Past Facebook posts: Malaysia.

THE MALAYSIA STORY. 

MALAYSIA and China’s relations are an example why neighbors in the region, despite intermittent disputes, are not going to evolve into warring forces. Both countries are claimants in the South China Sea territorial quarrel and in recent times has resulted in some friction. In fact, a 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed 66 percent of Malaysians were concerned that territorial disputes between China and neighboring countries (which also include Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Vietnam) could lead to a military conflict.

       Nope. Didn’t happen and will never happen.

       On the economic side, a 2017 survey conducted by Merdeka Center revealed 70 percent of Malaysians supported China's presence and investment in the country. In another survey in 2019 done by Ipsos, around 74 percent of respondents in Malaysia perceived that China would be a positive influence on world affairs over the next decade.

       That view hasn’t really changed. In 2016, during the administration of Najib Razak, 14 trade, energy and defense agreements worth $34.7 million, were signed between the two countries. 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾

FROM 2016 to 2022, Malaysian and Chinese relations haven’t really changed much, regardless of episodic riff in re South China Sea territorial issues. Bilateral trade between the two countries surpassed $190 billion this year based on current trends, expected to move towards $200 billion.

       Kuala Lumpur’s trade with China in the first seven months had expanded by 16.9 percent, compared to the same period of 2021. Exports grew by 13.2 percent, boosted by higher exports of electrical and electronic products (E&E), liquefied natural gas (LNG), and scrap metal. Imports from China climbed by 19.8 percent.

       Malaysia’s chief industries are electronics, semiconductors, microchips, integrated circuits, rubber, oleochemicals, automotive, optical devices, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, smelting, timber, wood pulp, Islamic finance, petroleum, liquified natural gas, petrochemicals, and telecommunication product. Easily, China is the country’s top trading partner. 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾

THE United States is Malaysia’s 3rd top trading partner behind Singapore. American FDIs are concentrated on manufacturing, although Washington seeks to expand relations to include security, environmental cooperation, and educational and cultural relations. Malaysia is a diverse democracy and is an important partner in U.S. engagement with Southeast Asia.

       The countries cooperate closely on security matters, including counterterrorism, maritime domain awareness, and regional stability, and participate frequently in bilateral and multilateral training, exercises, and visits.

       However, I must say as I always insist, that America should double-up on economic relations over security/military matters in Asia because a ruffling of waters—as in recent attempt in Taiwan—won’t work. China and its neighbors, including Malaysia, will always have some issues to disagree on but I don’t think these will evolve into destructive arms clash.

       As accent to the regional cordiality, in Nov 2020, China gathered 15 nations in the region to forge the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which account for about 30 percent of the world's population and 30 percent of global GDP, making it the largest trade bloc in history. These countries are Australia, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and of course, China. China, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea are among the largest economies in Asia. 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾

FROM my Facebook Page.

My Thoughts on The News.

New York Times: “Rules for Pentagon Use of Proxy Forces Shed Light on a Shadowy War Power.” Managing irregular warfare surrogate fighters is anomalous as it is costly. From Chinese Civil War 1940s to Central American crisis 1960s to 1990s etcetera to the current Ukraine War, Washington has supported a chosen party via proxy forces. Digging up numbers on expenditures and aid for U.S. proxy wars is tricky. The $50+ billion arms aid sent to Kyiv so far should give us ideas. 

       Proxy war occurs when a major power instigates or plays a major role in supporting and directing a party to a conflict but does only a small portion of the actual fighting itself. Yet wars per is senselessly a huge waste of taxpayer money. For example, U.S. Defense spending in Afghanistan’s 20-year war was $2.3 trillion. That easily outclassed the $757.8 billion spent in Iraq. But the World War II involvement also cost the U.S. $4.69 trillion. ☮️☮️☮️

New York Times: “When Your Champions League Dream Runs Through a War Zone.” And adds: “Shakhtar Donetsk’s foreign stars fled Ukraine when Russia invaded. Now some are returning or signing up, proof that the lure of opportunity can trump fear.” Not all of the country is battered by war as media tends to suggest. Kolomyya and Kosiv in the Carpathian region, as well the Western towns of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi are safe destinations. (Ukraine is slightly smaller than Texas, or twice the size of Italy or the U.K. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Time: “The Case for Protecting AI-Generated Speech With the First Amendment.” Not the speech per se but the mindset, the reset of the psyche to fit a paradigm of political correctness that bothers me. And AI is bound to push a New Morality that is ideologically detached. Meanwhile, Microsoft spends a lot on AI, but Google is set to bankroll about $300 billion for its AI tech “improvement” through 2028. The federal government upped the IT/R&D budget to $9.6 billion for FY23. 💻🤖🖥

