At least there are still some buyers out there. I notice that Taiwan is sending a trade mission to the Middle East in early May. (Yes, Asia’s exports to the Middle East are one of the few things still growing). A not small delegation of 62 Taiwanese companies will be visiting Jeddah, Riyadh, and Tehran. (The region’s largest consumer markets). But it isn’t just export dollars that Taiwan is interested in. It’s also tourist dollars. I was surfing cable channels the other night and stumbled across a Taiwanese cooking show that was explaining the importance of offering Halal food to Muslim tourists from the Middle East. So, it’s not just Hong Kong that is enjoying an influx of Middle Eastern tourists.
Tag Archives: Taiwan
Forget “Nationalism”. Think “Blocism”
“Nationalism” is on the rise and it is bad news for the Silk Road.
I’m reminded of the risks by events in Syria. I recall Syrian friends praising China a few years ago―the arrival of “Made-in-China” goods to the streets of Damascus meant the middle-class could afford to buy the type of high-end consumer goods, such as digital cameras, which were once unaffordable.
But the tone has since changed. Mohammed Sharabti, the head of the Aleppo Chamber of Industry, alleged earlier this year that Chinese clothing imports have flooded the market. A number of textile manufacturers in Aleppo, the country’s second largest city, have closed. (You can’t afford to buy “Made-in-China goods if you don’t have a job). The Syrian government has responded by imposing tariffs on Chinese textile imports.
Silk Road Gallery
Canton Trade Fair
August 12th, 2010
August 12th, 2010
“China cheat sheet helps investors survive”, Bloomberg, September 1, 2010
“No more silver bullets for Beijing”, Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010
“China’s historic return to the Gulf”, Foreign Policy, April 2, 2010
