F5 welcomes Mohan Veloo as new chief technology officer for APCJ

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  • arrives to F5, where he formerly served for more than ten years.
  • has more than 20 years of experience in the field of information systems.

F5 welcomes Mohan Veloo as new chief technology officer for APCJ

F5 has announced the appointment of Mohan Veloo ( pic ) as chief technology officer ( CTO ) for Asia- Pacific, China, and Japan ( APCJ), effective 30 April 2024. &nbsp,

The business stated in a statement that the newly created position highlights its commitment to providing innovative technological solutions that may support APCJ organizations ‘ success in the age of AI. Veloo will be in charge of defining F5’s systems vision for the region as the business continues to revolutionize application security in contemporary infrastructure environments.

With over two decades of experience in the information technology field, Veloo is a seasoned senior executive with a strong passion for software and their connection, security, and function. He has spent more than ten years at Oracle and has held senior leadership positions in solutions engineering at leading technology companies.

After serving for more than ten years at F5, Veloo brings valuable experience from his previous positions as APCJ’s Vice President of Global Solutions Engineering and Vice President of Global Solutions Engineering. Veloo previously held the position of Zscaler’s Vice President of Solutions Consulting.

Businesses across all sectors are adapting and innovating in the wake of growing cybersecurity risks, according to the dynamic landscape of today’s digital economy. F5’s portfolio enables enterprises to become more agile and secure” ,&nbsp, Kunal Anand, CTO, F5 said. Veloo, who has deep experience in application services and solution architecture, is ideal for this crucial role, he added. His appointment underscores our commitment to providing visionary leadership and advanced technology for the digital transformation journey.

Meanwhile, Adam Judd, Senior Vice President of APCJ Sales, F5 said,” We are delighted to welcome Veloo back to F5 as our new CTO. His vast experience and strong technical leadership will be essential to our continued success in the area. We are confident that his strategic direction and unwavering commitment to excellence will help strengthen F5’s commitment to supporting the region’s efforts to protect and support every application, wherever it is deployed.

Veloo’s appointment coincides with an exciting time for APCJ organizations looking to capitalize on potential AI. However, the increasing adoption of AI across the region poses challenges, including daunting complexity and evolving threat landscapes. F5 has implemented AI to enhance customer protection from sophisticated threats and effectively manage multicloud application environments across its solution portfolio.

Under Veloo’s leadership, F5 will strengthen its position as a market leader in terms of security and delivery for multicloud applications. He will also look for opportunities in emerging markets, keeping F5 ahead of the curve.

” I am honored to be driving the company’s technology vision in the region and thrilled to be returning to F5,” Veloo said, adding that this is a time when application delivery and security have never been more crucial and challenging. ” I am particularly excited about the opportunities in leveraging AI to easily optimise application performance, resilience, and security, anywhere. I look forward to working with our fantastic teams to continue empowering APCJ organisations to thrive with comprehensive, AI- ready solutions”, he said.

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Yen’s plunge raises specter of new Asia currency crisis – Asia Times

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Tokyo — Dealers are pondering whether the Group of Seven may be experiencing a dollar crisis as a result of the Japanese yen’s 12 % decline this year.

The good news: no already. The terrible news, though, is that there are still seven weeks left in this year of harmful living for Japan’s money. especially when you consider Tokyo leaders ‘ lack of urgency in allowing the yen to flow.

This unsettling Asia has given the country’s markets a 1997-like feeling as central banks work to maintain exchange rates. The conflict with currency traders is raging, from the Malaysian ringgit’s 26-year lows to Indonesia’s main bank’s surprise price increase next week.

In Manila and Bangkok, northern banks are shelving price- reduces programs. In Seoul, Governor Rhee Chang- young says the Bank of Korea is ready to “deploy stabilizing methods” amid “excessive” won techniques. In Beijing, authorities are mulling their possibilities as negative forces complicated China’s view.

China, of training, is the biggest problem. Does the market of President Xi Jinping and the yen collide in a downward spiral that will lead to a new currency war?

” They probably should — to boost exports, help deflation and help domestic growth” ,&nbsp, says Brad Bechtel, global head of foreign exchange at Jefferies Financial Group Inc.” But I do n’t think they will”.

We see the chance for further near-term failure, according to Khoon Goh, mind of Asia study at ANZ Bank, as the authorities have been steadily allowing the inland spot to change.

The Taiwanese renminbi is now trading at 7.24 to the US dollar. Devaluation that resembles a 2015 seems out of the problem because it would waste taxpayer-funded money on expanding global faith in the yuan. And the more the yuan falls, the more difficult it becomes for big house builders to pay off-shore bonds, raising the risk of default.

In the meantime, making the yuan a major election hot button as Democrats devoted to Donald Trump and Democrats led by US President Joe Biden battle it out on various fronts ahead of the November 5 vote.

Will China’s renminbi follow the yen? Photo: Asia Times Files / Reuters / Jason Lee

But the longer Tokyo keeps Asia in anticipation, the greater the risk of a local panic ala the 1997- 98 Asian financial crisis. Money traders, for instance, are convinced Japan is constantly intervening to block the yen’s fall. In reality, though, officials are generally winking at earth industry.

The going- through- the- movements vibe is on distinct show. Yes, it seems fairly obvious that the Bank of Japan made an action to support the renminbi on Monday. The BOJ’s first venture into foreign exchange markets since October 2022 appears to have been led by the unexpected$ 48.2 billion decline in its current account.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki would be at the speaker shortly and frequently making the case if this were a move to improve the renminbi for actual. He may be working the devices with leaders in Washington, Berlin, London, Ottawa, Paris and Rome to get the G7 on board.

From the events of late 2022, when Tokyo last acted on the yen, Suzuki’s team knows full well that unilateral intervention does n’t work. It jolts the business for a few days, but then the dollar’s cut begins anyhow.

In some ways, this is the value of 25 years of creating your international brand, your financial design, and an underestimated exchange price.

A number of Asian finance ministers have been around since at least the end of the 1990s. A G7 country has become addicted to an ultra-weak exchange rate, but what has endured is a beggar-thy-neighbor policy that resembles Argentina’s.

There are no noticeable changes that Tokyo is making. It’s more of a line in the sand for the yen-dollar exchange rate than a test of political virtue signaling.

Suzuki and his former boss, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, are merely telling China and the US that the yen is n’t moving up to 170 to the money or higher.

However, in the days and weeks to come, the renminbi might remain heading there as well. Not because Suzuki or Kishida do n’t want it to but because, well, they kind of do.

