During a recent personal discussion about multilateralism and in response to witnessing the ongoing chaos worldwide, former Slovenian President Danilo Türk stated to me that the world today is going “from hopeful to possible success.” From our conversation, we both came to the conclusion that although multilateralism is under attack and the global governance regime is porous, international collaboration can still be reborn and can ultimately succeed with support from such emerging countries as China and others.
Recently, China announced a slew of measures to further open its financial market. The 11 new measures encourage overseas financial institutions to participate in the establishment of, and invest in, asset management subsidiaries of commercial banks. They also allow them to set up and invest in pension management companies. Investment restrictions of overseas personal insurance companies will be completely scrapped in 2020. Those measures serve as a milestone, marking a new stage of China's financial opening-up.
The China-US trade war began over a year ago, the US' economic bullying has since spread to the financial and currency sectors as the US has designated China as a currency manipulator.This is not the first time the US has waged a trade war, and China is not its first victim. Looking through history, the US has always gained upper hand and left its opponents with a "lost decade" or decades. In this history, there are lessons to be learned.
Seated opposite us in a conference room, Tulus Martini, a young Indonesian mother, was answering our questions in fluent Chinese. A blue sign was hanging on the wall. It read "Jawa 7 Coal-Fired Power Plant. "In 2017, China Energy Engineering Group Zhejiang Thermal Power Construction Co Ltd started building this power plant in Kota Serang in the northwest region of Java, Indonesia. The plant is a key project of Indonesia's medium-term plan to add 35 million kilowatts of generation capacity, as well as China's first overseas mega-kilowatt class thermal power project.
Use of the renminbi is an increasingly common choice of countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Some Western scholars misunderstand the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative believing it is a means to promote the internationalization of the renminbi. In fact, although there is a certain relationship between the initiative and yuan's internationalization, they are two different issues.
Three administrative documents released by the Chinese government, Special Administrative Measures on Access to Foreign Investment (2019 edition), Free Trade Zone Special Administrative Measures on Access to Foreign Investment (2019 edition) and Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment , came into effect on July 30, 2019. The latest revision includes new opening-up measures in services, manufacturing, mining and agriculture, allowing full foreign ownership in more sectors, with no additional limits added. Three changes highlight the new negative list.
Through a presidential order, the Indian government on August 5 scrapped Article 370 of Indian Constitution, which granted special status to the India-controlled Kashmir. The move means the region, an internationally recognized disputed territory between India and Pakistan, was forcibly transformed into alleged Indian territory by New Delhi. This is unacceptable to Pakistan and has triggered a serious confrontation between the two countries.
On August 9, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report saying that the renminbi (RMB) is not being significantly undervalued or overvalued, and a more flexible exchange rate will provide greater room to solve China's domestic problems. This statement is bound to disappoint the Trump administration. The U.S. Treasury Department, which labeled China as a "currency manipulator," had originally hoped to seek backing from the IMF.
The world has been taken by surprise by the violence and the duration of the ongoing turbulence in Hong Kong. While demonstrations in Hong Kong do occur on occasions, the violent eruptions coming out of this demonstration was unexpected. However, it is probably not "spontaneous."
For numerous reasons the book is essential reading for anyone studying China's rise. But its importance lies above all in its "Chinese characteristics" - in showing how the framework of thought created by China's age of struggle and rising era is the most accurate guide to current international events. It outlines the basis on which the success of the Chongyang Institute was created. In addition to its importance for China itself if Western leaders read it they will make far fewer mistakes in understanding China.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued a White House Memorandum (hereafter referred as the Memo) on July 26, on reforming the WTO’s developing economy status. The Memo set a 90-day ultimatum to the WTO to change the developing economy status of several WTO members, including China. If the WTO fails to meet the deadline, the U.S. says it will act unilaterally. The Memo, harsh in wording, was in fact neglected in the WTO and refuted immediately by China.
On Monday 5 August China tested an economic nuclear weapon – it allowed the RMB’s exchange rate to fall. In addition to the drop itself it took it below the psychologically important 7.0 level. Financial markets understood immediately the impact of this drop in the RMB’s exchange rate – the US S&P500 share index fell by 3% in a single day, the worst daily decline of 2019. This sharp fall on US share markets repeated the experience following the RMB’s devaluation in 2015.
My recent visit to Malaysia came eight years after my first trip to the country. As the car approached the Petronas Twin Towers, the landmark of Kuala Lumpur, I saw a billboard of China Construction Bank (CCB). On the second day, as I was wandering in the city, I noticed a signpost next to the office building of the operation department of CCB. It showed that the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce is housed in the same building.
Hong Kong is now in its ninth consecutive week of mass protests. The violent clashes between police and protesters have grabbed global attention.
US President Donald Trump's rash measure of imposing a new 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods on top of the 25 percent already levied threatens to hurt the US economy. It may also create a major blowout in international financial markets. In addition, this attempt to play hardball with the Chinese side in these all too important discussions could totally poison the atmosphere for amicable talks with China on any issue in the future.
Since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has consistently performed strategic exploration of economics. From 1949 until the end of the first Five-Year Plan period (1953-1957), China completed a series of remarkable economic achievements.
Ambassadors from 50 countries assigned to the United Nations Office at Geneva wrote a letter to the President of the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to voice their support for China's position on issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
In recent decades, in addition to the famous Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has aimed to reshape the Pearl River Delta, which includes Hong Kong, Macao, and nine cities in Guangdong province. The goal was to create one economic entity called the Greater Bay Area. According to the Development Outline published by the State Council of China on February 18, 2019, the Greater Bay Area will represent China in industrial competitions worldwide and provide opportunities for internal economic transformations.
On Monday, China-U.S. trade talks resumed after a three-month suspension in Shanghai. The choice of Shanghai, China's financial hub, as the meeting venue demonstrates China's hope to handle the economic and trade frictions between the two countries in the spirit of "business is business."
The Trump administration's China approach recently triggered a new round of debates within the US, with both sides of the aisle expressing their views through open letters to US President Donald Trump. Amid growing bilateral tensions, the US narrative on China is being metamorphosed.