China’s Economy Spirals With No End in Sight, Says Kyle Bass.

Bass says Washington wields a ’trump card' that should serve as a deterrent against a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

Communist China is grappling with the most severe economic crisis in its history, a downturn that the regime will not recover from, according to Kyle Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management.

“There is nothing that is going to bail China out of their economic spiral. They’re having a real estate crisis, a banking crisis, a youth unemployment crisis, and now they need to be worried about their current account,” Bass said in an interview on EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” that aired on June 26.
Bass said U.S. tariffs and declining trade threaten China’s economic advantage, which is its trade surplus with the United States.

China’s exports to the United States plunged by 35 percent in May compared to a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data.

“China’s once bright spot is now in question,” Bass said. “I actually am surprised it’s not down more.”

China has also been hit hard by capital flight.

China to Approve Controlled Exports to US Following Talks: Commerce Ministry
The Epoch Times
In 2024, Bass said, China experienced a massive outflow of both foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio investment totaling about $500 billion, pointing to the gap between its trade surplus of about $980 billion and its current account surplus of about $420 billion.

China is also facing unsustainable debts. When combining China’s sovereign debt and local government financing debt, Bass estimated that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio should be roughly 350 percent, which he said is difficult to manage considering the various economic challenges.
Another indicator of China’s financial crisis is the performance of China’s bond market, Bass said. As of June 27, the yield on China’s 10-year sovereign bond is approximately 1.64 percent, compared to 4.26 percent for the U.S. 10-year Treasury.
“So the Chinese government is pretty good at lying about whatever they want to lie about, but the bond market kind of tells the truth, and the bond markets telling you that China is in an economic winter,” Bass said.

China’s economic troubles have persisted for several years, highlighted by the collapse of major real estate developers Evergrande and Country Garden, which marked the onset of the current property crisis in 2021.
In February, the national unemployment rate reached 5.7 percent, the highest in two years, while the youth jobless rate topped 16.9 percent.

Adding to the concerns, consumer prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in May, while industrial profits decreased by 9.1 percent compared to a year earlier, underscoring deepening deflatory pressures in the world’s second-largest economy.
Taiwan
Despite China’s economic struggles, the United States continues to rely on China for certain imports, particularly rare earths and pharmaceutical ingredients.
According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States imported 70 percent of its rare earths from China between 2020 and 2023.
In the face of China’s leverage over these items, Bass said that the United States retains the ultimate “trump card” through its control of the global dollar system.

“They don’t have the ability to purchase things around the world in yuan or RMB because no one accepts a currency they don’t trust or that doesn’t trade,” Bass said.

Bass stated that the United States should signal to Beijing its intention to sever China’s access to the dollar system, the very moment the regime initiates military action against Taiwan.

“Deterrence is something that we should all be engaging in to try to stop China from being militaristically belligerent with Taiwan,” Bass said.

“That is a better first move on our part than sending carrier strike groups of our brave men and women into the Taiwan Strait in a kinetic conflict with China ... tens of thousands of our men and women will die if that happens.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims Taiwan as a renegade province, intent on annexing the island, though the regime has never exercised authority there. Taiwan is a de facto independent nation with its own democratically elected government, military, constitution, and currency.

In May, during a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned about CCP leader Xi Jinping’s timetable for making a move against Taiwan.
“It’s public that Xi has ordered his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027,” Hegeseth said at the time. “Any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world.”

President Donald Trump’s recent decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear facilities “got China’s attention,” Bass said.

“I bet it unmoored China’s views of warfare,” he added

Bass said he believed the situation in Iran “is going to make the Chinese think twice about being more belligerent on the military side with Taiwan.”

Ultimately, the Chinese regime aims to break the first and second island chains and “project power all the way to San Francisco,” Bass said.

Taiwan sits at the heart of the first island chain that stretches from the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, the Philippines, to the Malay Peninsula. The second island chain extends from Japan through Guam to Micronesia.

Bass warned that “allowing China to take over Taiwan simply is something that is an existential national security crisis for the U.S.”

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Cutting off oil out of Iran would just bring the whole economy down.

TSMC has sent a clear message by sending new fab production to the US and FOXCONN moving to India.

They might hail mary Taiwan, but they will get nothing in doing so. Fabs don't run in craters.

Xi Jinping is teetering on the noose and he knows it.

Only thing to worry about is when somebody cornered gets desperate they may lash out. Instead of caving and coming to the bargaining table they go with the military option especially in Taiwan.

quote:

Taiwan sits at the heart of the first island chain that stretches from the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, the Philippines, to the Malay Peninsula. The second island chain extends from Japan through Guam to Micronesia.

Bass warned that “allowing China to take over Taiwan simply is something that is an existential national security crisis for the U.S.”

We should be supplying Taiwan with small arms right now. Every household should have at least one rifle, and one pistol. Everyone in Taiwan should be trained in firearms proficiency.

In WWII the emperor of Japan knew he could never invade the US because there would be a gun behind every blade of grass. We must help Taiwan to make it so there as well. This would be an inexpensive deterrent and much more effective than occasionally sending an aircraft carrier group through the Taiwan straight.

Erik Prince makes this point. In case you missed it:

Erik Prince & Erik Bethel - The China / Taiwan Conflict | SRS #209

I've been interested in their messed up real estate market for 4-5 years. I don't see how that ends without a significant amount of pain there in China.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

We should be supplying Taiwan with small arms right now. Every household should have at least one rifle, and one pistol. Everyone in Taiwan should be trained in firearms proficiency.

WORRVORLINES!

China's problem goes far deeper.

This current crisis is just the tip of the iceberg.

They have a 500-year plan, but they will be gone in 100 years as a power.

They have a population problem, but do not allow immigration.

The one-child rule has come back to bite them.

Parents regularly abort daughters.
The current male-to-female ratio in the current generation is 115 males to 100 females.

A lot of those women do not want children.

China's population will continue to decline, with the UN forecasting a drop from 1.426 billion this year to 1.313 billion by 2050 and below 800 million by 2100

That is a 43% drop in just 75 years.

Lots more cities will become vacant, and there will be no one to fill the jobs.

quote:

China's population will continue to decline, with the UN forecasting a drop from 1.426 billion this year to 1.313 billion by 2050 and below 800 million by 2100
That is a 43% drop in just 75 years.

I don't see that as a bad thing. China is overcrowded and doesn't grow enough food to sustain that many people.

Two big problems I see with our relationship with China: Chips and pharmaceuticals. It's a long term weening ourselves from them but I'm pretty sure we've got a guy in charge that has a plan. The lack of chips brings many industries (auto for one) to a standstill, pharmaceuticals make people drop dead within months. I am sooooo thankful we have a president, vice president, and support staff that understand this and are on top of the situation.

NIGHTMARE: Kamala (Good freaking Lord)

I'm looking forward to the China bubble bursting

Hoping it ends their debt trap diplomacy known as their Belt and Road Initiative. It's a scourge upon the 3rd world.

Drove by the TSMC fab in Phoenix yesterday. Lots of construction going on. Seeing cranes is a good thing. Same with Intel in Chandler.