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Overall, this article did not seem very biased. It largely presented statistics found from an American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai survey. The Chamber stated that companies' "confidence [in China] has been shaken," citing Covid-related shutdowns, travel restrictions, and supply chain disruptions.

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As globalization was gaining steam in the 1990s, Western publics learned about a new concept: offshoring. Even then, it was often unpopular with the public, even as corporate executives gleefully embraced the prospect of cheaper-and less empowered-labor. And China, with its well-trained workforce and growing middle class keen to buy Western goods, was the ideal combination of manufacturer and market. What a difference a couple of decades make. Now companies are trying to move production to friendly countries where they don't need to worry that they'll be caught in the geopolitical line of fire. Friendshoring has arrived.

"President Bush is on an eight-day tour of Asia. He's visiting American jobs," David Letterman quipped in 2005 about the 43rd president of the United States. Lots of American jobs had indeed left the country-but that was just the beginning. Between 1993 and 2011, the number of U.S. workers employed in manufacturing dropped from nearly 16 million to just over 10 million, and the decline was similar in other Western countries.

Yes, some of the jobs disappeared due to automation, but countless others went to low-wage countries. In 1982, U.S. multinationals had 30 percent of their labor forces abroad; in 2014, the share had doubled to 60 percent. None of these foreign sites was more popular than China, where rapidly improving transportation infrastructure and a workforce with high levels of basic literacy and numeracy for a developing country made it a one-stop shop for manufacturing-the factory of the world.

For corporations, offshoring to China was a financial imperative considering that U.S. manufacturing workers, who earned $20 per hour-or more-could be replaced by workers making less than a dollar an hour. And lots of white-collar Western jobs went to China, too. IBM, for example, moved its global procurement chief and some of its research and development functions there. So enraged were some IBM shareholders at one annual meeting that they called for the company's CEO to be offshored.

Lots of ordinary Americans, Germans, Italians, Swedes, and others were enraged, too-unsurprisingly so, given that their livelihoods and thus often their identities had been taken away from them. They could retrain, and many did, but offshoring may be the original sin that caused always existing divisions between so-called elites and so-called ordinary people to erupt into the barely manageable divisions that plague Western societies today. It's hard to see how Donald Trump would have been elected without the legacy of that bitterness.

But companies will continue to run their operations in the locations that make the most financial sense because they're accountable to their shareholders, not former workers or the wider public, and while a few CEOs may feel a moral obligation to their companies' home countries, such sentiments won't come between them and their quarterly results. Besides, as I have highlighted in articles over the past several years, such as here, here, here, and here, global cargo transport is so efficient that manufacturing can take place far from consumers. Offshoring is here to stay-but that doesn't mean manufacturing in China is. In a June survey conducted by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, 23 percent of Western firms said they were considering moving operations away from the country, while 50 percent reported that business in China had become more politicized in 2021 than it had been in previous years.

In its 2019 survey, in contrast, the European Chamber reported that European companies had an "increasingly firm commitment ... toward the mature and vibrant Chinese market." But today, "every company that I speak to at the moment is engaged in rethinking their [China-focused] supply chains," Tony Danker, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, told the Financial Times last week. "Because they anticipate that our politicians will inevitably accelerate towards a decoupled world from China."

Part of this is pandemic pressure. China's zero-COVID policy has snarled supply chains and left factory workers locked in their dorms-and shows no sign of ending anytime soon. China's demographics have also meant a shrinking pool of potential workers, and as the country has climbed into the middle ranks of global income, labor has become more expensive. But Beijing's growing aggressiveness toward the West and its insistence on maintaining ties with Moscow have also left executives nervous that they could be caught on the wrong side of global conflict. The Chinese Communist Party's insistence on ideological purity doesn't help, with party cells now mandatory in foreign companies.

"The only thing predictable about China today is its unpredictability, and that is poisonous for the business environment," Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, a vice president of the European Chamber, said in a statement accompanying the 2022 survey. "Increasing numbers of European businesses are putting China investments on hold and re-evaluating their positions in the market as they wait to see how long this uncertainty will continue, and many are looking towards other destinations for future projects."

