Meanwhile in China

[Bevo 13,924]

53 minutes ago, YChang said:

I see the Mexico and Lat Am offered up often as a tech manufacturing base. But it seems like most people ignore that… they don’t have the quantity of existing skilled labor or infrastructure for that. And it’s gonna take a lot of time and investment. For ex, Apple is barely just now making a dent in Vietnam and India. 

The biggest issues with Central and South America is that their governments are corrupt and unstable. Costa Rica would be a good option but I hate seeing what I love about the country disappear. What country would you invest your own money in assuming you use reasons other than women and beaches?

[bolverk 30,366]

21 minutes ago, Bevo said:

The biggest issues with Central and South America is that their governments are corrupt and unstable. Costa Rica would be a good option but I hate seeing what I love about the country disappear. What country would you invest your own money in assuming you use reasons other than women and beaches?

Yeah, that's a challenge. From my limited perspective Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic seem like the best options from a corruption standpoint if our goal is to invest in our own backyard. Further afield, Uruguay and Chile seem safe. Argentina, I think, has great potential, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot beyond just simple graft.

But I still think Mexico is, overall, our best option looking at all the angles, given the (now) long history of maquiladora plants operating successfully there.

[Smax 3,800]

2 hours ago, YChang said:

I see the Mexico and Lat Am offered up often as a tech manufacturing base. But it seems like most people ignore that… they don’t have the quantity of existing skilled labor or infrastructure for that. And it’s gonna take a lot of time and investment. For ex, Apple is barely just now making a dent in Vietnam and India. 

 

 

 

Chinese manufacturing is investing billions in Mexico

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/business/china-mexico-trade.html#:~:text=Tracing a path forged by,broader trend known as nearshoring.

 

 

[YChang 3,571]

3 minutes ago, Smax said:

 

 

 

Chinese manufacturing is investing billions in Mexico

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/business/china-mexico-trade.html#:~:text=Tracing a path forged by,broader trend known as nearshoring.

 

 

Right… I’m not disagreeing with the validity of investing manufacturing in Mexico. But it just seems people expect a switch to be flipped and easily tomorrow nothing is manufactured in China anymore. 

[Brisketexan 107,011]

Right… I’m not disagreeing with the validity of investing manufacturing in Mexico. But it just seems people expect a switch to be flipped and easily tomorrow nothing is manufactured in China anymore. 

It’s not a tomorrow thing. But it can absolutely be a 5-10 years thing. It’s insane that we’re even letting the Chinese outmaneuver us there.

[Smax 3,800]

Just now, Brisketexan said:

It’s not a tomorrow thing. But it can absolutely be a 5-10 years thing. It’s insane that we’re even letting the Chinese outmaneuver us there.

 

 

You know probably better then I do how much we've screwed up this hemisphere with our lack of foresight and greed. If played correctly "we" could have started with Mexico and as their middle class rose, slowly moved manufacturing further south. We would have saved so much money and so many lives and guess what illegal immigration wouldn't be a thing as those impoverished countries, would have incredible opportunities and great paying jobs by now 

[Anastasis 23,717]

GWB went to washington teamed up with neocon dick fn cheney and lost his brain. Otherwise that is exactly the play that could have been run. 

[YChang 3,571]

9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It’s not a tomorrow thing. But it can absolutely be a 5-10 years thing. It’s insane that we’re even letting the Chinese outmaneuver us there.

Gonna stay with some friends in Monterrey this December. Was joking with one friend that he needs to set me up with a half Korean/Mexican girl. 

[atomheartbevo 90,673]

2 hours ago, YChang said:

I see the Mexico and Lat Am offered up often as a tech manufacturing base. But it seems like most people ignore that… they don’t have the quantity of existing skilled labor or infrastructure for that. And it’s gonna take a lot of time and investment. For ex, Apple is barely just now making a dent in Vietnam and India. 

China didn't have the skilled labor either - we aren't too far removed from a lot of the Chinese tech workers having illiterate peasants for parents (and more than a few tech workers are in off the farm even today). But China was willing to bend over backwards to make things happen, and because of how their government/Communist Party is structured, and how many people they had, they could do it.

