The New York Times, 9/27/17:
Siemens and Alstom Form European Train Giant to Beat Chinese Competition
FRANKFURT — Once, the merger of two iconic European companies might well have been derailed by regional political rivalries. But in the case of a deal between Siemens and Alstom, those concerns have receded in the face of a larger threat: China.
The proposed merger of Europe’s two largest train makers, one German and one French, demonstrated on Wednesday that economic imperatives are pushing the Continent together even as populist politicians try to pull it apart.
SNIP
The new company, to be called Siemens Alstom, is a response to intensifying competition from China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, the state-backed train maker that has been winning contracts in the United States and emerging markets where mass transit is a fast-growing business.
The company’s success is emblematic of China’s increasing economic power, which, combined with a more isolationist American foreign policy, is forcing European leaders to violate old taboos in order to improve the functioning of the European Union and its economy.
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