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Posts Tagged China

Real life imitates art – India will buy Iranian oil with gold

Jan 26

Posted by sheffner in economic and political philosophy, news | Comments off

In The Way to Freedom, Iceland abandons its fiat currency, shuts down its central bank and allows gold to be used as money. Iceland is then followed by Switzerland and (with a little armtwisting) China.  The rest of the world immediately sees the sense of this and enthusiastically follows suit. No, wait! That’s not what happens! But this below IS happening. Today. For real.

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.

By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank’s assets and the oil embargo which the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

via DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

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“There has been so much orchestrated ‘good news’ that the bottom is probably about to fall out of the market.”

Jan 18

Posted by sheffner in news | 2 Comments

Quote of the day, from “Mish“. First, Mish quotes this article about China refusing to help the IMF bail out Europe.

The IMF is proposing an expansion of its lending resources to safeguard the global economy against any worsening of Europe’s debt crisis, according to an official at a Group of 20 nation. The lender is pushing China, Brazil, Russia, India, Japan and oil-exporting nations to be the top contributors

Then comments, “That the IMF feels the need to make such a request should not be anything to cheer about. Indeed, there has been so much orchestrated “good news” that I can’t help wondering if the bottom is about to fall out of the market.”

via Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: IMF Proposes Trillion Dollar Lending Expansion.

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“All hell could break loose”

Dec 22

Posted by sheffner in economic and political philosophy, news | Comments off

japan balance of trade

japan balance of trade

Here is the key: If Japan does not maintain a trade surplus covering both interest on its national debt and bond redemptions, all hell will break loose. This gives rise to the question as to how long Japan’s vaunted export machine can remain intact. I do not have the answer to that question, but China and the rest of Asia are nibbling away bits and pieces now. The tsunami sure did not help.

Trade issues and demographics explain Japan’s paranoia regarding a strengthening Yen. It is also another one of those global imbalances that “does not matter, until it does, and it will” kind of things.

It is mathematically impossible for every country to maintain a trade surplus and increase exports, yet every country wants to do just that.

Rising interest rates would crucify Japan, and that is why Japan is courting China, hoping China will buy Japanese debt.

via Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Japan Proposes Nonsensical Deal to China: “I’ll Loan You a Nickel if You Loan Me a Nickel”; Japan Worries About Servicing Its Debt.

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Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Worst Demand on Record for Japanese 40-Year Bonds; Can Japan Service its Debt? How?

Aug 10

Posted by sheffner in economic and political philosophy | Comments off

Mish quotes Bloomberg (the link is broken)

The 400 billion yen $5.2 billion sale drew bids valued at 2.03 times the amount on offer, the weakest since the Ministry of Finance began selling the securities in 2007.

The yield on the 2.2 percent bond maturing in March 2051 jumped 15 basis points to 2.335 percent as of 5:07 p.m. in Tokyo at Japan Bond Trading Co., the nation’s largest interdealer debt broker.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance said that every 1 percentage- point increase in 10-year yields above 2 percent would add 1 trillion yen in debt-servicing costs to a projection of 22.9 trillion yen for the fiscal year starting April 2012. The nation’s total debt may reach 219 percent of gross domestic product next year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

via Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Worst Demand on Record for Japanese 40-Year Bonds; Can Japan Service its Debt? How?.

Mish comments:

nearly all of that demand is internal.

Internal demand is a double-edged sword. Right now it is still sufficient. However, when (not if), Japan ever needs foreign buyers for its bond market, rates will not be 2.3% on 40-year bonds.

…

Here is the key: If Japan does not maintain a trade surplus covering both interest on its national debt and bond redemptions, all hell will break loose. This gives rise to the question as to how long Japan’s vaunted export machine can remain intact. I do not have the answer to that question, but China and the rest of Asia are nibbling away bits and pieces now. The tsunami sure did not help.

…

It is mathematically impossible for every country to maintain a trade surplus, yet every country wants to do just that.

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China erects, then destroys Japanese immigrant memorial – Yahoo! News

Aug 8

Posted by sheffner in news | Comments off

Lingering anti-Japanese sentiment? Or simple economic common sense – you look after your own first and don’t waste public money. Seems a reasonable protest to me. But the article authors want us to think that it can only mean “anti-Japanese sentiment”.

And my curiosity is piqued about these immigrants “who died of hunger following Japan’s surrender”. What’s the story behind that, I wonder?

Officials in northeast China demolished a memorial to Japanese immigrants to allay a public outcry over its construction last month, state media said on Monday, a sign of lingering anti-Japanese sentiment in the region once occupied by Japan.

The 3.8-meter high memorial wall was emblazoned with the names of 229 Japanese immigrants who were among the thousands settled in Heilongjiang province by Japan’s government during its World War Two-era occupation.

An official said the memorial to the immigrants who died of hunger following Japan’s surrender was a mark of the Chinese people’s humanness.

But residents in Fangzheng county where the memorial was erected criticized officials for wasting public funds to commemorate invaders, the official English-language China Daily newspaper said.

via China erects, then destroys Japanese immigrant memorial – Yahoo! News.

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Another unsung tsunami hero <東日本大地震＞自分を犠牲にして中国人研修生を避難させた日本人

May 13

Posted by sheffner in news | 2 Comments

Unsung Heroes (graphic from PaltformNation. Click image t visit source page).

Fellow-blogger and Japan-resident MikeInTokyoRogers recently alerted me to another one of those “unsung heroes” stories, this time about a Japanese company president who managed to rescue his Chinese employees before losing his own life in the tsunami . The man’s wife and children (whom he was looking for when he died) are still missing. 

The story is below. There are no doubt many similar stories. Probably most of them we will never hear about. It often happens in Japan that things only become newsworthy once they hit the headlines overseas. This is another example. The first paragraph tells us that this man is a hero in China! So it is a report about a Chinese media report.

I have several students from China in my English classes. I might use this story in my next writing class.

東日本大地震が発生した１１日、会社の中国人研修生２０人を先に避難させた後、自分は津波にのまれて行方不明になった日本人専務の話が中国大陸を感動させている。

 中国日刊紙・新京報（１７日付）によると、宮城県女川にある水産物加工会社・佐藤水産の佐藤充専務は、地震が発生すると、寄宿舎の近くにいた遼寧省大連出身の中国人女性研修生２０人に「もうすぐ津波が来る。早く避難しなさい」と伝えた。

  そして研修生を高台の神社に避難させた後、自分は妻と娘を探しに会社の寄宿舎に戻った。しかし佐藤専務は津波にのみ込まれ、研修生の目の前から消えたという。佐藤専務の家族も行方不明となっている。 

Read the rest over at  <東日本大地震＞自分を犠牲にして中国人研修生を避難させた日本人.

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