The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily
Donald Tong, the Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs in the United States, spoke at the Ross School of
Business yesterday about the opportunities for investment.
Hong Kong off l talks
in
Tong says economic
freedom of Hong
Kong makes it an
investor's paradise
By ALEX KIRSHENBAUM
For the Daily
With its low tax rates and eco-
nomic freedom, Hong Kong is an
idealdestination forinvestment, an
official from the budding city said
in an address on campus yesterday.
Donald Tong, the Hong Kong
Commissioner for Economic and
Trade Affairs in the United States,
spoke before about 70 people at the
Ross School of Business yesterday
afternoon.
In his presentation, Tong dis-
cussed Hong Kong's present eco-
nomic state, as well as the city's
future prospects and its potential
relationship with Michigan and
the United States.
HongKongstands out as aglobal
city largely because of how inviting
the economy is, ranked the freest
in the world, Tong said.
"You should keep most of what
you earn," Tong said.
"Trade is our bread and butter,"
he said. "We pay no taxes to foreign
authorities. Our tax rate is simple
and low."
Tong said Hong Kong's warmth
to foreign investors, embraced by
the United States as a whole, has
historically notextended as fully to
Michigan. He said he believes that
this is changing, though.
"If you look at the trade volume,
it's not on the very high side," he
said. "Butthemore importantthing
is that you look at the growth."
Over the past few years, trade
between Michigan and Hong
Kong has been steadily increas-
ing, according to Tong. This figure
should increase even more in the
near future, Tong said, especially
with the American auto industry's
new focus ongoinggreen.
"Hong Kong and China, and
indeed most of the global players,
have attached great importance to
reduction of greenhouse gasses,"
Tong said. "Electric vehicles would
be one way to shift that."
Tong pointed out, however,
that Hong Kong's hilly geography
makes current electric car models
difficult to sell there.
Though electric cars with
roughly a 100-kilometer range are
useful for travel within a most cit-
ies, Tong said that with the heavy
automobile traffic between Hong
Kong and mainland China, cars
with longer battery ranges are
needed.
"Hopefully, somewhere down
the road, there will be further
innovation in terms of technology,"
Tong said. "Then we would be able
to look at the same issue again."
When asked why he chose the
University of Michigan as his
forum to speak, Tong said it was
because the University is a good
school.
"It has a very good reputation,
especially the Ross School of Busi-
ness," Tongsaid. "It's agood oppor-
tunity to reach out to graduates
and undergraduates while they're
still in college.
Tong expressed his desire to
attract students to Hong Kong,
hoping that by coming to the Uni-
versity, he would help "put Hong
Kong on (students') radar screens."
Some members of the audience,
most of whom were graduate stu-
dents from the Ross School of Busi-
ness or the Ford School of Public
Policy, thought Tong had good
things to say.
MBA student Ramana Atluri
said he thought the presentation
was fantastic.
"It was a wonderful window
into Hong Kong's economy," Atluri
said.
Public Policy graduate student
Simon Tam agreed.
"I'm originally from Hong
Kong," Tam said. "Being there
you're sort of desensitized with the
competitive advantage Hong Kong
has."
WASSERSTEIN
From Page lA
careful reporter with an eye for
personal details and was, I think,
very good at strategizing, scoping
things out, and again, of course
that's where he made his living,"
Killingsworth said in a phone con-
versation yesterday evening.
Many on campus were angry
after the University turned over a
list of names to Congress, accord-
ing to Killingsworth, who is now a
professor of economics at Rutgers
University.
Wasserstein responded to the
University's decision by extensively
interviewing members of the Uni-
versity's Law School community to
find out where University officials
stood on the event and whether
they had tried to prevent it, Killing-
sworth said.
"It's eerie reading (Wasserstein's
article) and then knowing he went
on to become, first of all, a great
lawyer and secondly, a great deal-
maker," Killingsworth said. "All
of the themes of that, I think, are
clearly visible in what he did."
Though Wasserstein was recog-
nized by all who knew him for his
remarkable smarts, he was also
keenly identified by his Daily co-
workers by his disheveled appear-
ance, according to Daniel Okrent,
another Daily alumnus who now
writes for Time Magazine as well
as other publications.
