The Canadian government just approved the $15.1 billion acquisition of integrated oil and gas producer Nexen by China’s third-largest oil company, state-owned China National Offshore Oil. The deal is an important step forward (or two) for Chinese investment, but a step back is probably soon to follow. Chinese outward investment …
The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times had front-page stories yesterday on the Securities and Exchange Commission suing the China subsidiaries of major accounting firms for not cooperating with investigations into possible fraud at Chinese clients. The famous multinational auditors are complaining, the Chinese firms are complaining, the Chinese …
The New York Times has laid out a portrait of a Chinese billionaire family, and it’s a fairly worrisome one. Premier Wen Jiabao’s extended family, including his brother-in-law, are said to be worth $2.7 billion. Average income in China last year was less than $6,000. The Wens aren’t alone. Bloomberg …
Who fact-checks the fact checkers? After the debate Monday night, CNN engaged in a fact-checking exercise. Many criticize these exercises for being more slanted and less accurate than what’s being fact-checked in the first place, and sure enough, this is what happened with China trade and jobs. CNN, for example, …
The final presidential debate, on foreign policy, is scheduled for Monday, October 22. Moderator Bob Schieffer announced that the topics will be: “America’s Role in the World,” “Our Longest War—Afghanistan and Pakistan,” “Red Lines—Israel and Iran,” “The Changing Middle East and the New Face of Terrorism,” and “The Rise of …
Trade and job creation came up in the presidential debate last night. A longstanding argument for blocking trade is that imports hurt jobs. This argument is wrong, and we can prove it. A paper published by The Heritage Foundation documents that the process of importing—offloading from ships and planes, transporting …
Was it something the entire rest of the planet said? Late last Friday, the much-criticized government of India went from devaluing market-based economic reform at seemingly every turn to embracing it—in the space of one press conference. While India still faces a mountain of challenges, it finally may be moving …
