#United States is maintaining a campaign of pressure on Asian superpowers

[yahoonews7]

(Bloomberg) -- Even before the trade war, Xi Jinping’s plan to turn China into one of the world’s most advanced economies by 2050 was ambitious.His grand vision is now looking more aspirational by the day. As mounting pressure from Donald Trump adds to a slew of structural challenges facing China’s $14 trillion economy -- including record debt levels, rampant pollution, and an aging population -- the risk is that the country gets stuck in a “middle-income trap,’’ stagnating before it reaches rich-world levels of development.Economists say Xi’s government can avoid that fate by boosting domestic consumption, liberalizing markets and increasing the country’s technological prowess. But it won’t be easy. Only five developing countries have made the transition to advanced-nation status while maintaining high levels of growth since 1960, according to Nobel laureate Michael Spence, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.“China trying to do this with active opposition from the U.S. makes the hurdle that much higher to jump over,” said Andrew Polk, co-founder of research firm Trivium China in Beijing. “But the U.S. has clearly lit a fire under China. If it ultimately does succeed we may look back at this moment as the catalyst that really kicked their efforts into high gear.”The International Monetary Fund highlighted President Xi’s challenge on Friday, saying in its annual report on China’s economy that if a comprehensive trade agreement isn’t reached, it would damage the nation’s long-term outlook. “China’s access to foreign markets and technology may be significantly reduced,” the IMF said.Odds of a near-term trade deal appear low. After President Trump issued a surprise threat to apply new tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods two weeks ago, Beijing responded by halting purchases of U.S. crops and allowing the yuan to fall to the weakest level since 2008 on Aug. 5.Trump’s administration fired back within hours, formally labeling China a currency manipulator. The White House is also holding off on a decision about granting exemptions to U.S. companies that want to do business with Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese tech giant that Trump placed on a blacklist in May, people familiar with the matter said.Read more: Trump Says It’s ‘Fine’ If September China Talks Are CanceledAny concessions from China are unlikely until October at the earliest, said Jeff Moon, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. Xi faces growing internal pressure to project strength as anti-government protests in Hong Kong intensify and China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.“Any sign of weakness is unacceptable to Chinese leaders,’’ Moon said.Read more: U.S. Calls China ‘Thuggish Regime’ as Hong Kong Feud EscalatesIn one sign of how rapidly the Sino-U.S. relationship has deteriorated, some state media in China have raised the prospect that Beijing may consider cutting off engagement on trade entirely. Communist Party-run publications have stoked nationalism in recent weeks while exuding confidence in China’s economic system and its flexibility to cope with external challenges.“Chinese enterprises are speeding up adjustment, creating new export markets,” Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, tweeted on Thursday, after data showing overseas shipments beat expectations in July.In the short run, China’s government has ample firepower to prevent economic growth from falling below the 6% lower bound of its annual target range. Bloomberg Economics predicts the central bank will cut interest rates this year, while Standard Chartered Plc expects fiscal stimulus to drive a moderate recovery in the second half of 2019.Xi has also made some progress in tackling China’s long-term challenges. A more than two-year deleveraging campaign has helped wring some of the worst excesses out of the country’s debt markets, while regulators have taken a much harder line on high-polluting industries in recent years. The services sector now accounts for more than half of gross domestic product.China has also poured billions into developing a homegrown high-tech industry, going head-to-head with the West in areas like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. In an October 2017 speech that laid out his long-term vision for the Chinese economy, Xi vowed to join the most innovative countries by 2035 on the way to great-power status by 2050.Read more: A QuickTake on China’s economyYet the trade war has laid bare just how far China remains from some of Xi’s targets. The most striking example: America’s blacklisting of Huawei, which threatens to cripple the Chinese national champion because local chip designs aren’t yet sophisticated enough to replace those from the U.S.“For China it will be harder to access state-of-the-art technology,” said Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “This will make it harder for China to catch up, but at the same time it will set stronger incentives to develop their own technology ecosystem. How China does this will determine how fast they will grow.”Debt and demographics are two other big challenges. China’s debt burden has continued to rise despite the deleveraging campaign, climbing to about 303% of GDP in the first quarter, one of the highest ratios among developing nations, according to the Institute of International Finance. The country’s working-age population is forecast to shrink by more than 20% to 718 million by 2050, according to data compiled by the United Nations.While China’s per-capita GDP has jumped tenfold since 2000 to an estimated $10,000 this year, it’s still far below readings of about $65,000 in the U.S. and Singapore -- one of the five economies highlighted by Spence as having achieved advanced-country status since 1960.China’s economy is still expanding faster than its rich-world counterparts for now, but its advantage is shrinking.Growth slowed to 6.2% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in at least 27 years, and Standard Chartered estimates that if Trump’s threatened tariffs come into effect on Sept. 1, they could slice 0.3 percentage point off China’s annual rate of expansion. Xi has tried to diversify the country’s stable of overseas customers via his signature Belt & Road initiative and other trading pacts, but the U.S. still accounts for about 20% of China’s exports.“The U.S.-China trade tensions certainly make the transition harder,” said Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “China will lose some export market share and the technology spillover from the U.S. to China will slow. But the current tensions also provide the opportunity for policy makers to press harder with reform.”\--With assistance from Chloe Whiteaker, Hannah Dormido and Daniel Ten Kate.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing at [email protected];Peter Martin in Beijing at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at [email protected], Michael Patterson, Christopher AnsteyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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#World news