"The key things about Bruce was
he was incredibly smart (and) he
was a total slob in college," Okrent
said. "He meant to tuck in his shirt
but he never managed to really pull
it off. He was pudgy, he was amus-
ing and he always seemed to be
thinking a few steps ahead of the
rest of us."
Those messy tendencies proved
to be more endearing than detri-
mental.
Wasserstein graduated from the
University in 1967 at the age of 19
with an Honors degree in political
science. He later went on to gradu-
ate from both Harvard Law School
and Harvard Business School, and
later studied at Cambridge Univer-
sity as a Knox Traveling Fellow.
"I guess (his appearance) didn't
do that much against him," said
Andy Sacks, who was a Daily Photo
Editor. "You and me were prob-
ably taught that we had to tuck our
RODRIGUEZ
From Page 1A
Success Program were polled to
get an idea of what the cumula-
tive grade point average for the
football team would be, on aver-
age.
"He was given an estimate," she
said. She added that a number of
players had lately achieved their
"personal best" academically.
According to the Free Press
report, Rodriguez also made a
similar statement before a group
of University alumni in Washing-
ton, D.C. in May.
"We have a couple, two or three
of our student-athletes, who have
not gotten their grades back. I
think the professors maybe left
early, but when we get those back,
VENTURE
From Page A
is to increase the average number
of startups in the next five years
from nine to 12 a year.
"The first step is to create the
thought that this mightbe a startup
as opposed to just another technol-
ogy, and I guess hopefully get them
excited about the opportunity,"
O'Connell said. "It's not like we
have a new set of offices or a new
building, it's just a way of focusing
and gatheringtogether the resourc-
es that were there already."
Ken Nisbet, executive director
of the Office of Technology Trans-
fer, said though the University has
been relatively successful at turn-
ing inventions into startups, the
goal of the center is to increase
the "quality and quantity" of those
startups.
"We've averaged about nine
startups a year which is actually
equivalent to a school like Stan-
ford," he said. "We've done well,
but we knew given the economy,
knowing the opportunities that
exist within the University we
wanted to improve."
While other colleges like the
University of Minnesota already
ADVOCACY
From Page 1A
onstration projects that will
research what actions by the
child's advocate contribute to
desired outcomes," Duquette
said. "This has never been done
before and empirical research on
the effectiveness of legal repre-
sentation is very rare."
shirts in to get ahead in the world.
Bruce got ahead without paying
much attention to that detail."
Killingsworth said Wasserstein
- a born deal-maker - was also
instrumental in handling a situa-
tion during the winter of 1967 in
which the Board in Control of Stu-
dent Publications rejected Roger
Rapoport, the editorial staff's nom-
inee for editor in chief. At the time,
top editors needed the approval of
the Board - a process that is no lon-
ger in place.
The paper's top editors decided
that despite their ongoing efforts to
resolve the confrontation with the
Board, they had a responsibility to
report on the proceedings.
"Bruce's attitude about the
whole thing was that we were first
and foremost reporting this," Kill-
ingsworth said. "And sure we had
to make decisions about how we
were going to wage war against the
Board. Bruce was, I'd say, one of
the key strategizers in figuring out
what to do and sticking to it."
Killingsworth said it was during
this time that Wasserstein's com-
mitment to journalistic integrity
was truly proven.
"The remarkable thing about it,
I think, was he never, ever, even
for a moment, suspected or consid-
ered the possibilities that we might
somehow withhold something that
we knew for fear that it would clear
a deal with the Board," Killings-
worth said. "His attitude was,'We'll
press ahead with what we want,hbut
in the meantime we've got to report
the news."'
"I have an enormous amount
of respect for what he did at the
Daily," Killingsworth added.
Respect for Wasserstein carried
on long after his time at the Uni-
versity ended - especially because
of Wasserstein's attachment to his
college workplace.
For example, one day during the
summer of 1984, Wasserstein came
back to Ann Arbor and stopped
off at 420 Maynard St. to visit the
Daily's summer staff, according to
Neil Chase, who was working as
the Daily's summer editor-in-chief
at the time.
Wasserstein treated the Daily
staffers to lunch at Cottage inn
on East Liberty Street, inquired
about their doings at the Daily and
spoke of his time there. Meanwhile,
because of Wasserstein's humble
nature, they had no idea they were
we think we'll break the record
- 25-year record - for overall
football team GPA this semester,"
Rodriguez is quoted as saying in
the Free Press story.
