Must-Read China Economic News (April 17-23)
Four dead, 10 missing in Guangdong rainstorm; U.S. Secretary of State Blinken to visit China; new job data in Q1; auto exports...
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:
Four dead, 10 missing in Guangdong rainstorm
Heavy rainstorms swept across southern China's Guangdong Province has killed at least four people, while 10 others remained missing.
Continuous rainfall in the province damaged houses, swelled rivers and blocked roads. As of Monday, the province has relocated some 110,000 residents, with 25,800 people being urgently resettled.
On Tuesday, the country's national observatory extended a rainstorm warning through Wednesday morning, with heavy rain expected in southern China, including parts of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. The southern city of Shenzhen issued the highest-level warning for rainstorm.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China from April 24 to 26.
Blinken's visit comes at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
📢Voices on Spot:
China's new-energy industry has gained advantages through self-improvement and sufficient market competition, rather than by government subsidies. The high-quality production capacity that China's new-energy industry continues to provide will make important contributions to global green development.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said while holding talks with Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz in Beijing
China will steadfastly open wider to the outside world at a high level, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. It will continue to inject stability into global trade and the world economy with the certainty of its own development, and provide broader space for the development of enterprises from all countries.
The comments by Chinese Premier Li Qiang said during a symposium with overseas buyers attending the 135th session of the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) in Guangzhou.
⭐Key Macroeconomic Indicators:
China's job market remained generally stable in the first quarter of 2024, with a total of 3.03 million new urban jobs created during the period while surveyed urban unemployment rate standing at 5.2 percent in March. (source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security)
The number of newly established foreign-invested firms in China hit 12,000 in the first quarter of 2024, up 20.7 percent year on year.
In terms of the structure of foreign direct investment, the country's high-tech manufacturing sector attracted 12.5 percent of the FDI inflow in the first quarter, up 2.2 percentage points compared to that in the same period last year. (source: Ministry of Commerce)
China's automobile exports jumped 33.2 percent year on year in the first quarter, with new energy vehicle exports up 23.8 percent year on year during the period. (source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers)
⭐Policy Moves Much-Talked:
China-U.S. economic working group held its fourth meeting in Washington D.C.
Focusing on implementing the important consensus reached by the lead persons, the two sides conducted in-depth, pragmatic and constructive communication on the macroeconomic situations and balanced growth in the two countries and the world, as well as arrangements for future communication.
Chinese wildlife association to work with U.S. zoo on giant panda conservation
China Wildlife Conservation Association signed a letter of intent on cooperation with the United States' San Francisco Zoological Society and Gardens at a ceremony held in Beijing, aiming to boost the conservation of giant pandas.
The two sides agreed to initiate technical consultations on the international conservation of giant pandas, and to promote research and technical exchanges related to giant panda conservation cooperation between the two countries.
China released new measures to encourage overseas institutions to invest in the country's domestic sci-tech enterprises.
According to the measures, the country will efficiently approve the qualification applications for the dollar-denominated qualified foreign institutional investor scheme (QFII) and its yuan-denominated sibling, RQFII, in accordance with the law.
Overseas institutions will also be supported to invest in domestic sci-tech enterprises through the Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) scheme.
Eligible overseas institutions will be encouraged to issue yuan-denominated bonds in China and invest in the sci-tech field, and the pilot projects that facilitate cross-border financing will be expanded nationwide.
China mulls intensifying statistical supervision through law amendment
China is considering stepping up statistical supervision and increasing legal accountability to combat statistics fraud and other prominent issues through an amendment to the country's Statistics Law.
A draft amendment was submitted to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, on Tuesday.
⭐Read More:
Tesla's new mega factory project in Shanghai to start construction
U.S. carmaker Tesla Inc. will break ground in May on its new mega factory project capable of producing 10,000 Megapacks a year in Shanghai.
As Tesla's first energy storage mega factory project outside the U.S. market, it is expected to go into mass production in the first quarter of 2025.
The factory will initially produce 10,000 Megapack units every year, equal to nearly 40 GWh of energy storage.
Compiled by Zoe Wang.