Rescue workers in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous zone [CRI Online]
Dear reader,
Geopolitical and economic tensions are rising as the military conflict in Ukraine unfolds, which has already caused thousands of victims and millions of refugees. The world is headed towards serious food and energy crises in the coming months to years. Some analysts believe we may be seeing the end of the cycle of US and Western hegemony. In an article, Is the Ukraine War a Prelude to a More Protracted Global War?, Dongsheng member Deby Veneziale reflects on the significance of this historical moment and China’s position in this context.
—Dongsheng editorial collective
Geopolitics
Despite threats of new sanctions against China, White House suspends tariffs on 352 Chinese products, imposed in the trade war
Product availability outside of China was the main consideration for reinstatement, incl. on home appliances, electric motors, and X-ray hardware, but measure covers small part of Trump’s levies; 41 bipartisan senators push for more exclusions
China is the largest individual creditor after the World Bank, totaling US$110 billion among 68 developing countries
Chinese institutions suspended US$5.7 billion in repayments – including US$2 billion (2020) during the pandemic – but measure ended in December; China set to receive US$14 billion in debt servicing this year, while new research recommends further suspensions for poorer nations
“Green lanes” trade agreements for African countries allow for increased exports to China, following 2021 China-Africa cooperation summit
Trade between China and Africa grew 35% (2021), reaching a record US$ 254 billion; Beijing promises to grow value of imports to US$300 billion by 2025 to balance trade
National Politics
Teams recover one of the black boxes from the China Eastern plane that crashed in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, leaving no survivors
Civil Aviation Administration of China has requested an immediate two-week inspection of industry safety, while China Eastern is set to boost cockpit safety with three pilots; China mourns the first major airline accident in the country in nearly 12 years, a world record
Shenzhen controls Covid-19 outbreak after the city of 17 million people recorded 69 symptomatic and 36 asymptomatic cases on March 17
Experts urge government to push pharmaceutical companies to improve vaccine efficacy, especially for BA.2 and BA.1.1 Omicron variants; almost 90% of China’s 1.4 billion people have been fully vaccinated, with 3.23 billion doses
Government launches US$275 billion infrastructure plan in Xinjiang to stimulate economy, signaling confidence in the region’s stability
New CPC Chief Ma Xingrui was appointed in December, whose strong development record in Guangdong guides Xinjiang’s shifting focus from security to infrastructure; 4,467 projects are planned with 27 receiving US$790 million in investments
Economy
After prices plunge earlier this month, Alibaba makes biggest stock buyback (US$25 billion) ever by a Chinese-listed company
E-commerce giant reported revenue of US$38 billion (Q4, 2021), up 10% year-on-year, but net income (US$3 billion) fell by 75%, amid growing competition from Tencent, ByteDance, and other new Big Tech regulations
Agriculture and Environment
China places limits on tall buildings, amid safety, economic, and environmental concerns for sector responsible for ⅕ of country’s emissions
All buildings over 500m, and 150m+ in cities with over 3 million people are banned; China’s mainland constructed the first 100m+ building in 1978 (Baiyun Hotel) and by 2007, had the most skyscrapers in the world, today with 101 buildings above 300m
People’s Life and Culture
Depression rate among Chinese adolescents reached 24.6% (2020), with 7.4% severe cases, worsened with the pandemic
An estimated 47 out of 270 million children and adolescents would need treatment for mental disorders, but there are only 1 professional/100,000 patients; government action plan calls for 60% of psychiatric hospitals to set up child and adolescent psychotherapy clinics by the end of 2022
Popularized from the Republican period (1912-1949) onward, coffee culture in Shanghai played a role in Chinese revolutionary history
In the 1920s and 1930s, Russian and Jewish immigrants opened cafes across Shanghai, which became meeting places for leftist intellectuals, revolutionary workers, and the then underground CPC; prices plummeted in the postwar period, making coffee affordable to the city’s working class until the 1949 revolution
Ads for C.P.C Coffee and H.A.G. Coffee. [Huang Wei via Sixth Tone]
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