[courtneytincher]

Trump Is Making Xi's Superpower 2050 Plan Tougher by the Day

(Bloomberg) -- Even before the trade war, Xi Jinping’s plan to turn China into one of the world’s most advanced economies by 2050 was ambitious.His grand vision is now looking more aspirational by the day. As mounting pressure from Donald Trump adds to a slew of structural challenges facing China’s $14 trillion economy -- including record debt levels, rampant pollution, and an aging population -- the risk is that the country gets stuck in a “middle-income trap,’’ stagnating before it reaches rich-world levels of development.Economists say Xi’s government can avoid that fate by boosting domestic consumption, liberalizing markets and increasing the country’s technological prowess. But it won’t be easy. Only five developing countries have made the transition to advanced-nation status while maintaining high levels of growth since 1960, according to Nobel laureate Michael Spence, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.“China trying to do this with active opposition from the U.S. makes the hurdle that much higher to jump over,” said Andrew Polk, co-founder of research firm Trivium China in Beijing. “But the U.S. has clearly lit a fire under China. If it ultimately does succeed we may look back at this moment as the catalyst that really kicked their efforts into high gear.”The International Monetary Fund highlighted President Xi’s challenge on Friday, saying in its annual report on China’s economy that if a comprehensive trade agreement isn’t reached, it would damage the nation’s long-term outlook. “China’s access to foreign markets and technology may be significantly reduced,” the IMF said.Odds of a near-term trade deal appear low. After President Trump issued a surprise threat to apply new tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods two weeks ago, Beijing responded by halting purchases of U.S. crops and allowing the yuan to fall to the weakest level since 2008 on Aug. 5.Trump’s administration fired back within hours, formally labeling China a currency manipulator. The White House is also holding off on a decision about granting exemptions to U.S. companies that want to do business with Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese tech giant that Trump placed on a blacklist in May, people familiar with the matter said.Read more: Trump Says It’s ‘Fine’ If September China Talks Are CanceledAny concessions from China are unlikely until October at the earliest, said Jeff Moon, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. Xi faces growing internal pressure to project strength as anti-government protests in Hong Kong intensify and China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.“Any sign of weakness is unacceptable to Chinese leaders,’’ Moon said.Read more: U.S. Calls China ‘Thuggish Regime’ as Hong Kong Feud EscalatesIn one sign of how rapidly the Sino-U.S. relationship has deteriorated, some state media in China have raised the prospect that Beijing may consider cutting off engagement on trade entirely. Communist Party-run publications have stoked nationalism in recent weeks while exuding confidence in China’s economic system and its flexibility to cope with external challenges.“Chinese enterprises are speeding up adjustment, creating new export markets,” Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, tweeted on Thursday, after data showing overseas shipments beat expectations in July.In the short run, China’s government has ample firepower to prevent economic growth from falling below the 6% lower bound of its annual target range. Bloomberg Economics predicts the central bank will cut interest rates this year, while Standard Chartered Plc expects fiscal stimulus to drive a moderate recovery in the second half of 2019.Xi has also made some progress in tackling China’s long-term challenges. A more than two-year deleveraging campaign has helped wring some of the worst excesses out of the country’s debt markets, while regulators have taken a much harder line on high-polluting industries in recent years. The services sector now accounts for more than half of gross domestic product.China has also poured billions into developing a homegrown high-tech industry, going head-to-head with the West in areas like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. In an October 2017 speech that laid out his long-term vision for the Chinese economy, Xi vowed to join the most innovative countries by 2035 on the way to great-power status by 2050.Read more: A QuickTake on China’s economyYet the trade war has laid bare just how far China remains from some of Xi’s targets. The most striking example: America’s blacklisting of Huawei, which threatens to cripple the Chinese national champion because local chip designs aren’t yet sophisticated enough to replace those from the U.S.“For China it will be harder to access state-of-the-art technology,” said Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “This will make it harder for China to catch up, but at the same time it will set stronger incentives to develop their own technology ecosystem. How China does this will determine how fast they will grow.”Debt and demographics are two other big challenges. China’s debt burden has continued to rise despite the deleveraging campaign, climbing to about 303% of GDP in the first quarter, one of the highest ratios among developing nations, according to the Institute of International Finance. The country’s working-age population is forecast to shrink by more than 20% to 718 million by 2050, according to data compiled by the United Nations.While China’s per-capita GDP has jumped tenfold since 2000 to an estimated $10,000 this year, it’s still far below readings of about $65,000 in the U.S. and Singapore -- one of the five economies highlighted by Spence as having achieved advanced-country status since 1960.China’s economy is still expanding faster than its rich-world counterparts for now, but its advantage is shrinking.Growth slowed to 6.2% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in at least 27 years, and Standard Chartered estimates that if Trump’s threatened tariffs come into effect on Sept. 1, they could slice 0.3 percentage point off China’s annual rate of expansion. Xi has tried to diversify the country’s stable of overseas customers via his signature Belt & Road initiative and other trading pacts, but the U.S. still accounts for about 20% of China’s exports.“The U.S.-China trade tensions certainly make the transition harder,” said Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “China will lose some export market share and the technology spillover from the U.S. to China will slow. But the current tensions also provide the opportunity for policy makers to press harder with reform.”\--With assistance from Chloe Whiteaker, Hannah Dormido and Daniel Ten Kate.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing at [email protected];Peter Martin in Beijing at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at [email protected], Michael Patterson, Christopher AnsteyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

