i was told the same thing 3 years ago, by the CX ppl responsible for oneworld alliance.
(CX was given the job among oneworld to find asian partners, i think they did not do a good job as till now there is no other partner)

china is their top priority, CA and MU are the top candidates. (apparently now MU became the 1st prioority). the issues are that no one (incl KA) wanted to spend the money to upgrade the IT system to meet oneworld's tough requirement. and also resistance from the China government to such alliances. (i think the government is becoming more liberal now)

noting that you still cannot interline lugguage transfer to domestic china flights,
i am still not too optimistic if they can make it by 12/2004

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 10-29-2003).]