Tradenation Sm luxury goods scam: Fugitive Thai woman arrested in Malaysia jailed 14 years

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SINGAPORE: A Thai woman who lived decadently after starting a business reselling luxury watches and bags with her Singaporean husband continued charging customers for expensive goods despite running into financial woes and knowing she could not deliver on the items.

When hundreds of police reports involving millions of dollars began stacking up against them, Pansuk Siriwipa and her husband Pi Jiapeng hid in a lorry container and left Singapore.

They were later arrested in Malaysia and taken back to Singapore to face the music, with the amounts across Pansuk’s fraudulent trading charges spanning over S$25 million.

On Tuesday (Oct 29), she was sentenced to 14 years’ jail. 

She had pleaded guilty to 30 charges including fraudulent trading and cheating, with another 150 charges taken into consideration.

THE CASE

Pansuk and Pi, who got married in September 2020, started a business called Tradenation, selling luxury watches in Singapore, in May 2021.

They opened a second company, Tradeluxury, around January 2022, to sell luxury bags.

Pansuk was the main decision-maker for both companies, communicating with customers, sourcing for suppliers and arranging for goods deliveries.

Both companies would primarily resell luxury watches or bags on a pre-order basis, offering prices that were 10 to 20 per cent lower than local resellers by getting goods from cheaper overseas suppliers.

From the end of 2021 to the start of 2022, Tradenation began to be plagued with sourcing difficulties due to shipment delays and other issues with the overseas suppliers.

The two companies began operating at a loss.

Pansuk knew from February 2022 that the two firms might not be able to fulfil accepted orders, as they lacked the funds. By the end of that month, the companies were in dire financial straits, with net liabilities of S$1.8 million.

Despite this, she continued to accept orders and payments from customers, using the funds to purchase stock to fulfil earlier orders.

The funds from pre-orders of bags under Tradeluxury were used to fulfil the orders for watches for Tradenation’s customers, and customers were occasionally asked if they wanted to consign purchased goods to the company for sale and “roll” the revenue into their next purchase.

By end-March 2022, the two companies had net liabilities in a deficit of almost S$9 million.

Despite this, Pansuk continued taking orders, cheating customers who made payments for pre-orders.

As a result, 166 victims were cheated of S$12 million for goods they never received. 

While both companies were operating at a loss, the couple continued to rack up significant expenditures, funded by their customers.

Pansuk received a salary of S$10,000 a month from Tradenation from January to June 2022 and directed customers’ funds to buy a property worth S$2.4 million in Bangkok in her mother’s name.

She also used S$58,000 to pay for a private jet flight to Bangkok for a holiday, and S$140,000 as down payment for a Corvette in her husband’s name.

Between May and August in 2022, 187 police reports were filed against Pansuk and her husband for unfulfilled luxury item orders made from December 2021 to June 2022.

Pi was arrested on Jun 27, 2022, and released on bail. His passport was surrendered to the police as one of the bail conditions, and Pansuk’s passport was also handed to the police under a different order.

While under investigation, the couple left Singapore illegally due to the rising number of customer complaints.

They met lorry driver Mohamed Alias on Jul 4, 2022, at an industrial park at Ang Mo Kio and later hid in a container compartment in the back of the lorry.

They later went through Tuas Checkpoint without presenting their passports to immigration officers.

A warrant of arrest was issued against them by the State Courts later that month, and the Thai and Malaysian police helped locate the pair in Malaysia on Aug 11, 2022.

They were arrested in Johor Bahru that day, handed over to the Singapore Police Force and remanded since.

The prosecution had sought 14 to 15 years’ jail for Pansuk, while the defence asked for a jail term between 12 years and eight months and 13 years and seven months.

Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh said Pansuk masterminded a scheme to defraud and cheat a total of 189 victims, and the amounts involved make this “one of the largest scams perpetrated against multiple victims in recent memory”.

“At the same time, she continued to live large and spent the customers’ funds on luxurious items – not the ones promised to her customers, but for herself,” he said.

Defence lawyers Johannes Hadi and Sophia Ng from Eugene Thuraisingam’s law firm said Pansuk is remorseful and eventually informed the person who helped her escape that she would surrender.

They said she asked this man to contact the Royal Thai police and waited outside a hotel in Malaysia for the police to arrest her.

