This is from this morning’s Australian: Trade alliances caught in crossfire as the giants clash. It’s about how Australia will be runover in a clash between the US and China over trade.
Xi will resist any attempt by the US to lock in verification and enforcement of a trade agreement. Nor is he likely to abandon his attempt to dominate the future hi-tech landscape by heavily subsidising Chinese companies while stealing competitors’ intellectual property and forcing foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese partners.
Well fancy that, the US resisting these sort of things. Naturally, the story is anti-Trump and this was merely a subsidiary point on the way to something else. Meanwhile we have this from our fools to the east here in the South Pacific: Ardern hits China reset button as Australia remain on the outer.
While her government still has to make hard decisions about the use of equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in New Zealand’s next-generation 5G network, Ardern secured the invitation to visit Beijing despite a range of other sensitive issues with China….
Xi noted that New Zealand was the first Western developed country to sign a free-trade deal with Beijing and talked about Wellington’s future participation in China’s Belt and Road conference later this month. “During the past 47 years of diplomatic ties, China-New Zealand relations have made historic strides and have become one of the closest between China and Western developed countries,” he said.
Elect a far-left loon as your Prime Minister and this is what you get.
All Hail Ardern – a hero for not only failing to change NZ gun laws until 50 died, but weakening the laws that required gun owners & dealers to physically attend the cop shop to submit applications.
Not in my world…
Steve, China never intended to live up to the guarantees it offered when it joined the WTO.
It was all about the short term advantage it could get until it found the next scam. Unfortunately this short term scam has lasted now for 18 years and the Wests leaders have refused to pull China up even once.
China must be taking lessons from the UN and the EU, from activities such as climate change. If it’s good for the goose, is good for the gander.
5G, meh. They really need a FTTH NBN like their advanced neighbours on the West Island.
NZ has long been a complete free rider on western defence, foreign policy and intelligence arrangements, under successive governments of the right and left, dating back to at least the 1980s. Free riding is sensible from NZ’s perspective, so we should not expect Ardern to be any different.
China is fully intend on wolrd domination, and no one seems to be able to address it seriously. It may be fortunate that Xi is a little impatient. For instance France has said this week that free ride is over and they will demand reciprocity in any future deals. When Duterte came to power he dropped all disputes with China but now that China sent hundreds of its ships to fillipine islands, he is threatening war.
Bogged down in domestic and regional conflicts, and culture wars the West seems inept to face this growing problem.
I see no problem with NZ visiting Beijing.
BorisG
#2981264, posted on April 6, 2019 at 8:42 pm
Friend of mine who has just discharged says a few years ago he thought China vs the rest was a low possibility but now thinks the conflict is inevitable due to Xi. Under Xi the Chinese hawks have the ascendancy and the need to keep the country from fracturing Nationalism has become the great uniter. Unsure of when the spark will be as there is billions being made with trade which is probably why they are allowed to get away with what they have and I hope for my children the demographic problem China has with old people curbs it’s ambitions before then but history is littered with situations like this. My father & grandfather fought wars, thankfully I never had to…
Rockdoctor:
The issue to watch will be the aging of the adult males in the Military Participation Cohort.
Currently, China has an excess of aprox 40 million males who have very little chance of getting a wife, the female babies having been aborted in the demand for sons.
This age distribution graph is a harbinger of things to come – China has a rapidly aging pool of young men needed to fight the mass wars in the next five years.
Winston
So we buy RQ-180s, BGM 109s, W88s and W84s.
…and B61s.
https://mises.org/library/nafta-myth
https://mises.org/library/no-more-free-trade-treaties-its-time-genuine-free-trade
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/04/laurence-m-vance/free-trade-or-protectionism/
Exactly right max. Trade and commerce are peaceful cooperation under the guise of brutal competition.
Elect a far-left loon as your Prime Minister and this is what you get
In fairness, most Kiwis didn’t vote for Jucunda . Their system of voting may even be more crap than ours. I confess I don’t follow Kiwi affairs as closely as perhaps I should. But why aren’t the near 50% who voted for the other lot making more noise?
Jesus christ that is stupid Arky. Are you going for a record or something lately?