The Guardian (September 4)
“With the population expected to decline dramatically in the coming decades–leaving a gaping hole in the workforce–Japan is quietly easing restrictions and accepting record numbers of migrants, mostly from Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, Indonesia and the Philippines.” Recent data shows “a jump in overseas-born residents, to an all-time high of around 3 million, almost 50% up on a decade ago.”
Tags: China, Decline, Dramatically, Easing, Indonesia, Japan, Migrants, Philippines, Population, Record numbers, Restrictions, Vietnam, Workforce
Bloomberg (November 14)
The language of COP26 “crystallizes the more important reality that’s emerging away from the conference halls in power stations, industrial facilities and government offices around the world. In its modest way, it also helps edge that process along.” Since the 2015 Paris Agreement, electric cars have taken off beyond expectations and renewables are now “undercutting” fossil fuels for power generation: “one reason we’ve seen the likes of Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland and South Korea sign up to end the coal-fired electricity that they’ve been dependent on.”
Tags: 2015, COP26, EVs, Government, Indonesia, Industrial facilities, Paris Agreement, Poland, Power stations, Renewables, South Korea, Vietnam
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
The Guardian (June 6)
“South-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.” At this point, experts say the “region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced.” The news has “sent the global price of pork soaring.”
Tags: African swine fever, China, Contagious, Disease, Ebola, Outbreak, Pigs, Pork, South-east Asia, Vietnam
Bloomberg (May 28)
“Vietnam was one of the fastest-growing sources of American imports from Asia last quarter.” Imports to the U.S. “jumped 40.2% in the first three months of 2019 from a year earlier…. If Vietnam’s pace of growth can be sustained for a full year—which would be a major feat—it could leapfrog Italy, France, the U.K., and India in the ranks of top exporters to the U.S.”
Bloomberg (August 10)
“The slide in China’s currency paused this week after jawboning by the central bank,” but the rout may not be over. “The ripples of the yuan’s 4.7 percent drop this year may be just starting to spread to the country’s neighbors” such as Vietnam, where the “dong has been moving steadily closer to the edge of its 3 percent daily trading band against the dollar over the past two weeks, as traders bet on faster depreciation.” Moreover, Vietnam is only half caught up with the drop in China’s currency, “suggesting further depreciation is possible – particularly if the yuan resumes its decline.”
Tags: Central bank, China, Currency, Depreciation, Dong, Ripples, Rout, Slide, Trading band, Vietnam, Yuan
Bloomberg (July 25)
“With a young population, an expanding middle class and one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Vietnam is an alluring market for Aeon, Takashimaya Co. and Seven & i Holdings Co. The reason: China is slowing and growth is flat-lining at home.”
Tags: Aeon, China, Economies, Fastest-growing, Growth, Japan, Market, Middle class, Population, Seven & i, Southeast Asia, Takashimaya, Vietnam, Young
The Economist (December 3)
“If Thailand’s economy could be said to belong to any foreign country, it would be Japan. After floods devastated Thailand in 2011, Japanese firms poured in nearly $30 billion to rebuild their favourite production base in Asia. That is more investment in three years than everything that American firms have poured in since the Vietnam war, plus everything Chinese firms have ever invested on top.”
Tags: Asia, China, Economy, Floods, Investment, Japan, Production base, Thailand, U.S., Vietnam
Los Angeles Times (October 3)
“Fear of China is not a Western machination.” China likes to blame the West for stirring up trouble, but this year’s “massive protests in Taipei and Hong Kong show that fear of China is most acute along its own borders…. It is the inhabitants of greater China—the ones whom Beijing hopes one day to incorporate into a unified motherland—who fear China the most. They are protesting Chinese encroachments in far greater numbers than either the Vietnamese or Japanese.”
