Monday, July 26, 2021

CAI, RCEP - Asia, Europe, USA

24-7-20 Malaysia [could become] next global chip giant - Caspian Report > .
2021 QUAD? Can Biden create an Asian NATO against China? - VisPol > .
22-2-24 Australia considers replacing bullying CCP with Indian Market - Insight > .
22-1-6 Australia & Japan sign security cooperation treaty - Focus > .
21-12-28 Australia to streamline weapon-buying process - Focus > .

CAI, RCEP - Asia, Europe, USA ..

The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is a proposed investment deal between the People's Republic of China and the European Union. Proposed in 2013, the deal had NOT been signed as of 27 October 2022. In December 2020, the European Commission announced that the agreement was concluded in principle by the leaders of the EU Council, pending ratification by the European Parliament.

In March 2021, it was reported that there would be serious doubts about the approval of the deal in the European Parliament given China's "unacceptable" behavior toward members of the parliament, the European Council's Political and Security Committee, and European think tanks.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement between the Asia-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. The 15 member countries account for about 30% of the world's population (2.2 billion people) and 30% of global GDP ($26.2 trillion) as of 2020, making it the biggest trade bloc in historyUnifying the preexisting bilateral agreements between the 10-member ASEAN and five of its major trade partners, the RCEP was signed on 15 November 2020 at a virtual ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam, and will take effect 60 days after it has been ratified by at least six ASEAN and three non-ASEAN signatories.

The trade pact, which includes a mix of high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, was conceived at the 2011 ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, while its negotiations were formally launched during the 2012 ASEAN Summit in Cambodia. It is expected to eliminate about 90% of the tariffs on imports between its signatories within 20 years of coming into force, and establish common rules for e-commerce, trade, and intellectual property. The unified rules of origin will help facilitate international supply chains and reduce export costs throughout the bloc.

The RCEP is the first free trade agreement between China, Japan, and South Korea, three of the four largest economies in Asia. Several analysts predicted that it would offer significant economic gains for signatory nations, as well as "pull the economic centre of gravity back towards Asia, with China poised to take the lead in writing trade rules for the region", leaving the U.S. behind in economic and political affairs. Reactions from others were neutral or negative, with some analysts saying that the economic gains from the trade deal would be modest. The RCEP has been criticized for ignoring labor, human rights, and environmental sustainability issues.

The new free trade bloc will be bigger than both the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement and the European Union. The combined GDP of potential RCEP members surpassed the combined GDP of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) members in 2007. It was suggested that continued economic growth, particularly in China and Indonesia, could see total GDP in the original RCEP membership grow to over US$100 trillion by 2050, roughly double the project size of TPP economies. On 23 January 2017, UNpresident Idiot-in-Cheat signed a memorandum withdrawing the United States from the TPP, a move which was seen to improve the chances of success for RCEP.

