China has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over discriminatory subsidies on new-energy vehicles (NEVs) under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). When reporting on China's actions, some Western media outlets made a special mention of how China is now accused of "providing subsidies to the NEV industry," too. It seems worthwhile to clarify the difference between China's support for its renewable energy sectors and discriminatory US subsidies for NEVs.
Chinese science and technology have made rapid progress and significant achievements over past decades. While supporting the high-quality development of the domestic economy and leading the continuous upgrading of industries, Chinese science and technology endeavors have also made important contributions to world technology advancement. In the future, the prospects for the development of Chinese science and technology are being viewed as even brighter than past decades, and there will be more "Chinese elements" in the progress of world scientific and technological development.
Amid hype by US politicians and media outlets about geopolitical tensions, Apple CEO Tim Cook has become a frequent visitor to China. He is actually in a position to attract public attention, as his visit, to some extent, mirrors the complexity of China's interactions with the world economy.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly emerging and shaking up the world like few things before. Global businesses, led by big tech companies, are racing to train their AI models with vast amounts of data and carefully crafted algorithms in their urgent efforts to develop innovative tools that will transform their production or service models to outperform their competitors.
The Chinese government work report submitted on March 5 to the national legislature set an "around 5 percent" GDP growth target for 2024, and China's pursuit of new quality productive forces has become a major focus at the two sessions in early March. Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Bai Yunyi spoke to veteran economist Tatsuhito Tokuchi, executive board member and research fellow at Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance of Tsinghua University and former chairman of CITIC Securities International Co Ltd, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing China's economy.
The rapid development of the Global South is having a significant impact on the world economic and political landscape. Propelling indigenous development and accelerating economic modernization remain crucial tasks faced by the developing countries in the Global South, so it is of great importance for the countries to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning of development ideas.
As the US is attempting to regain some of the manufacturing output it transferred in recent decades to emerging countries, many companies have already chosen to settle their production facilities in Mexico, due to its lower costs.
The Western media has paid close attention to the Chinese economy as it transforms its model of growth. But, while many have been focusing on the supply side, hyping China's meteoric rise in manufacturing and the rising level of exports, less attention has been paid to the demand side.
The US has sought to restrict exports of semiconductor technologies and chipmaking equipment to crush China but, so far, the effect has been limited. As a result, it seems the US has begun to adjust its strategy, consulting its allies to combat China's chip exports.
It is interesting that not long after Chinese customs data showed China's exports to and imports from Brazil both rose by about one-third in January and February, some Western media outlets began to eagerly attack and smear trade between the two countries, trying to create a false impression that Brazil is a victim of China's dumping of cheap goods.
US President Joe Biden, delivering his annual State of the Union address to Congress recently, announced that his administration wants "competition with China, not conflict." He boasted his policies for contributing to the US having the "best economy" in the world, contrasting them with what he described as the only "tough talk" on China from his predecessor. He even declared that "America is rising" under his leadership.
It has always been US' desire to persuade allies to tighten curbs on China's access to semiconductor technology, but South Korean policymakers must be clear-minded that every step taken by Seoul to back down will result in catastrophic economic losses for South Korean semiconductor makers.
As the global economy faces many uncertainties, China's stable foreign trade provides important support for the stability of the world economy. More importantly, in contrast to certain countries' anti-globalization behavior, China steadfastly promotes free trade and high-level opening-up
High-quality development is the first and foremost task of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, while developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and a significant focus of promoting high-quality development in China.
A recent theory claiming that a surge in China's exports has put "jobs around the world in jeopardy" reached its culmination after official data revealed that China's exports, measured in yuan terms, rose 10.3 percent year-on-year in January and February. Regardless of whether or not China's exports increase, Western media outlets can always find ways to smear China's economy. It seems they have largely lost the ability to objectively assess China's economic performance.
To accomplish Basic Law Article 23 legislation as soon as possible is the top priority of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Experiences from Western countries and neighboring regions showed that the implementation of legislation to maintain national security can help attract more investment and boost business activity and economic growth.
Some Indians may truly believe that trade protectionism can help accelerate the localization of smartphone manufacturing in the country, but those people are going to be deeply disappointed by the result.
Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser was quoted as saying on Sunday that the oil giant was looking at further opportunities to invest in China, underscoring the attractiveness of the Chinese market.
China's central government has unveiled this year's GDP growth target, at about 5 percent, on par with last year's rate. The target has made market investors rejoice, giving them higher confidence in an across-the-board revival of China-related equities and other assets in the coming months. As expected, the country's A-share market has held on to strong gains in the past two weeks of robust trading.
