Women at an elderly care center in Huangjiayu Village, Shandong Province, 27 February 2022 [Photo/Xinhua]
Dear reader,
This week, Dongsheng’s co-editor Tings Chak joined Aline Piva on “Caminhos para o Mundo” on TVT/Brasil de Fato to talk about the role of China in the new geopolitical configuration (Portuguese). Also check out her latest article, “Winds from Fusang: Art, Multipolarity, and China-Latin America Relations” published by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research (English, Spanish, Portuguese).
Co-editor Marco Fernandes was interviewed by Opera Mundi‘s Breno Altman on China’s fight against Covid-19, the dynamic zero-covid policy, and the impact of the Ukraine-Russian war on global politics (Portuguese).
—Dongsheng editorial collective
Geopolitics
New Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos seeks complex political and economic balance between Washington and Beijing
Philippines aims to attract more capital from the US – a key market and defense partner – while China is the largest trading partner and biggest investor, with numerous infrastructure projects; Manila is part of both the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with China, and the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
Chinese mining company Ganfeng Lithium acquires exploration rights to two salt lakes for lithium carbonate production in Argentina (US$962 million)
Faced with the risk of raw material shortages due to growing electric vehicle battery demand, prices have quadrupled in the last year; under investigation for insider trading, the company expects to produce up to 10% of the global market in Argentine lakes
China secures long-term liquefied natural gas deals to bolster energy security, as demand jumps 18% to 78.9 million tons (2021)
Signing LNG contracts totalling 100 million tons, mostly by SOEs, national demand is set to grow to 160 million tons (2040); ¾ of sellers were from US, Qatar (7.5 million tons), Russia (5.76 million tons) between January 2021 and April 2022
National Politics
Local government announces compensation plan after customers protest the closure of four Henan banks
Authorities uncovered fraudulent banking scheme that offered far above average returns on financial investments (6.96% vs. 1.5-2.75%); compensation begins for customers with frozen accounts (<50,000 yuan, US$7,439), while Central Bank says only 1% (3.34 trillion yuan, US$494 billion) of the country’s banking assets are high-risk
Local government land sales (US$211.8 billion) fell 55% year-on-year in Q1, putting pressure on government budgets strained by Omicron outbreaks
The largest non-tax revenue source for local governments, land-use rights sales dropped 53% in smaller cities, but grew 30% in tier-one cities; with private developers cash-strapped, SOEs accounted for 73% of top 50 companies purchasing land in 2022
Economy
Pandemic-impacted economy grows by only 0.4% in Q2, ending the first half-year up 2.5%
However, the economy is showing signs of recovery, up 3.9% year-on-year increase in industrial value added (compared to 0.7% in May) and 3.1% in retail sales (following 6.7% decline in May); government expects gradual resumption after recent stimulus packages
Science and Technology
China begins construction of world’s longest-range radar system to defend Earth from asteroid impact
China Fuyan will cover a radius of 150 million km and will be the world’s first deep space radar to carry out 3D imaging and dynamic monitoring; the facility will also support the search for a suitable landing target on the Moon for the Tianwen-2 probe mission
Agriculture and Environment
With 80% of solar panel market share, International Energy Agency praises China for this advance but advocates diversification of global supply chain
Solar panel manufacturing shifted from Europe, Japan, and the US to China in the last decade, reaching 95% in early stages of the process; solar PV exports totaled US$30 billion (2021), or 7% of trade surplus in last five years, contributing to global solar power uptake
People’s Life and Culture
Since “netizen” (wangmin) was coined in 1998, China’s internet users surpassed one billion (2021), becoming an important force in influencing public opinion
Connecting to the World Wide Web in 1994, China became a global leader with 250 million netizens when Twitter-like Weibo launched (2009); Chinese users spend 28 hours/week online, for instant messaging (97.5% of netizens), online videos (94.5%), and shopping (80%), with 11.5% aged over 60
Average life expectancy in China rose from 77.9 to 78.2 years (202o-21), surpassing the US that dropped from 78.9 to 76.6 (2019-21)
China’s maternity (16.1/100,000) and infant mortality (5/1,000) fell to a historical low, with health expenditure at 6.5% of the GDP and 1,030,935 medical institutions; US life expectancy saw the largest decline since WWII after over one million people died from Covid-19
Internet cafes in China in 2000s [VCG via The World of Chinese]
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