Sunday, October 13, 2013

China: Respect Philippine Sovereignty


US debt default: The knowns – and unknowns – unnerve the globeWorld leaders warn that unless the US averts a debt default, the global economy is at risk just as it begins to recover from the 2008 economic crisis.
Christian Science Monitor
By Peter Ford October 9, 2013 10:05 AM

As they watch the US budget crisis unfold, presidents, policymakers, and ordinary savers across the globe are united by a single fear: that a chaotic US default on its sovereign debt would throw the world economy into a tailspin just as it is shaking off the effects of the 2008 crisis.
In Europe, a US default would sabotage the continent’s nascent economic recovery after years of austerity, local bankers say.
In Asia, it would carve tens of billions of dollars off the value of the US Treasury bonds that China and Japan hold, and lead to a collapse of the world trade on which their economies depend, analysts predict. 
In Mexico, which sells 78 percent of its exports to the United States, economic chaos north of the border would be fatal to its prospects of greater prosperity any time soon, businessmen warn.
The effects would be felt everywhere should Congress not authorize an increase in the US debt ceiling so as to make interest payments, and if US Treasury securities were deemed to be in default as a result.
“It’s going to impact the whole world, not just countries having significant geographic or economic interaction with the United States,” Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto warned fellow attendees at the APEC summit in Indonesia on Monday.
Chinese deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao was equally blunt at a press conference in Beijing Monday, insisting that “safeguarding the debt is of vital importance to the economy of the US and the world.
“That is the United States’ responsibility,” he said, urging Washington to take steps before Oct. 17 to forestall a default.
THREAT TO THE 'ASIAN GIANTS'
Few countries have more to fear from the potentially calamitous consequences of a US debt default than Asian giants China and Japan.
They are the two largest US creditors, holding nearly $2.5 trillion in US Treasury bonds between them. They are also the second- and third-largest economies in the world, with much to lose from the collapse of world trade that experts warn could follow a default-induced freeze in global credit markets.
The threat of a US default comes at a pivotal moment in Japan’s economic recovery under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office last year promising to pull the country out of its deflationary spiral. He has presided over three straight quarters of economic growth as exporters benefited from a sharp fall in the value of the yen, boosting their profits overseas.
Japan’s recovery could be undermined, though, if a debt crisis in the US prompts investors to drop the dollar and head for the “safe haven” of the yen, in turn driving up the value of the Japanese currency. That would make Japanese goods more expensive abroad and thus harder to export. On Tuesday, the yen rose to an eight-week high.
More on world impact of US debt default: US debt ceiling: How risky for China and Japan?
FRAGILITY IN EUROPE 
Europe is also beset by fears that a debt default would weaken the value of the dollar, thus making the euro – and eurozone exports – more expensive. For a continent just beginning to creep out of a lengthy recession whose second largest trade partner is the United States, that could be disastrous.
“A default would be most unwelcome for Europe,” says Mark Wall, co-head of European economics at Deutsche Bank in London. “Europe has reached a position to start a recovery but it is very fragile.”
That is especially true of southern European countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, where recovery is much slower than in other parts of Europe. They are even more dependent on stronger exports to offset the negative effects of record unemployment and slumping consumer demand.
“The only dynamic factor in Europe is improving foreign demand,” points out Matteo Cominetta, an economist with HSBC in London. That demand, all over the world, would drop if the global economy was throttled by the sort of credit squeeze and consumer reticence that followed the 2008 financial crisis.
Equally grave, says Mr. Cominetta, would be the rising interest rates that a default would spark. “Most of Europe is not in a position to absorb higher rates with this initial recovery,” he warns.
EMERGING MARKET VULNERABILITY 
If Europe is vulnerable to events in the US, Mexico is even more so – tightly bound as its economy is to its northern neighbor.
“Slow growth in the United States means slow growth … if not recession in Mexico,” says Deborah Riner, chief economist for the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico.
The uncertainty that a US default would engender would be especially damaging to countries such as Mexico, Ms. Riner says, because investors will be looking for safe havens, not the higher returns that some developing countries have offered in the past.
“If investors are concerned about risk, they are going to put their money in the safest thing they can get,” says Riner. “I don’t think it’s going to be emerging markets.”
The safest thing investors could find has traditionally been a US Treasury bond, and China owns $1.28 trillion worth of them, according to the latest US figures, more than any other foreign holder.
That puts Beijing in a difficult spot. It has accumulated the world’s largest hoard of foreign reserves, about $3.5 trillion, by exporting more than it imported year after year, and because the Chinese government bought exporters’ dollars from them in a bid to keep the Chinese currency, the RMB, competitively low.
Beijing then invested those dollars in US Treasury bonds, the easiest and safest place to put them. “China is joined at the hip to the dollar and to the US debt market, which is the only place large enough to absorb all the dollars they have accumulated,” says Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management in New York and former professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing.
“They are along for the ride,” he adds, “wherever that ride leads.”
Obama and Republicans search for a deal on U.S. fiscal impasse
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) (R) arrives with other members of the Senate Republican Caucus for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington October 11, 2013. REUTERS-Kevin Lamarque
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman  Deborah Hersman testifies at a Senate Science, Commerce and Transportation Committee hearing on the impacts of the U.S. government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 11, 2013. REUTERS-Jason Reed
U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) arrives with other members of the Senate 
 Republican Caucus  for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington October 11, 2013. REUTERS-Kevin  Lamarque

