Must-Read China Economic News (Sept. 4-10)
Partnership actions to boost China-Africa cooperation; China-U.S. talks on policy, business, climate issues; a steady increase in foreign trade; plans to allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals...
Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of PekingEnsight! We're thrilled to have you join us once again as we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the Chinese economy.
⭐Under Spotlight:
China unveils 10 partnership actions to expand cooperation with Africa
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Sept. 5 a decision to upgrade China-Africa relations and unveiled 10 partnership actions to expand cooperation in various fields and 360 billion yuan, or 50 billion USD, of financial support through the next three years.
Addressing the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, Xi proposed to elevate China-Africa relations to an all-weather community with a shared future for the new era. During summit, he met or held talks with leaders of more than 50 African countries and improved bilateral relations with many of them, making China’s ties with every African countries that have diplomatic relations with it no lower than the strategic level.
The 10 partnership actions cover a wide range of areas from industrial chain cooperation to green development.
1. China and Africa will build a platform for governance experience sharing, a development knowledge network and 25 centers on China and Africa studies, and China will invite 1,000 members of African political parties to China to deepen exchanges.
2. China will give all the least developed countries having diplomatic relations with it zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines, including 33 countries in Africa.
3. China will push forward the Pilot Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, and launch an empowerment program for African SMEs. A digital technology cooperation center and 20 digital demonstration projects will be built.
4. China is prepared to carry out 30 infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa and promote together high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
5. China will deepen cooperation within the framework of the Global Development Initiative with Africa, and implement 1,000 "small and beautiful" livelihood projects.
6. China will establish with Africa a hospital alliance and joint medical centers, send 2,000 medical personnel to Africa, and launch 20 programs of health facilities and malaria treatment.
7. China will provide Africa with 1 billion yuan in emergency food assistance, send 500 agricultural experts, establish a China-Africa agricultural science and technology innovation alliance, and create at least 1 million jobs for Africa.
8. China will establish an engineering technology academy, build 10 Luban Workshops with Africa, and provide 60,000 training opportunities mainly to women and young people.
9. China will launch 30 clean energy projects in Africa, create a China-Africa forum on peaceful use of nuclear technology, establish together 30 joint laboratories, and collaborate on satellite remote sensing and lunar and deep-space exploration.
10. China will build with Africa a partnership for implementing the Global Security Initiative and give Africa 1 billion yuan of grants in military assistance.
To implement the 10 partnership actions, the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan of financial support through the next three years. This breaks down into 210 billion yuan of credit line, 80 billion yuan of assistance in various forms, and at least 70 billion yuan of investment in Africa by Chinese companies.
China-U.S. talks on policy, business, climate issues
Two Chinese and U.S. working groups convened on policy, business and climate issues from Sept. 4 to 6.
The commercial and trade working group held its second vice-ministerial meeting in Tianjin for professional, rational and pragmatic discussions. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said at the meeting that a modernized China with a large population presents an opportunity, not a threat for the United States. The Chinese side voiced concerns about the U.S. Section 301 tariffs and the overstretching concept of national security and its opposition to the overcapacity rhetoric about Chinese products.
The two sides agreed to support trade and investment promotion, maintain communications in areas such as cross-border data flows, inspection and quarantine, healthcare, clean energy, and facilitate business cooperation through establishing more project offices.
Another working group on climate action discussed the implementation of their respective 2030 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and preparations of 2035 NDCs. Officials from both sides recognized their technical and policy exchanges as far on the energy transition, methane, circular economy and resource efficiency, and reaffirmed their willingness to jointly host, with the COP29 Presidency of Azerbaijan, a Methane and Other Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases Summit at COP29.
China opposes Canada's tariff hikes on EVs
China put forward a consultation request to Canada at the WTO over the latter’s plan to impose surtaxes on electric vehicles as well as steel and aluminum products imported from China on Sept. 6. The Ministry of Commerce said Canada's plan to impose 100 percent surtaxes on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25 percent on steel and aluminum products represents a typical example of unilateralism and trade protectionism.
On Sept. 9, China initiated an anti-dumping probe into imported rapeseed from Canada. Canada exported 3.47 billion U.S. dollars worth of rapeseed to China in 2023, with a year-on-year volume surge of 170 percent and a continuous decline in prices, causing substantial damage to China's domestic industry, the ministry said.
⭐Key Macroeconomic Indicators:
China’s foreign trade up steadily in Jan.-Aug.
China’s foreign trade in goods came in at 4.02 trillion U.S. dollars from Jan. to Aug., up 3.7 percent year on year. Exports rose 4.6 percent, while imports increased 2.5 percent. Trade surplus expanded 11.2 percent to 608.49 billion dollars. Lyu Daliang, a customs official, attributed the increase to recovering demand both at home and abroad.
ASEAN continued to be China's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume up 10 percent from a year ago, accounting for 15.7 percent of the country's total foreign trade. It was followed by the European Union, the United States, and South Korea.
China’s CPI up 0.6 pct, PPI down 1.8 pct in Aug.
The consumer price index (CPI) was up 0.6 percent year on year in August, slightly higher than the 0.5-percent increase in July. The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 1.8 percent in Aug., bigger than a 0.8-percent year-on-year dip registered in July.
China's digital RMB transactions near 1 trillion USD
China's digital RMB transactions amounted to 7 trillion yuan, about 986.07 billion USD, by the end of June. The digital RMB has been piloted in 17 provincial-level regions in sectors such as wholesale and retail, catering, cultural activities, tourism, education and medical care.
⭐Policy Moves Much-Talked:
China to allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals
China plans to allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hainan in the latest effort to open up the healthcare field. The conditions, requirements and procedures for establishing these hospitals will be specified later.
Foreign-invested enterprises will also be allowed to engage in the development of medical technologies relating to human stem cells and gene diagnosis and treatment.
Lawmakers convene to review bills
China's national lawmakers have started to deliberate a number of legislative bills on national defense education, energy, and anti-money laundering at a legislative session running from Sept. 10 to 13.
During the ongoing 11th session of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee, a draft revision to the National Defense Education Law is entering a second review, and a draft amendment to the Statistics Law is also under deliberation. Draft revisions to the anti-money laundering law and a draft energy law have also been submitted for a second reading. Lawmakers are also deliberating a draft decision on gradually raising the statutory retirement age.
China ups efforts to spur domestic demand
China is stepping up efforts to promote consumer goods trade-ins with stronger subsidies and incentives for automobiles and home appliances. Regions from Shanghai and Guangdong to Chongqing and Hubei have unveiled specific plans to boost the purchase of energy-efficient household appliances and new energy vehicles.
These local policy measures came after China's State Council released an action plan in March to initiate large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-ins of consumer goods, a major move to sustain economic recovery this year.
⭐Read More:
Typhoon Yagi makes landfall
Super Typhoon Yagi, the 11th typhoon of the year, made landfall in south China’s Hainan Province on Sept. 6. The strongest autumn typhoon to land in China since 1949 left at least four dead and 95 injured.
The island province is gradually recovering from the aftermath. Workers are racing against time to fix damaged facilities and drain streets of floodwaters. Normal traffic has resumed in major highways, and taxi, ride-hailing and tourist passenger transport services in the province have all resumed operations. Airports in Sanya and Haikou have reopened.
Xizang reports increase in people’s incomes
The per capita disposable income of rural residents in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region was 6,711 yuan in the first half of 2024, an increase of 8.4 percent from a year ago. The growth rate ranked second highest across the country. In the first half, the total output value of agricultural and livestock product processing in Xizang was 3.9 billion yuan, up 21.27 percent year on year.