Eight+ Things to Read About China and Other Things, Part 1

Okay, so on May 3 I wrote about how we would be starting a new series on here listing out eight things to read about China and a lot more. In that May 3 post I talked about how we constantly get emails from readers asking what to read on China and all sorts of things related and even barely related to China and the plan of this series would be to constantly and consistently answer this very question.

But then we got hit with President Trump’s tariff tweet two days later and along with our international lawyers having to put in long hours dealing with the client dislocations that tweet has caused, we also pretty much every day since then have felt compelled to address the pressing trade issues at hand.

Anyway, we’re back to trying this again.

Like I said in our initial post on this, our plan is to list out eight (or so) articles we benefitted from reading and think you our readers would also benefit from reading, along with a very brief explanation why the particular article was included. More specifically:

The articles will likely include many on China and on Asia and a few on international trade, international politics, Spain and Latin America, economics and really just anything else we believe might benefit our readers or even that we just want people to read. We do not plan to choose articles that push our or any other political agenda or any other agenda for that matter, but having said that, we are not objective and our views may creep through. Our goal though is to focus on articles that are important or helpful or — most importantly — that make you think. Our posting of an article will NOT mean we agree with all of it or even any of it. Most of the articles will be from the week preceding the post but we will also sometimes throw in older articles (classics if you will) as well.

And though I said this in the initial post on this, it is important enough that I must state it again: Please do not hesitate to comment at the end of this or any other post. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your comments, good, bad and indifferent.

Here we go, in absolutely no particular order.

1. Chinese firms are not all serial intellectual-property thieves. The Economist. Because it’s true and because we (most of us who deal with China) sometimes forget this.
2. China’s population could peak in 2023, here’s why that matters. CNBC. Because demography is destiny.
3. How to Assess Security Risks While Traveling. The New York Times. Traveling can be dangerous. I’ve experienced a military coup (Istanbul) a typhoon (Korea), three car accidents (Sakhalin Island, Yantai, and Qingdao — never hurt much at all), an anti-American protest with hundreds of thousands of protestors (Korea), catching two spies in my hotel room (Tokyo, yes Tokyo), threatened with death (Vladivostok), held by the police for 7 hours (Vladivostok) been stranded for days because of terrorism (Anchorage, Alaska because of 9-11), been stranded for days (with no heat) because of weather (Magadan) and these are just what I remember. I’m quite sure many (most?) of you-all can recite similar stories. This article should help you prepare for these sorts of events.
4. How a Chinese venture in Venezuela made millions while locals grew hungry. Reuters Special Report. China’s Belt and Road gone wild in Venezuela. Because this sort of thing simply should not happen and you should know why it just keeps happening. Hint: There is a lot of money to be made from corruption.
5. The Center-Left Finds Life in Spain. New Yorker. There has been a lot of talk about Trumpian rightists sweeping Europe and doing well in Spain but so far that is not to be and this bodes well for the rest of Europe as well. And because my law firm has offices in Madrid and Barcelona and because our law firm does a ton of work with Spain.
6. Taiwan becomes first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. The Guardian. Because this is BREAKING NEWS and a big deal and because gay rights are human rights and because this is what democracy looks like.
7. The Dirty Truth About White Liberal Racism. Pacific Standard. Because it’s controversial, true and super important. I spent most of 2018 in Spain and I returned to a United States far more racist than when I left. And until this point I believed that racism had been in a straight line decline since I was a kid. And yet we really don’t talk about it all that much.
8. Syria bombings: UN says ‘worst fears are coming true’ in Idlib. Al Jazeera. Because three million people are at risk and because hospitals and schools are being bombed and because this isn’t anyone’s lead story.
9. The Best Way to Load Your Dishwasher, According to an Expert. Cooking Light. Because science is important and because according to my own experiences and my own completely made up statistics, arguments would decline by approximately 40% worldwide if people would just agree on this one really important thing.
10. My Way or the Huawei. Zeihan on Geopolitics. Because this whole “Huawei thing” could end up being THE key to an upcoming rapid decline in US-China relations and because this piece makes a heckuva lot of sense.
11. China’s currency is sending a warning signal about the trade war. Because it says the RMB has declined 2.7 percent against the dollar just since President Trump’s May 5 tariff tweet and because it fits in so well with what I said in Who Pays the Tariffs on China Imports? President Trump vs. CNN and What YOU Can do NOW to Reduce Your China Prices about how RMB devaluation will — among other things — give buyers of China prducts a great tool for negotiating prices lower.

Your thoughts?