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Dealing with re-shoring, de-coupling and re-coupling in Asia where the price is right and trade is sustainable
New Zealand, always Australia's stout ally in peace and war, has since distanced itself from Canberra's hardline China policy.
“I can’t speak for Australia," scolded New Zealand’s trade minister Damian O’Connor, "but clearly if they were to follow us, show respect, and speak with more diplomacy, they too could be in a similar situation.” That is, being cordial and not having one's trade harassed by Beijing, he didn't say but meant.
In response, Australia’s trade minister Dan Tehan said: “The idea that Australia’s tone is responsible for challenges in our relationship with China is one we reject. It betrays a lack of acquaintance with basic facts that I would not expect from a close friend like New Zealand.” 
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Doing better than expected with Covid as economic plunge bounces back with a climb from pit of despair
Keeping in mind that the Covid-19 - in and of itself - did little economic damage, no more than global warming - we must nonetheless weigh the real harm done by our response to it. That is, if we still measure damage in terms of actual damage done, rather than damage feared might be done if no draconian action were taken.
It is true that a few more people died a little sooner than expected, because those who died were very old or very sick whose passing did as much economic good as it did harm. Inheritances were inherited and money was spent in ways and at rates that may well not have been spent if these people not have died when they did.
Surprisingly, after what looked like a worldwide catastrophic economic plunge, in the second quarter, things perked up throughout the second half, and news continued good into 2021. This gave rise to talk of new diplomatic alliances that might be forged to impact world trade, once Covid was firmly put in the rear-view mirror. Beyond the Covid, there was an aggressive Chinese foreign policy to be addressed, one regarded with growing alarm at its authoritarian if not totalitarian domestic ways.
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Air cargo languishes in the digital stone age, but some experts say Covid stands to change all that
One thing emerging from the Covid crisis was the reliance ocean shippers suddenly placed on air cargo - and their disappointment on how poorly it has adapted to the digital age.
What was supposed to be the most modern - certainly the most expensive way to go - turned out to be most inefficient with air freight consignments routinely spending 85 per cent of their door-to-door time on the ground.
To avoid mounting container clogging at seaports, and China's Asia-Europe rail congestion. plus a worldwide unfulfilled demand for containers, costly air cargo has been the only way some ocean shippers could stay in business during the Covid scare.
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China thinks small while deploying a bite-and-hold strategy putting 'big push' tactics on slow simmer
China's "think small" policy in regard to international diplomacy may well make more gains than its mega-Belt and Road Initiative that has encountered significant diplomatic headwinds of late.
What the "think small" policy involves is avoiding attempts to win big deals and be satisfied with smaller ones. Once success is enjoyed at a lower level, confidence is easier to attain at higher levels as so many others have found before.
This was true of a Canadian company called Data Radio in the 1990s. It had developed a feature which is common in police cars and ambulances today, that is a Wi-Fi computer link that can summon and deliver printed words and pictures to and from a central data base.
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Intra Asia Trade Specialists |
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