Yes... and there are many more examples of the U.S. Treasury putting aside payments on U.S. debt due to countries -- either to funds which are frozen and may be provided later, or sent directly to individuals & corporations in response to court actions, or directly diverted to the U.S. government. There are dozens of examples since 1900. Someone posted an article in ET a long time ago which provided a complete list --- I have been searching to see if I can find it (no luck yet).
that’s withholding, not the same subject. after every revolution or independence, external liabilities would be recognized, part of forming a diplomatic relationship. i think china will deny these old bonds while taiwan is still out there. i also think us bond holders are making numbers up at will. what kind of railway building project is worth 2% of the country’s gdp, even inflation with adjusted numbers.
Technology US to Curb China Access to Cloud Services Like Amazon, WSJ Says Biden administration plans to tighten export controls US and China are escalating their technological conflict By Edwin Chan 4 July 2023 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...access-to-cloud-services-like-amazon-wsj-says Washington is considering requiring cloud providers to seek government permission before serving Chinese firms that employ such platforms to train AI models, the Journal reported. Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are the global leaders in the business of providing internet computing to enterprises, and compete in China with the likes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. through local, state-affiliated datacenter partners. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Commerce Department declined to comment while the Office of the US Trade Representative deferred to Commerce. The Biden administration plans to tighten export controls announced in October to restrict sales of some artificial-intelligence chips to China, seeking to contain its rival’s development of a technology considered key to the country’s geopolitical and economic future. Part of the measures under discussion included restricting cloud access for Chinese AI developers, which was first reported by the Journal last week. Under the broader Commerce Department proposal, expected in July, the US would revise export controls to make it harder to sell some chips to China without a license. The move is aimed in part at Nvidia Corp.’s A800 chip, which the US-based company designed after the earlier controls were announced. The product’s configuration comes just within those limits. The US and China are escalating their technological conflict. On Monday, Beijing slapped controls on the export of metals critical to the chip, electric-vehicle and defense industries, showing it has some power to retaliate against moves by the US, Japan and Europe to cut Beijing off from advanced technology.
Politics Xi’s Metal Curbs Risk Backfiring as G-7 Seeks China Alternative Prior efforts to restrict rare earths sales hit market share China’s mining output share fell nearly 30% in last decade China Limits Exports of Semiconductor-Making Metals By Bloomberg News 4 July 2023 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...g-7-seeks-china-alternative?srnd=premium-asia China’s decision to control the export of two key metals showed it has some power to retaliate against moves by the US, Japan and Europe to cut Beijing off from advanced technology. But it also risks backfiring. The new export licensing system unveiled late Monday highlighted China’s dominant position in global production of gallium and germanium, which are used to make chips, electric cars and telecommunications equipment. The announcement — just days before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Beijing — appears timed to give China leverage as it pushes the White House to remove export controls that risk hobbling the nation’s development. Yet the measure is a double-edged sword, and may simply accelerate efforts by those countries to reduce dependence on the world’s second-biggest economy. If Beijing did at some point uses these new rules to restrict shipments and cut supply to other nations, prices would likely rise and make it more economical to boost output in Japan, Canada, the US or elsewhere. “It’s part of the tit-for-tat the PRC is playing with the US and its allies,” said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. He was referring to the country’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China. “There may be some initial shock to the markets and firms but over time, should these restrictions persist, markets and firms adjust.” The move underscores the dilemma facing President Xi Jinping as he seeks to counter US efforts to prevent China from accessing the chips needed to dominate technology like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Any reciprocal actions only give the US and Europe more ammunition to push for derisking, something Xi’s government has sought to counter. “China always takes a tit-for-tat approach,” Roy Lee, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, said of the new measures, which he called a retaliation to export controls by the US and other democratic nations. These “will become an accelerator for countries including Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to reduce our dependence on China supply of those critical minerals and materials.” Rare Earth Weapon China’s previous efforts to restrict the sale of rare earths have only diminished its market share as other countries work to secure supplies of the metals that aren’t controlled by China. China first introduced an export licensing system for rare earths in the 1990s while also gradually ramping up taxes, squeezing companies in Japan and elsewhere that relied on Chinese supplies. But the big shift happened in 2010, when Beijing temporary halted exports to Japan in reaction to a collision between a Chinese fishing boat and the Japanese coast guard near islands claimed by both countries. That incident set off a race to find alternative supplies from China. Output in Australia and the US subsequently increased, pushing China’s share of mining output down to 70% of global supply in 2022 from a peak of 98% in 2010, according to the US Geological Survey. China currently accounts for about 94% of the world’s gallium production, according to the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre. Still, the metals aren’t particularly rare or difficult to find, though China’s kept them cheap and they can be relatively high-cost to extract. “Imposing export restrictions risks reducing market dominance,” researchers from Eurasia Group including Anna Ashton wrote in a note. “If implemented as is, China’s new export mineral restrictions could offer