Archive for May 2018
China’s GDP data destroys ‘hard landing’ myth again
China’s latest economic dataChina’s recently-published second quarter 2017 GDP data showed solid growth in regard to all key indicators. Year-on-year:• GDP rose 6.9 percent;• Industrial value-added rose 7.6 percent;• Retail sales grew 11.0 percent;• Urban fixed asset investment rose 8.6 percent.This is a performance exceeding any major Western economy – American GDP growth for the…
Read MoreTo become a high income economy China needs to study facts not myths
Unfortunately some discussion in the media of how China can become a ‘high income’ economy fails to follow the fundamental Chinese saying ‘seek truth from facts.’ Instead it follows a method of ‘ignore the facts, focus on inaccurate dogma.’In particular, as usual, neo-liberals avoid dealing with the facts. They suggest that to avoid the ‘middle…
Read MoreAn economist’s Mein Kampf
This article, published in October 1991, accurately predicted that ‘shock therapy’ recommended for Russia by Western economic institutions, and supported by 95% of Western economists, would lead to economic catastrophe in Russia – pushing its economy backwards towards becoming a raw material producing appendage of the West. Determination that China should avoid any such economic catastrophe…
Read MoreThe ‘Belt & Road’ region will be the main locomotive of the world economy
The importance of the Belt and Road (B&R) summit for China and participating countries is well known. What is not so widely grasped is that the B&R region is now by far the most powerful locomotive not only of the regional but of the global economy. To be precise: Measured at current exchange rates the…
Read MoreWhy China’s social achievements are even greater than its economic ones
Attempts are sometimes made to claim that China’s…
Read MoreTheoretical bases of China’s “win-win” foreign policy concept
In his speech on Asia’s “Community of Common Destiny” at 2015’a Boao Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping spelled out China’s conception of “win-win” relations in Asia and the world. This therefore provides a good opportunity to examine the fundamental bases of China’s foreign policy. It also highlights the reason for the recent failure of the United…
Read MoreA damaging confusion in Western economics books
Economics textbooks, particularly when discussing Keynes, frequently contain an elementary economic confusion – it should be made explicit this is a confusion in the textbooks and is not stated by Keynes. A typical example may be taken as Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, but numerous other examples could be cited as the confusion is widespread.1 This…
Read MoreWhy the US remains locked in slow growth
SummaryThe latest US economic data confirms the US remains locked in a prolonged period of slow growth with major consequences for geopolitics and destabilising consequences for US domestic politics. The latest US economic growth dataAlmost no international issue is more crucial for economic and geopolitical strategy than economic trends within the US. It is therefore crucial…
Read MoreWhy China won’t suffer a Western type financial crisis
Inaccurate articles sometimes appear claiming China faces a “severe debt crisis.” Factually these are easily refuted. Changyong Rhee, the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department director, pointed out that China’s national and local government debt is only 53% of its GDP, compared to U.S. government debt which is roughly as big as GDP, or in Japan…
Read MoreThe real reason for the US South China Sea provocation
On July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued a pre-arranged declaration supporting some Philippines claims against China in the South China Sea – despite such a declaration being clearly contrary to international law. Almost simultaneously last week the U.S. announced that it would deploy the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea.…
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