By far the greatest impact of China’s rise has been felt in East Asia. The main gainers have been the developed Asian tigers of North-East Asia—South Korea and Taiwan, together with Japan. They have been the beneficiaries of cheap manufactured goods produced in China while at the same time enjoying growing demand from China for their knowledge and capital--intensive products. Their own companies have relocated many of their operations to China to take advantage of much cheaper labor, as in the case of the Taiwanese computer industry.
The losers have been the same as those in the West, namely those workers displaced by operations outsourced to China. Unlike the United States, which has a huge trade deficit with China, all of these countries enjoy large surpluses with China. The nearest example in the region to a grey area is South-East Asia, whose economies are not so dissimilar to that of China, though Singapore and Malaysia, in particular, are rather more developed. Over the last decade, the ASEAN countries have seen a large slice of the foreign direct investment they previously received going to China.
They have also lost out to China in the mass assembly of electronic and computer equipment—Singapore and Malaysia being notable examples—and have, as a consequence, been forced to move up the value chain in to order to escape Chinese competition. The country that has suffered the greatest is Indonesia, whose economy most closely resembles that of China.
Indonesia has lost out to China in terms of direct investment by foreign multinationals, which have opted for China rather than Indonesia as their preferred production base. On balance, however, China’s growth has greatly benefited the ASEAN countries too, with China now comfortably ensconced as their largest trading partner, one of their biggest markets (if not the biggest), and in many cases their main provider of inward investment.
In Indonesia, Anger Against Mining Giant Grows
by Anthony Kuhn
November 16, 2011
Listen to the Story
Police clash with workers of American mining company Freeport-McMoRan during a protest in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia, Oct. 10. Indonesian security forces fired on striking workers at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg gold and copper mine after a protest turned deadly.
November 16, 2011
A foreign mining company, protected by hundreds of soldiers, extracts precious resources from a remote tropical forest. The mining enrages indigenous tribes, who resist.
It may sound like a movie script, but it is in fact the story of the world's largest gold mine, located high in the mountains of Indonesia's Papua province and owned by Freeport-McMoRan, an American mining conglomerate.
Then on Oct. 15 and again on Oct. 21, unidentified gunmen struck, killing four Freeport-McMoRan workers and two locals. Meanwhile, unidentified saboteurs cut the pipeline that carries minerals from the mine down the mountain and to a local port.
The Freeport-McMoRan issue complicates Jakarta's governance of the country's newest, poorest and remotest province, wracked by a low-level insurgency waged by Papuans seeking independence.
In a letter dated Nov. 1, 2011, the United Steelworkers union wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking it to investigate whether Freeport-McMoRan's payments amounted to bribing a foreign government, in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142346962/in-indonesia-anger-against-mining-giant-grows
IF AND WHEN CHINA RULES THE WEST
Martin Jacques
Martin Jacques believes the U.S. is fighting an inevitable changing of the political guard. He writes that since 1945 the United States has been the world’s dominant power. Even during the Cold War its economy was far more advanced than, and more than twice as large as, that of the Soviet Union, while its military capability and technological sophistication were much superior. Following the Second World War, the US was the prime mover in the creation of a range of multinational and global institutions, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and NATO, which were testament to its new-found global power and authority.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 greatly enhanced America’s pre-eminent position, eliminating its main adversary and resulting in the territories and countries of the former Soviet Bloc opening other markets and turning in many cases to the US for aid and support.
Never before, not even in the heyday of the British Empire, had a nation’s power enjoyed such a wide reach. The dollar became the world’s preferred currency, with most trade being conducted in it and most reserve held in it. The US dominated all the key global institutions bar the UN, and enjoyed a military presence in every part of the world. Its global position seemed un-assailable, and at the turn of the millennium terms like ‘hyper power’ and ‘uni-polarity’ were coined to describe what appeared to be a new unique form of power.
