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The Star
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Cooperation between China, region becomes increasingly important
When President Xi Jinping hosted the first China-Central Asia Summit in the ancient Chinese city of Xi'an in 2023, it marked a pivotal moment in relations between the world's second-largest economy and the Eurasian heartland. In recent years, the strategic significance of Central Asia has surged, with five nations — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — assuming an increasingly important role in Eurasia's evolving geopolitical and economic landscape. Amid this changing landscape, China has emerged as the region's reliable partner, building a web of connectivity, security cooperation and strategic dialogue that is promoting the development of Eurasia. Central Asia's rise to global prominence stems from both geography and resources. Straddling the routes between East Asia, the Middle East and Europe, the region is central to facilitating transcontinental trade. It is also rich in energy, minerals and untapped market potential. It's also a vital corridor for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Central Asia has been an important partner in the initiative since its launch in 2013. New highways, railways, pipelines, logistics centers and customs corridors have been built or expanded to bridge China's western provincial-level regions with Europe, via Central Asia. The China-Europe freight train, a key symbol of the BRI, passes through cities like Almaty and Tashkent, transforming them into emerging transit hubs. These infrastructure projects are not merely about moving goods; they are about building interdependence. With upgraded ports of entry such as Khorgos and modern rail links like the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway now in development, the region is becoming a critical artery for trans-Eurasian commerce. For China, this helps reduce reliance on maritime routes and diversifies access to key markets. For Central Asia, it opens the door to global trade and investment on a scale never seen before. Ma Bin, a researcher at Fudan University's Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies, said the rapid development of connectivity projects has become a hallmark of the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Central Asian countries. As a result, trade facilitation between China and Central Asia has advanced markedly, Ma said. More important, the growing web of logistics infrastructure is helping Central Asian countries overcome the geographic constraints of being landlocked at the heart of the Eurasian region, he noted. Enhanced links with China, the European Union, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are laying a solid foundation for Central Asia's increased integration with major economic regions, the researcher said. Trade between China and Central Asia reached a record high of $94.8 billion last year, with China's cumulative investment in the region exceeding $30 billion. China is now Central Asia's top trading partner and major investment source. The emerging electric vehicle sector has become a highlight in China's economic and trade cooperation with Central Asian countries. In 2023, some 63,000 electric passenger vehicles rolled out of China through the Khorgos port, an astonishing year-on-year increase of 585.6 percent. Among them, 51,000 EVs were exported specifically to the five Central Asian countries, marking a 608.5 percent surge compared with the previous year. Chinese-branded EVs are rapidly gaining traction in markets across Central Asia. Key partners Security is another area where cooperation has increased significantly. China and the Central Asian countries share concerns about cross-border terrorism, extremism and organized crime. Joint exercises, intelligence coordination and law enforcement collaboration are now regular features of the regional landscape. Through platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China has helped shape a multilateral framework for regional stability that aligns closely with its principle of noninterference while promoting shared interests in peace and order. Education and cultural exchanges are becoming new pillars of engagement. Thousands of Central Asian students now study at Chinese universities, many on full scholarships. Academic cooperation, including Chinese language programs and vocational training, is expanding across the region. Such efforts, though less visible than roads or pipelines, are crucial for cultivating long-term trust and mutual understanding between generations. In a world often defined by fragmentation and rivalry, the steady strengthening of ties between China and Central Asia offers a different story — one where geography becomes a bridge rather than a barrier, and where cooperation, not competition, shapes the future. - China Daily/ANN
Boston Globe
12-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump tariffs are a rude awakening for border cities that bet on trade
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, took effect in 1994, the region has grown into a $250 billion economic machine. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's a third country,' Rafael Fernández de Castro, head of the Center for US-Mexican Studies at the University of California at San Diego, said of the binational entity that has arisen, combining cultures and economies. Advertisement Mexican officials are cautiously optimistic that the region will survive the onslaught of US tariffs, in part because many products are shielded by the free trade agreement. But jobs could disappear in both countries if tariffs disrupt a system of co-production that has sent car parts, airplane components and medical equipment zipping back and forth over the border. The uncertainty of the on-again, off-again tariffs has prompted many companies to pause investments. Confusion reigns over which products will qualify for the free-trade exemption, with the vital car-manufacturing industry widely expected to take a hit. And Trump may not be finished layering tariffs on Mexico. On Thursday, he threatened more, because of what he called the country's failure to observe an 81-year-old water-sharing treaty. Advertisement 'We've lived 30 years under a nontariff, free-trade environment,' said Ernesto J. Bravo, a senior manager at Tecma, a firm providing logistical, customs and administrative services to export-oriented firms along the border. 