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352. China: Political forces at a glance
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Country Data and Maps
- Institution:
- Economist Intelligence Unit
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Topic:
- Politics, Summary, Background, and Political forces at a glance
- Political Geography:
- China
353. Chinese Firms and Adherence to Global Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Standards in Developing Countries: Is there Potential to Create Common Ground?
- Author:
- Mike Morris
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
- Abstract:
- This paper focuses on analysing how Chinese firms operate in Latin America, Asia and Africa in regard to ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards and sustainability issues. How do they respond to the increasing global value chain requirement to incorporate and maintain ESG standards? Is their space for an alignment between Western development cooperation ESG policies, frameworks, strategies and practices and Chinese political and economic stakeholders in the developing world? The paper uses a variety of case studies covering Chinese firms (disaggregated into SOEs (state-owned enterprises) and large, medium and small private sector firms) operating in various sectors in countries across the developing world. It uses a three dimensional framework to analyse different types of Chinese firms in terms of value chain operations covering many of the ESG standards they are required to meet: 1. Supply chain relations (i.e. approach to supporting upgrading of local suppliers); 2. Internal firm processes (i.e. approach to local labour, training and upskilling); 3. Social licence to operate (i.e. approach to meaningfully engaging with local communities taking account of their social and economic needs).
- Topic:
- Development, Environment, Governance, Business, and Supply Chains
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, Asia, and Latin America
354. Early Warning in the Taiwan Strait
- Author:
- Mark Stokes and Eric Lee
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project 2049 Institute
- Abstract:
- Shows of force from China’s People’s Liberation Army exist on a continuum from peace to war and can be characterized as coercive or annihilative. In this report, Executive Director Mark Stokes and Associate Director of Programs Eric Lee examine kinetic and non-kinetic threats posed to Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army. The authors explore the history of Taiwan’s early warning infrastructure and radar order of battle. They then assess how these capabilities support Taiwan’s air sovereignty missions of surveillance and control around its territories. They conclude by suggesting ways the United States can bolster Taiwan’s early warning capabilities.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Sovereignty, Surveillance, and Army
- Political Geography:
- China, Taiwan, Asia-Pacific, and United States of America
355. Biden and Trade at Year One: The Reign of Polite Protectionism
- Author:
- James Bacchus
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised a change from the go‐it‐alone, my‐way‐or‐the‐highway approach to trade policy of Donald Trump. Disappointingly, during the first year of his presidency, Biden has instead largely embraced the failed Trump policy of unilateralism and protectionism in trade. He and his administration have done so politely, without Trump’s bluster and bombast. Yet, the results have been mostly the same: a turn toward more trade protection and managed trade, toward a proposed industrial policy that would add more restrictions on trade, and toward a destructive unilateralism that threatens to continue undermining the multilateral trading system overseen by the World Trade Organization. If Biden continues to pursue this misguided trade policy, American recovery and prosperity are at risk. There is still time—at least three years—for him to end this reign of polite protectionism by framing and pursuing a new trade policy that will benefit all Americans: a policy that will achieve more trade liberalization, stop managed trade, halt trade‐restrictive industrial policy, renew trade multilateralism, and give restored and unflinching support to the international rule of law in trade.
- Topic:
- Tariffs, Trade, Donald Trump, Protectionism, and Joe Biden
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
356. Policy Experimentation in China: The Political Economy of Policy Learning
- Author:
- Shaoda Wang and David Y. Yang
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Determining what policies to implement and how to implement them is an essential government task. Policy learning is challenging, as policy effectiveness often hinges on the nature of the policy, its implementation, the degree that it is tailored to local conditions, and the efforts and incentives of local politicians to make the policy work.
