As Belt and Road Forum Convenes, Time to Rethink Narratives on China’s Economic Coercion
October 16th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, commentary on the need to rethink the usual narratives on Chinese economic coercion, and the related anxieties about its ability to weaponize trade, given that China hasn’t been particularly good at it: After a hiatus since 2019, Beijing will host its third Belt and Road Forum on October 17 and 18. China […]
Read more »How China Left the World Far Behind in the Battery Race
October 14th, 2023
Courtesy of Bloomberg, an exclusive adapted excerpt from his new book , Akshat Rathi’s new book Climate Capitalism which explains the origin of China’s dominance in the battery market through the lens of CATL, now the world’s largest battery company: It was an admission of defeat. But you would never know it looking at the mild-mannered smiles […]
Read more »Mexico Is China’s Trojan Horse In The War For EV Dominance Against The U.S.
October 14th, 2023
Via Jalopnik, a report on how BYD, JAC and Chirey are keen on becoming major players in Mexico and that puts them in the backyard of the U.S. auto market. The U.S. and China are in a power struggle right now, , and its outcome is going to reorganize the roles both countries play in global automotive production. […]
Read more »China’s Promise of Prosperity Brought Laos Debt — and Distress
October 14th, 2023
Via The Washington Post, an article on Laos’ economy, pushed into distress by BRI infrastructure loans: At speeds of almost 100 miles an hour, the Chinese-built train zips over the Mekong River and careers through dozens of newly bored tunnels as it travels north from the capital. At its last stop, near the Chinese border, […]
Read more »China’s BYD Steps Up Globalization Strategy with EV Plant in Uzbekistan
October 12th, 2023
Via the South China Morning Post, a look at how China’s BYD has stepped up its globalization strategy with an electric-car plant in Uzbekistan targeting Central Asia: The Warren Buffett-backed carmaker’s joint venture UzAuto will start producing cars in the southeastern Uzbek city of Jizzakh from next year BYD will produce the Chazor compact EV and […]
Read more »China’s Economic Stake in the Middle East: Its Thirst for Oil
October 12th, 2023
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how China is the largest oil importer by far from Saudi Arabia and from Iran, highlighting the risk it faces if the war in Israel and Gaza were to broaden; China has cast itself as a neutral geopolitical player in the Middle East. It brokered a […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.