The baton of pre-eminence, before being passed to the United States, had been held by Europe, especially the major European nations like Britain, France and Germany, and previously, to much lesser extent, Spain Portugal and the Netherlands, [now it belongs to China]. (1)
CHINA’S WORLD LEVERAGE~CASH ON HAND
Jacques believes that a measure of China’s growing impact on the world is the leverage that it enjoys in its relationship with the United States (notwithstanding the fact that the United States still enjoys as much larger GDP than china and an immensely higher GDP per head) as a result of the economic imbalances which lie at the heart of their relationship. China is comfortably the largest exporter to the US, with Americans displaying an enormous appetite for Made in China consumer products.
As the United States exports little to China, the latter has enjoyed a large and rising trade surplus which has grown very rapidly since 1999. China had invested this surplus in various forms of US debt, including Treasury bonds, agency bonds and corporate bonds—in effect, a Chinese loan to the US—thereby enabling American interest rates to be kept artificially low to the benefit of American consumers and especially, until the credit crunch, holders of mortgages.
Although the US was deeply in debt, China’s continuing large-scale purchase of Treasury bonds (which I will use as a shorthand for various forms of US assets held by China) allowed Americans to continue with their spending spree, and then partially helped to cushion the impact of the credit crunch. In September 2008 China’s foreign currency reserves totaled $1.81 trillion—a sum greater than the annual economic output of all but nine countries. The rapid growth of its foreign exchange reserves has made China a colossus in the financial world.
OBAMA IN AUSTRALIA~A DIVERSION
Jacques posits that Australia cannot be counted as part of East Asia, but belongs more properly to Asia-Pacific, which embraces the region together with the Pacific countries. One of the great geo-cultural anomalies is that a country that lies just to the south of Indonesia has an overwhelmingly white majority and has long been considered a Western country.
Though historically part of the British Empire, ever since 1942 it has enjoyed an extremely close relationship with the United States, for most of that period being its closest and most loyal ally in the Asia-Pacific region. Over the last decade, however, China’s growing economic power has exercised a mesmerizing effect on the island continent. By far the most important reason for this is China’s voracious appetite for Australia’s huge deposits of raw materials, especially iron ore. Largely as a result of Chinese demand, the Australian economy enjoyed uninterrupted growth for almost two decades until the financial meltdown and would appear to be in the process of decoupling its fortunes from the Western economy, especially the United States.
Australia is one of the relatively few countries in the world that has experienced a double benefit from China’s rise: namely the falling price of manufactured goods and, until the global downturn, the rising price of commodities. If twentieth-century Australia was dominated by New South Wales and Victoria, and the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, this century will be characterized by the rise of the mining states, Western Australia and Queensland, with China the reason. China’s interest in Australia’s vast natural deposits is not confined to that of a customer; its role as an investor is becoming increasingly important, with the purchase of stakes in Australian mining firms, including, most dramatically so far, the proposal for the Chinese state-owned aluminum producer Chinalco to buy a large chunk of the debt-laden Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto. [As of November 2011, the Australian Parliment has voted a 30% tax on all mining profits.]
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AS USUAL
Jacques writes that not surprisingly, China’s growing role in Australia’s prosperity is having important political ramifications. The clearest expression of this hitherto [was] the election of Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2007. Rudd, a fluent Mandarin-speaker, well versed in Chinese culture and tradition, and possessed of excellent contacts in Beijing (having worked there for many years), he can be described as the first Chinese-oriented political leader to be elected in the West.
Although Australia remains very closely aligned with the United Sates, its growing rapprochement with China seems likely to influence the nature of its relationship with Washington. It is premature to suggest that Australia will at some point distance itself from the United States and in effect bandwagon with China in the manner, for example, of South Korea or Thailand, but it would not be surprising to find Australia becoming more sensitivite about its relations with China and making these sensitivities known to the Americans, [perhaps in the near future].
A PRESIDENT IS WITHOUT HONOR @ HOME
BBC WORLD SERVICE
Egypt cabinet offers resignation
Egypt's cabinet has offered to resign after three days of protests against the country's military rulers, state media has reported.
- Why protesters have lost faith
- Egypt blog review: Anger at military
- Q&A: Egypt's new protests
- 'They want to steal our revolution' Listen
- Unrest in pictures
- Slow pace of reform fuels anger
Super-committee debt talks on verge of failure
Democrats and Republicans are expected to confirm that a congressional "super-committee" tasked with cutting the US deficit has failed to reach a deal.
