Wall Street Journal (March 5)
“It is the end of the Chinese growth miracle as we know it, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping seems fine with that. The question now is whether he can steer the country onto a new course— and keep the rest of China on board.”
The Guardian (October 23)
“As the leader enters his third term, there are increasing signs that the country is turning inwards, replacing the outside world with cyber ‘reality.’” It looks like “the China of the 2020s may be considerably less open than the one we have known for some four decades from the 1980s to 2020.”
Tags: 2020s, China, Cyber ‘reality’, Inwards, Leader, Open, Outside world, Signs
Financial Times (September 5)
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has “lacked distinctive policies of his own or an independent political base. Going forward, “Japan needs a different kind of leader.” The next leader “requires communication skills and a compelling programme.”
Tags: Communication, Different, Distinctive, Independent, Japan, Leader, Policies, Political base, Prime minister, Skills, Suga
New York Times (August 28)
“Under Xi Jinping, the Communist Party’s most powerful leader since Mao, China has taken a hard ideological turn against unfettered private enterprise. It has set out a series of strictures against “disorderly” corporate expansion. No longer will titans of industry be permitted to march out of step with the party’s priorities and dictates.”
Tags: China, Communist, Corporate expansion, Dictates, Disorderly, Ideological, Industry, Leader, Mao, Powerful, Private enterprise, Strictures, Unfettered, Xi
The Economist (August 14)
Japan’s “financial heft in South-East Asia” is vastly understated. It still ranks as the biggest “investor in the region’s infrastructure projects.” While “China’s financial reach overseas attracts enormous attention, when it comes to infrastructure in South-East Asia, Japan is still very much the leader…. In total, it has $259bn invested in unfinished projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam…compared with China’s $157bn.”
Tags: China, Financial heft, Indonesia, Infrastructure projects, Investor, Japan, Leader, Malaysia, Overseas, South-east Asia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam
Bloomberg (May 29)
The Asia-Pacific region “has gone from leader to laggard.” Until recently, APAC fared remarkably well at averting the worst of the pandemic. Now, in contrast, as “New York and London reopen, Singapore and Taipei are in semi-lockdown. Melbourne joined them this week. On May 24, the U.S. State Department added Japan to its ‘Level 4: Do Not Travel’ advisory list.” The “failure to get shots into arms fast enough has in some cases triggered swift and unexpected reversals of fortune that carry significant economic implications.”
Tags: APAC, Economic implications, Japan, Laggard, Leader, Lockdown, London, Melbourne, New York, Pandemic, Reopen, Reversals, Singapore, Taipei, U.S.
Financial Times (April 19)
“India’s currency has swung from emerging market leader to laggard as the country battles a ferocious wave of coronavirus infections, prompting concerns among global investors that a nascent economic recovery will crumble.” During Q1, the rupee was “the only emerging market currency to gain ground on the dollar.” Since April, it has plummeted 3%, “the worst performance” of its peers.
Tags: Coronavirus, Currency, Dollar, Economic recovery, Emerging market, Ferocious, India, Infections, Investors, Laggard, Leader, Nascent, Rupee, Worst
Financial Times (January 19)
From the beginning, Donald Trump was clearly a “grave threat…. He lacked any of the qualities required in the leader of a great republic. But, it turned out, he had the redeeming flaw of gross incompetence.” America has survived this wrenching, “near-death experience,” but “Donald Trump was just a symptom and the US is still in danger from those who peddle lies in place of truth.”
Tags: Danger, Grave threat, Incompetence, Leader, Lies, Near-death, Republic, Symptom, Trump, Truth, U.S., Wrenching
The Guardian (June 3)
Covid-19 has not given Boris Johnson “the Churchillian moment that he imagined. It has proved too big for him.” Both “personally and politically, Johnson has had a bad pandemic. This is not what he thought being prime minister would be like.” At this point, Johnson just wants to wash his hands of Covid-19 and “get back to being the leader of Brexit Britain.”
Japan Today (January 20)
“Japan is in the crosshairs as it seeks both to be recognized as a leader in the climate-change debate but also supports the use of what is widely regarded as a dirty fuel.” Japanese corporations, however, are ready to break with coal. They “overwhelmingly feel Japan should shift away from its dependence on coal for power generation… a Reuters poll found, further evidence that the government is out of step with the global fight against climate change.”
Tags: Climate change, Coal, Crosshairs, Dirty, Japan, Leader
