After the meeting, Beijing unveiled an action plan to tackle climate-warming methane, a move that observers said signalled a breakthrough for a new climate agreement between the two countries. They added this could help ensure progress at the United Nations’ upcoming annual climate talks. The 28th UN Climate Change ConferenceContinue Reading
Jeff J MitchellThe US has reached some agreements with China ahead of the COP28 Summit in Dubai at the end of this month, Washington’s climate envoy has said.
“We felt that our days of talks were very successful. We did come up with some agreements”, John Kerry told the BBC at a business summit in Singapore.
Details will be shared “at the appropriate moment soon”, he said.
The world’s two biggest polluters finding common ground is considered a crucial part of any consensus at COP28.
Mr Kerry had met with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in California this week for four days. He described the meetings as tough and serious.
In response to a question, Mr Kerry refuted observations that US climate policies and technologies are “anti-China”.
“Like any other country in the world, [China] benefits from a new technology. We’re trying to develop that… Every country I’ve heard from Germany and France, and other countries, do the same thing. We need to all move faster,” he said.
It is hoped that COP28 – to be held from 30 November to 12 December – will help keep alive the goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C. This was agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.
Contentious topics on the table in Dubai include details of a fund for richer countries to compensate the poorest nations as they cope with climate change.
The US and some other developed countries have been wary of the fund and sought to limit access to the most vulnerable countries not covered by development banks and relief funds.
Australia has offered refuge to citizens of Tuvalu because of the impacts of climate change, in a landmark pact.
Tuvalu – a series of low-lying atolls in the Pacific – is among the nations most at risk from rising seas.
It is home to 11,200 people and has repeatedly called for greater action to combat climate change.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday said it was a “ground-breaking” agreement.
“It will be regarded as a significant day in which Australia acknowledged that we are part of the Pacific family, and with that comes the responsibility to act,” he told reporters.
The new treaty – known as the Falepili Union – is the “most significant” agreement between Australia and a Pacific country ever, he added.
Along with setting up a new migration pathway for residents of the country, the agreement also commits to providing assistance to the nation on climate action and security.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow.
The Joint Committee on Climate Change ( JC3 ) of Malaysia met last month to discuss working together to improve the financial sector’s ability to develop climate resilience. & nbsp,
According to a spokesperson for Bank Negara Malaysia( BNM ),” sustainable assets are gaining momentum in Malaysia with key investment styles built around the need for accelerating sectoral transition and climate resilience, such as energy transition, circular economy, food security, and freedom change.”
The JC3 board was established in September 2019 to ensure a cogent approach to ESG initiatives, with its founding serving as” great testimony” to how proponents of Malaysia’s capital markets intend to work closely to improve sustainability practices in Malaysia, according to Angelia Chin – Sharpe, CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, which operates in Southeast Asia.
Its members include representatives of the market’s central bank, BNM, capital markets regulator, Securities Commission Malaysia ( SC ), stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, and 21 other financial industry players, including Chin-Shawni at BNP AM, insurance companies Allianz, Swiss Re and Zurich, as well as banks like RHB Islamic and CIMB.
The committee outlined five initiatives at the meeting that” emphasise the crucial part of the banking sector in enabling a lasting plan” with the goal of expediting the economy’s low-carbon practices. A pilot project to switch industrial parks and their operational infrastructure to low-carbon practices was one of these, along with three data-related initiatives and a RM1 billion($ 0.210 million ) guarantee to provide funding to smaller market players to support their ESG agendas. & nbsp,
The BNM spokesperson stated to FA that one of the goals of” Ekonomi Madani” is to encourage Malaysia’s green growth in the direction of climate resilience. This goal aims to put Malaysia on a strong development path by realizing and addressing key national issues.
There are numerous opportunities for industry players, including international investors, to achieve the National Energy Transition Roadmap ( NETR ) targets set for 2050, she said.
