Tag: Agriculture and Environment

Survey shows US tech firms rely on China for a good chunk of their sales

The biggest source of revenue in 2022 for Qualcomm, Lam Research, and four other US companies in the semiconductor industry was China; the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association has been lobbying the White House to back off the sanctions, as they could end up hurting US companies themselves

Nikkei, 12.07.2023

South China Morning Post, 12.07.2023

By the end of the year, Huawei could return to the 5G phone market thanks to advances in its semiconductor design tools and chips from China’s SMIC

Due to US and European bans, Huawei’s revenue peaked at 483 billion yuan (US$67 billion) in 2020, before falling nearly 50% a year later; HiSilicon, Huawei’s chip design subsidiary, has had a 0% global smartphone processor market share for four consecutive quarters since April 2022

Caixin Global, 14.07.2023

Reuters, 12.07.2023

New regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) services takes a lighter approach, aiming to balance innovation and oversight

Rules apply to services that employ generative AI technologies to create text, images, audio, and video, specifically targeting Chinese audiences; providers can only launch their generative AI products after safety review and registration of the algorithm, and data used must be accurate, legally obtained and respect intellectual property

Caixin Global, 14.07.2023

Sixth Tone, 14.07.2023

As the grace period ends, investors from mainland China will no longer be able to trade shares through the share programs with Hong Kong

Considered “fake foreign capital”, Chinese investors used the mechanism to gain cheaper financing costs and greater leverage in Hong Kong; the practice can distort data on foreign investment inflows into China, while allowing them to manipulate their share prices on the mainland

Caixin Global, 13.07.2023

China’s GDP grows 5.5% in first half of 2023 to 59.3 trillion yuan (US$8.3 trillion)

Among the reasons for this performance in the first half of the year are: the rapid recovery of the services sector and the steady growth of infrastructure investment.

The total value added of industrial enterprises with annual revenue from their activities greater than 20 million yuan (US$2.79 million), grew by 3.8% year-on-year. Retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.2% year-on-year to 22.76 trillion yuan (US$3.17 trillion).

Some economists also consider that in order to ensure the achievement of the 5% GDP growth target in 2023, the central government may intensify stimulus measures for the second half of the year.

National Bureau of Statistics of China, 17.07.2023

Global Times, 17.07.2023

China has lowest summer harvest in 5 years (down 0.9%) as a result of prolonged rains and high temperatures

Adverse weather could also affect the fall harvest, which accounts for 75% of the country’s annual grain production; in this context, the company Alibaba announced that it will promote research to improve seeds through artificial intelligence so that they have greater yield and resistance to diseases and climate change

South China Morning Post, 12.07.2023

South China Morning Post, 18.07.2023

China announces its plan to reach the Moon in 2030, which would be the second country to do so after the last lunar landing by the US in 1972

Unlike the Apollo 11 mission, China will launch the landing module and the manned spacecraft separately, and they will dock in lunar orbit to complete the landing, the same system that will be used by the remote-controlled Tianwen 3 mission to Mars; the Chinese space agency is collaborating with Russia’s Roscosmos to build a joint lunar base in the mid-2030s

South China Morning Post, 13.07.2023

Asia Times, 15.07.2023

Durian, a tropical fruit from Southeast Asia, is gaining popularity in China

Known as the king of fruits, the durian is presented to newly engaged or married couples, and also to future mothers-in-law; with lower taxes and customs procedures under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade pact between China and ASEAN countries, fruit imports increased by more than 150% in this year’s first quarter

South China Morning Post, 13.07.2023

Shijiazhuang wants to become the city of Rock music and will organize several festivals in the coming months

With the post-pandemic return of larger-scale, mass events, the city located in Hebei province wants to capitalize on the sector to boost its economy; other cities have already done so, such as Quzhou in Zhejiang province, where a two-day Joker Xue concert attracted 107,200 tourists and generated revenue of more than 814 million yuan (US$113 million)