Tokyo authorities are beginning to notice the benefits of the yen hitting 160, which is the weakest since 1990, amid all the articles. For the third consecutive month in March, abroad shipments increased. The 7.3 % get in March season- on- season followed a 7.8 % rise in February.

It’s undoubtedly the best item Asia’s second-largest business has to offer as of the second half of an increasingly erratic 2024.

” The prospect for Japan looks fragile”, information Stefan Angrick, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The local business, Angrick adds, “has been very poor as wage increases have trailed prices, which has kept homeowners reluctant to invest. This, in turn, has kept companies hesitant to invest. Continue a trend of upsetting gross domestic product releases by continuing a trend of slow economic growth in Japan’s first third of the year.

This considerably complicates the BOJ’s way ahead. Everything that Governor Kazuo Ueda’s group believed they knew about 2024 is going wrong. China’s economy is n’t bouncing back with great force, the Federal Reserve is n’t cutting interest rates and the dollar’s powerful rally is n’t losing momentum.

As the renminbi free-falls, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda sat quietly. Image: Twitter / Screengrab

Japan’s market also has recession fears in the rearview mirror. At the same time, prices in the Tokyo region, a great proxy for national developments, is now rising at a&nbsp, 1.6 % season- on- year&nbsp, price, below the BOJ’s 2 % target.

Currency traders are aware that Ueda’s BOJ may have missed its window for a significant rate increase or two. The yen is slowly but surely returning to the levels it was before officials were alleged to have intervened.

That’s not to say strategists are n’t baffled by the yen. The yen is regarded by Global Dragonomics as” the biggest anomaly in global financial markets,” with its value estimated to be 40 % below purchasing power parity measures.

As such, Gavekal writes,” the yen’s weakness is having wide- ranging global repercussions, from fueling a carry trade that boosts emerging market debt, to weighing on US exports and thus President Biden’s re- election prospects. Markets are on the lookout for direct foreign exchange interventions to strengthen the yen because the BOJ is yet to find the weak currency reason enough to change its monetary policy position.

Or not. As Asia’s second- biggest economy loses momentum, inflation recedes and Kishida’s approval numbers flatline, is the BOJ really about to slam on the monetary brakes?

Again, Tokyo policymakers ‘ lack of urgency speaks louder than intervention threats. As Richard Katz, author of” The Contest for Japan’s Economic Future”, notes, Japan “has plenty of ammunition” to stop the yen from falling too far.

” Even though it now runs a trade deficit most years, Japan still runs a&nbsp, surplus&nbsp, in a broader measure, the international current account”, Katz explains. ” That’s because it earns so much from its investments abroad, and those earnings keep growing”.

In 2023, net income on these investments&nbsp, totaled 34 trillion yen ( US$ 215 billion ), amounting to 6 % of nominal GDP.

The most important thing, Katz says, is not to panic over a yen in freefall. ” If it looked like capital flight was beginning”, he explains,” Japan could use its currency reserves to shore up the yen. However, it’s very unlikely that it would need to do so.

Katz points out that Japan and other nations have experienced currency shocks, such as Asia’s 1997-98 crash or the 2010 European debt crisis. ” They”, he adds, “had run year after year of current account&nbsp, deficits&nbsp, and, as a result, were big international&nbsp, debtors”.

For now, though, the “yen is weak because Japan’s economy is weak and its exporters are increasingly uncompetitive”, Katz says. So, intervention can primarily delaying the unavoidable for a short while or preventing markets from reaching too far.

This area of weakness is fundamentally bigfooting. The economy’s underperformance is a key reason why Kishida’s approval ratings are in the low- to- mid- 20s. In the weeks to come, the BOJ’s deliberations will be affected by this dynamic.

Although the BOJ technically is independent, its scope of independence is more limited than that of the US Fed or the European Central Bank.

For example, a government representative attends BOJ policy meetings. What truly sovereign monetary institution maintains rates at or close to zero for 25 years?

For Ueda, the lessons from 2006 probably loom large in his own deliberations. Governor Toshihiko Fukui successfully fought against quantitative easing and other board members to force two additional official rates increases in 2006 and 2007.

Yet Fukui’s attempt to normalize rates failed. The Tokyo establishment reacted strongly, complaining that Japan Inc. was n’t ready for tighter credit. Soon after, the economy slid into recession. Once Masaaki Shirakawa replaced&nbsp, Fukui&nbsp, in 2008, he quickly cut rates back to zero and restored QE.

Bank of Japan does n’t want to shortcircuit the Nikkei 225’s rally. Image: Twitter

Then, in 2013, Haruhiko Kuroda joined him to increase BOJ stimulus efforts even more and ultimately end deflation. In 2013 alone, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average&nbsp, surged 57 %. Today, it’s rallying to the point where the benchmark is now trading near its all- time 1989 high.

Finding a way to normalize rates without putting an end to the Nikkei’s bull run is Ueda’s balancing act. And without being the most recent BOJ leader to suffer the consequences of a recession, falling stock, or both.

All of which explains why Tokyo is less eager to reverse the yen’s decline. And why Asia has little choice but to rely on Japanese officials to understand how to handle the yen’s pounding.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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Political stability, trust in government critical for Singapore: PM Lee in final major speech as prime minister

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Social unity would furthermore continue to be important, as culture, language and religion remain Singapore’s standard problem lines, said Mr Lee.

Despite efforts to create a common identity for Singapore, the population will always be drawn by “external troops.”

Singaporeans never reject their different racial roots and shared religious values, he said, referring to the affinities between the various ethnic groups and China, India, as well as the wider Muslim-majority area and the world Arab community.

” They can be threats, but we do not want to reduce these abundant cultural and historical ethnicities”, said the Prime Minister.

Singapore must be aware of different potential conflicts, but racial and religious harmony may continue to be a work in progress.

These include conflicts between the set and have- females, Singaporean- born and naturalised people, social conservatives and liberals, and current and future generations, which can be exploited socially, &nbsp, he said.

As the Singaporean personality is not stable, the government has to “guide that development, as best we may, carefully and thoughtfully”, he said, highlighting techniques on Section 377A and caregivers wearing the tudung.

IMPORTANCE OF TRIPARTISM

According to Mr. Lee, tripartism has been a significant factor in Singapore’s advancement when speaking to unionists from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

He pointed to 1969 as a key turning point when an “adversarial approach” between unions and employers was replaced with a” cooperative, tripartite” strategy.

Trust and confidence among tripartite partners continued to be built through challenges like Singapore’s recession in 1985, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID- 19 pandemic, he said.

” Through the symbiotic relationship with the PAP, the NTUC has done right by workers, and helped them and their families&nbsp, to enjoy a better life” .&nbsp,

In the face of uncertainty in terms of geopolitical and economic policy, he added, the unions will continue to play an even greater role.

