Everyone likes to talk big – governments, think tanks, corporate executives, investment firms, economics magazines – you name it. And in a country with the biggest population, the biggest cities, the biggest mall and yes, the biggest aquarium, it’s only reasonable that rhetoric will, now and then, assume similarly gargantuan proportions.
Of course numbers are words too, in a sense, and there were plenty of big figures flying about this week. With import growth down, exports up and an all-time high trade surplus, many wondered whether we’d end up with a bigger yuan. Meanwhile, in everyone’s favorite (somewhat) autonomous region, Hong Kong’s first Islamic bond offer raised a Sharia-compliant, interest-free $1 billion, though there was apparently demand for $3.7 billion more. And now a Chinese SOE is promising a full $1.2 billion in investments for Serbia. But that’s just a fraction of what Citic Ltd. sunk into an troubled mining project in Australia. After pouring $10 million into the iron-ore gambit, it and other Asian investors are getting cold feet as expenses rise and local boys Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton reign supreme once again.
Yes, it can be lonely striking out into a new market, maybe lonelier still on return. And one may be the lonliest number, but it’s also the number of breakdowns a week of Beijing’s subway system – on which we daresay one never feels alone, or even an inch of breathing space during rush hour, for that matter. But two can be as bad as one: the South China Sea’s looking more crowded by the day as Vietnam builds up its sub fleet to a modest target total of five, compared, we should note, to China’s scant squad of 70. Not content to monopolize just one day of headlines in the region, the two countries traded barbs over the latest kerfuffle in the much-contested waters, where many a word was had over whether a certain country’s fishermen had dynamite on hand.
There was big talk of fraud as well, and data-center operator 21Vianet – latest target of the short-selling cabals – hoped to send honeyed words investor-ward during a conference call Thursday morning. It was time for management to put its money where its mouth was, but instead it put its foot there: the 23% plummet by the company’s stocks that day testified to just how well things went. But 21Vianet was by no means alone in trying to fend off accusations, as beleaguered Tianhe Chemicals tried to defend against claims of fraud by everyone’s favorite online collective, Anonymous.
For all the big talk from Apple at its latest press conference, mum was the word as to why China wouldn’t be getting the latest iPhone on schedule with the rest of the world. Nor are we quite clear on whether China will be or is already sending several-hundred peacekeepers to Southern Sudan’s oil fields to protect workers and, as it happens, a CNPC joint venture. But the normally tight-lipped chief executive of Huawei let slip that there was indeed an internal corruption probe being carried out at the company – though it was just an annual thing, no big deal. Meanwhile Alibaba’s Jack Ma talked up putting customers first at his company – in a printed statement, anyways, ahead of its IPO.
Even Premier Li Keqiang got in on the action when he revealed money supply growth had slowed and sent stocks tumbling in Shanghai. Further words were in order the very next day at the World Economic Forum, where he patiently explained to foreign investors and international conglomerates that the recent spate of anti-trust probes wasn’t really targeting them. As for us, we’d recommend following China’s French students and looking to Africa for new opportunities. With the influx of Chinese grads all driving up demand for down-home cooking, you’ll still be able to get your dumpling fix without any of those pesky concomitant cadres around, prodding you to push down your prices.