The view from China

[japantiger 4,051]

Just some thoughts from this last trip behind the Great Firewall...

Mr Xi's pronouncement was well received by all...not one desenter that I spoke with...and I've known these guys all a while...the general consensus "China needs an emperor"

Mr Xi wants to be one of the great emperors....he will try to stay at least  until he can get Taiwan back and control the South China Sea  

Probably need 100 years to really substantially liberalize...until 1950 it was an agrarian feudal society....

Got to deal with poverty and education 1st...still no real middle class outside the major urban centers...that is only 25% of the population

They continue to not understand the US press...they look at the US economy and cant understand the criticism....

They seem to be split on trade issue roughly right down the middle....those with businesses focused mostly exclusively domestically show some to greater concern...while those with more international exposure show none to only mild concern

They mostly think Mr Trump and Mr Xi like each other... 

Didn't get around to North Korea

[TitanTiger 20,472]

That's interesting stuff.  Thanks for sharing.

[homersapien 11,359]

The Chinese think within a much longer time scale than we do.

Were you joking about N. Korea, or have you been there?

[HVAU 673]

18 minutes ago, homersapien said:

The Chinese think within a much longer time scale than we do.

Were you joking about N. Korea, or have you been there?

I could be wrong, but I think he NK the topic, not the location.

[japantiger 4,051]

14 hours ago, HVAU said:

I could be wrong, but I think he NK the topic, not the location.

Correct...we did not have time to discuss NK...just US/China economic and China domestic.

Have been to the DMZ in the distant past as a civilian....such an odd site....it is remarkable that that has survived this long....but not intending to be on the 1st US/NK trade delegation.   Having been to Havanah on trade talks (posted about it after that trip); I can only imagine how much more bizarre a NK economic development meeting might be....but based on some of the current rhetoric, they might actually be open to embracing real market reforms...unlike the Cubans who want to hold onto their Communism....I've been in some Russian and Turkish dealings with folks that creep you out...but the Cubans were without a doubt the creepiest group I've been in a room with.  It was clear they had only personal theft in mind.  At least with the Russians and Turks, you'd sell something...