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

The biggest issues with Central and South America is that their governments are corrupt and unstable. Costa Rica would be a good option but I hate seeing what I love about the country disappear. What country would you invest your own money in assuming you use reasons other than women and beaches?

We have some tech manufacturing south of the border (and plenty of automakers are/were down there), so there is skilled labor.

The corruption angle...China is corrupt, but it's more uniformly corrupt, almost monolithic in a way - at the end of the day, for the most part, when you did stuff there, you were dealing with high level officials. Part of the problem with going south of the border is that you might be dealing with multiple levels from the locals up to the top (or worse, something like Argentina which has potential, but shoots itself in the foot at the national level).  If you're dealing with China and you're Tim Cook and have an issue, you can call a high-ranking Chinese official and it's dealt with.  Down south, you maybe dealing with multiple people, each of whom will happily fuck over the next official above or below them.

Not all countries down there are like that as @bolverk mentioned, and there are some solid candidates, but unfortunately there's a manpower issue in some of the ones we are talking about, and the inability of those governments to pivot the way China did, both in terms of bringing financial resources, manpower, and raw materials together.  And there's a stability issue that makes companies nervous in some areas - We've had 40+ years of a very stable Chinese government.  Count the nations in Latin America that can say that.  With that said, the potential is very much there - I think @Brisketexan or somebody has mentioned how, if we made serious investments and helped stabilize some of those countries, and helped build up a middle-class with those tech jobs, etc., it would be night-and-day compared to now, and it would be cheaper for us (transportation costs would be lowered and transit times massively improved with trains).  Bonus: Cut down on illegal immigration and maybe reduce the influence in certain regions of the shady groups/people.

[tx 3 putt 78,741]

On 9/10/2023 at 5:28 PM, atomheartbevo said:

 

 

[atomheartbevo 90,673]

30 minutes ago, Smax said:

Chinese manufacturing is investing billions in Mexico

23 minutes ago, YChang said:

Right… I’m not disagreeing with the validity of investing manufacturing in Mexico. But it just seems people expect a switch to be flipped and easily tomorrow nothing is manufactured in China anymore. 

16 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It’s not a tomorrow thing. But it can absolutely be a 5-10 years thing. It’s insane that we’re even letting the Chinese outmaneuver us there.

I didn't read the article, but if it's like others I've seen, basically China is investing in Mexico/Latin America because they believe we will eventually try to bring manufacturing in large quantities there (not just tech), and they want a piece of the pie and to control the factories. 

And Foxconn setup a Mexican HQ and is getting real with it (this is from last January)

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Supply-Chain/Taiwan-s-Foxconn-and-others-accelerate-investment-in-Mexico

Quote

Taiwanese tech suppliers are increasing their production capacity in Mexico to meet growing demand for electric vehicles and servers to be made in North America. The moves by key iPhone assembler Foxconn and others are in response to changes in U.S. policy and requests from clients, which together are gradually shifting parts of the supply chain from East to West.

Foxconn, the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer, recently established a headquarters in Mexico to centralize the management of its subsidiaries and business groups there, and to maximize its resources to better serve clients in North American markets.

Quote

The iPhone assembler, which also counts Google and Amazon's AWS as clients, has been prioritizing electric vehicles as its next growth driver in recent years amid the slowing smartphone market. American EV startups Lordstown, Fisker and INDI EV are among Foxconn's automotive clients.

"Foxconn has secured new EV clients there. Mexico is one of the key locations for the company's strategic investments this year," a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia. "Foxconn will have three local manufacturing options for EV clients in North America: Ohio, Wisconsin and Mexico."

Quote

The Taiwanese manufacturing giant's compatriots -- including iPhone assembler Pegatron, MacBook maker Quanta Computer, iPad supplier Compal Electronics and Inventec, a notebook manufacturer for HP and Dell -- all have plans to grow their manufacturing presence in Mexico this year. These companies are key players in the production of servers and data centers and, like Foxconn, have allocated more resources to capture demand from the booming EV industry in recent years.

Quote

Their moves to allocate resources to Mexico mark a new trend in supply chain diversification. Suppliers first started shifting capacity for products such as servers, routers and game consoles from China to Taiwan and Southeast Asia at the beginning of the U.S.-China tech war in 2018 to mitigate the impact of Washington's punitive tariffs on Chinese goods. There are now signs that the supply chain shift is extending from the East to the West.

