Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
General will spend five days meeting top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping
Mission seeks to patch up wounds caused by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-China rhetoric
Hamilton Mourao favours maximising engagement with China. Photo: EPA-EFE
Brazil’s vice-president is expected to land in Beijing on Sunday on a mission to patch up wounds caused by President Jair Bolsonaro’s lacerating anti-China rhetoric.
General Hamilton Mourao will spend five days in China rubbing shoulders with some of the country’s most powerful leaders, culminating in an audience with President Xi Jinping, in an effort to shore up the relationship between the two emerging market giants. Bolsonaro himself is due to visit later this year, while Xi is due to visit Brasilia in November for the BRICS summit.
China – Brazil’s most important trading partner for the past decade – remains a sensitive subject in the Bolsonaro administration. While Mourao and the other business-oriented members of government favour maximising engagement with the Asian giant, Bolsonaro and his more radical appointees view China with a high degree of suspicion, as a predatory economy that wishes not merely to invest in Brazil, but to own it.
“The Chinese can buy in Brazil, but they can’t buy Brazil,” the president said at a breakfast with journalists last month.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said last month that the “Chinese can buy in Brazil, but they can’t buy Brazil”. Photo: AFP
Still, in comparison with his pre-election criticism of China as “heartless”, Bolsonaro in office has dialled down his anti-Beijing sentiment. Mourao’s visit is part of an effort to reset that relationship.
“The Chinese understand that Mourao plays a central role in toning down Bolsonaro’s rhetoric,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a specialist on BRICS – an association of five major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – at the FGV business school. “They know that the Mourao-China relationship will be fundamental.”
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Speaking to reporters recently, Mourao recognised the need to balance the Bolsonaro administration’s desire to pivot towards the United States with practical considerations of China’s economic significance.
“The US are the champions of democracy and freedom and our government has left it very clear what this represents,” the vice-president said. “But on the other side we have to be sufficiently pragmatic to understand the importance of China for Brazil’s economic development.”
Chinese investment in Brazil reached almost US$134 billion between 2003 and 2018, Brazilian government figures showed.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet the visiting Brazilain vice-president. Photo: AP
While the trade war between the US and China may offer Brazil some short-term gains, particularly for its agricultural sector, the downsides outweigh the benefits, according to Renata Amaral, a foreign trade analyst at Barral MJorge consultancy.
“In truth this war is no good for anyone,” she said.
Mourao said that Brazil was monitoring the situation “critically and cautiously”.
Why US-China trade war could be good for Brazil
From the Chinese perspective, Beijing is looking for Brazil’s formal support for its “Belt and Road Initiative” – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure megaproject. Asked whether Brazil might sign up to the programme, Mourao said that any agreement would have to be approved by Bolsonaro in the second half of the year.
After trips to the Great Wall of China and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Mourao will meet Xi, in a clear sign of Brazil’s importance to China. “The visit of vice-president Mourao will reinforce mutual political confidence, deepen our friendly cooperation and add new dimensions to our strategic partnership,” according to Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
With Beijing both uncertain about the direction of Brazilian foreign policy under Bolsonaro and eager to strike deals on infrastructure and food security, it makes sense for the Chinese to roll out the red-carpet for Mourao, according to Hussein Kalout, a specialist in foreign policy and a researcher at Harvard.
China trade vs economic growth: the dilemma for Brazil’s president
While the federal government remains ambivalent about its relationship with China, some of Brazil’s powerful state governors are seeking to develop their own relationship with the Asian country. One of them is Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior, the governor of the southern state of Parana, who travelled to China recently to discuss agriculture and railroad projects.
“We’re open to talk with any country that wants to and understands that the state of Parana is the best to place to invest in Brazil,” the governor said in an interview, adding that his actions did not conflict with the federal government’s stance towards Beijing.
But in a sign of the domestic pressure Bolsonaro is under not to abandon entirely his sceptical attitude to China, Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Braganca, the vice-president of the lower house’s foreign affairs committee and a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s own party, said the government should set limits to the partnership.
“It’s good to talk to China, but it depends what is being discussed,” he said. “For example, the 5G network set up by China is dangerous because it will give the Chinese more information about Brazilian citizens than the Brazilian government.”
Three-day visit comes ahead of Chinese President’s planned attendance at G20 summit in Osaka next month
Yang Jiechi’s three-day visit to Japan starts on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi will visit Japan for three days from Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The visit is likely to work out details of President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Japan for this year’s summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka in late June, sources familiar with bilateral relations had said last week.
Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, is likely to meet the country’s national security adviser Shotaro Yachi on Thursday and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the following day, according to the sources.