By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON | Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:41pm EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republican leaders inched toward resolving their fiscal impasse on Friday, but struggled to agree on the length and terms of a short-term deal to increase the U.S. debt limit and reopen the government.

Obama met Senate Republicans at the White House and spoke by phone to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner as negotiations intensified on how to get hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on the job and extend the government's borrowing authority past the October 17 limit.

It was hard to gauge the progress of talks, as all sides refused to divulge many of the specific details of what is being discussed.

But both sides spoke with new optimism about the possibility of avoiding a fiscal crisis. Lawmakers were expected to work through the weekend with a goal of finishing a deal by early next week.

Economists have warned that a debt default would create global economic chaos, and analysts warned on Friday that if the shutdown lasts more than a month, it would cause a sharp slowdown in fourth-quarter economic growth.

Obama wants the debt ceiling raised for longer than the six weeks first proposed by Republicans, and Republicans want a commitment to broader deficit-reduction talks from the White House.

"The two of them agreed that all sides need to keep talking," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters after the call between Boehner and Obama. "It at least looks like there is a possibility of making some progress here."

House Republicans will meet at the Capitol on Saturday morning to discuss their options after sending the White House a proposal that included the short-term increase in the debt limit that would clear the way for reopening the government.

The House Republican proposal called for cuts in programs like the Medicare health plan for seniors to replace two years of the automatic spending cuts known as "sequestration" agreed to last year by Congress, senior aides said.

"The good thing is the negotiations are ongoing. That is much more progress than has been the case lately," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia said.

But Carney said the short-term increase proposed by Republicans would not provide enough certainty for the economy and would put the country back on the verge of default during the end-of-year holiday season.

"A debt ceiling increase at only six weeks tied to budget negotiations would put us right back where we are today in just six weeks, on the verge of Thanksgiving and the obviously important shopping season leading up to the holidays," Carney said.

At a White House meeting with Senate Republicans on Friday, Obama expressed concerns the proposed debt-limit extension was too short and also talked about the need for new revenues as part of any long-term deficit reduction plan, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said.

Large portions of the U.S. government shut October 1 after Obama and Democratic lawmakers rejected House Republicans' demands for delays to Obama's healthcare reforms in exchange for temporary government funding. Thousands of government workers have been furloughed and parks and attractions shuttered.

Deals were struck on Friday to reopen three of the most famous landmarks, using state money and other funds. The Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty will soon be open for visitors, as well as some parks in Colorado and Utah.

