Bolivian President Luis Arce at the signing of the agreement with the Chinese business consortium, 20 January 2023 [Plurinational State of Bolivia]
Dear readers,
Marco Fernandes participated in an RT interview, where he talked about the meeting between Scholz and Lula, Brazil’s refusal to send arms to Ukraine, the historic agreement between China and Bolivia for the manufacture of lithium batteries in the Andean country and Lula’s foreign policy priorities.
Gisela Cernadas shared data on the massive migration for the Chinese New Year in Barricada TV from Argentina (in Spanish).
Amadeus and Mika talked to Zambian economist Grieve Chelwa for The Crane: An Africa-China Podcast in the latest episode.
– Dongsheng Editorial Collective
Geopolitics
US reaches agreement with Japan and the Netherlands to restrict exports of advanced chip-making machines to China
Implementation will take months and Japanese semiconductor equipment market could be affected with possible retaliatory measures from China, which accounts for ⅓ of Japan’s sales in that sector; the Biden administration also stopped providing US companies with licenses to export to Huawei, heading toward a total ban on US technology sales to the Chinese giant
Bolivia signs historic agreement with Chinese consortium led by CATL to manufacture lithium batteries
The Andean country has the largest lithium reserves in the world, with 21 million tons (23.6% of the total) and estimates that as of 2025 it will be able to produce 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year; CATL is the world’s largest producer of electric batteries and will invest more than US$1 billion in the project
National Politics
Provinces will seek to boost growth by betting on domestic consumption, foreign investment and production incentives
Guangdong aims to develop 1,530 major construction projects with annual investment of 1 trillion yuan (US$ 148 billion) and Zhejiang will move forward with more than 1,000 major investment projects including advanced manufacturing, technological innovation, transportation and clean energy
China announces expanded access to public services for rural migrants seeking to boost economic activity
The urban population is estimated at 65.22% but only 45.4% have an urban hukou, the registration China uses to ensure access to services such as public health and other entitlements for the population; the government also announced labor improvements in small and medium-sized cities to incentivize relocation
Economy
Foreign Direct Investment in China maintains steady growth of 6.3% in 2022, reaching 1.23 trillion yuan (US$ 18 billion)
The actual use of foreign capital in manufacturing increased 46.1% in 2022, reaching 323.7 billion yuan (US$ 47.72 billion), and high-tech industries increased 28.3%, accounting for 36.1% of all foreign capital used. Investment from the European Union had a significant growth of 92.2% by 2022
For the first time since records began in 1999, real estate investment is down in China
In 2022, the total drop was 10% (13.29 trillion yuan/US$ 1.98 tri), that of residential property investment was 9.5% (10 trillion yuan/US$ 1.5 tri), and that of land sales by area, 53.4% (100 million m²); survey shows housing prices will continue to fall in 2023
Agriculture and Environment
China’s oil and gas consumption fell for the first time in decades in 2022
Oil demand fell by 3% (390,000 barrels per day) and natural gas demand by 0.7%, the first decline since 1990 and 1982 respectively. The International Energy Agency forecasts an increase of two million barrels per day in global oil demand by 2023, half of which will come from the Asian giant.
Health
After massive internal migration for Chinese New Year, no new COVID-19 variants emerged in China
The outbreak peaked in December and COVID-related deaths in hospitals peaked at 4,273 on January 4, dropping to 896 on January 23; separately, China approved two new domestically developed drugs for COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms
People’s Life and Culture
892 million trips were recorded in 23 days for the first Spring Festival with no post-pandemic domestic travel restrictions
This represents a 56% increase over last year but still remains 46.9% below 2019; in January, cinema saw a year-on-year increase in revenue of 270%, box office hit a record 10 billion yuan (US$ 1.48 billion) and the three most watched films were Chinese
Football is failing to develop in China and the government is trying to promote it with national programs similar to the incentive of Olympic disciplines
Between 2014 and 2022, specialized football schools increased sixfold to 30,000, thanks to public investment in infrastructure, but some of these schools do not have coaches or use the field for other purposes; families tend to prioritize university education and do not see soccer as a professional career
Primary school students train in Jianhu county, Jiangsu province, 03 September 2022 [VCG]
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