Tibet, Congo or Papua New Guinea When, in 2012, I wrote a book about mining in Tibet, it seemed China’s appetite for minerals was insatiable, having survived the great global recession of 2009 onwards with hardly a blip in demand. By then the global commodity boom had been rolling on nonstop for a decade and […]
Category: China
Issues within China
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE TIBETAN MASTIFF; THE FALL AND RISE OF THE WOLF AS TOTEM OF THE CHINA DREAM The mastiff guard dogs of the Tibetan pastoralists preceded their owners into modernity. Early this century China discovered an utterly modern fashion for Tibetan mastiffs, traditionally used to guard the black yak hair tents, […]
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GOLD CRASHES: GOOD FOR TIBET?
“While greed and fear, trust and mistrust have an influence over the price of many assets, like houses and stocks, those ultimately produce some income, which provides a fundamental base from which markets can infer prices. Gold, on the other hand, neither toils nor spins, but just sits there looking pretty. That means gold is […]
China’s behemoth global investment strategy #18 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET Chinese, for all its subtlety, can be a blunt language. Two key terms, to “go out” and to “come out” reveal a simple desire for more. The directness of these keywords tells us much about what China wants, and how […]
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The China Model and its stake in Tibet
State Capitalism is supposed to fade away, but it keeps on growing #17 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET The state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which own the key mineral deposits of Tibet, such as Zijin and Western Mining, are not yet familiar names outside China, but soon they will be. That’s the plan. This […]
DILEMMAS OF CHINA’S STATE OWNED MINING GIANTS #14 in a series on the FUTURE OF TIBET In the worldwide scramble for resources, Chinese state owned corporations seek to guarantee supply on a planetary scale. From the perspec tive of the corporate boardroom, the real choice is between exploiting minerals in Tibet, or in Peru, or […]
CHINA’S INSATIABLE APPETITE #14 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET For Many Tibetans, all that is needful is to know that “China does this or that.” Sometimes this is stated even more sweepingly as: “the Chinese are doing such-and-such.” This blames all Chinese for the actions of the party-state elite, which is not […]
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China’s unfinished agenda in Tibet
CAN A COMMAND ECONOMY BUY THE WORLD? #12 in a series on the FUTURE OF TIBET Would a truly market economy want to mine Tibet? If China has truly become a market economy there is little reason, on a strict cost/benefit rational calculus, to go to the enormous expense of integrating remote, mountainous Tibetan […]
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CHINA’S STATE CAPITALISM
MAKING MONEY BY SELLING OFFICIAL PERMISSIONS, INCLUDING MINING RIGHTS TO TIBETAN RESOURCES #9 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET Many Chinese leaders are happy to identify China’s unique fusion of political and economic power as “state capitalism.” Ironically, this term began life as a deliberate joining of opposites, as a term of abuse, […]
HOW CHINA’S NEW RICH MAKE MONEY FROM ARBITRAGE #8 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET China’s recent recentralisation of mining and metals manufacturing could be presented positively as a step towards efficiency, reduced energy intensity, burning fewer tonnes of coal per tonne of finished steel. The argument for recentralisation is that the […]