China

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...

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, a major port in northern China, from August 31 to September 1 is the largest-ever in history. It is taking place as the world faces a Trumpian trade and tariff war, which is destabilising the global financial system. Additionally, as America disrupts the world and cuts aid to the United Nations (UN), the outstanding guest is UN Secretary-General António Guterres who has hailed China as a cornerstone in defending multilateralism. President Xi Jinping, in turn, has assured him that China is a “reliable partner” to the UN. Xi has already met several leaders from Asia, Europe, and Africa, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who are attending the summit. To Modi, Xi has stressed that their countries should be rivals not part...

Premier Li Qiang called for more action to boost consumption and investment, following a concerning set of economic data for July Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for more action to boost consumption and investment, as the world’s second-largest economy strives to meet its annual growth targets despite facing growing headwinds in the second half of the year. “[We] should recognise the hard-won achievements and the strong resilience as well as dynamism of China’s economy, reinforcing confidence, while also acknowledging the risks and challenges in the economy and the complex external environment,” he told a meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, on Monday. Li stressed the need for measures to drive up consumption and investment, specifically mentioning the need to f...

The technological and strategic brilliance of its world-class companies are being swamped by macroeconomic troubles roclamations about the inevitability of China’s dominance of the global economic system, or the so-called Chinese century, were made long before Donald Trump’s attempts to stymie its trade with the US. Common concerns about coercive politics and human rights aside, some notions of China as an unstoppable economic, technological and military behemoth sit alongside others focused more on an increasingly sclerotic, over- centralised political economy, that depends on wasteful economic stimulus, and features poor governance and institutions. The fusion of these notions suggests that we may already have reached “peak China”. At the time of the 2008 financial crisis, ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China will remain consistent in its position on the Ukraine crisis and will continue promoting peace talks no matter how the situation evolves, CGTN reported. In his phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi elaborated on China's principled stance on the crisis and stressed that complex issues have no simple solutions. The Chinese side is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Xi said. Putin, on his part, shared Russia's perspective on the current situation of the Ukraine crisis and the recent interactions between Russia and the United States. He said Russia highly appreciates China's constructive role in promoti...