Flags of Hong Kong SAR and the People’s Republic of China, 29 June 2022 [Global Times/Pengpai]
Dear reader,
This week, Dongsheng’s Marco Fernandes spoke on Li Jingjing’s show, Talk it Out, about the role of BRICS, China-Brazil relations, and unity of Global South countries (English). At the People’s Summit for Democracy in Los Angeles, Tings Chak spoke with Brian Becker of BreakThrough News on the two-year anniversary of Dongsheng‘s founding and the importance of alternative media in confronting anti-China news and disinformation (English).
—Dongsheng editorial collective
Geopolitics
China hosts BRICS online summit, which sees increased calls for building financial alternatives to the dollar
President Putin says an international mechanism based on a currency basket is being discussed; countries also declared support for Russian-Ukrainian dialogue for a peaceful solution to the conflict, while Argentina and Iran officially applied for bloc membership, expected to happen soon
G7 announces new US$600 billion infrastructure financing project for the Global South to compete with China
Global Investment and Infrastructure Partnership launches just one year after the “Build Back Better World” – with the same goal – was announced at the previous G7 meeting, without ever getting off the ground; China welcomes initiative, but rejects attempt to smear the BRI
National Politics
China reduces quarantine time for foreign arrivals in the largest relaxation of rules since the pandemic began, based on lessons learned in Shanghai
Hotel quarantine was reduced from 14 to seven days, and home isolation from seven to three days, with five mandatory tests, based on the finding that Omicron has a shorter average incubation period (2 to 4 days) that can be detected in up to seven days
July 1st marks 25 years since the return of Hong Kong to China after 156 years of British colonial rule
Xi Jinping attends the celebrations in his first trip leaving the mainland since the pandemic; priorities include integrating the city with the Greater Bay Area that generates US $1.97 trillion GDP, 2021 (12% of national total), securing national security, and increasing participation in national governance
Economy
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) creates a yuan reserve fund with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland, creating another alternative to the dollar
Initiative seeks to provide liquidity to the participating central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chile; each country contributes with a minimum of 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) to access the fund in case of market volatility, dispensing with the use of the US currency
Agriculture and Environment
China’s Sinopec produces its first aviation fuel from used cooking oil at a plant capable of processing 100,000 tons of oil per year
The country is also making a green, low-carbon transition in shipping and builds the first methanol-propelled tanker, which can reduce CO2 emissions by 75%; global demand for biokerosene could range from two to six billion liters by 2026
China made 43 agreements with 38 countries to cooperate with states vulnerable to climate change and face challenges in green transition
In addition to allocating 1.2 billion yuan (US$178 million) for this South-South cooperation, the country has offered training programs for about 2,000 officials and technicians in climate-related positions from 120 countries
Science and Technology
The 31 fastest-growing institutions between 2020 and 2021 in Nature Index, which tracks scientific output across institutions and countries, are from China
Growing Chinese government investment in research and development – which accounted for 2.4% of the country’s GDP in 2021 – continues to be a factor in China’s rise; research spending as a percentage of GDP in China has increased steadily from 0.56% to 2.14% (1996-2018)
People’s Life and Culture
In a year with record graduates (10.8 million), graduations in China become more creative and increasingly adopt local cultural symbols
This year, universities promoted the use of traditional dress, marches, and drums (Jiangsu Normal University), parades with floats using tractors and harvesters (Huazhong Agricultural University) and concerts with popular music broadcast online (Qingdao University)
Young people from Hong Kong, ranked the most unaffordable housing market 12 years in a row, are turning to mainland’s Greater Bay Area
Housing prices increased 140% since the 1997 handover, requiring average families to save 23.2 years (without any other expenses) to afford a home; a 100m² Hong Kong apartment costs US$2.85 million vs. US$294,000-442,000 in mainland’s Dongguan
Students in traditional Hanfu at their graduation ceremony, Hebei, 16 June3 2015 [CNS/Jia Minjie]
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