China Archives - Page 6 of 77

25Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

China

China’s Economy: How Bad Is It?

Good morning, or good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are. Welcome to this CSIS event, “China’s Economy: How Bad Is It?” That is a very unfair question. It’s very unbalanced, but I think that’s where we need to start this morning to talk about China’s economy. I visited China this summer for several weeks and went to many parts of the country, and was astounded by the technology progress that I saw in different companies in several sectors. But the real economy, the macroeconomy, seemed like it was on its back. The word “involution” – “neijuan” – is the word of the year in China: Mindless production for which there is no demand, with built-up inventories. And consumption seemed down just about everywhere I went, north and south, and the housing market seems like it’s in ba...

24Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

China

China’s economy vs the world. With Michael Pettis

Martin SandbuWe interview some quite impressive economists here at the FT — trusted advisers and confidants to world leaders, governors of powerful central banks, winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in economic sciences. But few, if any of them, can claim the experience of our guest today. He’s not only an influential economic commentator, he’s also the founder of an underground Chinese record label. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hello and welcome to The Economics Show from the Financial Times. I’m Martin Sandbu, the FT’s European economics commentator and writer of the Free Lunch newsletter on the global economic policy debate. And with me today is Michael Pettis. Michael is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment. He’s also a longtime professor at Peking University and other top Chines...

20Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

China

The New Buzzword That’s Scaring China

Competition in China is often far more cutthroat than in the United States. America has a handful of carmakers; China has more than 100 electric vehicle makers struggling for market share. China has so many solar panel makers that they produce 50 percent more than global demand. About 100 Chinese lithium battery producers churn out 25 percent more batteries than anyone wants to buy. This forces Chinese manufacturers to innovate, but it also leads to price wars, losses and bad debt — and that’s becoming a problem. China is heading toward deflation, the often catastrophic downward spiral of prices that sank Japan in the 1990s. Its leaders are blaming a culprit they call “involution” (“neijuan” in Mandarin), a term that has come to mean reckless domestic competition. They want to r...

US, China have framework for TikTok deal

16Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

China, USA

US, China have framework for TikTok deal

The US and China have a framework for a deal for TikTok. On Monday, President Trump alluded to the move via a post on Truth Social, saying that the countries had reached an deal for a "'certain' company that young people our Country very much wanted to be saved." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the countries had the makings of a deal saying, that China wants to keep some Chinese cultural aspects of the app. TikTok is set to go offline Sept. 17 unless parent company ByteDance divests itself of majority ownership of the social media app or Trump extends the deadline. He's already given the app a number of lifelines by extending its drop-dead date and has refused to enforce a law banning it. Trump initially raised concerns about TikTok during his first administra...

One Belt, One Road: China’s Strategy for a New Global Financial Order

15Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

Asia, China

One Belt, One Road: China’s Strategy for a New Global Financial Order

n late 2013, Chinese premier Xi Jinping announced a pair of new development and trade initiatives for China and the surrounding region: the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road,” together known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR).1 Along with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the OBOR policies represent an ambitious spatial expansion of Chinese state capitalism, driven by an excess of industrial production capacity, as well as by emerging financial capital interests. The Chinese government has publicly stressed the lessons of the 1930s overcapacity crisis in the West that precipitated the Second World War, and promoted these new initiatives in the name of “peaceful development.” Nevertheless, the turn to OBOR suggests a regional scena...

8Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

Asia, China

Solving the China puzzle

From app bans to joint ventures, the government has reset Chinese business in the country. The next step should be a structured model for sustainable engagement. The Prime Minister’s recent visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit has brought renewed attention to India’s approach towards business relations with its northern neighbour. Since then, several ministers have spoken in different ways suggesting the need to reassess ties, indicating a gradual shift from the restrictive stance taken after the 2020 border clashes. That episode, marked by the Galwan incident, had strengthened the government’s resolve to curb Chinese investments. The measures that followed were wide-ranging. Over 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok, were banned. More significantly,...

Record $322 billion in China loans for stock bets feeds volatility and prompts caution

6Sep

By Brian ThompsonNo Comments

China, Market

Record $322 billion in China loans for stock bets feeds volatility and prompts caution

China's investors borrowed a record $322 billion to buy stocks this year, but sharp corrections this week and heightened regulatory scrutiny to cool overheated markets are now making them jittery about the leveraged bets. While risks for China's broader financial system have been elevated for months due to deflation in the economy and a persistent property debt crisis, the stock investors' recent actions could add more pressure. Outstanding margin financing in China, a key gauge of sentiment and leverage level, hit a record 2.3 trillion yuan ($321.55 billion) this week. And some speculators are diverting consumer loans to stock trading. Those helped Shanghai stocks hit 10-year highs last week in a liquidity-driven rally despite a weak economy and simmering trade and...

<strong>Bangladesh curries favour with China, hit hard by India in trade</strong>

3Sep

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

Asia, China

Bangladesh curries favour with China, hit hard by India in trade

By banning imports to India from Bangladesh through land ports, New Delhi has hit back squarely against Dhaka for Chief Advisor of the interim government of Bangladesh Mohammed Yunus saying that he would help turn north-east India into a captive market for China. The latest was a ban on import of certain categories of jute products including bags into India from Bangladesh from the land borders starting 13th August 2025. Imports will only be permitted through the Nhava Sheva port Mumbai. This ban has hit hard the export of garments from Bangladesh, most of which reached India through land routes to West Bengal. The closure of the land ports has also jeopardised the export of Bangladeshi garments to third countries through Indian sea ports. Kolkata Port and Nhava Sheva Port in Mu...

Russia’s Putin denounces financial ‘neo-colonialism’ on eve of China visit

1Sep

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

China

Russia’s Putin denounces financial ‘neo-colonialism’ on eve of China visit

Russian leader calls for reform of World Bank, International Monetary Fund ahead of talks with China’s Xi Jinping. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced “discriminatory” Western sanctions abetted by an unfair financial system as his country’s economy teeters on the brink of recession, wounded by trade restrictions and the cost of his war in Ukraine. Putin made the comments in an interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency published on Saturday, on the eve of his trip to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and attend a massive parade commemorating the end of World War II after Japan’s formal surrender. “It is essential to end the use of finance as an instrument of neo-colonialism, which runs counter to the interests of the Global Majority,” Putin said...

China still waiting for factory activity lift-off as US wields new tech curbs

31Aug

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

China

China still waiting for factory activity lift-off as US wields new tech curbs

Headline PMI stalls in August, with overcapacity and weak domestic demand weighing on the economy China reported sluggish factory activity in August, as fresh US tech curbs threatened to undermine Beijing’s push into advanced manufacturing. The National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday that the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for August was 49.4, edging up from 49.3 in July. The headline reading has remained below the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction since April, as strains persist in the industrial sector. The non-manufacturing measure of activity in construction and services rose to 50.3 from 50.1 last month, according to the bureau. The data highlights the pressure on China’s manufacturing sector, which is weighed dow...

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