Xi Jinping is OUT OF CONTROL!
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So another story on China comes out today and I’m thinking about, I’m trying to get a sub-reference and I got it. I said, Xi Jinping is Fredo Corleone. That’s right. And I’m gonna explain. Okay, get a story today talking about how Xi Jinping is choking off all sorts of investment in the Chinese economy. However, they’re sending people out to go ahead and get money.
Fowlwong has Wall Street Journal story. Desperate for capital with their economy struggling, we told you so. China’s cities are wooing Western businesses with previously unavailable goodies. Beijing has labeled 2003, not the year of the dog, not the year of the porcupine, but the year of investing in China.
and local officials, they’ve gone out and about, they’re traveling the globe, spanning the globe on promotional tours to drum up interest from investors. Now, meanwhile, back in China, Xi Jinping’s national security agenda wants to fend off all sorts of threats, perceived threats out there. So he’s made basically a minefield for all of these people that are going out and about.
You see, Xi Jinping is like Fredo. I’m smart, I’m smart, I just want a little respect. And it’s hitting right now. He’s rated management consultant auditors, detentions. He expanded this anti-espionage law. Again, it’s routine business activity in China. Foreign companies are afraid of getting involved. Even market research.
China might take that as spying. So the perception of doing business in China has become much riskier. Obviously that chokes off what? The flow of capital, economy is struggling, it’s weak. We told you that. Foreign indirect investment in China fell to 20 billion in the first quarter of this year, compared with 100 billion in last year’s first quarter. And they were shut down last year’s first quarter, if you do remember.
They still had zero COVID areas going on at that point in time. Economists are predicting outflows from China this year will cancel out investment going into the country. A stunning change for a country that over the past four years, four decades, excuse me, has consistently seen more money coming in than going out. Now, China’s economy got bigger. Why? Because it opened itself up to investment. For Chinese leaders keeping pressure on foreign firms,
while trying to get them to invest is becoming precarious. And then you’ve got all these cities, like we told you, they’re financially distressed, they’re trying to go out and more money and they can’t get it. Here’s a couple of examples. Trade official in Chengdu barked on an investment promotion trip to Europe. He returned with nothing. He got skunked. And he said, my 20 years of trying to get investments from Europe, this was the first time we didn’t get to…
to sign even one memorandum of understanding. Another senior official in a country in southern Guangdong province, they set a goal of attracting 300 billion in investment in the next five years, told a visiting American trade group that the country would reward any US corporate decision-maker investing their 10% of the value of the promised deal. That’s like a mafia kickback for crying out loud. Come on, Fredo, you can’t do that.
Yeah, in our country, that’s a bribe, but that’s how bad things are. Now, if you do remember, Fredo wanted respect. He wanted respect, he demanded respect, he’s smart. And that made him dangerous. That made him dangerous. He ended up trying to take out his brother, if you do call. Again, this is why trust but verify. You gotta watch this guy, this Xi Jinping.
It’s not the sharpest tack in the box, in my opinion. Watchdog on wallstreet.com.