CCP Expansionism

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Xina Expanding its Empire into Russia's backyard? - VisPol > .
24-2-19 Book of Lord Shang: Ancient Path to Power; Ongoing Suffering - Digging > .
24-2-17 Taiwan Question & World Order | X Economy - Update > .
23-12-2 Xina’s Real Impact on Africa - Attempted Thought > .
23-12-11 India Rising? Xina Reversing? Asian Tigers - gtbt > .
23-10-25 Understanding NoXious World (Dis)Order - Kotkin | Hoover > .
23-10-24 [PooXi, P00ti Secrets at BRI Forum: NoXious World Order - Insight > .
23-10-21 [Bilk & Raid Imperialism 1: Xina Wants NoXious World Order] - Update > .  
23-10-20 Xina's PLAN Expansion vs USN's Hegemony - gtbt > . skip > .
23-10-17 [BRI Scam; Xina Using H-I War; MENA Policy] | Update > .
23-10-15 [NoXious Suppression of Autocratic Regime's Fodder] - serpentza > .
23-10-4 Expensive XiPaganda, Twisting History, Han Supremacy - Uncensored > .
23-9-29 Decoding P00ti-PooXi blueprint for NoXious World Order | DW > .
23-9-22 Xina’s New BRI $6B Railway in Laos: Massive Debt Trap | WSJ > .
23-9-9 Xina Preparing For War With USA? | BRI | US-X Relations - Update > .
23-9-7 Kidnappings, ghost towns: 10 years of Xi’s BRI masterplan | Tele > .
23-8-25 How Xi secured power by reforming Xina’s military - Lei > .
23-8-2 Xi's Anti-Corruption Purge of PLA Rocket Force | PLA structure - Digging > .
23-7-29 Ream, Hambantota, Tonga Naval Bases; Australia - Focus > .
23-7-28 PLAN's Indo-Pacific Bases - Ream, Djibouti, Hambantota, Tonga - Focus > .
23-7-8 Taiwan citizens preparing for war with Xina - SBS > .
23-6-1 Sex Scandals - Untold stories of PLAN (2) - Lei > .
23-5-31 Xina is Backstabbing Ruscia - Uncensored > .
23-4-16 Logan Wright Grasping Shadows X-Ec 1 - Update > . 2 > .
23-3-13 Yi Fuxian: The Chinese Century Is Already Over - Update > .
23-3-8 US-China: Qin & Conflict Warning - Update > .
23-3-8 [Slumping] Xina Blaming & Threatening USA - Focus > .
23-1-22 Politics Can Destroy Armies: Factionalism & R-U War - Perun > .
23-1-20 Xi's Biggest Errors - Kevin Rudd | Update > .
23-1-18 Middle Corridor - Inland Silk Road - Caspian > .
22-12-16 Xina vs India, Water Crisis, Xina Scared of India - BuBa > .
22-11-27 Dragon's Claw: Xina's Next 10 Years - Kamome > . skip > .
22-11-19 G20 '22 Biden-Xi meeting = "start of a new Cold War" - Times > .
22-11-11 Fortress Xina - Xi's Plans for World Domination - laowhy86 > .
22-11-1 "Overreach" | Susan Shirk, Kevin Rudd | Asia Society > .
22-10-27 Xina is "Pretty Much Screwed" - laowhy86 > .
22-10-25 Xina's Q3 details - Update > .
22-10-18 Xi absolute power through Party Constitution and XXP princelings - Lei > .
22-10-15 Xina's Economy is in Bad Shape - ColdFusion > .
22-9-9 No, China is Not A Peaceful Nation - laowhy86 > .
22-8-31 Shocking Chinese Mercenary Groups Around the World - T&P > .
22-8-26 How Xina wages an unseen war for strategic influence | FT > .
22-8-25 Xi vs Li: Xina’s dual-leadership after the 20th Party Congress? - Lei > .
22-8-22 Does Afghanistan have a future? - Caspian Report > .
22-8-4 What Killed Sri Lanka's Economy? - Patrick Boyle > . skip ad > .
22-8-4 Situation Zoom: Pelosi Visits Taiwan | Goodfellows - Hoover > .
22-8-3 Housing Crisis Pulls Down China’s Huge Steel Industry | Pelosi | Update > .
22-7-31 How PGII & IPEF could checkmate BRI - CaspianReport > .
22-3-16 China: "No. 1 Threat" to the West | Heinrichs - JoAnd > . full > .
2021 Xi Presents his Own Ideology as Natural Next Path. Deng Despised | Digging > .


