China in Quotes
“The visit once again shows that the U.S. business community attaches great importance to and continues to pay attention to the Chinese market,” CCPIT spokesperson Yang Fan.
The Chinese are hoping for improved engagement between the Chinese and US business communities. One of the latest examples is the ongoing visit by the delegation led by USCC at the invitation of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) which met the Chinese premier Li Qiang in the great hall of the people.
De/Cypher Data Dive📈
Breaking News: China’s Factory Activity Contracts for Fifth Straight Month in February while India’s hits five-month high
China’s factory activity contracted for the fifth consecutive month in February, with the PMI at 49.1 due to the lunar new year holiday lasting eight days. In contrast, India’s manufacturing sector reached a five-month high, with the HSBC India PMI at 56.9, thanks to increased orders and lower costs. This shows China’s subdued market during the holidays, whereas India’s market is expanding rapidly.
Read more: Yicai Global, Economic Times
Quick China: Six Unmissable Stories 📜
- The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) issued a security warning in response to a foreign intelligence service recruiting a former Australian politician. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess revealed that the politician had betrayed their country, party, and colleagues to serve the interests of a foreign regime. The politician also attempted to involve a prime minister’s family member in the espionage, but was foiled by ASIO. The agency’s efforts resulted in the disruption of the activities of a foreign regime-controlled “A-Team” that was also looking for information on an aspiring Australian politician. Read more: Defence Connect
- China on Tuesday passed a legal change that broadens the scope for classifying “secrets,” as the government moves to shore up national security. The rule, due to take effect May 1, is likely to create new uncertainty for foreign businesses in China, which already face a growing compliance burden. It comes as foreign direct investment in China has sunk to a 30-year low amid tightening national security laws and U.S. sanctions. Read more: Nikkei Asia
- Chinese stock market that has long operated under the Communist Party’s shadow, played out in recent weeks in a clampdown that’s rewriting the rules of computer-driven trading in China. The country’s once-booming quant industry has become the latest casualty of Beijing’s campaign to stop a $4 trillion selloff in stocks. “These seemingly panic actions by authorities risk undermining all the good work done in the past two decades to give China access to global pools of capital,” said Gary Dugan, chief investment officer at Dalma Capital Management Ltd. in Dubai. He said the moves will make “even the most battle-hardened investors” question whether China is worth the risk. Read more: Bloomberg
- The U.S. Department of Defense has achieved a basic version of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, its long-promised vision of connected sensors from all branches of the armed forces into a unified network, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. The Defense Department’s multibillion-dollar connectivity campaign comes as China pursues its own version — or a countermeasure — known as Multi-Domain Precision Warfare. Read more: C4ISRNET
- The year of the dragon has started and the Chinese authorities want the citizens to have kids. The last dragon year was 2011, it had compared to years preceding it a slight baby bump, this time the pervasive anxiety around the issue of economic and domestic malaise might mean fewer kids than last year. Though it will be hard to exactly find the data as the Chinese authorities have been stopping the release of the data due to the very low births last year. Read more: Foreign Policy
- China’s former foreign minister Qin Gang, who has been missing from public view since June last year, has resigned as a member of the national legislature ahead of a key political set piece event, according to an official statement. The statement, issued after a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said Qin has not been dismissed or expelled from the NPC. 天津市人大常委会决定接受秦刚辞去第十四届全国人民代表大会代表职务。
The Standing Committee also announced that a lieutenant general, Li Zhizhong had been dismissed from the legislature. “陆军军人代表大会决定罢免李志忠的第十四届全国人民代表大会代表职务 Li’s command roles included serving as deputy commander of the Central Theatre Command, head of the equipment department of the PLA ground force and chief of staff of the Southern Theatre Command’s ground force. Read more: South China Morning Post
Beyond The Great Wall
Exploring News About China in Depth
China is trying to reshape trade
Beijing’s main strategy is to capitalise on ties with the “global south” fostered through its $1tn Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an investment programme launched in 2013 that counts more than 140 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere as its participants. The architecture under construction revolves around a China-centric network of bilateral and regional “free trade agreements” (FTAs), which allow for trade at low tariffs while also promoting direct investment flows. This network — which currently includes 28 countries and territories that take close to 40 per cent of China’s exports — means that if the WTO’s mandate to keep the world open for liberalised trade unravels, China will have at least a partial back-up system in place, they add. None of China’s FTAs include the US or countries inside the EU.
China’s biggest success to date has been negotiating membership of the 15-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a huge regional FTA that went into force in 2022. The members of the RCEP contribute around one-third of the world’s GDP. But Beijing is not stopping with the RCEP. It is currently negotiating 10 FTAs which, not including those that are upgrades of FTAs already in force, would account for around a further 4.3 per cent of its global exports, according to FT calculations. Meanwhile, feasibility studies are also under way for eight other FTAs which, if concluded, would account for roughly a further 2.6 per cent of Chinese exports to the world. Over the longer term, Beijing’s focus will be on pivoting its trade further towards the developing world by using its ties with the more than 140 countries covered by the BRI and signing FTAs with them where possible, Chinese experts say. (FT)
Chinese city of Shenzhen rolls out plan to boost car exports
The Chinese city of Shenzhen has unveiled a comprehensive plan aimed at significantly increasing car exports, with a focus on expanding its electric vehicle industry. This initiative, which includes 24 measures such as factory construction incentives and new sea routes, aims to transform Shenzhen into a leading global auto city. Read more: Financial Times
Transatlantic Relations with China: The Endgame
Historical Context: The 1950s saw the United States (U.S.) make a concerted effort to purge the country of Communist values, a growing ‘threat’ they felt could rupture the capitalistic framework upon which they had established their dominance as a world leader. A strong anti-communist rhetoric enabled Richard Nixon to secure the 1952 Vice-Presidential nomination on Dwight Eisenhower’s ticket. Fast-forward 20 years, Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit mainland China while in office in 1972. This was not a sudden shift in his ideological beliefs nor a compromise of his political values, but rather the successful implementation of a strategy devised from the beginning of his presidency. Nixon had long recognized the importance of increased strategic diplomacy in order to counter the growing influence of the Soviet Union and help achieve their long-standing military aspirations in North Vietnam. Nixon saw the normalization of diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a way to cause further division in Sino-Soviet relations and pressure them into reducing their support for North Vietnam. Nixon famously dubbed his visit to China and meeting with Mao Zedong as “the week that changed the world” but neither Nixon nor political analysts could predict just how much the world would change.
