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Howard Winn

The Dongfeng EQ2050 looks just too much like the Humvee
While strolling around the rockets and other military hardware at China's pavilion at the Zuhai air show we observed a familiar shape, painted green and armed with roof-mounted medium range surface-to-air missiles.
 Were our eyes deceiving us or was this another, albeit more aggressive, example of pirated intellectual property? Apparently not. But we were slightly bemused by the supposed 54 months it took Dongfeng Motor Group to develop what appeared to be an exact copy of the US Army's battlefield workhorse, the Humvee. 
Apparently, the Dongfeng EQ2050, which has just minor external changes to the headlights and radiator grill from the Humvee, has been in service with the People's Liberation Army since 2007.
 It also uses an imported AM General Hummer H1 chassis and a licensed-built Cummins diesel engine. Chinese military experts also claim the home-made version is superior to its American cousin. 
And just like its American relation, Dongfeng has reportedly developed a civilian version, while rival outfit Shenyang Aircraft Corp has developed its own military look-alike of the Humvee. 
With competition like this, it maybe explains why moves by Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery to buy General Motors' Hummer division collapsed earlier this year. 
PR firm tries to pull a fast one
Investment firm Janus Capital appears to have become somewhat risk averse at least as far as the press is concerned. Their public relations firm Ryan Financial Communications sent us a cheery note about some Janus research it thought might interest us. 
But it was accompanied by an extraordinary and extensive note pointing out that should we want to mention any Janus products or comments from Janus then they should be passed to Janus for approval. This is not so unusual in this business - a lot of firms try this wheeze.
But what was unusual in this communication was that the firm says these moves are necessary due to tighter regulation imposed by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission. 
The e-mail went on: 'We realise that the content of the article is entirely at your discretion, but we hope you understand that given current market conditions and sensitivities, we seek your co-operation in ensuring balanced reporting of any product information. This expectation has been set by the Hong Kong regulator among all financial services firms whose products are reported independently in the media.' 
To which we say: Nonsense! The SFC guidelines are directed at the investment institutions for their guidance as to how they market their products and are not designed to be used by investment houses to pressure the press into so-called 'balanced' reporting.
Women on top
We were saddened to see that after her stellar performance in making it onto the list of Fortune Magazine's 50 most powerful women in business and Forbes' list of the 100 most powerful women, Jing Ulrich was not able to complete her hat-trick by getting on to the Financial Times' Top 50 Women, run by the FT in conjunction with Egon Zehnder International. The FT only selected women who were managing a group's controlling company for the Top 50, so this excluded Ulrich (pictured) who is chairman and managing director of China equities and commodities for JP Morgan. But she also did not feature in the Alternative 50 list which comprises powerful women who are not chief executives. 
The FT's top woman was Indra Nooyi,  chief executive of PepsiCo. Another Asian woman was Dong Mingzhu from China who is chief executive   of Gree Electric Appliances, China's largest manufacturer of air conditioners. She was ranked fifth and is famous for, among other things, not taking a holiday in 20 years.
Cashing in on engagement
British business groups have reacted with some alacrity to the announcement of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton.  
One hotel group announced price cuts for couples who got engaged in the past month with an extra special discount for those couples named William and Kate. 
The British Beer and Pub Association swiftly put out a press release explaining why the happy couple should shun 'champagne or sparkling wines' on their big day and instead celebrate with pints of beer.



Lai See