By allowing local governments and state-owned enterprises to buy unsold land and housing from distressed developers, China is betting a property slump weighing down the economy can be stopped once and for all.
In this week’s issue of the Global Impact newsletter, we look back at Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to France, Serbia and Hungary, and ponder what has changed in the ever-complex relationship between Beijing and Brussels.
Hong Kong stocks at 10-month highs after China’s property support measures cheer investors.
China left benchmark lending rates unchanged on Monday having last week announced ‘historic’ steps to stabilise its crisis-hit property sector.
Economist Richard Koo’s theories influenced Western policy decisions after the global financial crisis, and now he has strong words for Chinese policymakers on the need for fiscal stimulus to ward off a ‘balance-sheet recession’.
Yao Yang from Peking University says a developed, capitalist market and openness to immigrants helped the United States lead the way over the past century.
With consumption taking a hit in fraught economic times, safe-haven investments are outshining discretionary diamond purchases in the eyes of many Chinese buyers.
Tang is the first member of the Communist Party’s current Central Committee to come under investigation for ‘discipline violations’.
A Chinese high-speed railway line in Indonesia has been open for six months – and is popular enough that new trips have been added – but high debt levels are raising questions about its long-term utility.
State-owned company plans to be first to use Gotion High-Tech’s solid-state batteries when they start mass production, chairman Yin Tongyue says.
Property investment in China fell again in the first four months of the year and retail sales growth cooled in April, but industrial output remained strong last month, data released on Friday showed.
Beijing has announced 300 billion-yuan in funds to help clear excess housing inventory, as well as measures to ensure developers have access to financing and that homes are delivered on time.
German industrial engineering firms reported a negative outlook for their China business in a recent survey, with weak demand and overcapacity most frequently mentioned as the cause for their low confidence.
He Lifeng stressed the need to ‘carry on the battle’ to surmount the risks that unfinished and unconstructed homes represent, as the health of the property market is tied closely to social wellness and economic development.
From China’s rail gun sending smart bomb into stratosphere to Singapore’s Lawrence Wong being ‘pride of Hainan’, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting.
China’s property investment fall accelerated in the first four months of the year, while retail sales growth slowed in April, data released on Friday showed.
With the end of pandemic control measures severely reducing the demand for medical testing services, China’s laboratories are facing massive declines in revenue and laying off large portions of their staff.
Bilateral trade, an important lifeline to Russia since it invaded Ukraine, is already at a record US$240 billion, with China its largest customer for crude oil.
The US announced plans on Tuesday to increase tariffs on 14 categories of products from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, covering US$18 billion in imports.
Analysts say Beijing is preparing ‘for all types of situations’ in a trade war with the US that shows no sign of abating after six years, as the leading presidential candidates vow to turn up the heat.
With household debt at worrisome levels, curbing consumption and China’s economic recovery, Beijing is interjecting in the largely unregulated process with new guidelines for issuing loans and collecting arrears.