MUMBAI: The world’s biggest rice exporter India has banned some overseas sales of the grain “with immediate effect”, the government said, in a move that could drive international prices even higher. Rice is a major world food staple and prices on international markets have soared to decade highs as theContinue Reading
Deal positions Salmon as one of SEA’s fastest-growing fintechs
Funds will enable firm to scale lending operations across Philippines
Consumer fintech Salmon announced that it has secured a US$20 million (RM91 million) debt facility from US emerging-markets specialist investment firm Argentem Creek Partners.
In a statement, the startup said this enables it to further scale its…Continue Reading
On March 30, 2023, Australian Minister for Resources Madeleine King announced sweeping reforms to the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM).
First implemented in July 2017, the ADGSM allows the minister to regulate liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports in response to domestic shortages. The revised policy empowers the government to decide to activate the ADGSM every quarter, departing from the previous annual intervention.
While the reforms aim to strike a delicate balance between maintaining domestic supply and safeguarding Australia’s global reputation as a reliable energy supplier, it may also prompt concerns among international LNG buyers.
Australia exported 78.5 million tonnes of LNG in 2021, accounting for one-fifth of the global LNG trade. The nations that are most likely to be impacted by the changes are Japan, South Korea and China — the world’s top three LNG importers, accounting for 21.3%, 20% and 12.6% of the global LNG trade in 2021 respectively.
Japan relies on Australia for 40% of its LNG consumption and is particularly wary of potential supply chain disruptions. The shortened procurement window under the newly revised ADGSM, coupled with uncertainty surrounding the Australian LNG industry’s adaptability to global market shifts, has raised concerns about the stability of Japan’s energy security.
Australia’s quarterly domestic gas supply interventions could pose challenges for Japanese LNG importers in mitigating potential shortfalls because they will need to manage the changes in 90 days, rather than a year.
These concerns arise within the broader context of a changing global energy landscape. While natural gas is widely regarded as a transitional fuel, its flexibility in power generation is crucial, at least until electricity grids are equipped with better storage options to balance out the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
Natural gas also offers lower emissions than coal, making it an attractive option for countries committed to decarbonization.
But the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has injected further complexity into the equation. In response to sanctions, Russia has cut its gas supply to Europe. EU imports of Russian gas in March 2023 were 74% lower compared to the same month in 2021. Europe has shifted its focus from Russian pipeline gas to LNG, triggering a surge in global demand.
LNG prices skyrocketed to unprecedented heights, impacting markets worldwide, before returning to pre-crisis levels. The monthly average prices of Asian LNG surged significantly, rising from US$27.8 per million metric British thermal unit in February 2022 to a historical peak of $54 per million metric British thermal unit in August 2022.
Spot LNG prices soared to a staggering high of $70.50 per million metric British thermal unit in August 2022 as Europe swiftly absorbed all available cargoes in anticipation of the potential loss of all Russian pipeline supplies.
But Asian LNG prices fell to the lowest level in nearly two years due to weak demand from top regional importers and as inventories remained high.
For LNG buyers like Japan, ensuring stable and affordable gas supplies has become an arduous task in the face of such market turbulence. To protect its energy security, Japan continues to hold interest in Sakhalin, Russia’s natural gas project, despite having imposed economic sanctions on the country.
A long-term contract for the Sakhalin project could provide the LNG that Japan urgently requires at a price lower than the market price.
As the world’s leading LNG exporter, LNG price hikes have also directly impacted Australia’s domestic market. In December 2022, the Australian government implemented a temporary price cap on domestic coal at AU$125 (US$84.7) per tonne and natural gas at AU$12 per gigajoule to alleviate the financial burden on domestic consumers.
But the supplies of natural gas to retailers have expectedly dwindled since the implementation of the price cap policy. This situation led to the revision of the ADGSM.
While the ADGSM allows Australia to accelerate its own energy transition while protecting the welfare of consumers, it could also lead to higher emissions, slowing the transition to clean energies elsewhere.
Without access to Australian LNG, at the current technology level, Japan and other major Asian economies are likely to burn more coal.
