You'd think a party with such an iron grip on its citizens would show s little more self assurance. Confident people can take a joke.

Perhaps. But if it is well known that the third rail carries ample electrical power to fry an elephant, then no one intelligent enough to be CEO should ever risk touching it. "The design was not safe, and should not have been..." arguments cannot bring you back from the dead.

Absolutely. It's surprising they're like that, but nobody who's been paying attention should still be surprised.

Making then ceo of the largest bank in America kowtow seems pretty confident to me. They’re just flexing.

Russia used to have a “Joke department” it was a serious matter if you crossed them the wrong way.

Mentioned it in jest to an older Russian and his face went white. Said the Joke department was nothing to joke about.

Appeasement will continue as long as America is dependent on China for economic growth. Unfortunately, it seems there is no way out at this point without provoking a hot conflict. Decoupling is an option but must happen over a long timeframe to allow for rebuilding critical manufacturing and supply chains. As Xi said, the next decade will be a struggle.

Mr. president, raise tariffs and publicly shame companies!

The graph comparing different banks exposures to China is hilarious.

>NOTE: Goldman Sachs figure refers to ``cross currency outstandings'' as of Dec 2020. Exposure for the rest of the banks as of Sept. 30, third quarter Morgan Stanley's figure represents total net exposure to China, Bank of America's figure is net country exposure, JPMorgan and Citi's figures are total exposure to China.

The US has more prisoners than China, an "authoritarian" nation with 4x the population. In fact, certain sectors of our economy (Idaho potatoes, for one) are completely dependent on unfettered cheap prison labor.

Hong Kong is China, the fact it ever wasn't is because of Britain and the Opium Wars. Nothing new for Britain or its offshoot, the US — but I'm amazed people still think westerners should be able to balkanize the rest of the world at will for commercial interests. I suppose Oxycontin is just the domestic, self-inflicted version of that.

Also not sure what part about US democracy is comfortable, the majority of the population cannot afford a $500 emergency in the wealthiest "liberal representative democracy" on the planet. Most of us are wage slaves and are required to bail out these "too big to fail" banks and businesses every couple of years but sure, China is the global threat.

Btw how many governments has China overthrown? Because we can certainly get into numbers with these "freedom-bringing democracies"

Seems like a collective action problem. Maybe U.S. CEOs, celebrities, and other public figures should all coordinate a day (or longer?) of CCP public slams and digs?

That can only happen with ground rules, which is what governments are for.

Nationally, it means an act of Congress. Internationally, it means getting enough consensus and laws passed and enforced to make doing business with China less appealing.

With US liberals who only pay lip service to STEM and education; and US conservatives who are all about hollowing out strong government?

Good luck with getting collective action anytime before the situation becomes truly desperate.

Wow, every business in China enslaves people?

Wasn't he doing the very opposite of grovelling to China with the original comment? It's American culture that is forcing him to apologize.

he apologized because no doubt behind the scenes the CCP made it clear JPMorgan would face consequences with any Chinese investments if he didn't apologize

At this point the CCP doesn't even have to (although it may have). Shareholders know, and they probably complained.

Did you read the article? It pretty clearly states that the internal comms team raised a concern.

Hong Kong is a prime example of the success of capitalism.