After four years of negotiations, Japan and the European Union signed a broad agreement on free trade in a move hailed on both sides as a sign of joint efforts to promote an open economy worldwide. Once ratified, the deal will remove 99% of tariffs on bilateral trade, forming a market of nearly 640 million people and combining more than a quarter of global output. A final deal is expected to be reached in early 2019, when the Japan-EU Economic Partnership...
You know Donald Trump’s "America First" policy is “working” in the Asia Pacific when Japan wholeheartedly shows its interest in two Chinese-led initiatives – in the same week. In an unexpected about-face, Tokyo sent a big delegation to China’s first Silk Road forum, while also signaling its readiness to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The vast transnational project, the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, that Tokyo seems to be flirting with is symptomatic of a...
With most pundits fixated on the fate of the Korean Peninsula and the exact position of America’s elusive USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, China has been racking up notches on its belt by positioning itself as the dominant economic force in the Asia-Pacific. And while this might sound hyperbolic, remember that Beijing is already a leader in one area: financing energy projects, where it has outpaced the World Bank as well as other Western development banks by a...
In an interview with the Financial Times this month, US President Donald Trump offered up a headline-grabbing response when asked what kind of bargain his country could strike with China to resolve the North Korea crisis: “Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will.” To make sure he was taken seriously, Trump ratcheted up the pressure on China to rein in its delinquent neighbor by sending a US Navy strike group toward the Koreas just after meeting with Chinese...
Saudi Aramco’s planned 2018 IPO will be a historic event for the markets, not just because of its scale but also because of the technical challenges that come with floating even a small slice of an oil company entwined with the Saudi state at just about every level. Even if only 5% of Aramco is being floated, that still amounts to US$100 billion in value. One of the key questions surrounding the IPO is where it will happen —...
China is starting off 2017 on its “Second Continent” with a bang. In December, Beijing convinced one of Taiwan’s few remaining friends in Africa – the small islands of São Tomé and Príncipe – to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. While reports in Taiwanese media suggested that the island nation’s decision had stemmed from Taipei’s refusal to grant financial support, it’s likely Beijing orchestrated the switch using its well-honed political and economic toolkit. The defection suggests that China is taking...
Ever since the COP21 agreement was reached in Paris last year, both Beijing and New Delhi have been consciously reframing their stances when it comes to energy. Over the past year, officials in both countries have proffered a series of bold statements about adopting solar and wind energy on a progressively larger scale. China’s National Development and Reform Commission recently upped the ante by proposing in its 2016-2020 five-year renewable energy plan to spend 2.5 trillion yuan (US$360 billion)...
When Xi Jinping asserted at the APEC Summit on November 19th that “China will not shut the door to the outside world but will open it even wider,” he not only forcefully claimed Chinese global leadership on free trade and globalization for years to come, but also sounded the death knell for the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia.” With the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as good as dead and Donald Trump in the White House, the 11 TPP nations were...
The recently held Macau Forum, where China reinforced its commitment to its Lusophone brethren with a US$290 million loan package, has thrust this seemingly incongruous bilateral diplomatic and trade union into the spotlight. The Macau Forum, shorthand for the verbosely titled "Forum for Economic Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries," was established in October 2003 in order to promote commercial ties with Lusophone nations. During this time, trade between China and the Lusophone countries has more than tripled, growing from...
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