Middle East set to invest $300bn in China: Merrill

Published: Wednesday, 5 September, 2007, 01:23 AM Doha Time

DUBAI: Middle Eastern investors, led by the Arabian Gulf, will spend as much as $300bn on Chinese equities through 2020 to build relationships in Asia and secure higher returns, according to Merrill Lynch.

Qatar’s $50bn sovereign wealth fund is looking for new opportunities in Asia to gain higher returns and counter a weakening dollar’s impact on its US and European investments, Kenneth Shen, the head of strategic and private equity at the Qatar Investment Authority, said in Dubai yesterday.

i had heard that China had gotten rid of another 6bn in Treasury notes [you know those "pieces of paper" that Bush tried to convince us were worthless in his attempt to gut Social Security?] that's when i took fully half of my IRA holdings and bought Euros and gold. maybe i'll take the rest and by more gold. i shoulda listened 2 years ago to my friend who told me to buy when it was 1/3 the price it is now.
the dollar is gonna crash. and in the not too distant future. right about the time we leave Iraq, or attack Iran and the ME is aflame.

shore up all your relationships, people, you're gonna need 'em

the Chinese are seeing the light about being denied market access to buy US companies and are putting economic pressure on for that door to open?

The US dollar keeps declining and they're not able to recoup their losses. China does not buy US products in exchange for theirs...they limit their exposure to financial instruments. With the dirth of worthless paper, their economy has to start hurting at some point.

The article takes a typical Chinese long-term viewpoint and states, "Sell them to us now or we'll buy them when they're cheaper." (Veiled threat?) Perhaps, or just oriental pragamatism at work. Cut their access to oil from Iran and then you might see more than a tinge of economic retaliation! L0L

the world can tolerate king bush (or queen hillary, the point is 'war on borrowed money') for so long, or suffer a depression/recession, depending on the strength of the individual gov't and economy of the individual nation. those are the choices. there are no others. so china, or old yurp, or any other of our foreign lenders just have to decide when they are ready to go to the second condition.

"Most of the recent buying of gold has been on the COMEX futures markets, the playground of hedge funds."

don't forget, China deals through our hedge funds too.