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It was he first time since the survey began that people in ASEAN picked China over the US if forced to take sides.
The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore released its annual report titled "State of Southeast Asia 2024" in April, after surveying opinions from nearly 2,000 people representing five groups across the 10 ASEAN countries. The report revealed that in a survey on the economic influence of major powers on ASEAN, 70.6% of Thai people believed that China had the most economic influence on ASEAN, behind Laos, where 77.5% expressed the same opinion. Laos and Thailand are the only two ASEAN countries that attributed more than 70% of economic influence to China, significantly outpacing other major powers in terms of economic influence in the region, such as the US, Japan, and the European Union. The US is perceived to have an economic influence of only 8.1% and 11.4%, respectively. While similar views were held in other ASEAN countries, the exception was the Philippines, where China’s economic influence was seen at 30.7%, slightly ahead of the US at 27.9%. Even though the sample group in Thailand believes that China has the greatest economic influence on ASEAN by a wide margin, when asked about their "approval/concern" regarding this influence, 80.3% of Thais expressed concern compared to 19.7% who expressed approval. This sentiment aligned with Laos, where the proportions were: 72.7% “concerned” and 22.6% approve. When asked about their decision if they were forced to choose between China and the US, 50.5% of respondents chose China and 49.5% the US. This is the first time in five years since the inception of the annual report that China has edged out the US in the response to this question, the institute said. The survey, conducted between January and February of this year, also represents a significant shift in ASEAN public opinion compared to the previous year, when 61.1% of respondents chose the US and only 38.9% chose China. One of the main factors driving most ASEAN countries to increasingly turn towards China is Beijing’s large-scale policies, investment projects, and economic cooperation agreements in the region, the report said. In 2022, oublethink Lab, in collaboration with the “China in the World” network, unveiled the results of the China Index, which found that "Thailand ranked fourth among countries most influenced by China globally, behind Pakistan, Cambodia, and Singapore, out of a total of 82 countries/economic regions. The index was based on surveys of experts regarding various Chinese activities in each respective country." In the "Indo-Pacific Power" report for 2023 by Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, it was found that since 2018 the US has consistently lost influence to China in four key areas in the Indo-Pacific region. They include economic relations, military networks, diplomatic, and cultural influence. In that year, China led the US 52:48. By 2022, China had widened the lead to 54:46. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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EU shifts toward ‘War Economy’5/15/2024 The European Union’s defence industry has partially switched to a war economy, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton has said.
Kiev could face a “dangerous period” this year as the focus of Western politicians backing it has now turned to the European Parliament elections on June 6-9 and US presidential election on November 5, Breton explained in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV on Monday. Russia may well take advantage of this “uncertainty” and “move forward” on the front line, he said. “Because of this, we in Europe have decided to significantly increase our subsidies in terms of weapons and ammunition” for Ukraine, the commissioner stressed. According to Breton, the EU is now on track to be producing 2 million shells, including 155mm calibre, per year for Ukraine. He said that it is fair to say the EU has “moved into a war economy” at least in terms of shell production. “Now the challenge is for us to move into a war economy in all segments of the European defence industry,” the commissioner added. In March, the European Commission approved the allocation of €500 million ($590 million) to boost the production of shells in the EU. According to Brussels, the bloc will be able to make 2 million shells annually by the end of 2025. Last year, the EU vowed to supply Kiev with 1 million shells by March 2024. However, it later acknowledged that it would not be able to meet this goal. Ukrainian officials said that they received around a third of what had been promised. In April, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the switch to a war economy was “necessary” as defence spending and military orders have been on the rise across the EU. Russia has warned repeatedly that foreign weapons being sent to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, intelligence sharing, and the training of Ukrainian troops mean that Western nations have already become de-facto parties to the conflict. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Unpacking China’s GDP5/14/2024 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a key indicator of a nation’s overall economic size and power. GDP is generally defined as the total market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. GDP is by no means a perfect economic indicator. It lacks the complexity needed to provide a richer picture of economic health and productivity, and China’s official economic figures are known to be distorted. Nevertheless, GDP is among the most cited macroeconomic datapoints and warrants tracking. When it comes to GDP, China is a global outlier in many respects. Its economy is far larger than that of developing countries, and it has sustained decades of rapid economic growth. Yet China’s economy also differs in many respects from the world’s leading, advanced economies. This ChinaPower tracker includes 10 charts with up-to-date data to help break down and