South China Morning Post,16.07.2023

China warned NATO that it rejects its expansion in the Asia Pacific and will respond firmly to any act that harms its legitimate interests

NATO issued a statement saying that “China’s stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values,” to which China responded by stating that such positioning exposes the military bloc’s hypocrisy and its ambition for expansion and hegemonym; just a few days earlier, China also repudiated the US statement that advised its citizens not to travel to China

Global Times, 12.07.2023

Global Times, 10.07.2023

CATL, the Chinese electric battery company with 40% of the world market, conducts joint research with German research center

The Center for Battery Innovation and Technology, Germany’s leading applied research organization, is collecting data to better understand battery life together with CATL; at the end of last year, the company started up a plant in Arnstadt, with a total investment of up to US$ 1.96 billion and with the aim of achieving a production capacity of 14 Gwh and creating up to 2,000 new jobs

Nikkei Asia, 05.07.2023

Solomon Islands opened its embassy in Beijing and officially established comprehensive strategic partnership with China

In 2019, the Oceania nation established diplomatic relations with China and joined the Belt and Road Initiative and in 2022 the two countries signed a security agreement; President Manasseh Sogavare participated in the inauguration of the embassy, met with Xi Jinping and signed an agreement regarding civil air transport with the aim of launching direct flights between the two countries

Global Times, 11.07.2023

Government extends support measures to real estate sector still struggling to recover

Financial institutions must extend for another 12 months the loans granted to real estate companies that mature at the end of 2024, and commercial banks may classify those loans in a lower risk category; this will help alleviate short-term liquidity problems and allow banks to lend more to real estate companies, but the main problem remains the drop in sales, which in June was 28.1% year-on-year for the country’s 100 largest real estate companies

South China Morning Post, 11.07.2023

Caixin Global, 11.07.2023

The Council of State issued the first administrative regulation on private equity funds

The regulation seeks to optimize and lower mutual fund fees to boost investment – mainly in scientific and technological innovation – and 17 of the top 20 companies have already complied with the measure; total assets under management by China’s mutual fund industry doubled over the past four years to 26.68 trillion yuan (US$3.70 trillion) at the end of March

Global Times, 09.07.2023

Nikkei Asia, 11.07.2023

China had zero inflation in June, with weak overall demand and increasing deflationary pressure on its economy

The consumer price index remained unchanged and the producer price index fell by 5.4% year-on-year; analysts and businesses suggest a coordinated and measured easing of fiscal and monetary policy as a solution, and believe that “ultra-low inflation” would allow the central bank to carry out two more rounds of interest rate cuts of 10 basis points each

Caixin Global, 10.07.2023

China to exceed Xi Jinping’s 2020 clean energy targets by five years ahead of schedule

The country has already announced or begun construction of enough projects to bring its wind and solar capacity to 1,371 GW by 2025, which will double current capacity and far exceed the 1,200 GW target set by Xi for 2030; beyond these advances, the main source of energy remains coal, which China is producing in record quantities to avoid shortages in its electricity system

Bloomberg, 28.06.2023

China bans Fukushima food imports as Japan prepares to release radioactive water

The customs authority banned the import of products from ten Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, and will review shipments from all regions of Japan; last year, Japan’s agricultural, forestry, fishery and food exports to China rose 14.3% year-on-year to US$9.8 billion, but that growth could be affected by concerns over radioactive debris

South China Morning Post, 07.07.2023

China Railway completes testing of high-speed trains at 453 km/h, the fastest in the world

With the new CR450 train, the trip between Beijing and Shanghai will take two hours less than the current 350 km/h high-speed trains; in addition, on July 1, a new section of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad, at 3,500 meters above sea level and with a length of 829 km, came into operation, adding to the more than 40,000 km of the national high-speed rail network

Global Times, 01.07.2023

China Daily, 02.07.2023

According to a survey, more than 60% of young Chinese want to become influencers

The trend is due to the fierce competition in the current job market, but also because the younger generation is considering more options when looking for jobs; 96.2% of people whose main source of income is streaming earned less than 5,000 yuan per month last year, while only 0.4% can earn more than 100,000 yuan per month

