Article

2010-02-08 Economy

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2010-02-08 04:07|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Starting to grasp the finer aspects of international trade. Well, at least they won't be hampered by decades of judicial appeals by the usual suspects trying to stop work in the name of Gaia.

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-02-08 06:38|| 2010-02-08 06:38|| Front Page Top

#2 The Chinese tend to position themselves for the 'long haul' so they can control their 'outcomes' (and those of others). They've pretty much controlled (through Whampoa Ltd.) both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal since 1999-2000 (on who's presidential watch was that now?)

Of course this got very little MSM 'play' and the only way I even knew it happened back then was from a relative in the shipping business.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2010-02-08 11:47|| 2010-02-08 11:47|| Front Page Top

#3 Forgot to mention that they also control a LOT of other world seaports. Google "Whampoa Ltd" and 'seaports'. (Won't even get into the materials markets they control).

Seems like their 'Starting to grasp the finer aspects of international trade' occurred a long time ago. Don't forget, the Chinese have been in 'commerce' for over 5,000 years. They've learned a thing or two.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2010-02-08 11:55|| 2010-02-08 11:55|| Front Page Top

#4 They're getting into the game awfully late, and all the good spots were gone a long time ago. Heck, America got into the game late in 1898 and was lucky to get anything at all.

Posted by gromky 2010-02-08 12:39|| 2010-02-08 12:39|| Front Page Top

#5 Don't forget, the Chinese have been in 'commerce' for over 5,000 years.

Chinese 'merchants' have been engaged in commerce for a long time but not the government. By the pre-20th Century Chinese society, merchants ranked on the lowest rung of society, below the peasants. The long history of the land was to tolerate what merchants generated but the xenophobic nature and sense of cultural superiority of the succession of dynasties meant the government acted in an insular fashion when it came to international trade. For one brief period when Zheng He explored the world did any of the Chinese regimes show significant interest beyond their immediate borders and even then the court eventually shut down the enterprise and destroyed the fleet. The European merchants and governments had to literally shoot their way into China in the 19th Century. I don't think the Mao era demonstrated much beyond exporting military hardware as a form of major commerce. So, yes the government is engaging in something that has been historically and culturally outside the standard practices of prior regimes.

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-02-08 13:09|| 2010-02-08 13:09|| Front Page Top

#6 Don't really see the point. Yeah bigger boats can go through but the big trade companies these days have so many boats why do you need one of the big ones to transit the canal at all?

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-02-08 13:18|| 2010-02-08 13:18|| Front Page Top

#7 Don't really see the point. Yeah bigger boats can go through

Supertankers and Venezuelan oil.

Posted by ed 2010-02-08 13:21|| 2010-02-08 13:21|| Front Page Top

#8 Besides I think if you sink one or two big boats in just the right spot you can close the whole canal down for a long, long, time.

Posted by CrazyFool 2010-02-08 13:42|| 2010-02-08 13:42|| Front Page Top

#9 ...Supertankers and Venezuelan oil...

and large prefabricated oil rigs and parts.

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-02-08 16:41|| 2010-02-08 16:41|| Front Page Top

#10 Okay, that makes sense. Still oil is fungible so why do they care where the oil comes from? Also China has fewer environmentalists so why not build nuke plants and ditch the oil dependence altogether?

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-02-08 18:07|| 2010-02-08 18:07|| Front Page Top

#11 ...and they're just getting started. Wait till they discover muscle cars. ;)

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-02-08 18:38|| 2010-02-08 18:38|| Front Page Top

#12 ION SINA PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA AID TO BHUTAN [+ Nepal], TIES IWD RUSSIA WORRYING CHINA. Indian andor Indo-Russian military arms assistance to the Himalayan Kngdoms = SOuthern Tibet.

* SAME/WMF > CHINESE PREMIER WEN: CHINA-JAPAN TIES AT CRUCIAL STAGE [US-Japan FUTENMA base deal = decisive factor].

* WMF > US HERITAGE FOUNDATION: IN 2025 CHINA MAY BE THE PACIFIC'S NUMBER ONE SUBMARINE POWER, NOT THE US NAVY, WID A MODERN SUBMARINE FLEET EQUAL TO ANY FOUR OF THE REGION'S MAJOR NAVAL STATES.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-02-08 21:07|| na 2010-02-08 21:07|| Front Page Top

#13 WMF > "CHINA'S HAWAII/PEARL HARBOR NB": CHINA TO BUILD PLA MILITARY SUPER-BASES ON HAINAN ISLAND.

GUAM-CNMI-WESTPAC caught in the middle. As per various prior WMF Artics, US BASES on GUAM,JAPAN are now widin easy reach of [improved]PLAAF H-6 strategic bombers, PLA "Second Arty" LR BMissles, + PLAN BM Subs.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-02-08 21:14|| 2010-02-08 21:14|| Front Page Top

23:50 USN, Ret.
23:35 3dc
23:28 3dc
23:17 3dc
23:16 Barbara Skolaut
23:04 3dc
23:03 KBK
22:49 Procopius2k
22:38 remoteman
22:34 badanov
22:22 Cheaderhead
22:20 Pappy
22:13 Chief
22:01 JosephMendiola
22:00 GirlThursday
21:58 GirlThursday
21:56 JosephMendiola
21:54 gorb
21:52 Lampedusa Omese6523
21:51 Frank G
21:51 gorb
21:34 Frank G
21:26 JosephMendiola
21:20 SR-71