(03/08/2017) There is a famous sentence in the movie of Kevin Costner "Fields of Dream": If you build it, he will come. Now Chinese built a lot of wind farm and solar farm harnessing energy from Mother Nature, but nobody comes (from NY Times).
Several key problems in the alternative energy market in China: (1) lack of logistics shipping excess energy to the market of demand, (2) there is no marketplace trading alternative energy (and no clear guidelines for regional governments to work together), and (3) lack of infrastructure.
This video below is made before the dream becomes a reality. (ironic, isn't it?)
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Western Australia Mining Cities Go Busted with Iron Ores and Coals
(3/8/2015) It's really like a dream (黃粱一夢) for several mining cities in Western Australia. Just several years ago, these cities are booming like crazy when China had a huge appetite for importing raw materials (iron ores and coals) from commodity-rich Australia. How crazy was that booming you may ask? "Truck driving and cooking jobs offering $100,000 a year." It was that crazy. Now, many office spaces are up for lease and temporary workers are forced to return back to their countries since the jobs are gone. As far as we can see the economic outlooks of China, there is no recovery in a near future. The iron ore's price has dropped below $60 per tonne, which is never seen for 11 years in the global market. That is why several mining companies have to mothball their mines.
For city like Perth Australia, I feel that maybe it's better this had never happened. Now the mining bubbles left the city unemployed workers (native or foreign), empty buildings, and dwindling tax incomes. A big hangover from the booming party.
For city like Perth Australia, I feel that maybe it's better this had never happened. Now the mining bubbles left the city unemployed workers (native or foreign), empty buildings, and dwindling tax incomes. A big hangover from the booming party.
| Buildings in Perth Australia are almost ready, but the business is gone. |
| Many companies probably regret they had won mining permission or jumped in the bandwagon. |
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
South China Sea Turmoil May Disrupt Global Supply Chain
(5/14/2014) The tension between China and Vietnam spread to interrupt the production of some Chinese and Taiwanese business in Vietnam. It started from a Chinese state-owned oil company decided to drill in the disputed area in the South China Sea, which were followed by some water canon fights between Chinese's ships and Vietnam's vessels.
While two governments still cannot find a solution for these political disputes, the boiling anti-China emotions in Vietnam have triggered groups of mobs in several cities encompassing several factories owned by Chinese and Taiwanese and damaged the facility. Vietnamese mob may not differentiate the difference between Taiwanese and Chinese, or they don't even care. According to a report from Taiwan, thousands of Taiwanese workers, factory managers and business owners fled away from Vietnam or tried to find places to hide in Vietnam until the turmoils are over. A Taiwanese bicycle maker has more than 1 millions of finished or unfinished bicycles burned on site. The facility damage is estimated to be more than $300 millions USD and the disrupted production will cost another $1.3 millions USD to the firm. Vietnam is seen as another perfect destination for international business to find a cheaper off-shore production base as the production and labor cost in China keeps rising. Now the social turmoils and anti-Chinese emotions are brewing in Vietnam. The violent way that Vietnamese choose to demonstrate their anger will not only discourage Chinese and Taiwanese investors. Many foreign business will think twice before they pour in more money into this country.
Will the global supply chain be further disturbed by the conflict between China and Vietnam? Let's pray. Financial Times has an analysis on Vietnam's riot and global supply chain (5/21/2014). Several suppliers of Apple, Nike and Adidas were forced to shut down for several days. If the Vietnam cannot restore the trust of foreign investors and buyers, the global supply chain will need some time to adjust and change its supply chain.
Here is an in-depth analysis (in Chinese 只有中文) about this riot in Vietnam. It says there are many investments from China and Taiwan in Vietnam in recent years. Though these investments provide job opportunities to Vietnamese, it also has a deep inequality reflecting the foreigners (Chinese or Taiwanese) are taking advantages of Vietnamese. For example, the executive level administrator in these factories are always Taiwanese or Chinese. To some level, this arrangement is more acceptable and understandable. However, for the mid-level skilled workers, these foreign investment almost only uses Chinese workers via special working VISA (not Taiwanese because the wage is higher than Chinese). So Vietnamese can only get low-pay jobs without opportunity of being promoted even though some of them might be qualified. Here is another example. In an electricity power plant, which is contracted to a Chinese contractor, the contractor 'imports' many Chinese 'experts or technicians' with specialized working VISA for the purpose of management and communications. These Chinese workers are not more qualified than the Vietnamese, but they have better pay checks by abusing the system. All these management styles and 'mis-practices' add more 'fuels' on the anti-Chinese emotions.
While two governments still cannot find a solution for these political disputes, the boiling anti-China emotions in Vietnam have triggered groups of mobs in several cities encompassing several factories owned by Chinese and Taiwanese and damaged the facility. Vietnamese mob may not differentiate the difference between Taiwanese and Chinese, or they don't even care. According to a report from Taiwan, thousands of Taiwanese workers, factory managers and business owners fled away from Vietnam or tried to find places to hide in Vietnam until the turmoils are over. A Taiwanese bicycle maker has more than 1 millions of finished or unfinished bicycles burned on site. The facility damage is estimated to be more than $300 millions USD and the disrupted production will cost another $1.3 millions USD to the firm. Vietnam is seen as another perfect destination for international business to find a cheaper off-shore production base as the production and labor cost in China keeps rising. Now the social turmoils and anti-Chinese emotions are brewing in Vietnam. The violent way that Vietnamese choose to demonstrate their anger will not only discourage Chinese and Taiwanese investors. Many foreign business will think twice before they pour in more money into this country.
Will the global supply chain be further disturbed by the conflict between China and Vietnam? Let's pray. Financial Times has an analysis on Vietnam's riot and global supply chain (5/21/2014). Several suppliers of Apple, Nike and Adidas were forced to shut down for several days. If the Vietnam cannot restore the trust of foreign investors and buyers, the global supply chain will need some time to adjust and change its supply chain.
Here is an in-depth analysis (in Chinese 只有中文) about this riot in Vietnam. It says there are many investments from China and Taiwan in Vietnam in recent years. Though these investments provide job opportunities to Vietnamese, it also has a deep inequality reflecting the foreigners (Chinese or Taiwanese) are taking advantages of Vietnamese. For example, the executive level administrator in these factories are always Taiwanese or Chinese. To some level, this arrangement is more acceptable and understandable. However, for the mid-level skilled workers, these foreign investment almost only uses Chinese workers via special working VISA (not Taiwanese because the wage is higher than Chinese). So Vietnamese can only get low-pay jobs without opportunity of being promoted even though some of them might be qualified. Here is another example. In an electricity power plant, which is contracted to a Chinese contractor, the contractor 'imports' many Chinese 'experts or technicians' with specialized working VISA for the purpose of management and communications. These Chinese workers are not more qualified than the Vietnamese, but they have better pay checks by abusing the system. All these management styles and 'mis-practices' add more 'fuels' on the anti-Chinese emotions.
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| Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/8676937.shtml |
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| Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS6/8676952.shtml |
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