Time: “Zelensky Was the Star of the G7. But the Summit's Focus Remained on China.” Theatrical absurdity. Media turns Volodymyr a “star” but as object of grand folly. Ukraine has got to stop begging for weapons and instead talk economics with China. After all, the world is very high on Beijing business, regardless of sinophobia. Top regions that trade with China, as of 2022, is Southeast Asia ($975.3B), European Union ($847.3B) and the United States (yes! $759.4B). 

       China is easing up the manufacturing mojo over FDIs and loan-giving. So India (and Indonesia) are the logical fallback/s per labor force. But China has plenty of pertinent raw materials and essential minerals that global industries need. That is why Beijing isn’t hot on war. War is bad for business. 🇺🇦☎️🇨🇳

New York Times: “Why Do Cats Hold Such Mythic Power in Japan?” And adds: “A journey through a country where felines are revered, adored and sometimes seen as actual demons.” No one in their right mind messes with cats! Especially in Japan, where hoomans pay respect to shinobi felines in Aoshima Island. Also known as “Cat Island,” Aoshima has only 15-20 hooman residents but hundreds of cats! Some are invisible. “Watashiniha kachi ga arimasen!” 🐱🇯🇵🐱

New York Times: “Germany Announces Its Biggest Military Aid Package Yet for Ukraine.” The nearly $3 billion package is part of an effort by both sides to reset rocky relations, which have become “...increasingly important to maintaining European unity in backing the war.” Unity? How’d the region recover from Russian energy dependency–78 percent oil, 45 percent natural–by relying on Kyiv’s corrupt fuel economics? The U.S. could, in years. OPEC? That’d be complex. 

       U.S. can supply Europe oil/gas but that isn’t that easy. The region is a massive market. And energy exports to E.U. would shudder America’s homebased needs, which is already #1 in the world. Meanwhile, the post-Merkel Berlin, led by the spineless Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party, is under dictation from some 1 Percent power? Europe has got to fix its energy issue so it could focus on other pressing problems. Angela Merkel was Germany’s Chancellor and de facto leader of the E.U. for 16 years. There were problems along the way, but indecision wasn’t her badge. Isolating Russia isn’t as linear as cutting Vladimir Putin out. The West has lost considerable global clout as 21st century strode in. Scholz’s recent move isn’t helping Europe. China calls for peace, and why not? 🇧🇪👎🇺🇦

New York Times asks: “Can My New Boyfriend Stop My Ex From Visiting Our Dog?” The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on whether a former partner has the right to see a previously shared pet. Tough, isn’t it? With years of my life (from 2009) spent more with dogs and cats, I simply don’t know how to deal with parting with them (beyond them passing away or dying). Different. But really tough. But no I am not going to replace them with A.I. Are you kidding me, LOL! 💔😥🐕

New York Times: “The Discreet Thrill of Lurking Online.” And adds: “There’s a world of wholesome drama out there in strangers’ social media content, if you know where to look.” Why do people post TMI in here? Experts say to bring valuable and entertaining content to others. Inform, amuse, and help people in our lives. That’s why 94 percent of people share drama on Facebook. Me? My dinner royale and day’s kitty shenanigans. But no I ain’t going to talk about my ex’es. 📱🧐📲

New York Times: “GOP faction decries $113B for Ukraine.” Sure, you can thumb-down me as Republican, which I am not. But I concur, especially with Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) who fumes that Kyiv’s leadership “...thought it was an obligation for every American to pay $10 a month to fund their war.” Anyhow, after the meeting in Poland, Volodymyr Zelensky’s guys thanked the bipartisan U.S. delegation for the additional aid a.k.a. F-16 fighter jets to help in the war against Russia. 🇺🇦☮️🇷🇺

New York Times: “The Latest Rift Among Ukraine’s Allies Is Whether to Send F-16s.” And adds: “The United States is resisting a European push for the powerful fighters. But will it relent, as it did before with tanks, rocket launchers and air defense missiles?” Latest news after recent U.S. lawmakers meeting with Kyiv reps in Poland is likely a green light. Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Block costs $64 million. Others depend on kind and make: From $12 million to $35 million, to as high as $108 million.