” Looking ahead, there are certainly dark clouds on the horizon, but also many opportunities”, said Mr Lee.

Singapore can act as a reliable partner when rival nations are uncertain about one another. Its stability is also advantageous when other nations” change directions” and change leaders “every few months,” he said.

SINGAPORE’S PROGRESS OVER LAST 20 YEARS

Mr. Lee compared the progress Singapore made during his 20 years as prime minister to his own 20 years. &nbsp,

Under his premiership, Singapore has become “much better off”.

According to Mr. Lee, Singapore’s plans to transform and modernize the economy have succeeded, which has attracted multinational corporations and assisted Singapore businesses in expanding their markets overseas. &nbsp,

The government has expanded support measures with CDC vouchers and other forms of assistance, according to Mr. Lee, despite the worrying inflation and rising living costs. &nbsp,

New HDB towns were also built, but older towns were not left behind. &nbsp, Through various upgrading programmes, the government has rejuvenated older estates, kept them up to date and made them fit for a more elderly population, he added. &nbsp,

” This is why, unlike public housing projects elsewhere in the world, our HDB estates never turn into slums or ghettoes” .&nbsp, &nbsp,

Public transport has also improved, he said. In the last 20 years, Singapore has added three more MRT lines, the Circle, Downtown, and Thomson-East Coast. In the upcoming years, two more lines, the Cross Island and Jurong Region lines, will be added. &nbsp,

Rail reliability issues have “improved significantly” and Singapore’s MRT system is now ranked among the best in the world. &nbsp,

According to Mr. Lee, the government also made a significant investment in a “first-class healthcare system.”

” We have kept our healthcare system up to scratch, we’ve tuned it up after COVID. And we want to make sure that if another pandemic like COVID strikes us, we can be more certain that we will be prepared to take the load and see everyone through.”

He continued,” The educational system now adopts a more comprehensive and comprehensive approach that encourages lifelong learning.” &nbsp,

Students have multiple options and diverse pathways that are not limited to just traditional arts and science courses, but also specialised programmes in music, dance, sports, robotics, among others. &nbsp,

” ‘ Every school is a good school’… it is a good slogan, because it contains a lot of truth”, said Mr Lee. ” In Singapore, unlike in some other countries, your postal code does not determine your destiny” .&nbsp,

Mr. Lee added that by using programs like Comcare to improve social programs and Workfare to supplement lower-wage workers ‘ incomes, he had also made an effort to make Singapore a more inclusive place.

The elderly, the disabled, the elderly, and those with lower income groups are among the beneficiaries of programs like MediShield Life, CareShield Lift, CPF Life, and Silver Support. &nbsp,

” I HAVE DONE MY DUTY”

According to Mr. Lee, a solid foundation has been laid for future generations, and this benefit should not be taken for granted. &nbsp,

Singapore now has enough reserves to deal with challenging circumstances, international support that “gives us a seat at the table,” a cohesion that “hangs together in the darkest hours,” and a vibrant and inclusive economy. &nbsp,

” Make the most of these advantages, never throw them away”, said Mr Lee. ” Stay united, think long term and maintain our political stability. That is the way forward for Singapore” .&nbsp,

He continued,” Every confidence” in his team now that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will take over the title in two weeks. &nbsp,

Mr Wong’s fourth- generation, or 4G, team will “have their hands full” dealing with issues which will arise, and realising their Forward SG agenda.

” I ask all Singaporeans to rally behind them, and work together to make Singapore succeed, for your sake. &nbsp,

That is our plan for the future: for each generation to bestow Singapore with the best of its abilities so that the next generation can succeed in becoming a better Singapore and ultimately lead our nation onward and upward. ” &nbsp,

Looking back on his 40 years in politics, the Prime Minister said he was satisfied with what has been achieved.

” It has been my great honour to&nbsp, have served you, including as your PM. I’ve made an effort to guide you and to govern Singapore in the way you deserve, and to mobilize Singaporeans to demonstrate what we can accomplish together, he said.

” As I prepare to hand over Singapore in good order to my successor, I feel a sense of satisfaction and completeness. &nbsp,

Mr. Lee remarked,” I have done my duty, and I am very glad I chose this path of public service all those years ago,” to a standing ovation from the crowd. &nbsp,

He thanked his Cabinet, the public service, the labour movement and Singaporeans for their support.

Mr. Lee then took a deep bow before receiving another standing ovation, to which he clearly became upset.

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India’s economy: The good, bad and ugly in six charts

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Commuters walk along platforms at the Churchgate railway station in Mumbai on January 31, 2024. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE / AFP)Getty Images
By Nikhil Inamdar
BBC Business Correspondent, Mumbai

In January, thousands braved the freezing cold at Delhi’s Red Fort to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak.

His message was “Viksit Bharat 2047”, a promise to make India a developed nation by 2047.

It’s the latest catchphrase from a man known for his penchant for catchy taglines.

“Developed India” is an imprecise pledge, but in the 10 years since Mr Modi first stormed to power, he has been trying to lay the foundations for a period of economic boom.

The prime minister and his government inherited an economy that was teetering on the precipice. Growth was slowing and investor confidence was low. A dozen Indian billionaires had gone bankrupt, saddling the country’s banks with enormous unpaid loans that had crippled their capacity to lend.

Now, 10 years on, India’s growth is outpacing other major economies, its banks are strong, and the government’s finances are stable despite a painful pandemic. India surpassed the UK as the fifth largest economy last year and according to analysts at Morgan Stanley, it’s on track to overtake Japan and Germany and hit the third spot by 2027.

GDPs of India and the UK in 2023

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There is undoubtedly an air of optimism in the country. It successfully hosted the G20, became the first to send a rocket near the Moon’s south pole, and has birthed a few dozen unicorns. The soaring stock markets have also had a trickle-down effect on the wealth of its middle class.

On the face of it “Modinomics” – the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s economic vision for India – appears to be working. But dig deeper, and the picture is more complex. For a vast swathe of the country’s 1.4 billion people who live on the margins of sustenance, it’s not boomtime just as yet.

So who are the winners and losers of Modinomics?

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Digital revolution

Mr Modi’s push for digital governance has begun to transform the lives of some of the country’s poorest people.

Today, Indians in the remotest corners of the country can buy many daily goods without cash, paying as little as 20p for a packet of bread using a QR code on their phone.

India's digital payments growth

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Underpinning this digital revolution is a three-layer system of governance, which includes universal identity cards, a payments infrastructure that enables click-of-a-button money transfer, and a data pillar that gives people access to crucial personal documents like tax returns.