The judge backdated her jail term to August 2022, when she was remanded.

Pi’s case is pending.

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Fall in hiring, wage expectations among companies for Q4: Singapore advance estimates

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SINGAPORE: Fewer companies have reported an intention to hire or to raise wages in the next three months, according to advance labour market estimates released by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) on Tuesday (Oct 29).

The percentage of companies that intend to hire in the fourth quarter of 2024 fell to 43.2 per cent, from 49.4 per cent for the third quarter of 2024. 

Similarly, the percentage of companies that plan to raise wages in Q4 fell to 15.6 per cent, from 28.6 per cent for the third quarter.

“As global economic risks such as heightened geopolitical tensions and trade conflicts persist, firms are likely to prioritise maintaining current operations over expansion or wage increases,” said MOM.

“Nonetheless, considering the anticipated year-end hiring for the festive season and the positive economic outlook from the revised GDP growth forecast, we expect employment to continue increasing in the next quarter, and the labour market to remain tight.”

A tight labour market means a relatively low unemployment rate and a scarcity of available workers to fill job openings.

The preliminary data showed that total employment, excluding migrant domestic workers, grew by 24,100 in the third quarter of the year, more than double the growth of 11,300 in the second quarter.

Resident employment continued to rise in growth sectors such as information and communications, professional services, and health and social services, indicating a steady supply of quality jobs and favourable employment prospects for resident workers, said MOM.

Non-resident employment also increased in the third quarter, with the majority coming from work permit holders working in non-PMET roles in construction and manufacturing, similar to the second quarter.

“These positions are typically less sought after by residents, or there may be a limited pool of local candidates available. As a result, businesses seek to bring in WPHs (work permit holders) to meet their staffing needs,” said MOM.

Employment among higher-skilled pass types was stable in the third quarter, added the ministry.

MOM found that resident employment had fallen in the food and beverage services and retail trade, which were sectors where non-resident employment grew.

However, the ministry expects the resident employment to pick up in Q4 as businesses typically increase hiring in preparation for the festive season, it said.

The overall unemployment rate declined slightly to 1.8 per cent in September, from 1.9 per cent in August, while the rates for residents and citizens remained unchanged at 2.6 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.

The unemployment rates are within the range for non-recessionary periods, added MOM.

The number of retrenchments fell to 2,900 in the third quarter, from 3,270 in the second quarter.

Retrenchments fell or remained stable across sectors, with business reorganisation or restructuring remaining the top reason for retrenchments in the third quarter, said MOM.

More details of the labour market situation for the third quarter will be released in mid-December, when MOM publishes the full Q3 report with final figures.

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Newton Hexon Capital, PMB Investment Berhad to launch Newton Hexon Asia Growth FUnd, driving green business development in Asia

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  • Key sectors include renewable energy, waste-to-energy, hydrogen, EVs, etc
  • Fund targets Asia’s growing green economy by investing in high-potential businesses

From Left - Roy Fung (managing partner, Newton Hexon Capital PLT), Naquiyuddin Ibni Tuanku Ja’afar (Honorable chairman, Newton Group) & Mahdzir Othman (Group CEO, Pelaburan MARA Berhad).

Newton Hexon Capital, a leading investment firm, and PMB Investment Berhad, an Islamic Fund Management Company under Pelaburan MARA Berhad, have announced the launch of the Newton Hexon Asia Growth Fund. In a joint statement, they stated that this Shariah-compliant private fund is designed to capitalise on Asia’s rapidly growing green economy by investing in high-potential businesses across diverse sectors.

Mohd Idzwan Izuddin Ab Rahman, chairman of PMB Investment, expressed his enthusiasm for this initiative, saying, “PMB Investment serves as the investment manager for this private fund in Malaysia, leveraging our licensed status. This partnership marks a significant milestone as we expand our commitment to sustainable investments. Through the Newton Hexon Asia Growth Fund, we aim to drive impactful growth in the green economy across Asia, offering our investors access to innovative companies shaping a greener future.”

Meanwhile, Roy Fung, managing partner of Newton Hexon Capital, commented, “We are honoured to mark this defining moment in our journey together with PMB Investment on this forward-thinking fund. The Newton Hexon Asia Growth Fund will serve as a platform for businesses actively transforming Asia’s green landscape, providing both financial returns and lasting, positive ESG impacts. This fund represents not just capital, but a commitment to innovation, integrity, and collaboration in the investment world.”