compare key aspects of China’s GDP. Measuring China’s GDP For centuries, China and India each accounted for between one-fourth and one-third of global GDP, thanks in large part to their sprawling populations. This changed abruptly in the 19th century as industrialization enabled rapid increases in productivity in the United States and Europe. China and India correspondingly saw their relative share of the global economy shrink. This persisted until the late 1970s when China began initiating market-based reforms and opening to the outside world, which helped kickstart and sustain economic growth. Today, China’s share of global GDP stands at over 18 percent when adjusted for price differences—the largest of any country. The methods used to measure and compare GDP can significantly alter the outcomes. One method, nominal GDP, measures the goods and services produced in each country and converts them to a common currency such as the U.S. Dollar. This method is the most straightforward, but it allows for distortions resulting from price and currency fluctuations. Another method measures GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which accounts for price level differences between countries. Measuring based on PPP has a large impact when comparing wealthy countries to developing countries. China’s nominal GDP is the second-largest after the United States, but measured at PPP, China’s GDP is larger than that of the United States by a considerable margin.1 In many respects, China is an outlier among the world’s large economies. Most leading economies are in open, democratic societies, but China is an authoritarian state that significantly curtails individual freedoms. One way of showing China’s outlier status is by plotting GDP against Freedom Scores, a measure devised by Freedom House to assess political rights and civil liberties around the world. In 2022, China received a Freedom Score of 9—one of the lowest in the world, indicating “not free.” The other top-five largest economies (the United States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom) all had scores above 80, indicating “free.” The next largest economy to share a similar Freedom Score with China—Saudi Arabia—has a GDP of $1.1 trillion—just 6 percent of the size of China’s. China is also an outlier among many other leading economies in that it still labels itself a developing economy and seeks the accompanying benefits in international organizations. Yet the developing country label belies the more complex reality that development is highly uneven within China. Many of its coastal provinces are far wealthier than inland and western regions. In 2022, China’s wealthiest region, Beijing, boasted a per capita GDP of about $28,300, which is on par with many high income, advanced economies. However, China’s poorest province, Gansu, has a per capita GDP of less than $6,700, which is approximately equal to that of Libya.
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One of Australia's largest banks is ditching cash at all of its branches and shifting entirely to 'digital-only' services.
Macquarie Bank customers will no longer be able to access over-the-counter services or order new chequebooks from May 20. The bank's automated telephone banking service and chequebooks for new cash management accounts have already been slashed. All cash and cheque transactions are gone, and Macquarie customers' access to NAB ATMs will end by November 1. The announcement is the latest hit for those who prefer to pay with cash, to avoid records being kept of all their transactions. In April, thousands took part in a 'Cash Day Out' protest and rushed to withdraw money from ATMS to protest against Australia's slow but inexorable transition to a digital-only country. Macquarie cited a shift in customers’ banking habits as the reason behind their change towards digital-only banking. Macquarie cited a shift in customers’ banking habits as the reason behind their change towards digital-only banking. The bank said it is 'committed to transitioning to completely digital payments' as it's a 'safe, quick, and more convenient' way to transact. Banks also claim that transporting and distributing cash for a diminishing amount of users was costly, despite the colossal profits made by major banks. Finance expert Sarah Wells saying the move 'is the next step [towards] a cashless society.' 'My biggest concern is when one starts the rest will follow,' she told Daily Mail Australia at the time. ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and NAB have already begun phasing out cheques while Bankwest prepares to shut down 45 branches in Western Australia by October. Ms Wells said this is a move Macquarie 'may wish to reconsider'. 'For some businesses this may cause them to need to change banks,' she said. Businesses bear the cost of having electronic payment machines, and must pass on a fraction of every transaction to the bank rather than keeping it all. Banks refusing to use cash effectively force their business customers into the same, as there is nowhere to deposit cash payments. That particularly hurts hospitality businesses who report a decline in tips when people pay by card. Those who want cash retained in the economy were urged to withdraw cash at ATMs across the country for 'Cash Out Day' last month to protest the nation's haste towards wholly cashless transactions, and show there is still demand for notes and coins. The campaign was promoted on the Facebook page of Cash Welcome, a non-profit group campaigning against a cashless economy. It saw customers lining up outside the big four banks - Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, and ANZ - to withdraw cash. Campaign manager for Cash Welcome, Jason Bryce, told Daily Mail Australia the event was a 'huge success' and said banks need to listen to Aussies who don't want a cashless society. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Increasing numbers of young people in Japan are adopting a new type of marital relationship that requires neither love nor sex, in a trend called “friendship marriage”.