'A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE'

Hatch said he left the meeting feeling the fiscal fight would still be a "difficult experience."

But Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, said senators "had to leave there knowing that probably in the very near future we will have these issues behind us."

The new sense of optimism sent U.S. stocks higher on Friday, extending gains from a major rally in the previous session. But U.S. Treasury bills maturing in late November and throughout December spiked as banks and major money market funds shy away from holding debt with any risk of delayed interest or principal payments.

"If the shutdown lasts through the end of October, the economic damage would be significant, reducing real GDP as much as 1.5 percentage points in the fourth quarter," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

An unlikely coalition of the heads of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO labor federation and United Way Worldwide joined together on Friday to warn about the dangers of a prolonged economic impasse.

"While we may disagree on priorities for federal policies and we even have conflicting views about many issues, we are in complete agreement that the current shutdown is harmful and the risk of default is potentially catastrophic for our fragile economy," they wrote in a letter to Obama and members of Congress.

Obama spoke by phone to a group of about 150 leaders of major businesses on Friday afternoon, the White House said.

"The president reiterated that his first order of business is to urge Congress to reopen the government and remove the threat of default, and then he is willing to engage with Congress on a long-term budget," the White House said.

Time was running short, with the shutdown in its 11th day and less than a week to go before the Treasury Department exhausts its ability to borrow money to pay the government's bills.

Any deal that is struck by leaders could face a revolt from rank-and-file conservatives in both the House and Senate.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Tea Party favorite who has been a leader of conservatives demanding delays or defunding of Obama's healthcare law before they will approve a budget deal, took a hard line at a conference of conservative activists.

In a speech frequently interrupted by hecklers but warmly embraced by the smaller-government Tea Party faithful, he said the country must "stop that train wreck, that disaster, that nightmare that is Obamacare."

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is scheduled to hold a vote on Saturday on a measure giving a one-year debt ceiling increase without conditions. It is expected to be opposed by Senate Republicans. The chamber may then move quickly on a shorter time frame, even if it is not Democrats' first choice.

Senate Republicans were discussing a series of different ideas, including a quick reopening of the government coupled with a debt limit increase and the repeal of an unpopular medical device tax that would raise revenues to pay for the healthcare law.

Reid on Friday publicly criticized Republican calls for a short extension of the borrowing authority.

"We do not believe a six-week delay of a catastrophic default is enough to get the economy the confidence it needs," Reid said on the Senate floor.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Friday showed more Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown, which also appears to be damaging the party's reputation on issues such as healthcare and the economy.

Nearly one-third of Americans - 32 percent - say Republicans are responsible for the shutdown, up from 26 percent a week ago. About 4 percent said Democrats were mostly at fault for the shutdown, down from 5 percent. Sixteen percent blamed Obama, up from 14 percent.

(Additional reporting by Tim Reid, Patrick Rucker, Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Lucia Mutikani; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Claudia Parsons, Tim Dobbyn and Lisa Shumaker)




On Friday, October 11, 2013 12:30 PM, Roilo Golez <roilogolez@yahoo.com> wrote:
Jerry- I read China's comments as a dig against Obama and America, telling them to put their own house in order before meddling in the South China. Obama missed the chance to lead the way in APEC and the EAC summit by opting to remain in the States instead of projecting himself as the dominant world leader. But then maybe as a Democrat, he subscribe to their classic slogan: "it's the economy, stupid."

Thanks for being there yesterday!

Roy

On Friday, October 11, 2013 9:00 AM, jerry quibilan <jerryaquibilan@yahoo.com> wrote:



Dear Cong Roy,

It was good seeing you yesterday. The gist of the article below which I read in today's issue of the Philippine Star jives with  the comment that I raised during the Q&A portion. I said that while in the past China was the one invaded, it is  now the invader due to their dire need of  oil and marine resources to support their economic growth which resulted in their being the largest foreign owner of US debt amounting to $1.2 trillion, a good reason why they have meddled in the 'budget war' between the Democrats and Republicans.