Linking hundreds of millions of bank accounts to this “digital stack” has cut red tape and corruption.

Estimates suggest that up to March 2021, an equivalent of about 1.1% of GDP was saved due to digital governance, allowing the government to dole out a volley of social subsidies, cash handouts and also spend on infrastructure building, without running high deficits.

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Cranes, cranes everywhere!

Everywhere you go in India there are cranes and JCB machines at work giving its creaky public infrastructure a shiny makeover.

Take a look at this slick first underwater metro in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

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There’s no doubt this country is getting a facelift.

Building new roads, airports, ports and metros has been the centrepiece of Mr Modi’s economic policy. He spent over $100bn annually in infrastructure spending (capital expenditure) in the past three years.

Capital expenditure of the government over the last few years

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Nearly 54,000 km (33,554 miles) of national highways were built between 2014 and 2024 – which is twice the length of the preceding 10 years.

The government has also considerably eased up the bureaucracy, which has been a major bugbear of India’s economy for decades.

But Mr Modi’s policies haven’t delivered for all.

The brutal lockdowns imposed during the pandemic, the lingering after-effects of a cash ban in 2016, and faulty implementation of a new goods and services tax – a long pending reform meant to streamline the country’s welter of indirect taxes – have had far-reaching structural consequences on India’s economy.

Migrant workers who arrived from Maharashtra state travel on a mini truck to go back to their hometowns, after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Allahabad on May 15, 2020.

Getty Images

The country’s vast unorganised sector – small enterprises that form the backbone of this country – are still reeling under the impact of some of these decisions.

And the private sector is not committing big investments. As a proportion of GDP, private investments slumped to barely 19.6% in 2020-21 from a peak of 27.5% in 2007-08.

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Jobs blues

In January, thousands gathered outside government recruitment centres in the northern city of Lucknow to go to Israel for jobs in the construction industry. My colleague Archana Shukla was on location.

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The desperation of these workers showed India’s jobs crisis is real. And it is crushing aspirations everywhere.

“I’m the first master’s degree holder in my family,” says Rukaiya Bepari, a 23-year-old graduate in the town of Miraj in western India.

“But there’s no industry where I live. So I’m now taking tuitions. It doesn’t pay much.”

Neither Rukaiya nor her brother have had full-time work for the last two years. They’re not alone.

India's labour force participation rate

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Unemployment among educated youth has doubled from 35.2% to 65.7% between 2000 and 2022, according to latest figures by the Indian Labour Organization, a human rights group.

There’s also been no significant growth of real wages in India since 2014, according to numbers computed by noted developmental economist Jean Dreze.

India “risks squandering its demographic dividend” – the economic growth potential from a big working-age population – the World Bank’s regional economist said in an interview to the Financial Times recently.

Job creation is a problem Mr Modi has been unable to solve.

Right off the back of his victory in 2014, the prime minister launched an ambitious Make In India campaign to turn India into the world’s factory. In 2020, his government doled out $25bn in incentives to companies across sectors from semi-conductors to mobile electronics in order to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities.

But success has been elusive.

Yes, the likes of Foxconn – which makes iPhones for Apple – are moving their supply chains to India as part of the global “China plus one” diversification strategy. Other major global giants like Micron and Samsung have also been enthused to invest. But the numbers are not significant yet.

Manufacturing’s share as a percentage of GDP has remained stagnant in the last decade despite these efforts.

India's manufacturing and export growth under NDA and UPA

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Growth in exports was also faster under Mr Modi’s predecessors.

“Even if India’s manufacturing grows 8% per year till 2050 and China’s stagnates at the 2022 level, India’s manufacturing size in 2050 will still not match that of China’s in 2022,” says Prof Vidya Mahambare of the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

Lack of a large scale industry means half of India’s population still depends on agriculture for their livelihoods – which is increasingly becoming unprofitable.

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Two speed recovery

A direct impact of this? Squeezed household budgets.

At 3%, the growth in overall private consumption expenditure – the money people spend on buying things – is the slowest in 20 years.

And household debt has touched an all-time high, even as financial savings plunged to their lowest levels, according to new research.

Many economists argue that the nature of India’s economic growth post pandemic has been uneven, or “K-shaped” – where the rich have thrived, while the poor continue to struggle. India may be the fifth largest global economy at an aggregate level, but on a per person basis, it still languishes at the 140th rank.

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And inequality has widened to a hundred-year high according to research from the World Inequality Database. No surprises then that election campaign discourse recently has been rife with chatter around wealth redistribution and inheritance taxes.

A three day pre-wedding ceremony of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son recently offered a glimpse into the country’s new gilded age. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Ivanka Trump were in attendance. Rihanna shook a leg with Bollywood’s biggest celebrities, while the Ambani women flashed diamonds and jewellery once part of the Mughal empire’s collection.

Luxury brands making cars, watches and liquor have been growing faster than India’s more mass-market companies, according to Arnab Mitra, who researches Indian consumer brands at Goldman Sachs.

Viral Acharya, a professor at NYU Stern, says a handful of the biggest conglomerates have grown “at the expense of the smallest firms”.

The super-rich, he says, have benefited from sharp tax cuts and a conscious policy of creating “national champions” in which prized public assets like ports and airports have been preferentially given to a few companies to build or run.

Latest court revelations show many of them have also been India’s top political donors to the ruling BJP.

Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries, Isha Piramal, Rihanna, Shloka Mehta Ambani, Akash Ambani and Radhika Merchant react on the stage during pre-wedding celebrations of Anant and Radhika in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, March 1, 2024.

Reliance Industries

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India’s decade?

All combined, this presents an inconsistent picture of India’s economy. But for all its problems, the country is on the runway for take-off, say experts.

“India’s next decade could resemble China’s path (of hyper growth) from 2007 through 2012,” analysts from Morgan Stanley wrote in a widely discussed paper.

They add that the country has many advantages – a young demographic, the geopolitics of global de-risking from China and a clean-up of sectors like real estate. Other megatrends like digitalisation, a transition to clean energy and growth in global offshoring will propel future growth, say experts.

The infra push is also something that will have long-term payoffs. By making improvements in roads, power supply and turnaround time at ports – India is finally “creating an environment in which manufacturing can flourish”, says DK Joshi, CRISIL’s India economist.

A drone view of the construction work of the upcoming coastal road in Mumbai, India, March 7, 2024.

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But along with the focus on “physical capital”, Mr Modi needs to pay heed to creating “human capital”, says Dr Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of India’s central bank.

Indian children aren’t learning as well as they should to face up to the world of artificial intelligence. A quarter of those aged 14 to 18 can’t read simple text fluently, according to a report published by the non-profit Pratham Foundation.

