What they said around the world
This year, the international political and business scene was eventful. With characters such as US President Donald Trump dominating headlines and tweetsphere, there was no shortage of memorable one-liners. Trump took on every issue foreign and domestic. As the year drew to a close, Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, marked her full year in detention in Canada, as the company founded by her father Ren Zhengfei continues to be a prime target of the US-China trade war. Trump’s domestic political rivals, led by Nancy Pelosi, had plenty to say about this divisive commander-in-chief.
Meanwhile, the world moved ahead on other fronts. For example, hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, despite some questions over the performance of his firm’s funds, has emerged as a vocal proponent upending the basic tenet of asset owners’ motivation: that there is more to making money for shareholders. Tyson, one of the largest US meat producers, faces some new trends of its own as plant-based meat, known by other fancy names such as alternative protein, gains popularity.
The months-long protests in Hong Kong have dominated regional and global headlines as well. Chief Executive Carrie Lam is under severe pressure. The duration of this round of protests has gone on longer than most observers had expected. The former UK colony is in uncharted territory.
On hindsight, UK’s Brexit mess would be one of the biggest self-inflicted political wounds made by a country ever. The initially worrisome headlines had, after three years, degenerated into a quagmire of twist and turns that only the most ardent UK constitutional lawyer would eagerly follow.
New business and political figures emerge, and old ones fall into oblivion. None suffered a fall as heavy and punitive as car executive Carlos Ghosn, who, until till early this year, was shogun of the combined Nissan-Renault alliance. As by now apparent, executives at Nissan, the company he saved from near bankruptcy nearly two decades ago, had been stealthily engineering his ouster.
Similarly, for the global political and business scenes, expect the unexpected. E