Four decades of policies that encouraged China to become more economically integrated with the world are unravelling. Before he died in 1994, former United States President Richard Nixon had an “uh-oh” moment of historic proportions, at least according to his speechwriter William Safire – a moment of doubt that is reverberating to this day. “I asked him – on the record – if perhaps we had gone a bit overboard on selling the American public on the political benefits of increased trade [with China],” Safire wrote in an opinion piece…

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As China-US ties grow increasingly tense, their chief negotiators will reportedly talk on August 15 to review the pact. Senior United States and Chinese officials will review the implementation of their phase one trade deal and likely air mutual grievances in an increasingly tense relationship during an August 15 videoconference, two people familiar with the plans told the Reuters news agency. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the principal negotiators for the two countries, will participate in the meeting, an initial six-month review of the…

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Southeast Asia’s largest economy contracted by 5.3 percent in the second quarter due to coronavirus curbs. Indonesia’s economy contracted for the first time in more than 20 years in the second quarter as efforts to contain the coronavirus dealt a blow to consumer demand and business activity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by a bigger-than-expected 5.32 percent in the April-June period from a year ago, according to data from Statistics Indonesia, the first contraction since 1999. The economy had been expected to shrink 4.61 percent,…

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Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has revealed why the people of Edo State should re-elect the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki. Speaking during an interview the governor believes his Edo counterpart has earned the confidence of the people by resisting what he called ‘godfatherism’ in the state. “The mere fact that Obaseki resisted this godfatherism should be the one reason Edo people should vote for him. There are so many things about this election; it has nothing to do with Obaseki like I said,” Governor Wike said on Tuesday in Port…

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