Covid-19 dealt a major blow to students, who couldn’t attend school for nearly two years. But the government has continued to underfund education, and healthcare.

In its first decade, Modinomics appears to have delivered for a select few. But for many the jar, as it appears, is still half empty.

“We will grow old before we grow rich” if growth isn’t faster and more equitable, says Dr Rajan.

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Elon Musk on collision course with China’s future – Asia Times

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What a change 11, 000 km make. Elon Musk may be considering this as Tesla’s stock prices boom as a result of the billionaire’s authority to depart from Austin, Texas, for Beijing.

Sure, Musk claims to have overcome some legal difficulties in order to introduce his driver support system in the world’s largest vehicle market. According to reports in the media, Musk and Baidu Inc. agreed to work together on tracking and mapping software and fulfilled some requirements for data security. That, after he met with “old friend” &nbsp, Li Qiang, China’s premier.

However, Tesla’s two immobile things are forgotten by investors who give Musk’s invincible force the benefit of the doubt. One, the influx of affordable, new Chinese electric vehicles ( EVs ) that Musk might not be able to offer. Two, the threat of another Donald Trump presidency.

The first difficulty is related to one of the causes of Tesla’s 22 % decline this year. The prints of China’s growing danger are all over why,” since soon 2023, sentiment on Tesla has deteriorated”, says John Murphy, an analyst at Bank of America.

According to JPMorgan researcher Ryan Brinkman,” the broad layoffs” Tesla announced in the middle of April, which “amounted to a reduction in manned production capacity, may presently left no doubt that the decline in deliveries has been a function of lower demand and not source.”

Never mind terrible reports of the fatal implementation of Musk’s lengthy- awaited&nbsp, Cybertruck, with its” trapped wheel” fault going viral on social media. Even after the “nightmarish cost breaks” Musk announced in middle- April,” the whole amount” of the problems they represent “are n’t being thoroughly appreciated by Mr Market”, says Gordon Johnson, scientist at GLJ Research. He refers to Tesla as” the best short-play in the stock market right now.”

Thus the necessity of Musk’s wonder China explore. As&nbsp, Michael&nbsp, Dunne, CEO of automobile industry consulting ZoZoGo, says,” Elon may use a small prefer right now. Is China in the disposition”?

Only time will tell. As Johnson tweeted on April 30:” The issue$ TSLA needs to answer is simple: Did you get a passport, like BYD/others beneath, to give level 3 autonomous vehicles in China? All assumes that they did. We at&nbsp, @GLJ_Research are of the firm belief they DID NOT ( as everyone is assuming ). So…&nbsp, @elonmusk/@Tesla, may you choose clear this up for people”?

For now, though, Musk conveying a significant Chinese acceptance is a “home work” for Tesla, says Dan Ives, scientist at funding company Wedbush, which maintained its “outperform” ranking on the stock.

As required by Beijing’s regulatory bodies, Tesla has documented all data that its Chinese fleet has collected in Shanghai since 2021. If Musk is able to obtain Beijing’s consent to transfer data collected in China abroad, it would be crucial for the global expansion of training for its autonomous technology.

In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley argues the symbolism of Musk’s sudden China drive- by speaks volumes, signaling Tesla’s determination to be part of a broader mainland ecosystem. &nbsp,

The bank comes to the conclusion that” Musk winning blessing from the People’s Republic of China for full- self-driving roll-out in the country seems to address embedded concerns about Tesla’s China profit.”

Here, Musk’s personal bond with Li is a big plus. It was Li, back in his days as Shanghai party boss, who lobbied Musk to open a Tesla “gigafactory” in the city. The facility, which opened in April 2022, was Tesla’s first outside the US, giving President Xi Jinping’s Communist Party some bragging rights.

On November 20, 2020, workers at the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua

Musk is now making an implication about expanding his production in China. In 2022, Tesla contributed roughly one- quarter of Shanghai’s overall total automotive production.

As Musk looks to expand his autonomous driving fleet and sales to Chinese consumers, local governments should look for closer ties with Tesla to win some of those jobs.

It’s just what Li’s image makers might’ve hoped for as Tesla looks to&nbsp, “aggressively focus on building out its China footprint”, Ives notes. Even though China has its own promising EV companies, including BYD Co. Musk understands that Xi’s nation has become” the golden goose EV market”, Ives notes.

As such, Tesla’s mainland plant is now the “heart and lungs” of Musk ‘s&nbsp, global production.

Yet Musk’s problem is no longer just the&nbsp, Warren Buffett- backed BYD. It’s an entire fleet of EV upstarts beginning to clog the roads for business in Asia’s biggest economy. The ongoing Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, dubbed Auto China 2024, demonstrates what Musk is up against, as Asia Times contributor Scott Foster detailed this week.

The event, Foster argues, is showcasing how many mainland rivals are catching up with EV pioneer Tesla and, worse, “increasingly making it look like an ordinary car company”. And Tesla is not even present at the May 5 event that continues. ” Meanwhile”, as&nbsp, Foster writes,” Tesla has dropped to third place in the new- energy vehicle retail sales ranking in China”.

China Passenger Car Association data shows BYD sold 586, 000 units in the first quarter of 2024, while Geely sold 137, 000 to Tesla’s 132, 000 and Changan’s 126, 000. That is exactly one year after the quarter in which BYD surpassed Tesla in battery-powered electric vehicles.

Garrett Nelson, an equity analyst at CFRA Research, claims that Tesla’s introduction of new low-cost vehicles to the market over the upcoming years would serve as” the catalyst the stock needs.”

The catch, of course, is that mainland automakers are ahead of Tesla in that respect.  Mosque’s ambitions clash with China’s desire to dominate the EV boom, especially as US consumers become less interested in the sector and Japanese manufacturers like Toyota cling to hybrids.

Tesla is very important to China, but Beijing’s top priority is increased domestic competition and exporting goods abroad. As mainland prices continue to drop, can Musk’s one- time EV juggernaut compete?

An equally unanswerable question: what happens if Trump wins the&nbsp, November 5&nbsp, US election and imposes his&nbsp, 60 % taxes&nbsp, on all Chinese goods? Trump is also putting together a list of potential 100 % tariffs on some auto imports.

Sure, Tesla makes loads of cars in the US. But Musk might suddenly face two dilemmas. One, Trump forcing Tesla to pick a side: produce vehicles in the US or China. The chances of the” America first” president allowing Musk to play on both sides are essentially nonexistent.

At the same time, Morgan Stanley warns, there’s also the national security risks stemming from Musk’s China dealings. Making more Teslas in China might put the contracts between SpaceX and various US government agencies in danger.

