By Jude Woodward
The US foreign policy establishment is reeling after its strategy to reassert itself in Asia and contain the rise of China received a hammering from an unexpected quarter – its long-term ally, former colony and reliable stooge, the Philippines.
By Stephen Bell
The defeat of the attempted coup in Turkey is an important victory. The overthrow of the elected President Morsi in Egypt demonstrates the sort of fatalities and repression that follow such actions. This time, a mass mobilisation of the Turkish people opposed the tanks. This mobilisation was supported by the major opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). In Egypt, the comparable parties supported the coup, and guaranteed the success of the counter-revolution. For Turkey, the united front of all those defending democracy was sufficient to stop the coup.
The following article on the US militarisation or the South China Sea, by Jude Woodward, was originally published by New Cold War.org.
On 12 July, the Arbitration Court at The Hague handed down judgment on the case brought under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by the Philippines against China. In a pre-arranged declaration, the Court ruled comprehensively against China’s claims in the South China Sea.
Economic targets for China were announced during the National People’s Congress of at least 6.5% annual GDP growth during the 13th Five Year Plan in 2016-20 and 6.5%-7.0% for 2016. Some Western economists claim such targets cannot be achieved. In fact, analysis of supply side factors, which will primarily be relied on to achieve these goals, shows clearly why China can achieve its 6.5% minimum growth goal.
The following article by John Ross, setting out why the Chinese economy will not have a hard landing, was previously published by Socialist Economic Bulletin.
Some US hedge funds, echoed by parts of the international media, are currently trotting out the perennially inaccurate myth that China’s economy is about to suffer a “hard landing.” This invariably incorrect prediction has been periodically repeated for decades since China launched economic reforms in 1978. The claim then was that by failing to privatize companies, not adopting what became known as “shock therapy” in Russia and Eastern Europe, China condemned itself to stagnation. Instead in 1978-2015, China experienced average annual 9.6 percent GDP growth – the fastest by a major economy in human history.
A major discussion is taking place in China on the issue of its economy’s ‘supply side’. Naturally there are aspects of this which relate to specifically Chinese issues. Discussion in China also differs fundamentally from that in the West in that it takes place simultaneously in both ‘Western’ and ‘Marxist’ economic terms. Nevertheless the overall framework of this discussion equally relates to the key issues of economic policy in Western countries.
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