The Wednesday Letter 184 - 6 September 2023

THIS WEEK: China's New Map; Novo-Nordisk; Inflation Nihilism; S&P Sectors Update; GeoReads 002 & 003; Tweets and Charts.

CHINA'S NEW MAP

On land, a country can only expand its borders by going to war and sending troops to the coveted territories. But in the open ocean, a country can try to expand its borders with the stroke of a pen. It can present its new map as a fait accompli and then manage the inevitable international fallout through diplomacy or gunboat diplomacy or ultimately just gunboats. This is essentially what China has done south of its coastline - way south- in the sea that lies between Vietnam and the Philippines. That part of the ocean was benignly called the South China Sea. But now that China has taken that name literally, it is called by others the West Philippine Sea or the East Sea.

The new 10-dash map below has drawn furor from India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. The map also gives to China some disputed territories on the borders of …