Energy efficiency( EE ), renewable energy( RE ), hydrogen, bioenergy, and green mobility and carbon capture, utilisation and storage( CCUS ) are the six energy transition levers that Malaysia’s NETR identifies as its ten flagship projects. These are anticipated to catalyze and quicken the market’s energy transition, reduce greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions by at least 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent ( MtCO2eq ) annually, create 23, 000 high-impact job opportunities, and improve corporate ecosystem growth opportunities with benefits to society.
According to the BNM touch, their powerful supply necessitates investments in infrastructure, engineering, and human capital totaling between RM1.2 trillion and Rs1.3 trillion up to 2050. In addition to & nbsp,
While Malaysia’s administrative society is capable of reviewing such an option and is aware of the significance of incorporating ESG into purchase technique,” there is still a need to teach” smaller scale investors on the opportunities and risks associated with sustainability strategies, according to Chin-Sharpe, BNP Paribas AM.
Having said that, she added,” Most banks in Malaysia are committed to playing a more active role to align and help their clients understand the[ relevant ] Malaysian taxonomies.”
Purchase and regulation
The five new initiatives have been included in the government’s budget for 2024 and” complement other policies such as the NETR, the New Industrial Master Plan ( NIMP ) 2030 and the Mid-Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan ( MTR – 12MP ,” according to YB Nik Nazmi Nk Ahmad, minister of Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change.
All governing events, including JC3 users, Malaysia’s Corporate Guarantee Corporation, and pertinent ministries, are committed to putting the tasks into action, the BNM representative confirmed with FA.
The regulatory environment in Malaysia keeps up with the country’s continued energy transition and the funding needed to make it happen. To obtain conservation and environment goals, the money market should be prepared to help finance raising and investments. Since 2011, when Sustainable and Responsible Investment ( SRI ) has been included as a crucial growth strategy in the Capital Market Masterplan CMP2, the SC has paved the way for sustainability, according to Dato ‘ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin, its chairman.
A Climate Chance and Principle-based Taxonomy was published by BNM in 2021. In December 2022, SC unveiled a Principles-Based SRI Taxony for the Malaysian Capital Market. This year, in June of this year. SC also established the International Sustainability Standards Board’s ( ISSB ). & nbsp,
Meanwhile, the BNM spokesperson emphasized last month’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation legislation as having the potential to significantly lower energy use by 2050 — by 2, 017 million gigajoules, or RM97 billion in savings— and to” create new jobs in energy management and auditing ,” she said.
According to Adrian Wong, mind of jobs and director at the Singapore-based law firm Prolegis, which has a formal legal ally with Herbert Smith Freehills( HSF ),” investment has increased in Malaysia in part because the regulatory environment has done more to promote appetite in renewables.”
Large-scale solar auctions in Malaysia’s peninsular and projects along the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy ( Score) are two of the renewable infrastructure projects his team is helping clients with.
The transport industry is anticipated to play a significant role in the demand for renewable energy, with electric vehicle ( EV ) usage expected to reach 80 % of the car market in 2050.
However, he informed FA that the greatest possibility is present in projects involving solar, water, and biofuel. In 2040, it is anticipated that all three sources will increase and account for roughly 17 % of Malaysia’s total energy mix.
a files travel
Data and the potential of emerging technologies to support Malaysia’s conservation plan are the three activities that were announced at the event.
The first builds on the accomplishments of JC3’s Greening Value Chain ( GVC ) pilot program, which began in 2022 and has so far assisted 80 small and medium enterprises( SMEs ) in tracking and reporting greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions across the length of their supply chains. In order to provide public listed companies( PLCs ) capacity-building support, reporting tools, and additional financing facilities, which the BNM spokesperson said could be accessed” at competitive rates via the Low Carbon Transition Facility( LCTF ), the updated plan connects Bursa Malaysia’s sustainability data platform with the GVC program.
Access to an” ESG jump-start portal,” through which Malay businesses can obtain useful information on ESG-related capacity-building programs, certification, as well as financial and opportunity methods, and the introduction of a Green AgriTech program to promote the adoption of green technology and sustainable agriculture techniques among local producers, are additional data related initiatives.
According to the BNM director,” Green AgriTech offers substantial potential for Malaysia’s agricultural field by opening up new possibilities and addressing vital difficulties.”
