China
China Takes Note As Wall Street Gets Occupied
Getty Images Tourists from China chatting with protesters at Occupy Chicago, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The Occupy Wall Street protests in the U.S. have drawn increasing attention in China, where media figures and China’s voluble online community are arguing over what it means for the U.S. Earlier this week, a small group of pensioners in China’s central Henan province even rallied in support of the U.S. protesters, though nostalgia for Mao Zedong’s bygone era appeared to be a main driver. “Resolutely supporting the American people’s mighty ‘Wall Street revolution,’” read an unfurled banner during the demonstration Thursday at a park in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, according to video footage posted online as well as the leftist website Utopia. The website said several hundred people took part. It seems safe to say–as Obama administration officials debate whether to adopt a more populist tone and appeal to the protesters as a voting bloc—that this is not what they had in mind. Based on the online video, it was a quiet protest. Some of the old men fumbled with their red arm bands, which called for world-wide solidarity. Many simplly stood quietly, hands clasped behind their backs. “United, proletarians around the world,” was one of the slogans the pensioners chanted. The Henan demonstration was a far cry from Mao’s anti-rightist campaigns during the early years of the Communist party’s rule, but a deeper discussion has been brewing within China’s media and Internet about the protests. The protests have become big news in China and have been closely followed by the local media. They have also drawn mixed reactions. Some have been pleased to see frictions in the U.S., showing that its occasionally finger-waving democratic rival can be less than perfect. Still others sympathized with the protesters, which is perhaps understandable in a nation grappling with its own surging brand of capitalism and where major institutions hold so much power. Late last month, a strongly worded op-ed appeared in the state-run China Daily newspaper accusing the U.S. media of ignoring the demonstrations. The piece, penned by Chen Weihua, a senior newspaper staffer based in New York, said major media companies in the U.S. had imposed a “blackout” on coverage of the protests. Why have the journalists “who made their names covering various protests around the world, suddenly become silent in reporting the mass rally?” Mr. Chen wrote. The editorial drew a heated response from one of China’s most popular political bloggers, Yang Hengjun, who said growing media coverage in the U.S. demonstrated otherwise. “For a paper like China Daily, supported by taxpayers, to publish such an irresponsible editorial — well, drawing the scorn of others is one thing, but if you blatantly lie and deceive to this degree, that reflects badly on China’s government! It reflects badly on the Chinese people! It is completely shameful!” Mr. Yang wrote (translated to English here ). “Perhaps the author harbors ulterior motives, wanting his false news to turn the attention of all Chinese who know how to conduct a basic online search to real news about non-democratic countries.” And on Sina Weibo, the popular microblogging service, where on any given day it’s not difficult to find talk of democracy and political reform, the protests presented a chance for some to challenge the U.S. political and economic systems. “American democracy is serving who?” one user wrote. “Are the common folks truly able to enjoy freedom, equality, and democracy?” –Brian Spegele. Follow him on Twitter @bspegele.
- Getty Images
- Tourists from China chatting with protesters at Occupy Chicago, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The Occupy Wall Street protests in the U.S. have drawn increasing attention in China, where media figures and China’s voluble online community are arguing over what it means for the U.S.
Earlier this week, a small group of pensioners in China’s central Henan province even rallied in support of the U.S. protesters, though nostalgia for Mao Zedong’s bygone era appeared to be a main driver.
“Resolutely supporting the American people’s mighty ‘Wall Street revolution,’” read an unfurled banner during the demonstration Thursday at a park in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, according to video footage posted online as well as the leftist website Utopia. The website said several hundred people took part.
It seems safe to say–as Obama administration officials debate whether to adopt a more populist tone and appeal to the protesters as a voting bloc—that this is not what they had in mind.
Based on the online video, it was a quiet protest. Some of the old men fumbled with their red arm bands, which called for world-wide solidarity. Many simplly stood quietly, hands clasped behind their backs.
“United, proletarians around the world,” was one of the slogans the pensioners chanted.
The Henan demonstration was a far cry from Mao’s anti-rightist campaigns during the early years of the Communist party’s rule, but a deeper discussion has been brewing within China’s media and Internet about the protests.