China's A-share market is again making headlines as media outlets, citing Morgan Stanley analysts, said that "global funds are returning to China stocks." It seems that what has collapsed is the "China collapse" theory, not China's stock market.
If EU policymakers plan to register Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports as reported, they should think twice before taking action. Customs registration will inevitably deal a heavy blow to market confidence, and bring losses that are hard to calculate for the bloc's green transformation efforts.
Rhetoric from US officials like Blinken attempting to discredit China's investments in the PICs cannot fool anyone. The attempts by the US to interfere with the PICs' legitimate rights to freely choose to expand economic and trade cooperation with China are futile.
A root cause of why the US-launched smear campaign against the Chinese economy has become hysterical lies in the fact that only by vilifying China can the US-led West find an excuse for its unjust actions and attacks against the Chinese economy.
The US government's new policy toward China is driven by trade protectionism, offering the world further evidence of economic bullying and coercion.
Foreign watchers' pessimistic views on China's economy stem from ignorance of the logic of China's economic policy formation. As the weighting of China's policy-making has shifted more toward development, the outlook for GDP growth in 2024 is promising.
The good news is that EU members blocked on Wednesday new rules requiring large companies to check if their supply chains use so-called forced labor or cause environmental damage, but it is not yet time to celebrate, as there are still many tough battles ahead.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Ahn Duk-geun, the South Korean minister for trade, industry and energy, held a telephone conversation on Tuesday. In their conversation, Ahn expressed willingness to enhance industrial cooperation with the US and called for more support over the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), CHIPS Act subsidies and other trade issues.
#US once promoted the #spacerace, hoping to achieve its goal of establishing hegemony in this field. Now, the #US repeats its old tricks, trying to establish #chip hegemony, but its efforts are doomed to fail.
TSMC officially opened Japan's most advanced wafer fab in Kumamoto on Saturday, Taiwan media outlets reported. However, the plant, which has long been anticipated by politicians on the island of Taiwan and Japan, may find it hard to bring expected economic benefits to its parent company.
A recent report by KOTRA, a trade facilitation body funded by the South Korean government, offers a new perspective on China's aviation industry and the C919, which is considered a symbol of China's desire to become an aviation nation. It's a much-needed wake-up call for those who hype the competition between the C919 and aircraft developed by Boeing and Airbus.
A reviving real estate sector, coupled with a rallying stock market, will strongly accelerate overall social confidence and the ordinary households' sense of wealth gain in China, which will help lift up GDP growth in 2024.
Europe was once the world's leader in terms of the development of wind energy, but right now, some industry leaders have to resort to trade protectionism to stave off competition from China. This is the tragedy of Europe's wind power industry.
China needs to play a constructive role in talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reform global trade rules on industry subsidies, or risk rivals setting their own policies at China's expense, European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Chinese companies in India have reportedly agreed, under pressure from the Indian government, to outsource their manufacturing processes to Indian companies, a move that local media outlets hailed as a "big victory" for local players. However, it is likened to an "arranged marriage," and it may disrupt normal cooperation in business and trade if normal business decisions are subject to the government intervention.
It is not much of a surprise that Apple appears to be facing an uphill battle to reverse falling iPhone sales in China. Analysis of the manufacturing industry and supply chain may help people see Apple's performance in China from a new perspective.
China has recently moved to prop up its stock market, in an intensified bid to strengthen investor confidence and shore up domestic buying power that underpins China's overall economic rebound. A set of well-coordinated macro policy tools are necessary to backstop the market. It is of great importance for the policymakers to rectify market malpractices and overturn the negative market narrative.
While some political elites play up "de-risking" from China, German companies have obviously voted with their feet. Their direct investment in China reached a record of nearly 12 billion euros ($13 billion) in 2023, Bloomberg reported.
It is not surprising that some Western observers and media outlets are once again resorting to promoting the "China threat" theory in order to exert pressure on Chinese manufacturing industries. This time, their target is China's shipbuilding sector. Vigilantly, these false accusations have the potential to disrupt the global supply chain and further harm the world's already fragile economy.
Does the US enjoy absolute power that enables the country to exclude China from the global financial system? It certainly does not. American politicians who try to use the financial influence of the US as leverage to intervene in China's domestic affairs should wake up from their daydreaming.
The relatively lower price level of #Chinese economy does not represent the risks Western media hyped. Instead, it gives ample room for #China's counter-cyclical adjustments to bolster economy.