'All that is now changing dramatically.' Trump imposed the tariffs in part to shore up US industry and drive more manufacturing jobs to the United States. It could take months for the effects to become clear - and some might not be what the US leader expected. Kenia Zamarripa, a vice president at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, worries that the measures could push up the price of steel, lumber and medical instruments - making it harder to build or run hospitals in California. 'Those things we have been promised as reasons to invest in the region are now at risk,' Zamarripa said. Ernesto J. Bravo, a top executive at Tecma, in his warehouse in San Diego on Wednesday. His firm helps exporting businesses with logistics and customs. He says Trump's tariffs have whipsawed the border region. Mary Beth Sheridan/TWP The moment tariffs became real Border residents have survived bouts of economic turbulence. In 2017, after Trump was first inaugurated, he insisted on a renegotiation of NAFTA, calling it 'the worst trade deal ever made.' The free-trade accord was largely preserved in its replacement: the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, USMCA. Two years later, Trump warned he'd impose crushing tariffs unless Mexico cracked down on US-bound migrants. It complied, and he dropped the threats. Then came the covid-19 pandemic. But those were nothing compared with this time. Normally, Bravo's firm sends 400 to 800 truckloads of goods across the border each week - everything from furniture to TVs to water-treatment equipment. But recently, the free-trade system screeched to a halt. Advertisement Trump had pledged to slap 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Mexico in February unless it reduced the flow of fentanyl and migrants to the United States. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum persuaded him to hold off for a month, while she rushed troops to the border. In early March, she won another month-long reprieve - but a few days passed before it kicked in. In the meantime, a 25 percent tariff descended on Mexican exports. 'It was a major impact and a major wake-up call to the industry that, 'Hey - this is very real,'' said Bravo. He sent only about a dozen trucks over the border in that period. Since then, Trump has narrowed the 25 percent tariff. He says it won't apply to products that qualify for duty-free treatment under the USMCA. The trouble is that's only around half of Mexico's exports. Even for eligible goods, many companies did not go through the trouble of shipping under USMCA, with its paperwork and requirements for quantities of North American components, opting instead to ship under low- or zero-tariff rules set by the World Trade Organization. Now, they're scrambling. It's one thing to switch a basic item, like avocados, from one set of rules to the other. But a car might have 10,000 unique parts, each with its own customs code, Bravo said. Manufacturers of electrical, communications and auto goods are being forced to investigate the origin of each part, even those purchased in Mexico. They're hunting for substitutes in North America for components made in China to be able to export duty-free. Advertisement The medical-instruments industry, a major manufacturer in the Tijuana area, is already warning of price hikes for critical items such as pacemakers and insulin pumps. Mexico could grab market share from China Despite the new obstacles, some Mexican politicians say the country may benefit from the tariffs - because China is facing even higher ones. Adriana Eguía is vice president of Vesta, an industrial real estate firm. She's typical of the bilingual, bicultural managers in the export industry. She grew up on the Mexican side of the border, married an American and lives in San Diego. She works from a stylish penthouse office with a sweeping view of Tijuana. In February and March, she saw little business, as Trump imposed trade measures that affected Mexico: the tariffs over fentanyl and migration, a 25 percent global tariff on steel and aluminum, and a similar tax on auto imports. (Vehicles from North America will be taxed only on the non-US parts.) Adriana Eguía, vice president of a Mexican industrial real estate firm, in her office overlooking Tijuana on Wednesday. She says she's hopeful Trump's tariffs will eventually help Mexico, since they're less than those imposed on China. Mary Beth Sheridan/TWP Then came his tariffs on China - which jumped from 54 percent to 104 percent, then 145 percent. 'The last three days have been crazy,' Eguía said. More than a half-dozen clients suddenly appeared at her office, trying to secure industrial properties. Most represented Chinese firms, she said, presumably looking to manufacture under the terms of the free-trade treaty. Three miles away, in an aging, gritty factory tucked into a modest Tijuana neighborhood, René Romandía is dreaming big. He's run a variety of manufacturing businesses over the years - making bodyboards, face masks during the pandemic, packaging materials. It's been a struggle; the Chinese government subsidizes many industries, which export a flood of cheap goods. 'This moment is completely different,' Romandía said. 'Because now we can compete on price against China.' Advertisement His phone rang. Trump had just hiked tariffs - again. 'Fifty percent more on China! Okay, papi,' Romandía said and put the phone down. He grinned. 