Global Times, 10.07.2023

For the first time, the Olympic Games will be streamed via the cloud in Paris 2024 and Alibaba Cloud will be the company in charge of doing it

In 2017, the Chinese company outbid Amazon of the US to win the International Olympic Committee’s bid and France’s own National Agency for the Security of Information Systems sought to have the deal reversed; it will be an unprecedented technological breakthrough as it will be the first time that the transmission will not be via satellite

South China Morning Post, 25.06.2023

Pentagon admitted that the alleged Chinese “spy balloon” did not collect or transmit intelligence information

The announcement comes just a week after Biden called the Chinese president a “dictator” and said that “the reason Xi Jinping was very angry when I shot down that balloon with two wagons full of spy material is that he didn’t know it was there”; despite the Pentagon’s statements, the incident promoted by Western media further damaged relations between the two nations

Global Times, 30.06.2023

Reuters, 22.06.2023

Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-Wen’s disapproval rating rose from 37 to 48.2% in just one month, the highest in four years

The decline is due to a series of sexual harassment scandals by Democratic Progressive Party leaders, including Tsai’s advisor Yen Chih-fa; the appointment of four judges close to the ruling party was also seen as a way to use Taiwan’s constitutional court as just another DPP organization

South China Morning Post, 25.06.2023

Drug-related crime in China reached ten-year low in 2022

Arrests and drug-related cases fell by 24.3% and 28.6% year-on-year respectively, while new users fell by 41.7%; following the end of “zero-COVID” policies, there has been an increase in these crimes this year with the Internet emerging as a “safe haven” for drug trafficking

Caixin Global, 23.06.2023

ATRenew platform recorded a 60% year-on-year increase in recycled electronics exchanges

The increase was recorded during the 618 shopping festival, created by the JD platform, which doubled the exchanges of such products; ATRenew wants to use its 1,935 stores and 2,015 self-service recycling facilities in 269 cities in China to take advantage of the growing circular economy, promoted by the government in line with its carbon target

South China Morning Post, 23.06.2023

Syngenta’s IPO will be the fourth largest in China’s history, worth 65 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion)

The Swiss-based petrochemical company was acquired in 2017 by state-owned ChemChina, which was listed as a “Chinese military company” by the US Department of Defense last year; this creates uncertainty for Western banks and investment funds looking to participate in the IPO, in a year in which foreign banks participated in only 1.2% (US$297 million) of China’s total new listings

Financial Times, 26.06.2023

The world’s largest solar-hydro hybrid power plant went online in Sichuan province

Kela plant is located on the Yalong River on the Tibetan plateau and is capable of producing two billion KWh per year, which can supply power to more than 700,000 homes; the advantage of this scheme is that it allows balancing or compensating the fluctuations that occur in the solar power plant during the night and cloudy days, and in the hydroelectric power plant in times of drought, such as the one China is experiencing now

South China Morning Post, 26.06.2023

A new bill will seek to protect arable land to ensure the country’s food security

It will strengthen the red line of arable land, which since 2012 has remained stable at 1.8 billion mu (about 120 million hectares); the draft also calls for more efforts to create a national agricultural germplasm bank (applying fines to those who infringe on the national grain structure) and improve the national livestock breeding system

China Daily, 26.06.2023

The middle class is eating a higher-fat, less healthy diet, leading to increased heart disease and childhood obesity

With incomes increasing by more than 130 times for both rural and urban households since 1970, the overall nutritional intake of the population also increased, with meat consumption tripling between 1990 and 2021; China has an 8.3% rate of childhood obesity and an average salt intake of 11g/day, both among the highest in the world

Nature, 22.06.2023

Rural revitalization: village basketball and soccer championships are attracting growing audiences and popularity on social networks

On June 11, the finals of the first basketball tournament played in rural areas in Guizhou province took place, with a total of 2,624 teams playing more than 5,000 games; the Village Super League is also growing in attendance, with an average attendance of 10,000 people, the same as the country’s professional league