The Financial Times Chinese edition published an op-ed piece recently saying that stalled trade agendas are pushing some senior American trade officials out the door, but the flurry of resignations won't get US trade policy out of its predicament. We worry that Washington's inaction to promote trade facilitation may cast shadows over global trade.
Sri Lanka was hit in 2022 by one of its worst economic crises in history. But now, to stabilize its economy, the island country has been renewing a focus on free trade to foster economic growth. The question remaining is how the country can find a suitable and stable path of economic development amid the complex geopolitical environment.
Major Chinese cities, including Guangzhou, Suzhou, Zhengzhou and Shanghai, have moved to relax curbs on property buying. This will enable permanent and temporary residents in those cities to purchase homes on much easier terms. For example, Guangzhou has recently ruled that apartments with a floor space of more than 120 square meters can now be freely purchased, without any restrictions on the number of apartments to be bought. Suzhou has removed all previous restrictions.
India cut the import duty on a number of mobile phone components to 10 percent from 15 percent, which has brought much-needed good news to the country's mobile phone manufacturing sector. Yet it is not enough.
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese economy had experienced a relatively stable growth rate for many years. However, the virus had a significant impact on the economy. In 2020, thanks to effective measures in combating the virus, the Chinese economy quickly rebounded from a contraction.
Despite Western smears, Xinjiang has entered the fast lane of development. It is possible that Xinjiang will become another manufacturing center in China, constituting an important part of the story of China's manufacturing transformation and upgrading.
As a further sign of instability in Australia's lithium market, the country's biggest lithium mine has become the latest to feel the pain of global overcapacity. Amid economic uncertainty, multi-dimensional cooperation between China and Australia is necessary to help stabilize the market.
If Japan were to take similar actions as the US in tightening export controls, which would affect trade with China, it would seriously harm the interests of Japanese businesses and backfire on the Japanese economy.
Financial strength enables growth. In 2024, China has the financial capacity to accelerate economic growth as Chinese banks are holding a massive pool of savings equal to 288 trillion yuan ($40 trillion) across all types of entities and Chinese households.
Apple's long-awaited mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, is a hot topic in the tech world ahead of its coming debut at the US Apple Store on February 2. Extensive media attention has been drawn to the complex supply chain behind the Vision Pro hardware, with many saying that China's supply chain plays a significant role in its manufacturing. Some industry insiders claim that Chinese mainland companies account for about 60 percent of the supply chain.
China's increasing industrial investment does not equate to "a crisis of overcapacity." Whether China exports advanced production capacity or excess capacity should be determined by the global market, instead of Western politicians and media outlets.
The reported visit to China by a delegation of senior Japanese business leaders, led by Shindo Kosei, head of the Japan-China Economic Association, comes in time to strengthen communication and coordination in order to stabilize bilateral economic relations. According to Japanese media outlets, this is Japanese business leaders' first visit to China in approximately four years.
US lawmakers have reportedly banned the Defense Department from purchasing batteries produced by China's largest manufacturers. Although this restriction has not yet been applied to commercial purchases, an economic decoupling of the Pentagon's supply chain from China has become a matter of concern. There are worries that this anti-market suppression against Chinese battery manufacturers may escalate, resulting in negative consequences for both sides.
American pundits, driven by ideology, have been predicting an imminent collapse of Chinese economy since early this century, but so far, they haven't succeeded as they have underestimated Chinese system's resilience.
Does China need “big stimulus” to support economic rebound? In China, many believe policy easing will continue but “big stimulus” unlikely in 2024.
A widely disseminated online chart comparing China's exports to the Global South and the Global North has offered a new perspective for people to see the ongoing realignment of global trade. For a long time to come, the realignment may continue.
There has been a lot of discussion about the rise or fall of China-US trade, but less attention has been paid to another important participant in global industry chains - Southeast Asia. A Bloomberg article said Monday that for the first time, China exported more to Southeast Asia in 2023 than to the US. If Bloomberg's report is true, the news can be seen as a new milestone for the realignment of global trade.
Although calls for a chip manufacturing technology upgrading at SK Hynix's China plant have been heard for years, the process is constantly being interrupted by US restrictions on tech exports to China. SK Hynix has delayed that upgrading for too long. Now, changes should be made.
China has announced a fresh target for its fast-growing new-energy vehicle (NEV) industry, with a document from the State Council, China's cabinet, stating that yearly NEV sales will account for 45 percent of the total by 2027. Older internal combustion engine (ICE) buses, cars and trucks will be largely phased out.
The Central Economic Work Conference at the end of 2023 proposed "accelerating the cultivation of new momentum in foreign trade." Notably, this is the first time the meeting has referenced the expansion of intermediate goods trade, emphasizing it as a priority item.