'It's like, when the two giants are fighting and you are just watching them fight,' he said. 'We are getting benefits.' Still, it's unclear how much Mexico could benefit from the tariffs. One big unknown: whether the Trump administration will subject components to potential tariffs every time they cross the border. That could be ruinous for industries like autos and medical instruments. Mexico is trying to negotiate an exemption for such co-production. Sheinbaum's government has said it wants to seize this moment to develop more Mexican-made parts, to supplant imports from China and elsewhere. But the government is burdened by a 6 percent fiscal deficit, the highest in decades, and businesses have said they're wary of investing after Sheinbaum introduced a judicial reform that many say will politicize the justice system. Ultimately, many people in the border region say the close US-Mexico trade relationship is likely to endure, since it benefits Americans, too - helping US firms stay competitive globally, and providing consumers with lower prices. This week more than 100 officials and business leaders from San Diego and Tijuana traveled to Washington to lobby - as one region. 'We're super far away from both capitals, and things are done differently here,' said Eguía. 'We have this hybrid culture.' Ernesto Eslava in Tijuana and Valentina Muñoz Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How to finally stop procrastinating, according to people who have kicked the habit
Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Sam Dylan Finch was 27 years old when he reached a breaking point. Having dealt with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and procrastination for much of his life, Finch was proud he'd earned enough trust to be offered a director's position at a company whose mission he deeply cared about, he said. Finch was eager to do the best he possibly could, he added, but it wasn't long before he froze. 'As much as I cared about what I was doing, that almost made it worse,' said Finch, now a 33-year-old writer, content creator and ADHD peer support coach based in Minneapolis. 'Even the thought of deciding what to wear, putting a breakfast together and figuring out how to order all of my tasks and prioritizing which things were most important — it just felt like there was such a large cognitive load and so much external pressure that I basically responded by collapsing.' Finch often stayed in bed until just one minute before his first video meeting of the day. After it was over, he'd crawl back into bed as he cried over not understanding why his dream job had turned into a nightmare he just couldn't push through, he said. Those circumstances eventually turned into the worst depression he'd ever experienced. 'I was no longer just getting things through in the eleventh hour,' Finch said. 'I was just blowing past deadlines, and … I was not recovering the way that I used to be able to.' With the threat of job loss, fear of failure, and a concerned and frustrated partner, Finch faced a life that felt so unmanageable he could no longer get out of bed, he recalled. He knew he couldn't live that way anymore — but how he could improve was another challenge. Procrastinating, or intentionally putting off necessary tasks, is something everyone does from time to time, said Robin Nordmeyer, founder and managing director of the Center for Living Well with ADHD and an ADHD coach. But some people can develop a chronic tendency, ending up in a hamster wheel of tasks they can't ever seem to finish. Repeatedly not following through on tasks you know you can do can also lead to other problems — self-esteem issues, depression, anxiety, relational discord and even an increased risk of physical health problems, said Dr. Fuschia Sirois, professor of social and health psychology at Durham University in England. Those ailments can include flus or colds, insomnia, digestive issues, and cardiovascular problems. That vulnerability to illness is likely due to the stress procrastination causes, Sirois added, and the behavior can lead someone to not prioritizing healthy lifestyle habits that reduce the risk of disease. Here's how you can break the cycle. Emotion regulation has been identified as the core reason why people procrastinate, Sirois said. When a responsibility triggers negative emotions and you're unequipped to manage those feelings internally, externally managing them by delaying the task can provide instant relief. That's why overcoming procrastination should start with exploring what it is about certain tasks that make you want to avoid them, Sirois added. Exploring and implementing practical strategies is important but should be addressed only after you understand the root cause of the behavior. The emotions people seek to regulate with procrastination can have roots in several different categories of issues. After years of procrastinating since elementary school, Paige Mariah Delaney, a marketing manager and content creator in Chicago, realized around age 28 that the pattern was her brain's way of protecting her from the discomfort of potential imperfection or failure — a common reason, experts told CNN. Until Delaney was honest with herself about her behavior and how it affected her life — to the extent of experiencing panic attacks — she had convinced herself that she simply worked better under pressure. 'I think we just tell ourselves things to make us feel better, when, in fact, I do not work better under pressure,' Delaney, 32, said. 