The Newton Hexon Asia Growth Fund offers clients, partners, investors, and governments an opportunity to engage in the region’s swift transition towards sustainability. Focusing on key sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste-to-energy, hydrogen generation, electric vehicles and related technologies, and urban farming, the fund aims to support businesses leading in environmentally sustainable solutions.

Key Investment Criteria

The Newton Hexon Asia Growth Fund will prioritise projects that demonstrate a positive environmental impact. Key investment criteria include:

  • Adherence to International Guidelines: Projects must align with recognised international standards for environmental sustainability.
  • Carbon Emission Reduction: Investments will be evaluated based on their potential to reduce carbon emissions. 
  • Energy Savings: The fund will favor projects that promote energy efficiency and conservation.
  • Waste Management: Initiatives focused on sustainable waste management and recycling will be considered.
  • Social Impact: Projects contributing to social good and community development will be prioritized.
  • Corporate Governance: Strong corporate governance practices will be a key consideration.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Projects must comply with relevant environmental regulations and standards.

ESG Certification and Ongoing Management

Newton Hexon Capital has partnered with leading providers of testing, inspection, and certification services to ensure the fund adheres to high environmental, social, and governance  standards. These partners will assess key ESG factors such as energy savings, indoor air quality, and overall sustainability impact.

To underscore its commitment to sustainability, the fund may seek certification from additional international and local bodies as required. Ongoing portfolio management will ensure all investments continue to meet or exceed global ESG standards.

For more information on PMB Investment’s products, please visit www.pmbinvestment.com.my 

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Strategic vision

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Mr Uthai has been instrumental in fostering strategic partnerships that have expanded Sansiri's growth, both domestically and internationally. Varuth Hirunyatheb
Mr Uthai has been instrumental in fostering strategic partnerships that have expanded Sansiri’s growth, both domestically and internationally. Varuth Hirunyatheb

Uthai Uthaisangsuk has been instrumental in leading SET-listed developer Sansiri Plc to record-breaking performances over the past three to four years, particularly during the pandemic period, notably adopting a “speed to market” strategy.

In early 2020 when Covid-19 first started to spread, nobody knew how long the impact would last. Yet Sansiri quickly made decisive moves, especially as the condo segment was facing obstacles.

At the time, the company held a substantial inventory of condos valued at around 20 billion baht, most of which were ready-to-move-in units. Sansiri was the first to launch special promotional discounts on these properties.

While this meant sacrificing some profit, it provided crucial cash flow during a stagnant market.

Despite the pandemic in 2020, Sansiri reported 30.6 billion baht in revenue from residential sales, a 60% increase from 19.1 billion baht in 2019.

This surge was primarily driven by condo sales, which more than doubled from 5.36 billion baht to 12.1 billion baht.

Though residential sales revenue dipped to 26.17 billion baht in 2021, it rebounded to 30.71 billion baht in 2022 and climbed to 32.83 billion baht in 2023.

Last year, the company recorded 49 billion baht in presales and 39 billion baht in consolidated revenue, both new highs.

Net profit also grew consistently, improving from 1.67 billion baht in 2020 to 2 billion baht in 2021, 4.28 billion baht in 2022 and reaching an all-time high of 6 billion baht last year.

Net profit margins improved from 4.8% in 2020 to 6.82% in 2021, 12.23% in 2022 and 15.51% in 2023.

“Speed to market was the key strategy that helped us navigate through 2020-21,” said Mr Uthai, Sansiri’s president, who has been awarded Bangkok Post CEO of the Year 2024 award in the residential development sector.

Sansiri has continued to rely on this strategy, maintaining agility and competitiveness in the face of various market challenges.

This approach has enabled the company to swiftly adapt to changing conditions, ensuring a steady and healthy cash flow.

In August 2024, the company announced that it would sell its 71% stake in US-based lifestyle hotel group Standard International Holdings, LLC, to the Hyatt Group for US$355 million.

This move once again demonstrates Sansiri’s speed and agility in strengthening its financial position during a time when the residential market appears sluggish and the debenture market remains unfavourable due to recent defaults by several companies.