Shine, 14.06.2023

Beijing Review, 25.06.2023

Meeting with Antony Blinken, Xi said positive statements must be translated into actions to stabilize and improve China-US relations

For his part, the US Secretary of State said that his country is not looking for a new Cold War or to change China’s system, and that he does not support “Taiwan independence” or seek conflicts with China; while Blinken was in Beijing, Biden stated that he hopes to meet Xi in the coming months, but the next day he called him“dictator”

CGTN, 20.06.2023

Bloomberg, 17.06.2023

Chancellor Scholz says Germany opposes any form of decoupling from China in newly-appointed Premier Li Qiang’s first overseas visit

In reference to the term“de-risking” coined at the last G7 meeting, Li told twelve CEOs from the main German corporations that the biggest risk is the lack of cooperation; shortly before the visit, Scholz’s office adopted its first national security strategy, where China is characterized as a “partner, competitor, and systemic rival”

Xinhua, 21.06.2023

Reuters, 20.06.2023

Tass, 14.06.2023

Communist Youth League of China held its 19th National Congress with over 1,500 delegates from across the country

Representing 73 million members from 4 million organizations, delegates coming from the grassroots represent 71.7% and women, 40.5% of the total; among the delegates chosen for the congress were young professionals dedicated to the rural revitalization policy and women who were at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19

China Daily, 21.06.2023

Global Times, 18.06.2023

Economic growth in May slows, with foreign trade up only 0.5% year-on-year (3.4 trillion yuan, US$481.6 billion), but overall remains strong

Two sectors continued to register double-digit growth in the May year-on-year comparison: services output (11.7%, down 1.8% from April) and consumption (12.7%, down 5.7% from April); among the reasons for the economy’s performance in May are slowing domestic demand, continued turbulence in the housing market, and a weakening global economy

China Briefing, 19.06.2023

National Bureau of Statistics of China, 15.06.2023

People’s Bank of China cuts key loan rates to spur investment and consumption

The Chinese central bank lowered the one-year benchmark rate from 3.65% to 3.55%, and the five-year rate from 4.3% to 4.2%, which will lower borrowing costs for businesses and households; the five-year benchmark rate influences mortgage prices and lowering it could support the real estate sector reeling from dozens of unfinished housing projects by indebted developers

Nikkei, 20.06.2023

With a capacity of 180 MW, Tanque Novo wind complex from the Chinese subsidiary CGN Energy starts operating in the state of Bahia, in Brazil

With 40 wind turbines of the largest type in South America, the CGN Brasil project is expected to generate 720 million kWh per year, enough to produce energy for 430,000 homes and reduce CO2 emissions by 650,000 tons per year

Xinhua, 15.06.2023

Local governments prohibited from allocating land that is heavily polluted, ecologically fragile, or suffering severe soil erosion or desertification for agricultural use

Geared towards food security, this measure aims to reverse the process of using good agricultural land for construction; according to a scheme adopted in the 2000s, if a plot of agricultural land is used for non-agricultural purposes, a new area of agricultural land of the same size must be created, but this has resulted in many local governments earmarking good agricultural land for construction and compensating with infertile land or slopes on agricultural land

South China Morning Post, 18.06.2023

China issues license for its first thorium reactor, a fuel that could power the country for 20,000 years

Compared to traditional uranium reactors, molten salt thorium reactors are safer, generate less waste and use fuel more efficiently; Thorium is also a more abundant resource compared to uranium, and China has significant reserves of the metallic element

South China Morning Post, 15.06.2023

The second “golden age” of museums, which took place in the 1990s globally, is now happening in China, according to historian Xu Jian

An important milestone in recent history occurred in 2008, when Chinese public museums adopted a free admission policy, which resulted in an exponential growth in the number of visits over the last 15 years; the total number of museums in China reached 6,565 in 2022, which is not considered a large number compared to the size of the population

