Despite the hope of the international financial community, China is not heading for structural reforms, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, to CNBC. Pushing up demand is not high on the agenda for China’s leadership, he says, and they do not want to push up debts levels to new heights.Read More →
Business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China’s Economy in the New World Order, explains why China’s mini-bazooka will not help its economy in the long run. People need a serious fiscal stimulus, so they are confident about the economy again, he argues in a talk with David Lin. “People have to feel safe again before they are going to spend the money they made again,” he adds.Read More →
Some e-commerce firms in China have profited from a rally of their stocks, triggered off by a major financial stimulus, but that might not help the economy to really improve, says financial analyst Shaun Rein at CNBC. It’s a rally of exuberance, he adds, and might only triple down into the economy in six to nine months. The real problem is for example companies cannot fire their staff very easily, and make their lives hard, hoping they will leave by themselves, he says.Read More →
China’s massive financial stimulus is good for the short term, but the economy needs more structural change, away from real estate, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein to CNBC. While it is good Xi Jinping moves away from politics and ideology and turns to the economy, more is needed to restore long-term confidence in the economy by the consumers, he adds.Read More →
China’s electric car makers are doing pretty well, certainly domestically and – perhaps except the US – also internationally, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know. Excess capacity seems mainly a problem for traditional car makers, as demand for EV vehicles is only picking up. Internationally EV makers might face some restrictions, but they seem able to manage those, Kroeber adds in a debate organised by the Asia Society.Read More →
A unique set of meticulous diaries, written by communist party member and reformist Li Rui, the secretary of Mao Zedong, have emerged in legal battles. Stanford University obtained them from Li’s daughter, but China is eager to get them back. Historian Ian Johnson, author of Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future, comments on the diaries and fears they will disappear into the black hole Beijing’s archives are nowadays, he tells at ABC News.Read More →
China’s economic situation has deteriorated over the past two months, says business analyst Shaun Rein in a discussion on CNBC. The hope for a financial bazooka to boost the economy by the government has not materialized and is unlikely to do so. The government seems fine with the current 4/5% growth and also lacks the money to spend as tax income has remained poor, while geopolitical challenges forces the Chinese government to be prudent too.Read More →
Why is China calling itself a democracy when it is not according to most definitions? China scholar Ian Johnson, a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, discusses this and other political issues at the Council on Foreign Relations. In the same way, it is not a dictatorship where Xi Jinping can decide on all issues in the country, he says.Read More →
Whether the world is heading for a recession does not depend on the state of China’s economy, but on demand in de US, says China economist Arthur Kroeber at the CNBC. In the eyes of Xi Jinping, China is not doing as bad as some economists say it does, he adds.Read More →
Officially China does not allow single women to freeze their eggs and forces them to go abroad or even register children of single mothers to register. But demographic pressure is already changing those restrictions on a provincial level, says author Zhang Lijia in the Guardian who expects more changes to come.Read More →
China veteran Ian Johnson, author of Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future (September 2023), and fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin describes how a generation of underground historians passed on their stories while staying under the radar.Read More →
China’s developers have been avid users of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and the company’s ban of usage in China might come as a short-time shock, says innovation expert Winston Ma in the Guardian. But in the long run, it will help those China-based competitors as they are forced – and likely successful, in developing alternatives, he adds.Read More →