CCP's String of Pearls

2020 China's String of Pearls Strategy | Geopolitics - Globe > .
24-4-12 India | [Modious's] Dying Democracy? - Prof J K-L > .
24-2-17 Taiwan Question & World Order | X Economy - Update > .
23-12-2 Xina’s Real Impact on Africa - Attempted Thought > .
23-10-25 Understanding NoXious World (Dis)Order - Kotkin | Hoover > .
23-10-24 [PooXi, P00ti Secrets at BRI Forum: NoXious World Order - Insight > .
23-10-21 [Bilk & Raid Imperialism 1: Xina Wants NoXious World Order] - Update > .  
23-10-20 Xina's PLAN Expansion vs USN's Hegemony - gtbt > . skip > .
23-10-17 [BRI Scam; Xina Using H-I War; MENA Policy] | Update > .
23-9-16 "Belt & Road to Death" - [XiXiP targeted corrupt governments] - Obs > .
23-9-7 Kidnappings, ghost towns: 10 years of Xi’s BRI masterplan | Tele > .
23-7-29 Ream, Hambantota, Tonga Naval Bases; Australia - Focus > .
23-7-24 Xina's Nine-Dash Line: [Illegal Claims in South China Sea] - Geoff > .
23-5-12 Pakistan is dying ⇒ global problem - Caspian > .
23-4-26 Why powerful nations want bases in tiny Djibouti - Real > .
23-3-13 Xina ~ Sri Lanka Debt Restructuring - Update > .
23-2-28 Xina & ROC war prep: martial law, nuclear emergency, wartime controls > .
23-2-22 US Bases & Philippine Fight Against Xina - T&P > .
23-2-15 India's Necklace of Diamonds Plan to Checkmate Xina - Caspian > .
23-1-13 US & Japan boost cooperation; Marines ready to counter Xina > .
23-1-11 Xinese Warships Spotted in South Pacific - Focus > .
22-12-28 Too many people? Challenges of demographic change | DW > .
22-11-27 Dragon's Claw: Xina's Next 10 Years - Kamome > . skip > .
22-11-19 G20 '22 Biden-Xi meeting = "start of a new Cold War" - Times > .
22-11-11 Fortress Xina - Xi's Plans for World Domination - laowhy86 > .
22-11-2 XiXiPee Said They Wouldn't Do It... THEY LIED! - cfc > .
22-10-20 XiXiPee Congress Day 3 - Update > .
22-10-11 Condeleeza Rice - Xina and Taiwan - Hoover > .
22-9-24 Xina's and Australia’s power plays in the Pacific - Caspian > .
22-8-31 Shocking Chinese Mercenary Groups Around the World - T&P > .
22-8-4 What Killed Sri Lanka's Economy? - Patrick Boyle > . skip ad > .
22-7-31 How PGII & IPEF could checkmate BRI - CaspianReport > .
22-7-21 Xina losing international trust, 10 Pacific nations rebuff joint agreement - CR > .
22-7-6 IISS Special Lecture: Australia, ASEAN and Southeast Asia > . 
22-4-27 How China [BRI] is TRAPPING INDIA via Pakistan & Sri Lanka - Think > .
22-3-26 China has “Fully Militarized” the South China Sea - Uncensored > .
22-3-18 "Myth" of the Chinese Debt Trap in Africa - Bloomberg > .
22-1-31 Will Taiwan Spark a US-China Conflict? - Whatifalthist > .
2021 Taiwan vs. China - The rocky road to democracy | DW Doc > .
24-5-23 India and Xina preparing for war? | ABC > .
> Pakistan >>
Redshift - China's Geoeconomic Tactics - anf >> .

CCP's String of Pearls ..


The String of Pearls is a geopolitical hypothesis proposed by United States political researchers in 2004. The term refers to the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan in the Horn of Africa. The sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centres in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia.

The term as a geopolitical concept was first used in an internal US Department of Defense report, "Energy Futures in Asia" in 2005. The term is also widely used in India's geopolitical and foreign policy narratives to highlight India's concerns over massive Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects across southern Asia. According to the EUISS, the formation of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (consisting of United States, India, Australia and Japan) is a direct result of China's assertive foreign and security policy in the Indo-Pacific region.

The “Belt and Road Initiative” is a Chinese led infrastructure initiative designed to connect Chinese manufacturers and markets with markets across Eurasia. The Initiative is primarily based on the ancient “silk road” which stretched from Italy in the West, to Southern China in the East. The “Belt” element of the project consists of overland routes through what was the original Silk Road and Russia, and the “Road” element, a series of shipping routes through which China and other states can move goods.

Many commentators in India believe the String of Pearls ["Road"] plan, together with the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and other parts of China's Belt and Road Initiative under Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, is a threat to India's national security. Such a system would encircle India and threaten its power projection, trade, and potentially territorial integrity. Furthermore, China's support for India's traditional enemy of Pakistan and its Gwadar Port is viewed as a threat, compounded by fears that China may develop an overseas naval military base in Gwadar, which could allow China to conduct expeditionary warfare in the Indian Ocean Region. From the east, the deep-water port of Kyaukpyu is also viewed with a similar concern. The first comprehensive academic analyses of Chinese plan and its security implications for New Delhi was undertaken in February 2008 by an active-duty Indian naval officer. Antedating China's anti-piracy naval deployment in the Indian Ocean beginning in December 2008, and the ensuing acquisition of its first overseas military in Djibouti in August 2017, his analysis predicting China's "permanent military presence" in the Indian Ocean is viewed by Indian policymakers as prescient. Accordingly, India has since been making moves of various types to counter the perceived threat.

