The EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager banned the merger of European rail giants. They presented the merger as the way to stop competition from China. China expert Harry Broadman commends Vestager for her much debated ban as, Broadman argues, size is not the way to fight Chinese companies. Innovation is, he writes in Gulf News.Read More →
Less than a decade ago, the relations between China and the US dominated globally, not only for the economy but also for human rights. When the flight of Liu Xia, the widow of Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo, to Berlin last week, shows one thing, it is that Germany is taking over that role, says Pulitzer price winner Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, who gave a eulogy on Liu Xiaobo in Berlin, last Friday, at DW.Read More →
Eyes were on Sofia, Bulgaria, last week, as China’s prime minister Li Keqiang tries to improve relations with Eastern Europe. Economist Sara Hsu puts Li’s efforts into perspective as both trade and investments between China and Eastern Europe have been stagnant, compared to other countries in the One-Belt, One-Road initiative, she tells at CGTN. Also: the contagious relations with the EU.Read More →
The US announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum was supposed to be a fit shot in the US-China trade war but left many US allies behind in disarray. Former US official Harry Broadman tries to make sense out of the mess Donald Trump has created, for Forbes.Read More →
Most observers of the recent trade actions by the US have been left behind flabbergasted, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to CNN. While the rhetoric is firmly anti-Chinese, most damage is done to other countries than China. Although that could change, he adds.Read More →
Who killed more, Hitler or Stalin, is a question often asked. Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, argues – 60 years after the Great Leap Forward started – that Mao Zedong is often wrongly excluded from this debate. But he opts for a nuanced approach in The New York Review of Books, although in numbers Mao beats both Stalin and Hitler.Read More →
Ads suck, says China veteran William Bao Bean. In Asia companies first build up trust, and then might sell now and then. “We are in the post-advertising market,” he tells at the Next16 in Hamburg.Read More →
Journalist Ian Johnson will be in Berlin from half June to half September, and is available to share his insights on civil society, culture and religion. He is a Beijing-based writer for the New York Review of Books, and his stories also appear in the New York Times and ChinaFile.Read More →
The China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) caused much controversy, even before it took off. Such a bank can improve the governance of projects, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat, although there is no guarantee that will happen.Read More →
Facebook has suspended the account of the exiled Chinese author Liao Yiwu, writes journalist Ian Johnson in the New York Times. Not or the first time, the censorship of the internet giant hits the wrong person. Liao opposes the move: “I didn’t knuckle under the Communist Party, and I won’t knuckle under Facebook.”Read More →
The story China´s rich send their kids abroad is not new, but their numbers are growing and the ages of the kids are dropping, found the latest Hurun report. And says Hurun founder Rupert Hoogerwerf, they go to more different countries, he tells at Yibada.comRead More →
Europe talks already about a triple-dip, a third financial crisis, as China´s premier Li Keqiang visited the continent with a global anti-recession business trip, offering deals to Germany, Italy and Russia. Financial analyst Sara Hsu. “Bolstering growth is needed in those countries… It won´t be Li´s last tour.”Read More →