September 2023 Newsletter

The Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, a California (US) think tank, promotes discussion about and research on the politico-economy of MNCs investing, operating, or domiciled in East Asia.


MNC Center News

Dr. Sebastian Bersick has joined the Wong MNC Center as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Dr. Sebastian Bersick has joined the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations as a Senior Research Fellow.  Dr. Bersick is Professor of International Political Economy of East Asia and Vice-Dean, Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany).  He also is the Executive Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for European Union (EU)-Asia Connectivity.  For more...
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Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard interviewed for Asian Sentinel story on Brilliance Boss’s HK Bribery Probe and Risks for JVs
On August 13, 2023, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Founding Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, was interviewed by Asian Sentinel regarding the arrest in Hong Kong of the chairman of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings and the arrest’s potential implications for its joint venture partners, which include BMW and Renault.  According to Asian Sentinel, Brilliance manufactures and...
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Blog Postings

Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard's picture

The BRI is Dead? Long Live the BRI?, Part III – The Cracked Belts and Forked Roads Blocking Realization of the BRI Dream

Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard
China, as you would expect, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participants and proponents, and even data support some of the positive sentiment in, if not the logic of, the previous blog in this four-part series on the future of the BRI, which highlighted numerous factors likely to continue propelling the BRI.[1]  To illustrate, China’s official news agency Xinhua proclaimed a few days ago that the BRI “has yielded substantial benefits and...
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Hot Topics for MNCs, Cool Analysis

The Indo-Middle East Corridor (IMEC): Another Connectivity Scheme Headed Off the Rails?

At the September 2023 Group of 20 meeting in New Delhi, the United States (US), India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the European Union (EU), and various European countries such as Germany signed a...

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Wong MNC Center Publications and Sponsored Publications

Chinese overseas ports in Europe and the Americas: Understanding Smooth and Turbulent Waters

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

This book analyzes the progress, gains, and effects of Chinese overseas ports through in-depth and systematic studies of numerous cases in Europe and Latin America. China’s participation in overseas ports, especially under the rubric of the Belt and Road Initiative, is a matter of great concern to businesspeople, policymakers, and researchers pondering the implications of Chinese infrastructure activities and overseas investment.

Publications of Wong MNC Center Staff & Research Fellows

Europe's Geoeconomic Revolution: How the EU Learned to Wield Its Real Power

Matthias Matthijs and Sophie Meunier

The European Union has recently operated a revolutionary conversion to geoeconomics -the use of economic tools for geopolitical purposes. As a result, the bloc is today more cohesive and better prepared to navigate growing geopolitical rivalries. This article analyzes the conditions that led to the EU’s geoeconomic turn, including the role played by China, the Trump Administration, and internal politics in Europe, as well as the panoply of geoeconomic tools created by the EU over the past four years.

China’s Italian Ports in the Spotlight: Economic, Social and Geopolitical Aspects

Francesca Spigarelli and Dominique Lepore

With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which positions Italy as a bridge between Europe and the Mediterranean area, Italian ports have been competing to attract container traffic and gain value from the growing trade flows with China. Nevertheless, Chinese investments in Mediterranean ports raise diverse concerns about European competitiveness as well as their geopolitical impact. These issues resurfaced after Italy committed itself to the BRI by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China in March 2019.

Plunging into Piraeus: Calming Excessive Positive and Negative Froth

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

"Plunging into Piraeus," which is the 6th chapter in Chinese overseas ports in Europe and the Americas (Routledge, 2023), delves into COSCO Pacific’s extensive role in the Greek Port of Piraeus. This deep involvement has spurred a surfeit of commentary about its effects, much of it excessively laudatory or critical. This chapter observes, like many others, that China’s participation has dramatically enhanced the port’s performance and also acknowledges its noteworthy job creation effects.

Sailing into Chinese Overseas Ports in Europe and the Americas: Clarifying Murky Waters

Jean-Marc F. Blanchard

"Sailing into Chinese Overseas Ports in Europe and the Americas," the introductory chapter (chapter 1) to Chinese overseas ports in Europe and the Americas (Routledge, 2023), has several purposes. It sets forth the many rationales Chinese companies have to expand and deepen their roles in sea and river ports in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and numerous reasons that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC/China) has to support their increasing footprint overseas.