Cash rich China eyes Canada's rich resources

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

TORONTO, July 12 (Reuters) - China's purchase of a C$1.74 billion ($1.5 billion) stake in Teck Resources (TCKb.TO) may be just the opening move from the world's top resource consumer in a strategy to use its unique wealth advantage to become a key source of mining capital for Canadian firms.

Teck said last week it sold a 17.2 percent equity stake to state-owned China Investment Corp in a deal that allows the Canadian miner to pay down its massive debt while expanding China's portfolio of commodity investments.

The deal underscores how deep China's pockets are at a time when many sources of credit and financing have dried up in the global recession, even for the biggest miners.

"Most people thought China would take advantage of this dip in commodity prices and, because they're the only ones with money, take advantage of this financial situation we are in. They have come through big time, be it oil and gas, or any commodity you can think of," David Davidson, an analyst with Paradigm Capital in Toronto, said in an interview after the Teck deal was announced.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSN1315366120090713

[WriteDown]

1. Watch out Canada! nt

[tuvor]

37. Far, far too many Canadian eggs are in the US basket right now.

Maybe some of our companies actually ARE watching out.

That's just a hopeful guess, I'll admit.

But God knows trusting the USA on things like the softwood lumber "agreement" meant nothing.

[blueberrypickn]

40. damn straight!

negotiating in bad faith is a hallmark Canadians have grown used to experiencing...


Everything you ever wanted to know about softwood... "

[Coventina]

2. Once again, don't understand why this story is "unrecommended"

Should we not be aware of China's buy-up of natural resources?

I just don't get it.

[pnwmom]

3. And more than once. I just recommended it and nothing changed. n/t

[Coventina]

4. I just really don't understand the mentality of "unrecommending" in LBN

Thanks for the support!

:hi:

[pnwmom]

6. I think some people enjoy un-rec'ing just for the heck of it.

I haven't done it once, and the more I've seen, the worse idea I think it has been.

[Coventina]

9. I can see the *potential* value in "un-rec" when it comes to

opinions posted by members in other forums.

But with news stories, I really don't get it.

If a poster feels that it doesn't belong in LBN, they should hit "alert" and have the mods/admins take a look at it.

Just because they don't *like* the subject or content of a news story, doesn't mean that it's not important and that other posters shouldn't read it.

Oh well, thanks again for helping to raise this thread into positive territory.

:hi:

[Nihil]

5. I think that some people on this site are too insular (or even simply racist) for their own good ...

... as it tends to be the "foreign" news that magically acquire
negative recommendations ...
:shrug:

Thank you for posting this - some of us here are still interested
in the world beyond the US borders ...
:hi:

[Coventina]

7. Thanks for the support. More and more, we truly are "citizens

of the world."

What China & Canada (and other nations) do does have an important effect on us.

I guess I expected most DUers to understand that.

:hi:

[Deja Q]

11. We all are. Now see reply #10 below as to why it works both ways.

:)

[Bigmack]

8. YES!!!!

I couldn't agree MORE with you. There are so FEW sources in our media to get "foreign" news. We are such an ignorant, isolated culture that's it's just plain embarrassing. Ms Bigmack

[fascisthunter]

12. well, this is the issue many have tried to bring up...

but got attacked for it on a personal level for explaining how the unrec can stifle exposure and also debate considerably.

[Divine Discontent]

14. like I did, hope you alert the mods & ask them to ask for the unrec feature to be turned off in LBN

:hi:

[fascisthunter]

20. you are right

Come tot hink of it, I shouldn't have even posted what I did... I will alert them, thanks.

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. The "unrecommend" feature is a mistake IMO

.
.
.

A lurker, troll can completely change the demographics of this board, and what gets prioritized on the web.

I would seriously support a movement to unrecommend the "unrecommend" feature

This is the most negative feature that I see on this board . . .

[no limit]

24. Once again I dont understand why people keep asking why their thread is unrecommened

Shit happens, life goes on. It's really not that big of a deal, we don't need a post from an OP every time a thread gets an unrecommendation asking why.

[Coventina]

34. Because an "un-rec" is a negative comment and I want to know

why someone (actually, in this case, multiple people) voted a story down.

I'm entitled to ask for an explanation. I don't need your permission.

Is it because they didn't think the story newsworthy? Is it because they don't like China? Or Canada?

[no limit]

43. Why do you care what they think?

I am sick of people bitching about why their threads are unreced. You are right, you don't need my permission to complain about your thread being unrecommended. Just like I dont need your permission to bitch about the fact that you are bitching ;).

[Coventina]

44. I want to understand the motivation, because currently I don't. n/t

[Deja Q]

10. It's only business.

Just like the dog food, toothpaste, drywall... balking at an environmental treaty most nations signed up for in good faith...

