As a reader who experienced the turmoils of massive lockdown and sudden zero-covid exit in China, I find Mr munger hypocritical in terms of his statement about China. China’s regime now is totally a dictatorship, just like North Korea. To invest in China, you are facing discrete uncertainty, basically xi can make any company’s or industry’s value vanish overnight, and what make it worse is that no one knows xi’s next move and often dictators don’t act rationally
I’m sure Charlie Munger believes all he says about China and I won’t question his integrity, but I also would never invest in China and do not like having exposure via BYD (although that’s worked out very well). I don’t trust the Chinese government to respect property rights. It is a totalitarian dictatorship.
I share the very serious concern about the tension between China and the rest of the world, not just as an investor, but as a citizen of the U.S. and of the world. I avoid any investment in Chinese companies or in those with heavy exposure to the Chinese (mainland and H.K.) markets. The actions taken by western companies after Russian invasion of Ukraine should serve as a warning. Apple is in a delicate situation. Losing the entire Chinese market would be bad, but losing its manufacturing base in China would be devastating, at least until factories elsewhere ramp up. Apple is also pledging to make a 275 billion investment in China over 5 years, entrenching itself further in the Chinese supply chain. This makes me quite uncomfortable.
No, but I hope that Buffett is thinking about this and possibly discussing it with Cook. It's not like either of them are unaware of it -- but I still cannot help being very concerned.
Apple etc is only one side of the coin. China imports a ton of food and energy, both of which we produce a great deal.
That is true but they have alternate sources of basic commodities (energy from Russia, etc)
As a reader who experienced the turmoils of massive lockdown and sudden zero-covid exit in China, I find Mr munger hypocritical in terms of his statement about China. China’s regime now is totally a dictatorship, just like North Korea. To invest in China, you are facing discrete uncertainty, basically xi can make any company’s or industry’s value vanish overnight, and what make it worse is that no one knows xi’s next move and often dictators don’t act rationally
I’m sure Charlie Munger believes all he says about China and I won’t question his integrity, but I also would never invest in China and do not like having exposure via BYD (although that’s worked out very well). I don’t trust the Chinese government to respect property rights. It is a totalitarian dictatorship.
I share the very serious concern about the tension between China and the rest of the world, not just as an investor, but as a citizen of the U.S. and of the world. I avoid any investment in Chinese companies or in those with heavy exposure to the Chinese (mainland and H.K.) markets. The actions taken by western companies after Russian invasion of Ukraine should serve as a warning. Apple is in a delicate situation. Losing the entire Chinese market would be bad, but losing its manufacturing base in China would be devastating, at least until factories elsewhere ramp up. Apple is also pledging to make a 275 billion investment in China over 5 years, entrenching itself further in the Chinese supply chain. This makes me quite uncomfortable.
Are you worried enough about Apple’s exposure to diversify out of Berkshire?
No, but I hope that Buffett is thinking about this and possibly discussing it with Cook. It's not like either of them are unaware of it -- but I still cannot help being very concerned.