fresh impetus for foreign manufacturers to shift production out of China, accelerating the trend of supply chain diversification.” China said the new licensing system for exports of gallium and germanium, along with their chemical compounds, was aimed at protecting national security — the same justification given by the US and it allies for their export controls. The announcement nevertheless sparked concern in Europe about potential disruption to supply chains in the short term and is likely to spur discussion about how to reduce the bloc’s reliance on China. The European Union announced a new economic security strategy last month and launched a Critical Raw Materials Act to ease financing and permitting for new mining and refining projects, and also to strike trade alliances to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Chinese suppliers. If the new rules were used to restrict exports, that escalation of tensions could threaten the bloc’s ability to transform its economy to become more environmentally friendly. However even if China doesn’t use this new rule to limit exports at some point in the future, it arguably has more to lose than the US, particularly as its mounting economic challenges raise questions about whether it will ever take over as the world’s biggest economy. Beijing’s most effective tool to sanction others is to cut off access to its huge market, or limit exports of strategically important goods. But this further drives the decoupling from China that Beijing wants to avoid, as it would undermine its stated goals of ensuring the nation is dominant in new technologies and essential in global supply chains. At the moment, however, the growing ideological struggle between the US and China is taking precedence over globalization, Morris Chang, the founder of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., said at an industry event in Taipei on Tuesday. “Right now national security and technology and economic leadership take priority over globalization,” he said. “The relations between US and China are more about competition than collaboration.” — With assistance by James Mayger, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Betty Hou and Jennifer Creery
"No matter how blonde you dye your hair, how sharp you shape your nose, you can never become a European or American.” Hong KongCNN — China’s top diplomat has urged Japan and South Korea to foster a sense of “strategic autonomy” from the West and cooperate with Beijing to “revitalize Asia,” amid rising tensions between China and the two neighboring American allies. The comments by Wang Yi on Monday come as Japan and South Korea forge closer relations with the United States – and mend ties with each other – driven by common concerns about Beijing’s growing influence and assertiveness in the region. In a video shared by Chinese state media, Wang told Japanese and South Korean guests attending a trilateral forum in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao that most Americans and Europeans can’t tell China, Japan and South Korea apart. “No matter how blonde you dye your hair, how sharp you shape your nose, you can never become a European or American, you can never become a Westerner,” Wang said. “We must know where our roots lie.” Wang called for Japan and South Korea to work together with China to “prosper together, revitalize East Asia, revitalize Asia and benefit the world.” Wang was speaking on the sidelines of the International Forum for Trilateral Cooperation, an annual event organized by Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul since 2011. On Monday, Wang also addressed the forum’s opening ceremony in an effort to “send a clear signal” of the potential for the three neighbors’ regrouping, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In his opening remarks, Wang called for Japan and South Korea to “promote inclusive Asian values, foster a sense of strategic autonomy, maintain regional unity and stability, resist the return of the Cold War mentality and be free of the coercion of bullying and hegemony,” the statement said. “The fate of the region is firmly in our own hands,” Wang was quoted as saying. Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, has pushed to expand Beijing’s role on the world stage with an increasingly assertive foreign policy that has fueled tensions with many of its neighbors and the West. In recent years, the Biden administration has stepped up efforts to unite allies and like-minded partners to counter China’s rising influence in the Pacific, including with South Korea and Japan, two of its most important allies in Asia. Their trilateral ties are furthered strengthened by security concerns about North Korea. The three countries have conducted joint military drills this year to boost their coordination against increasing North Korean missile threats. They’ve also issued joint statements on tensions in the Taiwan Strait – an area both Tokyo and Seoul say is vital to their respective security – which drew the ire of Beijing. In a thinly veiled swipe at the US, Wang on Monday accused “certain major powers outside the region” of “exaggerating ideological differences” to sow confrontation and division, in order to seek geopolitical gains, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “If this trend is allowed to develop, it will not only seriously interfere with the smooth progress of trilateral cooperation, but also aggravate tension and confrontation in the region,” Wang added. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi addressed the event via video link, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Politics Xi Urges Open Supply Chains After Curb on Key Metal Exports China just moved to limit shipments of chipmaking materials US has made several moves to restrict China’s tech ambitions A screen in Beijing showing news footage of Xi Jinping speaking virtually to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, held in India, on July 4.Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images By Bloomberg News 5 July 2023 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rbing-exports-of-key-metals?srnd=premium-asia Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on nations to spurn decoupling and the cutting of supply chains, one day after his nation imposed limits on exports of two key metals used to make chips to counter Western restrictions on Beijing. The world’s No. 2 economy wants to work with nations to “reject the moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing supply chains,” Xi said in a virtual speech to Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders. “We should make the pie of win-win cooperation bigger, and ensure that more development gains will be shared more fairly by people across the world,” he said, according to a text of the comments released late Tuesday by the official Xinhua News Agency. The remarks contrast with a decision by Xi’s government on Monday to subject gallium and germanium, along with their chemical compounds, to export controls. China’s Ministry of Commerce said the move was meant to protect national security. The export controls on the metals are “just the beginning” and China will step up countermeasures if the US imposes more tech curbs, said Wei Jianguo, a former vice minister of commerce. Wei told state-run China Daily that he he expected the controls to exert heavy pain on some countries. China’s move, which come just before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Beijing, may accelerate efforts by countries to reduce dependence on the world’s second-biggest economy. The US has taken increasingly aggressive measures to rein in China’s technology ambitions, largely to limit military advances, and has worked to convince allies in Europe and Asia to do the same. Beijing has previously complained about nations decoupling or de-risking from China. Last week, Premier Li Qiang warned that governments which attempt to politicize their economies will only fragment the world. “The invisible barriers put up by some people in recent years are becoming widespread and pushing the world into fragmentation and even confrontation,” he said. In a sign of the broad push China is making to counter any de-risking push, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao told former Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono in Beijing on Tuesday that the two nations should work to ensure supply chains remain stable. — With assistance by Philip Glamann
Confidence in China's economy is waning... Chinese rush to buy Hong Kong insurance, dollars as confidence cracks, yuan weakens https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-rush-buy-hong-kong-230232021.html SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese investors are rushing offshore to make dollar deposits and buy Hong Kong insurance in a signal domestic confidence is languishing and that the ailing yuan faces more pressure. The outflows highlight deep-seated concern about the state of China's economy as its much-awaited pandemic recovery stalls. Consumer spending is flagging, the property market and stock markets are in the doldrums and cash is piling up in savings. Brokers say individuals are responsible for the surge and it shows no sign of letting up, which analysts warn could put further pressure on the yuan as it teeters at eight-month lows. Mainland Chinese holdings under a nascent scheme allowing investment in Hong Kong and Macau wealth products have more than doubled since the end of last year to 814 million yuan ($110 million). New premiums collected on Hong Kong insurance policies leapt a staggering 2,686% to $9.6 billion in the first quarter of 2023. "More and more people realise they cannot put their eggs in one basket," said Helen Zhao, an insurance broker busy helping mainland clients sign Hong Kong deals, citing Sino-U.S. frictions and pessimism about China's outlook as motivating factors. Hong Kong insurance has long been a channel for Chinese buying assets abroad, with the policies providing more protection than what's available on the mainland, and attendant savings and investment products mostly denominated in dollars with a global remit. AIA Group, Prudential and Manulife all reported a jump in business, citing contributions from mainland investors. A wealth manager at Noah Holdings said he recently arranged a group of mainland clients to sign insurance contracts in "long queues", many unsettled by the abruptness of China's lurch in December from COVID-19 zero-tolerance to living with the virus. "Some clients were a bit of shocked by the policy U-turn, and they grow pessimistic about China's economy," he said. "The burst of insurance buying in Hong Kong reflects a gloomy domestic outlook, and worries about an uncertain future." Savings insurance products in Hong Kong offer a minimum yield of 4.5%, he said, better than 3% offered on the mainland. He requested anonymity as he isn't authorised to speak publicly. Noah Holdings said in an emailed statement that offshore insurance is a convenient tool for global asset allocation, while Hong Kong's location makes it a natural destination for mainland investors. Dollar deposits in Hong Kong, meanwhile, offer a hedge against movements in the yuan and, for a one-year term, yield 4%, according to Bank of China. On the mainland, one-year dollar deposits yield 2.8%, while yuan deposits yield 1.65%. OFFSHORE DEMAND Such returns are the pull factor. The gap between two-year U.S. and Chinese government bond yields is its widest in 16 years, in favour of the U.S., and global stocks are going up while China's are going sideways. "Offshore demand for policies denominated in Hong Kong dollars is low – U.S. dollar-denominated policies are more prevalent, to provide access to global asset allocation," said Lawrence Lam, chief executive officer at Prudential Hong Kong. To be sure, total demand remains below pre-COVID levels, and a surge in interest was expected to coincide with China's borders reopening, since signing policies requires a visit to Hong Kong. Yet it comes as the yuan is looking increasingly fragile. A previous, and larger, rush of outflows in 2016 prompted Beijing to ratchet up capital controls and unveil other measures to curtail insurance buying. The wealth manager at Noah fears that a sustained rush into Hong Kong insurance risks inviting Beijing's policy tightening. Chinese authorities have already stepped up efforts in the last few weeks to shore up the yuan, with state banks selling dollars and the central bank warning it would guard against the risks of large exchange rate movements. Hao Hong, chief economist at GROW Investment Group, notes the outflows also coincide with exporters' reluctance to repatriate dollar proceeds - another weight on the currency and sign of low confidence in the economy. The yuan's real exchange rate, he points out, is below the nadir seen during China's 2015-16 stock market crash and capital flight. While that makes for a possible source of a yuan rebound later in the year, according to Tan Xiaofen, professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beihang University, caution is likely to drive individual outflows ahead. "We've seen some changes to the risk attitudes of mainland visitors, which has moderated to a more balanced approach to their investments," said Sami Abouzahr, head of investments and wealth solutions at HSBC in Hong Kong. "They remain interested in investment opportunities but are also paying greater attention to their health and legacy needs through medical and legacy planning insurance solutions."
