At China’s top leadership, it was always possible for different political agendas to exist next to each other. But since 2012 next to Xi Jinping – up for his unprecedented third term as CCP party secretary – very few variations in leadership style have been given room, says political analyst Victor Shih at the ABC. The retirement of premier Li Keqiang finalizes Xi’s powerful position, he adds. China’s next premier is likely to be a good friend of Xi, while women and ethnic minorities make little chance.Read More →

Guangzhou added in the first six months of 2022 nine new global unicorns, a privately held startup company valued at over US$1 billion – taking its total to 19, according to a new list from the Hurun List, writes the China Daily. “These unicorns are leading a new generation of disruptive technology,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher of the Hurun Report.Read More →

Tense relations between China and the US, a pandemic, and limited access to the country are firmly limiting a new generation of China hands to explore a career in the second economy of the world, says China professor Victor Shih in the South China Morning Post. “China was [once] seen as a kind of land of opportunity for young foreigners. That is no longer the case,” said Shih, Read More →

China’s real economic problem: they increase capital spending, but are not able to improve productivity that is already at a shockingly low level, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, at a panel at CSIS discussing with Thomas Orlik, Chief Economist for Bloomberg Economics, and author of the book, China: The Bubble That Never Pops. While an economic collapse is unlikely, a grinding halt to economic development might be its largest danger, Kroeber adds.Read More →