China

In the first three quarters of 2025, China's economy maintained steady performance despite a complex external environment and domestic structural adjustment pressures. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's gross domestic product grew by 5.2 percent year-on-year. This rate not only surpasses most major economies, but also demonstrates the strong resilience of the Chinese economy. The World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report released in June forecasted global economic growth at 2.3 percent in 2025. In this challenging global environment, China's remarkable performance stems fundamentally from a profound process of "power transformation" and "system upgrading". This is not a simple repetition of past models, but rather a comprehensive evolution ...

Xi Jinping has lofty goals for 2035. But China faces a real problem he island of Aruba, off the coast of Venezuela, has a population of just 108,000. Its economy, once dependent on breeding horses, pivoted into sifting gold then refining oil. Now it relies on attracting tourists to its white beaches, 24-hour casinos and daily games of bingo. An island just 32km long would not seem to have many bragging rights over the world’s second-biggest economy. But tiny Aruba has achieved something China’s leaders would dearly love to emulate. It more than doubled its GDP per person in less than 15 years. And it accomplished that feat even after reaching the income per person that China has recently attained.

China’s lending since the turn of the century has been “vastly” larger than previously understood, with loans and grants increasingly going to developed countries including the United States – the largest recipient – according to a new report by an American university research team. Of the US$2.2 trillion disbursed by China’s “official sector” between 2000 and 2023, nearly US$202 billion went to projects in the US, the AidData research lab at Virginia-based university William & Mary found. “Our data demonstrate that the US – a high-income country – is the single largest recipient of official sector credit from China. This finding is both unexpected and counterintuitive,” wrote researchers of the study released on Tuesday. “This is an extraordinary discovery, given that th...

Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the Fourth Plenum in Beijing last month outlined the guidelines for the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). There was a clear determination to focus on technological self-reliance, building a “high-quality productive forces” economic model based on innovation and a strong industrial base that would be resilient against external threats and headwinds. At the Beijing Finance Street Forum at the end of October, Vice Premier He Lifeng stressed the need for China's financial system to advance risk prevention, strengthen regulation, promote high-quality development and push for high-standard opening-up. Since 2026-30 will be a key period for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, a high-quality productive real economy model wil...

As an important instrument for infrastructure financing, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been widely utilised by the Chinese government. China Finance Review International (CFRI) brings you an article titled “Determinants for the Desirability of Public-Private Partnership Mode in Infrastructure Development”, which examines the factors that influence the success and failure of PPP projects in China. With nearly 14,000 PPP projects proposed between 2009 and 2022, representing over 20 trillion yuan in investment, the study addresses growing concerns about local government implicit debt and the need for more sustainable partnership models. Methodology and Scope Using a manually collected dataset of over 12,000 PPP projects from 2019 to 2022, the author analyse...

Starbucks says it is selling a 60% stake in its business in China as part of a $4bn (£3.04bn) deal with investment firm Boyu Capital. Under the agreement, the world's biggest coffee chain will have a 40% stake in the Chinese retail operation and retain ownership of the Starbucks brand there. Starbucks entered Chinain 1999 and the country is now its second-largest market outside the US, but has struggled in recent years with the rise of homegrown brands like Luckin Coffee. The business will continue to be headquartered in Shanghai and will own and operate 8,000 outlets in the Chinese market, with plans to grow to as many as 20,000 locations, the firm said on Monday. The partnership with Boyu is a "significant milestone" and signals its plans for long-term growth in Chi...

China's financial regulator plans to support Chinese banks and insurers to use Hong Kong as a hub for international financial services. Zhou Liang, vice minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, announced improved regulatory cooperation to mitigate cross-border financial risks between the mainland and Hong Kong. China's financial regulator is set to enhance support for Chinese banks and insurers, leveraging Hong Kong as a gateway for expanding financial services to Chinese enterprises venturing overseas. The announcement was made by Zhou Liang, the vice minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, on Tuesday. In an effort to address financial challenges that could arise from cross-border business, the regulator is committed to improving the f...