Latest Posts
Will China´s consumers keep on spending? – Sara Hsu
China´s central government tries to shift its economy from investment-driven to a consumer-drive one. While the effort seems to have effect, financial analyst Sara Hsu points at a few bears at this road in the Diplomat. Will the consumers keep on spending more? It´s in the hand of the government itself.Read More →
China as an imperial force in Africa? – Howard French
Has China become an imperial force in Africa? Author Howard French of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa discusses the question how China jumped into a power vacuum in Africa and took the opportunities left by others. The use of the word “empire” has triggered off a debate, and French explains at ChinaFile how he sees Sino-African relations.Read More →
Knock-off Viagra will not change China – Ben Cavender
Expiring drug patents, including those of Pfizer´s Viagra, is not going to change the market in China, says retail analyst Ben Cavender at CNBC. Most of those drugs are anyway already available in China, he says. And the second-child hype most more materialize.Read More →
Discussing China relations in Africa – Howard French
Author Howard French of China’s Second Continent discusses at CNN how China´s Africa relations are developing, and how the US can react. Ebola might slightly derail a current conference in Washington, but trade and economic relations will remain high on the international agenda.Read More →
The Chinese way of building in Africa – Howard French
Chinese building projects are popping up all over Africa. But mostly those construction projects are no partnerships with locals, but Chinese ventures tend to be all Chinese, author Howard French of China’s Second Continent tells Al Jazeera.Read More →
Can the US catch China in Africa? – Howard French
China is winning in Africa, author Howard French argues in his latest book China’s Second Continent. Can the US still catch up with China in Africa, he wonders in Bloomberg. Some serious rethinking is needed.Read More →
New bad banks do not solve local fiscal problems – Sara Hsu
China´s is setting up five asset management companies or bad banks to buy up bad debts on a local level, comparable to five national firms that bailed out China´s largest banks in the 1990s. But that will not help, if the current fiscal dilemmas for local governments are not solved, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat.Read More →
Zhou´s arrest: a watershed – Victor Shih
The formal arrest and expected trial of Zhou Yongkang means a change in how China is dealing with its ruling elite, tells political scientist Victor Shih in the International Business Times. “No leader is safe from corruption investigation… We see now the rule by law.”Read More →
Walking El Camino – Zhang Lijia
Walking El Camino, the famous pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela, is an old European tradition, but rapidly becoming popular today too. Author Zhang Lijia started yesterday her El Camino, and will keep us updated on her weblog.Read More →
Summer break and a temporary slowdown
Summer is now fully upon us and – as you might have noticed – the regular stream of updates from our speakers has dropped sensationally. While China officially has no summer holiday, many of our speakers are traveling, as do many of the journalists we depend on for quotingRead More →
New tools for China´s central bankers – Sara Hsu
One of the reforms in China have changed the way it´s central bank is operating, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu in the Diplomat. A new set of tools allows the bankers to be more creative.Read More →
Being rich is getting more expensive – Rupert Hoogewerf
The costs of luxury goods are becoming more expensive, faster than the inflation rate, is one of the conclusions by the newest Hurun Luxury Consumer Price Index. Quality is taking over from quantity, suggests Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf in the Shanghai Daily.Read More →