Wong concurred that emerging technology has the potential to modernize and alter Malaysia’s ESG strategy, particularly in the agricultural industry. From ensuring a sustainable supply of food sources to raising general health and environmental criteria, he mentioned the potential for positive effects.
To ensure that farmers may conduct their financial transactions online, he suggested the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s project, which linked small farmers to online marketplaces offering bright warehouse facilities, supply, and farming solutions.
Through a thorough approach to alternative solutions, this catalytic pilot program encourages farmers to use technologies and follow greener and ecological practices. Participating farmers can obtain grants and LCTF to purchase natural systems, the BNM spokesperson added.
” Technology use may improve produce stability and quality while also assisting in the resolution of food safety issues.”
maintaining speed
The efforts to enlist input from all parts of Malaysia’s market, both the public sector and the private sector, is at the core of the country as it transitions. The BNM spokesperson informed FA that” efforts to level public-private partnerships are even continuing, with fresh initiatives.”
She stated that the GVC program is an excellent illustration of a cutting-edge blended financing initiative in Malaysia that supports the country’s move toward enlightenment.
BNM continues to support private institutions’ participation in the government’s loan offerings, the call emphasized,” BNM also supports such attempts by facilitating the release of Government of Malaysia Sustainable Sukuk for registration by both domestic and foreign investors.”
According to SC chairman Hussin at the conference, the SRI-linked Sukuk Framework was introduced last year, giving the Indonesian capital market access to a full range of frameworks to assist businesses in financing transitional projects as well as alternative, social, and sustainability initiatives.
Fitch recently released an ESG document that showed a steadfast global appetite for the sukuk. The data shows that by the end of 3Q23, ESG sukuk issuance had increased by 66 % year over year( YoY ) to reach$ 33.3 billion worldwide.
Due to built-in sharia filters, there is a cross between Islamic funding and ESG principles, according to the ratings agent’s research. & nbsp,
Over the moderate name,” Fitch Ratings anticipates more rise.” According to the review, the company’s growth is largely driven by governments’ sustainability initiatives and issuers’ funding diversification goals toward both sharia and ESG-sensitive investors.
” ESG sukuk could receive an awareness and issuance boost ,” said Bashar Al-Natoor, Fitch’s global head of Islamic Finance, with the United Arab Emirates( UAE) hosting the Conference of Parties( COP ) 28 this year.
It is motivating to see the Indonesian government adopting a” full of state” approach to addressing the impact of climate change on economic conservation, Hussin said at the conference’s conclusion. The nation’s interests and sustainable development methods are outlined in roadmaps and masterplans that have been made available by the relevant ministries.
I want to say it again:” Our planet is facing an unprecedented problem, one that necessitates immediate and coordinated effort from all countries, sectors, and individuals.”
Haymarket Media Limited All right are held back.
When climate ministers from nearly 200 countries descend on the United Arab Emirates for a UN climate summit in late November, some hard conversations will need to be had on what has – and what hasn’t – been done to mitigate climate change on a global scale.
This year’s event is of particular importance. The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) faces a reckoning as it takes stock of progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement, which set out to limit the average warming across the globe to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to cap warming to 1.5 degrees.
On September 8, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) released the Technical Document on Global Stocktake, a sort of check-in on what countries have done so far to prevent a more dangerous climate change. Two findings in this document stand out, and they will feed into the outcomes of the COP28 summit.
First, global emissions are not on track with the desired targets of the Paris Agreement. The UNFCCC’s 2022 Nationally Determined Contributions Synthesis report found that the global emissions are set to rise by 10.6% by 2030 compared with 2010, an improvement from the 2021 projections of 13.7% increase.
However, these efforts are not enough and implementation of current pledges by national governments put the world on track to become 2.5 degrees warmer by the end of the century. COP28 will have to reach a consensus for further reductions in emissions targets, especially by the developed world.
This brings us to the second key issue raised by the Global Stocktake. The shift to low-emission energy sources has been too slow. This lag is primarily because of a lack of technology and insufficient climate financing options, especially for developing and low-income nations. Poor countries face obstacles in generating local resources for climate initiatives. The absence of loans from the private sector poses a significant barrier.
