How New Silk Roads Are Shaping Southwest Asia

The tall buildings of Abu Dhabi. Business people in the United Arab Emirates and other parts of the Middle East are thinking about being part of the Belt and Road scheme. Image: iStock

 

Businesses in the Middle East have begun to think ‘Make trade not war’ and being part of China’s Belt and Road scheme

Singapore, aiming high for the status of Asia’s unofficial capital, seems like the ideal venue for a conference to discuss how the Middle East could learn a few lessons from ASEAN’s multi-layered relations with China, especially involving partnership in the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

But first, let’s get things straight. The “Middle East” is, of course, a Eurocentric, Orientalist denomination. From Asia’s – and China’s – cultural and geographical point of view, the “Middle East” is correctly seen as Southwest Asia.

Did the President Just End Theresa May’s Career?

 

He insists his comments to The Sun newspaper critical of the UK prime minister were ‘fake news’ that didn’t demonstrate his complete views.

The United Kingdom’s The Sun newspaper published a report today following an exclusive interview Thursday in which President Donald Trump criticized Prime Minister Theresa May’s approach to Brexit and how it may impact trade with the U.S.

Here Are The Six Ways China Could Retaliate In Trade War With The U.S.

For those who missed the overnight fireworks, late on Monday, President Trump asked the US Trade Representative to identify USD 200BN in Chinese goods for further tariffs of 10% which will be imposed if China refuses to change its practices and goes ahead with its retaliation threat, while he also stated that China raising tariffs is unacceptable and that the US will pursue tariffs on another USD 200bln of Chinese goods if China increases tariffs yet again.

Predictably, China – which last week reacted instantly to Trump’s first round of $50BN in tariffs – again responded immediately, wasting no time in accusing Trump of “blackmail.” China’s commerce ministry said on its website that if the US “irrationally” moves forward with the tariffs then China has no choice but to “forcefully fight back” with “qualitative” and “quantitative” measures.

De-Dollarization Continues: China, Iran To Eliminate Greenback From Bilateral Trade

 

The more Washington lashes out in anger at those who will not bow to the unipolar world order, the more the rest of the world fights back. As the launch of its Yuan/Gold-settled oil futures looms, China is escalating its de-dollarization scheme further by seeking a bilateral rial-yuan agreement with Iran.

As a reminder, nothing lasts forever…

Japan wants a massive trade deal without the US — but these countries stand in its way

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next to a map of the original Trans-Pacific Partnership participating countries. [TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP / Getty Images]

 

• Negotiators from the 11 remaining TPP countries are holding talks this week on how to ink a deal without Washington, but internal divisions are a key obstacle
• Vietnam and Malaysia, in particular, are looking to re-open discussions on certain provisions, complicating Japan’s desire to cement an agreement

As the 11 remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership countries continue talks without Washington this week, certain member states now need convincing to stay on board with the massive trade deal.

Derivatives Trading Legend: “As Little As A 4% Decline In One Day Could Start A Critical Crash”

After building out Merrill’s mortgage trading floor basically from scratch, then moving to the buyside at Pimco, several weeks ago Harley Bassman, more familiar to many traders as the “Convexity Maven” – a legend in the realm of derivatives (he helped design the MOVE Index, better known as the VIX for government bonds) – decided to retire (roughly one year after his shocking suggestion that the Fed should devalue the dollar by buying gold).

But that did not mean he would stop writing, and just a few days after exiting the front door at 650 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach for the last time, Bassman wrote his first full article as a “free man”, in which the topic was, not surprisingly, derivatives and specifically the recent collapse in vol – and convexity – what prompted it, but most importantly and what everyone wants to know: what threshold would be sufficient to finally launch the next “critical mass” market move (i.e. crash) and, just as importantly, what could catalyze it.

IMF boss Christine Lagarde calls turn away from globalisation world’s top challenge

In today’s world up is down, down is up, left is right and right is left. Retaining national sovereignty is now an offense to those who want to destroy it.

 

The risk of countries turning their back on global co-operation is the biggest challenge facing the world, as low growth and rising inequality fuel the rise of populism, said IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.

