“There’s been a lot of ink spilt, over decades, by economists outside of China about the inefficiency or the economic drag of maintaining these very large reserves. Over and over again this strategy has been vindicated, at least from Beijing’s perspective.”
via @FT
Ik spoor 3-5x/week naar het werk met gratis treinabonnement. Iemand met mobiliteitsbudget die 3-5x/week thuiswerkt, kan dat budget gebruiken voor huisvestingskosten. Dat is ok want ik:
-Kies ervoor om niet thuis te werken?
-Heb op mijn werk een dak boven het hoofd en dus geen nood aan huisvesting??
"So far this year, the People’s Liberation Army has appeared to be expressing caution near Taiwan. For the first time in at least three years, Beijing dispatched no warplanes near Taiwan for seven consecutive days, from February 27 to March 5."
"Swedish instructors here say the hardest thing to teach the students is to admit when they are hungry, cold or in pain. Enduring hardship can put an entire mission at risk because the cold is so unforgiving. “‘Suck it up and move on’ is how we do. “But ‘suck it up’ doesn’t cut it here.”"
"Key in decoupling from the U.S. is rethinking European security with Europe’s geography, political culture, strategic priorities and resources in mind. ... Ukraine has crystallized the main scenario Europe must prepare for: aggression from a neighbor, rather than projecting power across the world."
Recent trade overtures underline a goal identified in Chinese policy papers: to embed China so deeply in global trade that partners can't afford to decouple under U.S. pressure: "In countering U.S. strategic competition with China, 'anti-decoupling' should become China's primary focus."
"In deze nieuwe wereldorde staat Europa voor een moeilijke evenwichtsoefening. Conventionele herbewapening en moeilijke discussies over een Europese nucleaire paraplu zijn onvermijdelijk. Maar Europa moet ook zijn diplomatieke en normatieve macht inzetten om de norm tegen oorlog te versterken. "
30 jaar geleden was China een laatkomer in Afrika. Vandaag is het Europa dat achter de feiten lijkt aan te lopen en in de voetsporen van China wil terugkeren naar Afrika. Mijn vijf lessen die we uit de Chinese ervaring kunnen leren, vandaag in @demorgen.be
"Xi’s motives for ejecting Zhang Youxia may never be definitively known. But that hasn’t stopped foreign academics, officials and business executives from trying to find out—and some are turning to arcane tea leaf-reading techniques dating back to the era of Mao Zedong."
Ryan Hass: “The growing rift between America and its traditional partners gives Beijing more margin for error in its diplomacy with these countries. Beijing does not feel it needs to make concessions to pull these countries closer, it just needs to remain predictable and firm on its top goals.”
De Europese Groenlandstrategie mag ambitieuzer en proactiever, argumenteren KMS doctorandi Merel Jacobs en Tijs ter Haar in @tijd.be vandaag.
Op uitnodiging van "China voorbij de muur" fileerde ik de limieten van het strategisch partnerschap tussen China 🇨🇳en Venezuela 🇻🇪. 👇
"The move is unprecedented in PLA history and represents the total annihilation of the high command. With the two generals effectively out, the Central Military Commission has just two members left: its chairman, Mr. Xi, and General Zhang Shengmin, who has overseen Mr. Xi’s military purges."
"Part of the reason for Russia’s continued role is cost, while some believe western utilities can continue to buy from Russia if a peace deal with Ukraine is reached. They are therefore not ready to make long-term supply contracts that are still more expensive than Russian contracts."
“The attacks point to a growing anti-Chinese jihadist nexus in the region, of which ISIS-K is the primary benefactor.
...
China has urged the Taliban government to engage in 'more visible and verifiable actions to dismantle and eliminate all terrorist organizations based in Afghanistan'.”
"It would have been the first high-level Chinese mission to Mogadishu in four decades. The last-minute decision not to include the capital on Wang’s itinerary came as Somalia seeks shows of diplomatic support after Israel recognised the breakaway region of Somaliland last month."
"De terugtrekking kwam er volgens de Finse overheid na een analyse van de verdedigingsnoden van het land. ... De overheid zegt dat het haar "andere verplichtingen onder internationaal recht, inclusief internationaal humanitair recht" zal blijven nakomen."
vrtnws.be/p.7n9OqPwpA
"Een van de hefbomen die Europa heeft is militair. De Amerikaanse militaire macht is sterk afhankelijk van toegang tot Europa. Zonder Europa kunnen de VS hun macht in het Midden-Oosten nauwelijks projecteren."
"Some people said the lack of US support was ironic given that Elbridge Colby, the under-secretary of defence for policy, had pushed Japan to make clear what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan."
"By 2029, Germany is expected to spend €153 billion a year on defense. That’s about 3.5 percent of GDP, the country’s most ambitious military expansion since reunification. France, by comparison, plans to reach about €80 billion by 2030."
"Dat er vanuit de oppositie vragen gesteld worden die gebreken blootleggen, maakt deel uit van de normale werking van het parlement. Het zijn de veelheid en de mate van detail die voor onrust zorgen."
Four of the "seven sons of national defence" are banned from the PLA's procurement process on account of “bid-rigging”, with Beijing Institute of Technology also accused of “transferring benefits during the bidding process”.
"Building a shiny new carrier is nice, but ... the Chinese ‘don’t know what they don’t know’ about carrier ops."
"The intelligence prompted a fierce debate in the administration about US relations with the UAE and whether it should co-operate more with the Gulf state on AI on condition that it agreed to stop working with China."
"Communication between the US and China remains precarious and insufficient, consisting of occasional phone calls between top government or military officials. This fragile framework cannot be counted on to quickly defuse potential accidents and it remains vulnerable to rupture in tense times."
"Het aanwakkeren van vriend- of vijandbeelden leidt tot minder autonomie, in plaats van méér. Het is van belang dat Nederland de negatieve en positieve kanten van China niet overdrijft, en dat het beperkte maar realistische doelen stelt in de relatie."
"China routinely accessed low and medium level classification information on UK government servers for at least the last 10 years, including information marked “official-sensitive” and “secret,” as well as some material on the government’s secure IT networks."
" China has multiple mechanisms to mediate between Islamabad and Kabul, including trilateral foreign ministers’ meetings, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which has consistently focused on counterterrorism in Afghanistan, and the platform of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor."
Communities in Zambia have filed lawsuits seeking $80B in damages from Sino Metals after a February mining spill. Chinese social media is now openly debating the case.
"Moscow’s challenges create a fresh opening for Western powers to regain the access and influence in the Sahel they had lost after the military coups."
www.wsj.com/world/africa...
