Archive

September 26, 2023
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Reflections From Alastair’s European Trip

  • My recent visit to Europe confirmed that China is at the top of investors’ concerns, both Sino-Western tensions and the direction in which domestic policy is heading. There was a degree of cautious optimism about the EU’s medium-term prospects despite the populist threat and a firm belief that something close to the status quo would persist in Ukraine for some time.

By Alastair Newton

September 25, 2023
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G20: IF The IFIs…

  • Despite failures over 25 years to truly get to grips with long-overdue IFI reform, there is reason for cautious optimism embedded in agreements reached at the recent G20 summit. Hopefully, this will be reinforced at the IMF/IBRD annual meetings next month.

By Alastair Newton

September 11, 2023
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China/US: A Chip Off An Old Block

  • Contrary to much of the media coverage, the launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro likely does not mark a major SMIC breakthrough in chip manufacturing but is almost certainly geopolitically, not commercially, motivated. Further similar — and self-harming — moves by Beijing may well follow.

By Alastair Newton

September 05, 2023
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BRICS Without Straw

  • Beijing’s domineering drive to enlarge the BRICS group as a counterweight to the G7 is rooted primarily in the CCP’s need to internationally promote its autocratic governance model. That aids the domestic justification while, paradoxically, Xi Jinping’s policies turn China increasingly inward.

By Alastair Newton

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