“It did not take the Brexit vote to understand that low growth, rising inequality, and a lack of jobs have combined with social and geopolitical concerns to fuel the rise of populism and inward-looking forces,” Ms Lagarde said in the text of a speech on Thursday at the Centre for Global Development in Washington.

China, Russia eye closer friendship amid tensions with West

Putin and Xi shake hands at the end of a joint press briefing in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016.PHOTO: EPA

 

BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin promised ever-closer cooperation and oversaw a series of deals on Saturday, as the two countries deepen ties in the face of growing tensions with the West.

In what was Putin’s fourth trip to China since Xi became president in 2013, the two men stressed their shared outlook which mirrors the countries’ converging trade, investment and geopolitical interests.

“Russia and China stick to points of view which are very close to each other or are almost the same in the international arena,” Putin said.

China won’t allow chaos or war on Korean peninsula: Xi

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will not allow chaos and war to break out on the Korean peninsula, which would be to no one’s advantage, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a group of Asian foreign ministers on Thursday.

North Korea’s drive to develop a nuclear weapons capability, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, has angered China and raised tension in the region.

China Establishes Its Silk Road in Greece by Purchasing the Port of Piraeus

 

Opening a gateway to Europe is a ‘once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity’ for China.

In October 2009, government-owned China Ocean Shipping Company (cosco) took over one of two piers in the Port of Piraeus from its Greek authorities. Since then, cosco worked to increase the annual container volume nearly 10-fold. Finally, after waiting seven years, Beijing’s One Belt, One Road (obor) initiative took a step further when cosco purchased full control of the Port of Piraeus on April 8.

China seeks ‘new chapter’ with Iran after sanctions end

“In cooperation with the Iranian side and by benefiting from the current favorable conditions, China is ready to upgrade the level of bilateral relations and cooperation so that a new chapter will start in bilateral relations,” Xi said after meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to Iranian state TV.

John Kerry Warns “Dollar Will Cease To Be Reserve Currency Of The World” If Iran Deal Rejected

 

Scaremongery… or maybe the whole point, as Obama’s former chief economist noted, is to lose reserve status. Take That China!!

As Jared Bernstein previously explained…

There are few truisms about the world economy, but for decades, one has been the role of the United States dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It’s a core principle of American economic policy. After all, who wouldn’t want their currency to be the one that foreign banks and governments want to hold in reserve?

But new research reveals that what was once a privilege is now a burden, undermining job growth, pumping up budget and trade deficits and inflating financial bubbles. To get the American economy on track, the government needs to drop its commitment to maintaining the dollar’s reserve-currency status.

Germany’s Industrial Giants Ready to Reap the Benefits of Iran Deal

The crooked deal has not only set Iran on a guaranteed path to nuclear weapons, but has now made them an imminent economic powerhouse in the southern hemisphere — or, King of the South. The Obama administration had successfully bought them time and helped them rise.

Only war can be around the corner when a belligerent nation like Iran, who wants to induce the return of the 12th Imam, is given such a foundation.

 

Germany’s top ten industrial giants flew to Iran on Sunday in order to discuss future economic cooperation, after the protracted negotiation between the P5+1 and Iran finally borne fruit this week.

According to Iran’s Oil Ministry Director General for Europe, US and Caspian Countries Hossein Esmayeeli, Germany’s delegation of its top ten industrial companies headed by German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel are due to arrive in Iran on Sunday.

“The delegation which will comprise of representatives of different German industrial companies, including Linde, Siemens, Mercedes-Daimler, Volkswagen, GIZ and tens of other German firms will arrive in Tehran in the coming days,” the minister said as quoted by Iran’s Fars News Agency (FNA).

China Launches New Freight Train Link to Moscow

The railway authorities in Xinjiang said the additional cargo train service linking the region’s capital Urumqi with Moscow would contribute to the economic development of the autonomous region, which is seen as a “core area” of the Silk Road economic belt, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since March 2014, Xinjiang has opened cargo train service to Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey and also Chelyabinsk in Russia.

By the second half of the year, more than three cargo trains will run between Xinjiang and the destinations in Russia and also central and western Asia per week.

Dollar No More

 

Countries and international groups that have switched from US dollar to national currencies in trade.