Kindest regards,
Jerry Quibilan

'Pitiful' US infighting threatens world: Chinese media
AFP October 10, 5:16 pm
Pitiful US infighting threatens world: Chinese media
AFP © 'Pitiful' US infighting threatens world: Chinese media
Beijing (AFP) - Chinese state media hit out at US lawmakers Thursday, a week ahead of a potential US default, urging them to "stop manufacturing crises" that threaten the global economy.
The China Daily newspaper wrote in an editorial that five years after the global financial crisis "it is pitiful that the US is now putting the fragile world recovery under renewed threat with its mind-boggling political infighting".
The paper, which is run by the Chinese government, added: "The astonishing failure of the US Congress to put national needs before their partisan interests has sparked fears among investors and governments around the world that maybe it is time to think about the unthinkable."
The newspaper's sternly-worded missive comes as Washington remains deadlocked ahead of the October 17 deadline, by which time it must vote to raise its $16.7 trillion borrowing ceiling or risk defaulting on its debt.
The International Monetary Fund this week cut its forecast for world economic growth for 2013 and 2014, citing both US political infighting and China's slowing growth as particularly worrisome factors.
"The prospect of dimmer global growth predicted by the International Monetary Fund should make it a matter of urgency for US politicians to stop manufacturing crises," the paper stated.
China is the largest foreign owner of US debt, holding $1.277 trillion in Treasury bills in July, according to the latest available US government figures.
Beijing has in recent days stepped up its calls for Washington to come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, highlighting the "inseparable" relationship between the two countries' economies.
"China pays high attention to the US debt ceiling," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing Thursday, without elaborating.
But on Monday Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters that "the clock is ticking" and warned that any US default would have global repercussions.
"We hope that before October 17, the US will take credible steps to address its disputes over the debt ceiling in a timely fashion, avoid a default and ensure the safety of Chinese investments in the US and ensure the process of global economic recovery will not be seriously affected by this," Zhu said.
In Washington, the White House was scrambling to hold meetings with members of both parties in the hope of forging a deal to resolve both the debt-ceiling debacle and the partial shutdown of the US federal government.
But Republicans have been hesitant to agree to any deal without concessions from Democrats on reforming federal spending and entitlement programmes.

On Friday, October 11, 2013 8:12 AM, jerry quibilan <jerryaquibilan@yahoo.com> wrote:

"Chuck Medel (now in town, working with the team of Paul Reichler, heading our legal team on a world issue, a sea row with China involving the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; am dining with Chuck this evening."

Dear Sen Rene,

Yesterday, when I read the above portion of  your draft article,  I thought of informing  you and the group about the talk that would be delivered  by
former Congressman Roy Golez later in the day at AIM. I wanted to do so because of our shared interests. Unfortunately time run out on me.

Sponsored by the AIM Center for Development Management, Cong Roy's topic was "Territorial Disputes in the West Philippine Sea". Linda and I were able to attend. I even wore the "West Philippine Sea Coalition" button that I wore during the July 24 Protest Rally held in front of the Chinese Consulate (see attached photo SAM_4609).

The forum was well attended. In the many instances that I was present at similar fora sponsored by CDM, this is the first time that I observed that the venue was filled to capacity. Prof Benjamin Bagadion, Jr, PHD, who moderated the forum,  expressed, in his brief closing remarks, that the  presentation was very impressive and that it  delved not only into the geopolitical and military  aspects related to the intrusions of China in the WPS but also on its economic aspects.