Xi’s visit, if it goes ahead, would be his first since he came to power in 2013 and the first by a Chinese head of state since Hu Jintao in November 2010.
Yang and Yachi will also hold the sixth China-Japan high-level political dialogue.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pictured at the G20 summit in Argentina last year. Photo: AP
At this dialogue, which is an annual consultation plan agreed on by the two sides, the two sides will exchange views on China-Japan relations and issues of common concern, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.
For years, the two neighbours have been mired in a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The group of uninhabited islets, which are called Diaoyu in Chinese, are controlled by Japan but claimed by China.
But Sino-Japanese ties have been markedly improving recently, with 2018 – the 40th anniversary of the signing and entering into force of the bilateral Treaty of Peace and Friendship – serving as an incentive to forge better relations.
The dispute over the Senkaku – or Diaoyu – Islands is a long-standing barrier to better relations. Photo: Kyodo
In an interview with Japanese media, Chinese vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou said the relationship between China and Japan has just returned to normal after going through ups and downs over the years, and both sides need to treasure the development.
“China is willing to work with Japan to further promote China-Japan relations,” he was quoted as saying in a Chinese foreign ministry transcript.
Kong also rejected suggestions that ties between China and Japan have become closer because of the China-US trade war – which pushed Beijing to seek support from its neighbours.
“Putting the relations between China, Japan and the US at opposite from each other is a zero-sum game and cold war mentality. China does not agree with it,” he said. “The friendly relationship among these two nations can be developed in parallel. This is welcomed by the region and the world”.
The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters.
In each of the seven chapters of the draft trade deal, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war: theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation.
U.S. President Donald Trump responded in a tweet on Sunday vowing to raise tariffs on $200 billion (153 billion pounds) worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent on Friday – timed to land in the middle of a scheduled visit by China’s Vice Premier Liu He to Washington to continue trade talks.
The stripping of binding legal language from the draft struck directly at the highest priority of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer – who views changes to Chinese laws as essential to verifying compliance after years of what U.S. officials have called empty reform promises.
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Lighthizer has pushed hard for an enforcement regime more like those used for punitive economic sanctions – such as those imposed on North Korea or Iran – than a typical trade deal.
“This undermines the core architecture of the deal,” said a Washington-based source with knowledge of the talks.
“PROCESS OF NEGOTIATION”
Spokespeople for the White House, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing on Wednesday that working out disagreements over trade was a “process of negotiation” and that China was not “avoiding problems”.
Geng referred specific questions on the trade talks to the Commerce Ministry, which did not respond immediately to faxed questions from Reuters.
Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were taken aback at the extent of the changes in the draft. The two cabinet officials on Monday told reporters that Chinese backtracking had prompted Trump’s tariff order but did not provide details on the depth and breadth of the revisions.
Liu last week told Lighthizer and Mnuchin that they needed to trust China to fulfil its pledges through administrative and regulatory changes, two of the sources said. Both Mnuchin and Lighthizer considered that unacceptable, given China’s history of failing to fulfil reform pledges.
One private-sector source briefed on the talks said the last round of negotiations had gone very poorly because “China got greedy”.
“China reneged on a dozen things, if not more … The talks were so bad that the real surprise is that it took Trump until Sunday to blow up,” the source said.
“After 20 years of having their way with the U.S., China still appears to be miscalculating with this administration.”
FURTHER TALKS THIS WEEK
The rapid deterioration of negotiations rattled global stock markets, bonds and commodities this week. Until Sunday, markets had priced in the expectation that officials from the two countries were close to striking a deal.
Investors and analysts questioned whether Trump’s tweet was a negotiating ploy to wring more concessions from China. The sources told Reuters the extent of the setbacks in the revised text were serious and that Trump’s response was not merely a negotiating strategy.
Chinese negotiators said they couldn’t touch the laws, said one of the government sources, calling the changes “major.”
Changing any law in China requires a unique set of processes that can’t be navigated quickly, said a Chinese official familiar with the talks. The official disputed the assertion that China was backtracking on its promises, adding that U.S. demands were becoming more “harsh” and the path to a deal more “narrow” as the negotiations drag on.
Liu is set to arrive in Washington on Thursday for two days of talks that just last week were widely seen as pivotal – a possible last round before a historic trade deal. Now, U.S. officials have little hope that Liu will come bearing any offer that can get talks back on track, said two of the sources.
To avert escalation, some of the sources said, Liu would have to scrap China’s proposed text changes and agree to make new laws. China would also have to move further towards the U.S. position on other sticking points, such as demands for curbs on Chinese industrial subsidies and a streamlined approval process for genetically engineered U.S. crops.