The creditworthiness of a nation is generally gauged through macroeconomic parameters and past repayment histories. Unfortunately, many developing nations wrestle with issues related to low GDP, political instability and poor fiscal management, affecting their credit ratings adversely.
Even when loans are secured, they often come with exorbitantly high interest rates, further exacerbating their economic strain. The lack of adequate financing not only hampers their ability to implement crucial climate mitigation and adaptation strategies but also restricts their capacity to participate in global climate initiatives, perpetuating a cycle of environmental degradation and economic hardship.
Moreover, the scant finances often must be juggled between immediate socioeconomic concerns and long-term climate actions, presenting a complex conundrum for policymakers.
Developing countries need better access to institutionalized climate finance. The financial commitments essential for combating climate change are in disarray. The 2009 pledge to mobilize US$100 billion annually for developing nations by 2020 has not been achieved in any single year.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates available funding for the year 2020 at a paltry $83.3 billion, a figure that underscores the systemic failure to honor even the most basic commitments. Further, more public funds flow from developed to developing nations for mitigation rather than adaptation.
However, there has been a rise in adaptation finance from multilateral development banks (MDBs), which include such institutions as the as the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
The OECD’s “Towards Orderly Green Transition” report indicates that by 2030, an extra $1.8 trillion annually is required for climate action, representing a quadrupling (toward adaptation, resilience and mitigation) from 2019 levels, primarily for sustainable infrastructure.
That is where MDBs come in. They can substantively address the climate financing challenges faced by developing and low-income countries by amalgamating financial support, technical expertise and policy advice to bolster necessary reforms and resources.
Their capacity to work cohesively with both governments and the private sector facilitates a framework for investment, while their aptitude for providing low-cost, extended-maturity financing mitigates and efficiently shares risks, thereby enticing private investment.
However, the disbursements by MDBs have been lagging, and the current extent of resource transfer to developing countries is inadequate. Unlike many institutions that consistently seek to enhance their reach and efficiency, MDBs appear to have stagnated in their efforts.
In financial terms, MDBs’ gross disbursements are currently half what they were in 1990 relative to the GDP of borrowing countries. On the private-sector front, MDBs now mobilize just $0.60 in private capital for each dollar they lend. Thus MDBs need to reform.
An independent expert group commissioned under India’s G20 presidency has crafted a strategy for MDBs. Tasked with producing two reports, the initial “Triple Agenda” emphasizes the role of MDBs in merging development and climate goals, partnering with governments and businesses to mitigate risks, and becoming more adaptable.
MDBs should enhance their operations, considering disbursements and resources are now below 1990 ratios. The group suggests a tripartite strategy: MDBs should focus on eradicating poverty, boosting shared wealth and aiding global issues like climate change.
There’s also a call to triple sustainable lending by 2030 and introduce a novel funding approach (apart from negotiated equity contributions from sovereign shareholders and discretionary trust funds) to foster versatile collaborations with investors aligned with the MDB agenda.
COP28 needs to advance this issue. Without climate finance for developing countries, Paris Agreement goals won’t be met. The UAE will have a crucial role to take this agenda forward.
This article was provided by Syndication Bureau, which holds copyright.
PUBLISHED: 7 October 2023 at 4:00 p.m.
According to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, Thailand will reiterate its commitments and demand more technological and financial assistance in its effort to combat climate change at the upcoming” 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties” ( COP28 ) in the United Arab Emirates( UAE ) next month.
To ensure that the nation’s commitment to environmental protection is viewed as unquestionable, it will also invest more in natural bonds.
Mr. Srettha gave a keynote address at the 2nd Thailand Climate Action Conference( TCAC ) in the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center’s SX Grand Plenary Hall, stating that the issue of global climate change has grown urgent and serious for both stakeholders and the general public.
He continued,” But this is not a concern that the government only may solve, but one that requires cooperation from everyone in society. This is why Thailand has been positively implementing every means necessary to fight the culture issue.”
