China business veteran Shaun Rein discusses with Cyrus Janssen how China has faced challenges since it opened up post-Corona. Outbound travel has not resumed, expected revenge spending did not happen and consumer confidence is at the lowest rate ever. No, he says, China is not yet back to normal, because consumers sit on their corona savings, unwilling to spend. And foreign investors, while CEOs are going to China, are hesitant to resume investing in China, at least till the end of 2023. But support for Xi Jinping is still there, he sees. Though, expect a tough 10-20 years.Read More →

Now China suddenly started to retract its zero-Covid strategy, strategic analyst Ian Johnson looks back at how the country got itself into this unprecedented mess at the Prospect. The economic slowdown and high unemployment “are all underlying issues that actually make the government’s challenge greater than first appears,” says Ian Johnson.Read More →

The German government has become much more assertive about the country’s wheeling and dealing with China. Veteran China lawyer Mark Schaub visited over the past few weeks Berlin and Munich and felt the pulse of the German business communities toward China, he reports in his China Chit-chat. “Politicians in Germany have limited ability to influence or pressure German business. Consumers can be upset … but will become upset about something else 5 minutes later,” he writes.Read More →

H&M tries to retain market share in China after a consumer boycott of a range of Western fashion brands – including also Nike and Burberry – on its Xinjiang stance by launching two new brands. The results with the consumers in China have been mixed, says marketing expert Arnold Ma in Jing Daily.Read More →

H&M got hit by an unprecedented boycott from Chinese consumers, as the China internet went after the company for its stance on labor in Xinjiang. Partly that vehement outpour of anger was caused because internet companies have been under government investigations, says veteran business analyst Shaun Rein, so they had to prove more than ever they were not a danger for that government, he says at AP.Read More →