Eight+ Things to Read About China and Other Things, Part 10

This is part 9 of our series on eight+ things to read about China and a lot more. 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 this series is intended to constantly and consistently answer these questions.

As we 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 as to 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.

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. Argentina brands Hezbollah terrorist organization, freezes assets. Reuters. Because 25 years late is better than never. Because any organization that bombs buildings to kill people who are guilty of nothing more than being of a certain religion is a terrorist organization.
2. How to efficiently charge your devices. Popular Science. Because we all have devices that constantly need charging.
3. More than 50 companies reportedly pull production out of China due to trade war. CNBC. Because for so many months we got so much heat when we were screaming that this was happening. See this post from way back in October, 2018, titled, Would the Last Company Manufacturing in China Please Turn Off the Lights. Because if you do not also pull your manufacturing from China you are likely at risk of your competitors being able to greatly underprice you. Because our international manufacturing lawyers are writing about the same number of manufacturing contracts for countries other than China as they are for China.
4. Europe Joins U.S. Companies Moving Out Of China. Forbes. Because anyone who believes it is just U.S. companies fleeing China is either not seeing reality or ignoring it.
5. As U.S. ‘superstar’ cities thrive, weaker ones get left behind. Reuters.  Because this is a huge issue for our times, and not just in the United States.
6. The completely correct guide to reclining on an airplane. Washington Post.  Because so many people get up in arms over this.
7. Nike Supplier Pivots Away From Vietnam After Exiting China.  Bloomberg. Because just yesterday, in Quick Question Friday: China Law Answers, Part 80, I noted that my law firm’s “international lawyers and manufacturing advisors have strong opinions on some countries, but in the end, we have even stronger views that there is no one country right for everyone or for every product.” Though “we have been big fans of Vietnam for a long time, Vietnam is super busy right now and because of that it makes sense for fewer companies now as compared to as recently as a year ago. We really like Thailand because we view it as very low risk for tariffs and duties and because we find it to be a relatively easy country in which to do business. Oh, and we are big fans of both Portugal and Poland, but again, not for everybody. . . .  we are [also] big fans of Mexico for many products as well, and we are becoming increasingly big fans of other countries in Latin America as well.” What countries do you like and/or see rising for contract manufacturing?
8. China has an irrational fear of a “black invasion” bringing drugs, crime, and interracial marriage. Quartz. Because two people this week tried to tell me that China is racism-free. I use the word try because I just don’t have time to listen to such nonsense.
9. Make-Believe in Macau. New Yorker.  Because the cultural insights to be gleaned from this novelist’s (Chia Chia Lin) write-up of her time impersonating the ultra-rich is priceless (pun intended).
10. Warren Buffett to MBA students: This is what ‘sets apart a big winner from the rest of the pack’. Too difficult even to describe. Just read it.
11. Why working from home should be standard practice. Ted. Because it says working one to two days a week from home is optimal for both employee and employer and that is about what I would say also, both for myself and for our law firm. What would you say?

Please share your thoughts by commenting below.