In the summer of 2022, Japan relied on aging coal-fired power plants to tackle the energy crisis. China experienced a 0.7% decline in natural gas demand in 2022, the first drop since 1982, while coal consumption increased by 4.3% during the same period. This surge in coal consumption hinders global emission reduction efforts and exacerbates environmental concerns.
The spillover effect of Australia’s natural gas security policy underscores the importance of global cooperation in tackling the multifaceted challenges of energy transitions, energy security and international politics.
Australia’s ADGSM reforms serve as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of global energy markets and the need for cautious and informed decision-making in a rapidly changing world.
As the global energy landscape evolves, policymakers must remain attentive to the ripple effects caused by their decisions.
Xunpeng Shi is Professor and Research Principal at the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. Edward Sung is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.
This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
IHG Hotels & Resorts today announces a partnership with Odom Living Co., Ltd. to introduce Vignette Collection to Phnom Penh in 2027.
Located in the heart of Cambodia’s bustling capital, the 50-room Vignette Collection Phnom Penh Odom will provide guests with an exclusive Luxury & Lifestyle destination and joins a family of distinctive, elegant, and intriguing luxury and lifestyle hotels. Created for the next generation of luxury travellers, each property is unique yet connected by a shared vision to make a positive change for people, place, and planet.
The second IHG Hotels & Resorts property to open in Cambodia – following Six Senses Krabey Island – Vignette Collection Phnom Penh Odom joins one of the world’s largest luxury and lifestyle portfolios with more than 450 open hotels and over 100,000 rooms. Vignette Collection is IHG’s first collection brand and joins Six Senses, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Regent Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and Hotel Indigo.
Patrick Finn, Vice President, Development, South East Asia & Korea, IHG Hotels & Resorts said: “Vignette Collection is IHG’s newest Luxury & Lifestyle brand, and already growing quickly in many markets. It’s the perfect choice for partners seeking a distinctive identity for their hotel, while benefiting from our global scale, systems, and expertise as the second largest Luxury & Lifestyle hotel operator in the world.
“It’s been wonderful to work with Odom to bring Vignette Collection hotel to Cambodia’s capital city. Since launching in 2021, Vignette Collection has opened six properties in destinations including Brisbane, Bangkok, Porto and Washington, and grown a pipeline of 15 outstanding hotels. Over the next 10 years we anticipate a rapid expansion of Vignette Collection, reaching 100 properties globally, attracting guests who seek authentic, experiential and considerate stays.”
Kim Leang Kean, Odom Board Chairman and Founder of real estate developer ULS added: “Phnom Penh is a vibrant city with a rich history, incredible architecture, mouth-watering food and a unique culture, and we believe that Vignette Collection Phnom Penh Odom will further enhance its status as a must-visit destination.
“The Vignette Collection brand experience of authentic one-of-a-kind stays, each with its own distinct outlook and story to tell, is perfectly suited to attracting the next generation of travellers to this thriving city. Surrounded by an exciting mix of upmarket retail outlets, office spaces, hotel and residences, it will quickly become the place to be for visitors and locals alike.”
Located on the top seven floors of Odom Tower – the 45-storey office component of the mixed-use development ODOM, Vignette Collection Phnom Penh Odom is conveniently situated along Preah Norodom Boulevard, a major road in Central Phnom Penh. With its central location within the Tonle Bassac district, it will be close to many international embassies and Cambodian government agencies, as well as international businesses and non-government organisations.
Vignette Collection Phnom Penh Odom will feature 50 rooms and suites and facilities including two restaurants, a rooftop bar, a lobby lounge, a swimming pool, fitness centre, a members-only private club and four meeting rooms.
The brand has expanded quickly in Southeast Asia, with the opening of Sindhorn Midtown Hotel Bangkok, Vignette Collection in 2022, with the rebrand of Dinso Resort & Villas Phuket, Thailand following later this year and two further hotels in The Aquatique Pattaya and Bangkok Chinatown.
Vignette Collection, IHG’s first collection brand, is a family of one-of-a-kind properties in sought-after urban and resort locations where the next generation of Luxury & Lifestyle travellers can indulge in stays that weave responsibility, community and locality together, backed by the reassurance of the company’s trusted reputation and leading loyalty offer.
