NYT's Friedman: "Xi is eroding trust in China," plus updates showing Latin America, Japan, India, NATO, Canada, Great Britain, Europe & the U.S. increasingly wary - - China Boss update 10.22.21
Update
Geopolitical China's greatest weakness: Lack of trust
A common theme in recent geopolitical China news was given special treatment by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman in a heavy hitting op-ed for the New York Times. In “China’s Bullying Is Becoming a Danger to the World and Itself,” Friedman wrote that “everything Xi is doing today is eroding trust . . . ” for business, as well as national security chiefs around the world.
Friedman, NYT:
For those of you who have not been keeping score at home, let me explain by starting with a question: What would you have thought if you’d looked at this newspaper in 2008, a year after the Apple iPhone was released, and the front-page headline said that Steve Jobs had disappeared? There would be millions of searches on Google: “Where is Steve Jobs?”
Well, if China has a Steve Jobs equivalent it’s Jack Ma, the co-founder of the e-retail giant Alibaba. Has anyone seen Ma lately? I guarantee you that more than a few people have asked Google this year, “Where is Jack Ma?”
. . . A second story: After the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, expressed support last April for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, China reacted by slashing its imports of Australian barley, beef, wine and coal. Really? It was an absurd, bullying overreaction that every one of China’s Pacific neighbors noted.
Then, two weeks ago, China sent 150 People’s Liberation Army aircraft to probe the airspace near Taiwan, just the latest reminder that China is seriously laying the groundwork to seize Taiwan by force. You should be afraid.
Ironically, Ma has since reappeared on holiday in Spain, with Vice news reporting that “you can track his super yacht in Europe.” However, everyone is still very “afraid” for Taiwan.
I included Friedman’s stellar opinion piece below and divided 9 other recommended reads by geography (Latin America, Japan, India, NATO, Canada, Great Britain, Europe & the U.S) so you can understand the sense of uneasiness that a more hostile and nationalistic China is evoking across the world. Again, this is news from just the past week: Changes in global perceptions of China’s trustworthiness are happening fast.
Friedman’s Op-ed.
China’s Bullying Is Becoming a Danger to the World and Itself (Thomas L. Friedman, Opinion, New York Times)
Read to see why Friedman thinks that “[e]verything Xi is doing today is eroding trust among Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs … while at the same time eroding trust abroad that China — having swallowed Hong Kong — won’t soon move on Taiwan . . .”. He ends his opinion with a discussion about semiconductors and how lack of “trust” in the industry has kept China from advancing in that area.
Lack of trust in Latin America.
U.S. friends in Latin America are turning to China (Dave Lawler, Stef W. Kight, Axios)
Read to understand why Latin America is, as Lawler and Kight say, “turning to China.” Spoiler: Trust is low, but with Covid still ravaging the region, “U.S. friends in Latin America” have few options for investment and economic support.
Japan.
China, Russia navy ships jointly sail through Japan strait (Reuters)
Read for an update on how Japan is increasingly distrustful of China, especially after a joint operation this week that sent "a group of 10 naval vessels from China and Russia sail[ing] through a strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido.”
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