Geo-Strategic Trend - 67. page

Reference News, a well-known branch of Xinhua, recently reported that the United States said it had agreed to lift the import tariffs it had imposed on Japanese steel under the Trump administration. It was a further move after the United States reached a similar agreement with the European Union last October. This showed that the Biden administration is stepping up its efforts to strengthen economic ties with Asia-Pacific countries to counter China’s growing influence.The Biden administration officials told reporters that the deal would allow Japan to export up to 1.25 million tons of steel annually to the United States duty-free. This is similar to the level of exports in 2018 and 2019. Such arrangements will help reduce the cost for U.S. steel importers. At the same time, it will maintain tariffs that exceed the protocol levels of steel to prevent the imports from increasing. The American Iron and Steel Institute welcomed the government’s announcement. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the deal would “level the playing field against China.” However, the current 10 percent tariff on Japanese aluminum will remain in place, while the new tariffs cover less steel than the 1.8 million tons of steel the U.S. imported from Japan in 2017, according to U.S. Commerce Department statistics. The World Steel Association’s data shows that Japan and the United States are among the world’s top steel producers behind China, the European Union and India.

Source: Reference News, February 10, 2022
http://www.cankaoxiaoxi.com/finance/20220210/2468694.shtml

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) just released its Global Democracy Index 2021 Report. According to the Report, Taiwan ranked 8th out of 167 countries and regions, and is the only “full democracy” regime in Asia to hold a spot in the top 10. According to the Report, the top 10 are Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland and Taiwan, with Australia and Switzerland tied for the ninth place. Many European and American democracies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, the United States, Canada, and others did not rank as high as Taiwan. Among them, France is 22nd, Spain is 24th, the United States is 26th, and Italy is 31st. They are in the “flawed democracy” category. Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom fall outside the top 10, although they are in the same “full democracy” category as Taiwan. South Korea and Japan are ranked 16th and 17th respectively. China is classified as “authoritarian” and ranked 148th. More than a third of the world’s population lives in authoritarian countries, a large number of which are in China. EIU noted that, “China has become richer, but not more democratic. On the contrary, China has become less free.” Afghanistan, Myanmar and North Korea are the three least democratic countries in the world.

Source: CNA, February 10, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202202100357.aspx

According to a joint statement issued Sunday after a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez, China and Argentina have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Belt & Road Initiative,.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that Fernandez is paying a visit to China, during which he attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

The MoU is on jointly promoting the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is between the government of the People’s Republic of China and the government of the Argentine Republic. It was signed as the two countries marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year.

The statement said that they also studied bilateral trade cooperation and agreed to continue to expand trade, enhance financial support for China’s export settlement to Argentina and actively encourage trade diversification,.

The two sides agreed actively to advance bilateral investment and to expand how they complement each other in economic activity and seek new economic opportunities. The statement added that they agreed to boost green sustainable development, and investment and cooperation in the digital economy.

According to the statement, the meeting outlined the framework of major projects for investment in infrastructure construction in Argentina, discussed the possibility of expanding localized participation in infrastructure investment projects, and identified key areas for investment cooperation to expand Argentina’s exports.

Source: Xinhua News Agency, February 6, 2022
http://english.news.cn/20220206/931db89ad713488e8e1aeece22bff660/c.html

Nikkei Chinese Edition recently reported that the Cabinet Office of Japan just released its World Economic Trends Report, analyzing the trade structure between major countries and China. The numbers showed that Japan relies more on imports from China than from the United States and Germany. The Report sounded alarms. The concern was that, if Japan maintained its current country-specific structure for Japan’s sourcing strategy it would risk supply chain disruptions. The report showed the number of categories with relatively concentrated import sources in three countries: Japan, the United States and Germany. Judging from the ratio of Chinese sourced value in 2019, Japan reached 23.3 percent, the highest ratio, the United States was 18.1 percent, and Germany was 8.5 percent. Among the approximately 5,000 imported categories, looking at the number of categories in which China’s share (in terms of value) exceeds 50 percent, Japan is 1,133 categories (23.0 percent), higher than the US’ 590 categories (11.9 percent) and Germany’s 250 categories (5.0 percent). Japan relies on China for a wide range of categories, including mobile phones and notebook computers, light-emitting diode (LED) related products, game consoles and toys. Among them, 85.7 percent of the import value in the mobile phone field came from China in 2019, an increase of 69.1 percent from 10 years ago. Imports of laptops and tablets from China reached 98.8 percent in 2019.

Source: Nikkei Chinese, February 4, 2022
https://cn.nikkei.com/politicsaeconomy/investtrade/47517-2022-02-04-10-27-18.html

Global Times recently reported that the European Union’s (EU’s) Trade Commissioner, Dombrowski, issued a statement, saying that the EU has filed a lawsuit with the WTO over China’s discriminatory trade practices against EU member Lithuania. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian later responded that China has always acted in accordance with WTO rules. Zhao reminded the EU to distinguish right from wrong and to be wary of Lithuania’s attempt to kidnap China-EU relations. He added, “Lithuania, like other EU member states, should fulfill the political commitments made when establishing diplomatic relations with China.” Some observers expressed the belief that the WTO ruling process is extremely long and that the probability of Lithuania winning is close to zero. Dombrowski said that, since December 1, 2021, Chinese customs has banned the import of Lithuanian products. Also Chinese companies are canceling orders from Lithuania and reducing exports to Lithuania. In addition, China is encouraging multinational companies to ditch the use of Lithuanian components in their production. Otherwise they could face import restrictions. Dombrowski said, “Initiating WTO litigation is not a step we take lightly. However, after many unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue bilaterally, we believe there is no other way but to request WTO dispute settlement.” The Lithuanian government expressed its gratitude to the European Union on the 27th. “The WTO proceedings will be very long, but this will provide important answers to the question of whether China’s actions are in line with international trade rules,” said Lithuania’s President Nauseda. Lithuania Foreign Minister Landsbergis said the EU’s move “shows the unity and the unity of the EU and sends a clear message to China that the EU will not tolerate any politically motivated economic coercion.”

Source: Global Times, January 28, 2022
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/46ZwTy7yuL7

Also see: “CNA: China Cut Orders: Lithuania’s Century-Old Brewery Switched to Taiwan”

CNA: China Cut Orders; Lithuania’s Century-Old Brewery Switched to Taiwan