The emergence of the String of Pearls is indicative of China's growing geopolitical influence through concerted efforts to increase access to ports and airfields, expand and modernise military forces, and foster stronger diplomatic relationships with trading partners. [Predictably] The Chinese government insists that China's burgeoning naval strategy is entirely peaceful and is only for the protection of regional trade interests. Chinese Communist Party general secretaries Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping have both asserted that China will never seek hegemony in foreign relations. A 2013 analysis by The Economist also found the Chinese moves to be commercial in nature. Although it has been claimed that China's actions are creating a security dilemma between China and India in the Indian Ocean, that has been questioned by some analysts, who point to China's fundamental strategic vulnerabilities.

The defence ministry said the aircraft, including nuclear-capable bombers, entered its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in two waves. Taiwan responded by scrambling its jets and deploying missile systems. China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state. Taiwan has been complaining for more than a year about repeated missions by China's air force near the island.

CCP Crackdown

21-7-25 Why China Is Crashing Its Own Stock Market - Outlook > .
24-2-19 Book of Lord Shang: Ancient Path to Power; Ongoing Suffering - Digging > .
23-10-25 Understanding NoXious World (Dis)Order - Kotkin | Hoover > .
23-10-15 [NoXious Suppression of Autocratic Regime's Fodder] - serpentza > .
23-9-25 Xi's Transforming Xina [for the worse] - Xina's Changing Trajectory - Dig > .
23-9-16 "Belt & Road to Death" - [XiXiP targeted corrupt governments] - Obs > .
23-8-2 Xi's Anti-Corruption Purge of PLA Rocket Force | PLA structure - Digging > .
23-4-16 Logan Wright Grasping Shadows X-Ec 1 - Update > . 2 > .
23-1-23 Xina’s Two-Year Tech Crackdown Winds Up | WSJ > .
23-1-20 Xi's Biggest Errors - Kevin Rudd | Update > .
22-11-27 Dragon's Claw: Xina's Next 10 Years - Kamome > . skip > .
22-11-1 "Overreach" | Susan Shirk, Kevin Rudd | Asia Society > .
22-10-27 Xina is "Pretty Much Screwed" - laowhy86 > .
22-10-25 Xina's Q3 details - Update > .
22-10-18 Xi absolute power through Party Constitution and XXP princelings - Lei > .
22-8-25 Xi vs Li: Xina’s dual-leadership after the 20th Party Congress? - Lei > .
22-8-3 Housing Crisis Pulls Down China’s Huge Steel Industry | Pelosi | Update > .
22-3-28 China's Economic Rise—End of the Road - cfr > .

CCP Amplifies Control-Freakery 
CCP Crackdown on Business ..
CCP Expansionism ..

Commenter: [dubious] "As a Chinese, I know the main motivation of this process of adjustment is to meet the challenges of the USA decoupling, which makes the government realize that many industry sectors are already in danger. That key strategy is to reduce the importance of real estate and financial assets, Internet and virtual economy, in order to improve the weakening manufactures and consumer sectors. It has been on the top list for years, and the US challenges just happen to accelerate its implementation."

China says crackdown on business to go on for years:

The Chinese government has unveiled a five-year plan outlining [even] tighter regulation of much of its economy. It says new rules will be introduced covering areas including national security, technology and monopolies in the world's second largest economy. The plan comes soon after Beijing started targeting the technology and education industries.

The 10-point plan, which runs to the end of 2025, was released jointly late on 21-8-11 by China's State Council and the Communist Party's Central Committee. It said laws will be strengthened for "important fields" such as science and technological innovation, culture and education. The plan also said the Chinese government aims to tackle monopolies and "foreign-related rule of law".

Regulations relating to China's digital economy, including "internet finance, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing etc." will also be reviewed. The announcement raised fresh concerns that Beijing's crackdown on technology and private education companies is set to continue and expand in years to come. Shares in many Chinese companies listed in the US, Hong Kong and mainland China have fallen sharply this year as investors' concerns grow over the crackdown.

21-12-28 From economic miracle to mirage – will China’s GDP ever overtake the US?: Analysis: issues of governance, rising debt, COVID and property market turmoil will delay Beijing’s quest to become the global economy’s No 1.

sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...