(2) Ladane Nasseri, Iran's New BFF.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... d-that-leaves-china
Quote:
"During the decade when international sanctions were in place * * * Often, 'the parts [for Tehran subway] we needed, we had to build ourselves,' said Ali Abdollahpour, deputy managing director of Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operating Company. A constant of those years was Chinese help, with everything from building rails to making subway cars ['to manufacturing wagons' in online version]. The 2015 multicountry agreement to mothball Iran's nuclear program, and lifting of the most punishing sanctions a year later, were supposed to broaden Abdollahpour's options. He had his eyes on Europe ('their tech is better') for essential braking and signaling systems. Yet when the metro launched a tender for more than 600 wagons [sic; author is presumably a speaker of British English but editor leaves this wagon alone while switching to 'subway cars' earlier], the contract went to a unit of China's CRRC Corp[, Ltd 中国中车股份有限公司; both 中国中车 and CRRC '是不展开的 * * * 没有任何具体含义': from the Web], which beat out ['beat off' in online version] two European rivals to for a deal valued at more than $900 million ['this year': online], according to local press reports. The tender is part of a pattern where European companies have been edged out of a coveted emerging market by Chinese competitors. Iran's trade with China climbed from $12.5 billion in 2006 to $27.9 billion last year, Italy, France, and Germany all saw their commerce with the Middle East's second-biggest economy [$430b: online version]. after Saudi Arabia, shrink in the same period. Data on foreign direct investment in Iran are hard to come by, but experts say they'd likely show a similar trend. The bonds between Iran and China will only strengthen following President Trump's May 8 announcement that US will withdraw from the seven-nation nuclear agreement and reintroduces sanctions.
"Chinese companies have shown more willingness to defy US pressure to isolate Iran. That doesn't mean they're beyond the reach of US authorities. The FBI and two other US agencies are said to be investigating Huawei Technologies Co for possible violations of sanctions, according to two people familiar with the matter. Its compatriot ZTE Corp is banned from buying US components for a similar offense. 'Chinese companies have become much more multinational and global. They have more of a brand reputation' that they need to protect, says Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of Iran-Europe Forum, an annual gathering for executives. That gives the US levage 'to discourgethen from engaging in Iranian markets,' he says. Many Chinese companies still have zero exposure to the US and, consequently, nothing to lose from their forays into Iran. State-run enterprises in particular have no difficulty setting up special-purpose vehicles for dodging sanctions. 'All they have to do is create a subsidiary that's separate from the original entity,' says [Dina] Esfandiary[, a fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies] of King's College [London, and co-author of the forthcoming book Triple Axis: Iran's Relations With Russia and China].
"China is now the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, with sales totaling about $11 billion a year at the current volumes and prices. Chinese companies have signed deals in the past year valued at more than $2.2 billion to pay for upgrades to a rail link to the eastern city of Mashhad and for the construction of a new railway to Bushehr, a Gulf port city. India was supposed to be developing the port of Chabahar on the Arabian Sea, but repeated delays have prompted Iranian officials to turn to China in the hope of speeding up construction. China looks at Iran 'from a strategic perspective,' Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said last year during a meeting with Iranian officials in Beijing.
My comment:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The return of US sanctions will solidify China's hold over the Middle East's second largest economy
(b) The online version and print are quite similar. Quotations above are fro print.
(c) BFF: best friend forever
"the acronym BFF was popularized as a quick way for friends to sign off and express their positive feelings for one another while instant-messaging (IM-ing) on the computer or sending a text message on cell phones" en.wikipedia.org.
(d) Regarding Iran as "Middle East's second largest economy." The ranking is by GDP (official exchange rate). Below is from CIA World Factbook (today; all are 2017 estimates).
country ………...population …. GDP (PPP) …..GDP (official exchange rate) …..GDP per capita (PPP)
Saudi Arabia ….28,571,770 ….$1.789t ……….$678.5b …………………………..$55,300
Iran …………….82,021,564 ….$1.631t ……….$427.7b …………………………..$20,000
United Arab Emirates ….6,072,475 ….$691.9b ….$378.7b ……………………….$68,200
Israel …...8,299,706 (including ….$315.6b …...$348b …………………………….$36,200
…………..populations of Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, annexed in 1981 and 1967, respectively)
Turkey …………80,845,215 ….$2.133t ……….$841.2b …………………………..$26,500
Egypt ………….97,041,072 …..$1.199t ……….$332.3b …………………………..$13,000
I presume BusinessWeek considers Turkey outside Middle East. But see en.wikipedia.org for "economy of the Middle East" (which also includes Egypt): "Turkey is the largest economy in the Middle East. * * * Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPP and 15th largest Nominal GDP."
(e) railroad car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_car
("A railroad car or railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon or railway carriage (British English and UIC), also called a train car or train wagon")
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发表于 5-15-2018 14:01:04
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