In a second Joe Biden term, these issues might also arise. The more US Congress members might consider excluding Musk’s interests the closer they are to China, especially in terms of data sharing roles.

The US president has taken drastic measures to restrict access to essential US technology on the continent in recent weeks. Additionally, he has added new protectionist tariffs to imports of Chinese steel and aluminum.

According to US National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard,” China’s policy-driven overcapacity poses a serious risk to the future of the American steel and aluminum industry.” ” China cannot export its way to recovery. China is simply too large to follow its own laws.

Trade tensions are surging elsewhere, too. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warns that “global markets are now flooded with  cheaper Chinese electric cars and their price is artificially low thanks to massive state subsidies.

Chinese electric vehicles are having trouble gaining foothold in Western markets. Photo: Clean Techica / X Screengrab

Musk’s recent pleas for new trade restrictions to stop Chinese electric vehicles from “demolish” the world’s competition could be another potential hiccup.

Tesla shareholders were informed earlier this year that Chinese automakers are the “most competitive” and” will have significant success outside of China, depending on what kind of tariffs or trade barriers are established.”

Musk added that “most other car companies in the world will almost completely collapse if there are no trade barriers established.” They’re extremely good”.

And now, fully aware of the complicated web that Musk will have to navigate while remaining in Trump’s and Xi’s good graces. Is it even possible, given that the two biggest economies are trying to decouple their economies? The globe’s second- richest man is about to find out.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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Nixon’s multipolarity still best way to manage China – Asia Times

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Reactions to the recent onslaught of cheap Chinese electric vehicles ( EVs ) have ranged from&nbsp, panic&nbsp, to&nbsp, dismissal. While anxiety is not important in foreign plan, there is reason for concern.

After all, China&nbsp, produced&nbsp, 30 million cars in 2023 and the European Union ( EU) is essentially&nbsp, watching&nbsp, as their auto markets become flooded with cheap Chinese cars. Although tariffs on Chinese-produced Batteries from the Trump era have protected American areas, the risk of their market penetration is also present.

However, reactions should n’t be one of panic or denial. Otherwise, they should be reasonable. China is no longer making wastes and should be taken seriously because it is the place where low plastic toys come from much mocked as the place where it is made.

While their models does not be&nbsp, entirely&nbsp, up to the standards of some Western companies, they are generally speaking good cars which happen to be incredibly affordable ( due in large part to China’s no- observable work protections and small pay, Beijing has China ‘s&nbsp, highest&nbsp, daily minimum wage, at$ 3.70 per hour ).

America’s corporatism is, for now, doing its work and keeping our business free of Taiwanese Vehicles. With a lower- paid but higher- producing grownup labor force&nbsp, twice&nbsp, the size of the whole American population, the tariff is equivalent to putting a band- aid on a flood. This is made even more acute by the EU’s largely surrender to the Chinese auto industry.

The fact that we have reached this cliff is just that, for years, the crafters of America’s foreign scheme operated along greatly mistaken lines of thought. We are at this point in particular thanks to two things.

The first was that, with exposure to democracies, China would itself democratize ( this line of thought was extended to Russia in the 1990s as well ). This notion was essentially accepted as gospel by the American establishment’s foreign policy base for decades.

One individual, who worked at high levels in both the Reagan and H W Bush administrations, &nbsp, wrote&nbsp, in 1999 that China was no longer a totalitarian state and that democratization was inevitable. China was a totalitarian dictatorship in 1999, and it has arguably grown even more so.

The second line of thought was that, post- Cold War, America would be capable of keeping up a unipolar world&nbsp, ad infinitum.

30 years of democracy promotion and military overextension were fueled by the claims that our military was able to fight two major wars at once. The notion that we had reached the end of history, that liberal democracy was the final stop and would ultimately not be overtaken or seriously challenged for supremacy, was the subject of much hay.

This does not imply that all American policymakers have considered these issues. Richard Nixon had no idea what to do with the country becoming a democracy when he first arrived in China. It would not have been in their interests to try to change their communist tune because of how they operated inside their country.

China, then the most populous nation in the world, was in Nixon’s view inevitably going to rise, why not use this growing giant as a weight against the Soviets? Additionally, he was significantly less interested in creating a unipolar one and was comparatively uninterested in perpetuating the bipolar world, which he found to be too cumbersome.

Instead, Nixon&nbsp, envisioned&nbsp, a multipolar world with power centers in America, the Soviet Union, China, Western Europe and Japan. This was borne out of the realization that the planet has been in ruins for decades due to the bipolar world.

Even though Nixon could not have predicted what a world without polarization would bring, we do: it has required 30 years of unending war to keep it going, and even that effort is increasingly reminiscent of an attempt to grasp sand in one’s hand.

Nixon, with Henry Kissinger, mostly made foreign policy separate from the traditional establishment, which Nixon did not trust. And indeed, after they left office, the traditional ideas returned.

However, if America had continued to believe that multipolarity was safer, we might not have been surprised by the recent boom in Chinese electric cars or by China’s continued totalitarian rule.

Instead, by sticking to the notion that a unipolar world is ideal but expecting a bipolar world, all of the establishment’s efforts have been centered on Europe, as in their worldview America’s enemy when the world was bipolar, Russia, must be stopped in whatever it attempts.

However, this emphasis on Russia has come at the expense of ignoring China, which has a ten-fold larger economy than Russia.

Some in Washington DC may argue that they are doing both, but the recent aid package&nbsp, proves&nbsp, this to be false: nearly two- thirds of the “national security package” focuses on Ukraine while only a paltry 8 % goes toward the” Indo- Pacific region”.

All of this implies that the United States should work toward a multipolar world. Indeed, such a goal would be incredibly ostentatious, requiring world- building in places we have no business doing so.

Given that America and China are militarily and economically ahead of any other nations, as former Trump administration official Elbridge Colby has stated, the world is not currently multipolar.

However, the world is fundamentally changing, and many of the current measures to stop China’s rise are ineffective for long-term planning.

Former president Donald Trump ‘s&nbsp, proposed&nbsp, 100 % tariff on every imported Chinese car will certainly keep them out of the US, but they will not solve the broader issues brought to the fore by China’s rise.

To do that, we must first confront it. If we take China seriously and demonstrate that we are willing to fight for our country’s interests, we could prevent war and prevent the emergence of either a true bipolar or multipolar world ( as soon as other states or state groups join the party )

The shock over China’s EV revolution wo n’t be the last that the Chinese inflict on Americans if we are n’t going to show that we will compete, or if we do n’t address the reality of China’s rise as-is.

Anthony Constantini works for Defense Priorities as a contributing fellow.

