Chuyên mục: China

Road to nowhere:China’s Belt and Road Initiative at tipping point

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Pakistan, Sri Lanka debt crises threaten Beijing’s regional influence

asia.nikkei.com

By Adnan Aamir, Marwaan Macan-Markar, Shaun Turton and Cissy Zhou – AUGUST 10, 2022

The drive to Pakistan’s port of Gwadar takes seven and a half hours from Karachi via the Makran coastal highway. Much of the 600-km route is deserted, with no restaurants, restrooms or even fuel stations. On a recent journey, around 200 vehicles in total could be counted during the entire drive.

Arriving in the city on Pakistan’s Indian Ocean coast, Chinese and Pakistani flags are ubiquitous, and Chinese-financed construction projects loom, but the city is spookily devoid of economic activity. Near the seafront, broad avenues are curiously empty of vehicles. Inside the city center, the roads are narrow, congested and covered with foul smelling drain water, with few multistory buildings aside from the Chinese-built port compound. 

It is hard to visualize Gwadar as the launch pad of a new global paradigm, but that is what Beijing would have the world believe.

Nine years ago it was plucked out of obscurity —  a backwater in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan region — and presented as China’s commercial window onto the Indian Ocean, a hub for regional integration under the Belt and Road Initiative, which was to harness the juggernaut of the Chinese economy to the goal of Asian economic development. 
 

The BRI is an audacious program of lending, aid and infrastructure contracts totaling over $880 billion, according to the American Enterprise Institute.

The initiative, which includes pledges to 149 countries, aims to promote Chinese-led regional integration — and sow economic dependence on Beijing.

First announced in a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 as the “Silk Road,” the BRI was fleshed out in April 2015 with the announcement of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), stretching from Gwadar to the Chinese city of Kashgar, in Xinjiang. The CPEC showcased the China-Pakistan “all-weather friendship” with $46 billion in pledged funds that has since grown to $50 billion. It was to be the backbone of the now renamed Belt and Road Initiative.

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The Indonesian Chinese still grappling with discrimination

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The Indonesian Chinese still grappling with discrimination

South China Morning Post – 26-10-2018

Indonesian Chinese make up just three per cent of the country’s population, but they have played a prominent role in its history. A driving force behind Indonesia’s economic growth, they have also been the target of violent riots and xenophobic sentiment, with many leaving the country where their ancestors have lived for generations. Although they are allowed to express their ethnicity and culture openly again, a resurgence of nationalist sentiments have brought their place in Indonesian society back into question.

Between two superpowers: Indonesia’s position in the US-China rivalry

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Between two superpowers: Indonesia’s position in the US-China rivalry

South China Morning Post – 25-7-2022

Indonesia is the largest developing economy in Southeast Asia, with a gross domestic product of over US$1 trillion. The country’s size and location have made it Indonesia an attractive strategic partner for China and the United States to influence the Asean region. Indonesia has attempted to remain neutral in the China-U.S rivalry, but if tensions between the two continue to rise, will Indonesia be forced to take sides or adopt a foreign policy that doesn’t align with either superpower?

Evergrande: the end of China’s property boom

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Evergrande: the end of China’s property boom | FT Film

Financial Times – 10-3-2022

The rapid expansion of China’s property sector was powered by a great migration from the farms to the cities – and built on cheap credit. The FT tells the story of Evergrande, the most indebted property developer in the world, which now stands on the brink of collapse. It’s a story that changes the outlook for China’s position as the locomotive of global economic growth. But is this China’s Lehman Brothers moment? Read more at https://on.ft.com/3tNHO0j

China White Paper: The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era (Full Text)

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-08-10 10:00:00

   

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published a white paper titled “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era” on Wednesday.

The following is the full text of the white paper:

The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era

The People’s Republic of China

The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and The State Council Information Office

August 2022

Contents

Preamble

I. Taiwan Is Part of China – This Is an Indisputable Fact

II. Resolute Efforts of the CPC to Realize China’s Complete Reunification

III. China’s Complete Reunification Is a Process That Cannot Be Halted

IV. National Reunification in the New Era

V. Bright Prospects for Peaceful Reunification

Conclusion

Preamble

Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation. It is indispensable for the realization of China’s rejuvenation. It is also a historic mission of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The CPC, the Chinese government, and the Chinese people have striven for decades to achieve this goal.

The 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012 heralded a new era in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core, the CPC and the Chinese government have adopted new and innovative measures in relation to Taiwan. They have continued to chart the course of cross-Straits relations, safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and promote progress towards national reunification. However, in recent years the Taiwan authorities, led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), have redoubled their efforts to divide the country, and some external forces have tried to exploit Taiwan to contain China, prevent the Chinese nation from achieving complete reunification, and halt the process of national rejuvenation.

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The history of China’s territorial disputes

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Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

South China Morning Post – 29-8-2020

China shares over 22,000 kilometres (13,670 miles) of border with 14 countries, but Beijing has disputes with many of its neighbours over where some of these international lines are drawn. The various territorial claims, citing history, politics and geography, have resulted in clashes and occasionally, outright military confrontations. Land borders aside, China also says its territory includes nearly all of the South China Sea, despite competing claims to parts of those waters made by many Southeast Asian countries. As tensions rise between China and the United States, Beijing has adopted a more aggressive attitude, pledging to defend China’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

What’s the fallout from Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan?

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What’s the fallout from Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan? | Inside Story

Al Jazeera English – 4-8-2022

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ended her controversial tour of Taiwan.

