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What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

nytimes.com

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Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#71

Post by puranjay »

icegreentea2 wrote: post #36
pravinva wrote: post #3

The slippery slope towards empire for the east India company didn't start by protecting dams and dredging or performing economic activities. It began by superior ammunition and military services that they provided to the various kings and nawabs who were warring with each other.taking sides, and extracting political power in return. Equity ownership means nothing if it's a business that has zero market value. Politic…

Chinese equity stake in the airport and port will likely result in significant Chinese operation of those ports. And surely, that's got to have India thinking a little bit - it means that the PLAAF/PLAN now have a potential forward operating base literally in their backyard. And if China can continue to assert leverage on Sri Lanka, then they might even be able to forward base onto Sri Lanka itself without official a…

How do you see China countering India's cultural hegemony in the region? Much of the culture in the Indian sub-continent is borrowed from Indian culture.

Shouldn't this be some insulation from Chinese influence?

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#72

Post by puranjay »

jpatokal wrote: post #34

One thing worth noting is that, with a theoretical max capacity on only 1 million, this airport would actually be pretty tiny by world standards. (The largest do >100m, and even Colombo Airport pulls in nearly 10m.) By comparison, another famous white elephant airport, Ciudad Real in Spain, was built for 10m and currently serves precisely zero. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_Central_Airport

I was in Sri Lanka in summer this year. Outside of international tourist arrivals (all at Colombo, which itself is a tiny airport), there is practically zero internal air travel. The country is so tiny that you can go across the breadth of the country (Colombo to Trincomalee) in 4-5 hours by bus. Or you can take a helicopter/private plane (which are pretty cheap) and do the same distance in like 45 minutes.

I can't even imagine any situation where an airport serving a million people outside of Colombo would even be remotely feasible.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#73

Post by puranjay »

forapurpose wrote: post #57

> China promotes itself as a new, gentler kind of power, but it’s worth remembering that dredging deepwater ports and laying down railroad ties to secure new trade routes — and then having to defend them from angry locals — was precisely how Britain started down the slippery slope to empire. China should be deterred by the prospect of following the footsteps of the most powerful empire in history?

To add: an empire they also hated for what it did to China.

One of my oldest friends went to China to study medicine. He's now a doctor in Shanghai. I visited him a while back and spent a lot of time with his Chinese colleagues.

The overwhelming sense I got was that China believes it is their destiny to be the supreme power in the world, that western dominance is an aberration of history, and that it is China's right to that status.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#74

Post by SCdF »

princeb wrote: post #10

A number of Chinese businesses are setting up 100%-Chinese factory compounds overseas. These compounds are located in a foreign country, but they are fully financed by Chinese, built by Chinese, employ only Chinese, have accommodation for the Chinese employees, have a completely sustaining internal economy where employees can buy food and entertainment and send mail, posts, banking, remittance, insurance, through Chi…

Do you have an example of one of these compounds? An article about them?

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#75

Post by varjag »

erikb wrote: post #69
fludlight wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This strategy is just as transparent as it sounds. Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. A similar thing recently played out when a Chinese company owned by the son of a major Chinese aluminum smelting magnate tried to cross ship about a ridiculous quantity of aluminum through Mexico. In this case, certain rules may need to be amended, but that is not outside the realm of possibility. > But conc…

You assume that the US and EU politicians aren't actually fine with it.

If they were fine with it, there wouldn't have been quotas for China in the first place.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#76

Post by iamshs »

robbiep wrote: post #39
hyperdunc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China does a similar thing with agriculture. Huge plots of land in Australia and New Zealand are controlled by Chinese farming companies and staffed by Chinese. All the food they produce goes back to China.

It is not true that they mainly (or even significantly) employ chinese on Australian Farms - these farms are generally managed by the previous owners or managers and staffed by Australians, with australian Agronomists. In actual fact, very little changes on a day to day basis, except there is more funds available for infrastructure and capital goods purchase (and property values are driven up). Which, when you think…

Well Shepparton and Mooroopna has quite a substantial number if Chinese farm workers. In Safeway, nearly whole Saturday is busy with Chinese farm workers shopping. I haven't really enquired on which specific farm they work, because they generally shun interaction and also due to language barrier.

Also, Shepparton has a substantial Punjabi farming population and I can tell you from experience that the farmers do take inputs from Tatura Agricultural institute but the management to production to packing is all Punjabis. Your comment is significantly false information. Shepparton is filled with people who don't have local know-how, but have developed it.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#77

Post by factsaresacred »

fludlight wrote: post #45
princeb wrote: post #10

A number of Chinese businesses are setting up 100%-Chinese factory compounds overseas. These compounds are located in a foreign country, but they are fully financed by Chinese, built by Chinese, employ only Chinese, have accommodation for the Chinese employees, have a completely sustaining internal economy where employees can buy food and entertainment and send mail, posts, banking, remittance, insurance, through Chi…

This strategy is just as transparent as it sounds. Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. A similar thing recently played out when a Chinese company owned by the son of a major Chinese aluminum smelting magnate tried to cross ship about a ridiculous quantity of aluminum through Mexico. In this case, certain rules may need to be amended, but that is not outside the realm of possibility. > But conc…

> executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits

They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers.

China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc.

Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western companies. But it was brilliant for China, who are now, in turn, buying up Western manufacturing companies.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#78

Post by happosai »

princeb wrote: post #10

A number of Chinese businesses are setting up 100%-Chinese factory compounds overseas. These compounds are located in a foreign country, but they are fully financed by Chinese, built by Chinese, employ only Chinese, have accommodation for the Chinese employees, have a completely sustaining internal economy where employees can buy food and entertainment and send mail, posts, banking, remittance, insurance, through Chi…

I think this is an urban legend, or at least a major hyperbole. The Chinese businesses (at least the ones I know in Kenya) all employ lots of locals. What is Chinese is management and most of the highly skilled workers.

It's more about keeping the value-add than creating jobs for Chinese. We can argue that it's bad for locals, but unlike western colonialism, this happens under the rules the local governments have set them self. As the article points out - this might change if the Chinese government feels it needs to protect it's interests abroad - which could happen if a populist anti-chinese movement appears.

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#79

Post by tryingagainbro »

Maybe i missed it in the article, but Sri Lanka shouldn't complain: it was China that enabled them to crush their separatist movement http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/china-and-sri-lanka-between-a... (right or wrong, Sri Lanka's best interest was to end the war and stay one country) . It was China that helped them militarily and politically at the UN. That does have a cost...

Re: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence

#80

Post by Boothroid »

factsaresacred wrote: post #77
fludlight wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This strategy is just as transparent as it sounds. Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. A similar thing recently played out when a Chinese company owned by the son of a major Chinese aluminum smelting magnate tried to cross ship about a ridiculous quantity of aluminum through Mexico. In this case, certain rules may need to be amended, but that is not outside the realm of possibility. > But conc…

> executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers. China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc. Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western compan…

The US did similar to Europe back in the 1800s, and plenty of evidence to suggest they are still at it today e.g. NSA etc.
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