Posts Tagged ‘Chinese soft power’
Posted by seumasach on August 10, 2016
“A purely military containment strategy worked against the USSR since the Soviet Union and its satellites formed an inward-looking economic autarchy, and Western Europe inevitably looked to the US and its massive economy as its only option for economic integration.
Not so in Asia. The PRC under Deng Xiaoping made the decision to eschew the autarchy model and embed China in the world and regional economy.”
That’s why “containment” is more about regime change in countries which engage too closely with China. There have been successes so far in Brazil, Argentina and the UK but these may end up being Pyrrhic victories: the USA offers no alternative developmental model to the enormously successful Chinese one.
Asia Times
9th August, 2016
During his recent trip to the US, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, along with US President Barack Obama, made a joint pitch for the ratification of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. However, the hope that the TTP would form the foundation of a robust and prosperous East Asian security regime centered on economic integration and positive US engagement is fading as China has chosen to react to The Hague ruling by unilaterally redefining its role in East Asia in opposition to the security and economic regime the US is seeking to reinforce.
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Posted in Containing China | Tagged: Chinese soft power, US-China: clash of world systems | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 10, 2016
Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy: detente with Russia, containment of China. This, presumably, is merely a reflection of US foreign policy- the culmination of the Obama doctrine and the policy basis of the next US presidency. There is a logic here: just as confrontation with both Russia and China is unrealistic, so is detente with both together. If we are to finally bring an end to the Cold War then this is to be applauded. Russia and China cannot be turned against each other: this is not 1972. At the same to “containment” of China may turn out to be just a posture, although a very expensive one, especially for the UK. Washington intends to hold back, Canute-style, the incoming waves of China’s economic development model, partly by mimicking it with a neo-Keynesian policy shift. Neo-Keynesianism in one country is not possible: it has to be carried out globally on the basis of a new global financial architecture, a reset of the global currency system. In the end , constructive engagement with our main creditor and the world’s productive centre is inevitable.
Theresa May speaks to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since becoming Prime Minister
Independent
10th August, 2016
Theresa May has spoken to Russian president Vladimir Putin for the first time since she became Prime Minister.
The Kremlin said both leaders expressed dissatisfaction with UK-Russian relations and pledged to improve ties.
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Posted in brexit crisis, Containing China, Global peace process | Tagged: Chinese soft power, End of empire, New Cold War, new global financial architecture, Obama agenda, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 4, 2016
China is a long-term player in Venezuela’s energy future
Dialogo China
23rd June, 2016
China’s continued financial support of Venezuela’s floundering government through oil-backed loan deals has been the subject of fierce criticism from the Venezuelan opposition, which has already taken steps towards a recall referendum to remove President Nicolás Maduro from office.
By providing a lifeline to a regime with scant financing options in order to ensure preferential access to Venezuela’s enormous oil reserves, China has been accused of acting as a neo-colonial power. The opposition has denounced that closer ties have also paved the way for an invasion of cheap, so-called “made in China” manufactured products which have negatively impacted Venezuelan industry.
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Posted in Containing China | Tagged: Chinese soft power, venezuela-china relations | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 4, 2016
“In March Australia tightened its foreign takeover rules to ensure all sales of ports, electricity networks and other public infrastructure were scrutinised by the Foreign Investment Review Board. This followed the contentious A$506m sale to China’s Landbridge Group of a 99-year lease on Darwin port — a strategically important area as US marines are stationed at a nearby naval base — without a formal review by Firb.”
“Mr Xenophon expressed concern about State Grid’s market dominance if its bid was successful. He also asked whether Canberra had sought the advice of the intelligence and defence forces in relation to the proposed sale, adding that he intended to table a bill to tighten Australia’s foreign investment rules when parliament resumed.”
FT
24th July, 2016
The newly elected government of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is set for its first big test on foreign investment, with two Chinese companies bidding for control of the country’s largest electricity network.