The GDP growth target set by China at the beginning of 2023 was around 5 percent. With the GDP growth standing at 3 percent in 2022, the 5 percent target is a goal that allows for sufficient flexibility. Based on the currently available economic data, it is already certain that China's GDP growth rate will exceed 5 percent in 2023.
China's foreign trade in 2023, especially the imports of some key tradable commodities such as integrated circuits (IC), has drawn increasing attention. From January to November last year, China's IC imports fell 12.1 percent in terms of quantity, and that may show that China's dependence on IC imports has declined.
China has reportedly overtaken Japan as the world's largest auto exporter, but there are still thorny challenges ahead. A key question is how to hedge against increasing import barriers, tangible or intangible, from the West. Amid fierce competition, can China maintain its position as the world's leading auto exporter for a long time?
In the first week of 2024, Apple got off to a rocky start in China, one of the company's largest markets. Analysts see a rough year ahead for the iPhone maker in the Chinese market, but that doesn't mean China's attractiveness as a place to do business and or invest in is declining.
Despite the US-led "decoupling" efforts to weaken Chinese manufacturing capability, China's prominence in global supply chain and its endowed position as a leading global manufacturing hub in the world has not receded, if not substantially shored up thanks to the government's strenuous bid to shore up technology self-reliance.
JPMorgan reportedly raised the alarm over the soaring US national debt, likening it to a "boiling frog" phenomenon for the economy. The warning deserves the serious attention of top US officials, but, unfortunately, they will likely remain as indifferent as ever.
For a prolonged period of time, #US politicians have been attributing a range of the country's social problems, such as deindustrialization, job loss, class inequality and even obesity and drug addiction, to free trade and globalization, which is absurd.
China's BYD made the headlines in recent days as it outsold electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023. Holding a sour-grapes mentality, some Western media outlets again hyped zero-sum competition, which is based on the bizarre logic of anti-economics claims. Such misleading hype could make businesses in the West miss the dividends of a restructuring of the global industry chain, or, more precisely, a Chinese investment boom.
The processing trade is one of the sectors most affected by rising labor costs in China. In the eyes of some Westerners, China's labor-intensive processing trade has lost its competitiveness, but the real story of the labor-intensive industry chain is much more complex than the industrial transfer trend as depicted by these pessimists.
South Korea's rare trade deficit with China reminds Seoul of necessity, urgency to tap potential for economic complementarity, especially in the field of high-tech intermediate goods.
A shift in the types of goods transported in recent years, with a greater emphasis on high-value goods such as phones, computers and semiconductors, has led to an increase in demand for faster modes of transport compared to ocean freight, as it does not freeze significant capital and reduces insurance premiums.
As the new year of 2024 has begun, Chinese people are hopeful of a more substantive rise in family incomes than in 2023. But uncertainties will continue to engulf the world, including hot conflicts, cold economic wars, blockades of important waterways like the Red Sea, and possibly, another comical or farcical presidential election in the US.
The C919, China's first domestically produced passenger aircraft, which made its first commercial flight in May, is again drawing attention as the year comes to a close. Air China has reportedly become the second customer for the C919, after China Eastern Airlines, and the new order was made at a higher price.
While some Indians have been focusing on nationalism, protectionism and using border disputes as an excuse to suppress Chinese enterprises, less attention has been paid to the stories of Indian businesspeople who have been dragged into the vortex of geopolitics.
China has been paring its holdings of US government bonds for months, as the country's total stockpile of US Treasury debt narrowed to less than $770 billion in October.
More economists have stressed the urgency of diversified Eurasian trade routes, which should be noted by European policymakers, some of whom still view the BRI through geopolitical lens, although the initiative has improved trade connectivity.
Foreign investors in November unexpectedly buy a large amount of domestic bonds in #China, debunking the hype of "foreign capital flight," serving as a strong testament for China's economic resilience in the face of global economic challenges.
While Western media outlets claim China has been hit by sanctions from the US-led West over so-called "forced labor," the country is actually working in the opposite direction to break the blockade. China is promoting the development of Xinjiang's cotton industry, and further opening up to consolidate and enhance its position in global supply chains. A new national-level cotton and yarn trading center in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is expected to be a crucial step in this effort.
China's tourism sector has largely bounced back as major benchmarks have returned to their pre-pandemic levels in 2023. The China Tourism Academy, a research institute under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has forecasted the overall tourism revenues will reach 5.2 trillion yuan ($735 billion) this year, or hitting 91 percent of the figure for 2019.