- Topic:
- Political Economy, Politics, Policy Implementation, and Economic Policy
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
357. Turning point? Putin, Xi, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Author:
- Bobo Lo
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Lowy Institute for International Policy
- Abstract:
- Putin’s war in Ukraine has highlighted the resilience but also the limitations of Sino–Russian partnership. Far from being an “arc of autocracy”, this is an interests-based relationship between strategically autonomous powers. Foreign policy coordination between China and Russia is limited by their different views of global order. Beijing is invested in a stable international system, albeit one skewed in its favour, whereas Moscow thrives on disorder and uncertainty. Xi Jinping aims to preserve the Sino–Russian partnership while maintaining ties with the West. But Beijing’s balancing act will become harder to sustain as the war continues. The balance of power within the bilateral relationship has tilted sharply towards Beijing. Russia is more reliant on China than ever. The long-term outlook for the relationship is unpromising.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Partnerships, Conflict, and Vladimir Putin
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, and Ukraine
358. Revising down the rise of China
- Author:
- Roland Rajah and Alyssa Leng
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Lowy Institute for International Policy
- Abstract:
- China will likely experience a substantial long-term growth slowdown owing to demographic decline, the limits of capital-intensive growth, and a gradual deceleration in productivity growth. Even with continued broad policy success, our baseline projections suggest annual economic growth will slow to about 3% by 2030 and 2% by 2040, while averaging 2–3% overall from now until 2050. China would still become the world’s largest economy, but it would never enjoy a meaningful lead over the US and would remain far less prosperous and productive per person even by mid-century.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economy, Economic Growth, and Strategic Competition
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and United States of America
359. Off Track – The role of China’s CRRC in the Global Railcar Market
- Author:
- Oxford Economics
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxford Economics
- Abstract:
- With $35 billion in total revenue in 2021, CRRC, the Chinese state-owned railroad rolling stock manufacturer, is the largest player in the $71 billion global railroad rolling stock industry. Like other Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), CRRC is the beneficiary of both implicit and explicit government subsidies. According to its annual reports, CRRC received $271 million in explicit Chinese government subsidies in 2020, and nearly $1.3 billion total between 2015 and 2020. Implicit government subsidies to SOEs like CRRC are harder to quantify and come in a variety of forms. For example, an SOE may obtain production inputs, such as financing or land, at below market-rate prices. It may also sell its outputs at above market-rate prices, a possibility that is particularly relevant to rail manufacturing, where much of the output is sold to government entities. Estimates by other researchers show that explicit government subsidies represent only about a quarter of the total government subsidies that Chinese SOEs receive. Since the 1990s, China has pursued a policy towards SOEs of “grasping the large, letting go of the small,” investing in national champions to dominate their respective industries. Under the management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) since 2003, SOEs have been encouraged to “go big and go global” through domestic consolidation and expansion, as well as through foreign mergers and acquisitions. The effect of these policies, which are fundamentally mercantilist in nature, has been for these national champion SOEs like CRRC to capture their domestic markets, using the economic rents so generated to finance global expansion. Between 2006 and 2018, SOEs’ share of the assets of the largest global firms has increased from approximately 6% to 20%, with Chinese SOEs accounting for essentially all of this increase. While SASAC has targeted specific industries for its national champion, the overall trend in recent years has been towards continued government divestment from legacy SOEs. SOEs’ share of national industrial employment fell from 60% in 1998 to 38% in 2003 to 20% in 2010. Thus, as reflected in planning documents, the selection of industries for the fostering of national champions is anything but random and reflects the strategic interests of the Chinese government. In the case of rail, the government’s strategic interest is transparent and is laid out in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—China seeks to dominate an integrated global rail transportation network based on Chinese technical standards. China expects to obtain significant financial and geopolitical benefits from this outcome and may be willing to absorb losses on individual foreign rail projects in order to break into foreign markets.
- Topic:
- Infrastructure, Hegemony, Railways, and Air Travel
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
360. The Geopolitics of Human Trafficking and Gendered North Korean Migration
- Author:
- Eunyoung Christina Choi
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- East Asia Institute (EAI)
- Abstract:
- According to the “White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2021,” human-trafficking targeted at North Korean defectors in China remains a grave issue ? not only are North Korean women sold without their consent, but they are also forced to prostitution at entertainment establishments. In this commentary, Eunyoung Christina Choi, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University, looks into the dire circumstances North Korean women defectors find themselves in during their pursuit to defect. She explains that the international community’s interest in and measures against the human-trafficking of North Korean female defectors have been dominated by geopolitical interests and have in turn exacerbated women’s prospects to safely defect.
- Topic:
- Women, Borders, and Human Trafficking
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and North Korea