In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI). His ambitious scheme seeks to connect China to Europe through a package of ports, logistics facilities, railways and roads, power grids, and other infrastructure spanning from East China through the South China Sea, the Indian...
Archives: Blog entries
December 13, 2015
November 3, 2015
Tech firms dealing with China have long had to find ways to please the latter to ensure they have had permission to invest in or sell to China, to enjoy preferential polices afforded foreign investors, or to bid on government contracts. Among other things, they have partnered with local businesses,...
October 12, 2015
Economic relations between China and the UK have changed substantially since the last time a Chinese president visited Britain. When former Chinese President Hu Jintao came to the UK in 2005, Chinese outward FDI was modest, China had not yet shaken the structures of global development finance, and internationalization of...
September 16, 2015
Despite the obvious slowdown of the Chinese economy, China’s overseas investment (COI) continues to record strong growth, increasing by 20 percent in the first seven months of 2015 according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. It is important to note, though, that the recent growth is mostly driven by private companies...
August 24, 2015
It is de rigueur today that Chinese companies need to become more localized. At a minimum, they need to become more aware of local laws, regulations, and customs and abandon the idea they can do things like they do them at home. At the maximum, they need to hire more...
July 20, 2015
“The Asianization” of the Middle East, fostered by expanding trade, energy, immigration, military and political ties between Asia—most notably, China, Japan, South Korea, India and the region—foretells a political realignment in which the Asian powers are filling the vacuum created by diminishing US and European influence. The most significant indicator...
For many Japanese, year 2020 means Tokyo Olympics. Quite a few firms are eager to capitalize on the opportunity to grow their business. More than a dozen Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) are determined to showcase their products and project their images worldwide through multi-year, multi-million dollar Olympics sponsorships. Not widely...
July 8, 2015
Take a look at the names of today’s well-established multilateral development banks. There are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian, Inter-American, Islamic and African Development Banks. Next to institutions with such a broad orientation towards “development” and...
June 25, 2015
Prior to the opening of the just concluded 7th U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) there was some hope the two countries might make progress on a BIT. China fed the optimism somewhat, with a Chinese official lauding the fact the two sides had exchanged negative lists and were working...
May 8, 2015
Chinese companies from the People’s Republic of China in the US have been organizing to promote their interests as shown by the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC)’s expansion. The rise of the CGCC mirrors the development of foreign business associations in China such as the American Chambers of Commerce...
