China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in danger of losing momentum as opposition in targeted countries rises and debts mount, paving the way for rival schemes to squeeze Beijing out, a new study showed on Wednesday. President Xi… Read More ›

Month: September 2021
China’s Xi Jinping a danger to American business
China’s rapid changes will impact many American businesses. Companies in the states import many products from China, and China is the third-largest market for U.S. exports. Financial investments also flow in both directions between the two countries. Changes in the… Read More ›
China’s weak, counterproductive, hostage-taking diplomacy
Last Friday, Meng Wanzhou, 49, Huawei’s chief finance officer and the daughter of the founder, agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in which, according to the Associated Press, she “accepted responsibility for misrepresenting the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, September 27, 2021
The Huawei heir apparent and CFO, Meng, walked. She confessed, then flew home. China immediately released the two Canadians both named Michael, which China had previously said were not detained in any connection to Meng; but they were both released… Read More ›
China is decoupling from the world, not the other way around
Eighteen months ago, international manufacturers were considering the impact Covid-19 would have on their concentrated manufacturing processes and supply chain integrity. In particular, companies that depended heavily on manufacturing in China, the early epicentre of the pandemic, started to move… Read More ›
Business groups are divided as China seeks self-reliance
China’s push for self-sufficiency in a wide range of industries is dividing foreign companies, with some welcoming it as another chance to invest there while others worry that it will cause risks to the country’s trading partners and its own… Read More ›
Chinese Arctic incursion spooks US lawmakers
China is using the Arctic and seas only miles away from Alaska as a staging area to undermine U.S. national security, top lawmakers and experts say. Newly released images reveal a fleet of Chinese warships conducting operations in American waters… Read More ›
China declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal
China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrency on Friday, declaring all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies illegal and issuing a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency mining, the power-hungry process in which vast computer networks compete for newly created crypto tokens. Bitcoin, the world’s… Read More ›
China plans tax crackdown on richest entertainers, including online influencers
China is set to conduct regular tax investigations into top entertainers including online influencers, promising serious punishment for offenders amid a deepening crackdown on the entertainment industry and lucrative culture of fandom. High-income celebrities who self-report offences by the end… Read More ›
Xi Jinping’s effort to return to socialism
For decades life in China had evolved around its home-grown version of let-it-rip capitalism. Despite being technically a “communist” country, the government had put its faith in trickle-down economics, believing that allowing some people to become extremely rich would benefit… Read More ›
China is financing infrastructure projects around the world – many could harm nature and indigenous communities
China is shaping the future of economic development through its Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious multi-billion-dollar international push to better connect itself to the rest of the world through trade and infrastructure. Through this venture, China is providing over… Read More ›
China’s military has an Achilles’ heel: Low troop morale
The Chinese Communist Party has unintentionally revealed weaknesses of the country’s military. One indication came with the building of facilities for launching new intercontinental ballistic missiles in an inland desert region. The other was a series of further attempts to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, September 20, 2021
China steps up expansion via Hong Kong elections. Seven editors are banned from Wikipedia on concerns of not acting in good faith and with relation to China. The US sails through the Taiwan Straight again, this time a destroyer. Taiwan… Read More ›
China adds powerful new ship to maritime patrol fleet
China has added a new powerful ship to its fleet of maritime patrol vessels in the South China Sea, state media has reported. The 5,560-ton Hai Xun 03 was launched on Tuesday and will become the largest ocean patrol ship… Read More ›
A lesson in political economy on investments in China
Paul Krugman, the eminent Nobel laureate in economics, recalls how companies are different from nations and their reasons. Business managers have different perspectives. It is economists – not managers – who place the question of foreign trade, the balance of… Read More ›
Are China’s climate promises just a load of hot air? (Yes!)
China is prepared to hold its cooperation on climate issues hostage to Western concessions elsewhere. Few cities in China represent the country’s addiction to coal more than Tianjin, where Alok Sharma travelled this week to talk about cooperation on climate… Read More ›
The vanishing allure of doing business in China
It is nothing new for foreign firms to endure shakedowns by the Chinese Communist Party. As far back as revolutionary times, Chairman Mao’s victorious troops did not directly confiscate foreign-owned assets as their Bolshevik forerunners had done in Russia. Instead,… Read More ›
Wikipedia blames pro-China infiltration for bans
Wikipedia has suffered an “infiltration” that sought to advance the aims of China, the US non-profit organisation that owns the volunteer-edited encyclopaedia has said. The Wikimedia Foundation told BBC News the infiltration had threatened the “very foundations of Wikipedia”. The… Read More ›
Diaries of former Mao aide spark custody battle over unofficial history of China
Today, “Li materials” are the subject of a legal battle between Stanford University and Mr. Li’s widow in Beijing. This is a battle for custody of an unofficial history of China. In millions of handwritten Chinese characters, Mr. Li documents… Read More ›
World’s dirtiest cities list raises issue: Why don’t politicians call out China?