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London / NEW 5 hours agoRonan McNern said the group would discuss the "rationale and contents of the notice". The Occupy movement said its protest aimed to highlight…
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Magazine / 20 November 2011Mr Bray, he returned to the camp when it became clear it was taking off, and is still involved with the Occupy movement. Jason Ahmadi, a 26-year-old…
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Technology / 18 November 2011… for one of Adobe's competitors. They said they were inspired by the other Occupy movements. "The sentiment of the average Joe versus big faceless…
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Leeds & West Yorkshire / 18 November 2011… pleased to see so many young people involved in the Occupy movement. The Occupy movement wants to highlight the issues of inequality and corporate…
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18 November 2011Two months after they began, the Occupy Wall Street protesters continued protesting in New York on Thursday.
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18 November 2011Former US Senator Alan Simpson co-chaired a national commission on fiscal responsibility and explains to the BBC's Paul Adams why he thinks the… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15786474
For Debt Committee, No Final-Hour Deal Apparent
by Tamara Keith
November 21, 2011
Listen to the Story
Monday is the last day the congressional supercommittee can reach a deficit-reduction deal and still make its Wednesday deadline. The legislation has to be publicly available for 48 hours before a vote, and the clock is ticking. But instead of announcing an agreement, the committee is widely expected to admit it has failed.
The supercommittee was created with the hope that 12 members of congress, six democrats and six republicans, sitting together in a room could accomplish what so many others could not. The goal was $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade, but it appears that the supercommittee wasn't so super after all.
Its kryptonite: fundamental differences between the two parties over taxes and entitlements, though mostly it was about taxes.
"There is one sticking divide, and that is the issue of what I called shared sacrifice," committee co-chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said on CNN's State of the Union Sunday.
That is, if programs like Medicare and Medicaid are going to be on the table, Democrats on the committee believe the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest income earners should be allowed to expire.
"The wealthiest of Americans — those who earn over a million dollars every year — have to share, too," Murray said. "And that line in the sand, we haven't seen any Republicans willing to cross yet."
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/21/142577797/for-debt-committee-no-final-hour-deal-apparent
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U.S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D, MO-5) and Kevin Yoder (R, KS-3)
UTD_11-21-2011.mp32012 Farm Bill
Interplay of Religion and Politics / Weekend To-Do List
Egyptian Police, Protesters Clash For 3rd Day
Steve Inskeep and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
November 21, 2011
In Egypt, thousands of demonstrators are out on the streets again Monday. Over the weekend, soldiers and police set fire to protesters' tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Thousands of protesters demanding military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government were driven out of the square.
MEANING OF IT ALL
U.S. President Barack Obama, center right, enters the House of Representatives chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Obama addressed the Parliament a day after announcing a commitment to send military aircraft and up to 2,500 Marines to northern Australia.
(AP Photo/Alan Porritt, POOL)(AP Photo/Alan Porritt, POOL)
President Obama says the Asia-Pacific is critical to America's economic growth. Why the area is so important and what this strategic pivot could mean for the U-S and nations in the region.
A surprise meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao capped off President Obama’s nine-day Asia-Pacific trip. The leaders discussed economic concerns and disputes over the South China Sea. During the week, the president fleshed out america’s strategic shift toward the Pacific Rim as it winds down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Australia, he announced an agreement to deploy marines, naval ships and aircraft to Darwin. He also announced plans to create a new regional trade pact and reopen diplomacy with Myanmar. What’s at stake for U.S. engagement in the Asia Pacific
Guests
professor of China studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
director of the East-West Center in Washington
deputy head of mission in the U.S., Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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David Biddle
jmac1949
Snowden
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Jimmy Zuma
Salon.com
Comments
If you let politicians give you the same old slick answers when you know that little voice in your head is telling you, "This is shit," and you still go along. That says more about you than that Donkey or Elephant that is farting out the mouth.
Occupy--Occupy--Occupy until the System admits that the 99% has a right to life too.