China can send in heavy police or army to put down the devastating protests in Hong Kong. But that would devastate its “One Country, Two Systems” approach, and nobody – including Taiwan – would trust China again, writes veteran journalist Howard French in The Guardian.Read More →
One of the major global initiatives by China was the massive Belt and Road Initiative, reviving the old silk roads. In May 2017 a major international conference showed what our experts were already expecting: now all roads lead to China. Even countries who suffered from difficult relations with China, including both Koreas, appeared in Beijing.Larger than the former Marshall Plan after the Second World War, OBOR is going to redefine global trade.Read More →
Under president Xi Jinping, politics has become more dynamic than under his predecessor Hu Jintao. Anti-corruption, political reforms and increased infighting between different factions mark the news on an almost daily basis. And while everybody has an opinion, at the China Speakers Bureau we are happy to have a range of expert opinions on China´s political development.Read More →
The US administration is trying to decouple its economy from China’s. And while there might be some arguments in favor of that position, the treat of decoupling for the world economy is huge, says international trade expert Harry Broadman in Forbes (here in pdf-format). Down the line, the US and global economies will be worse off, he warns.Read More →
Journalist Ian Johnson attended China’s National Day celebrations in Beijing and noted – apart from the military parade and obligatory propaganda, the crowd was different from earlier celebrations. “Tuesday’s crowd was different. It was made up of university professors, scientists, administrators, bureaucrats and people who had made some sort of contribution to the state. They weren’t props but excited participants who expected to remember this day,” he writes in the New York Times.Read More →
China not only has been doing very well over the past decades, but any systematic opposition is lacking, even not triggered off by the Hong Kong protests. Although it does not mean president Xi Jinping is having no problems, says political analyst Ian Johnson to the Sydney Morning Herald.Read More →
Starbucks found itself in hot water as the protesters turned against Maxim, the major franchise holder of the coffee outlet in Hong Kong. When it has to choose between Hong Kong and Beijing, Starbucks will pick China’s central government, says business analyst Shaun Rein according to Fortune.Read More →
It is not Hong Kong protests or the trade war, China’s leaders fear most, but hogs hit by African swine fever and the rising pork prices, says political analyst Victor Shih at Phys.org. An estimated 40 percent of its pigs have been killed already and massive reserves of frozen pork released on the stretched markets.Read More →
China’s currency, the yuan, is on a downward track, not because of government action, but is a market reaction on the US tariffs on Chinese goods, says investment guru Jim Rogers. Washington has to blame itself for the weakening yuan, he tells in the Stocknewsbrief.com.Read More →
If some US politicians hope the trade war between China and the US might undermine Xi Jinping’s domestic power base, they are on the wrong track, says political analyst Victor Shih at US-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearings at the US Congress, according to the South China Morning Post.Read More →
It’s the economy, stupid, says China commentator Kaiser Kuo in his masterclass for Quora. Journalist and blogger Cory Doctorow reviews his masterclass ” on contemporary Chinese politics, authoritarianism, liberalism and dissidence” for BoingBoing.Read More →
In a remarkable move Twitter and Facebook removed this week China-based accounts spreading fake news on Hong Kong. Political analyst Victor Shih looks in Politico at the effect of this new policy against Russian-style fake news.Read More →