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China-Japan-Koreas
China's investment boom starts to unravel
2012-05-14
In an unguarded moment in 2007, the man anointed to take over next year as the helmsman of the world's second-largest economy revealed his doubts about China's economic growth statistics.

The country's official gross domestic product figures are "man-made" and therefore unreliable, Li Keqiang told the US ambassador at the time, adding with a smile that he regarded them as being "for reference only".
Man-made in the same way statistics from the Soviet Union were always man-made -- that is, phony. Our CIA believed the Soviets then and apparently believe the Chinese today. Problem is we don't have a modern Daniel Patrick Moynihan to call attention to the stupidity.
When evaluating the speed of economic growth Mr Li, who is expected formally to replace Wen Jiabao as China's Premier next March, said he focused instead on three sets of data -- electricity consumption, rail cargo volumes and disbursement of bank loans.

If Mr Li's assessment is correct the Chinese economy is in a lot more trouble than headline GDP figures have indicated until now.

Less closely watched economic data released in recent days, including figures for electricity, rail cargo and bank loans, have all shown a steep drop in activity that appears to have caught policymakers by surprise.
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#2  DEFENCE FOUM INDIA > CHINA'S RISING SEABORNE FOOD + FUEL IMPORTS: PROPELLING NAVAL EXPANSION?

Beijing rediscovers its Mackindrian + Mahanist roots???

ARTIC > China imports over 1/2 of its domestic fuel supplies as local wells + fields are not up to task. CHINA'S "ACHILLES HEEL"?, as a number of Perts + Bloggers fear that the US-West may use Nukes + "fracking" as MIL, GEOPOL WEAPON = TECTONIC/GEOLOGIC/GEOPHYSICAL WARFARE???

Intehwesting - SPECOPS/COMMANDOS/SAPPERS deployed on COVERT EARTH/NATURAL SCIENCE MISSIONS during wartime.

[BATTLESHIP OKLAHOMA'S CELINE "TITANIC" DION, HUGO CHAVEZ + ISLANDS/LAND-SINKING "EARTHQUAKE/
TECTONIC BOMBS" here].

Gentlemen, we can rebuild Him [like Steve Austin or young Darth Vader], we have the Technology.

D *** YOUR SEXY TORPEDOES + ICEBERGS, CELINE!

[Eating Cracker Nuts angrily].

* SAME > CHINA PLANS WID JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA FOR FREE TRADE AREA, to be set up later this year.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-05-14 23:43  

#1  From Beijing...typical view. Banks don't loan. They only loan to big companies. The private loan market (read: informal borrowing) is the only way to get cash for expansion, and it's fraught with difficulty (obviously). Until they fix the banks, this problem won't go away. They won't fix the banks because then all the state-owned enterprises (read: GM) will go out of business.
Posted by: gromky   2012-05-14 12:30  

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