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 […]
STATE CAPITALISM & PRIMITIVE CAPITALISM IN TIBET #16 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET Resource nationalism is a worldwide trend. Those endowed with plentiful resources of minerals and energy struggle to control and profit from managing their extraction for maximum national benefit. Increasingly the world’s nation-states resent handing over their resources to multinational […]
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 […]
TURTLES, TIBETANS, TONNAGES: MAKING TIBET PERFORM IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY #13 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET China is learning fast how to do deals globally, working its way up the value chain, able to not only buy mineral deposits and mines but do mergers and acquisitions with major competing players. The dealmakers […]
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 […]
CHINA’S FIRST WAVE OF INDUSTRIALISATION OF TIBET: THE THIRD FRONT #11 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET Mention the word “Tibet” and all too often people think only of central Tibet, the provinces of U-Tsang, which includes Lhasa and the historic heartland of the ancient kings. This is also what China means by […]
TRAFFICKING IN MINERAL RIGHTS TO TIBET NEW SOURCES OF PROFIT #10 in a series on THE FUTURE OF TIBET No longer does the Chinese state claim all rights and benefits. Now there are counterparties, in complex rolling transactions enabling mining rights to be bought, sold and onsold, as in those market societies where freehold property […]
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 […]