[Divine Discontent]

13. China has heavy investments already in Canada production of food

I've seen some things that say made in Canada are literally sent right over from China and put in packaging in Canada. Honey-laundering is common - DUer 1776Forever found this out in the middle of last year and the UK Times reported on it later in the year.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5420698.ece


CHINA is DANGEROUS folks - they send product EVERYWHERE and have the companies repackage it in their country and say it's Made in (anywhere but China, to avoid tariffs, controls)

[arikara]

16. There's a lot of food now

that simply says "packaged in Canada by (insert company name)"

I don't buy that kind either. There's getting to be very little in the way of food that is safe to purchase from the store imho.

[Divine Discontent]

19. "very little food that is safe to purchase from the store" - agreed. sigh. eom

[1776Forever]

17. This is dangerous stuff - Canada has been inundated with Chinese food stuffs - Read on

'Made in Canada' - via China

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article769114.ece

Trying to avoid contaminated imports? Don't rely on food labels, Rebecca Dube writes. A host of unsourced ingredients may lie in what's being sold under homemade banners

Rebecca Dube

From Friday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 10:00AM EDT

Florence Wood threw out all of her dog's made-in-China biscuits during this spring's melamine scare.

Last week, after hearing warnings about unsafe fish and tainted toothpaste imported from China, she decided to purge her own pantry.

Goodbye, tinned salmon. So long, mandarin oranges. Farewell, frozen fish.

"Anything at all that comes from China that's edible we are not going to eat now," said Ms. Wood, a retired secretary in Lac-des-Îles, Que. She's even nervous about putting leftovers in made-in-China plastic containers.

She's not alone. More consumers are taking a hard look at "Made in China" labels after a string of recalls and publicity over deplorable safety standards in China. But it's nearly impossible to get out of the supermarket without food from China in your cart.

The good news is that avoiding products labeled "Made in China" won't crimp your grocery list, unless you really like frozen seafood - including shrimp, pollock, sole, haddock and salmon.

The bad news is that food labels don't tell the whole story. A host of Chinese imports are hiding behind "Made in Canada" labels, from the freeze-dried strawberries in your cereal to the wheat gluten in your hamburger buns.

"Made in Canada" simply means that 51 per cent of the production cost was incurred in Canada; the ingredients could come from anywhere, and increasingly they come from China. For example, manufacturers can import apple juice concentrate from China - for about one-fifth the cost of Canadian concentrate - add water to it in Canada, and mark it "Made in Canada."

"We eat food from China every day, we just don't know about it," says Dr. Keith Warriner, an assistant professor of food science at the University of Guelph.

Canadians ate $430-million worth of food from China last year, and as China's economic power grows so does its reach into our supermarkets, our kitchens - even our churches. Canada imported $9.5-million worth of communion wafers from China last year, along with $113-million worth of frozen fish fillets and $28-million worth of apple juice.

"A Canadian producer can source its supplies for cents rather than for dollars here," Dr. Warriner explains.

But North American consumers have recently become aware that inexpensive Chinese imports sometimes bear a hidden cost.

This spring, thousands of dogs and cats fell ill or died after eating pet food containing wheat gluten from China that was contaminated with melamine.

Since then, consumers have been warned about seafood, including shrimp and catfish, that doesn't meet safety standards; contaminated toothpaste and juices, and "Veggie Booty" snack food tainted by salmonella - all from China.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials have insisted their exported food is safe.

But this week, Beijing acknowledged that one-fifth of the goods made and sold in China are substandard, and the former head of China's food and drug administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was recently sentenced to death for accepting bribes.

Canadian officials stand by their policy of testing Chinese food imports on a case-by-case basis when concerns are raised about specific products. (more at link)

........

AND

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2008/09/spilt_milk_in_china.php

Spilt milk in China

Category: Food safety
Posted on: September 26, 2008 7:54 AM, by revere

The Chinese food contamination scandal continues to widen. The European Union (EU) is now banning imports of all Chinese baby foods that contain milk. The problem is the presence of melamine, a cheap chemical used to make plastics that looks like protein in the screening assays used to see if food products meet standards for protein content. It was added by unscrupulous Chinese pet food manufacturers a year ago, resulting in the illness and deaths of thousands of cats and dogs in the US and Canada. The thinking is that melamine combines with cyanuric acid in urine to produce lattice crystals which damage the kidney and can lead to kidney stones. The most recent episodes involve spiking watered milk with melamine and incorporating it into baby formula. Four babies have died and tens of thousands sickened within China. But the problem is not limited to China as many foods and food ingredients are exported to other countries. It is to protect against these exports that prompted the 27 nation EU to announce the ban, pending testing, of all Chinese imports containing more than 15% milk powder.

[Grinchie]

31. China is no more dangerous than a Hungry Crow is to a Sparrows Nest.

China will feed when it can, just like America feeds on Iraq, or Israel on Palestinian homelands.

If their is nothing to make the crow think twice, then the sparrows eggs are eaten. The sparrow just needs to learn to build it a place less likely to be spotted by crows and hope for the best.