(Bloomberg) -- Even before the trade war, Xi Jinping’s plan to turn China into one of the world’s most advanced economies by 2050 was ambitious.His grand vision is now looking more aspirational by the day. As mounting pressure from Donald Trump adds to a slew of structural challenges facing China’s $14 trillion economy -- including record debt levels, rampant pollution, and an aging population -- the risk is that the country gets stuck in a “middle-income trap,’’ stagnating before it reaches rich-world levels of development.Economists say Xi’s government can avoid that fate by boosting domestic consumption, liberalizing markets and increasing the country’s technological prowess. But it won’t be easy. Only five developing countries have made the transition to advanced-nation status while maintaining high levels of growth since 1960, according to Nobel laureate Michael Spence, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.“China trying to do this with active opposition from the U.S. makes the hurdle that much higher to jump over,” said Andrew Polk, co-founder of research firm Trivium China in Beijing. “But the U.S. has clearly lit a fire under China. If it ultimately does succeed we may look back at this moment as the catalyst that really kicked their efforts into high gear.”The International Monetary Fund highlighted President Xi’s challenge on Friday, saying in its annual report on China’s economy that if a comprehensive trade agreement isn’t reached, it would damage the nation’s long-term outlook. “China’s access to foreign markets and technology may be significantly reduced,” the IMF said.Odds of a near-term trade deal appear low. After President Trump issued a surprise threat to apply new tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods two weeks ago, Beijing responded by halting purchases of U.S. crops and allowing the yuan to fall to the weakest level since 2008 on Aug. 5.Trump’s administration fired back within hours, formally labeling China a currency manipulator. The White House is also holding off on a decision about granting exemptions to U.S. companies that want to do business with Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese tech giant that Trump placed on a blacklist in May, people familiar with the matter said.Read more: Trump Says It’s ‘Fine’ If September China Talks Are CanceledAny concessions from China are unlikely until October at the earliest, said Jeff Moon, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. Xi faces growing internal pressure to project strength as anti-government protests in Hong Kong intensify and China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1.“Any sign of weakness is unacceptable to Chinese leaders,’’ Moon said.Read more: U.S. Calls China ‘Thuggish Regime’ as Hong Kong Feud EscalatesIn one sign of how rapidly the Sino-U.S. relationship has deteriorated, some state media in China have raised the prospect that Beijing may consider cutting off engagement on trade entirely. Communist Party-run publications have stoked nationalism in recent weeks while exuding confidence in China’s economic system and its flexibility to cope with external challenges.“Chinese enterprises are speeding up adjustment, creating new export markets,” Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, tweeted on Thursday, after data showing overseas shipments beat expectations in July.In the short run, China’s government has ample firepower to prevent economic growth from falling below the 6% lower bound of its annual target range. Bloomberg Economics predicts the central bank will cut interest rates this year, while Standard Chartered Plc expects fiscal stimulus to drive a moderate recovery in the second half of 2019.Xi has also made some progress in tackling China’s long-term challenges. A more than two-year deleveraging campaign has helped wring some of the worst excesses out of the country’s debt markets, while regulators have taken a much harder line on high-polluting industries in recent years. The services sector now accounts for more than half of gross domestic product.China has also poured billions into developing a homegrown high-tech industry, going head-to-head with the West in areas like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. In an October 2017 speech that laid out his long-term vision for the Chinese economy, Xi vowed to join the most innovative countries by 2035 on the way to great-power status by 2050.Read more: A QuickTake on China’s economyYet the trade war has laid bare just how far China remains from some of Xi’s targets. The most striking example: America’s blacklisting of Huawei, which threatens to cripple the Chinese national champion because local chip designs aren’t yet sophisticated enough to replace those from the U.S.“For China it will be harder to access state-of-the-art technology,” said Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “This will make it harder for China to catch up, but at the same time it will set stronger incentives to develop their own technology ecosystem. How China does this will determine how fast they will grow.”Debt and demographics are two other big challenges. China’s debt burden has continued to rise despite the deleveraging campaign, climbing to about 303% of GDP in the first quarter, one of the highest ratios among developing nations, according to the Institute of International Finance. The country’s working-age population is forecast to shrink by more than 20% to 718 million by 2050, according to data compiled by the United Nations.While China’s per-capita GDP has jumped tenfold since 2000 to an estimated $10,000 this year, it’s still far below readings of about $65,000 in the U.S. and Singapore -- one of the five economies highlighted by Spence as having achieved advanced-country status since 1960.China’s economy is still expanding faster than its rich-world counterparts for now, but its advantage is shrinking.Growth slowed to 6.2% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in at least 27 years, and Standard Chartered estimates that if Trump’s threatened tariffs come into effect on Sept. 1, they could slice 0.3 percentage point off China’s annual rate of expansion. Xi has tried to diversify the country’s stable of overseas customers via his signature Belt & Road initiative and other trading pacts, but the U.S. still accounts for about 20% of China’s exports.“The U.S.-China trade tensions certainly make the transition harder,” said Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “China will lose some export market share and the technology spillover from the U.S. to China will slow. But the current tensions also provide the opportunity for policy makers to press harder with reform.”\--With assistance from Chloe Whiteaker, Hannah Dormido and Daniel Ten Kate.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing at [email protected];Peter Martin in Beijing at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at [email protected], Michael Patterson, Christopher AnsteyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