Climate change was one of the most crucial topics on his recent trip to the UN General Assembly’s 78th treatment next month.
At some Climate and SDG conferences, he claimed to have had the chance to speak with world leaders and exchange ideas.
According to Mr. Srettha, Thailand aimed to meet the 1.5C target set by the Paris Agreement by becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and achieving net-zero pollution in 2065. Additionally, it has set a 20 % to 40 % national contribution goal for 2030.
According to him, these goals serve as the foundation for procedures like the 13th National Economic and Social Development Plan and the 20-Year National Strategy.
In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 % in the energy sector, he stated that Thailand intends to concentrate on increasing energy efficiency and renewable use. In order to eliminate 120 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually by 2037, it will also increase its green area to 55 % of its total land area.
” Some people may feel burdened by climate actions. However, I see this as a chance. a chance for conservation for Thailand and our personal business. Leading organizations have now promoted green measures thanks to a paradigm shift in production and services, he claimed.
The UAE does host COP28 from November 30 through December 12.
Capturing prompts the PM’s assurance
Following the Siam Paragon shooting, the government has promised that security measures will be intensified to boost international tourists’ confidence.
After being questioned by Chinese media regarding Tuesday’s shooting, which resulted in the deaths of two foreigners, one Chinese and one Myanmar, as well as the injuries of five people — one Chinese, a Lao national, and three Thais — Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin provided the assurances.
The primary minister added that security procedures will be increased to avoid any further situations and that Chinese tourists are always welcome in Thailand.
To reduce easy access to firearms, he added that gun control measures would also be tightened.
After presiding over the conference’s opening, Mr. Srettha was responding to media inquiries at the 2nd Thailand Climate Action Conference( TCAC ) held at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
The Situation Command Centre( SCC ), which was established to handle the shooting, held a press briefing yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide updates on the investigation into the incident and the financial aid provided to its victims. The state will do its best to ensure justice for those who were impacted by the shooting, according to deputy foreign secretary Jakkapong Sangmanee, who presided over the press briefing.
According to Mr. Jakkapong, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has maintained close ties with foreign embassies whose residents were impacted in order to provide the families of the deceased and injured with the assistance they require as soon as possible.
He claimed that the PM would visit China in the middle of the quarter to reestablish ties between the two nations after sending a letter to Beijing regarding the incident.
The state does provide 1, according to the SCC. Each family of the victims received 2 million ringgit as payment. At the same time, each household will receive an additional 5 million baht from the Siam Paragon shopping mall.
The five injured individuals will receive 50,000 ringgit in state payment after being released from the hospital, as well as another 300,000 in shopping mall compensation. The government claims that Giffarine Skyline Unity Co., a Thai direct sales organization, has also given the government 1 million baht as payment for the incident that made headlines all over the world.
After the killing spree, a 14-year-old boy was taken into custody and charged with premeditated murder, attempted homicide, illegal firearm and ammunition hands, unlawful arm carrying, and shooting while in public. On Thursday, three men were detained for selling the girl the weapon and the ammunition.
In the meantime, the boy’s parents sent a letter of apology monday.
The parents wrote,” My community and I feel a deep sense of regret.” ” We extend our sincere condolences to the patients, the families of the deceased, and the injured for the latest shooting incident that resulted from our father’s behavior at the Siam Paragon office business.”
” We accept responsibility as completely as we can and are deeply saddened and shocked by this affair.” Additionally, we would like to pledge that we will work with the law, federal agencies, and any other important parties in relation to these legal proceedings, as well as help any mitigation measures and initiatives to mitigate the effects of this event. “”
PUBLISHED: 4:00 on October 5, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand wants to postpone its efforts to achieve net zero emissions 15 years earlier than originally planned.
Talerngsak Petchsuwan, the agency’s deputy continuous secretary, stated yesterday that the organization is confident it will be possible by 2050 with improved stakeholder cooperation.
The past administration made the international commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2065 and carbon neutrality by the year 2050 two years ago. Net zero requires reducing emissions, whereas coal independence requires compensating for emissions with balances.
During COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021, the original Prayut Chan-o-cha administration made the commitment.
According to Mr. Talerngsak,” We now have strong information about the nation’s ability to reach the goal earlier than scheduled.”
If we get help from abroad, particularly with cutting-edge technology, we can shorten the timeline, he said. ” Partners have made significant efforts to show that they are prepared to adapt to the tightening of international laws related to climate change mitigation ,” particularly in the business sector.
Mr. Talerngsak used the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ( Cbam ) as an example. This mechanism will require Thai producers of cement, fertilizer, energy, and steel to include a greenhouse emission cost for goods entering the market.
According to him, nearby businesses need to invest more in natural systems in order to meet the demands of the EU market. In the near future, he said, Cbam might be expanded to include agrarian, textile, and other materials.
The Thailand Climate Action Conference, which will be presided over by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin tomorrow at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, was organized by the government and its partners as portion of its efforts to combat climate change, according to Mr. Talerngsak.
Getty ImagesThere is a saying that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But what happens when China is unwell?
The world’s second-largest economy, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is facing a host of problems – including slow growth, high youth unemployment and a property market in disarray.
While these issues add up to a major headache for Beijing, how much does it matter to the rest of the world?
Analysts believe worries of an impending global catastrophe are overstated. But multinational corporations, their workers and even people with no direct links to China are likely to feel at least some of the effects. Ultimately, it depends on who you are.
“If Chinese people start cutting back on eating out for lunch, for example, does that affect the global economy?” asked Deborah Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore.
“The answer is not as much as you might imagine, but it certainly does hit firms who directly rely on domestic Chinese consumption.”
Hundreds of big global companies such as Apple, Volkswagen and Burberry get a lot of their revenue from China’s vast consumer market and will be hit by households spending less. The knock-on effects will then be felt by the thousands of suppliers and workers around the world who rely on these companies.
When you consider that China is responsible for more than a third of the growth seen in the world, any kind of deceleration will be felt beyond its borders.
The US credit rating agency Fitch said last month that China’s slowdown was “casting a shadow over global growth prospects” and downgraded its forecast for the entire world in 2024.
However, according to some economists, the idea that China is the engine of global prosperity has been exaggerated.
“Mathematically, yes, China accounts for around 40% of global growth,” says George Magnus, an economist at the University of Oxford’s China Centre.
“But who is that growth benefitting? China runs a huge trade surplus. It exports so much more than it imports, so how much China grows or doesn’t grow is really more about China than it is about the rest of the world.”
Nevertheless, China spending less on goods and services – or on housebuilding – means less demand for raw materials and commodities. In August, the country imported nearly 9% less compared to the same time last year – when it was still under zero-Covid restrictions.
“Big exporters such as Australia, Brazil and several countries in Africa will be hit hardest by this,” says Roland Rajah, director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
Weak demand in China also means that prices there will stay low. From a Western consumer perspective, it would be a welcome way of curbing rising prices that does not involve further raising interest rates.
“This is good news for people and businesses struggling to deal with high inflation,” Mr Rajah says. So in the short-term, ordinary consumers may benefit from China’s slowdown. But there are longer term questions for people in the developing world.
Over the last 10 years, China has invested more than a trillion dollars in huge infrastructure projects known as the Belt and Road Initiative.
More than 150 countries have received Chinese money and technology to build roads, airports, seaports and bridges. According to Mr Rajah, Chinese commitment to these projects may start to suffer if economic problems persist at home.
“Now Chinese firms and banks won’t have the same financial largesse to splash around overseas,” he says.
While reduced Chinese investment abroad is a possibility, it is unclear how else China’s domestic economic situation will affect its foreign policy.
A more vulnerable China, some argue, may seek to repair damaged relations with the US. American trade restrictions have partly contributed to a 25% drop in Chinese exports to the US in the first half of this year, while US Trade Secretary Gina Raimondo recently called the country “uninvestable” for some American firms.
But there is no evidence to suggest China’s approach is softening. Beijing continues to retaliate with restrictions of its own, frequently blasts the “Cold War mentality” of western countries and appears to maintain good relations with authoritarian leaders of sanctioned regimes, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad.
