Thinking more than twice before investing overseas

ON FRIDAY, THE MEXICAN FINANCE MINISTER, Luis Videgaray announced the shelving of the tender for a $3.75 billion high-speed railway designed to connect the capital Mexico City and the central city of Queretaro, citing the drop in oil prices. A Chinese consortium was considered the most likely to win the contract. Comments:

Did Mexico cancel the bidding only for economic reasons? The answer is no. The two countries have similar, instead of complementary, economic structures, which makes them competitors rather than cooperative partners in the international market. There had long been opposing opinions, even protests, when news came that Chinese enterprises might win the bid for such a huge program in Mexico. China needs to make more effort to reverse its negative image.

Qiu Lin, financial commentator, Feb 1