China news roundup / Nachrichten 2024-07-16
China Admits Economic Problems, in the Past
"The most important things we’re learning, though, are not about this year’s slow-trot Chinese economy, they’re about the Chinese economy of the 2010’s. In 2009, a 32-percent jump in bank lending was initiated in response to the global financial crisis. It saved jobs and supposedly boosted growth. But what it boosted most was property growth, and much of it was empty.
When the government began to deflate the property bubble in 2018, it didn’t just have the effect of curbing legitimate new transactions, it undermined past transactions with dubious values. This led to retrenchment of the fixed investment series. It also discouraged contemporary transactions which would have had dubious value, undercutting M1.
The five-percent drop in narrow money suggests first-half GDP growth is slower than its reported five percent. But not drastically slower, because what’s causing the drop in narrow money suggests GDP growth was slower than reported starting as early as 2010. With the evidence only being made public since 2018. Don’t worry too much about China today, worry about where it’s been heading for more than a decade."
--- Well, I see the current situation more negatively than the writer, but maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps the situation wasn't that great for the past decade & now it's simply flat-lining.
Intel's China investments may have spurred fresh US restrictions
"Recent activity by Chipzilla involves participation in a fundraising round by Shenzhen-based AI-Link, while Intel Capital led the funding round for a company called North Ocean Photonics based in Shanghai.
But it isn't just Intel's venture capital arm; last year the Santa Clara chip biz itself announced the opening of a semiconductor innovation hub in the city of Shenzhen in southern China, intended to focus on AI, chip development and edge computing.
This is all very odd when the Biden administration is leaning heavily on its allies to do more to counter Beijing's technology advances
[...] Some might suspect that the US government has been deliberately soft on its own vested interests, especially as Nikkei Asia reported recently that US-based rivals of ASML such as Applied Materials and Lam Research are reliant on China for more than 40 percent of their revenue"
--- Or maybe Biden just wants to appear tougher on China than he actually is?
Russia may have shared US arms info with China: lawmakers
"“Rather,” the letter continues, “we should anticipate and indeed operate under the assumption that Russia is passing information about vulnerabilities or counters to American and allied weapons systems to [China] in support of its ‘no limits’ partnership.”"
--- I don't see why this is even a question. Of course Russia is passing on information.
"“China-Russia cooperation has no limits, but it does have a bottom line, that is the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations. These are the guidelines for China to deal with relations with any country,” Liu said"
Tiger testicles and mythical banquets: What China’s emperors* inside Beijing’s secretive Forbidden City really ate (* some of China's emperors...)
New deal establishes a hotline Chinese and Philippine presidents can use to stop clashes at sea
‘People’s court’ issues arrest warrant for Xi Jinping
--- China Unscripted: "China's Very Close to War with The Philippines"
Die große Klimaschönfärberei
"Der Schaden durch falsche Zertifikate könnte sich auf mehrere Milliarden Euro belaufen – und auf Millionen Tonnen CO2, die nur auf dem Papier eingespart wurden."
--- Man kann übrigens davon ausgehen, daß derartiger Betrug in China weitverbreitet ist, nicht nur im Zusammenhang mit ausländischen Projekten. Dementsprechend darf man auch offiziellen Klimaschutzberichten der KPCh keinen Glauben schenken.
