One hundred years ago students protested in Beijing for patriotism and democracy. President Xi Jinping has jumped on the centennial anniversary by praising the patriotism of the May Fourth protests. Commentator Zhang Lijia notes that he ignored that democracy was an inherent part of its legacy, she writes in the South China Morning Post.Read More →
For the outside world, Xi Jinping looks like the effective authoritarian leader, killing effectively public debate in the country. But journalist Ian Johnson noted over the past few months an amazing growth of opposition inside the Party, he writes in the NY Review of Books.Read More →
In its fight against an economic slowdown, China has opened the bank vaults again and pumped more credit into its financial systems, again, says political analyst Victor Shih, author of Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation to the New York Times. It is an old solution in a country where debts are already at dangerous levels, he says.Read More →
Yujiapu, Tianjin’s financial district, is building China’s Manhattan, with loans since most inhabitants still have to arrive. That goes well, says financial analyst Victor Shih, as long as the project has the political goodwill in Beijing to subscribe giants loans, he tells in the New York Times.Read More →
After a lengthy crackdown on shadow banking, this risky financial tool seems to be back in grace as China’s economy is slowing down. It is the pragmatic way China’s financial authorities deal with the economy, financial analyst Sara Hsu says. Shadow banking will be allowed, as long as it works, she writes in China Focus.Read More →
The official trade war between the US and China seems to be entering its end game. But that does not mean the hostilities will end. Making sense out of what the world’s first and second-largest economies will do will only be slightly easier. A few speakers at our office might be able to help you out.Read More →
China is trying to pacify Islam by force, but is achieving the opposite of the stability it wants to secure, says Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China, to Foreign Policy. “By using more force to increase stability, the government is achieving the opposite effect.” Read More →
China is overhauling its now 30-years old regulations for cosmetics, a fast-growing industry of now 260 billion Renminbi (euro 34 billion). The new rules remove some of the red tape, says lawyer Mark Schaub, but also gives the authorities more leverage over the industry, he writes at the China Law Insight.Read More →
Some analysts see in the new Foreign Investment Law a way for China to placate the US, but China veteran Mark Schaub sees here no quick fix triggered off by the trade war. It is the first new foreign investment law since the Berlin Wall came down, he says to the BBC News Service.Read More →
China brought the newly adopted foreign investment law with some fanfare, but political analyst Victor Shih does not expect the law will be a game changer, as some hope, he tells at the Deutsche Welle. A level playing field for foreign and domestic companies in China might be far away.Read More →
For years the business community feared China’s central government would kill the so-called VIE’s (variable-interest entity). The tool to circumvent the country’s strict ownership regulations was never endorsed by the government but has also never been in serious trouble, tells China veteran and lawyer Mark Schaub to Bloomberg. The ban even did not show up in the draft foreign investment law, last week.Read More →
Women in China might be regaining some tracking in the economy, they are still lacking political leverage and earn on average less than men, says author Zhang Lijia at Wion. “According to Zhang, if China wants to improve the lives of women, it will first need to accord them equal status in society and politics.”Read More →