And most companies are not reshoring; they're beginning to friendshore. Friendshoring is what it says on the tin: the moving of business operations-whether that be manufacturing, back-office, R&D, or anything else-to friendly countries. "Friendly countries" is, of course, a concept that was until very recently alien to most business leaders. For the post-Cold War generation currently leading Western companies, there are no friendly or unfriendly countries, geopolitically speaking; there are just different markets, some of which are more complicated to operate in because they're plagued by corruption, violence, or other calamities. These business leaders don't view their companies as representing the country in which they happen to be based.

Apple has begun moving manufacturing from China to Vietnam, where its AirPods Pro 2 are now likely to be produced. Two years ago, Samsung moved its Chinese manufacturing to Vietnam. Hasbro has moved its Chinese production to India and Vietnam. In July, Volvo announced that it would open its first European factory in 60 years, in Slovakia. (The Swedish carmaker is owned by Geely of China.) Apparel and footwear companies such as Adidas, meanwhile, have shifted production to Vietnam, though this was primarily motivated by cost. "Partly it's that old adage about eggs and baskets," said Sam Wilkin, the director of political risk analytics at the insurance broker Willis Towers Watson. "Recent events have reminded everyone that too much exposure in any single country, no matter what country, puts a company at risk for large losses or even bankruptcy."

Beijing has demonstrated that it regards foreign companies as fair game in international fights. Sweden's Ericsson has been targeted in this manner; so have Australian winemakers, Taiwanese pineapple growers, and the entirety of Lithuanian manufacturing. It's a risk that Japanese and South Korean brands were already attuned to after numerous past incidents, such as the targeting of Lotte supermarkets when Beijing took offense over South Korea installing the THAAD anti-missile system, but it took a while for Europe and North America to catch up. And China doesn't play fair. Measures often aren't officially announced or given a legal standing, just enforced slowdowns at ports or pressure on consumers or suppliers to break ties. A study published last month by the Swedish National China Centre reported that Chinese consumer boycotts have been linked to the government in at least one-third of cases.

At the end of July, Stellantis's Chinese joint venture partner accused the Netherlands-based automotive giant (which owns Peugeot, Citroën, Chrysler, Opel, Maserati, and other brands) of "lack of respect for customers in the Chinese automobile market." The accusation mirrors those made by Chinese consumer boycotts; it followed Stellantis's decision to close a plant in China following meddling by government officials. Such is Western companies' concern that a political risk survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson this year found that 95 percent of multinationals are now concerned about the risk of doing business in the Indo-Pacific-in reality: China. That's up from 62 percent just two years ago, when tensions were already high. "Overwhelming majorities of respondents believed that trends towards geostrategic competition and economic decoupling between China and the West would intensify in the future. A majority of respondents expressed concern that private companies would be targeted in international diplomatic disputes," the report noted.

By comparison, only 57 percent of companies are concerned about the risk of doing business in Europe (including Russia and Ukraine, though the survey was completed before Russia's invasion). Beijing's insistence on its zero-COVID strategy-which continues to disrupt manufacturing and logistics-has further increased companies' anxiety about doing business in China.

But where to friendshore? Companies currently operating in China are planning moves to countries including Turkey, Serbia, India, and Vietnam, while others plan to spend a bit more and go with locations in countries that are traditionally allies. Turkey and India, say, are hardly bosom buddies of the West, but they won't be willing-or able-to exploit globalization for geopolitical gains. "I'm seeing a lot of this happening, especially in electronics," said Venkat Sumantran, an Indian automotive academic and veteran global automotive executive. "Vietnam and India are seeing a lot of new investment." (Sumantran currently serves as chairman of the automotive consultancy Celeris Technologies.)

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is likely to position itself as a friendshoring hub. Indeed, at a July supply chain summit hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, the invited participants included not just Europeans but also senior officials from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Friendshoring will need to involve a string of countries, since no country can single-handedly replace the factory of the world. And replacing one major location with several smaller ones will involve complex logistical planning, not to mention more transportation.

"Soon may the Wellerman come / To bring us sugar and tea and rum," so the sea shanty goes. Just a few years ago, fears of sugar, tea, rum, cars, laptops, and any other goods not arriving seemed dispelled forever. Their sudden return makes friendshoring an urgent proposition.

