Posts tagged…China
A coal quiz
Tue, Feb 17 2009Here's a little quiz about coal. You probably know that there are two kinds; coking coal, which provides the carbon in carbon-steel and thermal coal that drives the power-stations and adds CO2 to the atmosphere. You might also know that Australia exports four times more coking coal than the #2 global supplier (Indonesia) and maybe you were aware that Australia is the #2 thermal coal exporter…
Read more…Nationalism and foreign investment policy
Mon, Feb 16 2009In today's Fairfax press, Beijing correspondent John Garnaut provides some much-needed facts to hose-down the economic nationalism being whipped up by some investment advisors and politicians over the Rio asset sale to Chinalco. Garnaut's story about the relationships of Chinalco and Chinese steel giant BaoSteel and about the pressures on the government fund backing the loans to Chinalco confirm No role for the FIRB in Rio
Thu, Feb 12 2009
Maybe Alan Kohler is right and, from a commercial perspective, Rio’s asset sale to Chinalco “stinks”. But it is not the role of foreign investment policy to pick between investments, or investors, on the basis of their commercial smarts. That’s up to the Board and the shareholders.
The half-stated concern over the Rio-Chinalco deal remains, as it was last year, that the Chinese investors have a…
A better way to negotiate on agriculture
Thu, Dec 04 2008Next week, at the Institute for International Trade in Adelaide, Andrew Stoler (Institute Director, former Deputy Director-General of WTO) and I are presenting a conference in our project on future frameworks for WTO agriculture agreements.
In addition to our own research (some linked here) we've commissioned the help of leading agriculture and trade policy research centers in Brazil, China,…
Suppose the SWFs got cold feet?
Thu, Dec 04 2008"‘Right now we don’t have the courage to invest in financial institutions because we don’t know what problems we will put ourselves into,’ Lou Jiwei [Chairman of China Investment Corp] said on Wednesday. ‘My confidence should come from government policies. But if they are changing every week, how can you expect that to make me confident?" extract from: Financial Times…
An american preoccupation
Tue, Aug 26 2008What evidence is there for this? None that he cites. Reminds me of the nonsense I saw tossed around Washington in the early 1980's about the allegedly 'obsessive' Japanese culture.
Nations are increasingly preoccupied with their relative economic standing, not the living standards of citizens. Issues of strategic leverage and vulnerability now play a bigger role in economic policy…
Foreign direct investment approvals
Tue, Aug 26 2008Below the fold, my Op-Ed in today's Australian Financial Review on the approval of foreign investment proposals.
In summary, I'm advocating a transparent policies and procedures using existing review institutions and laws (the Corporations Act, the Australian Stock Exchange Guidelines on business practices, the transfer pricing regulations of the tax laws) to regulate all companies doing business…
There could be four
Sun, Aug 10 2008Henry Gao asks a very pertinent question about a development in the management of WTO that might easily be missed (unless you're looking)
"Will this 'one country, two candidates' arrangement work in the future?" extract from: WTO and China Blog
It’s not just China, India
Wed, Jul 16 2008Germany's Finance Ministry, too, is critical of a plan to cut emissions that is more gradual than proposed in Kevin Rudd's Green Paper.
"The ministry was particularly critical of the EU's goal to cut the quota of emissions trading permits by 21 percent, compared to 2005 levels, saying this would cost Germany both jobs and growth." extract from: Deutsche Welle
The G-Other
Mon, Jul 14 2008
I wonder if they're any better at meaningful collaboration than the G-8? No sign of it in this official snapshot taken in Sapporo, Japan, before their meeting with the G-8 in July, 2008.
Global emission targets: here we go
Tue, Jun 24 2008We are likely to discover where this will lead only after a long process.
"Major carbon dioxide emitters failed to agree on a numerical target for reducing the world's greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 even though the final session of a two-day meeting here was extended into Monday morning, conference sources said…The [Major Emitters Group] comprises 16 nations, including China,…
Poles of the trading system
Fri, Jun 20 2008
Simon Evenett has observed that, on the numbers, at least two of the Gang of Four that has dominated the Doha round negotiations since 2006 are not really 'poles' of global trade although they may become more polar in future. What is also notable about the three developing countries in the 'potential poles' group (Brazil, China, India), says Evenett, is that they have relatively little experience…