The protests have become big news in China and have been closely followed by the local media. They have also drawn mixed reactions. Some have been pleased to see frictions in the U.S., showing that its occasionally finger-waving democratic rival can be less than perfect. Still others sympathized with the protesters, which is perhaps understandable in a nation grappling with its own surging brand of capitalism and where major institutions hold so much power.
Late last month, a strongly worded op-ed appeared in the state-run China Daily newspaper accusing the U.S. media of ignoring the demonstrations. The piece, penned by Chen Weihua, a senior newspaper staffer based in New York, said major media companies in the U.S. had imposed a “blackout” on coverage of the protests.
Why have the journalists “who made their names covering various protests around the world, suddenly become silent in reporting the mass rally?” Mr. Chen wrote.
The editorial drew a heated response from one of China’s most popular political bloggers, Yang Hengjun, who said growing media coverage in the U.S. demonstrated otherwise.
“For a paper like China Daily, supported by taxpayers, to publish such an irresponsible editorial — well, drawing the scorn of others is one thing, but if you blatantly lie and deceive to this degree, that reflects badly on China’s government! It reflects badly on the Chinese people! It is completely shameful!” Mr. Yang wrote (translated to English here). “Perhaps the author harbors ulterior motives, wanting his false news to turn the attention of all Chinese who know how to conduct a basic online search to real news about non-democratic countries.”
And on Sina Weibo, the popular microblogging service, where on any given day it’s not difficult to find talk of democracy and political reform, the protests presented a chance for some to challenge the U.S. political and economic systems.
“American democracy is serving who?” one user wrote. “Are the common folks truly able to enjoy freedom, equality, and democracy?”
–Brian Spegele. Follow him on Twitter @bspegele.
In recent years, China has re-invigorated its support for leading state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to “economic security,” explicitly looking to foster globally competitive national champions.
Economic development has been more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and approximately 200 million rural laborers and their dependents have relocated to urban areas to find work.
The government has also focused on foreign trade as a major vehicle for economic growth.
Some economists believe that Chinese economic growth has been in fact understated during much of the 1990s and early 2000s, failing to fully factor in the growth driven by the private sector and that the extent at which China is dependent on exports is exaggerated.
The two most important sectors of the economy have traditionally been agriculture and industry, which together employ more than 70 percent of the labor force and produce more than 60 percent of GDP.
A report by UBS in 2009 concluded that China has experienced total factor productivity growth of 4 per cent per year since 1990, one of the fastest improvements in world economic history.
By the early 1990s these subsidies began to be eliminated, in large part due to China’s admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which carried with it requirements for further economic liberalization and deregulation.
China now ranks as the fifth largest global investor in outbound direct investment (ODI) with a total volume of $56.5 billion, compared to a ranking of 12th in 2008, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.
From January to June, the ODI in financial sectors was up by 44 percent to $17.9 billion, and in July alone, the ODI recorded $8.91 billion, the highest this year.
China reiterated the nation’s goals for the next decade – increasing market share of pure-electric and plug-in electric autos, building world-competitive auto makers and parts manufacturers in the energy-efficient auto sector as well as raising fuel-efficiency to world levels.
Although China is still a developing country with a relatively low per capita income, it has experienced tremendous economic growth since the late 1970s.
Despite initial gains in farmers’ incomes in the early 1980s, taxes and fees have increasingly made farming an unprofitable occupation, and because the state owns all land farmers have at times been easily evicted when croplands are sought by developers.
Except for the oasis farming in Xinjiang and Qinghai, some irrigated areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, and sheltered valleys in Tibet, agricultural production is restricted to the east.
Due to improved technology, the fishing industry has grown considerably since the late 1970s.
There are also extensive iron-ore deposits; the largest mines are at Anshan and Benxi, in Liaoning province.
China is among the world’s four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore.
In addition, implementation of some reforms was stalled by fears of social dislocation and by political opposition, but by 2007 economic changes had become so great that the Communist party added legal protection for private property rights (while preserving state ownership of all land) and passed a labor law designed to improve the protection of workers’ rights (the law was passed amid a series of police raids that freed workers engaged in forced labor).