At the same time, a stream of US and EU officials continue to travel to China every month to keep up talks on bilateral trade. The truth is that few people really know what lies between Chinese rhetoric and Chinese policy.
One of the more extreme readings of this uncertainty comes from hawkish observers in Washington, who say a downturn in the Chinese economy could impact how it deals with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory.
Speaking earlier this month, Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher – chair of the US House Select Committee on China – said problems at home were making China’s leader Xi Jinping “less predictable” and could lead him to “do something very stupid” with regards to Taiwan.
The idea is that if, as Mr Rajah argues, it becomes apparent that China’s “economic miracle is over”, then the Communist Party’s reaction “could prove very consequential indeed”.
There are, however, plenty of people who dismiss this notion, including US President Joe Biden. When asked about this possibility, he said Mr Xi currently had his “hands full” dealing with the country’s economic problems.
“I don’t think it’s going to cause China to invade Taiwan – matter of fact the opposite. China probably doesn’t have the same capacity as it had before,” Mr Biden said.
However, if there is one lesson to learn from history, it is to expect the unexpected. As Ms Elms points out, few people before 2008 anticipated that subprime mortgages in Las Vegas would send shockwaves through the global economy.
The echoes of 2008 have got some analysts worried about what is known as “financial contagion”. This includes the nightmare scenario of China’s property crisis leading to a full-blown collapse in the Chinese economy, triggering financial meltdown around the world.
Parallels with the subprime mortgage crisis – which saw the collapse of Wall Street investment giant Lehman Brothers and a global recession – are certainly tempting to make. But, according to Mr Magnus, they are not completely accurate.
“This is not going to be a Lehman-type shock,” he says. “China is unlikely to let their big banks go bust – and they have stronger balance sheets than the thousands of regional and community banks that went under in the US.”
Ms Elms agrees: “China’s property market is not linked to their financial infrastructure in the same way that American subprime mortgages were. Besides, China’s financial system is not dominant enough for there to be a direct global impact like we saw from the United States in 2008.”
“We are globally interconnected,” she says. “When you have one of the large engines of growth not functioning it affects the rest of us, and it often affects the rest of us in ways that weren’t anticipated.”
“It doesn’t mean I think we’re headed for a repeat of 2008, but the point is that what sometimes appear to be local, domestic concerns can have an effect on us all. Even in ways that we wouldn’t have imagined.”
22 September 2023 at 17:35 PUBLISHED
Srettha Thavisin, the prime minister and finance minister of New York, insists that Thailand has emphasized the value of individual freedom and made every effort to assist Myanmar refugees living in the nation.
Following a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN Headquarters while attending the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly( UNGA78 ), Mr. Srettha gave an interview with reporters on Friday.
According to Mr. Srettha, Thailand values human rights, participates in peace negotiations, aids migrants, and avoids getting involved in domestic issues between neighboring nations.
He claimed that the UN secretary-general has expressed his concern and that Thailand will take his advice about caring for migrants significantly.
The primary secretary responded that peace is a delicate subject because problems occur all over the world when asked about the International Day of Peace, which falls on September 21.
However, the UN secretary-general is emphasize” fresh air” as a common problem that every nation pays attention to and agrees with, he said at UNGA78.
During their bilateral meeting, Mr. Srettha also outlined the new government’s objectives, which are consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
He also reaffirmed Thailand’s dedication to enhancing all aspects of Thailand-UN cooperation, as well as its support for secretary-general initiatives, especially those aimed at accelerating sustainable development goals and addressing climate change. He even stated that he would like to see more Vietnamese people in senior roles at the UN.
According to government spokeswoman Chai Wacharonke, the UN secretary-general congratulated the prime minister on taking office and praised Thailand’s superb relationship with the organization as well as its active role as the host country of numerous UN agencies in the area.
Chulapong Yukate, a member of the Move Forward Party who represents Myanmar, called on the government on Friday to aid international organizations that want to take meals, medical supplies, or other humanitarian aid to aid the people of Myanmar affected by the turmoil in Shan state.
