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| Europe |
| The coronavirus pandemic makes it clear: Europe must decide between the US and China |
| 2020-05-05 |
| h/t Instapundit [Business Insider] - Crises always have a habit of clarifying things. The coronavirus crisis is no different. Once a treatment for the virus has been found, the debates about shutdown and easing restrictions have passed, and the recession has reared its ugly head, nothing less than the world order itself must be clarified. Or to be more specific: the matter of alliance. Where does Europe stand? On the side of the US or China? Let us first look at a few assumptions and a few facts. America, the democratic world power, is currently governed by a narcissistic president — a man seen to be vulgar, uneducated, and with a volatile character who lacks any sense whatsoever for institutions. Half of Americans and three quarters of Europeans have no respect for him. And yet, whether by accident, thanks to good advisers or a keen instinct, this president has managed to make some correct decisions. He lowered taxes to stabilize the US economy, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, supported Israel, increased pressure on Europe to show more solidarity in NATO funding, and pressured the dysfunctional WHO. China, on the other hand, the non-democratic world power, is currently controlled by a president with a measured vanity — a man who is supposedly sensitive, highly educated and cultivated, a personality who thinks and acts with a highly consistent and long-term perspective demonstrating great sensibility for the interests of China's unitary state. And because Xi Jinping is said to look a little like Winnie the Pooh, the bear from the eponymous children's book, Chinese censorship forbids the use of either the name or the image of Winnie Pooh. Anyone who explicitly criticizes the government is punished. Xi Jinping has been General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2012, and President of the People's Republic of China since 2013. In 2018, he lifted all limitations on his term of office, meaning he could continue to rule China for life. He is a politician who, more than anything else, has continued and accelerated the economic reforms that were first introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s and reached new dimensions under Jiang Zemin. And thanks to tightened digital surveillance, he has been able to push China towards a position of global dominance as part of a seemingly friendly and peaceful international expansion. The key date of this strategy is December 11, 2001, when China was accepted as a full member of the WTO following 15 years of negotiations. A great decision for China. But perhaps the biggest mistake made in recent history by the western market economies. Since then, the US's share in the gross world product (GWP) dropped from 20.18% in 2001 to 15.03% (2019). Europe's share dropped from 23.5% to 16.05%, a drop of 7.45 percentage points in less than two decades. While China's share increased from 7.84% to 19.24% in the same period, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. The big mistake was to expose democratic market economies to a non-democratic state capitalism that exploits easier trading and competitive conditions without subjecting itself to the same rules. Asymmetry instead of reciprocity was the result. The process of "change through trade" actually did take place. However, not quite in the way expected by the West. China has become even more authoritarian and economically stronger, while the West has become weaker. What is our conclusion from all this? America has clearly decided to pursue a policy of 'decoupling' from China. If Europe does not want to see its freedom subverted by Beijing, it must decide which of the two countries to ally with, and it must do so soon. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #14 Forget 5G - in 6 months there is StarLink 1GB UP/DOWN |
| Posted by: 3dc 2020-05-05 16:06 |
| #13 Aren't Countries angry with China enough to say no to the Huawei 5G? Wishful thinking |
| Posted by: Jan 2020-05-05 15:03 |
| #12 Is the now very tired Target, Walmart, Loews, Best Buy graphic really necessary ? These stores sell what their wholesale vendors sell to them and what their customers buy. When the wholesale vendors change, these stores will offer goods from places other than China. But the manufacturers and wholesale vendors will not change voluntarily. For any real change to happen, customers must boycott Made in China merchandise, not necessarily the stores you mention. As I noted in a previous post, you can find merchandise in all of these stores that is not Made in China. But when the item you want is Made in China, then you must shop around at other stores to find a comparable item that was not Made in China, even if it costs more money. If, after all that shopping you still cannot find a comparable item that was not Made in China, then you must carefully consider how badly you need that item and whether or not you can do without it. I spent a couple of hours last week fixing an old patio umbrella. I'm not exactly a Mr. Fixit kind of a handyman and I could have easily bought a new one at WalMart. But I figured it would be Made in China so I spent some time and effort on fixing the old one. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2020-05-05 12:49 |
| #11 But the idiots will still be beaching. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2020-05-05 12:32 |
| #10 ^We have HCQ now. Soon there will be monoclonal IgG from Israel for passive immunization. And who knows, Remdesivir may actually work as advertised. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-05 11:05 |
| #8 My bet. East Europe USA, West (except UK) China. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-05 11:00 |
| #7 Europe must decide between the US and China /me puts his chips on China. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2020-05-05 10:50 |
| #6 Will the Washigton Post, New York Times, CNN and Bloomberg cut their ties to China? I doubt it. |
| Posted by: b 2020-05-05 10:07 |
| #5 The coronavirus pandemic makes it clear: Europe must decide between the US and China The greater dilemma, the US "must decide between the US and China." Is the now very tired Target, Walmart, Loews, Best Buy graphic really necessary ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2020-05-05 07:38 |
| #4 /\ Francaise * |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-05-05 07:17 |
| #3 I read somewhere that the EU was ready for a trade deal with the US. But guess which country vetoed it? La Republique Franchise. |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-05-05 07:16 |
| #2 >The big mistake was to Nope. In short, you cannot have free-trade BETWEEN countries when there's not Free-Trade INSIDE the country. America has lots of internal tariffs that dwarf the external ones, all that "free-trade" means is importers get rich as jobs move abroad. Cut internal tariffs (and raise external tariffs) and maybe you can increase trade, but it's always best to keep an external tariff until land price/wages are comparable as absolute advantage of production location will still mean the trade is beneficial to both parties (not just certain wealthy folks in both countries). |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-05-05 06:36 |
| #1 The eurines will always hate the US more, so what they will decide is no mystery at all. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-05-05 06:28 |