There are railroads to North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, and Vietnam, and road connections to Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Myanmar.
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China Takes Note As Wall Street Gets Occupied
China
China’s November 2024 Economy: Navigating Mixed Signals and Ongoing Challenges
In November 2024, China’s economy exhibited mixed results: industrial production rose by 5.4%, while retail sales grew only 3%, below forecasts. Fixed asset investment also faltered. Policymakers are anticipated to introduce measures to stimulate domestic demand and combat deflation.
China’s economy showed mixed performance in November 2024, with industrial production and exports showing resilience, while retail sales and fixed asset investment underperformed, amid ongoing challenges in the property sector. Policymakers are expected to implement targeted fiscal and monetary measures to boost domestic demand and address deflationary pressures.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released China’s economy data for November 2024, revealing a mixed performance across key indicators. Retail sales grew by 3 percent year-on-year, a significant slowdown from October’s 4.8 percent growth and well below the 4.6 percent forecast. Industrial production, however, showed resilience, rising by 5.4 percent and exceeding expectations of 5.3 percent growth.
The property sector continued to drag on the broader economy, with real estate investment contracting by 10.4 percent for the January-to-November period, further highlighting the challenges in stabilizing the sector. Fixed asset investment also fell short of expectations, growing by 3.3 percent year-to-date, down from 3.4 percent in October.
In November, China’s industrial value added (IVA) grew by 5.4 percent year-on-year (YoY), slightly accelerating from the 5.3 percent recorded in October. This modest improvement reflects continued recovery in key industries, supported by recent stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing the economy.
The manufacturing sector led the growth, expanding by 6.0 percent YoY, while the power, heat, gas, and water production and supply sector grew by 1.6 percent. The mining industry posted a 4.2 percent YoY increase. Notably, advanced industries outpaced overall growth, with equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing rising by 7.6 percent and 7.8 percent YoY, respectively, underscoring the resilience of China’s innovation-driven sectors.
Key product categories showed robust output gains in November:
From January to November, IVA increased by 5.8 percent YoY, maintaining steady growth over the year despite headwinds from a slowing property market and external uncertainties.
| This article was first published by China Briefing , which is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and India . Readers may write to info@dezshira.com for more support. |
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China
Ukraine war: 10% of Chinese people are willing to boycott Russian goods over invasion – new study
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, some Chinese citizens express dissent through potential boycotts of Russian goods, reflecting a complex relationship despite government support for Russia.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Chinese government has been criticised for its refusal to condemn the war. In 2024, the economic and diplomatic relationship between the two nations appears stronger than ever.
Because of strict censorship and repression imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it is difficult to know the extent to which the general public shares their government’s support of Putin’s regime. But a newly published study I carried out with colleagues found that more than 10% of Chinese people surveyed were willing to boycott Russian goods over the war in Ukraine.
This is a surprisingly large figure, especially since existing surveys indicate that Chinese people hold a broadly positive view of their neighbour. We used a representative sample of 3,029 Chinese citizens for this research, to dig into public attitudes to Russia. The survey was done in 2022 after the Ukraine invasion.
We were aware that due to widespread censorship, our participants might not be willing to give honest answers to questions about Russia’s actions in Ukraine. They might also not feel safe to do that in a regime where disagreement with the CCP’s position is often met with harsh punishment. This is why we asked them to tell us if they would be willing to boycott Russian products currently sold in China.
We felt this question was a good indicator of how much the participants disapproved of Russian foreign policy in Ukraine. More importantly, we were also curious to find out whether Chinese citizens would be willing to take direct political action to punish Russia economically for its aggressive behaviour.
In our study, we split respondents into the three different ideological groups in China: “liberals”, who support the free market and oppose authoritarianism; “the new left”, who sympathise with the policies pursued in China under Mao Zedong; and “neo-authoritarians”, who believe the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is an extension of the rivalry between authoritarian China and the liberal United States. These groups were based on the main political beliefs in China.
