In The News

The Search for a Past

Cathy Shufro January 12, 2017
An estimated 140,000 Chinese children were adopted by families in the United States, Europe and elsewhere after China opened to the world in the 1990s while maintaining a one-child policy to eliminate poverty. Many of the children, now young adults, and birth parents search for one another. Cathy Shufro describes the search of Yale graduate Jenna Cook for Yale Alumni Magazine. Cook studied...

China Groups Take Out Insurance Against Blocking of Foreign Deals

Henry Sender January 12, 2017
Insurance policies cover risk, and Chinese companies anticipate more protectionism in the United States and Europe and an increasingly uncertain market for foreign investment. Chinese analysts also expect delays and increased fees associated with regulatory reviews. New policies are designed to protect against blocked takeovers in other nations: “several insurance groups, led by Aon, are...

China Launches Freight Train to Britain

Louise Moon January 11, 2017
China started the new year by dispatching the country’s first freight train to the United Kingdom, part of a larger effort to stimulate global trade. The train will depart from the city of Yiwu, a major commodities center, traverse central Asia and continental Europe, and reach its destination in London after almost 12,000 kilometers. “The railway is a major strategic development to assist Xi...

Argentina Omits Falkland Islands from Map; Online Uproar Swiftly Follows

Federico Rivas Molina January 11, 2017
Many Argentines were outraged when the Social Development Ministry of Argentina posted a New Year’s greeting on Twitter, and a map of the country failed to include Antarctica and the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, in Spanish. Veterans of the 1982 Falklands War, in which Argentina unsuccessfully attempted to claim sovereignty over the islands, were particularly upset. The incident coincides...

Are Chinese Enterprises Being Taxed to Death?

Zhang Jun January 10, 2017
Chinese firms establish overseas branches to flee high taxes. One company spokesperson suggested that China’s taxes are 35 percent higher for manufacturers in China than the United States, and Zhang Jun, a professor of economics at Fudan University, analyzes the complaint for Project Syndicate. A strict interpretation suggests that China’s tax burden is 29 percent and 10 percent less than global...

Don’t Bet on Enduring Republican Reset With Russia

Daniel Twining January 10, 2017
Donald Trump blasted critics who reject his plans to improve US ties with Russia on Twitter: “Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only ‘stupid’ people, or fools, would think that it is bad!” But Congress may not go along, including Republicans who worry about aggression in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria and criticized President Barack Obama for going too easy on...

We Can’t Undo Globalization, But Can Improve It

Gary Pinkus, James Manyika and Sree Ramaswamy January 10, 2017
Global flows of trade and investment add economic value, and dismantling systems that rely on globalization would reduce prosperity. “While the impulse to erect trade barriers is understandable given the pain experienced by workers in a range of industries and communities in recent years, it is not the way to create lasting growth and shared prosperity,” notes a Harvard Business Review article. “...