About IHG Hotels & Resorts
Held under the umbrella of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC holding company, IHG Hotels & Resorts is a global hospitality company, providing True Hospitality for Good. With a family of 18 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards, one of the world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in over 100 countries, and more than 1,800 in the development pipeline.
For IHG’s latest news, visit their Newsroom and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
About Vignette Collection
Vignette Collection is IHG Hotels & Resorts’ first collection brand. A family of one-of-a-kind properties in sought-after urban and resort locations where guests can indulge in a growing passion for stays that are authentic, experiential and considerate. Here for the next generation of luxury travellers seeking both discovery and purpose, Vignette Collection weaves responsibility, community and locality together for stays that are as distinct as our hotels.
For more information, visit vignettecollectionhotels.com.
About ODOM
Nestled in central Phnom Penh, ODOM is a world-class mixed-use development comprising two towers: the 45-storey Odom Tower, offering 40,000 sqm of Grade A offices; and Odom Living, featuring 22 floors of spacious one to four bedrooms apartments for modern families and professionals. The towers are connected by Odom Square, a five-storey podium with green and commercial space for communities to thrive.
ODOM’s lead developer is Urban Living Solutions (ULS), a Cambodian-owned company focused on community-centered development.
TOKYO: Japan’s core inflation stayed above the central bank’s 2 per cent target in June for the 15th straight month but an index stripping away the effect of energy costs slowed, data showed, suggesting that prolonged commodity-driven price pressures may have peaked. Yet, with services price growth also slowing lastContinue Reading
What do the Olympic Games have in common with a US-China trade war now at a stage where Washington is moving to boost chips ties with Taiwan even as it introduces new sanctions targeting China?
According to Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the US, there is a comparison to be made. What the Americans are doing with the tech curbs, he explains, is “like someone wearing a ‘shark’s skin’ swimsuit but forcing others to wear outdated ones.” The reference is to a NASA-designed high-tech swimsuit that 2008 Olympics officials decided was giving an unfair advantage to swimmers who wore them.
Threatening retaliation if the Biden administration sticks with its plan to expand more export bans on sensitive technology, Xie offered his Speedo analogy during a forum in Washington on Wednesday.
A day earlier, the US Congress had finished approving a trade initiative between the United States and Taiwan. The initiative is intended to pave the way to deeper talks on technological partnership and bilateral trade deals. That didn’t go down well with Beijing either.
On Tuesday it was the US Senate’s turn to vote on and pass a bill that aims to approve the first phase of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which was announced on May 18. As the same bill had been passed by the House of Representatives on June 21, it now awaits only the signature of US President Joe Biden before taking effect.
The government in Taipei, of course, was pleased.
“The prompt and smooth passage of the bill showed that bipartisan US lawmakers had attached a great importance to it and supported the strengthening trade and economic partnership between Taiwan and the US,” Oliver Lin, a spokesperson of Taiwan’s Presidential Office, said Wednesday. “The implementation of the trade initiative will create new opportunities for Taiwan’s economy and industries.”
Chuang Tsui-yun, Taiwan’s Minister of Finance, said the trade initiative will help Taiwan importers cut customs expenses by a total of TWD100 million (US$3.2 million) and speed up customs clearance.
Chinese state media outlets said that the trade initiative will only benefit Americans, not Taiwanese.
“The so-called US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade should not be called an agreement as it is only a memorandum of understanding that sets a policy direction for both sides,” the Global Times said Wednesday. “It does not include topics about tariffs and the opening of markets but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is bragging about them.”
Citing some Taiwanese politicians and business people, the Global Times said Thursday there is no guarantee that Taiwan can sign a free trade agreement or a double taxation treaty with the US. It said the trade initiative focuses mainly on the areas that the US cares about, showing that the DPP had failed to stand up for Taiwan’s interests.
Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, said that, as Beijing has recently resumed dialogues with Washington, both sides will talk about the Taiwan question. Li said China, while keeping Sino-US relations under control, will make clear to the US the danger of irresponsible collusion with Taiwan secessionists.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on May 19 that China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction with the Taiwan region by countries having diplomatic ties with China, including negotiating or concluding agreements with implications of sovereignty and of official nature.