Sansiri has debentures totalling 11 billion baht due in the next six months, with 4.9 billion baht maturing in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 6.1 billion baht due in February next year.

In terms of overall business performance, Sansiri recorded 37 billion baht in presales in the first nine months, or 71% of its annual target of 52 billion baht.

Its transfers have reached 31 billion baht, accounting for 72% of the milestone set at 43 billion baht.

“Speed will be impossible without a solid foundation,” said Mr Uthai, who was appointed Sansiri’s president in February this year after Srettha Thavisin resigned last year to become a prime ministerial candidate.

“One of our foundational strengths is our attention to detail, along with a focus on quality and after-sales service, which we have maintained throughout our 40 years,” he said.

Mr Uthai, who was previously chief operating officer, has over 30 years of extensive experience in property development and investment.

Known for his sharp market insight and strategic vision, he has played a key role in many of Sansiri’s landmark projects.

Under his leadership, Sansiri has launched iconic luxury developments, including the renowned 98 Wireless on Wireless Road.

This achievement cemented Sansiri’s reputation for quality and innovation in the high-end property market.

Mr Uthai has also been instrumental in fostering strategic partnerships that have expanded Sansiri’s growth, both domestically and internationally.

These include JVs with partners such as BTS Group for transit-oriented developments and Japan’s Tokyu Corporation for low-rise and high-rise projects.

Beyond real estate, he has been proactive in diversifying Sansiri’s business portfolio, venturing into promising sectors like hospitality, financial services and clean energy.

This strategic expansion not only drives business growth but also aligns with the company’s long-term vision for sustainability.

His commitment to sustainability is a driving force behind Sansiri’s ongoing initiatives.

Under his leadership, Sansiri became the first real estate developer in Thailand to pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

His vision for sustainability encompasses creating impactful environmental changes, ensuring Sansiri remains a pioneering force in the industry’s green transition.

Uthai Uthaisangsuk

President of Sansiri Public Company Limited

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The case for tariffs in an unsettled world – Asia Times

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In the October 18 summary of the Wall Street Journal’s “Weekend Interview between the Journals’ editors and Donald Trump,” James Taranto notes disagreement about tariffs – the Journal editors being against them, as have been several recent op-eds including one by Phil Gramm and Donald Boudreaux published October 16.

Economics textbook models, assuming no military threats, no taxation, no volatile exchange rates and no restrictions on the movement of people across borders, show that whereas the introduction of tariffs improves the situation of a protected sector, the damage to the rest of society is greater than the benefit.

However, once we discard the assumptions, the case against tariffs disappears.

The Gramm and Boudreaux employment of 19th century data about the peaceful US to make the case against tariffs is irrelevant  now since that century (a.) was on the gold standard and (b.) was characterized by especially free movement of people, millions coming to the “swim or sink” US’s model of society at the time.      

These are not new observations. Adam Smith wrote similarly in his Wealth of Nations: Governments must impose tariffs “when some particular sort of industry is necessary for the defense of the country.” He thus justified the Navigation Act, which, among other restrictions, allowed only English ships to bring goods into England.

Another case “in which it will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign [countries] for the encouragement of domestic industry is when some tax is imposed at home upon the produce of the latter.  In this case, it seems reasonable that an equal tax should be imposed on the like produce of the former.”

Academic and nationalist jargons can distort these arguments and suggest that governments must then protect boot-makers, farmers and steel makers since the army needs boots, steel and food to march, fly and eat – patriotism used as a political tool to rationalize every tariffs. However, this reservation is just a reminder of being skeptical of all generalizations.      

Still, in his influential Capitalism and Freedom published in 1962, Milton Friedman wrote that “it would be far better to move to free trade unilaterally, as Britain did in the 19th century when it repealed the Corn Laws in 1846.” He believed that, but presented no evidence. What happened in Europe then was something different.

During the first half of the 19th century, France’s average tariffs stood at roughly 20%, whereas England’s was in the 50-65% range – yet the Industrial Revolution was taking place in England. France’s did not start until the second half of that century – and used British engineers to build the railways.

True, by 1850 English average tariffs dropped to the 25% range. However, Napoleon II’s promotion led to the 1860 Treaty of Commerce between France and England, following which the average level of tariffs dropped in both countries to the 10% range, other countries joining the treaty.

