Nelson de Sá: Chinese companies advance in Russia despite American threat

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo turned to the New York Times on Wednesday for a “warning”, in the newspaper’s expression.

He said he would “shut down” Shanghai-based SMIC, China’s biggest semiconductor maker and supplier to several US giants, if it continues to deliver high-tech products like chips to Russia. And the “devastating” action will reach “any Chinese companies” that do.

The next day, according to Bloomberg, she described her own threat as “probably” a mistake, saying she had “no evidence that SMIC or any other Chinese company is planning” to circumvent US sanctions. She said she was “trying to express” that the US is “serious”.

The Guancha portal, in Shanghai, recorded the coming and going of Raimondo (pictured above) and continued to follow the progress in the economic bridges between China and Russia.

For example, it reported that Russian international trading bank VTB established a new Chinese currency fund after being removed from the Swift dollar payment system.

The Financial Times added that China had doubled the limit on trade in Russian currency, in a “move that should boost bilateral trade”.

And Bloomberg noted that China’s oil and metals giants, among other commodities, are in talks with Beijing to embrace “any investment opportunities in Russian companies and assets” that arise.

THE ERICSSON LIST

In the midst of the war, a new scandal passed almost unnoticed, dubbed The Ericsson List and published mainly by European newspapers such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Swedish competitor of Chinese Huawei, in 5G, Ericsson “hidden bribes in more than a dozen countries” (video above), especially Iraq, where it closed an agreement with the Islamic State to continue operating, but also Brazil.

AUTOCRATIC ELECTION

Defined just now, once again, as “electoral autocracy” by the Swedish institute V-Dem, India extended control of the ruling party, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in regional elections on Thursday (10).

The Jagran’s headline, in Hindi, reads “Modi says: 2022 results signal 2024 results, end of family politics”, a reference to the opposition party, linked to the Nehru-Gandhi family. The Times of India, in English, headlined “Modi’s Magic.”