The real threat are the big corporations that enable a whole industry to be transferred in one transaction. Along with Globalization and the destruction of National resources versus Global resources, this is the way we will be destroyed.

[Nihil]

39. Excellent points. Thanks. (n/t)

:thumbsup:

[applegrove]

18. Apparently we have seen the worst of the recession. Our banks didn't go crazy

like American ones did. But their is a dip in commodity & natural resource prices so we may be vulnerable to a China right now even though our economy should be improving in the next half of this year.

[LeftinOH]

21. Canada can handle aggessive superpowers just fine -they've been doing it over 200 years.

[Eryemil]

23. Cheers from Vancouver, you made me laugh! n|t

[blueberrypickn]

41. verily...

I had the same response, myself...

[varelse]

22. recommended

The UnRecs may be due to an "ostrich effect" - people don't want to see this inevitable power shift take place - but we really need to have our eyes open and our heads clear of the sand.

[Zorra]

25. They'll be singing "Oh, Chinada" at hockey games if Canada continues to let

China colonize it.

[tuvor]

35. I hope you're not a US citizen.

Otherwise, I'd be introducing my kettle to your pot.

OT: "Chinada"???

:eyes:

[sasquatch]

26. I'd like to take this oppurtunity to think the DLC and GOP for reanizmimzing the Chinese Dragon

:sarcasm:

[sasquatch]

27. Will all the blue dogs please stop unrecommending this post

Thanks.

[pnwmom]

29. Don't blame blue dogs on this site. Just a lot of dumb dogs. n/t

[rollingrock]

28. At least China is actually paying for the resources it wants

in the case of the US, we simply invade the country with our military and take their oil.

[Grinchie]

30. Now. Calculate how many mining Claims Teck Resources Inc. holds in Nevada

Don't be fooled buy the Headline. Teck holds resources all over the world, including America, South America, Chile, the South Pacific, Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand.. You name it.

Just by this one move, China has cornered the resources for much of the world.

And it looks like we just transfered 80% of the known mineral resource wealth in Nevada to a Company beholden to China.

How can I say this? Because I actually staked claims for Teck many years ago as a helper on a summer job.

Vast areas are claimed for Gold and other resources, and much of it is measured Parts Per Million, which means strip mining and cyanide Heap Leach extraction.

The Headline is purposefully misleading.

[varelse]

32. It never pays to underestimate your rivals

China is a world power. The nation's leaders have worked hard to make China a leading world power. We still have the most powerful (and widely based) military forces in the world, but there is a new method of power exchange emerging, and it is not military based.

Perhaps privatization, the neocon's tool for reinventing the world economy, is the single most devastating weapon we have handed the new generation of world powers. We did this with our eyes closed, when they should have been open, but we did this to ourselves. :(

[Grinchie]

36. Globalization must destroy Nationalism and Sovereignty to flourish

Those two things stand in the way of selling out the resources of a country to foreign interests without installing and friendly, stupid, greedy dictator.

I was wondering what the big resource of Honduras is lately. Anybody know?

[blueberrypickn]

42. oh, you've met Stephen Harper?

& Ignatieff?

*smirk*

[blueberrypickn]

33. I have some bad news...

ThisCanadian has to wonder...

when she looks at the treatment of workers in Saipan, Columbia, or Bangkok...

hears about assassination squads, Balkanization, massive billions of media propaganda to ensure privatization & compliance...

when she hears about the treatment of workers or First Nations peoples in Peru, TarSands, Columbia or Kentucky... or the local Walmart...
... take a long look at African diamond mining, sugarcane in Haiti, ...
when I watch the beatdown of well-intentioned, peaceful dissenters at a G8 Summit, labour strike or voting crisis in Washington, Honduras or Iran...

ThisCanadian asks herself, "how different are we... really?"

we're all getting screwed by The Man & being told we're better off than some poor bootfucked bastard SlumDog somewhere those folks look different than we...

but for the grace of collective peaceful action... we'd all be scratching in the dirt.

I don't see a lot of difference between the GoalState between corporations opening up factories in China or factories opening up in México

How different does this look from Gangs of New York?

they'd rather have us dumb, scared, infantilized & convinced we're grateful for it.

taking all those resources & social resources for which we've invested for generations... & turn it into a toxic wasteland where we pay for 'insurance' against the health conditions brought on by a corruption of mankind's influence upon itself & the environment.

come on, folks.

Let's not pretend that human rights is a national or nativist issue...
its an international issue & we should be standing up for one another,
rather than looking for opportunities to pretend living in a single biosphere is really a zero-sum game...


perspective, people.


Perspective.

The Jeff Farias Show: streams FREE & LIVE Mon-Fri, 6-9pmEDT

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"... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice..." - Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" - Ovid.
"Violence can only be concealed by a Lie, & the Lie can only be maintained by Violence." ... "Any man, who has once proclaimed Violence as his Method, is inevitably forced to take the Lie as his Principle" – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

[Kolesar]

38. Chinese capital is exploiting South America already...eom