We found that liberals were most likely to say they were willing to boycott Russian products. Liberals believe that China should work with, rather than against, western democracies. They also place a high value on human rights and democratic freedoms. Because of their beliefs, they are likely to think that Russia’s actions against Ukraine were unprovoked, aggressive and disproportional.
Chinese and Russian economic and diplomatic relations seem closer than ever in 2024.
American Photo Archive/Alamy
The new left and neo-authoritarians we surveyed were more supportive of Russian products. The new left see Russia as a close ally and believe that Nato’s expansion in eastern Europe was a form of aggression. Neo-authoritarians, on the other hand, believe that supporting Russia, an allied autocracy, is in China’s best interest.
Boycotting Russian goods
Asking Chinese participants if they are willing to boycott Russian products might seem like a simple matter of consumer preferences. However, our study reveals a great deal about the way in which regular citizens can express controversial political beliefs in a repressive authoritarian regime.
Boycotting products of certain companies has long been studied in the west as a form of unconventional political action that helps people express their beliefs. However, in the west, boycotting certain products is simply one of many ways people are able to take political action. In a country such as China, boycotting a Russian product might often be the only safe way to express disagreement with the country’s actions.
This is because citizens do not have to tell others they chose not to buy a product, and their actions are unlikely to attract the attention of the authorities.
Since Russian goods are readily available to Chinese consumers and China is encouraging more Russian exports to reach its market, the Russian economy could be significantly affected by an organised boycott campaign in China. The considerable level of support for a boycott expressed by some of our participants, as well as previous acts of solidarity with Ukraine in China, suggest that such a campaign could already be taking place in the country.
This could harm Russia because it regularly exports a number of different products such as meat, chocolate, tea and wine to China. These goods made up 5.1% of China’s total imports in 2023 – and this figure is likely to increase if Russia becomes more isolated from the west, and therefore more dependent on China for its trade.
While 5.1% of the Chinese market might seem like a low figure, China is home to over 1.4 billion people. In this context, even a small boycott could result in a serious loss to Russian companies.
Our research shows that Chinese citizens don’t always support the official position of the communist party. It also shows that many people there will express even the most unpopular political opinions – if they can find a safe way to do it.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
China
Australia Can Enhance China’s Credibility in the CPTPP
In early 2024, China sought to join the CPTPP, potentially offering modest economic benefits to Australia. Key reforms include limiting state-owned enterprise subsidies, enhancing data flows, and banning forced labor.
China’s Interest in the CPTPP
In early 2024, China expressed a keen interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade agreement involving eleven Pacific Rim economies and the United Kingdom. This move is anticipated to yield modest economic benefits for Australia. However, it also opens the door for vital reforms in areas such as the control of subsidies for state-owned enterprises, allowing free cross-border data flows, and prohibiting forced labor practices.
Economic Implications for Australia
A May 2024 report from the Australian Productivity Commission indicated that China’s accession to the CPTPP might raise Australia’s GDP by only 0.01%. This modest gain isn’t surprising, given Australia’s existing preferential trade arrangement with China through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Nonetheless, the CPTPP encompasses more than just tariff reductions, focusing on broader trade principles and standards.
Reform Commitments Required from China
For China to become a CPTPP member, it must demonstrate adherence to high-standard rules initially developed with the country in mind. This commitment will help alleviate concerns among member nations like Japan and Canada, particularly regarding China’s economic practices and geopolitical tensions, such as those with Taiwan. Membership would necessitate reforms, including limiting SOE subsidies, enabling freer data flows, and banning forced labor, with significant penalties for non-compliance.
Source : Australia can encourage China’s credibility in the CPTPP
- China’s November 2024 Economy: Navigating Mixed Signals and Ongoing Challenges
- Ukraine war: 10% of Chinese people are willing to boycott Russian goods over invasion – new study
- Australia Can Enhance China’s Credibility in the CPTPP
- Gordonstoun Severs Connections with Business Led by Individual Accused of Espionage for China
- China Dismantles Prominent Uyghur Business Landmark in Xinjiang – Shia Waves
- China Expands Nationwide Private Pension Scheme After Two-Year Pilot Program