Sixth Tone, 18.06.2023

Taken by Messi-mania, Chinese sell out the 68,000 tickets at the Workers’ Stadium for the Argentina-Australia game

Tickets for the friendly game cost as much as 4,800 yuan (US$686), a record for a football match in China; an interview with the Argentine star attracted around 410 million views and the teenager who entered the field and hugged him went viral on Chinese social media

Shine, 16.06.2023

Shine, 16.06.2023

Honduras signs 17 agreements with China during President Xiomara Castro’s visit and the two countries will start negotiating a free trade agreement

After breaking ties with Taiwan and adhering to the One China principle this year, the president made the first Honduran state visit to the People’s Republic of China; Honduras has expressed its willingness to engage in the Belt and Road Initiative, made an official request to join the New Development Bank, and will promote exports of products such as coffee and shrimp to the Asian giant

Brasil de Fato, 13.06.2023

Chinese companies to invest US$10 billion in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries after the 10th Arab-China Business Conference

Electric vehicle company Human Horizons has signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Investment worth US$5.6 billion for research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of automobiles; Saudi Arabia’s trade with China increased by 30% in 2022 to reach US$106.1 billion, which represents a quarter of Chinese trade with Arab countries

South China Morning Post, 12.06.2023

China-Palestine relations raised to “strategic partnership” level, with Xi reiterating call for establishment of independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders

China’s president presented a three-point proposal to address the Palestinian issue – which includes holding a global peace conference – to his peer Mahmoud Abbas, who visited China for the fifth time; the countries signed a series of bilateral economic and technological cooperation agreements, and a bust of Yasser Arafat was unveiled in Beijing

China Daily, 14.06.2023

Brasil de Fato, 16.06.2023

Europe’s second-largest chipmaker makes an about-turn over US policy restrictions, entering a multibillion-dollar joint venture with China

Together with China’s Sanan Optoelectronics, STMicroelectronics will invest US$3.2 billion in building a chip factory to meet the growing demand in China for silicon carbide (SiC) devices in electric vehicles, among other uses; sales of new electric vehicles in China nearly doubled in 2022, reaching 6.9 million units

South China Morning Post, 12.06.2023

Participation of foreign banks in Initial Public Offerings (IPO) in mainland China fell to the lowest level in 13 years

So far, foreign banks have participated in new listings with just US$297 million – or 1.2% of the total – whereas in 2009 their share represented more than 50%; unlike the US, Chinese listings tend to rely less on institutional investors and more on retail investors, meaning that traditional global banking models are unsuitable for the Chinese market

Financial Times, 11.06.2023

China restructures its energy pricing model to have more transparent tariffs and benefit SMEs

By eliminating the large industrial user category, all industrial and commercial users will pay the same tariff based on their voltage levels, reducing energy costs for small and medium businesses; China has the world’s largest power grid and subsidizes energy for agricultural and residential users

Caixin Global, 12.06.2023

Issuance of fixed income bonds to finance green projects in China grows 35% in 2022, totaling US$155 billions

The cumulative volume of China’s green bonds reached US$289.6 billion at the end of 2022, ranking second after the US with US$380 billion; Hong Kong made its biggest bond issue of its kind on June 1, raising US$6 billion

South China Morning Post, 09.06.2023

Asia’s largest carbon capture project launched in Jiangsu

The installation will have the capacity to capture 500,000 tons of CO2 per year, being able to purify and reuse it or store it for use in the industrial and food sectors; the facility has a CO2 capture rate of over 90% and can produce 99% pure CO2 using the dry-base technique

People’s Daily, 13.06.2023

A historic record of nearly 13 million students took the gaokao, China’s entrance exam

The exam, which lasts between two and four days, is considered the fairest means of selecting talent in the country’s meritocratic system; in recent years, Xi Jinping’s thinking has been incorporated into the themes of the gaokao, where students are invited to reflect and share their thoughts on the country’s development and the concept of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”

South China Morning Post, 11.06.2023

Chinese reality show “Become a Farmer” took 10 Gen Z celebrities to work in the fields