 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 5,005]

When we drive to my father in law's place, we pass a large industrial park. Only it is empty. And there isn't a single town of any significance within like 45 minutes of it. If you've driven to Querataro you have passed it.

[TKthunder2 5,060]

The problem with Central and South America is they are very quick to nationalize anything they can. Over the last decade Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, and Mexico have all had multiple instances of screwing over foreign investors for short term political gain/graft.

Investing in friendly near shore operations has always been attractive, but it’s the risk of lost capital that has primarily held back the transformative money that could help progress these struggling nations.

[TwiceHorn 32,106]

5 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I didn't read the article, but if it's like others I've seen, basically China is investing in Mexico/Latin America because they believe we will eventually try to bring manufacturing in large quantities there (not just tech), and they want a piece of the pie and to control the factories. 

And Foxconn setup a Mexican HQ and is getting real with it (this is from last January)

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Supply-Chain/Taiwan-s-Foxconn-and-others-accelerate-investment-in-Mexico

 

Given all the problems TSMC is having in Arizona, and the failure that Foxconn has been in the US, those companies trying to work in Mexico should be downright fucking hilarious.

[Schulz2.0 29,289]

 

[wackawacka 199]

i'm long china. definitely short-term economic issues (e.g. property values and defaults) but CCCP is very effective about managing the country.

having worked in the country and there now visiting manufacturers, anyone who gives a definitive opinion on China direction is wrong. the only right analysis of china is who fucking knows.

i was talking to another CFO a few months ago about our view on china specifically business climate. his guidance was from a prior job was that they had individuals like Henry Kissenger, etc as advisors for their china launch/ business development. the only accurate advice on china is no one really ever knows what is going on.

i worry that no matter what that US/China will eventually have direct conflict...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-03/dalio-likens-us-chip-curbs-on-china-to-1940s-oil-ban-on-japan

[Bender Bending Rodriguez 1,708]

Does it have to look exactly like a butthole?

[Macanudo 13,339]

On 10/4/2023 at 6:40 AM, Bender Bending Rodriguez said:

Does it have to look exactly like a butthole?

BOHICA, China.

[Superhero 9,038]

Article in the BBC about Taiwan's readiness to defend against China... which is really bad. But the US is selling and giving arms to Taiwan, and will be training troops as well in the near future. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67282107

Quote

When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m (£64.6m) grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done.

To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter?

While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different.

The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF).

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, FMF has been used to send around $4bn of military aid to Kyiv.

It has been used to send billions more to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Egypt and so on. But until now it has only ever been given to countries or organisations recognised by the United Nations. Taiwan is not.

After the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, it continued to sell weapons to the island under the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act. The key was to sell just enough weapons so Taiwan could defend itself against possible Chinese attack, but not so many that they would destabilise relations between Washington and Beijing. For decades, the US has relied on this so-called strategic ambiguity to do business with China, while remaining Taiwan's staunchest ally.

But in the last decade the military balance across the Taiwan Strait has tipped dramatically in China's favour. The old formula no longer works. Washington insists its policy has not changed but, in crucial ways, it has. The US State Department has been quick to deny FMF implies any recognition of Taiwan.

But in Taipei it's apparent that America is redefining its relationship with the island, especially so given the urgency with which Washington is pushing Taiwan to re-arm. And Taiwan, which is outmatched by China, needs the help.

"The US is emphasising the desperate need to improve our military capacity. It is sending a clear message of strategic clarity to Beijing that we stand together," says Wang Ting-yu, a ruling party legislator with close ties to Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, and to US Congressional chiefs.

He says the $80m is the tip of what could be a very large iceberg, and notes that in July President Biden used discretionary powers to approve the sale of military services and equipment worth $500m to Taiwan.

Mr Wang says Taiwan is preparing to send two battalions of ground troops to the US for training, the first time this has happened since the 1970s.

But the key is the money, the beginning of what, he says, could be up to $10bn over the next five years.

Deals involving military equipment can take up to 10 years, says Lai I-Ching, president of the Prospect Foundation, a Taipei-based think-tank. "But with FMF, the US is sending weapons directly from its own stocks and it's US money - so we don't need to go through the whole approval process."

