Latest Articles about Economics

SOE Background of Rising Leaders Threatens Reform

The recent detention of senior executives of the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has highlighted a major question about China’s economic plans: Whether the Xi Jinping-Li Keqiang administration has finally decided to restructure the 110 or so yangqi, or state-owned enterprise (SOE) groupings. Li has... MORE

Chinese Trade-Charm Push Reaches UK and India

China’s trade-backed charm offensive has reached India and the United Kingdom, as Chinese leaders signed a raft of trade deals with the United Kingdom and a border pact with India that may reduce incidents along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). These follow high-profile trade... MORE

Russia Conducts Trade Warfare on Multiple Fronts

Russia’s trade restrictions against Lithuania (ban on Lithuanian dairy products since October 7, threats to ban meat and fish products, harassment of Lithuanian road transport at the Russian border—see EDM, October 11) constitute but one front of Moscow’s ongoing trade warfare targeting several European countries... MORE

Space and Robotic Technology: the Kremlin’s Final Frontier?

Russia’s deputy prime minister tasked with overseeing the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozon, is also billed as the country’s “space Tsar,” and he is presently turning his attention to large-scale sectorial reorganization to boost the Russian space sector’s competitiveness. On October 9, Rogozin briefed his close... MORE

Russia on a Collision Course with the European Union

The Kremlin is demonstrating its growing anger with the European Union for encroaching onto the territory of the former Soviet Union, which Moscow considers its exclusive sphere of influence. An important summit between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova... MORE

China Pushes “Silk Road” Regional Trade on Two Fronts

China’s top two leaders went to Southeast Asia last week with a message of regional economic integration, promising to build a “maritime silk road” (haishang sichou zhi lu) across the South China Sea (China News Service, October 3; Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, October 9).... MORE