China can learn from the UK on aid for Africa
In December 2016, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) published a five-year report assessing the performance of the UK’s multilateral aid institutions. As the only G7 and G20 country that provides up to 0.7 percent of gross national income as foreign aid, the UK has always attached great importance to cooperation with multilateral institutions, with multilateral aid accounting for about 40 percent of the country’s total foreign aid.
China could work on RCEP deal without India
Although Japan is trying to save the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after US President Donald Trump abandoned the free trade agreement (FTA), there seems to be little chance that the deal will survive. This means the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), an FTA that includes China, now has more strategic global significance.
Rapid drop in forex reserves a worrying sign
China’s foreign exchange (forex)reserves fell from $3.99 trillion in June 2014 to $3 trillion in January 2017, a drop of 25 percent. The reason behind the rapid decrease in reserves is that the central bank intervened in the foreign exchange market to prevent excessive depreciation of the Chinese yuan.
Chinese investors turn back to home market
China’s overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have registered a continuous increase in recent years. In 2016, China’s outbound direct investment in the non-financial sector surged 44 percent to hit a record high of $170 billion. It is worth mentioning that China’s outbound investment in real estate soared 53 percent in 2016, reaching $33 billion.
Mortgage repayments hampering consumption
While China is committed to transitioning its economy away from an investment-led growth model to a consumption-led one, it has become increasingly clear that asset price bubbles such as high housing prices curb consumption. In first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai with high property prices, this effect has become obvious.
China can help Myanmar with its problems
Despite significant political changes in Myanmar in recent years, leaders from the country and from China have maintained a high level of mutual trust, as reflected by frequent visits and the consensus reached on a number of issues.
Global economy is undergoing a structural change, accompanied by a series of turning points: Zhu Min
The current world economic structure is mainly characterized by low growth rates in the economy, investment and trade, as well as low oil prices, interest rates and inflation. Against such a backdrop, a series of problems have emerged, such as aging societies and an imbalance in wealth distribution.
China’s government should strengthen the protection of private enterprises: expert
The purpose of China’s supply-side structural reform is to create a good environment and offer adequate incentives for enterprises to be innovative, so as to increase effective supply – which means that enterprises must provide new products, technology and services, or they must reduce prices by lowering costs in an innovative way. In this sense, the reform does not need any industrial policy, but improving supply-side efficiency requires a series of measures.
Chinese entrepreneurs should promote a four “no” campaign to take on their responsibilities: Jack Ma
With significant changes expected in the world and Chinese economies in the next 30 years, China’s government and enterprises should take on their responsibilities in advancing economic development. A new type of government-business relationship should be promoted to maximize the roles of entrepreneurial spirit and enterprises’ creativity, and the government should create a good environment for enterprises to contribute to the society and the economy.
Indian IT wobble exposes education problems
Engineering courses are the most sought-after of undergraduate studies in India. Engineering colleges in the country churn out millions of graduates every year but according to the corporate world these graduates lack the necessary skills required for the job market.
Belt and Road brings boon for satellite services
China’s sprawling Belt and Road initiative is set to give a shot in the arm for homegrown satellite services providers, which have been gaining competitiveness relative to their foreign counterparts in recent years.
Time is ripe for stronger Sino-Nigeria financial ties
Against the background of China-Africa industrial capacity cooperation, financing is the key to strengthening connections with African countries’ development strategies and facilitating the smooth launch of production capacity cooperation projects.
French election should not affect China ties
With the first round of the French presidential election taking place on Sunday, support for the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon has surged recently due to his good performance in the television debates. According to the latest polls, Melenchon’s popularity is close behind the far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen and the centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Vicious competition should be avoided in bay area development
The central government will consider development plans for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said last week while granting the official certificate of appointment to Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the incoming chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The statement was made not long after the bay area was included in this year’s government work report. To understand deeper issues relating to the bay area, Global Times reporter Li Qiaoyi (GT) talked to Zhou Linsheng (Zhou), vice president of the China Society of Economic Reform and president of the Guangdong Society of Economic Reform, in an exclusive interview earlier in April.
China should be cautious with financial globalization
Discussions about globalization in the Chinese mainland are quite different from those in the US. In the mainland, the discussion basically focuses on the real economy or manufacturing. But big US companies already brought their manufacturing to other countries around the world several decades ago. In the US, the talk about globalization is mainly about finance, but it is rare to hear about financial globalization in China, and the difference is worth thinking about.
China can benefit from helping South Africa through hard times
South Africa can help extend the cooperation between China and Africa given its capability in mobilizing funds and coordination.
China's SOEs can aid B&R route countries in economic development
In addition, Chinese SOEs that specialize in infrastructure can also help B&R route countries make up for their shortcomings in economic development.
China’s property bubble requires supply-side reform
First, with housing prices soaring so high in China’s first-tier cities, who are those homebuyers and what kind of speculative mentality do they have? Second, given the similarities between China’s housing market and Japan’s housing bubble before it crashed, could there be a China bubble burst around the corner?