This is important given that a divided Congress has held up billions of dollars worth of aid for Ukraine, although Taiwan appears to have far more bipartisan support.

But the war in Gaza will undoubtedly squeeze America's weapons supply to Taipei, as has the war in Ukraine. President Biden is seeking war aid for Ukraine and Israel, which includes more money for Taiwan too.

Ask the Ministry of National Defence in Taipei what US money will be used for, and the response is a knowing smile and tightly sealed lips.

But Dr Lai says it's possible to make educated guesses: Javelin and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles - highly effective weapons that forces can learn to use quickly.

"We don't have enough of them, and we need a lot," he says. "In Ukraine, the Stingers have run out very quickly, and the way Ukraine has been using them suggests we need maybe 10 times the number we currently have."

The assessment of long-time observers is blunt: the island is woefully under-prepared for a Chinese attack.

The list of problems is long. Taiwan's army has hundreds of ageing battle tanks, but too few modern, light missile systems. Its army command structure, tactics and doctrine haven't been updated in half a century. Many front-line units have only 60% of the manpower they should have.

Taiwan's counter-intelligence operations in China are reportedly non-existent and its military conscription system is broken.

In 2013 Taiwan reduced military service from one year to just four months, before reinstating it back to 12 months, a move that takes effect next year. But there are bigger challenges. It's jokingly referred to as a "summer camp" by the young men who go through it.

"There was no regular training," says a recent graduate. "We would go to a shooting range about once every two weeks, and we would use old guns from the 1970s. We did shoot at targets. But there was no proper teaching on how to aim, so everyone kept missing. We did zero exercise. There's a fitness test at the end, but we did no preparation for it."

He described a system in which senior army commanders view these young men with utter indifference and have zero interest in training them, in part because they will be there for such a short time.

In Washington there is a strong sense that Taiwan is running out of time to reform and rebuild its military. So, the US is also starting to retrain Taiwan's army.

For decades, the island's political and military leaders have leant heavily on the belief that invading the island is much too difficult and risky for China to attempt. Rather like Britain, Taiwan prioritised its navy and air force - at the expense of its army.

"The idea was to engage them in the Taiwan Strait and annihilate them on the beaches. So, we put lots of resources into air and sea defence," says Dr Lai.

But now China has the world's largest navy and a far superior air force. A war-gaming exercise conducted by a think-tank last year found that in a conflict with China, Taiwan's navy and air force would be wiped out in the first 96 hours of battle.

Under intense pressure from Washington, Taipei is switching to a "fortress Taiwan" strategy that would make the island extremely difficult for China to conquer.

The focus will switch to ground troops, infantry and artillery - repelling an invasion on the beaches and, if necessary, fighting the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the towns and cities, and from bases deep in the island's jungle-covered mountains. But this puts the responsibility for defending Taiwan back on its outdated army.

"After the US cut relations in 1979 our army experienced almost complete isolation. So they are stuck in the Vietnam War-era of US military doctrine," Dr Lai says.

This didn't worry Taipei or Washington until more recently. Through the 1990s and 2000s Taiwanese and US companies were building factories across China.

Beijing was lobbying to join the World Trade Organization - and did. The world embraced the Chinese economy, and the US thought trade and investment would secure peace in the Taiwan Strait.

But the rise of Xi Jinping, and his brand of nationalism, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have blown apart those comforting assumptions.

For Taiwan the lessons from Ukraine's invasion have been shocking. Artillery has dominated the battlefield - it has a high rate of fire and is terrifyingly accurate.

Ukrainian crews have learned they must be on the move once they've fired a salvo of shells - or within minutes, Russian "counter-battery fire" comes raining down on their positions.

But many of Taiwan's artillery troops are equipped with Vietnam War or even World War Two-era guns. These are loaded manually and are difficult and slow to move. They would be sitting ducks.

Taiwan's vulnerability is forcing Washington to act. It's why Taiwanese ground troops are being dispatched to the US to train and US trainers are coming to Taipei to embed with Taiwan's marines and special forces.

But William Chung, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defence and Security Research in Taipei, says Taiwan still cannot hope to deter China by itself. This is the other lesson from the war in Ukraine.

"International society has to decide whether Taiwan matters," he says. "If the G7 or Nato think Taiwan is important for their own interests, then we have to internationalise the Taiwan situation - because that's what will make China think twice about the cost."