In Rodriguez's statement yes-
terday, he said the Academic Suc-
cess Program officials "did not
make it clear that the number was
just an estimate and not an exact
calculation."
"We apologize ifthis has caused
any confusion," he added.
In the interview, Michels
admitted that there never were
and still aren't any real numbers
to support the claim.
"It was not based on any spe-
cific data," she said.
Atthetime,Rodriguez "thought
it was an actual number," accord-
ing to University spokeswoman
Kelly Cunningham.
have venture centers, Nisbet said
the University of Michigan hopes
to bring the concept to a new level.
"Several universities have-
dedicated units that work on new
startups," he said. "The venture
center concept of an integrated set
of resources is not totally unique.
We're not unique in what we're
doing, but we're going to be world-
class in how we execute the con-
cept."
Nisbet said there are currently
about 60 or 70 inventions in the
pipeline that could be eligible to be
licensed to companies.
"Most of our new discoveries
would end up being licensed to an
existing company," he said. "Some
of these ideas could form a basis of
a company. In the end we analyze it
to ensure that the idea makes sense
for a new business startup."
O'Connell said if the project has
"enough legs" to become a startup,
they will put it on a path toward
becoming its own business, instead
of being licensed to another com-
pany.
Thewhole process - from inven-
tion to startup - usually takes
about one and a half to two years.
The center will provide inven-
tors with resources throughout
the process, like access to venture
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 7A
hanging out with one of the most
prominent names on Wall Street,
Chase said.
"It wasn't until after he left, we
did a little research on our own and
figured out what a powerful guy in
the investment business he was,"
Chase said. "He was already really
successful by then."
Though primarily a finance
guru, Wasserstein did contribute
substantially to the world of jour-
nalism, Chase said.
Wasserstein went on to found
The Deal, a financial newsweek-
ly, and also bought and reshaped
other publications like American
Lawyer and New York magazine.
Before his death, Wasserstein
was also rumored to be among
the potential bidders to purchase
BusinessWeek.
He also co-founded Wasserstein
Perella, an investment banking
firm where he served as CEO from
1988 to 2001. Following his success
there, Lazard hired Wasserstein in
2002. In his first year on the job,
Wasserstein boldly took the com-
pany public after more than a cen-
tury of private ownership.
Besides his undeniable mark on
the investment banking, Wasser-
stein left a definite mark on Univer-
sity of Michigan students' lives. He
established the Morris Wasserstein
Award through the LSA Honors
Program, in honor of his father,
which provides honors students
on the Daily's writing and editorial
staffs with scholarship money that
"can exceed $1000/term for one or
two terms," according to the Uni-
versity of Michigan Honors Pro-
gram website.
Though Okrent claims Wasser-
stein was "smarter than the rest of
us combined," he never could have
guessed he would become such
an immense leader in the finance
world.
"When he went off to get his
juris law degree at Harvard, you
knew that if Bruce ever got his act
together, which he did, he would
be very successful, but there was
no clue he would pursue a career in
high finance," he said.
Killingsworth, too, said he didn't
foresee Wasserstein's trancedence
from Daily editor to Wall Street
power broker, but he did know
Wasserstein had the skills to be
very successful.
"He was a phenomenon," Killing-
sworth said. "He was amazing."
Michels said that the cumula-
tive GPA for the team is neither
compiled for University purposes
nor for NCAA eligibility purpos-
es.
"Nobody uses that informa-
tion," she said.
Michels said, "there's just no
good academic reason" to compile
the information.
She said that in the past Uni-
versity officials have compiled
the team's cumulative grade point
average in rare instances.
In the fall of 2008, Rodriguez
asked for a cumulative GPA for
the team. That information was
compiled, Michels said. But the
information was later destroyed
and not retained.
"The Academic Success Pro-
gram doesn't use that for any-
thing," Michels said.
capitalists - the center has about
200 in its "Rolodex," according
to O'Connell - and mentors in
residence, who are local business
owners and entrepreneurs with
experience with startups.
David Hartmann, who has start-
ed three companies of his own, is
a mentor in residence. He said his
role is to aid faculty inventors by
tracking down interested alumni,
helping them in the grant-writing
process and providing them with
other resources that will help them
start their companies get off the
ground.
Hartmann said he decided to
become a mentor in residence
because he wanted to find a way
to "give back to the community"
after he gothis third startup off the
ground.