East Buy, a subsidiary of Chinese private tutoring giant New Oriental, has been a focus of public opinion in recent days. Internal conflicts within a company have rarely attracted such strong social attention, but this time it is an exception, reflecting the rapid evolution of China's consumer ecology and the complex impacts it has had on the economy and society.
Britain's National Grid has started removing components supplied by a unit of China-based Nari Technology from its electricity transmission network over "cybersecurity fears," the Financial Times said on Sunday. If the report is true, it is likely that Britain's energy transition will face significant obstacles due to the prevailing inertia of geopolitical thinking.
China's annual Central Economic Work Conference, held in Beijing last week, has garnered extensive attention from the world for its importance in setting the roadmap and targets for the country's economic development next year. At the meeting, Chinese policymakers are seen setting their eyes squarely on revolutionary new technologies that will lead China's next-phase efforts toward realizing Chinese-style modernization.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from December 11 to 12, as Chinese leaders decided priorities for the economic work in 2024. It was noted at the meeting that China's economy has achieved recovery, with solid progress made in high-quality development in 2023.
In an article entitled "China exports deflation as home demand for steel and autos low," Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asia said on Tuesday that prices of approximately 70 percent of China's major exports, such as steel and cars, have decreased over the past year.
Despite previous setbacks, TikTok has revived its e-commerce business in Indonesia. This, to some extent, reflects TikTok's ability to deal with risks arising from local policy changes, and, more importantly, it shows that an open market is always a "positive asset" for economic development. Some policymakers, in particular those in the West, are incorrect in viewing Chinese high-tech companies from the perspective of geopolitics and zero-sum competition.
It's widely believed that South Korea and the Netherlands, two of the leading players in global chip supply chains, will enhance their cooperation in semiconductors and even establish a "chip alliance" during South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's ongoing state visit to the Netherlands.
Moody's rating agency's downgrading of outlook on #China's government credit rating, from “stable” to “negative,” is an example of propaganda pretending to be a business judgement. Experience shows that such activity can be extremely expensive for those acting on it.
Global investors are becoming optimistic that the US Federal Reserve has leaned toward maintaining the current interest rates intact for a third time at the FOMC's upcoming meeting on December 12-13. And, the US central bank is likely to keep the interest rates at current levels in the coming six months before eventually reducing the benchmark rates sometime around June next year.
Despite external uncertainty and Moody's downgrade warning, China may get a window of opportunity to further internationalize its sovereign bonds. In a notice posted on its website, China's Ministry of Finance said it will issue yuan-denominated treasury bonds worth a total of 10 billion yuan ($1.39 billion) on Tuesday in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
Moody's should pay more attention to new economic driving forces and tech-led transformation taking place in China, and exercise caution before assigning the “negative outlook” to such a dynamic economy, and Moody's should never underestimate Chinese government's ability of policy maneuvering.
As Apple appears to accelerate its supply chain shift from China to India, there is a rising urgency for China to protect its critical supply chain capacity.
It is costly to shift supply chains, and Western companies will soon realize this if they attempt to diversify their supply chains away from China to countries like India.
With the price of lithium carbonate crashing amid an oversupplied market, one question worth considering is: how to avoid being caught in a geopolitical trap and ensure the stability of the global lithium industry and supply chains.
New economic data released by South Korea deserves attention. The best way to avoid the trap of low-end semiconductor competition is to open a new path to form a more sustainable high-end semiconductor supply chain between China and South Korea.
The world's automobile industry is witnessing a fast transformation, from principally manufacturing and assembling in the past to become a technology-intensive industry, led by electrification, internet connectivity, autonomous driving and intelligence, like in-vehicle infotainment system.
It was reported in late November that British Investment Minister Dominic Johnson wanted to attract Chinese automakers to move their manufacturing facilities to the UK. This is an interesting development, especially considering Europe's announcement of an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers.
Albanese' November visit to China should be remembered as setting a new milestone, as the two countries look forward to ushering in the next 50 years of more constructive and friendly cooperation.
As the COP28 conference opened on Thursday with a resounding call to accelerate global climate action, the green economy has become a hot topic. In China's pursuit of high-quality and low-carbon development, green renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs) have rapidly gained momentum, and become key drivers of Chinese economy.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is importing more goods to the US from India and reducing its reliance on China as it looks to cut costs and diversify its supply chains, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
A recent New York Times report has drawn public attention as it said that the CIA and other US spy agencies warned United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm G42 over its cooperation with large Chinese companies that US officials consider "security threats."