Dr Chung says China's behaviour has, unwittingly, been helping Taiwan do just that.

"China is showing it is expansionist in the South China Sea and the East China Sea," he says . "And we can see the result in Japan where the military budget is now being doubled."

The result, he says, is reshaping alliances in the region - whether it's a historic summit between US, Japan and South Korea, the growing importance of military alliances like the Quad (Japan, the US, Australia and India) and Aukus (UK, US and Australia) that are racing to build next-generation nuclear-powered submarines, or closer ties between the US and the Philippines.

"China is trying to change the status quo across the region," he says. "[And that] means Taiwan security is connected to the South China Sea and East China Sea. It means we are no longer isolated."

There is now fierce debate in Washington about how far the US should go in supporting Taiwan. Many long-time China watchers say any public commitment from the US would provoke Beijing rather than deter it. But Washington also knows that Taiwan cannot hope to defend itself alone.

As one long-time China watcher put it: "We need to keep quiet on the whole issue of strategic ambiguity, while arming Taiwan to the teeth."

 

[InkaUtexas 26,948]

China recalling their best Ambassadors. The Pandas at the National Zoo. 

After more than two decades of "panda diplomacy," Washington's popular pandas were being returned to China Wednesday.

The Smithsonian National Zoo's three current pandas, Mei Xiang (May-SHONG), Tian Tian (tee-YEN tee-YEN) and Xiao Qi Ji (SHIAU-chi-ji), were loaded into special crates Wednesday morning for a 19-hour plane ride aboard the FedEx "Giant Panda Express" to Chengdu, China.

Spoiler

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in Washington in 2000 and their fourth cub, Xiao Qi Ji, was born in 2020. Xiao Qi Ji's siblings were sent to China when each of them was 2 or 3 years old, after their births created a national sensation.

The National Zoo has had giant pandas since 1972, when President Richard Nixon was gifted a pair, Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong in exchange for a pair of arctic musk oxen -- goodwill gestures as the countries opened diplomatic relations.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/national-zoos-popular-pandas-heading-china/story?id=104701720

 

 

[Orange&White 5,573]

[Brisketexan 107,011]

2 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

[Pescado_Rojo 19,593]

Did the Panda's reproduce here? And if so aren't their offspring US Citizens? 

[Samson's Wig 3,230]

I thought pandas were too stoned to reproduce, or is that koalas?

[Bevo 13,924]

14 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I thought pandas were too stoned to reproduce, or is that koalas?

Pandas have issues. Short reproductive cycle - ovulate once a year. And lots of male panda don't know how to court or fuck.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Bevo

[Samson's Wig 3,230]

Pandas must do well in the tech industry.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,593]

2 hours ago, Bevo said:

Pandas have issues. Short reproductive cycle - ovulate once a year. And lots of male panda don't know how to court or fuck.

What are their Surly handles? 

[Macanudo 13,339]

It would be a much shorter list just to mark down the opposite ones.

[atomheartbevo 90,673]

5 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

After more than two decades of "panda diplomacy," Washington's popular pandas were being returned to China Wednesday.

Helluva timing....

https://www.barrons.com/news/china-ready-to-improve-ties-with-us-at-all-levels-vp-1a5ae0c5

Quote

Beijing is ready to hold talks with the United States at "all levels", China's vice president said Wednesday ahead of an expected summit in San Francisco between leaders Xi Jinping and Joe Biden next week.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said recent high-level meetings between Beijing and Washington were sending "positive signals" that relations were improving. "We're ready to strengthen communication and dialogue with the United States at all levels, advance mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage differences and jointly address global challenges," Han said.

Quote

Relations between Washington and Beijing sunk to some of their deepest lows in recent years over a host of issues including export controls, human rights and national security. But both sides appear willing to patch things up, with Washington sending a number of top officials to Beijing this year in a bid to reestablish high-level dialogue.

US President Biden has said he expects to meet Chinese leader Xi on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco next week for "constructive" talks.

Wonder if it has anything to do with with China's economy slowing down, the debt issues, the real estate problems, unemployment, foreign companies moving investments to India/Vietnam/etc....

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 22,321]

23 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Did the Panda's reproduce here? And if so aren't their offspring US Citizens? 

