China is trying to create what it calls an anti-terrorism alliance with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Chinese state media said on Aug. 4. China has faced Islamic terrorism in some of its western region.
China envisions a “four-country mechanism” for intelligence-sharing and training.
To read The Reuters on this, please hit this link.
Why is China such a discouraging place for American technology companies? One reason, Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told the Los Angeles that:
“Since President Xi Jinping took office, they have increasingly switched from an economic strategy that emphasizes attracting foreign direct investment to one that favors indigenous innovation and Chinese-owned firms.”
Mr. Atkinson noted that one of the easier places to do this is on the Internet, because it doesn’t require the cutting-edge technology of, say, the aerospace or automotive sectors.
To read the article on this, please hit this link.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida wants Japan to host a trilateral summit with South Korea and China soon. One of the topics is bound to be what to do about North Korea’s saber-rattling.
“The cooperation of Japan, China and South Korea has completely been normalized,” Mr. Kishida said recently.
To read The Japan Time’s story on this, please hit this link.
In a new show of muscle, China is closing part of the South China Sea for military exercises this week. The announcement comes after an international tribunal ruled against Beijing’s claim to own virtually the entire sea.
An area southeast of China Hainan island province will be closed until Thursday local time, but Beijing gave no details about the exercises.
The Japan Times reported: “Six governments claim territory in the South China Sea, although the area where the Chinese naval exercises are being held is not considered a particular hot spot. China’s navy and coast guard operate extensively throughout the South China Sea and regularly stage live firing exercises in the area.”
To read The Japan Times story, please hit this link.
The skyline of booming Shanghai.
China has reported a higher-than-expected annualized growth rate of 6.7 percent, the same rate as in the first quarter. As with most dictatorships, it’s difficult to know how accurate that number us. However, in any case, most analysts saw the number as suggesting that the government of President Xi Jinping, in part to keep political control tight, is avoiding economic restructuring.
The Wall Street Journal reported: “Economists say a slower growth rate in the second quarter over the first quarter’s 6.7 percent pace would have sent a welcome signal that China was tackling excess industrial production, rising corporate debt and state-owned enterprise reform.”
“Instead, by ramping up government spending and opening the credit taps, Beijing is likely to fuel overcapacity and see private companies crowded out by risk-averse state banks and bloated state companies.”
“It’s a pretty clear picture with the big, overcapacity state-owned enterprises getting credit and reform plans not getting support,” IG Markets Ltd. analyst Angus Nicholson told the WSJ. “The government talks a good story about helping the private sector, pushing through supply-side reform and lowering investment to state companies, but you’re not actually seeing any of this in the statistics.”
For the full Wall Street Journal story, please hit this link.