Tuesday, January 4, 2011

China - Follow The Money

As information seeping out of China slowly improves, their ambition has become more obvious. Their biggest asset is patience. Slowly but surely is the motto. And surely it is.


1.The Chinese are ready to spend $511 billion to build up to 245 nuclear reactors. The global nuclear industry is willing to take big risks to get a piece of China's nuclear budget. Just 13 nuclear plants operate in China today, and until recently the Chinese were building only one or two reactors a decade. Now they are building 25 facilities, accounting for close to half the reactors under construction worldwide.  China's energy planners say they aim to have 40 reactors by 2020 and, by 2030, enough additional reactors to generate more power than all 104 reactors in the US, the leader in nuclear energy. That brings us to another thought. An economic thought. The possible shortage of URANIUM. Canada's Cameco agreed to supply 29-million pounds of uranium to Guangdong Nuclear through 2025. China is building reactors faster and at a lower cost than the rest of the world. By 2013 they hope to be exporting nuclear reactors.

CONCLUSION: The West will suicidally teach China its advanced technology, who will then replace us with its own labor to put us out of business. Brilliant. So whether we like it or not, the world is going nuclear.

2.A new military reality is slowly dawning. -- With the US Navy fleet in the China Seas ostensibly to warn North Korea and protect South Korea from North Korea, we find out that China (with a close relationship to North Korea) has a new missile defense system which is designed to knock out naval battle formations. This version of China's land-based mobile medium-range system, called the "carrier killer" is off the drawing boards and is now operational. Defense analysts have called the Chinese system a "game changer." It seems the Chinese system has effectively "neutralized" US Naval strength in the China seas. Now what?

CONCLUSION: This is not the feeble China we knew during the days of the Boxer Rebellion. This is a formidable, high-tech China that means to defend itself and has the weapons to do it. It seems that China does not want a US Navel fleet floating around off China's shores.

3.China is stockpiling gold. In fact, China is now the largest gold producer in the world. By law, the Chinese goverment purchases all gold mined in that country. Gold imports into China have soared this year, turning the country into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent memory. The imports increased five fold during 2010 from 45 tonnes to 209 tonnes at the end of October. Beijing is on track to overtake India as the world’s largest consumer of gold and a significant force in global gold prices.

CONCLUSION: Looks like the gold standard might be on its way back via the Chinese currency, the Yuan.
This might become an international trend over the next decade, as the financial system weighs the folly of the present system and its printing machines. Once again China is planning ahead.

4. Rare Earth Elements - quite the weapon!

COMMENT: China is on its way to becoming a superpower. No doubt about it. The only question in my mind is - A benevolent dictator, a budding democracy or a wolf in sheeps clothing (and with money in the bank)? Take your pick.

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are -
J.P. Morgan

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