not yet ready to take on the international role the US expects of it, preferring to get on with the hard slog of building an industrial economy - 28th January 2010
 * v emotion in China’s growth story'' - A surging money supply and excess investment threaten asset bubbles and overcapacity. But simultaneous fears of inflation suggest a middle road may be possible - 21st January 2010
 * is not alone in calling China’s bluff'' - As Beijing found in Copenhagen, where its demands to be paid in return for cutting carbon emissions were roundly rejected by Washington, things do not always go its way - 14th January 2010
 * Faded smiles'' - Defying attempts to sideline him, Thaksin Shinawatra has only increased his influence as the downturn casts a stalled economic development into sharper relief - 14th January 2010 (with Tim Johnston
 * are a luxury not a right in Nepal'' - Room to Read scholarships for girls help increase income and health prospects of a family and improve the chance that the next generation receives education - 24th december 2009
 * inspired the founder of Room To Read'' - John Wood, the book author and former Microsoft executive who started the educational charity in Nepal - 28th December 2009
 * are a luxury not a right in Nepal'' - Room to Read scholarships for girls help increase income and health prospects of a family and improve the chance that the next generation receives education - 24th December 2009
 * to Read builds libraries in Sri Lanka'' - David Pilling visits schools in Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities and notices attendance has increased sharply since the civil war ended - 23rd December 2009
 * finds fine words for its old enemy'' - Whisper it quietly, but China admires some aspects of Japan’s postwar development, from which it still has much to learn - 17th December 2009
 * is getting a better deal from Beijing'' - West’s record is less than exemplary - 10th December 2009
 * Kong tiptoes towards democracy'' - Even if Beijing were not involved, why would the territory’s rich give up a system that protects their interests so completely - 3rd December 2009
 * dig deep to fill education gap'' - Charity money and the toil of a local construction committee – composed mostly of grandmothers – helped build a new pre-school in a village in Sri Lanka - 2nd December 2009
 * peace divided Sri Lanka cannot squander'' - The danger is that the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa will take power for granted after its crushing victory in the civil conflict and embrace a crude Sinhalese chauvinism - 26th November 2009
 * sitting comfortably?'' - Then we’ll begin. Just as Room to Read did a decade ago. David Pilling, the FT’s Asia editor, takes a look at the charity chosen for this year’s seasonal appeal - 23rd November 2009
 * seeks a change Beijing can believe ib'' - 19th November 2009
 * hovers at the negotiating table'' - Obama should know that there are three – not two – parties to any discussions about the US-Japan alliance - 12th November 2009
 * up for Japan’s medical mystery tour'' - With a smaller slice of a shrinking domestic pie, Japanese pharmaceutical companies have had to take the fight abroad. The country’s track record outside manufacturing does not bode well, but it is too soon to dismiss the industry - 5th November 2009
 * Marx to Mohammed'' - Central Asia is now the focus of a new ‘Great Game’ as Russia, China and the US vie for a strategic foothold. David Pilling discusses four volumes that bring to the fore a region that deserves to be better known and convey themes too pressing to ignore - 29th October 2009
 * state’s dead hand returns to haunt China'' - State-led companies that have received massive loans have the means to buy private enterprises - 15th October 2009
 * with Burma are no laughing matter'' - Distasteful as it is to sit down with the generals, it is the right thing to do. Isolating Burma has pushed it towards China - 8th October 2009
 * endures China’s upheavals'' - Citizens are aware of their country’s failings and contradictions. Yet a common view is that these are inevitable side-effects of development. They are tolerable so long as tomorrow is better - 1st October 2009
 * poodle strains at the American leash'' - Given the unspoken tensions over military bases, Japan’s pacifism and relations with China, Washington should be giddy at the DPJ’s promise to build a more equal, open alliance - 24th September 2009
 * banks for a world turned upside down'' - If western banks have been turned upside down, in Asia they have been turned downside up. A year after the Lehman implosion, four of the world’s top 10 banks are Chinese - 17th September 2009
 * strains to hear the voice of the people'' - The words “people power” and China are not generally associated. We are accustomed to thinking of China as an authoritarian state in which the will of the people is crushed or, at best, silenced by lightning economic growth and improving living standards - 10th September 2009