In June of last year, the US and Taiwan began bilateral trade talks for the trade initiative. Both sides met initially last November and held a four-day negotiation in January this year.
The first phase of this agreement covers five areas, including customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, domestic services regulation, anticorruption and small-and-medium-sized enterprises.
In fact, researchers in the US and Taiwan also agreed that this trade initiative may not benefit either party much unless Taiwan can join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
The US-Taiwan Business Council, a Chicago-based non-profit organization, said in a statement on July 8 last year that Taiwan should be a key target for exploring further bilateral trade deals – including negotiating and signing a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement. It said it hopes to see Taiwan on a path to be included in the IPEF.
The council said further discussions on a digital economy agreement, regulatory practices and standards, a semiconductor supply chain agreement and a double taxation agreement are at the top of the priority list for US firms.
“US companies are interested in exploring how the trade initiative could potentially play a role in enhancing bilateral supply chain security, particularly in the semiconductor sector,” it said. “Taiwan’s technology and semiconductor industries play such crucial roles in the US-Taiwan trade relationship, and Taiwan therefore must be part of all US attempts to improve the security and resiliency of the broader technology and ICT supply chains.” Those initials stand for information and communications technology.
In a report published last September, Kristy Hsu, director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, suggested the US:
“The United States’s CHIPS Act helps attract investments of TSMC, Samsung, SK, Intel, and other major companies. But when these fabs begin operation, the fabricated chips will need to be shipped back to Asia for APT,” due to little assembly capacity and “no advanced packaging and testing at all in the US,” she said – adding that Taiwan can help the US in this area.
In May last year, the Biden administration launched the IPEF but did not include Taiwan as a founding member. Founding nations include Australia, Brunei, Fiji India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the US continues to push forward its “de-risking” strategy with China.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday that the US will limit its coming investment curbs against China to the semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum computing sectors and will not extend them to the biotechnology and clean energy industries.
Predictably, that concession was not sufficient for Beijing, in view of media reports that the curbs in the three sectors that are still planned will be announced by the end of August and implemented in 2024.
“China is not afraid of and will not evade competition, but the United States’s so-called competition is obviously unfair,” Chinese ambassador Xie said at the forum on Wednesday. “First, the US used security reasons to ban Huawei’s products. Second, the US gathered its allies to beat up China.” And, he added, “Third, the US banned the exports of 14nm or below chips to China.”
Xie said the US has so far sanctioned 1,300 companies and made a large number of people lose their jobs. He said the Chinese government won’t sit on its hands in the face of US actions.
The China Semiconductor Industry Association said Wednesday that it “believes that any damage to the current global supply chain, which developed over the past decades alongside the process of globalization, could create inevitable and irreparable harm to the global economy.
It warned that the coming US investment curbs against China will jeopardize the competitiveness of the US chip firms and threaten the globalization of the semiconductor sector.
Read: China-US trade war slows down a bit – baby steps?
Read: Taiwan pushes FTA after closing US trade deal
Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3
The Russia-Ukraine grain deal that has been critical to keeping global food prices stable and preventing famine is currently in tatters.
On July 17, 2023, Russia said it was pulling out of the year-old deal, which allowed shipments of grains and other foodstuffs to travel past the Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea. And to make matters worse, over the next two days Russia bombed the Ukrainian grain port of Odesa, destroying over 60,000 tons of grain.
As a result, food prices have surged, with the cost of wheat, corn and soybeans in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere all skyrocketing.
So, what is the grain deal, and why is it so important to the global food supply chain?
Anna Nagurney is an expert on supply chains, including those involving perishable products like food, and is co-chair of the board of directors overseeing the Kiev School of Economics in Ukraine.
She explains how important Ukrainian grain is to feeding the world – and why the Black Sea is a vital route to getting it to people who need it.
Ukraine has been called the breadbasket of Europe and is a major supplier of wheat, barley, sunflower products and corn to Europe as well as to developing countries such as in the Middle East, Northern Africa and China.