Around one per cent of Japan’s population of 124 million are possible candidates for the arrangement. They include asexual individuals, homosexuals, and heterosexuals who are disillusioned with traditional marriage. The figures come from data collected by Colorus, an agency that claims to be the first and only one in Japan that specialises in friendship marriages. Since the agency’s inception in March 2015, about 500 members have formed friendship marriage households, and some have raised children. The Peet Journal finds out more about the trend. What is it? Friendship marriage is defined as “a cohabitating relationship based on shared interests and values.” It is not about traditional romantic love or marrying a best friend. In such relationships, the partners are legally spouses, but without romantic love or sexual interaction. Couples may live together or separately. If they decide to have children, they might decide to use artificial insemination. Both individuals are free to pursue romantic relationships with other people outside the marriage, as long as there is mutual agreement. “Friendship marriage is like finding a roommate with similar interests,” explained someone who has been in such an arrangement for three years. “I’m not suited to be someone’s girlfriend, but I can be a good friend. I only wanted someone with similar tastes to do things we both enjoy, to chat and laugh with,” another said. Before marrying, couples usually spend hours or days agreeing on the details of their life, such as whether to eat meals together, how to split expenses, who does the laundry, and how to allocate refrigerator space. Such discussions may seem unromantic, but they have helped about 80 per cent of couples to live happily together and in many cases have children, Colorus said. Who does it? Individuals interested in friendship marriage are, on average, 32.5 years old with incomes exceeding the national average, and about 85 per cent have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to Colorus. The trend is particularly appealing to asexual individuals and homosexuals. Many asexuals, who are unable to feel sexual desire or fall in love, still crave connection and companionship. Homosexuals may opt for friendship marriages as an alternative because same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan. Some heterosexual young people, who dislike traditional marriage patterns or romantic relationships, but are subject to societal pressures, have also been embracing the new trend. About 75 per cent of Japanese in their thirties still view marriage as a life goal, as reported by the Japanese Cabinet Office. However, 47.2 per cent of Japanese married couples have not had sex in the past month, and the number is rising, a 2016 survey showed. Seeking alternatives to traditional marriage, people have turned to friendship marriage to present a “stable and mature” image for career advancement or to please their parents. In Japan, being married has tax benefits and it remains very difficult for single women to have children. More than 70 per cent of partners in friendship marriages did so to have children. Although these types of relationships sometimes end in divorce, the advantages include enjoying policy benefits, companionship and “helping those who feel lost, dislike traditional marriage, or consider themselves social outcasts”, Colorus said. Outside Japan Worldwide, young people are increasingly exploring relationship arrangements beyond traditional marriage norms. Two 24-year-old women from Singapore, who have been close friends since childhood, decided to become life partners and live together in Los Angeles. Their relationship is not sexual. In China, a growing number of young people are choosing to buy houses and live with close friends. Marriage lawyer Zhao Li uses a common Chinese saying, “More than friends, less than lovers” to describe friendship marriage and emphasises the importance of signing a prenuptial agreement. “Although a non-sexual marriage might not be for everyone, it is not necessarily unhealthy or abnormal,” said Ma Xiaonian, a Chinese doctor with more than 30 years experience in sex education and relevant research. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Uttar Pradesh resident Nikhil Yadav, 25, is unimpressed with the talk from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the government ushering in speedy economic growth. It has not brought him and his college mates the one thing they desire most – jobs.