US-CHINA RELATIONS
GO VIR L
Stanley Chao of All In Consulting ponders the factors contributing to political turmoil
as the US and China enter the fi rst phase of a trade deal.
It’s 2.00am on a February
morning in Los Angeles. I try
not to, but I’m panicking. I
frantically try to reach several
Wuhan factories for any
information on when they’ll
open. After 20 tries, an old,
crackly Wuhan-accented voice
fi nally answers. “I’m just a
security guard. We are closed;
I have no information. Don’t
bother us anymore!” He rudely
slams the phone down. I try
not to, but I’m panicking.
This, more or less, is how
communications have been for
the past four months for just
about anyone or any company
conducting business in China
– air logistics companies
included.
At least 760m people
throughout China have faced
some sort of governmentmandated
lockdown. Roads,
airports and factories have
closed. Foreign companies,
20 April 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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CARGO AND
POLITICS
including Apple, Agilent
Technologies, General Mills,
Caterpillar and Analog Devices,
have all slashed earnings
because of supply chain
disruptions and cuts in China’s
consumption estimates.
Rumours run amok as
Chinese netizens question
their government’s initial
slow response to the virus.
China’s 2020 GDP estimates
were already cut because of
President Trump’s trade war,
but economists warn that even
these numbers need to be
lowered further. There doesn’t
seem to be any end in sight to
all the bad news.
The sky is falling
“We need to completely move
out of China. It’s turning into
a war zone!” laments one
Fortune 1000 factory manager
based in Shenzhen.
“This company needs to
A new cold war
is emerging, but
not about nuclear
arms
Stanley Chao, Managing Director,
All In Consulting
second guess its China plans,”
demands a Shanghai-based,
British expatriate. “I’m not sure
we can trust the communist
government, and I’m deeply
concerned about my family’s
health and safety.”
Indeed, we all share similar
doubts and worries in these
grave times. But wait just one
second! These comments were
not made in response to the
current coronavirus crisis, but
rather, from the aftermaths of
the Tiananmen Square protests
in 1989 and the SARS (Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
outbreak in 2002.
As with Tiananmen and
SARS, the trade war and now
the coronavirus question our
faith and belief in China’s
pseudo communist-capitalist
economy, and most of all, in
the safety and security of all
those living and working in
China.
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