 * wiser Japan casts its vote without illusions'' - Hatoyama responds to mood of nation - 3rd September 2009
 * needs to put its bleak houses in order'' - Charles Dickens would have felt quite at home in modern-day India. In its teeming cities he would have found the stuff of his novels: the fizz of creative energy uncorked by industrialisation, the mix of fabulous riches and stultifying grime, high society and struggling slums, honest endeavour and distasteful enrichment - 27th August 2009
 * from above will not work this time'' - The US success in bringing elections to post-war Japan has few lessons for turbulent, ethnically mixed Afghanistan - 20th August 2009
 * democracy still awaits its redeemer'' - At midnight on Tuesday, as monsoon rains lashed the shoddy pavements, tens of thousands of ordinary Filipinos waited patiently outside Manila Cathedral to file past the coffin of Corazon Aquino, the queen of people power - 6th August 2009
 * risks taking China too seriously'' - Look at the facts - 30th July 2009
 * shrinks from the American embrace'' - The imminent victory of the DPJ is more than a political realignment. It also marks a generational shift - 23rd July
 * will struggle to escape its export trap'' - Despite the dazzling retail emporia of its up-and-coming cities, the region has become more, not less, dependent on foreign demand - 25th June 2009
 * is losing patience with politics-as-usual'' - Since 1990, the Liberal Democratic party has persevered with its well-honed brand of money politics without one ingredient: money - 18th June 2009
 * truth of America’s clinch with Pakistan'' - Neat on paper, probably sensible, Washington’s new anti-terrorism strategy, Afpak, comes with huge problems - 11th June 2009
 * success outstrips democracy for now'' - Twenty years after Tiananmen Square the party has it both ways: authoritarian government with increasing, though circumscribed, market liberalisation - 4th June 2009
 * and self-loathing in South Korea'' - The country would do well to use the tragic death of Roh Moo-hyun, the country’s former president, as a catalyst to strengthen its legal institutions and to clean up its politics - 28th May 2009
 * search of meaning in India’s mandate'' - Voters rewarded those politicians with a track record of bringing growth, almost regardless of ideological bent - 21st May 2009
 * signals from Asia’s animal spirits'' - For many, things are likely to get better from here. But we should grasp how much has already been lost - 14th May 2009
 * China eclipses trailblazing Japan'' - There is a mixed sense of pride and trepidation at the rise of an Asian superpower, but the regional sway Beijing exerts contrasts markedly with Tokyo’s attempts at leadership - 7th May 2009
 * flaws that wrecked Thailand’s promise'' - Once mentioned in the same breath as high-tech Taiwan, Thailand has never fulfilled its potential and is now more likely to be grouped with the high-maintenance Philippines - 30th April 2009
 * flexes new economic muscle at sea'' - If Beijing continues to expand its seapower until it a navy to match that of the US it will raise questions of the postwar balance of power in the Pacific - 23rd April 2009
 * consumption is a disappearing act'' - Far from being massive consumers who will ride to the world’s rescue, most Chinese are “survivors”, whose purchases of basic food and clothing have little impact on global demand - 9th April 2009 (See also: Exploring China's factory belt)
 * is just sabre-rattling over the dollar'' - The proposal distracts from the point that China would not have huge dollar holdings if it had not pursued specific policies – namely export-led growth predicated on a competitive renminbi - 2nd April 2009
 * retort to Coke stirs fears of retaliation'' - Most troubling is that Beijing appears to have dressed up concerns about national interest in antitrust clothing - 26th March 2009
 * messy democracy works rather well'' - The real business of who runs India will be determined after the election, in backroom dealing and horse-trading - 19th March 2009
 * quest for other ways'' - If it is Anglo-Saxon ‘casino’ capitalism that has been found most wanting, methods practised elsewhere might provide pointers for the future. But Asian approaches are more like those of the US than they may seem, while there are snags in what European models can offer - 16th March (with Ralph Atkins)
 * Korea is more Confucian cult than rogue state'' - North Koreans still wear ‘Eternal Leader’ badges while state propaganda alludes to a ‘mandate of heaven’ - 12th March 2009
 * harks back to an age of innocence'' - The economic crisis has invited a re-evaluation of Japan’s postwar – if not post-Meiji – record in at least three main spheres - 5th March 2009
 * story leaves Cinderella without a ball'' - Unlike in the best fairytales, dutiful Asian savers who sat quietly counting their pennies have fared more disastrously than the world’s most profligate nations - 2nd March 2009
