On 2024-01-19 12:24, Alfred Molon wrote:
> Am 19.01.2024 um 16:14 schrieb Alan Browne:
>
>> Doesn't matter - peak China is behind us (and them). They're now in
>> for 40+ years of economic decline.
>
> You should travel to China and have a look at the country. Would open
> your eyes. 300km/h trains everywhere, just to make a small example.
ROFL. While I haven't been to China, I've been to most of SE
Asia+Taiwan, S.Korea and Japan; and wide swaths of the rest of the
marble. Multiple times all around.
These lovely trains you talk about are so expensive to ride that most
Chinese cannot afford to use them. This has indebted the government
(directly and via loans/loan guarantees) to the better part of $1T and
there is not enough revenue to cover the operating costs, never mind
interest - as to capital - say goodbye to it.
While the Chinese are definitely capable people (esp. after stealing so
much technology from the west), the government is deplorable from many
standpoints from human rights to their blatant territory grabs in the
South China Sea. Too many things to mention.
Xi is a smart dictator (unlike Putin and what Trump wants to be) - but
there are limits to how far he can take China with its past peak
economy. That one-child policy of yore has come to bite them in the
butt big time...