The coordinated drop came with other changes. Whereas England was under the gold standard since the early 18th century, by 1870 and until 1914, Europe and much of the world came to be on the gold standard, a period accompanied by relatively free movement of people and capital – not replicated since.

The1930s analyses of the impact of reducing the Smoot-Hawley tariffs are no better. They neglect the sequence of events preceding  the reduction. President Franklin Roosevelt confiscated gold in 1933, and promptly did a 59 percent devaluation of the dollar (in terms of gold).

Subsequently, in 1934, FDR got the unprecedented right to renegotiate trade agreements (the Congress delegating authority to the executive branch with the reciprocal trade agreement). Devaluation has impacts similar to tariffs. Both encourage domestic production (both at a cost – in an ideal world).  The devaluation diminished the American need of tariffs, and gave greater negotiating powers with European countries that did not devalue relative to gold (Britain and France).

None of these conditions exists these days, particularly the “sink or swim” feature. Floating exchange rates and heavy regulations on the movement of people have severe consequences. Tariffs – second bests – mitigate compounding mistaken exchange rate and other policies and atavistic models in the world.

Consider the impact of floating exchange rates. We negotiate prices of goods, services, longer-term contracts, financial ones in particular to ensure their purchasing power in global trade. The 19th century gold standard assured such stability. These days most contracts are priced in dollars or euros, which, however, fluctuate one relative to the other and relative to other currencies in the 50-100% or even more over short periods.

In the present floating exchange rates system, this volatility brought about the multi-trillion-dollar trade in notional derivatives, their main role being to approximate stable values of contract. Their use does not come cheap and requires deep financial domestic markets that most countries do not have.

In the countries lacking markets, companies’ access to financing becomes more expensive or even prohibitive, preventing them from growing – although these countries experience rapidly increasing young population. In an “ideal world,” capital would flow from aging societies to younger ones – as the former are savers, and the latter are the future. However, at present, the aging societies have the institutions that secure values of capital flows.

The younger, even well skilled cohorts in the developing countries, having limited access to capital, stay under-employed, under-paid and live under atavistic institutions, with limited options to migrate.

One consequence of immobilizing employees is have them produce goods and services at far lower prices than in Western welfare states, where employees pay taxes for sustaining their welfare model of society.  This is exactly the situation that Adam Smith considered exceptional as justifying tariffs.  Depending on the execution, and if combined with different migration policies, tariffs could not only protect the nation’s employees, but also be so structured as to attract investments and properly channel the migration flow.

Are such tariffs the “ideal” way to deal with the present global upheaval?

Are there better alternatives?  In principle, yes. On the horizon – no. 

An alternative would be to go back to clauses in the original Bretton Woods agreement to stabilize exchange rates.  During the negotiations, John Maynard Keynes worried that fixed exchange rates there would lead to chronic balance of payments problems, some countries experiencing constantly rising dollar reserves.  To sustain stable exchange rates, the latter countries had to “commit” to expand domestically and liberalize imports. To achieve such commitment, Keynes suggested penalizing these countries with prolonged trade surpluses, limiting purchases of their exports. This clause was never enforced.

In a recent WSJ op-ed, Greg Ip, though not mentioning exchange rates, paraphrases Michael Pettis offering a solution other than tariffs to achieve this: He writes that Pettis “believes that taxing surplus countries’ purchases of US assets would stop the inflow of their savings [and would] aid US-based manufacturers’ competitiveness and reduce the trade deficit.” Capital taxes “target surplus countries directly.”

The problem with this solution is that countries building up reserves pursue centralized models of society – while deepening financial markets by deploying savings domestically disperses power, which those in charge are reluctant to do.

Briefly: Western welfare states face now such centralized states, wherein dwell the majority of the (immobilized) youth (in the now 8 billion population, up from 1 billion a century ago) – a massively dis-equilibrated world. As of now, all these states pursue a mistaken exchange rate policy, too.

Tariffs – on the movement of people, too – are a way to mitigate the impact of this range of mistaken policies, putting pressures on the atavistic states to change their domestic policies.

This article draws on two books by Reuven Brenner, The Force of Finance: Triumph of the Capital Markets and History: The Human Gamble, and on his article “Toward a New Bretton Woods Agreement.”

