81–90 of 198 posts
I'm struck by China's ability to attempt large, ambitious projects like this, compared to America's inability to do, well, anything really. The largest infrastructure project I'm aware of in the USA is California's High Speed Rail (~$60B+), was approved a decade ago and is barely making any progress. The federal government is in complete gridlock. The most ambitious legislation passed in the last decade, the ACA, cau…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see how stealing IP is protectionism. Theft, sure, but not protectionism.
I would say it's the other way around. Negotiating international trade agreements with the purpose of limiting the flow of information by means of "IP" is the very definition of protectionism.
PS: Abolishing IP would also be a level playing field, but again that's not what they are doing.
I wonder if the pure economic value , minus the investment leverage, still makes sense.
[1] https://m.rediff.com/news/column/india-doesnt-want-to-join-c...
The scary part is china's protectionism. Small nations and businesses have so little possibilities to operate in china without getting robbed of IP or being outcompeted by state supported domestic ventures. I fear the future of China being stronger superpower than the USA.
Protectionism has never made a country strong.
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Isn't the period from the end of the Three Kingdoms (~280AD) to the beginning of the Sui/Tang (~580AD) when Mahayana Buddhism evangelized China?
Isn't Buddhism a philosophy/approach to living rather than a religion?
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> They purchase our movie studios and then force on them Chinese propaganda and nothing negative on China ever. They are free to do what they want with what they have bought and paid for. > if not the least Lol is right.
Don't you know, Hollywood has never pushed American propaganda before...
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American technology companies don't rely on IP restrictions as much as they used to. You couldn't copy Facebook, Google, Apple, or Amazon's products and services effectively on a global scale even if they had no IP restrictions. And China is the second largest market for American movies, which absolutely require IP law to function. So I think this concern is overstated.
China has shown that they are very adept at copying American high-tech innovation. * Facebook: WeChat/Weibo * Google: Baidu * Apple: already being made in China, clones everywhere * Amazon: Alibaba
The "Belt and Road" scheme is well known. The first container freight train from Yiwu, China to Barking, England, arrived January 15, 2017. Coast to coast travel time: two weeks.[1] Conveniently, China uses a 4' 8.5" track gauge, unlike Russian metric gauge, so they can move freight cars all the way without a gauge change. Soon, of course, heavier rails, longer trains, faster trains, more trains, better gradients, mo…
"The Chinese government had hoped to assemble a weightier guest list to Mr Xi’s premier international forum, which is occurring just months before he formally begins a second five-year term in office. But many heads of state and government, especially from G7 and OECD nations, were reluctant to participate in what they thought might be little more than a propaganda coup for China’s ruling Communist party.
Only seven EU heads of state or government, most from smaller eastern European countries, accepted Mr Xi’s invitation, while Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta will be the only top-level African VIP."
https://www.ft.com/content/f89060ac-36c7-11e7-bce4-9023f8c0f...
The scary part is china's protectionism. Small nations and businesses have so little possibilities to operate in china without getting robbed of IP or being outcompeted by state supported domestic ventures. I fear the future of China being stronger superpower than the USA.
The "Belt and Road" scheme is well known. The first container freight train from Yiwu, China to Barking, England, arrived January 15, 2017. Coast to coast travel time: two weeks.[1] Conveniently, China uses a 4' 8.5" track gauge, unlike Russian metric gauge, so they can move freight cars all the way without a gauge change. Soon, of course, heavier rails, longer trains, faster trains, more trains, better gradients, mo…
According to thablackbull's link, gauge changes take place in Khorgos between China and Kazakhstan and at the Belarus-Poland border. Much of the journey is through the former Soviet Union.
Not sure what they do about loading gauge. The UK has many limited loading gauge lines, due to old tunnels and bridges. No way will a double stack container train fit in the UK. Here's a brief world loading gauge summary.[1] The leftmost outline is the general UK limit; some lines have more clearance, especially the ones that connect to Eurotunnel. The next one is the general EU limit, small by world standards. Note the round top. AAR Plate B is the basic US limit; any Plate B boxcar can go on any US mainline track. 95% of US track accepts AAR Plate C, the "hi-cube" boxcar. AAR Plate H, 20' 3" high [2] is for double-stack container cars. Union Pacific and BNSF have upgraded to that level.
China and Russia go in for big loading gauges like the US, being big countries with long distances to cross. Watch for China lobbying the EU to upgrade for heavier freight.
[1] http://emdx.org/rail/Gabarit/ComparaisonGabaritsEuropenEtAAR... [2] http://www.icrr.net/plates.htm