Focus
China’s relationship with the United States and the West versus China’s relationship with the developing world.
China’s supply-side stimulus measures.
Apple as a proxy for whether or not the United States (or the rest of the world) can truly decouple their supply chains from China.
China Economy
China to further ensure supply and stable prices of essential necessities and energy to meet residential and corporate needs (Xinhua)
China will adopt further measures to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices of essential necessities and energy, to meet the needs of people's daily use and corporate production, according to the decisions made at the State Council Executive Meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday.
The meeting noted that China has maintained price stability and bolstered its capacity to ensure stable food and energy supply in the past year, which provides a strong underpinning for stabilizing economic performance and meeting people's basic needs.
Alibaba, Baidu, Longfor lift Hong Kong stocks to five-month high as China pledges fiscal boost to virus-hit economy (South China Morning Post)
Hong Kong stocks reached a five-month high after China pledged to boost fiscal spending following reports factory activity and services continued to slump last month. Traders await minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for clues on rate outlook.
The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.2 per cent to 20,793.11 at the close of Wednesday trading, logging the best gain since December 8. The Tech Index surged 4.6 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent.
地产2022:几疑山穷水尽,复迎柳暗花明 (Sohu)
Chinese property developers rally amid improving sentiment on real estate financing (Yuan Talks)
China Geopolitics
Energy Security
China launches direct shipping line to Iran’s Chabahar port (Tehran Times) (Tehran Times)
The announcement was made by Amir Moghadam, the managing director of the Chabahar Free Zone Organization, Tasnim news agency reported.
According to Moghadam, Chinese ships previously unloaded in Bandar Abbas, the capital city of the southern province of Hormozgan, with their cargos then being transferred to Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan Province via smaller ships.
With the establishment of the direct shipping line between China and Chabahar, cargos are delivered ten days earlier, while the cost of loading and unloading is reduced by $400 per container, the official explained.
China ready to resume oil and gas talks with the Philippines, says Xi (Reuters)
China is ready to resume oil and gas talks and manage maritime issues "cordially" with the Philippines, China President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, according to Chinese state television.
Xi was speaking to his Philippines counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who was on a three-day visit to Beijing.
The end of Apple’s affair with China (Economist)
By a dusty stretch of the deafening road from Chennai to Bengaluru lie three colossal, anonymous buildings. Inside, away from the din of traffic, is a high-tech facility operated by Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufacturer. A short drive away Pegatron, another Taiwanese tech firm, has erected a vast new factory of its own. Salcomp, a Finnish gadget-maker, has set one up not far away. Farther west is a 500-acre campus run by Tata, an Indian conglomerate. What these closely guarded facilities have in common is their client: a demanding and secretive American firm known locally as “the fruit company”.
China Pandemic Policy (and Global Response)
Biden was concerned by how China was handling COVID (Reuters)
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was concerned by how China was handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
China's COVID-19 data is not giving an accurate picture of the situation there and under represents the number of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease, a senior official at the World Health Organization said earlier in the day.
Airlines Slam ‘Knee-Jerk’ Covid Test Plan for Chinese Travelers (Bloomberg)
The airline industry’s global lobby group condemned national moves to introduce Covid tests and other measures for arrivals from China as travel from the Asia nation resumes despite a flareup in the virus.
The measures represent a knee-jerk reinstatement of steps that have proven ineffective in stemming the pandemic over the past three years, the International Air Transport Association said in a statement Wednesday.
PRC State Media
How does digital technology bolster China's manned space program?
China's space station has finished the T-shaped structure consisting of the Tianhe core module and the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules.
Digital technology boosted design, manufacturing and test processes during the construction of the configuration that weighs nearly a hundred tonnes.
"Digital technology has improved the efficiency and quality of the development of China's space station, shortening its development cycle by 30 percent," Lin Xiaoqing, chief engineer of digitalization and intelligent manufacturing technology at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), told China Media Group (CMG).
Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Unsplash