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US is one of world’s least trade-oriented nations – Asia Times

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Americans may be surprised to learn that the United States is n’t very dependent on international business given the recent spate of news about it. In fact, the US is one of the least trade-focused countries in the world when measured against the gross domestic product ( GDP ), which economists occasionally refer to as the “openness index.”

In 2022, the US deal- to- GDP ratios was 27 %, according to the World Bank. That means that the combined GDP of the US was 27 % of the region’s GDP. That’s far below the world average of 63 %.

Just two of the 193 nations that the World Bank examined were less active in international commerce than the US. Those were Nigeria, at 26 %, and Sudan at 3 %. Most world economic powers scored considerably higher, with Germany at 100 %, France at 73 %, the UK at 70 %, India at 49 %, and China at 38 %. Who knew?

Making feeling of industry- to- GDP ratios

What do these statistics actually mean? A trade-to- GDP ratio may be influenced by a number of factors, which is challenging. For instance, a nation can have a lower amount in large part due to its high taxes or other protectionist measures. Nigeria, Ethiopia and Pakistan come to mind in this regard. Some, such as Turkmenistan, have reduced ratio because they’re geographically distant.

A country with a big, rich, and developed economy that can provide the majority of its goods and services domestically may contribute to a lower trade-to-GDP ratio. We believe that this explains a bit about the country’s exceedingly small amount.

On the other hand, exceptionally high numbers of well over 300 % are found in a few small countries due to necessity, area or both. Places like Luxembourg and the microstate of San Marino are both in high-trade Europe and are too small to support considerable commerce.

However, strategically placed locations like Singapore and Hong Kong have historically prospered as correct trade entrepôts. And Djibouti, in East Africa, is extremely performing a similar work.

Additionally, it is crucial to examine the evolution of trade-to-GDP numbers over period. As for the US, the ratio rose from 9 % in 1960 to just under 11 % in 1970 to 25 % by 2000.

Since then, the ratio has ranged from 22 % in 2002 to 31 % in 2012 – remaining low compared with almost every other country. Throughout its history, the US has had a comparatively small trade-to-GDP amount.

A wheel- ride background

The US generally erected the liberal, open organisational structures that currently dominates the world economy during World War II and shortly thereafter. It was simple for US social leaders to support relationship in somewhat free deal until the steep increase of trade-to-GDP numbers from 1970 to 2000.

A system of open industry and fixed transfer rates that were linked to the Bretton Woods Agreement, which established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1944, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947, were successful in promoting business and rise after World War II.

Additionally, those laws stabilized assets and balance of payments transactions. A new world monetary order was established by the US and was supported by freshly industrialized nations that had lost their balance during the war.

As international markets rebounded, the US certainly lost some of its hold in the agricultural and manufacturing industry during the 1950s and 1960s. However, its small trade-to-GDP ratio and intellectual support for anti-communist allies helped to lessen local political unrest relating to trade issues. International trade’s contribution to US economic dislocations was limited by capital controls and a number of congressional and political fixes.

The significant increases in trade-to-GDP ratio for the US and the universe as a whole during that time indicate that things had drastically altered in the 1970s. The demise of state-centered economic rules was a crucial factor. That encouraged the expansion of global trade agreements, which made it possible for goods and money to move more freely. Additionally, during this time, cheaper products from Taiwan and Japan began to arrive in the US.

Productivity-boosting innovations in generation, transportation, and communication pose bigger challenges to the stability of wartime working-class livelihoods. The onset of China’s economy in 1979 and the fall of the Soviet union between 1989 and 1991 were two more significant elements.

In the 1990s, two significant free-trade advances occurred. Unheard of investment, trade, and migration transfers were made possible by the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened the north and south of the US. Therefore, in 2001, China gained “permanent standard business relations position” with the US, so smoothing its entry into the World Trade Organization.

Both instances saw significant job losses in American manufacturing as a result of the economic vitality brought about by the movements.

As the US industry- to- GDP ratio climbed rapidly from 20 % in 1990 to almost 30 % by 2010, trade became an increasingly higher- profile issue in US politics. Critics were particularly concerned about the possibility that trade would harm American jobs and living standards.

After NAFTA’s passage and China’s entry into the WTO, many Americans and interest groups representing them soured on “globalization”. The long-open trade regime put in place after World War II embodied this globalization.

So it’s no wonder Donald Trump won the election for president in 2016 while calling for a border wall and severe new tariffs on China. And President Joe Biden has n’t backed off significantly from Trump’s protectionist trade policies.

US policymakers are unlikely to make any significant progress toward trade dependence, let alone any new free trade agreements. Instead, Biden and Trump are likely to express skepticism when the topic of open trade is brought up.

Leon Fink is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Peter A. Coclanis is a professor of history and director of the Global Research Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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China birthrate, robots to move factories to Africa – Asia Times

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The development of efficient technology has once more brought attention to American manufacturing.

In February, African rulers submitted a proposal to the UN, calling for the responsible use of nutrients essential for production “green” products, for as solar panels and batteries. The frontrunners argued that because these nutrients are found largely in Africa, Africa may gain more from their oppression, by integrating them into the country’s industrialization.

This renewed attention on industrializing natural resources only serves as a reminder of how poorly American manufacturing has developed since mining in the past. Africa contains half of the world’s iron and chromium, as well as 20 % of its metal and silver. However, the majority of these minerals are raw and are exported, with 85 % of their control occurring in China alone.

It is no wonder, then, that China’s manufacturing business benefits largely from the American nutrients the country processed. However, since the 1960s, African production has gradually declined as of the world full, while that of East Asia, and China in particular, increased in combination. &nbsp,

African leaders have gathered on numerous occasions to voice their desire to collaborate with outsiders to improve the country’s manufacturing industry. This phone has been received positively by the Chinese government.

In particular, in August 2023, the Taiwanese authorities announced its intention to start the Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Modernization. To support Africa expand from its dependency on agriculture and the extraction of natural resources, this initiative makes targeted investments in American manufacturing. &nbsp,

However, China is shifting its manufacturing to Africa even without the government’s approval. Chinese companies are increasingly looking to Africa to try to overtake them in the local market as a result of tight competition at home and in European markets. Data from August 2023 demonstrate that 12 % of Africa‘s production now has Chinese presence, representing one- second of all Chinese commercial activities on the globe. &nbsp,

Reduced appeal of” Made in China”

The rapid decline in China’s community is one of the main causes of Taiwanese manufacturers leaving for Africa. After losing 850, 000 people in 2022 for the first minimize since 1961, the state lost another 2 million in 2023.

