Donald Trump has chided China for failing to take responsibility for its dangerous neighbor. But America's president should be careful what he tweets for: If China launched a military invasion of North Korea, it could work – and China would gain greater strategic parity with the US in East Asia. Project SyndicateA ‘China First’ Strategy for North Korea Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist
Read More »Tsvetana Paraskova — China Readies Yuan-Priced Crude Oil Benchmark Backed By Gold
The world’s top oil importer, China, is preparing to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan and convertible into gold, potentially creating the most important Asian oil benchmark and allowing oil exporters to bypass U.S.-dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan, Nikkei Asian Review reports. The crude oil futures will be the first commodity contract in China open to foreign investment funds, trading houses, and oil firms. The circumvention of U.S. dollar...
Read More »Reinhilde Veugelers — China is the world’s new science and technology powerhouse
Chinese R&D investment has grown remarkably over the past two decades. It is now the second-largest performer in terms of R&D spending, on a country basis, and accounts for 20 percent of total world R&D expenditure, with the rate of R&D investment growth greatly exceeding that of the U.S. and the EU.… This steep improvement in S&T performance has been underpinned by significant strides in science and engineering education. China is now the world’s number one...
Read More »Michael Spence — The Global Economy’s New Rule-Maker
Good article on the rise of China without China bashing.Project SyndicateThe Global Economy’s New Rule-MakerMichael Spence | Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Advisory Board Co-Chair of the Asia Global Institute in Hong Kong, and Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on New Growth...
Read More »Xinhua — China, Russia freight train delivers success, 17,000 tons of cargo
Over the past year, a total of 43 trains have run on the route, delivering more than 17,000 tonnes of products, worth 236 million U.S. dollars, from Guangzhou to Russia. It takes the train 15 to 18 days to reach Vorsino, about 10 days less than the sea-rail transport service, and 25 days less than a ship. The costs are just one-third of air transportation. "Our train runs once per week and were fully loaded from March this year, one of the highest loading rates among all China-Europe...
Read More »Ana Palacio — Who will stand up, against China, for rules-based order?
Delusional article of the day.As China becomes a hegemon and the US pursues a short-sighted and largely undefined 'America First' policy, Europe must tend the flame of values-based policy and the rule of law. This person is complete out of touch with what is happening in Europe.Asia TimesWho will stand up, against China, for rules-based order?Ana Palacio, a former Spanish foreign minister and former Senior Vice President of the World Bank, member of the Spanish Council of State, and a...
Read More »Xinhua — China on rapid progress of robotization: study
China bought 90,000 robots in 2016, accounting for almost a third of the global total, and the robot revolution may raise China's economic competitiveness, according to a report released this week by Bloomberg Intelligence. China.org.cnChina on rapid progress of robotization: study Xinhua
Read More »Charles and Louis-Vincent Gave — Gavekal On The Coming Clash Of Empires: Russia’s Role As A Global Game-Changer
This is an interesting analysis from the POV of globalization, the global economy, geopolitics, geostrategy and political economy. I am not endorsing the analysis itself, although it is plausible and makes many good points such as the geopolitical conflict between sea-power or thalassocracy, and land-power or tellurocracy. While the specifics are interesting, the method of analysis is much more significant. The chief reason I am posting it is to show how developing an entire...
Read More »George Friedman — China and India are guarding against the preposterous
Backgrounder.Business InsiderChina and India are guarding against the preposterousGeorge Friedman, Geopolitical Futures
Read More »ZH — Trump Warns Xi: Trade War With China Begins Monday
Backgrounder on what to expect.Zero HedgeTrump Warns Xi: Trade War With China Begins Monday Tyler Durden
Read More »