A surge in apprehension followed the establishment last week of a China-Central Asia Summit. “The war in Ukraine has weakened some of Russia’s influence in Central Asia,” warned the New York Times, “and China sees an opening”. Contrasted with the G7 meeting occurring at the same time in Japan, this was said to amount to “duelling summits” for influence.     The Belt and Road Initiative, ...

China’s first domestically produced passenger jet took off on its maiden commercial flight on Sunday, a milestone event in the nation’s decades-long effort to compete with western rivals in the air. Beijing hopes the C919 commercial jetliner will challenge foreign models like the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320, though many of its parts are sourced from abroad.     Its first homegrown jetliner with mass commercial potential would also cut the country& ...

Specialised kids’ fitness training centres are set to be in high demand in Chinese cities following the raft of new education policies that were introduced from 2020 onwards.   The kids’ fitness industry started in 2017 but only gained momentum recently. A 50% year-on-year increase was noticed by one owner of a kids’ fitness centre in Hohhot in Inner Mongolia during the most recent winter vacation and he also noticed several new centres popping up in the neighbo ...

The U.S. economy of the 1970s was, in certain ways, quite similar to the U.S. economy today: rising inflation, a population broadly pessimistic about the future of the market, and persistent declines in overall productivity. There was also, back then, a growing economic threat from across the Pacific. Only, in the 1970s, the threat came from Japan, which was the subject of dozens of books, and even a handful of movies, as fears of it overtaking the U.S. as the world’s economic superpowe ...

Amy Liu is unsure whether she should trade in her five-year-old electric sport utility vehicle for a newer model with a longer range or wait a bit longer. “If I place an order now, I’m afraid the price might drop next month,” said the property agent in Shenzhen. Automakers in China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include all-electric and hybrid models, have been aggressively cutting prices since late last year as demand softened and th ...

Africa accounted for 12.3% of Chinese companies’ exploration and strategic investment budgets in 2021, up from 8.1% in 2011. Partially, this is due to the CCP wanting to reduce dependence on Australia should they choose to invade Taiwan. But it’s also worth noting that Australia is far more expensive to invest in, with the former trade-off being increased confidence in Australia’s regulatory and judicial systems.   For example, mine costs at Chinese titan CI ...

Not researching business registration laws Building a subsidiary in a new country, especially one as legally complex as China, is a massive undertaking both in terms of time and money. You can either choose to hire individual consultants and law firms to guide you in different steps or complete the entire process on your own.   While the government incorporation costs to register a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise or WFOE isn't much, and you'd be tempted to do it yours ...

China, the world’s largest importer of corn and soybean, seems finally to accept the potential of using genetically modified (GM) feed crops. Will this be enough to reduce China’s dependency on such imports and will it meet the demands of other countries that are also experiencing an increase in demand for feed to increase production of animal meat?     Asia’s enormous appetite for meat has fuelled an equally large demand for animal feed, ...

China will resume outbound group tours for Chinese citizens to another 40 countries including Nepal, Vietnam, Iran, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Brazil starting from March 15, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Friday. It is the second batch of destinations in China's pilot program for out-bound group tours, after the country resumed cross-border group tours to the first batch of 20 countries and regions on February 6. The move to expand the number of d ...

Critical technologies already underpin the global economy and our society. From the energy-efficient microprocessors in smartphones to the security that enables online banking and shopping, these technologies are ubiquitous and essential. They’re unlocking green energy production and supporting medical breakthroughs. They’re also the basis for military capability on the battlefield, are underpinning new hybrid warfare techniques and can give intelligence agencies a major edge over ...

A shrinking population and growing dependency ratio could halt Beijing's ascendanc.   Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz declared almost a decade ago that 2014 “was the last year in which the United States could claim to be the world’s largest economic power.”   It was, he claimed, the start of the “Chinese century”.   He was wrong: the US remains the world’s largest economy. Yet ...

Since AI has become essential to national interest, China may not be willing to leave its development in the hands of private companies.   With the recent releases of large-language models, such as ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI) capability has leapfrogged, attracting intense attention around the globe. Inspired by the success of ChatGPT, many Chinese technology companies, such as Baidu, rushed to announce their own plans for developing a Chinese version of ChatGPT. How ...

China’s GDP expanded at its slowest pace since the mid-1970s bar the Covid-hit 2020 year, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled under tight pandemic restrictions that were abruptly ditched late in 2022.   The economy grew 3% last year, well shy of the 5.5% pace the government had targeted at the start of the year and the 8.1% recorded for 2021. The actual rate though, was better than the 2.7% predicted by the World Bank earlier this month.   Ana ...

China’s economic growth profile in 2023 will be characterised by a weaker first six months and a stronger second half. As in other Asian economies that lifted zero-covid policies, re‑opening will not result in an immediate acceleration of growth, as a surging viral caseload causes disruption to supply chains and consumption. However, after a difficult first quarter, China’s economic momentum will probably build in the second quarter, before a ...

The Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macao/Taiwan Companies in China 2022, a list of those 100 foreign & HK/Macao/Taiwan companies with the greatest contribution to China's economy, based on their sales and the number of employees in China. This is the second year of the list.       Between them, the 100 Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macao/Taiwan Companies in China had ...

China is back on a pragmatic path, with the lifting of zero-COVID and property market policies that throttled domestic demand in 2022. COVID cases are likely to continue to rise in the coming months, but that is unlikely to disrupt progress towards living with the virus, and an economic recovery in the second half of 2023.   Why I’m Bullish I’d like to explain why I’ve gone from being cautiously optimistic about Xi Jinping returning to a pragmatic path, to n ...

Saudi Arabia and China signed a strategic partnership agreement on Thursday during a visit by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the kingdom, underlining the growing ties between Beijing and a longstanding American ally that is seeking greater self-reliance.   Mr. Xi held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 37, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, in the first of a series of summits planned for the Chinese president’s three-day visit. After his bilateral meetings with ...

As Apple has accelerates its plans to move some of its production outside of China, the country’s share of global exports of furniture, footwear and clothing accessories continues to fall, highlighting a trend stared in 2016.   The anti-lockdown unrest gripping China has forced the authorities in Beijing to respond by easing some restrictions in big manufacturing centres, as they map out a “new stage and mission”. There are concerns that more freedom of movement ...