China and Stocks
Posted On Thursday, November 17, 2011 at at 10:41 AM by Finance FanaticIt is continually the big elephant in the room. On one hand, because of China, interest rates continue to remain at record low levels due to the large supply of treasuries they continue to buy (and the Fed). On the other hand, China's aggressive currency valuation and manufacturing is definitely starting to be felt in US businesses and has been for quite some time. So what is the answer?
Yesterday, President Obama announced that the US would be beefing up the military presence in Northern Australia, that man believe sends a message to China that the US still owns the Pacific.
Recently, I have been able to get two sides of the story as well as two perspectives and how we should go forward with our relationship with China.
First, I attended a presentation given by Joshua Cooper Ramo of Kissinger Associates, who has been nearly a diplomat of China and has lived there for over 10 years. He has recently written a book called "The Age of the Unthinkable," which talks about China in more detail.
Essentially, Ramo talks about the rising power of China and how, because of the population and buying power of the upcoming middle class, a mutual beneficial relationship cannot be ignored. He addressed many of the concerns and preconceived prejudices that many Americans have of China, as well as tried to dive into the culture of China and why they react a certain way to things.
Ramo feels that the next generation of China brings much more diversity and "free thinking" than does the current Communist party. He feels that as China continues to accept capitalistic companies into the country and with the help of social media, these barriers will continue to break down. He feels that if the US can make a mutual relationship work with China, it will be the best decision the US ever made.
However, there are always two sides to a story.
Next, I have listened to the words of Peter Navarro, a professor of Finance at The University of California Irvine and the author of the book, "Death by China." In this book, Navarro breaks down the manipulation and fraud of Chinese leaders in which directly effects both the health and economic well being of the US. He talks of the hacking, spies, and theft that occurs daily as well as the military threat as China continues to build their forces.
He also discusses the fault of the government for allowing many of the problems to happen. China allows almost no imports into the country, but exports more than half of the world's goods. Many factories in Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City have been closed down and replaced with factories in China.
Navarro believes that unless something is done to regulate how China conducts business, especially within the US, we will suffer many consequences, as will our children.
You decide. How does the US go forward with their relationship with China? The fact of the matter is, that China does hold the largest middle class population and will have only more consumer buying power in years to come. As China continues to develop and become more urbanized, without a debt there will be extremely large opportunities there. The question is will US companies be able to take advantage of it. Some already have. This is why I continue to be bullish in Chinese companies. Happy Trading.