More than 400 million people relied on foodstuffs from Ukraine before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
One key reason for that is Ukraine has approximately one-third of the world’s most fertile soil, which is known as chernozem, or black soil. And before the war, Ukraine was able to rely on its year-round access to ice-free harbors in the Black Sea to ship grains to nearby markets in the Middle East and Africa.
Even before the war, famine was increasing across the globe. Russia’s invasion made it a lot worse.
From 2019 to 2022, more than 122 million people were driven into hunger by a combination of the impacts of climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the United Nations said in a recent report. Other researchers have suggested global hunger is the highest it’s been since at least the early 2000s.
From February to June 2022, at least 25 million tons of Ukrainian grain intended for global markets got trapped in Ukraine because of Russia’s naval blockade, causing food prices to jump.
The UN and Turkey brokered what is officially known as the Black Sea Grain Deal with Ukraine and Russia on July 22, 2022.
The agreement allowed for the secure passage of agricultural products from Ukraine from three ports on the Black Sea, including its largest port, Odesa. While the original agreement was to last 120 days, it has been extended several times since.
Ukraine has exported more than 32 million tons of food products through the Black Sea since August 2022. The World Food Program, the world’s largest humanitarian agency, purchased 80% of its wheat from Ukraine. Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Turkey have been the biggest recipients of humanitarian shipments.
The UN has estimated that the grain deal has reduced food prices by more than 23% since March 2022.
The amount of grain shipped per month had already been falling before the deal fell apart in July 2023, from a peak of 4.2 million metric tons in October to about 2 million tons in June. This is primarily because of slowdowns in the number of inspections Russians had been conducting before ships could exit the Black Sea.
Another problem generally is falling production. Ukraine is expected to produce 31% less wheat, barley, corn and other crops during the current season that it did before the war. And this estimate came before the destruction of a key Ukrainian dam flooded fields.
Colleagues at UMass Amherst and the Kyiv School of Economics and I published a study in May 2023 that showed just how vital the Black Sea ports are to ensuring Ukrainian grain gets out to the world. Before the war, 90% of Ukraine’s agricultural exports were transported on the Black Sea.
While Ukraine also ships its grain and other food over land through Europe, doing so costs a lot more and takes more time than sea exports. And transportation costs over land were rising because of the war as a result of mines, the destruction of agricultural infrastructure and other challenges.
Russia has threatened to exit the deal before, but each time it has chosen to stay in.
But on July 17, 2023, it said it’s unwilling to stay in the deal unless its demands are met to ship more of its own food and fertilizer. Over the following two days, it attacked Odesa with drones and missiles in one of the largest sustained assaults on the port.
Russia also said it would deem any ship in the Black Sea bound for a Ukrainian port to be a legitimate military target.
This caused the price of critical commodities such as wheat and corn to soar and created vast uncertainty and global concern around hunger. Chicago wheat futures, a global benchmark, are up about 17% since Russia left the deal.
While Russia has extended the deal after previous threats, this time may be different. Russian strikes caused extensive damage to Odesa, which may severely limit Ukraine’s ability to export through the port in the future – deal or no deal.
I believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin is weaponizing food at a time of growing hunger. I only hope goodwill prevails and somehow Ukraine’s vital exports are allowed to continue.
Anna Nagurney is Professor and Eugene M Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies, UMass Amherst
The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Between the misty peaks of the Annamite mountains, animals as-yet unknown to science pick through primaeval forests.
Home to such endemic creatures as shimmering, iridescent snakes, the fancifully coloured douc’s langur and the saola, a rare deer-like animal also known as the “Asian unicorn”, the Annamites are a biodiversity hotspot.
But these densely forested mountains, which span the border highlands of Laos, Vietnam and eastern Cambodia, are increasingly under threat. A recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report celebrated the distinctive animals of the range while sounding an alarm that deforestation and an estimated multi-billion-dollar, illegal wildlife trade is gradually eradicating such creatures – leaving open the possibility that as-yet unknown species could be wiped out before ever being recorded to science. Even if humans are unaware of these losses, forests across the range are already bearing the ecological toll.
