Will your next flight be on a plane made in China?

Plus: Private equity comes for your pets, a pub craw in Japan and more [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a brief itinerary of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Must-Reads - Britain’s [imaginary]( war on drivers. - Will an annuity work for your [retirement](? - The American threat to [Ukraine](. - India’s digital payments [powerhouse](. Planes, Chips and Espionage Could you soon be flying on a Chinese-made jetliner? There’s been a lot of hand-wringing over the apparent progress China has made in semiconductors, even with the US and its allies blocking access to the latest chip and chip-making technology. Beijing, however, can only play catch-up with companies that are a significant number of years ahead — and given the nature of the science, may always be. Tim Culpan [says]( the greater threat to the West in terms of corporate profits and employment comes from Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac). It recently [sold 100 of its C919 jets]( — the equivalent to Boeing Co.’s 737 and the Airbus SE A320Neo — to China Eastern Airlines Corp. While that’s an internal transaction, Tim notes that the sales don’t benefit Boeing and Airbus — based in the US and Europe respectively. Increased Comac sales in China — and perhaps abroad — would disrupt the duopoly’s bottom line and global market share. To make the C919, China aggressively got suppliers like General Electric Co. and Bombardier Inc. to share their know-how. Did espionage also contribute to the aerospace advance? It’s not knowable for now, but as Tim says: “In one effort uncovered by the FBI in 2017, Chinese intelligence agents directed a project to steal engine technology from [GE Aviation](, while [a separate case involved a Chinese national and Air Force contractor]( who helped the People’s Liberation Army obtain more than 630,000 files related to Boeing’s C-17 Cargo plane.” In any event, China is getting sensitive about Western spies itself. I’ve written about its [long history of grievance]( over technology theft through the millennia. Recently, it’s looking more suspiciously at the businessmen who come to trade. As Karishma Vaswani [writes](: “Part of the worry stems from an [update]( to China’s Counter-Espionage Law earlier this year. The revision increased the range of activities that would be considered ‘acts of espionage’ for foreigners, widening the remit under which authorities can consider you a spy. That’s spooked the overseas business community, and many are asking whether the risks of investing in the country are outweighing the potential benefits.” Still, she says, most Western businesses in China still feel it is worth continuing business — despite pressure from both Beijing and Washington. Keeping up contacts is all-important. “Even the worst relationships, no matter how fractious, can be salvaged with communication.” Private Equity, Keep Your Greedy Paws Off My Kitty! I’ve avoided acquiring a dog or cat because I know how hard it is to lose one. Friends often turn teary as they detail the great joy and pain of pet ownership. “Owning” is the wrong word. They’re members of the family. Capricious, perhaps — like your sister. Annoying, sometimes — like your brother. Adorable, mostly — like your nieces. And beloved? Always. In recent years, caring for your cat or dog has become increasingly expensive as private equity firms “roll up” independent veterinarians, just the way they’ve consolidated nursing homes. Chris Bryant [says]( these “serial acquirers” see dollar signs in the pet care industry because “the proportion of pet-owning households is much higher than it was a decade ago” because people stayed home during the pandemic. Chris examines the pros and cons of being bought up by PE. It’s not all bad: “Larger groups are better able to fund modern clinical equipment and drive harder bargains with drug companies. By centralizing finance, IT and administrative activities, vets and nurses should have more time to treat animals.” However, because ownership is on the opaque side, vets may offer customers services provided by other arms of the same company. Does that all contribute to the surging costs? In Britain, the price of caring for a sick pet has increased by 50% since 2015. The nursing home industry has yet to show an increase in humanity and efficiency after PE swept in to deal with our aging parents. As we’ve “humanized” our pets, what should we expect from the funds that profit