Despite warnings from China, the most senior American politician to visit in 25 years pledged an ‘iron-clad’ commitment to the self-ruled Island’s democracy.

Beijing is responding with live-fire military drills and import bans.

So how will Taipei and Washington deal with the consequences?

Presenter: Kim Vinnell

Guests:

Vincent Chao – Former Director of the Political Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.

June Teufel Dreyer – Professor of Political Science, University of Miami.

Henry Huiyao Wang- Founder and President, Center for China and Globalization.

Slow water: can we tame urban floods by going with the flow?

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As we face increased flooding, China’s sponge cities are taking a new course. But can they steer the country away from concrete megadams?

Written by Erica Gies, read by Andrew McGregor and produced by Tony Onuchukwu. The executive producers were Max Sanderson and Isabelle Roughol.

the guardian – Fri 17 Jun 2022 05.00 BST

  • Read the text version here
  • Listen here
WEIHUI, CHINA - JULY 26: Aerial view of rescue team using inflatable rafts evacuate residents from flooded area after heavy downpour, on July 26, 2021 in Weihui, Xinjiang City, Henan Province of China.
 Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

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Forced to Scam: Cambodia’s Cyber Slaves

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Al Jazeera English – 15 – 7- 2022

Chinese cyber-scam operations are stealing tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world.

But few realise that thousands of those perpetrating these frauds are victims too.

Young men and women are enslaved, tortured and forced to scam in countries like Cambodia.

In an exclusive report, 101 East investigates Chinese cyber-slave syndicates operating in Cambodia and exposes the powerful and politically connected people protecting them.

Forced to Scam: Cambodia’s Cyber Slaves | 101 East Documentary

The New 14th BRICS Summit Declaration (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)

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 Jun 28, 2022 Posted by Silk Road Briefing Written by Chris Devonshire-Ellis

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis   

While the G7 group of nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States together with the European Union) has been meeting in Germany, the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have been meeting in China for the 14th Summit. The contrasts could not be more different – one the grouping of mainly white, powerful Western nations, representing contemporary global leadership, the other a grouping of globally powerful emerging markets wanting a larger say in the developing world. The BRICS nations differ from the G7 in two main factors, most notably in the populations they serve – 3 billion as opposed to the G7’s 987 million (including the EU), and GDP, where the G7’s GDP is currently US$33.93 trillion and the BRICS about US$23.5 trillion.

Western economists as a result tend to talk up the G7’s role in global financial strength however the growth rates of both the G7 and BRICS predicted by the IMF suggest that the latter could be responsible for 50% of all global trade by the 2030’s. This means that paying attention to the BRICS consensus leads to some direction over how the global economy is likely to change over the next decade.

At present, the G7 appear determined to continue with the existing world order, which China and Russia in particular view as ‘unipolar’, meaning centered around the United States and directed by whatever US foreign, global and domestic policies are at the time. Both countries (and others) are looking for a more inclusive role in global affairs as befits their status. China for example is the world’s second largest economy, and India the fifth. Yet neither have the percentage say in global financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF they would like – hence the development of alternative policy banks such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS own New Development Bank. There are also accusations that global institutions such as the United Nations (based in New York) has begun to be too influenced by Washington’s policies than global ones. Calls for reform are increasingly being heard.

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The semiconductor problem

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The military relies on advanced semiconductors. The U.S. doesn’t make any.

Chips on display in Taiwan.
Chips on display in Taiwan.Credit…Ann Wang/Reuters
David Leonhardt

By David Leonhardt

NYTimes – July 14, 2022

The most advanced category of mass-produced semiconductors — used in smartphones, military technology and much more — is known as 5 nm. A single company in Taiwan, known as TSMC, makes about 90 percent of them. U.S. factories make none.

The U.S.’s struggles to keep pace in semiconductor manufacturing have already had economic downsides: Many jobs in the industry pay more than $100,000 a year, and the U.S. has lost out on them. Longer term, the situation also has the potential to cause a national security crisis: If China were to invade Taiwan and cut off exports of semiconductors, the American military would be at risk of being overmatched by its main rival for global supremacy.

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Making sense of Shinzo Abe

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On the day of his funeral service, we consider the full legacy of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.

A tribute to Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
A tribute to Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.Credit…Kimimasa Mayama/EPA, via Shutterstock
David Leonhardt

By David Leonhardt

Nytimes – July 12, 2022

Shinzo Abe could sometimes look like yet another one of the world’s modern breed of nationalist leaders, alongside Viktor Orban in Hungary, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China and Donald Trump in the U.S.

Abe came from a family of Japanese nationalist politicians, including a grandfather whom the U.S. accused of war crimes during World War II. Abe himself downplayed Japan’s wartime atrocities and spoke of the importance of patriotism and “traditional values.” Above all, he pushed his country to shed its post-1945 pacifism and become more militaristic.

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Asia Stream: the struggle for Hong Kong’s identity

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25 years after taking control of the territory, how is Beijing trying to change Hong Kong — and how is Hong Kong pushing back?

Nikkei staff writersJuly 2, 2022 07:23 JST

Nikkei

NEW YORK — Welcome to Nikkei Asia’s podcast: Asia Stream.

Every other week, Asia Stream tracks and analyzes the Indo-Pacific with a mix of expert interviews and original reporting by our correspondents from across the globe.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/6Ub8j110SaXucm0YuVEaFc?utm_source=generator&theme=0

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

This episode, we take measure of the economic impact of China’s stringent laws in Hong Kong and then take a deep dive into the social and political costs of Beijing’s crackdown on the special administrative region.

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