 * fearless women speculators'' - Housewives are far more powerful than western stereotypes allow as many ‘Mrs Watanabes’ have added international finance to their daily chores - 28th February 2009
 * reject Chinalco’s bid for bogus reasons'' - If Rio shareholders refuse this offer, they should make clear they mistrust an accident-prone board not the motives of China - 26th February 2009 (See: Concern grows as extent of Rio Tinto’s concessions to Chinalco is revealed)
 * slumdogs become millionaires in India?'' - The concept of social mobility is starting to challenge a previously fatalistic attitude to class and cast predominant in the subcontinent - 19th February 2009
 * is the real Pakistan?'' - The only positive thing to have come out of the past 10 weeks has been India’s relatively calm response - 12th February 2009
 * numbers'' - Asia and the crisis: The speed and ferocity of the region’s economic downturn, which have shocked even pessimists, stem from a reliance on trade – once seen as its biggest strength - 10th February 2009
 * should raise wages to stimulate demand'' - All over Asia, workers’ pay has lagged growth. With less disposable income, it is hardly surprising that consumption has slumped - 5th February 2009
 * faces up to the prospect of ‘peak fish’'' - The idea of a war over seafood is no more preposterous than that of a conflict over water or petroleum - 29th January 2009
 * new carry trade – the handbag'' - Pro-spending policies are needed more than ever to help fix the imbalances that underpinned the credit-fuelled bubble - 22nd January 2009
 * trial is a test for Taiwan’s democracy'' - His election was proof authoritarian regimes need not last for ever, which set unfortunate precedent for Beijing - 15th January 2009
 * in 2009: A rough ox ride to power'' - The sorry truth is that, if westerners are not spending, Asians have little cause to make things for them to buy - 2nd January 2009
 * China’s ‘warp-speed’ industrial revolution - The process by which the astonishing changes of the past 30 years have occurred owes as much to accident and experiment as to grand design - 18th December 2008
 * Asia is unlikely to bail out the west'' - Hardly surprisingly, the continent views as foolish the excesses that led Europe and the US into so much trouble - 11th December 2008
 * the next Asian basket case?'' - A country’s underlying institutions need to be impartial and dependable. That is not the case in Thailand - 4th December 2008
 * Ark must beware of the rocks'' - Trying to merge the culture of Wall Street with that of Nihonbashi, Tokyo’s old financial district, is not easy - 27th November 2008
 * Edge: Dick-man and the Bank of Flames'' - David Pilling invents a comic hero, Tarp-man - 22nd November 2008
 * can be more than 350 Albanias'' - China’s belief in its own Great Power status is real. But so is its lack of confidence - 20th November 2008
 * version of China’s growth'' - Given its need to reassure shaken consumers, Beijing’s selling of old money as new may not be bad policy - 13th November 2008
 * president-elect must ease Asian anxieties'' - Historically, the region’s leaders have preferred Republicans, viewed as more stalwart defenders of free trade - 6th November 2008
 * the unwinding of the yen carry trade'' - Even worse than Japan again becoming the source of almost free money, would be the potential for an even more risky dollar carry trade - 30th October 2008
 * The truth behind the Asian fairy tale - When the waters recede they will reveal a global landscape in which Asia, though damaged, looks more solid than the west - 15th October 2008
 * America’s chance to kick its Asian addiction - This is a story of Asian prudence versus US recklessness. Asians lived below their means so that Americans could live beyond theirs - 1st October 2008
 * hits bottleneck on way to prosperity'' - To truly shine, it will need millions, perhaps tens of millions, more manufacturing jobs. Why has it not created them? - 25th September 2008
 * glimpses a new shade of grey''-The country is not changing at warp speed. But it has adapted to its chastened circumstances better than most commentators had allowed - 4th September 2008
 * with the FT: Manabu Miyazaki'' - The best-selling author talks about Japan’s underworld and why he sees himself as a ‘freelance outlaw’ - 9th August 2008
 * wants it both ways on tax'' - The mandarins are right that the system needs fixing. Dithering will bequeath the problem to future generations - 25th June 2008
 * shows mettle in the race for Africa’s ore'' - The hunt for rare metals is urgent for one reason: China. Japan has watched aghast as China crisscrossed the continent, cutting deals - 21st May 2008
 * From zero to hero - Compared with Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve who recently cut interest rates by 125 basis points in eight swashbuckling days, Toshihiko Fukui might seem to have been leading a quiet life - 17th February 2008