'I would do it fast, but it wasn't my best quality work.' Another common contributor is a sense of defiance or resistance to demands from others, according to experts. That was the case for Finch, who, with a therapist's help, realized his procrastination was also partly due to unresolved trauma from having grown up in an authoritarian environment where he had little agency, he said. For some, procrastination results from a mental health disorder such as depression, or especially a neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD, experts said. That's because ADHD stems from underdeveloped or impaired executive function or self-regulation skills, which aid planning, focusing and sustaining attention, remembering instructions, and multitasking. The brain of a neurodivergent person is wired for passions and novelty, which trigger the motivation to start and stay engaged with that interesting task, Nordmeyer said. When a duty or activity isn't exciting, that executive dysfunction kicks in. Poor emotion regulation is another 'core defining diagnostic criteria' for the disorder, Sirois said. All these factors can make various tasks, even the most basic ones such as brushing your teeth, feel much more daunting than they are. Journaling and working with a therapist can help you determine what your reasons are for avoiding obligations. Similarly, every individual also must develop the coping, time- and task-management strategies that work best for them, sources said. Here's a list of tools you could experiment with, based on professional advice and what has worked for Finch and Delaney. Change your motivators and reward yourself during and after tasks. Finch historically used self-criticism, pressure, and the odds of upsetting other people or losing his job to motivate himself to complete a task — only to later realize that made him deeply unhappy and burned out. He had to figure out what kinds of positive supports would make him care more and feel excitement about working on a task. Those adjustments have included listening to soothing music while he's watering his plants, for example, and sometimes leaving his gaming console in the kitchen to urge him to get out of bed earlier to have a little playtime before work. Other rewards can be chatting with a friend while folding laundry or going to a unique grocery store to make shopping more enticing, experts said. Work with a mental health professional. They can help you tailor strategies to your tendencies and needs. The therapies that made the biggest difference for Finch were the safe and sound protocol, which targets the nervous system via music, and somatic therapy, a mind-body healing method for trauma recovery. Create a schedule. Without one, an aimless day can lead to overwhelm and delaying responsibilities, sources said. Try planning out your days — each morning or at the beginning of the week — Delaney suggested, and listing the necessary steps of each task. Finch loves the app Routinery for gamified task management, he said. Allow yourself to start imperfectly, and work on tasks piecemeal. Both approaches have been critical for Delaney. Not knowing everything from the start is OK, and you can always improve your work later. Delaney also follows what she calls the two-minute rule: committing to do just two minutes of work often turns into following through on more. Another strategy helpful for focus and paced time management is the Pomodoro Technique, Nordmeyer said. It involves using a timer for three 25-minute intervals of focused work, with a five-minute break between each. After the fourth interval, you can take a 30-minute break before repeating the process, which you can tailor to your needs. These methods also help combat the all-or-nothing thinking that can make a task seem too daunting, leading to feelings of paralysis, experts said. Stop making your to-do lists so long. A gigantic list can feel overwhelming and keep you from starting. Write down a few important tasks and if you do all of them, then you can add more. Nordmeyer recommends using the 'Eisenhower Matrix' for prioritizing tasks according to urgency and importance. The tool divides tasks into four categorical boxes: what you'll do first, schedule for later, delegate or delete. Consider how you could be harming yourself. Though you shouldn't be too self-critical, thinking of the chaos, distress or relational discord that could result from procrastination is sometimes necessary. Consider the fact that just as you don't want to let others down, you also deserve to experience things such as ease, cleanliness, health and a sense of accomplishment. Try mindfulness techniques. Quietly sitting with your emotions, doing breathing exercises or meditating can help you regulate any distress surrounding a task, Sirois said. Make sure your foundation is right. Getting enough good-quality food, sleep, exercise and relaxation can also support the energy levels needed for motivation, attention, discipline and emotion regulation, according to experts. Use social support. Loved ones can be helpful for holding you accountable in various ways, including checking in to see whether you have made that doctor appointment you said you would or working on their own project next to you as you're fulfilling an obligation. What can also be helpful is playing YouTube videos featuring a content creator who studies, cleans or performs another task, inviting the viewer to do the same and offering virtual accountability, Finch said. 'If I could have figured this out by myself, if another listicle or procrastination book was going to be the thing that did it for me, I would have already crawled out of that hole,' Finch said. The road to recovery isn't linear, and the destination needn't be perfection, sources said. The supports and strategies you need may also change over time as life events, demands or energy levels shift. But both Finch and Delaney are now able to meet deadlines and completing tasks much more often than not. And their efforts have done wonders for their productivity and quality of life. 'When I actually do see things through or check boxes, it's a boost to my self-esteem,' Delaney said. Finch is no longer drained by the constant stress, shame and urgency of procrastination, and has gained 'irrevocable confidence,' he said. 'It was like someone changed gravity.' If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit for free and confidential support.