All of the loan agreements stated that any offspring were China's property

[InkaUtexas 26,948]

Can we at least assign a child advocate to ensure it is proper bamboo? And that they do not get turned into medicine for Xi's penis failure? 

[Schulz2.0 29,289]

[atomheartbevo 90,673]

3 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

That's the cult of personality kicking in - if Xi decides he likes America, his people start to follow suit.

Weird as fuck.

[Schulz2.0 29,289]

 

[FartingMonk 3,630]

11 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

 

Do we need to call Michael Jordan out of retirement?

[gsoda3 3,362]

grab your popcorn for this election cycle folks.

[Serak The Preparer 3,484]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:29 AM, atomheartbevo said:

That's the cult of personality kicking in - if Xi decides he likes America, his people start to follow suit.

Weird as fuck.

Yeah, super weird. I can't imagine living in a country there the leader embraces the head of a former adversary, leading to a substantial change in how the leader's supporters view that adversary, potentially even leading to supportimg that adversary in invading an ally. What a weird world that would be!

[atomheartbevo 90,673]

20 minutes ago, Serak The Preparer said:

Yeah, super weird. I can't imagine living in a country there the leader embraces the head of a former adversary, leading to a substantial change in how the leader's supporters view that adversary, potentially even leading to supportimg that adversary in invading an ally. What a weird world that would be!

[Gatorubet 30,787]

17 hours ago, Serak The Preparer said:

Yeah, super weird. I can't imagine living in a country there the leader embraces the head of a former adversary, leading to a substantial change in how the leader's supporters view that adversary, potentially even leading to supportimg that adversary in invading an ally. What a weird world that would be!

We have always been at war with Eastasia…

[ABSR 5,373]

1 hour ago, BeardIP said:

This is so gross to me.

Xi got a standing ovation from top American business executives. Larry Fink of BlackRock and Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone reportedly sat at the Chinese leader’s table. The exclusive dinner at the Hyatt Regency hotel also included Tim Cook of Apple, Albert Bourla of Pfizer and Ray Dalio of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. Xi’s message: China is a market that’s open to foreign business.

 

Tell me you are an investment manager who went heavy into China a few years ago without telling me you are an investment manager that went heavy into China a few years ago.

[Schulz2.0 29,289]

2 hours ago, BeardIP said:

This is so gross to me.

Xi got a standing ovation from top American business executives. Larry Fink of BlackRock and Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone reportedly sat at the Chinese leader’s table. The exclusive dinner at the Hyatt Regency hotel also included Tim Cook of Apple, Albert Bourla of Pfizer and Ray Dalio of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. Xi’s message: China is a market that’s open to foreign business.

Xi wants to portray China as a friend to foreign companies — because he needs them. The Chinese economy is struggling and foreign direct investment recently hit a 25-year low. A meeting with American corporate leaders is a good image to project to his audience back home.

But Western businesses say it’s tougher to operate there, with many rethinking their supply chains or pulling out altogether.

Yet the dinner showed that many aren’t ready to quit China. For all of the talk about decoupling and de-risking, “China is still enormously important for just about any multinational you can think of,” Richard McGregor, a China expert at the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank, told DealBook. “They might not be investing as much, but they’re not getting out. And it’s a market they can’t ignore and have to try and manage.”

https://www.ft.com/content/a8633d7f-f785-4195-b0b2-0ea9506968c9

[Captainant 28,596]

2 hours ago, BeardIP said:

This is so gross to me.

Xi got a standing ovation from top American business executives. Larry Fink of BlackRock and Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone reportedly sat at the Chinese leader’s table. The exclusive dinner at the Hyatt Regency hotel also included Tim Cook of Apple, Albert Bourla of Pfizer and Ray Dalio of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. Xi’s message: China is a market that’s open to foreign business.

Xi wants to portray China as a friend to foreign companies — because he needs them. The Chinese economy is struggling and foreign direct investment recently hit a 25-year low. A meeting with American corporate leaders is a good image to project to his audience back home.

But Western businesses say it’s tougher to operate there, with many rethinking their supply chains or pulling out altogether.