from their care? Telltale Charts “On more than 6 billion separate occasions in just one month, the ringing of cash registers in India was replaced by audio confirmations on a [digital sound box](. Add instances of people paying one another rather than merchants, and the world’s most populous nation drummed up more than 10 billion cashless transactions in August. All were online, instantaneous… and cost nothing. At least most of them didn’t. …  The [Unified Payments Interface](, a common protocol for people to send and receive money into accounts at different banks, remains free for regular use.” — Andy Mukherjee in “[India’s Banks Are Making $64 Billion From a Freebie](.” “The asset management industry has a serious gender problem. The number of women managing funds has virtually stagnated in recent years. One way to start fixing this is for large investors to demand that more diverse teams manage their money. The share of women overseeing funds has risen less than two percentage points since 2016 when Citywire — with a database of about 18,000 active managers — began publishing on gender in the industry.” — Andreea Papuc in “[Why the Funds Industry Needs Its Own 30% Club.](” Further Reading Democrats aren’t [blameless](in the McCarthy mess. — Michael R. Bloomberg The moral case for [not engaging with]( Musk’s X. — Dave Lee Death becomes the [Peace Prize](. — Bobby Ghosh Why is Dublin like a [tech bro](? — Lionel Laurent The [ominous](inverted yield curve. — John Authers Ukraine’s [clear and present danger](: Will the funding end? — Hal Brands Walk of the Town: A Pub Crawl in Shibuya This week my Tokyo-based colleague Gearoid Reidy [wrote]( about a subject near and dear to him: beer. Japan is bucking international trends by reducing tax on the beverage — and that’s a good thing. It’s meant to encourage the country’s brewers to focus on high-quality beers, rather than the low-price substitutes that once dominated the market. Here’s Gearoid as he goes on hashigo-zake (see below for translation): On Wednesday night, after an appointment ended early I strolled the streets of Shibuya with unexpected time (and something of a thirst) on my hands, thinking of the discount brews I wrote about. Around 15 years ago, on my meager salary at an Osaka game developer, my beverage of choice was Clear Asahi, a beer-like substitute that uses fermented barley. If you held your nose, it tasted nearly like the real thing. Nearly. Time has been fortunate to me. Hardly any craft beer bars existed when I moved to Tokyo 13 years ago, but now I found myself struck by choice paralysis, as I walked up to the gate of Hyakkendana, which divides the respectable shopping areas of Shibuya from the seedier side. In the vicinity of Stand Umineko in Shibuya Photograph by Gearoid Reidy But even Hyakkendana, meaning “Hundred Stores,” is rapidly gentrifying. On my left was Stand Umineko SiB100, a recently opened, standing-only joint that serves 15 taps of its own beer brewed in Osaka. I walked a little further to Mikkeller Tokyo, the first of the famed Copenhagen craft brewery’s outlets in the capital (there are now three), situated next to a love hotel. There’s much evidence of the area’s seamy sites: 50-year-old Shibuya Dotonbori Gekijo, one of Tokyo’s few remaining strip theaters; and a number of “girls bars,” where you pay discount prices for discount hostesses to regale you with conversation and keep your glass full. But, as money flows into Shibuya, joints of low esteem rub shoulders with boutique oyster counters and high-class yakiniku barbecue shops. It’s not just Shibuya. Bars serving domestic and imported ales have mushroomed in Ura-hara, the backstreets of the fashion mecca Harajuku, where a veritable craft beer hashigo-zake — as the locals call a pub crawl — is now possible. Across town, in Kanda, a haunt of salarymen on benders, hosts half-a-dozen such venues alongside curry spots and ramen stands. Indeed, almost every station in central Tokyo has at least one craft bar, with many spreading out into the suburbs. Shibuya, though, remains my go-to. I quickly washed down one craft brew at Mikkeller, which was too crowded for my taste, and left for a venue a little more off-the-beaten-track — and upmarket. There, the owner spins vinyl as you drink. Drawdown Thanks for meandering to the end. Here’s a little reward. ”It says we’re here.” Illustration by Howard Chua-Eoan​​ Notes: Please send travel tips, shortcuts and feedback to Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](