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Posted in Containing China | Tagged: Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 2, 2016
Cailean Bochanan
2nd August, 2016
“Brexit means Brexit!” but what is Brexit? Well, now we know. It is the alignment of the UK with the policy which will dominate the next US presidency: the strategy of containment or isolation of China.
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Posted in brexit crisis, Containing China | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, brexit agenda, Chinese soft power, End of empire, the brexit disaster | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 29, 2016
Asia Times
24th February, 2016
Asia Times top writer George Koo recently interviewed Martin Jacques, the author of the global bestseller, “When China Rules the World.” The British journalist and scholar was a guest speaker at a Feb. 18 forum in Palo Alto, Calif. hosted by the Committee of 100 and the Commonwealth Club. The topic was “Why the UK sees China as a friend and the US doesn’t.” Koo moderated and afterwards spoke with Jacques in an exclusive interview for Asia Times.
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Posted in British economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership, Chinese soft power, End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 27, 2016
New American
24th February, 2016
East Coast-West Coast, from Harvard to Hollywood, China Inc. is setting down a big footprint, with indispensable assistance from some of the biggest names on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Carlyle Group, Kissinger Associates, CitiBank, JPMorgan Chase.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power, US-Chinese partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 21, 2016
Cailean Bochanan
21st February, 2016
It is unusual for the British establishment to risk a consultation with the people unless major changes are underway- changes which are sufficient to provoke divisions in the establishment itself. It goes without saying that the negotiations with the EU are not essentially about child benefit for Polish families living in the UK. They are about “sovereignty” although in a very limited sense: the “sovereignty” of the City of London. The deal struck triumphantly by Cameron is revelatory. It shows that conflict within the establishment concerns the least bad option for the City: whether to face exclusion from the EU market and displacement by Paris or Frankfurt as Europe’s leading financial centre or to remain inside Europe and to take up arms against a sea of Eurozone banking regulations and by opposing end them. That is the question!
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Posted in Battle for Europe, UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, Britain into Europe-Europe out of NATO, Cameron's EU deal, Chinese soft power, european bank "bail-in", european banking union | 2 Comments »
Posted by seumasach on January 10, 2016
Alasdair Macleod
Gold Money
7th January, 2015
Advance signs of a global slump in economic activity emerged in 2015
Furthermore, the dollar’s strength, coupled with widening credit spreads confirms a global tendency for dollar-denominated debt to contract. These developments typically precede an economic and financial crisis that could manifest itself in 2016, partially confirmed by the disappointing performance of equity markets. If so, demand for physical gold can be expected to escalate rapidly as a financial crisis unfolds.
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Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: Chinese soft power, dollar collapse, gold-backed yuan | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 2, 2016
William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
28th December, 2016
I’m feeling more and more in recent months that, as difficult as it may be to believe, our world is moving away from seemingly endless wars. Make no mistake, we haven’t seen the end of wars at all. The dynamic and the war energy is changing, however. Not without a frenzy of self-conceit does the so-called Western World throw forks, china, pots, pans, rolling pins–anything it can get its bloody hands on–like a spoiled child throwing a gargantuan temper-tantrum. It tries to deny this reality over which it has less control by the second. The world is moving away from wars, from an, if-you-will, patriarchal psychosis of control–a matrix of fear, shame, guilt, rage, hate. What is beginning to emerge in what we in the West have egoistically termed the East, is construction, building new great projects to uplift a sector of mankind ignored for more that a thousand years. This transformative positive motion is what, if anything, will save our humankind from the mass death and destruction some in the West so devoutly wish for us.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), Chinese soft power, zhōngguó | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 6, 2015
Global Times
26th November, 2015
As more and more Chinese enterprises expand into Africa, there has been increasing interest in China’s economic activities in the continent. As well as positive feedback, there have also been some negative comments, with China having been accused of neo-colonialism, of grabbing resources and dumping low-quality products.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: chinese financial system, Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 