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Letter to Trump: make peace and rebuild America’s industrial base – Asia Times

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This article first appeared on The American Mind, a publication of the Claremount Institute think tank, and is republished with permission.

Dear President Trump:

Congratulations on your November election victory. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have left you with a strategic disaster and a fragile economy, but you have put forward a program to keep the peace and restore economic growth. Here are some ideas that may help in your efforts, followed by more specific proposals:

  • Inflation is closer to 8% than the official “3%” after figuring in higher interest costs to consumers. Biden started this inflation by running record budget deficits and the Federal Reserve made it worse by increasing the interest burden on consumers. You must educate the American public on this reality and get the right people in place to fix it.
  • The federal budget deficit is 6.4% of GDP, “larger than any deficit in records going back to 1930 except the years around World War II, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic,” according to the Tax Foundation. Federal interest costs have doubled and now cost as much as defense. Get people on the Fed board who understand your economic agenda.
  • Our woke education system is a disaster and has betrayed working-class kids. We can’t fill skilled jobs in manufacturing because high school graduates lack basic math skills. In the short term, state community college systems and work-study apprenticeship programs can help. Create a federal-state initiative for public-private partnerships in manufacturing skills, and ask Governor Ron DeSantis to head it.
  • Vice President-elect J D Vance offered a workable peace plan in September to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. Give him a big role in handling the Ukraine problem. Leftovers from the foreign policy establishment in your first administration did nothing but sandbag you. Don’t listen to them and put a smart outsider in charge instead.
  • The US military-industrial complex is a hopeless morass of corruption and incompetence that can’t make enough artillery shells to supply Ukraine, let alone enough submarines. Bypass the Pentagon brass and the defense contractors and choose a secretary of defense who understands new defense technologies.
  • Your proposal to put high tariffs on Chinese EV imports but allow Chinese companies to build plants in the US is brilliant—and very much like Ronald Reagan’s response to Japanese auto imports in the 1980s.

An America First Economic Policy

Biden and Harris left you with record debts and deficits, and a dangerous household debt burden. Their reckless spending on handouts to their favored constituencies caused this inflation, not monetary policy, as David Malpass observed.

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates too low for too long and then raised them too much. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers showed that the real inflation rate is double the official number after including higher interest rates. Ask him to help the Bureau of Labor Statistics publish the real inflation rate.

You need a stable monetary policy instead of the Fed’s boom-and-bust whipsaw. Put people on the Federal Reserve Board who understand how monetary policy actually works instead of the ideologues who run the Fed today.

The biggest obstacle to industrial revival is the lack of skilled labor, thanks to the liberals who control US education. Summon the CEOs of our biggest manufacturing companies, and they’ll tell you the same thing: less than a quarter of US high school students are proficient in math. That puts high-end jobs in computer-controlled manufacturing out of their reach.

We can fix the problem by enlisting state community college systems in partnership with corporations. Florida already has the ball rolling. Ask Governor Ron DeSantis to head an emergency effort to train skilled workers.

For the first time in American history, America imports more capital goods than we produce for domestic consumption. The downside of tariffs is that they will increase costs for manufacturers who rely on foreign inputs, and domestic substitutes will take time and money to provide. You might propose a tariff rebate for American manufacturers who buy Chinese capital goods to expand production in the US.

The tax system is rigged against capital-intensive investment, raising the after-tax cost of capital for manufacturing. America’s stock of manufacturing equipment hasn’t risen in 20 years according to the Federal Reserve.

To return to a long-term growth trend, we need about $1 trillion in capital spending. GOP leaders in Congress should propose emergency legislation to allow immediate tax write-offs of capital equipment.

The 2017 corporate tax cut, which increased the number of years required to expense capital equipment, should be revised to allow immediate expensing of capital equipment. That may be a bigger stimulus for domestic manufacturing than tariffs.

Countering the National Security Establishment

You outraged the foreign policy swamp when you denounced endless wars, and they spent four years trying to remove you from office. The swamp bet the farm on endless war in Ukraine, and your refusal to play along makes you their irreconcilable enemy.

Don’t underestimate how determined they are to stop you. You hired establishment types in your first administration and had cause to regret it every time. Now, there’s no room for compromise with the swamp.

The Deep State entrapped your first National Security Adviser, General Mike Flynn, and his successors H R McMaster and John Bolton repaid your trust by turning on you. You can’t trust the failed, feckless foreign policy establishment.