“ Only two out of around 150 of my batch mates have found employment. Out of that, one has been recruited as an Agni Veer, which means he will be out of a job after four years,” Yadav said, referring to a new government programme to promote nationalism and skill building through a tour of duty in the military. As voting began on Tuesday in the third out of seven phases in India’s ongoing national election, one burning question facing voters is whether the higher economic growth achieved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is translating into better livelihoods for young people. Over 40 per cent of India’s population is under the age of 25. That huge pool of young people should be a competitive advantage for India – the fastest growing major economy in the world – especially when compared to the rapidly ageing populations of many Western countries as well as Asian competitors like China and Japan. But across a number of interviews with residents of Uttar Pradesh – the state that accounts for the most seats in parliament’s lower house – This Week in Asia found that much of the public is worried about a lack of job opportunities and rising prices. While the government has undertaken a number of initiatives to speed up the country’s development – including the building of expressways, the launch of high speed trains and the introduction of fiscal incentives for manufacturing – industries in many outlying areas continue to lag, despite buzz about India becoming the next factory to the world after China. Uttar Pradesh has typically lagged its more prosperous counterparts such as Tamil Nadu in the south and Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, but residents have seen major infrastructure improvements since the BJP came to power a decade ago, including a network of new highways and a steady electricity supply. Yet many said they still struggle to make ends meet due to a lack of high income job opportunities and higher living costs.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday to resolve economic disagreements between Brussels and Beijing. Xi arrived in France on Sunday for a two-day state visit, embarking on his first trip to Europe in five years. The Chinese leader will next head to Serbia and Hungary. “The world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change,” Xi stated at the start of the trilateral meeting in Paris. “As two important forces in the world, China and Europe should... continuously make new contributions to world peace and development,” the leader added. The Paris meeting mainly focused on trade disputes between Beijing and the EU. According to Macron, Europe and China must resolve structural difficulties, in particular on trade. “The future of our continent will also very clearly depend on our capacity to further develop in a balanced way our relationship with China,” the French president said during the meeting at the Elysee Palace. Macron has been pushing Brussels to get tough with China, accusing it of flooding the market with cheap electric vehicles. The EU launched an investigation last year into Chinese subsidies, while Beijing has threatened to slap tariffs on French-made brandy imports. Von der Leyen echoed Macron’s remarks, claiming the EU and China want good relations. “We have a substantial EU-China economic relationship... But this relationship is also challenged, for example, through state-induced overcapacity, unequal market access and overdependencies,” the EU commissioner stated. After the meeting, she told reporters that the EU “cannot absorb massive over-production of Chinese industrial goods flooding its market.” “Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its market,” von der Leyen cautioned. The EU commissioner has been pushing for “de-risking” trade with China as the bloc has accused Beijing of abusing the EU’s economic hospitality by dumping products. In the last several weeks, the EU authorities have launched investigations into alleged unfair Chinese trade practices, including restrictions on the supply of European medical devices to the Asian nation’s market and subsidies for Chinese firms producing wind turbines, electric vehicles, and trains. Meanwhile, China has opened an anti-dumping probe into brandy imported from the EU, which affects French exporters in particular. The mutual investigations are seen as a mounting tit-for-tat stand-off over protectionism.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen intends to talk to visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping about policies that she claims pose a threat of de-industrialization in the bloc.