According to estimates, people will continue to decline dramatically, reaching 1.4 billion in 2080 and 800 million in 2100. The nation will soon have a lack of consumers who will continue to purchase everything produced by its sizable manufacturing industry, which accounts for 38 % of China’s GDP and 28 % of the world’s total. &nbsp,

Additionally, concerns about disrupted industry have decreased international interest in China-made products as a result of talk of Western decoupling from China-centered supply chains. In 2023, Chinese imports experienced their first decrease in seven years, and they significantly underperformed projections in March 2024.

The outlook for Chinese exports to its biggest countries is not looking promising, with Trump requesting a 60 % tax on all Chinese exports if he travels to the White House and the Euro looking into ways to respond to alleged Chinese dumping. &nbsp,

With China’s people receding and Western attempts at decoupling intensifying, China is looking less appealing as a main center for manufacturing. For manufacturers, the position of China as a “growth” business comes under risk as the country’s working- time people continues to decline. The Chinese market for manufacturing goods may soon become a drag on the profit-focused due to the country’s persistent consumer pessimism. &nbsp,

China’s robotics- first manufacturing can be easily shifted to Africa

Of course, manufacturing in China has a lower attractiveness than manufacturing in Africa. Because of its projected double to 2.5 billion by 2050, Africa’s population may have a large potential market for manufactured goods. However, it lacks the ready production expertise needed to entice manufacturers out of China with only 1.9 % of the current global manufacturing output.

This industrial “know-how gap” may be quickly addressed by an emerging trend within Chinese manufacturing.

China’s factories are rapidly shifting from labor- intensive to robot- intensive, as the number of available factory workers declines. By 2035, China’s population of working-age people is projected to reach nearly a third of the total, up from its 2011 peak, which was also predicted. By then, the remaining workers will need to work doubly hard to look after the retired elderly and perform the tasks they left behind.

In response to this population trend, in 2022 alone China installed more than 290, 000 industrial robots, accounting for more than half of those installed around the globe. China is making an effort to prevent future labor shortages by increasing the stock of industrial robots by an average of 25 % annually since 2017. &nbsp,

In this context, consider Nio, a darling of the Chinese electric vehicle industry, who is widely touted by the Chinese government as guiding the next-generation of the nation’s manufacturing sector. Through its second factory, Nio has already demonstrated that 100 % automation is possible, while committing to reducing 30 % of the global workforce through technology.

By expanding its business overseas beyond its factory in Hungary and using robotics, it could quickly enter markets like Africa with no production know-how but robust sales.

Manufacturers are less dependent on the legions of trained Chinese factory workers than they were before with the advent of cheap and plentiful industrial robots.

Let’s say a sufficient portion of the Chinese industrial supply chain relies on robotics to perform a significant portion of the manufacturing tasks. In that situation, it is no longer possible to shift the supply chain and a few “robot managers” to Africa, a large and expanding consumer market with a much better chance of growing in the future than China’s. &nbsp,

Made in China’s advantages less insurmountable with technology

Of course, it should be made clear that having factory automation everywhere does not guarantee that Africa will quickly erect a sector the size of China’s.

The Chinese consumer market is the second-largest in the world after the US despite declining consumer confidence and a shrinking population. The country also has reliable electricity, smooth highways, fast- moving customs and efficient worker recruitment processes. These cannot be easily replicated in Africa without significant financial investment, policymaking, and changes in working culture. &nbsp,

However, it is also important to point out that these benefits of Made in China date back only a few decades and are only made possible by personnel’s slow learning and training. In January 1981, China exported goods worth little more than$ 1.5 billion. Compare that to the nearly$ 300 billion that the nation exports each month.

As recently as 2004, China’s entire manufacturing output was a little more than 600 billion USD, a fraction of the more than 5 trillion USD today. China’s factory labor has grown from as little as <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/07/art2full.pdf”>53 million in 1978 to more than 200 million in 2022 as a result of the manufacturing boom. In other words, China’s industrialization started at a much weaker foundation than Africa’s today.

A new industrial economy with a focus on automation may significantly lessen the opportunities for the slow process of human training and knowledge transfer required for scalable manufacturing. With sufficient electricity and internet access, the software behind industrial robots that uses artificial intelligence can plug and play anywhere in Africa. The ability of African nations to catch up with China will significantly increase as the focus of manufacturing shifts from largely immovable human labor to highly mobile robots and software. &nbsp,

It will be more financially viable for Chinese companies to set up automated facilities in Africa as industrial robot fabrication and maintenance become more affordable. Exporting from automated factories in China becomes more illogical as the Chinese consumer market shrinks and the West turns away from Made in China for political reasons. The Chinese are working on industrial robots at home, and they will eventually export them to Africa, enabling automated manufacturing in the Chinese to flourish where they are not yet practiced.

Currently based in Malta, Xiaochen Su, PhD, is a business risk and education consultant. He previously worked in Japan, East Africa, Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

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Herbert Smith Freehills hires partner in Thailand; six make counsel in Asia | FinanceAsia

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Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has appointed Pariyapol Kamolsilp as a partner in Bangkok. Kamolsilp (pictured) will join the firm on May 2, according to a company announcement. 

In Thailand, HSF is led by managing partner Warathorn Wongsawangsiri. The practice handles large litigation, class actions and arbitration matters for Thai, regional and international clients.

Kamolsilp has over 16 years of experience in domestic and international arbitration, with expertise in construction disputes and insolvency and bankruptcy matters. He began his legal career in 2007, focussing on commercial disputes, including securities matters and M&A.

“Thailand’s economy is growing and Bangkok is also a business hub for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam investment, so client demand for our services is rising,” said Wongsawangsiri in the announcement. “Pariyapol’s skills will help us meet that demand, particularly in construction, energy, consumer goods and TMT disputes.”
 
Asia managing partner Graeme Preston added: “Bangkok is essential to the growth of our Southeast Asia business, as it attracts investors across sectors and is a hub for onward investment.” 

Six promotions 
 
HSF has also promoted six of their team to counsel in Asia as part of a global promotion of 34 new counsel at the law firm, according to another company announcement. 

The six lawyers are: capital markets lawyer Maisie Ko, who is based in Hong Kong; commercial litigation laywer Saornnarin Kongkasem in Bangkok; Chee Hian Kwah, a specialist in financial services regulation at HSF’s network partner Prolegis in Singapore; Junyeon Park, who is a corporate crime and investigations lawyer based in Tokyo; Hong Kong-based Marcus Wong, who works in debt capital markets; and Yida Xu, also based in Hong Kong, who works in energy. 

They will all be promoted from May 1 and the move follows the promotion of six HSF lawyers in Asia to partners, also from the beginning of May. 


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