China Geopolitical News Thread

[solarz]

I don't discount your experience, but your group is too small for valid statistical analysis. Wall Street Journal said many millions left China for other places, and it's reasonable to believe many more would immigrate to US, Europe, Australia, Canada..., etc. if they have the means to to do so.

Like I said, you're free to believe what you want, but for those of us who have first hand experience of these things, we know there are more factors at play than the simple statistics reported by the WSJ.

Just a few examples:

1- Are illegals smuggled into the US counted in the statistic? There are huge numbers of Chinese from the Fujian area who pay smugglers to get them into US/Canada. They are often from rural areas of China and they make money by working in Chinese restaurants and grocery stores. Most of the money they make is sent back to their families in China.

2- How do the statistics take into account those Chinese who spend most of their time in China once they get PR or Citizenship status? Many wealthy Chinese come to North America, buys a house, gets their kid to enter a good NA university, and then go back to live in China, spending only the minimum required time in NA.

3- Those Chinese who are not part of the wealthy elite only have a limited number of employment options. Those whose education background are in the fields of management, arts, humanities and physics have an extremely difficult, if not impossible, time finding employment in their field. I personally know someone with a doctor degree in nuclear physics who couldn't find employment and ended up going back to China.

 

[delft]

China and Russia are planning to build floating nuclear plants together. It's an unproven concept that, if works, could help address China's insatiable demand of energy. Their efforts haven't been successful thus far, as the project has experienced delays and cost overruns. However, if China is willing to continue dumping resource and money into the ambitions project, it might someday produce acceptable results. Also, once the technology and manufacturing techniques are sufficiently developed, the pair could build similar plants for other nations.

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What is so difficult about floating nuclear reactors? The Russians have more than half a century of experience building nuclear powered ice breakers. And barges carrying a nuclear power station can be built in series in a well developed industrial environment and then towed to where they are needed. You don't need the geological research that is so important when building on terra "firma". You don't need to haul a large and heavy reactor vessel over land. The writer describes it as if it is more difficult than a traditional nuclear power station. As for the nuclear waste he implies will be a problem, China is developing Thorium molten salt reactors than will be used to get rid of it.

 

[delft]

ISIS Islamist terrorists are in the process of carving up a country for itself, with the stated aim of creating a global Caliphate. China, like the US, is directly affected by ISIS actions, and energy security is an obvious concern. However, the physics of cause-effect have other consequences for China, and two primary ones are upticks of Muslim violence in Xinjiang, aided and abetted by ISIS money, resources, and expertise, and ethnic separatism in Xinjiang and maybe even Tibet. One thing for certain, ISIS success in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan is very bad news for China too.

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The countries more nearly concerned besides Iraq are Turkey and Iran. If they can prevently it then China will accept that. If they agree to an independent Kurdistan than China will accept it too. China accepted the failed state South Sudan too. The Diplomat might have been writing without thinking or perhaps they're just malicious.

 

[Blackstone]

What is so difficult about floating nuclear reactors? The Russians have more than half a century of experience building nuclear powered ice breakers. And barges carrying a nuclear power station can be built in series in a well developed industrial environment and then towed to where they are needed. You don't need the geological research that is so important when building on terra "firma". You don't need to haul a large and heavy reactor vessel over land. The writer describes it as if it is more difficult than a traditional nuclear power station. As for the nuclear waste he implies will be a problem, China is developing Thorium molten salt reactors than will be used to get rid of it.

Since the article outlined Russian schedule delays and cost overruns, it's obvious floating nuclear reactors aren't easy. Maybe the pair will solve problems in short order, and maybe they need more time, but up to now, efforts haven't produced desired results.

 

[Equation]

China is opening another front in her fight against corruption and graft. Investigators will audit government land incomes for evidence of corruption and wrongdoing. One thing you could say for Xi Jinping, he's determined to bring government corruption to heel, but I wonder if he should double his security detail.

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Strange how come the Taiwanese government doesn't do this kind anti-corruption campaign? Certainly they're not immune to it.

 

[Equation]

China is learning just how hard it is to develop shale gas technology, and the government is wisely (desperately?) resorting to free market actions by inviting private entrepreneurs to the party. But, will the country's poor IP protection policies discourage foreign experts from investing in China's supposed vast shale gas resource?

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So what have the Taiwanese government learned and done lately? Surely they could use some of that know how to sale gas to the mainland.

 

[Equation]

Since the article outlined Russian schedule delays and cost overruns, it's obvious floating nuclear reactors aren't easy. Maybe the pair will solve problems in short order, and maybe they need more time, but up to now, efforts haven't produced desired results.

Never the less there is a program going. In the mean time anyone else besides Russia and China trying this? If it is what's the desire results so far?

 

[Blackstone]

Never the less there is a program going. In the mean time anyone else besides Russia and China trying this? If it is what's the desire results so far?

Some kind of offshore power station always made sense to me, since it could be moved around to address different civil, commercial, and disaster relief projects. What's not clear to me is just how commercially viable those projects are. I say that because if there were lots of money to be made, at acceptable risks, then why hasn't some giant multinational energy companies done it? Obviously, there's more to the story.

 

[Equation]

Some kind of offshore power station always made sense to me, since it could be moved around to address different civil, commercial, and disaster relief projects. What's not clear to me is just how commercially viable those projects are. I say that because if there were lots of money to be made, at acceptable risks, then why hasn't some giant multinational energy companies done it? Obviously, there's more to the story.

Because those giant multinational hates risks that demise their profit margin and risking their stock to go down, that's why they won't risk investing in such difficult and large program like this. Programs like this requires a whole lot of money and scientists and time. If this program becomes achievable and viable for commercial use you don't think countries like Japan would LOVE to have it and not having to worry about another Fukushima incident?

 

[Blackstone]

Because those giant multinational hates risks that demise their profit margin and risking their stock to go down, that's why they won't risk investing in such difficult and large program like this. Programs like this requires a whole lot of money and scientists and time. If this program becomes achievable and viable for commercial use you don't think countries like Japan would LOVE to have it and not having to worry about another Fukushima incident?

Well, nuclear fission as power sources in Japan is radioactive right now, and politicians worldwide generally don't buck their constituents in toxic issues. While multinational corporations are indeed risk takers, it's how they got to where they are, they're usually careful about risk/benefit balances, and are even less inclined to go against public outrage than politicians. Fusion is the future of nuclear power generation, and I hope to see it in the next decade or two.