tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post7101575160489126559..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Every Project is a Battleground: Missouri gov cancels trip to TaiwanMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-52822105868158286732010-12-14T15:56:57.007+08:002010-12-14T15:56:57.007+08:00I'm sure the business leaders of MO gave Jay N...<b><br />I'm sure the business leaders of MO gave Jay Nixon an earful of what would happen if he went to Taiwan and what it would mean for the state and his fund raising efforts if he did cost them jobs and money</b><br /><br />Yeah, but there isn't any indication that there will be jobs and money from China. Just the possibility at some time in the future. If Missouri was being forced to choose between projects, that would be one thing. But this is basically buying a pig in a poke.<br /><br />I marked Google calendar so it will remind me of this in Jan 2013 and we can see what happened. Should be fun!<br /><br />MichaelMichael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-43976603013700921152010-12-14T15:40:55.405+08:002010-12-14T15:40:55.405+08:00When you think of a fascist/communist/populist org...When you think of a fascist/communist/populist organization you need to think of it as a mafia, not as a rational govt bureaucracy, but when with lots of tiny players where personal/familial connections and loyalties need to be on par with ideological purity.<br /><br />So the guy making the threat may be some grand poomba's family member who may use the special red phone line in China to make sure that future imports get special treatment. They don't care about contracts or production schedules, what they want is to project power and accumulate wealth and influence in a quiet a manner as possible. The closest mention you would get is a mention of it in a trade publication. All lending is controlled by the party as are all the courts, the methods of influence are endless. <br /><br />I'm sure the business leaders of MO gave Jay Nixon an earful of what would happen if he went to Taiwan and what it would mean for the state and his fund raising efforts if he did cost them jobs and money. I'd also suggest looking at his campaign contributions and then googling the names to see where his fund raising is coming from. If Al Gore can take campaign contributions from Buddhist nuns with some shady Chinese connections and the Obama campaign can disable the fraud protection(address verification) on their credit card donation page. I'm sure you could find something really interesting if you were so inclined. This is the sort of thing that is normally mentioned briefly then swept under the rug. WTB real gumshoe investigative journalists for major newspaperOkaminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-70769628447244542522010-12-14T13:14:53.916+08:002010-12-14T13:14:53.916+08:00See your previous article on Thai fruit imports or...<b>See your previous article on Thai fruit imports or rare earth shipments to Japan or the absolute terror western execs feel when forced to mention anything negative about China or WTO rules infractions.</b><br /><br />Sorry. I think you misunderstood. Cheating on agreements of course, that is SOP for Beijing. But here the scenario is different. A low level flunky writes a letter to local business people threatening them over their business with Taiwan. China has generally used threatened other nations over their political links, not business links.Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-70128120207076877532010-12-14T12:06:26.552+08:002010-12-14T12:06:26.552+08:00Where's my Jean Luc Picard facepalm jpeg when ...Where's my Jean Luc Picard facepalm jpeg when I need it? ;)<br /><br />See your previous article on Thai fruit imports or rare earth shipments to Japan or the absolute terror western execs feel when forced to mention anything negative about China or WTO rules infractions. Most of it isn't mentioned because it would "embarrass" the Chinese and the media are pretty much lapdogs for any leftist fascist organization. You catch snippets of reports of it, but no media company is going to report in detail for fear of being locked out of China.<br /><br />Japanese did/do the same things.Okaminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-71221623339015613982010-12-14T07:07:21.639+08:002010-12-14T07:07:21.639+08:00Okami, it is theoretically possible for China to d...Okami, it is theoretically possible for China to do that -- do you know whether they have done it in practice?Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-13627635220430514882010-12-14T01:04:16.737+08:002010-12-14T01:04:16.737+08:00Reminds me of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French ...Reminds me of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French PM through 3 cabinet reshuffles from May 2002 - Nov. 2004, under the Chirac presidency. <br /><br />In a summer 2006 “Le Figaro” op-ed, then former PM Raffarin, back from a fruitful business trip to China, swooned over that China-huggers’ mantra, the “win-win” policy in bilateral relations.<br /><br />He held that Zhongnanhai’s moves were predicated on that time-honored pillar of Chinese ethics, the notion of “Wa”. He obviously meant 「和」pronounced the Japanese way.<br /><br />I immediately fired my comment over Raffarin’s Japan-slanted glasses on Chinese affairs. A slant parochial Raffarin got from his boss’s famous love of all things Japanese (bastard-producing one-night stand with interpreter included). The editors at oh-hum “Le Figaro” did not deem my comment worthwhile publishing. Sigh!!<br /><br />I am staking my retirement on the packaging of ‘vaseline” as Chinese gift item to foreign honorable guests. Vaseline mellows twitchy sphincters.jerome in valsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-87417773188050224112010-12-14T00:33:54.078+08:002010-12-14T00:33:54.078+08:00Actually I see a really good reason for Jay Nixon ...Actually I see a really good reason for Jay Nixon to avoid the trip. Kansas City and St. Louis were #2 and #3 in car parts after Detroit* and since China builds and sells a lot of cars. They can easily use bureaucratic means to halt certain imports and investments. Chinese intelligence agencies have files on who the rich are and what they buy and invest in, which I think you already know. If South Korea used to audit people who drove American cars in Korea, what do you honestly think the Chinese will do to their own citizens who break the "rules"? China sees economic power as part of state power and is willing to use it to get what they want. <br /><br />It's not like Taiwan doesn't do the same thing. Taiwan and Missouri already have a close relationship with Missouri being one of the places a Taiwanese license= a MO license.<br /><br />Pretty much everything outside the car part and avionics from MO is fungible as far as selling, but those are two high earner, unionized big businesses that basically run the state through Kansas City and St. Louis. They would make Nixon's life hell as they found out that all the parts they sent to China failed to meet some arbitrary standard or application process and were being sent back or destroyed. <br /><br />*St. Louis and Kansas City, MO were #2 and #3 after Detroit, not sure after the GM+Chrysler meltdown how much of that still holds. Both cities are blue fortresses in a red state with all sorts of election shenanigans such as dead people voting and walking around money.Okaminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-27455150865688877202010-12-13T23:07:13.678+08:002010-12-13T23:07:13.678+08:00The role of Elizabeth Economy will be played by Mo...The role of Elizabeth Economy will be played by Monty Python's Terry Jones, in full wig and dress.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com