Tag: China

‘China exit’ limited to some American sectors — and not for home

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

‘China exit’ limited to some American sectors — and not for home

Even for companies moving out of China, “rising labor costs are most usually the trigger,” according to Goldman’s research — a trend long predating the trade war.

Although China is no longer as competitive as many other emerging economies for labor-intensive industries, its overall advantage in manufacturing remains intact, according to Goldman.

The common perception is that “the huge domestic market, complete industrial supply chains, and good infrastructure are most attractive to foreign manufacturing investments,” the report said, echoing Musk’s sentiments.

“When asked about top locations for moving out of mainland China, Vietnam and India are the most mentioned destinations,” according to the investment bank.

American companies’ reluctance to reshore shows how Trump’s aggressive stance on trade with China has done little to fulfill his pledge to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

In latest US move vs. China, Pompeo stirs up division in Southeast Asia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

In latest US move vs. China, Pompeo stirs up division in Southeast Asia

Despite its noble-sounding proclamations, the true goal of the U.S. government is to prevent a resolution to the disputes among neighbors in Southeast Asia. Noh highlighted the fact that, “China and all the other ASEAN nations were in the process of negotiating and resolving their disputes amicably, until the US, weaponizing lawfare, concocted with the Philippines in 2015 a fraudulent case about the South China Sea in a paid-for farce of a private tribunal that was later marketed as a UN ruling (it wasn’t).”

Mike Pompeo’s speech to the ASEAN summit was a textbook example of the oldest imperialist trick in the book: divide and conquer. But the reality is clear — the U.S. government is a friend to no one other than Wall Street and the ultra-rich, and causes chaos wherever it intervenes.

Peter Thiel Met With The Racist Fringe As He Went All In On Trump

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Peter Thiel Met With The Racist Fringe As He Went All In On Trump

Thiel’s ideas continue to find their way into policies. He pushed for the Trump administration to ramp up its trade war with China and, according to the Wall Street Journal, accompanied Zuckerberg to a White House dinner with Trump and Jared Kushner, where the Facebook CEO raised concerns about rival TikTok. (Zuckerberg has since told employees that he doesn’t think TikTok came up as a discussion topic at the meal.)

Thiel’s line of thinking that American companies doing business in China amounts to providing technology to the Chinese Communist Party has also been parroted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This January, ahead of a speech at Stanford University in which Pompeo railed on China for its human rights abuses, he met privately with Thiel, according to two people familiar with the event.

Related:

Chuck Johnson: Why I Am Suing BuzzFeed’s Ryan Mac For Libel Over Peter Thiel Story

The Time has Come for the West to Sit Down, Shut up and Listen to the Rest of the World

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Time has Come for the West to Sit Down, Shut up and Listen to the Rest of the World

The world desperately needs to hear from The Others. As it needs The Others to get involved, to be themselves, to stop white Western boys from murdering millions and millions of innocent people in all corners of the world, as they have been doing for several centuries without interruption, just as much as it needs the Others to erect new concepts, new ideologies, and new moral principles.

Biden and Australia (Asia Link Sep 8, 2020)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Biden and Australia (Asia Link Sep 8, 2020)

That said, in recent months, several common themes have emerged from American thinkers, some of whom will serve in a Biden administration. These themes will impact on American allies.

Biden will prioritise rebuilding those alliances that have contributed to keeping the peace since World War 2. We have an active interest in this. As with the Trump Republicans, not all the Democrats are enthusiastic supporters of America’s security commitments.

Second, while the Democrats share some of the wider American reservations about multilateralism, they will put constructive energy into multilateral endeavours and structures at the regional and global levels, including reforming some of them. They will be looking to Western democracies, including Australia, to work to this end.

Third — and crucial for Australia — will be the Biden administration’s approach to China.

Mainstream American foreign policy thinkers, including the people around Biden, are realistic. They understand that China has changed. But rather than espouse the ideological crusading language of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, they are developing alternative concepts.

Related:

Why America Must Lead Again — Rescuing U.S. Foreign Policy After Trump

Who is the Rogue State in the South China Sea?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Who is the Rogue State in the South China Sea?

Moreover, as the U.S. singles out and bashes China for its non-conformity with what it declares to be the international order, it neglects to call out similar ‘violations’ thereof by its ‘allies and partners’ that it is purportedly defending. For example, the claims by the Philippines to a large swath of features and sea as Kalayaan, and that of Malaysia to various “rocks” because they lie on its claimed continental shelf are not supported by UNCLOS.