The Chinese leader arrived in France on Sunday as part of a six-day, three-country trip to Europe, his first since 2019. The head of the EU executive branch said she would discuss “current imbalances” in Chinese trade during talks with Xi on Monday. ”China is currently manufacturing, with massive subsidies, more than it is selling due to its own weak domestic demand. This is leading to an oversupply of Chinese subsidized goods, such as EVs (electric vehicles) and steel, that is leading to unfair trade,” she claimed. ”Europe cannot accept such market-distorting practices that could lead to de-industrialization in Europe,” von der Leyen added. In the last several weeks, the EU authorities have launched investigations into alleged unfair Chinese practices, including restrictions on the supply of European medical devices to the Asian nation’s market and subsidies for Chinese firms producing wind turbines, electric vehicles, and trains. Meanwhile, China has opened an anti-dumping probe into brandy imported from the EU, which particularly affects French exporters. The mutual investigations are perceived as a mounting tit-for-tat stand-off over protectionism. Von der Leyen has pushed for “de-risking” trade with China, but has not gone as far as to advocate decoupling from the economic powerhouse. EU members have largely decoupled their economies from Russia in an attempt to penalize Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. The loss of access to cheap Russian natural gas has hit energy-intensive industries in Western Europe, forcing businesses to move manufacturing to other locations. The US was among their primary destinations, as the government offered subsidies to certain producers under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In an op-ed published in the French press ahead of his visit, Xi said Beijing was committed to reaching “new vistas” in its relationship with the country. He wrote: “France is advancing re-industrialization based on green innovation, whereas China is accelerating the development of new quality productive forces.” After France, the Chinese president is scheduled to visit EU member Hungary and Russia-friendly non-member Serbia. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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In a Caribbean island just 220 miles from the shore of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a black-clad Chinese security guard swept an arm at more than a thousand acres of woodland and a glittering, aqua-green marine reserve beyond.
China, its state-owned companies and aligned private businesses are expanding rapidly in the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and in other Caribbean countries in this strategic region long known as "America's third border," according to a Newsweek investigation of government and corporate documents as well as interviews with Antiguan leaders. China's growing regional presence is potentially the greatest external challenge to the United States in the Americas since the Soviet Union set up in Cuba in the 1960s—and the U.S. military is concerned. "We are aware that China may use its commercial and diplomatic presence for military purposes. In Asia, Africa and the Middle East, China has already abused commercial agreements at host-country ports for military aims; our concern is they may do the same in this region," a spokesperson for the Florida-based Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) told Newsweek. Hundreds of millions of dollars of loans and grants from China and extensive construction by Chinese state-owned companies of critical infrastructure including ports, airports and water systems are turning Antigua—once considered part of America's "backyard"—into China's front yard, critics say.
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President Joe Biden has claimed that US allies India and Japan are ‘xenophobic’ countries because they don’t welcome immigrants, and that this is why their economies are struggling. He also accused Russia and China of having the same insular policies.
The 81-year-old president and second-term hopeful was speaking at a campaign fundraising event in Washington on Wednesday, at which he claimed that the US economy is growing thanks to its immigration policy. “One of the reasons why our economy is growing is […] because we welcome immigrants. […] Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” Biden said, according to a speech transcript published on the White House webpage on Thursday. The White House has since tried to downplay the president’s remarks, saying that Biden meant no offense to either Japan or India. National security adviser John Kirby said the president had been making a wider point on US immigration policy. Wednesday’s remarks by the campaigning president came just three weeks after the White House hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on an official visit. At the time Biden said the two countries had an “unbreakable alliance,” particularly on global security matters. Biden is facing political pressure at home over an influx of migrants along the US border with Mexico. Critics argue that his immigration policies have led to chaos at the southern border, have enabled record flows of illegal migrants, including suspected terrorists, and have caused increased drug trafficking. Business Insider reported last month that the American economy could face stagflation as growth has been much weaker than expected. It revealed that US GDP increased at an annualized rate of only 1.6% in the first quarter of the current year, well behind projections of 2.5%. Japan, India and China have relatively few foreign workers. Russia, however, relies on migrant labor, much of which is sourced from Central Asian countries. India, meanwhile, has experienced steady growth to become the world’s fifth-largest economy last year. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised the country’s GDP forecast from 6.7% to 7% for the current fiscal year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its growth estimate for Russia, expecting the country’s GDP to expand by 3.2% this year, up from its January projection of 2.6%. Its latest projections put Russia ahead of a number of major Western economies in terms of growth this year, including the US (2.7%), UK (0.5%), and Germany (0.2%). Japan’s economy saw an overall growth of 1.9% last year. However, in the October to December quarter of last year it contracted 0.4%. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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