The future is here

I apologise for not blogging as regularly as I would like to, Been pretty bogged down with my new job. Clocking 12 hour days , 6 day weeks. I know I’m going to burn myself out sooner or later, but I’ve been trying learn as much as possible as that I can keep myself aloat in the deep sea that I’m thrown into. Working has strenghtened my resolve on the career path that I aspire to embark upon as well as shapern my thoughts on the future role of architects. Only now I understand the state of mind of my ex-gf when she said I could not understand her working life. I’ve found a video , which pretty much summarises what I feel about the future.

Tit for Tat

I expected this, China is a bigger bully than India.
http://business-times.asiaone.com/sub/news/story/0,4574,207835,00.html?

Blocked investments in India may trigger Chinese retaliation

By SIDDHARTH SRIVASTAVA
IN NEW DELHI

BEIJING is unhappy that New Delhi is blocking investment by Chinese firms in telecoms and ports on grounds of security – and industry sources and officials say China is likely to retaliate.

In what is seen as a strong indication of the thinking in Beijing, China’s ambassador to India Sun Yuxi said this week that China wants to invest strongly in India, but is facing difficulties as a result of the ’security’ restrictions.

He implied there was an investment imbalance with 150 Indian companies engaged in about 2,000 projects in China and just 50 Chinese companies active in India.

There is plenty at stake. India’s rapidly rising telecoms industry is expected to sell equipment worth more than US$8 billion in the next few months, with orders from companies such as Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel.

As part of the infrastructure ramp-up in the country, India is looking to invest over 600 billion rupees (S$20 billion) to build 13 ports.

‘We are facing restrictions on investing here. We are facing difficulty in investing here. How can Chinese firms be a security threat to India as the two countries are friends?’ Mr Sun asked. ‘There are no big problems to solve between the two countries,’ he added.

He said that China plans to set up a steel factory in India. China already imports large quantities of Indian iron ore. Mr Sun noted that bilateral trade has been growing at a fast pace and is slightly in favour of India, which is ‘very good’.

Indian officials, however, say that there are elements of distrust in dealings with Beijing, given the past. The two countries fought a war in 1962. The economic goodwill between the two countries has not translated into Beijing’s support of India on the Indo-US nuclear pact, or backing at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a seat at the UN Security Council or the end of China’s support for Pakistan’s military programme. In contrast, New Delhi can look to strong backing from Washington.

Indian diplomats regard Beijing as difficult to deal with and the two countries remain bitter competitors, especially for energy resources.

One example is relations with Myanmar, where China is said to have been secretly dealing with Yangon to access gas, even as India’s former petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyer was in Beijing.

While China has been accommodating to India in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, many Indian commentators regard this as just a superficial way of keeping Chinese exports to India strong. New Delhi knows that the battle for central Asian energy resources will be bitter. India has been developing independent links with various Central Asian countries, with India’s first military base in Tajikistan becoming operational soon.

Observers, however, say that if New Delhi continues its discriminatory foreign investment approach, Beijing’s actions are likely to extend beyond words. One group at risk are the Indian information technology (IT) companies seeking contracts from Chinese organisations. Indian companies Tata Consultancy Services, i-flex Solutions and Infosys are bidding for a contract to update IT at the Bank of China, but face competition from international vendors such as Accenture and IBM.

There is immense potential for business in China. According to research house IDC, Chinese businesses will spend US$9.4 billion on technology services alone in 2006, up from US$3.74 billion in 2002. According to Gartner, China is expected to pull in US$27 billion from IT services by 2007. The consultancy predicts that Indian companies will carve out 40 per cent of the share, unless politics gets in the way – which is possible.