“As wildlife species disappear, their ecological roles are lost, and the forest changes too, in terms of composition, structure and function,” said Yoganand Kandasamy, a conservation biologist and senior author of the report.
Despite being considered a single range, the Annamites feature diverse habitats the WWF report describes as an “evolutionary laboratory”. These include limestone karst hills, mature secondary forest and patches of primary wet evergreen forest. The WWF notes the Annamites have one of the largest contiguous natural forested areas in continental Southeast Asia with nearly 11,000 square kilometres of habitat.
This has helped a number of endemic species to evolve.
Among these is the kha-nyou, a karst-dweller and so-called ‘living fossil’ first scientifically recorded in 2005 from specimens collected almost a decade prior in a Lao market. The sole surviving member of the Diatomyidae family, all other species in its taxonomic category are thought to have vanished more than 10 million years ago.
But modern history has left deep scars on the forests, which sustained heavy damage during the Vietnam War. More recently, according to data from Global Forest Watch, Vietnam has lost more than 740,000 hectares of humid forest in the past 20 years, contributing to about a 21% decline in total tree cover. WWF points out that much of this deforestation happened in the Annamites.
The mountains have held onto their habitat better than some lowland areas due to the difficulty of access there, but even with legally protected status, new roads and agricultural expansions have gradually crept up the slopes. This has also helped to open the mountains to enterprising loggers and hunters.
The preferred tool of many poachers in the Annamites, and elsewhere in the region, is the snare – a twisted loop of rope or wire used to trap animals indiscriminately. Such snares have contributed to what conservationists in the region call “empty forest syndrome”, in which habitats maintain their trees but are cleared of animal life.
Out of the suspected 12.3 million snares hidden in the undergrowth in the region, more than 120,000 have been removed from the Hue and Quang Nam saola nature reserves in Vietnam. This industrial-scale snaring crisis is fueled by market demands for meat, traditional medicines and exotic pets.
Snares are often sold in local village stores, and vary in materials and sizes. Some are made with car winch cables to catch larger animals while the more abundantly found are twisted motorbike brakes and clutch wires, explained Yoganand.
Even with substantial forest cover still remaining in the area, conservationists say the sheer volume of these snares are changing the Annamites’ natural character and ecological functions.
“[This is] because animal populations, which are integral to the forests, are being lost,” Yoganand said.
The loss of seed-dispersing animals such as the Annamites’ gibbons could favour the spread of more wind-dispersed trees, which are smaller and less dense than animal-dispersed ones. This change to the tree composition could result in lower carbon sequestration and storage by the forests, Yoganand explained, diminishing a crucial ecosystem service on which humans rely.
Many gibbon populations of the Annamites have already declined and are becoming locally extinct due to snaring – often to then be sold into the pet trade.
The local human populations play various roles in the wildlife trade and the longevity of Annamite endemics. The WWF said some communities have acted as good stewards, pointing to one in the Quang Binh province of Vietnam that has protected the Hatinh langur from illegal hunting for more than a decade.
But other locals are involved in the trapping and hunting to supply urban wildlife markets. Others are simply unaware of an animal’s endemic status and the role the species has in the critical ecosystem services of the forest.
From the perspective of the most vulnerable communities nestled along the Annamites and relying on it for subsistence, the short-term economic interests in the wildlife trade shroud the consequences of a decaying ecosystem.
“Well-functioning forests help vulnerable communities, often acting as a safety net to prevent people from further hardships during difficult times,” Yoganand said. “It helps them become resilient to climate change and other disastrous events such as prolonged droughts.”
There’s talk and there’s productive talk. You would sometimes think US officials are paid by the word and are content with the former sort of talk.
Recently, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen went to China. Now, Climate Czar John Kerry is visiting the country. These trips and attendant dialogues are invariably described as “candid and constructive.”
Other popular adjectives for them are “direct, substantive, and productive” and vital to “maintain open channels of communications,” “responsibly manage competition,” “reduce risk of misperception and miscalculation” and “learn more about each other.”
And the subtext is that if the Americans stop talking, then war with China is just around the corner.
The idea seems to be that enough talking and the right words or incantations will bring Beijing to its senses. Exactly how isn’t clear. It’s not as if the Chinese didn’t understand what the Americans are saying.