It knows nothing but forever wars and meddling in other countries’ affairs. The problem is that the establishment has controlled promotion in government service and academia for three generations, so any candidate with a big resume got it the wrong way.

Vance may not have a lot of foreign policy experience, but common sense is a better qualification than years of pushing incompetent policies. Ask Victor Davis Hanson to run foreign policy and national security recruitment for the transition team.

And continue to seek the advice of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, your strongest supporter overseas and the smartest politician in Europe. Vance’s plan to end the war in Ukraine—establishing a ceasefire, a buffer zone, and Ukrainian neutrality—will do the job.

David Friedman did a brilliant job crafting the Abraham Accords as Ambassador to Israel in your first term. Persuade him to return to the job. The Biden administration treats Saudi Arabia like a pariah and cozies up to Qatar, the host and paymaster to Hamas.

That’s an outrage, especially after the October 7, 2023 massacre. Reach out to the Saudis and the UAE. Otherwise, US influence in the region may dissolve in the face of China’s diplomatic initiatives.

You rightly proposed a missile shield to protect the United States. Reviving Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative is the best defense policy anyone has put forward in years.

You will get bad advice from the uniforms. They wasted trillions building the wrong kind of military and will try to justify their previous blunders by demanding more of the same. We don’t need nearly a quarter million troops deployed overseas.

The Navy’s expeditionary forces are obsolete. Surface ships are sitting ducks for anti-ship missiles—and China has thousands of them. Meanwhile, our depleted industrial base can barely build one submarine a year.

The Pentagon brass will feed you phony scenarios to justify more obsolete legacy systems. Hire experts who see through flummery like Air Force officer and Stanford Professor Oriana Skylar Mastro.

You can’t trust the US Intelligence Community. Fifty-one senior intelligence officials signed a statement in 2020 claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a Russian hoax. That might have cost you the election. Their appointees hold all the senior jobs today.

Seventy percent of the US intel budget goes to private contractors, opening the system to cronyism and corruption. It will take years to clean up this mess. In the meantime, create a “Team B,” a small group of people you can trust at the National Security Council to keep you informed on world affairs and double-check the CIA’s daily briefing.

Don’t trust the “process people” at the White House. Your Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Liddell told a Republican luncheon not long ago that by picking the people who would attend meetings at the Oval Office and assigning their roles, he could predetermine your decisions 90% of the time. Bring in outsiders who work for you, not the swamp.

We’re in a situation like 1973, when Soviet air defense ruled the skies. In less than ten years we invented smart warfare, turned the tables on Russia, and began winning the Cold War. We invented the Digital Age as a byproduct of our revolution in defense technology.

Don’t put a flag officer or defense contractor lobbyist in charge of the Pentagon. Appoint a defense secretary with deep knowledge of new military technologies, someone like Michael Griffin, your Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the former head of NASA.

Under fiscal constraints, we can’t expand defense spending across the board. Focus on missile defense for the American homeland and American military assets. Cut legacy spending on forever wars, like the 230,000 US troops deployed overseas, and legacy systems like aircraft carriers.

Your first two defense secretaries came respectively from the Marines and the defense industry—and both of them tried to stop you from winning in 2024. You would be better served by a scientist who understands high tech in defense of the American homeland. Chips for defense and critical infrastructure should be produced at home under secure conditions.

Biden’s CHIPS Act is a disaster. It gave $8.5 billion to Intel just before it laid off 10% of its workforce. Worst of all, it left out R&D for chips based on new technologies. We’ve played Whack-a-Mole with China’s chip industry for five years. The battle for semiconductor dominance will be won by chips using interaction at the molecular or atomic level, with speeds orders of magnitude faster than silicon.

Finally, the swamp bet the future of NATO on the Ukraine misadventure. That disaster will cripple, if not destroy, NATO in its present form.

How to Deal with China

We’ve spent $7 trillion on forever wars. China spent $1 trillion on its Belt and Road Initiative. We lost influence and power, whereas China gained both. China’s exports to the US, Europe, and Japan are stagnating, but its exports to the Global South have doubled since you left office. China now exports more to the Global South than to all developed markets combined.