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Companies Are Fleeing China for Friendlier Shores

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"Friendshoring" is the new trend as geopolitics bites.

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China is losing its place as the center of the world’s supply chains. Here are 5 places supply chains are going instead.

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Trump’s trade war and China’s COVID restrictions have pushed companies to move manufacturing out of China to places like India, Vietnam, and Thailand.

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Apple. Amazon. Google. Samsung. Volvo. They're just some of the big names shutting up shop and moving out of China.

"A weakening economy. Covid-related lockdowns. Reciprocal trade sanctions. Possible conflict over Taiwan. There are many reasons for companies to curb China operations," says American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think-tank senior fellow Derek Scissors.

Nothing about doing business with China has ever been easy.

Accessing its cheap workforce and infrastructure has always come with an indirect cost.

Human rights violations. Intellectual property theft. Business restrictions. Market manipulation. Compulsory Communist Party boardroom involvement.
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A recent political risk survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson found that 95 per cent of multinational corporations are concerned about China. That's up from 62 per cent in 2020.

"Overwhelming majorities of respondents believed that trends towards geostrategic competition and economic decoupling between China and the West would intensify in the future," the report reads.

"A majority of respondents expressed concern that private companies would be targeted in international diplomatic disputes."

And it's this risk of becoming a political plaything - just as Europe's gas economy has been manipulated by Moscow - compelling corporations to move.

Apple is switching some of its iPhone production to India. Its AirPods, Apple Watch and iPads are going to Vietnam.

Amazon is now getting its FireTV devices from India. And it recently closed its Chinese Kindle facility.

Samsung led the charge in 2019 by shifting its manufacturing to Vietnam. Now Microsoft and Google are following suit with their Xbox Pixel phone production.

Chairman Xi this weekend called on Communist Party members to embrace their "historical mission" and prepare for "great struggles" ahead.

"Our party must be united to lead the people to face major challenges effectively, defend against major risks, overcome major barriers and resolve major contradictions. We must press on with great struggles under new historical characteristics," he wrote in the CCP's journal Qiushi. "We will not walk back to the old path of isolation and dogmatism, nor shall we ever take the evil path of changing flags (revolution)."

It's precisely this kind of belligerent but vague rhetoric that has businesses nervous.

In August, China accused the Netherland-based automotive manufacturer Stellantis (maker of Peugeot, Citroen, Crysler, Opel etc.) of a "lack of respect for customers in the Chinese automobile market".

It was a veiled call to boycott the company's products after it decided to close a Chinese plant because of excessive "meddling" by Communist Party officials.

"Firms exporting from China are already shifting operations on a small scale - Xi's aggressiveness overseas and insistence on near-absolute control make commercial risk too high to ignore," says AEI's Scissors.

"Exporters to China have long faced barriers such as protection of state enterprises from competition. Xi Jinping's desire for less dependence plus global tensions could see barriers rise further."

Part of it is the US-China trade war initiated under President Donald Trump. Tariffs are making Chinese imports unattractive. Technology transfer restrictions are choking development.

Then there's the productivity loss brought on by Chairman Xi Jinping's broad-sweeping and draconian Covid-19 lockdowns. And the widespread power problems brought on by flooded coal mines and drought-stricken hydro-electric plants.

"China's slowdown is far more than an arithmetic event," former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach said.

"Three powerful forces are also at work - a structural transformation of the economy, payback for past excesses and a profound shift in the ideological underpinnings of Chinese governance."

None are proving popular to international players.

And local entrepreneurs have no choice but to toe the Party line - or be disappeared.

A recent European Union Chamber of Commerce in China survey found that 23 per cent of respondents said they were considering moving out of the country. In addition, more than 50 per cent stated business has become "more politicised" than it had been.

"The only thing predictable about China today is its unpredictability, and that is poisonous for the business environment," says European Chamber vice president Bettina Schoen-Behanzin. "Increasing numbers of European businesses are putting China investments on hold and re-evaluating their positions in the market as they wait to see how long this uncertainty will continue, and many are looking towards other destinations for future projects."

Meanwhile, business in India, Vietnam, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries is booming.