The administration said the latest tariff escalation would take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday (0401 GMT), hiking levees on Chinese products such as internet modems and routers, printed circuit boards, vacuum cleaners and furniture.
The Chinese reversal may give China hawks in the Trump administration, including Lighthizer, an opening to take a harder stance.
Mnuchin – who has been more open to a deal with improved market access, and at times clashed with Lighthizer – appeared in sync with Lighthizer in describing the changes to reporters on Monday, while still leaving open the possibility that new tariffs could be averted with a deal.
Trump’s tweets left no room for backing down, and Lighthizer made it clear that, despite continuing talks, “come Friday, there will be tariffs in place.”
BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — China said Tuesday it hopes that relevant country can do more things conducive to strengthening the mechanism of international arms control and safeguarding international and regional peace and stability.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the comments after U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 26 that the United States was withdrawing from the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which regulates international trade in conventional arms and seeks to prevent and eradicate illicit trade and diversion of conventional arms by establishing international standards governing arms transfers.
“We hope that relevant country can do more things conducive to strengthening the mechanism of international arms control and safeguarding international and regional peace and stability,” Geng said at a daily press briefing.
Calling ATT an important multilateral treaty in the field of conventional arms control, Geng said that China supports the international community taking necessary measures in setting standards for international trade of arms and cracking down on illegal transfer and trafficking of arms.
China supports the purpose and goals of the ATT, and has been attending relevant conferences as an observer, Geng said, adding China has been considering joining the treaty.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday it has lodged representations with the United States over its decision to end waivers on sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
China is Iran’s largest crude oil customer, with total imports last year of 29.27 million tonnes, or about 585,400 barrels a day, roughly 6 percent of China’s total oil imports, according to customs data.
“The decision from the U.S. will contribute to volatility in the Middle East and in the international energy market,” Geng Shuang, a ministry spokesman, told a news briefing.
Washington has announced that all Iran sanction waivers will end by May, causing crude oil prices to rise and pressuring importers to cut their Iranian imports to zero.
China was one of eight global buyers that won exemptions to import crude oil last November.
Some of China’s key refineries are configured to process the Iranian crude and refinery officials say Iranian oil typically yields better margins compared similar grades from rival suppliers such as Saudi Arabia.
State-owned Sinopec Group and China National Petroleum Corp both produce oil in Iran, having spent billions of dollars on oil fields such as Yadavaran and North Azadegan. They have been sending the oil from the fields to China.
BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) — China reiterated its stance on China-Africa cooperation on Wednesday, calling for more countries to think highly of Africa.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press briefing in response to the groundless accusations made against China’s policy towards Africa, such as the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project in Kenya will put the country in debt.
Geng cited Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta as saying that “in recent years, Kenya-China relations have become closer and closer, and cooperation between the two countries has become tighter in such fields as industry and infrastructure construction.”
The SGR is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Africa and has brought great changes to the lives of the Kenyan people, the president said.
Geng said China appreciates that the leaders of many African countries, including Djibouti and Kenya, and people of insight from all walks of life have a fair evaluation of China-Africa relations and China-Africa cooperation.
China will intensify pragmatic cooperation in various fields with African countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, steadily implement the consensus reached by Chinese and African leaders and promote constant development of the China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
“We hope more countries will truly pay attention to Africa, attach importance to Africa, and invest in Africa, and work together with China to help Africa’s peace, stability, development and prosperity,” he added.
BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) — China hopes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States will cherish the hard-won momentum of dialogue and keep talking until a peaceful denuclearized Korean Peninsula is realized, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday.
Spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a question on DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui’s comment on a briefing held in Pyongyang.
Choe Son Hui said on Friday that the recent summit between the top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump failed because the U.S. side lacked sincerity.
“After the Hanoi summit, the DPRK and the U.S. both expressed willingness to continue dialogues. We commend and encourage this,” Geng said.
China always believes that the Korean Peninsula issue can only be solved peacefully through political dialogues, he said.
He added that the key to keeping up and advancing dialogue is to accommodate all parties’ legitimate concerns in a balanced way, build up mutual trust and consensus, take phased and synchronized steps, and start with easier moves.
“As the nuclear issue has dragged on for decades and complicated factors are at play, one cannot expect it to be solved overnight. All parties need to have reasonable expectations. One shouldn’t set the bar too high at the outset or make unilateral, unrealistic demands,” Geng quoted Foreign Minister Wang Yi as saying.