Kindest regards,
Jerry

Manila Times
October 11, 2013
Rene Saguisag
I see that during my “forced leave” due to illness, not only Frank Chavez, but also Tata Sensing, is gone. Tata Sensing (Jose E. Suarez) may be the only one to have voted NO to the 1973 and 1986 Constitutions. Such a courageous independent thinker who did us proud by going to lawyering.
The first time I met him was in the municipal trial court of Makati, in the mid-60’s, before Judge David Concepcion, when our elder companeros were so caballeros guiding tyros. He was then with Bausa, Ampil & Suarez on Escolta; we were on Rosario (now Quintin Paredes) nearby.
This week also marked the first anniversary of Mario Ongkiko’s “homegoing.” A few years my senior, another true companero/caballero, with whom I kept the faith for Hubert Webb.
Any Great Lawyer Interpretation of History cannot exclude lawyers. So, the exhortation, “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” Shakespeare’s line in “Henry VI, Part II,” Act IV, Scene II. But, the speaker was Dick the Butcher, a know-nothing thug in Jack Cade’s gang. Context is all.
Tonight, I just may meet socially with Gigi Piit, daughter of ConCon Delegate Rolando, who also voted NO in 1973 on the 1973 Constitution.
(I am now able to walk very, very slowly but far from what I was. From bed to wheelchair, walker and cane, with alalay.)
We are not lacking in men like the heroes I mentioned above, and those of Balangiga, Eastern Samar, who, on September 28, 1901, showed that we weren’t a nation of cowards, and sent 48 Americans to the Promised Land. Bloody Sunday. Bolo Men. But, in our nation, I am afraid we have failed to produce a Vo Nguyen Giap, a lawyer, diminutive but defeated France and the US in Vietnam, who just passed away at 102. He said in 2000: “We can put the past behind. But we cannot completely forget it.” He had attended no military school but showed up the finest Saint-Cyr and West Point had to offer. He had gone to law though in Hanoi U.
Heart. Puso. Like that of our Gilas team. Or that of Giap barely five feet and never went to military school.
On September 28, 1901, Balangiga patriots massacred US soldiers but we had no Giap—Red Napoleon—to soldier and carry on. A colony for centuries. No Brown Napoleon?
If Obama would come during PNoy’s term (I had been invited to the cancelled dinner in his honor tonight but I had not said, yes, as I dealt and deal with health issues, basically with nothing more glorious than cellulitis), serious work should start to convince the Americans to return the Bells of Balangiga now in Fort Warren just outside of Cheyenne before PNoy steps down in 2016 (PNoy has 982 days to go). A third bell is in South Korea. Those bells are ours which can be replaced with replicas in Fort Warren.
I saw the bells (and a cannon) in 1993, with lawyer Chuck Medel (now in town, working with the team of Paul Reichler, heading our legal team on a world issue, a sea row with China involving the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; am dining with Chuck this evening; Paul and I are both alums of Harvard Law and Washington DC’s Arnold & Porter, where I worked out of a townhouse Lafayette once lived in; A&P now has at least 800 lawyers). Chuck and I saw no way a two-man commando raid, would have succeeded. That’s how Americans regard those who serve in uniform. I may be stupid but not insane. Let’s talk with the Kanos.
War of course is hell and they grossly violated our human rights when they came to “Christianize” us, per McKinley who had not the foggiest notion we had long been being baptized when we were too young to object.
Americans speak with more than one voice though as we do. Democracy is noisy.
In our chaotic democracy, the Senate and the Ombudsman are not speaking with a single voice on calling Janet Napoles to a legislative inquiry in aid of legislation.
But, what about her human and constitutional right NOT to speak? The Constitution is a Document of Distrust, of leaders meant to protect the people leery of those in power. “It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed [in the Constitution].” Frankfurter.
I am with the Ombudsman.
The Senate probe is arguably in aid of something but not of legislation, from where I sit, with all due respect. Due process, said Frankfurter, has to do with what we do with “not very nice people.”
And, yes, in fewer than a thousand days we won’t have PNoy to kick around anymore, in Malacañang, in this country of many Circular Firing Squads.
Hey, Jojobama, tahan na.
Only 982 days to go, the way Providential President Cory and Accidental Public Servant I would mark our days at where the power was. Part of such power is in the Supreme Court where a Justice may ask questions but should not let it be known that he has thrown his weight on one side before ALL the arguments are in.

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