GOP declares war on ... Barbie Warner Bros. said there were no geopolitics intended in “Barbie.” Margot Robbie arrives to attend the pink carpet event for the movie "Barbie" in Seoul, South Korea, July 2, 2023. | Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo By Daniella Diaz 07/07/2023 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/gop-declares-war-on-barbie-00105154 In a Barbie world, who controls the South China Sea? That’s the question a handful of Republican lawmakers — not to mention much of Southeast Asia — is asking thanks to a background detail in the upcoming “Barbie” movie due out later this month. The detail in question is a dashed line drawn on a map off the coast of Asia that critics have identified as the nine-dash line, a contested maritime boundary that Beijing draws more than a thousand miles off its own coast to claim the vast majority of the South China Sea as its territory. GOP lawmakers accuse filmmakers of pandering to Chinese censors. But Warner Bros. Film Group, which produced the movie, said Thursday the map is not intended to “make any type of statement.” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who leads a select House panel aimed at countering the influence of China, said the map “illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors.” “While it may just be a Barbie map in a Barbie world, the fact that a cartoonish, crayon-scribbled map seems to go out of its way to depict the PRC’s unlawful territorial claims illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors,” Gallagher said in a statement to POLITICO. “I hope Warner Brothers clarifies that the map was not intended to endorse any territorial claims and was in fact, the work of a formerly plastic anthropomorphic doll.” GOP lawmakers accuse filmmakers of pandering to Chinese censors. | Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros., in its own statement to POLITICO, said there were no geopolitics intended in “Barbie.” “The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros. Film Group said. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.” The line, nine-dash or not, has made waves far beyond U.S. political circles. Vietnam’s National Film Evaluation Council banned all domestic screenings of Barbie over the map and the film is under a review in the Philippines that could result in a similar ban. The nine-dash line, which was rejected by an international tribunal in 2016, comes within hundreds of miles of both nations’ coasts and the two countries, along with others in the region, say the Chinese maritime border threatens their sovereignty. And control over the South China Sea is more than a regional spat. Relations between the U.S. and China are chilly at best, even despite a pair of recent visits by cabinet-level officials to Beijing. And the two nations’ militaries, rivals in the region, have repeatedly come into perilously close contact in or above the South China Sea. Among the first U.S. lawmakers to lodge geopolitical complaints about “Barbie” were Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who spoke out earlier this week against the decision to draw the map with what they say is the nine-dash line. A spokesperson for Cruz told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that the film’s trying to “appease the Chinese Communist Party.” “Senator Cruz has been fighting for years to prevent American companies, especially Hollywood studios, from altering and censoring their content to appease the Chinese Communist Party,” the spokesperson said. Blackburn, in a tweet, said “‘Barbie’ is bending to Beijing to make a quick buck.” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), another GOP China hawk, reiterated his call for lawmakers to support his legislation that would discourage Hollywood from Chinese Communist Party censorship. Barbie is far from the first film to face this type of criticism — “Top Gun: Maverick” was the subject of a similar debate last summer. “Hollywood studios that bow to Communist China prompted me to introduce the SCREEN Act,” Green said in a statement. “In no world should American films be spreading CCP propaganda. I encourage all film studios to stand with integrity or lose support from federal entities like the DOD.” The Pentagon, for its part, has already taken steps to curb its own cooperation on Hollywood projects that might cater to Beijing’s interests. According to a new Defense Department document obtained by POLITICO last month, filmmakers who want the U.S. military to help with their projects must now pledge that they won’t let Beijing alter those films.