A lot of Chinese exports to the Global South are indirect exports to the US: China builds, plans, and ships components to Vietnam, India, and Mexico, and they export in turn to the US. This translates into a jump in Chinese influence in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, and more US dependence on Chinese supply chains.

China is gaining on us. At best, sanctions on exports of US technology to China buy time. At worst, they will backfire: Instead of keeping China dependent on our products, we have handed Chinese companies a captive domestic market for legacy chips and chip-making equipment.

We beat Russia in the Cold War by inventing the Digital Age, using NASA and the defense budget to drive breakthroughs in new technologies. We can innovate better than China. But federal support for R&D under Reagan was double its present level as a percent of GDP.

That’s why it’s critical to shift the defense budget to support new technology. To take only one example: We can’t out-produce China in missiles. The best response to China’s huge force of anti-ship missiles is directed-energy weapons (for example, lasers). But the Pentagon R&D budget for these new weapons is less than $800 million a year, or the cost of ten fighter planes.

We want to maintain the status quo over Taiwan. China won’t risk using force as long as Taiwan doesn’t move toward independence. With thousands of anti-ship missiles and hundreds of 5th-generation aircraft, China already outguns us in the South China Sea. To keep the balance of power, we need new anti-missile technology—not more sitting ducks in the form of surface ships.

Act at once on your proposal to combine steep tariffs on Chinese EV imports with an invitation to Chinese companies to build plants in the US. As Elon Musk well knows, China has a big lead in industrial automation, including AI applications and 5G communications.

Xiaomi just opened a fully automated plant that can turn out 1,000 cars a day. No US company can make an EV with a sticker price under $10,000 like BYD’s Seagull. It’s like the 1980s when Japanese automakers had better technology than Detroit. Forcing the Japanese to build plants here helped the U.S. auto industry get up to speed.

Just as we did during the Cold War, we need to harness America’s unique capacity for innovation to renew our industrial base. And if you can guide us there, Mr. President, your second administration will be remembered as a turning point in American history.

David P Goldman is deputy editor of Asia Times, a Washington fellow of the Claremont Institute and a senior writer for Law & Liberty.

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Thai FDA urged to act on contaminated grapes

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In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED : 27 Oct 2024 at 17:16

Shine Muscat grapes (photo: Thailand Consumers Council)
Shine Muscat grapes (photo: Thailand Consumers Council)

Thailand Consumers Council is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take legal action against importers of Shine Muscat grape after lab tests showed some samples were contaminated with chemicals which are banned in Thailand.

According to TCC, 23 out of 24 Shine Muscat grape samples tested by the council last week were found to be contaminated with hazardous chemical residues beyond the acceptable legal limit. Some were contaminated with chlorpyrifos and endrin aldehyde, which are banned under current food safety laws. 

TCC secretary-general Saree Aongsomwang said on Sunday the FDA should take legal action against importers who brought in the tainted grapes. Those that have already been imported but have yet to be distributed must be inspected thoroughly, and those which are contaminated should be destroyed.

Ms Saree called on grape importers to recall their products to be thoroughly inspected. She also called on the FDA to ban companies which are found to have knowingly imported contaminated grapes.

The TCC purchased the 24 samples from different places — two from online shops, seven from fruit shops and fresh markets and 15 samples from modern trade — on Oct 2-3 in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

Lab tests found residues of 14 harmful chemicals at concentrations above the safety limit of 0.01 mg/kg. In total, the tests detected also 50 chemical laws residues, 22 of which are not regulated under current Thai law, such as triasulfuron, cyflumetofen, tetraconazole and fludioxonil.

FDA secretary-general Surachoke Tangwiwat on Sunday clarified that out of 50 chemical residues detected, 36 did not exceed the safety limit, while 14 are not on the watchlist due to a lack of information on their risks.

He urged consumers to wash fruits thoroughly before consuming them.

Dr Surachoke emphasised the FDA’s commitment to ensuring consumer safety, saying imports which are found to be contaminated will be seized and legal actions will taken against importers.

Meanwhile, vendors at a market in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Muang district said after the news broke, consumers have been avoiding Shine Muscat grapes, despite offering them at a 70% discount, leading many of them to remove them from their shelves. 

Thaworn Prommee, 58, said that half of his stock has spoiled, despite it being the shop’s best seller before the news broke.

She added that business operators are suffering significant losses as a result.

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