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With G7 in Japan, China hosts summit with central asia neighbors
With G-7 leaders meeting in Japan, China kick-started its first-ever Central Asia summit on Thursday. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are all in attendance for the two-day event. Leaders met one-on-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday before group discussions on Friday. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, this is the first major diplomatic event China has hosted this year.
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China and Central Asia have long been vital partners on the global stage. In 2013, Beijing launched its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan and has since spent billions of dollars on transportation and infrastructure in the region. China is Central Asia’s largest trading partner. Last year, trade reached a record high of $70 billion, including $31 billion with Kazakhstan alone. This year is proving to be no different; already, China and Central Asian nations have conducted more than $24.8 billion in trade. Just as Central Asia relies on Chinese trade and investment, Beijing depends on Central Asia for key resources. Many Chinese cities rely on natural gas pipelines from Turkmenistan and oil from Kazakhstan.
If you had asked me how much trade China would get from these neighbors, I wouldn't have guessed it was that high. Though, it is notable that this is still a fraction of China's trade with other countries. For example, according to ustr.gov:
U.S. goods and services trade with China totaled an estimated $615.2 billion in 2020. Exports were $164.9 billion; imports were $450.4 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with China was $285.5 billion in 2020.
China is currently our largest goods trading partner with $559.2 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2020. Goods exports totaled $124.5 billion; goods imports totaled $434.7 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with China was $310.3 billion in 2020.
An excellent quote. But it isn't just production engineering. It's every piece of a corporate machine. The more people who are able to control the inherent flames of industry, means the better the business can run because fewer hours are lost dealing with crises.
Seattle tops big cities for fastest growth rate with 2.4%
From July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, Seattle had a net gain of about 17,750 people, bringing the total population to 749,000. The city’s growth rate for the year pencils out to 2.4%, easily the fastest among the 50 largest U.S. cities. The rate of growth is quite comparable to what we saw in the 2010s.
This news may come as a surprise to some Seattleites. The Emerald City was hit hard by the pandemic, like many of the nation’s biggest cities. Last year, I wrote that Seattle had a net loss of about 4,300 people from 2020 to 2021, according census data. That figure actually underestimated the decline. The Census Bureau has since revised the number to a loss of about 9,000, which makes the strong growth from 2021 to 2022 all the more remarkable.
Also remarkable: All the fastest-growing big cities last year, with the exception of Seattle, were located in the Sunbelt. Fort Worth, Texas, was No. 2, with 2% growth. Charlotte, N.C.; Miami; and Jacksonville, Fla.; rounded out the top five. In fact, after Seattle, the next 15 fastest-growing big cities were all in the Sunbelt.
Props to Lambda Chi and Queer Eye
(Season 7, Episode 2 on Netflix)
I wasn't sure how the episode was going to go when they revealed they were going to go to a fraternity. But it delivered. Even just the Karamo session where he led the group in a session of just... emotional vulnerability and sharing and opening up was powerful stuff. I was wishing I had had someone to give the same sort of talk when I was younger.
I'm a fairly emotionally open person, but hearing an older man have that sort of talk would have been powerful as hell for me.
Automated Archives for May, 18th 2023
This post was automatically generated
Wallabag Additions
These are articles that which I saved today so that I may read them later. Substance and quality will vary drastically.
- How to Quit Cars (newyorker.com)
- How to do critical thinking? — THE PAMPHLET (the-pamphlet.com)
- The Dave Matthews Guide to Living and Dying (gq.com)
- Why Africa welcomed the Wagner Group (unherd.com)
Chess For the Day
Record: 8-0-2
Net Elo Change: +33
Games Played
- Warlito_Talibo43 - LOSS
- GauravDPawn - WIN
- Fernando1948 - WIN
- adztadzt - WIN
- buckbad1 - WIN
- SakaBeast - WIN
- toksha - WIN
- Prometeus73 - WIN
- HSN74 - WIN
- rumram123 - LOSS
Blog Posts On This Day
- 2022-05-18 (7 posts)