"I think the Michigan economy
really needs a transformation," he
said. "It's going though a very dif-
ficult time and certainly with the
one billion (dollars) inresearchthat
we've earned and spent last year
with the University, there's got to
be more commercial possibilities
coming out of that."
"For me," he added, "it's about
finding the next bright idea that
can replace the Pfizers of the com-
munity."
Gunmen attack three law
enforcement facilities in
eastern Pakistan city,
Federal Investigation
Agency says
attacks will be
closely examined
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -
Teams of gunmen attacked three
law enforcement facilities in Pak-
istan's eastern city of Lahore on
Thursday, a major escalation in an
audacious wave of terror strikes
as this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed
country prepares for an offensive
in a Taliban and al-Qaida strong-
hold.
At least seven people died in a
gunfight with police at one site,
police said as the city plunged
into chaos.
In the Taliban-riddled north-
west, meanwhile, a suicide car
bomber detonated his vehicle
next to a police station, killing
at least eight people, while a sus-
pected U.S. missile strike killed
four alleged militants, officials
said.
"The enemy has started a guer-
rilla war," Pakistan's Interior
Minister Rehman Malik told a
local television station.
One attack in Lahore occurred
at a building housing the Fed-
eral Investigation Agency, a law
enforcement organization that
deals with matters ranging from
immigration to terrorism. Local
media channels reported that
hostages were being held.
"We are under attack," said
Mohammad Riaz, an FIA employ-
ee reached inside the building via
phone by The Associated Press
during the assault. "I can see two
people hit, but I do not know who
they are."
Senior government official Saj-
jad Bhutta said the attack lasted
about 11/2 hours and was over by
11 a.m. He said the dead included
two attackers, four government
employees and a bystander. Senior
police official Chaudhry Shafiq
said one of the dead wore a jacket
bearing explosives.
Two other groups of attackers
struck police facilities in the area
Lahore's outskirts in violence that
was continuing, Shafiq said.
One occurred at the Manawan
police training school - the sec-
ond time attackers have struck
there this year. The earlier attack
led to an eight-hour standoff with
the army that left 12 people dead.
No casualty figures were immedi-
ately available for the Thursday
strike.
Another was at anelite police
commando training center not far
from the airport. Senior police
official Malik Iqbal said at least
one police constable was killed
there.
Television footage showed
helicopters in the air over one of
the police facilities and paramili-
tary forces with rifles and bullet-
proof vests taking cover behind
trees outside a wall surrounding
the compound.
The militants have claimed
credit for a series of attacks in
recent days, including a siege of
the army's headquarters in the
garrison city of Rawalpindi that
left 23 people dead.
The Taliban have warned Paki-
stan to stop pursuing them in mil-
itary operations.
The Pakistani army has given
no time frame for the expected
offensive in South Waziristan
tribal region, but has reportedly
already sent two divisions total-
ing 28,000 men and blockaded
the area.
Fearing the looming offensive,
about 200,000 people have fled
South Waziristan since August,
moving in with relatives or rent-
ing homes in the Tank and Dera
Ismail Khan areas, a local gov-
ernment official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to talk to
the media.
The Thursday morning suicide
attack occurred in the Saddar
area of Kohat, a district near the
tribal areas.
Police official Afzal Khan said
at least 20 people were wounded,
and that both police and civilians
were among the eight killed. Half
the police building was brought
down.
"We fear that some policemen
are trapped under the rubble," he
said.
The U.S. has encouraged Paki-
stan to take strong action against
insurgents who are using its soil
as a base for attacks in Afghani-
stan, where U.S. troops are
bogged down in an increasingly
difficult war.
The Americans have carried
out a slew of their own own mis-
sile strikes in South and North
Waziristan over the past year,
killing several top militants
including Pakistani Taliban chief
Baitullah Mehsud.
The early Thursday missile
strike hit a compound in Dande
Derpa Khel, an area in North
Waziristan where members of
the militant network led by Jala-
luddin Haqqani are believed to
operate.
The two intelligence officials
who gave word of the strike said
the exact identities of the four
killed were unclear. The officials
spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized
to speak to media on the record.
Pakistani formally protests the
missile strikes as violations of its
sovereignty, but many analysts
believe it has a secret deal with
the U.S. allowing them.
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