Ponder this: A new tally of global cities’ emissions finds that the top 25 are responsible for 52% of the planet’s urban greenhouse gas emissions. Twenty-three of those are in China. New York City is the first American city to appear,… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, September 13, 2021
The easiest solution to China’s escalating situation in the South Sea is to enforce China’s own formal statements at face value. China says they respect other countries and do not want to militarize the South Sea. Leave it at that…. Read More ›
Why is Iran so keen on joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?
What Happened: Iran became an observer in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – originally comprised of China, Russia, and 4 Central Asian republics – back in 2005. In the 16 years since, Tehran has consistently pushed for an upgrade to full… Read More ›
How China hijacked the war on terror to commit genocide in Xinjiang
Two decades after the 9/11 attacks spawned the U.S. government’s self-declared “Global War on Terrorism,” the nation that responded to it with the most aggressive regulatory, policing and social policies is thousands of miles from Ground Zero. China’s ruling Chinese… Read More ›
China extends a fast helping hand to the Taliban
China has reassured the Taliban that it is ready to begin development activities in Afghanistan via its ambitious multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative (BRI), as the war-torn country drifts toward an economic meltdown. In what some see as Beijing’s tacit… Read More ›
China’s population enters ‘deep aging’ in many major cities
China is facing a population crisis of increasing urgency, with 149 cities shown in recent census figures to have 14 percent of their residents over the age of 65. A recent analysis by the state-run China Business News (CBN) found… Read More ›
China weighing occupation of former U.S. air base at Bagram in Afghanistan
China is considering deploying military personnel and economic development officials to Bagram airfield, perhaps the single-most prominent symbol of the 20-year U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. The Chinese military is currently conducting a feasibility study about the effect of sending… Read More ›
Germany’s ambassador to China Jan Hecker dies suddenly days after taking office
Germany’s ambassador to China Jan Hecker – a confidant of Chancellor Angela Merkel – has died only a few days after taking up his post, Berlin’s foreign office said on Monday. “It is with deep sadness and dismay that we… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, September 6, 2021
Taiwan! Taiwan! Taiwan! Europe can say it enough. In fact, Europe talks about Taiwan almost as much as China does. Taiwan doesn’t need formal diplomatic relations to live rent free in the minds of global leaders around the globe—especially living… Read More ›
As China woos the Taliban, Uyghurs in Afghanistan fear for their lives
Tuhan is one of up to 3,000 Uyghurs in Afghanistan, according to Sean Roberts, a professor at George Washington University and author of “The War on the Uyghurs,” making them a tiny minority in the country of more than 37… Read More ›
23 of the world’s top 25 greenhouse gas emitting cities are in China
Ponder this: A new tally of global cities’ emissions finds that the top 25 are responsible for 52% of the planet’s urban greenhouse gas emissions. 23 of those are in China. New York City is the first American city to… Read More ›
China to keep Kabul embassy open and ‘beef up’ relations with Taliban
China has promised to keep its embassy in Kabul open and “beef up” relations, the Taliban have said, as Afghanistan’s new rulers worked on preparing their new government and winning international recognition. A spokesman for the Islamist militia, Suhail Shaheen,… Read More ›
China’s foreign ship law stokes South China Sea tensions
China has stepped up its domination strategy for the South China Sea via a new maritime law that deliberately restricts freedom of navigation for various types of foreign-flagged vessels that enter Beijing-claimed waters. The law, which was passed in April… Read More ›
Turmoil in Afghanistan and India’s Calibrated Steps
As the dust settles on the erstwhile Kingdom of Gandhara, the attention shifts from the ongoing evacuation and the so-called American blunder, to ‘what next?’. Distant nations in the European Union and the Middle East are on guard as it… Read More ›
Signs of impatience with China’s 17+1 initiative in Europe
Lithuania has announced that it is pulling out of China’s “17+1″ bloc in Eastern Europe. This followed the annual 17+1 summit on February 9, where the leaders of some European Union member nations snubbed China’s invitation to the summit. China has invested… Read More ›