And one of the less stated reasons is labour costs.

Apple's Foxconn factory in Vietnam wants to fill 5000 new jobs urgently. It's offering $US300 a month for an entry-level position. That's against the $650 paid for the same job in China.

India's workforce is similarly poorly-paid.

"Companies will continue to run their operations in the locations that make the most financial sense because they're accountable to their shareholders, not former workers or the wider public," says AEI fellow Elisabeth Braw.

"And while a few CEOs may feel a moral obligation to their companies' home countries, such sentiments won't come between them and their quarterly results."

China's economy was booming. Beijing was opening up to the world. It was embracing global markets, trade deals and regulations. It recorded 10 per cent annual growth between 1980 and 2010.

"Then came Xi," says Roach.

"Initially, there was hope his "Third Plenum Reforms" of 2013 would usher in a new era of strong economic performance. But the new ideological campaigns carried out under the general rubric of Xi Jinping Thought, including a regulatory clampdown on once-dynamic internet platform companies and associated restrictions on online gaming, music and private tutoring ... have all but dashed those hopes."

He says Xi Jinping Thought is all about political power, central control and ideological constraints.

Australian wine, coal, beef, barley, coal, seafood, cotton and other exports are victims of this ideology. As are many other international businesses, such as Sweden's Ericsson, Taiwan's pineapples and the entire economy of Lithuania.

"China doesn't play fair," says Braw. "Measures often aren't officially announced or given a legal standing, just enforced slowdowns at ports or pressure on consumers or suppliers to break ties".

But China also suffers from these political manoeuvres.

Its coal supplies, for example, have become erratic and expensive.

"With the upcoming 20th Party Congress likely to usher in an unprecedented third five-year term for Xi, there is good reason to believe China's growth sacrifice has only just begun," adds Roach.

On Friday, China's Premier Li Keqiang told local CCP branches that China had an "extremely unusual" year and faced "complex and difficult domestic and international situations".

"Our economy right now is facing many challenges and difficulties. Time waits for no man. We must focus all efforts on implementing measures to stabilise the economy. We still have the confidence and ability to keep our economic growth within the accepted range."

Meanwhile, The World Bank cut its growth outlook for China to 2.8 for the year, down from 5.0 per cent.

"If correct, this would be the first time China's growth has lagged behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region in more than three decades," says former The Economist editor Bill Emmott.

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'Poisonous': Huge problem crippling China

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Apple. Amazon. Google. Samsung. Volvo. They're just some of the big names shutting up shop and moving out of China. "A weakening economy. Covid-related lockdowns. Reciprocal trade sanctions. Possible conflict over Taiwan. There are many reasons for companies to curb China operations," says American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think-tank senior fellow Derek Scissors.

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In contrast to the CNBC article, Fox seemed to use much more polarizing quotations to make their arguments. This language was specifically adopted when discussing China's Covid 19 response within their borders.

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Christian Gassner, whose furniture components factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen had a dismal end of 2022 amid COVID-19 outbreaks, is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

About two months ago, many workers quit to avoid potential lockdowns ahead of Lunar New Year, then in December, after pandemic controls came off, almost all who remained fell ill, disrupting production.

Having recovered, they are now in home towns with their families for the holiday - and Gassner is looking forward to normality finally returning when they come back to work.
CHINA'S XI WARY OF RURAL COVID CASES, BUT SAYS 'LIGHT AHEAD'
Other owners and managers are similarly eager to get on with what they expect will be a gradual recovery for the Chinese factory sector, which makes almost a third of the world's manufactured goods and is a key growth engine for its second-largest economy.

The government's abrupt abandonment of movement restrictions in December was followed by immense disruption from illness. But people running factories expect that the sudden U-turn will at least deliver a recovery that will be faster than what would have followed a phased withdrawal of controls.

Economically, the country should finally leave behind a pandemic that suppressed domestic demand and snarled global supply chains for three years.

"There is a theory that China was trying to have as many people as possible get COVID in a short time to get it over with," Li, an executive at an auto parts maker with factories in Shanghai and the eastern city of Hefei, said on condition of partial anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.

"That's what this feels like."