August 11, 2019 at 01:00AM via IFTTT

#Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

[islamicvoice-blog]

What Does Motivate Chinese Help Offer to Syria’s Idlib Operation?

New post https://is.gd/WnAWuR

Since the eruption of devastating crisis in Syria, various international and regional powers vied for influencing the course of developments in the West Asian country, turning the conflict into one of the most complicated issues of the 21st century.

The US and Russia are the key powers racing to hold a sway in the conflict, while some other parties are also seeking a similar role in the future developments of the country in coordination with each of the two key players. China is one of the emerging powers which as the crisis draws to an end shows a willingness to join the negotiation process between the government and the opponents and even the battlegrounds in favor of the Syrian army which is bracing for the recapture of the northwestern city of Idlib, last main stronghold controlled by foreign-backed militants.

On Saturday, the Chinese Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin suggested Beijing could soon deploy forces to assist the Syrian army in its upcoming Idlib offensive against militants, in addition to anti-terrorist operations in other parts of the country. Speaking to Syria’s Al-Watan newspaper on Thursday, the Chinese diplomat said they are monitoring the conflict, adding that the Chinese military “is willing to participate in some way alongside the Syrian Army that is fighting the terrorists in Idlib and in any other part of Syria,” the Russian Sputnik news agency has reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese military attaché Wong Roy Chang told the Al-Watan newspaper there is “ongoing” military cooperation between the two countries and said China wishes to advance its relationship with the Syrian Armed Forces, Sputnik maintained.

Last week, the Syrian Arab Army announced liberation the city of Daraa in the south, which was held by the anti-government militants for four years. The army said it will immediately launch an offensive to retake Idlib from the militants, which was under their control since the conflict sparked in 2011. The analysts expect Syria to enter a new stage of reconstruction once the city is restored to the control of the legitimate administration.

China presence in Syria Beijing is one of the key allies to the Syrian government. Later last year, the Chinese administration announced the intention to send two special forces units, dubbed “Siberian Tigers” and “Night Tigers”, to the Syrian battlefields to assist the Syrian government forces in their operations against ISIS terrorist group in the country’s east.

Before that in 2015, the Syrian government issued an authorization for 5,000 Chinese troops to enter the country. Reports suggested that Beijing stationed its forces in southern Lattakia port city in the northwest. At the time, the Chinese ministry of defense stated that military advisors along with combat forces and air and navy equipment were deployed to the war-hit country.

But China’s role is not restricted to the combat grounds. China, one of five powers with veto leverage at the United Nations Security Council, over the past six years tried to check the US-led West’s anti-Syrian resolutions and efforts at the UNSC in association with Russia.