The official recognition of the PRC by the U.S. in 1979 and the European Parliament’s establishment of the “Delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China” (D–CN) in the same year, helped spur economic activity between the PRC and Western powers. While the U.S. Presidency faced the challenge of countering the Soviet Union and maintaining its position in the world order in 1972, they now face the same challenge with China.
Shifting Perspectives: A decade ago, Sino-Transatlantic relations could be described within a framework of “engagement” and partnership. A decade later, Sino-Western engagement on security, economics and the global world order is contentious at best. The once warm relations between the transatlantic and China now lie cold. Perceived as a threat to North American and European interests, the China question lacks a coherent strategic engagement plan in the Transatlantic.
Read the full article here
News From Asia 🌏
Friday
- Thirty-one members of the United States Congress have urged President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken not to recognize Pakistan’s new government until an inquiry into election fraud is completed. Read more: Dawn
- Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to end political fundraising parties following a scandal involving alleged kickbacks to members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This move comes as two LDP lawmakers face charges for violating political funding laws, and three major party factions have been dissolved. Read more: Channel News Asia
- Disney has merged its India unit with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries to form India’s largest television company, valued at $8.5 billion. Reliance will own 63.16% of the venture, investing $1.4 billion, while Disney will own the remainder. Read more: Nikkei Asia
- JPMorgan Chase has selected HSBC and Standard Chartered to manage its custody businesses in Hong Kong and Taiwan, overseeing assets exceeding $500 billion. The move comes after Reuters reported in December that JPMorgan was considering outsourcing its local custody operations, with Citigroup also in the mix. Read more: Reuters
Thursday
- Australia has invited Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, for a two-day visit in the second half of March. He is expected to discuss a range of thorny issues on the table after bilateral relations warmed last year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The second source added that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been pushing for a lifting of sanctions on Australian wine and lobsters during Wang’s visit. The two goods have been blocked from import into China since 2020. China is pushing for Australia to sign a new Science and Technology Agreement. The agreement, which the source said has been held up by Canberra due to pressure from the United States, will be an “outstanding issue” for Wang’s visit. Read more: South China Morning Post
- The Asian Development Bank intends to allocate 55% of its financing toward addressing climate change by the end of the decade, up from less than 40% now, Nikkei has learned. “There’s an overwhelming lack of funding to address climate change, food security and other global challenges,” Tomoyuki Kimura, director-general for the ADB’s strategy, policy and partnerships department, told Nikkei. Read more: Nikkei Asia
- The Gaza war’s reported Palestinian death toll neared 30,000 Wednesday as fighting raged in the Hamas-run territory despite mediators insisting a truce with Israel could be just days away. Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to find a path to a ceasefire amid the bitter fighting, with negotiators seeking a six-week pause in the nearly five-month war. Read more: Arab News
- Indonesia defence minister Prabowo Subianto was on Wednesday (Feb 28) conferred the rank of four-star general by President Joko Widodo, a move that stirred controversy given Mr Prabowo’s discharge from the military 26 years ago. Human rights groups criticised the award, given his alleged role in the forced disappearance of activists in the late 1990s. Political experts, meanwhile, have called Mr Widodo’s latest manoeuvre “perplexing” and “unnecessary”. Read more: Channel News Asia
Wednesday
- North Korea has sent 6,700 shipping containers of ammunition to Russia in recent months, potentially providing over 3 million 152-millimeter artillery shells, South Korea’s defense chief says. Read more: Nikkei Asia
- China’s largest private property developer Country Garden Holdings said on Wednesday it was facing a liquidation petition for not repaying a term loan facility worth HK$1.6 billion ($204.5 million). Read more: Channel News Asia)
- Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet called for an end to the escalation in military operations in Gaza and the dire humanitarian crisis that it is causing, Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. Read more: Arab News
- Indonesia has remained the leading diplomatic force with the most extensive network in South-East Asia, a recent Global Diplomatic Index study has found, as China and the United States continue their fierce competition for influence. The study, which was published by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank on Sunday, ranked 66 countries around the world, broken down into categories of the Asian region, the G20 and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Read more: The Star
Tuesday
- Support for Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has slid to 25%, the lowest since the party returned to power in 2012, according to the latest Nikkei-TV Tokyo survey. Read more: Nikkei Asia
- An American economist has defended an article he wrote that claimed “Hong Kong is over”, saying it was intended as a “wake-up call” given his perception of a “growing undercurrent of angst” about the city’s future. Read more: South China Morning Post
- Chinese regulators are taking measures to keep the renminbi’s dollar exchange rate stable as Beijing seeks to bolster confidence in the country’s currency and economy ahead of a key leadership summit. Read more: Financial Times
- Qatar will raise natural gas production despite a recent steep drop in global prices, in a long-term bet on rising demand for the less polluting fuel in Europe and Asia. QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi said on Sunday (Monday AEDT) that a new expansion of its liquefied natural gas production would add 16 million tonnes per year to its expansion plans. Read more: The Australian Financial Review
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