A large part of my newsletter
earlier this week discussed emergent scandals in the railway industry
and their implications for the overinvestment debate, and this was even
before the Alibaba scandals broke, but I think a lot more interest this week surrounded the inflation numbers. Last week the National Bureau of Statistics released inflation data for the month [...]
The emerging market powerhouse known as “Chindia” is
becoming a focal point of global attention as China and India show themselves
to be growth dynamos of the coming Asian Century. But examining these
countries’ intrinsic differences, as we do in “‘Chindia’: Putting the
Emerging Market Giants Into Perspective,” is more illustrative than listing
their similarities—and the two countries are likely [...]
As the G20 meets and debates issues of inflation and global imbalances, China’s central bank is again on the move. From Reuters:
“China on Friday raised required reserves to a record 19.5 percent,
adding to an increasingly aggressive effort by Beijing to stamp out
stubbornly high inflation.
“Over the past four months, China has also raised interest rates
three [...]
Since 2007, India and the European Union have been negotiating a free
trade agreement (FTA) — covering trade in goods and services, intellectual
property rights and government procurement – that is fraught with problems. The
agreement is expected to be finalised by mid-2011.
In the Ming Dynasty, (1368 – 1644), China
established an examination system as a merit-based approach for
appointments to government office. There were three levels to the exams,
with the final cut then coming through an examination administered by
the Emperor himself. The subject matter of the exams was standardized
beyond anything we see today. It was based [...]
Nobody could accuse
Chinese policy makers of being ignorant of their economy’s weaknesses, but they
have not done much to address them either. In 2007, Premier Wen Jiabao said China’s economy was “unstable,
unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable.” The 2006-10 Five-Year Plan
pledged to alleviate China’s reliance on exports and investment for growth,
while reducing inequality by boosting incomes in the [...]
Huawei has hit its second snag in an attempted
M&A deal in America. In this case the US government aims to force them to
divest their October purchase of server technology from a California firm
called 3Leaf. The Committee on Foreign Investment did not comment on why the
deal was rejected, but it is expected that, as in the [...]
Adam Minter, over on his blog, challenges
journalists/columnists/bloggers, to not write about Chinese public opinion when
discussing whether the country is at risk of an Egypt style uprising, but
rather to discuss what institutions China has in place for “venting.” He makes a good
point that discussions of what “most Chinese people want” are often
completely subjective and heavily biased, [...]
Because of the lunar New Year
festivities when I wrote my newsletter little had happened in China
besides the 25 bp interest rate hike on Tuesday, not counting of course
the never-ending stream of fireworks and the several really great jaio
zi dinners I have managed to snag from my students and their families. I
have nonetheless been getting [...]
Under
the proposed India-EU free trade agreement, the European Commission (EC) has
sought an expansive mandate to negotiate on investment issues on behalf of
the European Union. On January 20, 2011, the EC officially made recommendations
to the European Council seeking modifications in the negotiating directives for
the trade agreement with India.
[...]