       Remember: Last year, U.S. Congress signed a $113 billion aid to Ukraine. And in February 2022, the State Department approved the sale of 12 F-16 fighter jets with an estimated cost of $4.21 billion — a deal that also included radios, targeting pods and associated munitions components like guided missile tail kits. F-16s et al to Kyiv is not a “sale” though. Those are handouts. Paid for by taxpayers. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

My take on News. Past Facebook posts.

SRI LANKA.

NEWS: “Sri Lanka Economy Has ‘Hit Rock Bottom,’ Putting Pressure on President.” The South Asian nation of 21.9 population was supposedly enjoying a fine GDP growth until problems ensue. Now the country’s Rajapaksa dynasty is facing its toughest challenge yet as protesters demand that the president step down amid a devastating economic crisis. Food and fuel are suddenly either unavailable or exorbitantly priced. New York Times: “Protests are rising against a president with a reputation for brutality.”

       Before the tempest, Sri Lanka's GDP in terms of purchasing power parity is the second highest in the South Asian region in terms of per capita income, according to the I.M.F. The country’s economy has always been strong. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Sri Lanka became a plantation economy famous for its production and export of cinnamon, rubber, and Ceylon tea, which remains a trademark national export.

       Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka was a strategic port importance for the British when it was under its rule between 1815 and 1948. After independence, socialism strongly influenced the government's economic policies till 1977. Colonial plantations were dismantled, industries were nationalized, and a welfare state established. In 1977, free market economy was introduced to the country, incorporating privatization, deregulation, and the promotion of private enterprise. I don’t see anything wrong with such a transition.

       But tough times followed. Sri Lanka's more recent history was marred by a 26-year civil war, which began in 1983 and ended decisively in 2009, when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰

TOUGH times. Seems like the world is falling into a spiral of strife. Despite this challenge, Sri Lanka has a decent economic pace of 5.5 percent, coming from last year’s 3.7 percent, and 2020’s not surprising and expected -3.6 percent, which is a global downward GDP trend.  

       Sri Lanka has a globally competitive set of industries, topped by its world-class tea, apparel, textile, rice production, and other agricultural products. Tourism is also a huge income-generating business. In addition to these economic sectors, overseas employment contributes highly to foreign exchange reserves. A huge 90 percent of expatriate Sri Lankans reside in the Middle East, mostly workers in oil fields.

       As expected, Chinese investments are a fact of economic life in the region or in the country. China controls a key international harbor built on the southern coast and has a terminal in Colombo Port. In 2021, the government also awarded the construction and operation of an elevated highway on the outskirts of Colombo in exchange for a $1 billion investment.

       Meanwhile, a subsidiary of state-owned China Communications Construction Company has led several infrastructure projects in the country, including Hambantota Port and Mattala International Airport. Construction of the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City started in 2021. 🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰

THESE are the events, political shudders, that serve as magnet for Washington to fortify its relations with Sri Lanka. Pretty much expected. China slows down its FDI aggressiveness when social strife sets in.

       Yet despite the obvious imposing trade presence of China in the region, the United States remains as Sri Lanka’s top trading partner. Next: United Kingdom, India, and Germany.

       But the more significant Washington interest in Colombo is military alliance although security relations were ruffled by the United States’ opposition to how the country’s army handled the long Civil War that ended in 2009 (from 1983). The thumbs-down didn’t amount to larger sanction, however.

       Meantime, during a 2020 visit by then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Sri Lanka—which also included India, the Maldives, Indonesia and Vietnam—Washington via President Trump’s rep denounced the Chinese Communist Party as a "predator" in front of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. With the current hawkish Biden administration, such words would mean a lot.  

       The U.S. Armed Forces maintain a limited military-to-military relationship with the Sri Lanka defense establishment. Yet these days, Washington and Colombo have enhanced defense relations beyond the sale of military equipment and military training facilities. 🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰

Photo credits: BBC / Botschaft von Sri Lanka.