Quote Originally Posted by flourbasher View Post
I know you'll not buy into this conspiracy theory but what about the Chinese intentionally introducing the virus to bring down capitalism. It's certainly done that and we,ve yet to see how much.
Cover the tracks by claiming it got out of control in an animal market and the rest is history.
Flour - I'll just add. There is a sea change inside China in the last few years. Both in terms of improved standards of living and strategy.

Up to now China has been seen as the cheap labour base to the west.* Their role has always been the low end of the supply chain, in manufacture and assembly work.

US and Western brands operate in China essentially as sourcing agents. They control purchasing, product development, manufacturing processes and price - their scale allowed them to weald power without ever owning anything.

The big money is being made in the west.

So, take, say, Apple. They design, market, sell and make the profits in the US. Of a £500 phone, only, £4 is spent in China.

Xi wants to change that. They want to develop their own brands to retain a higher proportion of revenue in China. Its why Huawei has become so contentious (a bit of a metaphor for the trade war). They could take massive chunks of the market away from Apple (and therefore the US economy). Multiply that out across many brands.

The Belt and Road plan make inroads into developing economies, Africa, Pakistan and Asia, and China introduce their own products and services to the market place. The USA and West lose key influence in emerging markets.

Of the 7 billion population, 4.5b is in Asia and 1.2bn in Africa. Trump has pulled the US out of the ASEAN trade deal and ignored Africa allowing China in causing self inflicted damage.