Maybe they’ll just get fed up with blabby Americans and concede? Or maybe it’s Blinken’s, Yellen’s and Kerry’s sheer animal magnetism that Washington counts on to win over the Chinese communists?
Add in a visit by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Beijing and the animal magnetism will be overwhelming.
That said, suggest to our foreign policy elite and even our military top brass that talking for talking’s sake is unproductive, and you’ll get eye-rolling ridicule.
However, we’ve been talking non-stop to the People’s Republic of China for 30 plus years. How well is dialogue and engagement working to modify Chinese behavior? You can make your own scorecard.
Does the PRC do any of the following?
Additionally, will Beijing do the following?
There’s a few dozen others at least. But you get the idea. Don’t get your hopes up, however.
Everything described above that needs improvement happened during the previous 30-plus years of talking, engagement and accommodation of the PRC. That’s the talking that was supposed to moderate communist Chinese behavior and turn China into a “responsible stakeholder.”
One is skeptical that more talking will improve things.
Dialogue and diplomacy are not the same thing. One observer recently described dialogue as being to diplomacy what “hyper-inflation is to money.”
Talk when you have something to talk about and you are in a position to defend and enforce your interests.
The American statesman George Schulz aptly stated: “Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.”
Mr Schulz is gone. But one imagines what he would have said about talking for talking’s sake.
He might have agreed with an astute scholar of diplomatic history who recently noted that “diplomacy is not psycho-babble or social work.”
The US has been talking to China for a long time. Without results, for the US at least. But the PRC has done quite well.
Putting it in baseball terms, the US is batting .000.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are batting about .950. Having tolerated American dialoguing over the last 50 years while using American, Western and Japanese investment and access to markets in the democracies, they turned a dirt-poor nation into a superpower aiming for global domination.
The only exception was the Trump administration – where certain officials who understood China were finally putting some wood on the ball. And that was despite fierce opposition from the engagers and the “don’t provoke China” crowd inside and outside the administration.
But in 2021 they were sent to the showers and a team of .000 hitters replaced them in the line-up.
So the next time you hear that talk and more talk is good, get out the above list. And see for yourself whether the PRC is doing anything differently.
Grant Newsham is a retired US Marine officer and former US diplomat. He is the author of the book When China Attacks: A Warning To America. This article was first published by JAPAN Forward. Asia Times is republishing it with permission.
ReutersTesla chief executive Elon Musk has signalled that the electric carmaker will continue to cut prices as the world economy is in “turbulent times”.
The multi-billionaire’s comments came after the company reported that its profit margins had been squeezed as it faced tough competition.
In recent months, Tesla has cut its prices several times in major markets, including the US and China.
The firm’s shares fell by more than 4% in after-hours trade in New York.
Tesla reported that its profit margin had fallen to the lowest level in four years.
The company said its gross profit margin fell to 18.2% for the three months to the end of June, down from 26.2% for the same period last year.
During a call with Wall Street analysts, Mr Musk signalled that he was open to cutting prices further if needed.
“One day it seems like the world economy is falling apart, next day it’s fine. I don’t know what the hell is going on,” he said.
“We’re in, I would call it, turbulent times,” Mr Musk added.
Investors are concerned about the possibility of more price cuts at Tesla, Arun Sundararajan, a Professor at the NYU Stern Business School, told the BBC.
“This feels like a price war with no long term strategy to raise margins if Tesla wins the war,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Musk said he believed pursuing higher sales, with lower profits, was the “right choice” for Tesla.
The firm has lowered prices in markets including the US, UK and China to compete with rival manufacturers.
Earlier this month, the company said it delivered a record number of vehicles in the three months to the end of June.
It comes as more carmakers have agreed to adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle (EV) charging technology.
On Wednesday, Japanese motor industry giant Nissan said its EVs in the US and Canada would be equipped with Tesla-developed charging ports from 2025.
Nissan Americas’ chairperson Jérémie Papin said the firm was committed “to making electric mobility even more accessible”.
The announcement follows similar moves by US car manufacturers Ford and General Motors.