Limping Back to Normal
Li's factories had to scramble last month, when up to a third of their workers were down with COVID at the same time.

Some of the office staff filled in on assembly lines. Many workers with mild symptoms offered to carry on, asking to defer the week of sick leave they were entitled to for later, in case they needed time to take care of any family members falling ill.

"It was quite stressful," said Li. "Production took a hit."

It was a similar shock for many Chinese manufacturers.

In December, exports were down 9.9% on a year earlier while producer prices fell 0.7%. A manufacturing survey showed the worst contraction in activity since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020.

Gassner does not think all his workers will return right away after the holiday, which for many Chinese lasts for weeks either side of Lunar New Year's Day - Jan. 22 this year. But he expects his business, which makes motors and actuators for furniture, to gradually rebuild its workforce, and crucially, its clientele.

"Many blue collar guys have parents or grandparents who passed away, or who will be caught in the first big wave in their towns. Life has changed for them," the factory director said. So some will not rush to leave their home towns.

"But if China is open there will be more opportunities. There are customers who I haven't seen for three years, who are now lining up to come."

Forward-looking indicators point to a progressive recovery - not an instantaneous one, and still less one that suddenly takes the country back to a pre-pandemic pace. The manufacturing survey's sub-index of future output surged to the highest since February, but the sub-index for future orders shrank.
CHINESE CITIZENS ANGRY OVER LACK OF PREPARATION TO PROTECT ELDERLY BEFORE ABANDONING 'ZERO-COVID' POLICIES
China's economic growth slowed to 3% last year, one of the weakest performances in the past half century, and is expected to reach 4.9% this year - still slower than pre-COVID trends.

The country of 1.4 billion, the last major nation to shift to treating COVID as endemic, is reopening to a world of higher inflation and borrowing costs and softening demand, including in major trade partners the United States and Europe.

Ni Hong, who works in the finance department of an electric vehicle component maker in the central city of Chongqing, no longer expects major COVID disruptions, as 85% of the factory's workers have already been infected.

But her company has no plans to add to last year's payroll.

"We are afraid that the upstream companies won't place orders," Ni said.

Her industry peer Li says his factories might even need to cut jobs later this year if external demand weakens.
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"If the U.S. economy enters a recession, then it's going to be very damaging to us," he said. "We do rely on U.S. consumers at the end of the day."

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COVID-ravaged Chinese factories eye post-Lunar New Year comeback

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Christian Gassner, whose furniture components factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen had a dismal end of 2022 amid COVID-19 outbreaks, is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. About two months ago, many workers quit to avoid potential lockdowns ahead of Lunar New Year, then in December, after pandemic controls came off, almost all who remained fell ill, disrupting production.

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Voa is a China based news source, and they didn't have anything bad to say about the mass exodus of companies, mainly proposing their cheaper labor over other countries and how they will have to return to China to raise the bottom line.

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Why Companies Decide to Leave or Stay in China

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Taiwan businesses mull over leaving the mainland as Chinese economy slows and political tensions rise

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This article discusses the social media platforms available in tChina, stating that both Facebook and Twitter are blocked in favor of China's alternative WeChat. Notably the popular platform TikTok is not available in China, however, an app called Douyin is used which places blocks on international content.

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These Are the Countries Where Twitter and Facebook Are Banned

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Twitter users in Nigeria were able to access the platform for the first time in seven months last week, after the government reversed a ban

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The Hunitngtonian is the local paper from my hometown, Huntington, New York. I am not familiar with how often they publish a physical paper but do recall receiving them in the past. They do not appear to post articles on their website on regular basis. Some of the most recent posts are from 6Jul 2022.

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At the Elwood School District's Board of Education reorganization meeting on July 7, President James Tomeo and Vice President Heather Mammolito were reelected to their respective posts. Mammolito was sworn in, as were Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Bossert and Board member...

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The Huntingtonian Shedding Light on the Town of Huntington

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At the Elwood School District's Board of Education reorganization meeting on July 7, President James Tomeo and Vice President Heather Mammolito were reelected to their respective posts. Mammolito was sworn in, as were Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Bossert and Board member...

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This is my high school's website where, in addition to admin things, they also post news surrounding the school district and its students' achievements.