Yet the dinner showed that many aren’t ready to quit China. For all of the talk about decoupling and de-risking, “China is still enormously important for just about any multinational you can think of,” Richard McGregor, a China expert at the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank, told DealBook. “They might not be investing as much, but they’re not getting out. And it’s a market they can’t ignore and have to try and manage.”

https://www.ft.com/content/a8633d7f-f785-4195-b0b2-0ea9506968c9

what's so shocking and gross? These are publicly traded American companies - it's their job to make as much money as possible to pass on to their shareholders as possible. Ethics, right/wrong, long-term ramifications? Nahhh fuck all that just think of all the money that can be made getting more into bed with China!

It was quite the trend around 2017-18 to take as much chinese money as possible and even change/censor products globally to be more appealing to the chinese market.

In our system, it would be a violation of those corporate officer's fiduciary duty if they DIDN'T whore their businesses to china.

[wild_turkey 3,300]

In our system, it would be a violation of those corporate officer's fiduciary duty if they DIDN'T whore their businesses to china.

Knowing what we know today, couldn’t one make an argument that continued corporate investment in China makes said corporation more vulnerable to IP theft, which is a significant threat to future profits and a violation of that fiduciary duty?

[BamaATL 16,593]

Say, you guys remember when JP Morgan Jr. was hot to trot to invest in Imperial Japan?  

 

 

[Thetexashammer 1,062]

 

[InkaUtexas 26,948]

You all hear of the new emerging virus? Hard to track. Hits kids hard. Reminds me of the early days of Covid reporting. First reports that something was fucked up though came from a friend in Burma.

Yay china. 

HONG KONG — Hospitals in northern China appear to be “overwhelmed with sick children” as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia, prompting the World Health Organization to ask Beijing for more data.

At the Beijing Children’s Hospital in the capital, long lines of people were waiting to register during a visit by NBC News on Thursday. Waiting rooms were crowded with parents and children, some of them on IV drips.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-hospitals-children-pneumonia-respiratory-illness-who-data-rcna126480

[Neonmoon 38,130]

4 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

You all hear of the new emerging virus? Hard to track. Hits kids hard. Reminds me of the early days of Covid reporting. First reports that something was fucked up though came from a friend in Burma.

Yay china. 

HONG KONG — Hospitals in northern China appear to be “overwhelmed with sick children” as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia, prompting the World Health Organization to ask Beijing for more data.

At the Beijing Children’s Hospital in the capital, long lines of people were waiting to register during a visit by NBC News on Thursday. Waiting rooms were crowded with parents and children, some of them on IV drips.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-hospitals-children-pneumonia-respiratory-illness-who-data-rcna126480

According to the WHO, Chinese health authorities did not detect new or unusual pathogens, and the rise in respiratory illnesses has not resulted in patient loads that exceed hospital capacities. 

This is also China’s first full flu season since the lifting late last year of some of the world’s most stringent Covid-19 restrictions, which minimized many people’s exposure to a wide range of pathogens for three years.

Countries such as Australia and New Zealand that also had “zero-Covid” restrictions experienced similar surges in respiratory diseases when they were lifted, and the United States had its own “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses last year

 

Nothing novel. 

[Chad Fuck 18,166]

According to the WHO, Chinese health authorities did not detect new or unusual pathogens, and the rise in respiratory illnesses has not resulted in patient loads that exceed hospital capacities. 

This is also China’s first full flu season since the lifting late last year of some of the world’s most stringent Covid-19 restrictions, which minimized many people’s exposure to a wide range of pathogens for three years.
Countries such as Australia and New Zealand that also had “zero-Covid” restrictions experienced similar surges in respiratory diseases when they were lifted, and the United States had its own “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses last year
 
Nothing novel. 

Do we believe this?

[Neonmoon 38,130]

5 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Do we believe this?

Well I’m not a conspiracy wacko, so yes. 

If it was something novel, even in China, reports would being to leak using terms like “unexplained” or “unknown” 

 

[InkaUtexas 26,948]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Well I’m not a conspiracy wacko, so yes. 

If it was something novel, even in China, reports would being to leak using terms like “unexplained” or “unknown” 

 

A group I work with was the first indicator of COVID. They were working with refugees in Bangladesh. One day they all left. This was in November pre outbreak. 

I am not a theorist, shit happens, but I do not trust China's reporting on a thing.