Young people are tasked with cultivating a large plot of land, and living in an abandoned warehouse where they are responsible for cleaning and maintenance; participants had to learn to operate tractors and harvesters, and they donated all profits to farmers who have rights to the land

Radii, 28.02.2023

China will start using the port of Vladivostok, in Russia, which will allow the northeast region of China to save time and reduce costs

The decision is part of a national strategic plan to revitalize the industrial base of this region and will reduce distances by more than 800 km for the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang that do not have direct access to the sea; China and Russia also signed an agreement to supply natural gas through the Far East Route

Global Times, 14.05.2023

Global Times, 15.05.2023

The United States seeks to reduce its dependence on China for solar energy production but none of its companies would be able to do so

To grant the new tax breaks, the Treasury Department imposed a condition that US companies manufacture their solar cells in the country, but none of them would be able to do so without having to turn to China; the Asian giant produces almost all the world’s solar wafers, 85% of the cells and three-quarters of all modules

Financial Times, 13.05.2023

China to transfer technology for Thailand to develop its own high-speed rail network

The transfer may involve patents, licenses, and other intellectual property rights; the initiative comes within the framework of the China-Thailand rail project that will span 873 km with trains traveling up to 250 km/h and will be a key link in the “southern corridor” of the New Silk Road connecting China and Southeast Asia

South China Morning Post, 15.05.2023

China opens blockchain research center in Beijing to train 500,000 industry professionals

Blockchain technology consists of interconnected blocks that store information and are unalterable, making it more secure; although its most well-known application – cryptocurrencies – are not allowed in China, the creation of the center is part of the government’s efforts to promote its industrial use

South China Morning Post, 14.05.2023

Read more about blockchain technology

Twenty cities launch pilot programs to promote marriages and births

These programs are driven by the China Family Planning Association, which raises the need for more policies in this regard; insufficient childcare services, high property prices and education costs, and women’s concerns about the impact on their careers are some of the factors that make fewer and fewer people want to have children

Global Times, 14.05.2023

South China Morning Post, 16.05.2023

Although below expectations, April industrial production has the highest increase since September 2022, up 5.6% year-on-year

A year-on-year increase was seen in electric vehicle manufacturing (85.4%) and solar cells (69.1%), while total retail sales of consumer goods reached  3.49 billion yuan (US$ 500 million), up 18.4% from the previous year; investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew grew 15.3% and 13.4% respectively, while the real estate sector it fell 6.2%

Nikkei Asia, 16.05.2023

National Bureau of Statistics of China, 16.05.2023

Rural youth increasingly prefer to work in their hometowns rather than in the metropolises

Among the reasons for the phenomenon are better coordination at the local level of policies such as social security and medical insurance; the number of Chinese migrants working outside their home provinces – a trend that began in 2015 – has fallen again by 2022, and some factories are already facing shortages of lower-skilled workers

Caixin Global, 12.05.2023

China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions grew 4% year-on-year in the first quarter, reaching a record high

The economic rebound following the end of the zero Covid policy, the stimulus to infrastructure construction and the decline in hydropower due to the drought were the main reasons; however, renewables and nuclear power exceeded 50% of installed power capacity for the first time, which would allow emissions to peak and enter structural decline

Carbon Brief, 12.05.2023

Governors and Party secretaries will take responsibility for ensuring China’s food security goals

Government cadres at the provincial level risk failing their performance evaluations if they do not meet farmland quotas, grain production, and crop structure; China is seeking to reduce its dependence on US crops and President Xi has gone so far as to say that agriculture is a “national security issue of extreme importance”

South China Morning Post, 12.05.2023

More and more cities are offering free accommodation for young job seekers

Those who are about to graduate or already have their degree can stay between 5 and 14 days depending on the city; young people are looking to find employment in a labor market that will receive more than 11 million graduates in June, amid a youth unemployment rate that reached 19.6% in March

South China Morning Post, 10.05.2023