Posts tagged…China
Tea leaves
Fri, Feb 26 2010A hiccup? Or a sign that imported deflation—via low-priced Chinese imports—will now start to slow?
"‘Labour availability is tight right now in Guangdong compared to other regions,’ said Paul Hussey, chief executive of Strix. The Isle of Man company, which dominates the global market for thermostatic controls on electric kettles, maintains most of its manufacturing operations in the provincial…
Read more…Chinese savings rate & the gender balance
Sat, Feb 06 2010Fascinating. A strong, explanatory correlation appears between very high household savings rates and the male-gender imbalance.
"…[E]conomists and policymakers have looked with concern to the large Chinese current account surplus and large US current account deficit, or global imbalances, much of their discussion has focused on changing exchange rate policy. None of the discussion about global…
Are the BRICS ready to lead?
Wed, Jan 20 2010
Reflecting on the greater influence of the BRICS, recently, in global forums, the always-interesting Alan Beattie asks:
"Is this a pivot point such as the second world war, where the confident, innovative US muscled aside the weakened, debt-laden economies of Europe and remade the global financial architecture? " Extract from FT.com
His guess? "No, not yet". He points out the BRICS are…
Cheering for ‘democracy’
Tue, Jan 05 2010Rachman—who's normally pretty astute—assesses the emblematic events in Copenhagen as a blow to the U.S. program of 'spreading democracy'.
"As emerging global powers and developing nations, Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey may often feel they have more in common with a rising China than with the democratic US." Extract from Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times
Although I share his sense…
How the deal was done
Mon, Dec 28 2009
Official Chinese account of the negotiation of the accord at Copenhagen, emphasising, of course, their own role:
The Copenhagen conference has put China on a higher and broader world stage. China has reason to be proud and China will work even harder! Verdant mountains cannot stop water flowing; eastward the water keeps on going.
The report provides a detailed account of Premier Wen's movements…
Good idea or insidious threat?
Tue, Dec 08 2009When an economy has trade leverage, the threat of discriminatory duties need not be simple protectionism.
"The US can help China make the necessary adjustments toward a reduction in imbalances by adopting a uniform tariff of 10 per cent on all Chinese imports, based on their values when they enter the US. Six months after the establishment of this tariff, the rate would increase by one percentage…
Market and PPP measures of GDP
Tue, Jul 14 2009
In comments on the previous post, Ian Castles AO, the former Australian Statistician, notes that the World Bank and IMF create confusion in their reports by mixed use of market-exchange-rate (MER) and purchasing-power-parity (PPP) bases for estimating output and growth. Simply, using market exchange rates to compare the value of output among countries over-estimates the size of developed…
Another small step
Fri, Jul 03 2009But it's impossible to ignore the significance of this continuing internationalization of the remminbi.
"Although it has no short-term implications for the full convertibility of the renminbi, the announcement provides ballast to the volley of political signals Beijing has been sending in recent months over its dissatisfaction with the US dollar." Extract from Financial Times
Investment barriers stuff-up China relations
Mon, Jun 15 2009No one I know seriously questions the importance of China to Australia's external balances, especially now in the trough of a recession. Nor can we have any doubts about China's growing political, cultural and 'strategic' importance for us and our region of the world. So why would a government led by sinophile make such a terrible, embarrassing, stuff-up of its response to a proposal from a top…
China’s FTA strategy
Fri, May 15 2009University of Singapore law professor Henry Gao reproduces a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce that explains the benefits of the 'free trade areas' from China's viewpoint and promises to 'speed up' the negotiations of FTA agreements.
Google's translation of the statement is a bit garbled. But the general idea is clear:
"The building of Free Trade Areas has become a new era of opening…
Twitter test of defense policy
Tue, May 05 2009The first rule of marketing is simplify and exaggerate. Or, in my trade: shorten and sharpen. Go straight to the point and tell it plainly.
Twitter's one-forty byte limit is a tough test: a rhetorical sieve. Like a map or a model, a tweet holds only what you can see at a glance.
Here's my idea: when a proposal is too hard to grasp, twitter-test it. Let's try it out on the big White Paper on…
Malcolm Turnbull on Chinalco’s bid for Rio
Sat, May 02 2009Malcolm Turnbull's wide-ranging speech to the Lowy Institute on the balance of power in Asia is thoughtful, well-aimed, and well-expressed. There is much to agree with.
But I disagree with all three of Mr Turnbull's arguments against the Chinalco bid for Rio (see below). Here's my main problem. The two parts of this sentence just don't belong together. They should be anathema to any liberal,…