He also said China hoped that the DPRK and the United States could cherish the hard-won momentum of dialogue, seize the opportunity, meet each other halfway, build up mutual trust and consensus, keep talking till something good comes out of the talks and a peaceful denuclearized Korean Peninsula is realized.
“The international community should encourage both sides to keep moving toward the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and establishing a peace regime,” Geng said.
China will continue to play a constructive role along with other parties, the spokesperson stressed.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionOne of China’s biggest ports is reported to have halted Australian coal imports
The Australian government says it is seeking an “urgent” clarification from Beijing over reports that a major Chinese port has halted imports of Australian coal.
Australia is a top supplier of coal to China, its biggest export market.
Beijing has not confirmed the reported halt in the port of Dalian, but called changes in such arrangements “normal”.
Canberra sought to play down speculation on Friday that the matter may be linked to bilateral tensions.
Australian officials said there was “confusion” over the situation, and they were consulting their Chinese counterparts.
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. The Australia-China trading relationship is exceptionally strong,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Fears about the issue have prompted a fall in the Australian dollar.
What has happened?
On Thursday, Reuters reported that China’s Dalian port region would not allow Australian coal to pass through customs.
The news agency quoted officials as saying that only Australian coal had been affected, with no limits placed on Indonesian and Russian shipments.
It said other Chinese ports had delayed Australian coal shipments in recent months.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionCoal is Australia’s biggest export commodity
Australian trade officials said they had been notified of recent industry concerns about market access.
When asked about the reported halt, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang offered general comments that authorities sought “to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese importers and protect the environment”.
“The banning of those coal shipments is a form of coercion against Australia. It’s punishment against states that resist China’s pressure,” said Dr Malcolm Davis, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Other recent tensions have emerged over allegations – denied by Beijing – of Chinese interference in Australian politics and society.
However others, including the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia, have suggested that China’s concerns about its own coal industry may be behind any such halts.
Blocking “a couple of months of coal exports” would not hurt the Australian economy, said Philip Lowe.
“If it were to be the sign of a deterioration in the underlying political relationship between Australia and China then that would be more concerning,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg said: “We can see these occasional interruptions to the smooth flow but that doesn’t necessarily translate to some of the consequences that aspects of the media might seek to leap to.”
BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) — China highly appreciates Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positive remarks on China-Russia ties as he delivered a state of the nation address, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Thursday.
In the annual address, Putin described the relations of Russia and China as important “stable forces” of the international community.
Geng said the rapid development of China-Russia relations under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state gained not only fruitful achievement at the bilateral level but also injected positive energy in maintaining global strategic stability.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ establishment of diplomatic ties. Geng said that the two countries should take the opportunity to continuously deepen strategic coordination, push for further development of bilateral ties and better benefit the two peoples and safeguard the security and the stability of the world.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionOne of China’s biggest ports is reported to have halted Australian coal imports
The Australian government says it is seeking an “urgent” clarification from Beijing over reports that a major Chinese port has halted imports of Australian coal.
Australia is a top supplier of coal to China, its biggest export market.
Beijing has not confirmed the reported halt in the port of Dalian, but called changes in such arrangements “normal”.
Canberra sought to play down speculation on Friday that the matter may be linked to bilateral tensions.
Australian officials said there was “confusion” over the situation, and they were consulting their Chinese counterparts.
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. The Australia-China trading relationship is exceptionally strong,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Fears about the issue have prompted a fall in the Australian dollar.
What has happened?
On Thursday, Reuters reported that China’s Dalian port region would not allow Australian coal to pass through customs.
The news agency quoted officials as saying that only Australian coal had been affected, with no limits placed on Indonesian and Russian shipments.
It said other Chinese ports had delayed Australian coal shipments in recent months.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionCoal is Australia’s biggest export commodity
Australian trade officials said they had been notified of recent industry concerns about market access.
When asked about the reported halt, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang offered general comments that authorities sought “to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese importers and protect the environment”.
“The banning of those coal shipments is a form of coercion against Australia. It’s punishment against states that resist China’s pressure,” said Dr Malcolm Davis, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Other recent tensions have emerged over allegations – denied by Beijing – of Chinese interference in Australian politics and society.
However others, including the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia, have suggested that China’s concerns about its own coal industry may be behind any such halts.
Blocking “a couple of months of coal exports” would not hurt the Australian economy, said Philip Lowe.
“If it were to be the sign of a deterioration in the underlying political relationship between Australia and China then that would be more concerning,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg said: “We can see these occasional interruptions to the smooth flow but that doesn’t necessarily translate to some of the consequences that aspects of the media might seek to leap to.”
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 