Only in 2013, the US pressed for three resolutions at the UNSC, which sought to limit the access of the Syrian government to arms for fighting the terrorists across the country, were vetoed by China and Russia. To date, the Chinese and Russian governments have maintained their diplomatic, alongside military, backing to Damascus against the various Western intervention moves.

Legitimizing presence beside Russia Expressing the interest to take part in upcoming Idlib assault against the terrorists from one aspect looks to be motivated by Beijing’s predictions about the future of field developments in the country. Now the Syrian army, aided by Russia, is getting ready to launch a major liberation operation in Idlib. Having in mind that the Western governments and media launched a propaganda campaign against Damascus each time the Syrian government was ready to make a major advance against the terrorists— for instance, in Aleppo or the south and Eastern Ghouta in the capital’s suburbs—, this time they will predictably do the same job in relation to Idlib operation. China coming on board in favor of the central government can tangibly ease the media and diplomatic pressures on the campaign, a situation that will shore up Idlib liberation international legitimacy. 

China and Russia’s past cooperation at the UNSC marked the coalition between the two heavyweights in support of the Syrian government. Now, this alliance is expanding to cover the ground developments and Idlib operation.

Currently, vast tracts of Idlib territory is held by factions of al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda which is widely blacklisted as a terrorist group. The blacklisting is expected to buy considerable international validity to the possible involvement of China and Russia militarily in favor of Damascus campaign.

Prelude to involvement in reconstruction Looking at the case from another dimension, the Chinese help offer to the Syrian administration can be seen as an effort to build a prelude to engage in the reconstruction of the conflict-hit nation. Beijing’s strategy has always revolved around the securing its economic interests using diplomacy and closeness to the countries. This strategy helped the Chinese leaders to gain sway in various parts of the world in a fierce competition against the US.

The welcomed Chinese entry to Syria’s rehabilitation becomes significant against the uninvited entry of the US and other adversaries to the Syrian government to the rebuilding efforts. Once the US and other allies are cut from the list, other pro-Damascus actors, including Beijing, will find it a great opportunity to play a role in a post-war Syria.

For the Chinese leaders, participation in Syria’s rebuilding will help with stronger presence and coalitions in the Levant and West Asia regions. This prospect is what encouraging China to join the prospective Syria rehabilitation projects.

Beijing flexes muscles to Washington China’s presence in Syria in the form of military involvement in the Idlib or engagement in reconstruction process is aimed at, beside gaining a toehold, flexing the muscles for the rival US. West Asia, with its geopolitical position and being home to huge energy reserves that make it economically attractive, is one of the world’s key competition fields for the great powers. China strategically needs to expand its foothold in the region to unseat the US as an economic superpower. Moreover,  amid intensifying trade war between the US and China, Beijing in response seeks to squeeze Washington in other areas, including Syria.

  – Islam Times

#china #syria