Xi jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has said he is "concerned" about the virus situation in the Chinese countryside, state media reported, as millions of people head to rural hometowns ahead of upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations. The Chinese leader also defended his zero-Covid policy -- lifted last month after crippling the economy and sparking nationwide protests -- saying it had been "the right choice". In a series of calls Wednesday ahead of the holiday, the Chinese leader told local officials he worried about the situation in the country's rural hinterlands. "Xi said he was primarily concerned about rural areas and rural residents after the country adjusted its Covid-19 response measures," state news agency Xinhua reported. He "stressed efforts to improve medical care for those most vulnerable to the virus in rural areas," Xinhua said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by … [Read more...] about ‘Concerned’: Xi Jinping on Covid cases in China’s countryside

Chinese President Xi Jinping President Xi Jinping said tough challenges remain in China’s fight against Covid-19 and acknowledged divisions in society that led to rare spontaneous protests, after weeks of silence on a virus policy pivot that’s infected hundreds of millions and delivered a severe blow to economic activity. In a New Year’s address on Saturday, Xi said the country is in a new phase of Covid control and has adapted after following a science-based and targeted approach. The day before, he said the nation’s strategy had been “optimized” to protect people’s lives and minimize economic costs. The government on December 7 took definitive easing steps from its harsh zero-tolerance approach to containing Covid, which had included snap lockdowns, frequent mass testing and largely closed borders. Xi had repeatedly defended the strategy despite mounting economic costs, including as late as mid-October. But on Saturday, the Chinese leader addressed the hardships endured … [Read more...] about Xi warns of tough Covid fight, acknowledges divisions in China

Xi Jinping (File photo) President Xi Jinping said China has entered a new phase in its fight against the coronavirus and tough challenges remain, his most frank public comments on the reversal of the Covid Zero policy that’s resulted in nationwide outbreaks and tested the health system and economy. “Following a science-based and targeted approach, we have adapted our Covid response in light of the evolving situation, to protect the life and health of the people to the greatest extent possible,” Xi said in his New Year’s speech Saturday. On Friday, Xi made his first comments on the Covid Zero policy since his government took its first easing steps on Dec. 7. He said the strategy was “optimized” to protect people’s lives and minimize economic costs. China’s sudden exit from Covid Zero — which for almost three years had required mass testing, snap lockdowns and mostly closed borders — has sparked a surge of infections. “With extraordinary efforts, we have prevailed over … [Read more...] about Xi says China in new phase of Covid fight, warns of challenges

Chinese President Xi Jinping (file image) China’s leader, Xi Jinping, used his annual New Year’s Eve address in 2021 to laud the patriotic achievements of the Chinese people. In a year marked by crackdowns on tech companies, curbs on borrowing by the country’s property firms, and a refusal to budge on restrictive COVID policies, Xi made no direct mention of the economy or business. In the first minute of his most recent address, Xi extolled the country’s economy, still the world’s second largest, and explained that China had cut taxes and fees as well as introducing measures “to ease the burden on businesses.” A few weeks earlier, at a meeting to lay out policy objectives for 2023, Xi and other top leaders expressed the need to bolster the economy and pledged support for the private sector. The disciplinarian of China Inc. has turned cheerleader. “The Chinese economy enjoys strong resilience, tremendous potential and great vitality. The fundamentals sustaining its … [Read more...] about From disciplinarian to cheerleader: Why China is changing its tone on business

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Depending on who you speak with, 2023 will either be a year of global boom or of a chaotic slide toward recession. The problem, of course, is that both camps can make a solid argument to support each view. Yet there’s a common thread to these schizophrenic takes: China. If you think global growth is about to roar higher, odds are you buy into the post-zero-Covid reopening boom narrative. If downturn fears color your view, you probably worry that a Covid-infection disaster looms to crater Asia’s biggest economy and global markets. Somewhere in between? Then you may be among those worried explosive mainland demand will send global inflation skyrocketing and asset values racing downward, a negative feedback loop no one wants. It would help if communication were Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s thing. It most certainly isn’t. China’s impossibly low Covid death figures are a reminder that even the best-connected … [Read more...] about World Economy’s Schizophrenic Year Begins In China

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin When Susan Shirk first visited China in 1971, GDP per person was $118 - roughly what my family spent on a takeout dinner last night. China’s rise since then has been breathtaking. Its economy is now the world’s second largest and it has accumulated $3 trillion of foreign currency. Along the way hundreds of millions of people have been raised out of poverty. For much of that time China’s rise was peaceful. But starting in 2006 Shirk began noticing a change. And when Shirk notices something about China it’s important - she now chairs UC San Diego’s 21st Century China center and is one of the most influential experts on US-China relations. She recently published Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise and was recently my guest on the Top Traders Unplugged podcast . This is an insider’s story full of unintended consequences and irony, with much of the detail coming from her interviews with Chinese business … [Read more...] about China’s Overreach Is Putting Its Economic Rise At Risk

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Beijing has at last begun to acknowledge its deep financial problems. A few weeks ago, after dithering for more than a year, it took steps to reliquefy its troubled property sector. More recently, it announced a new financial stability law that according to Vice Chair of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Liu Guoqiang, aims to control risk. Such measures may offer temporary relief, but they cannot address China’s deeper economic troubles and their reflection in financial markets. The size of China’s debt problem is truly staggering. At last measure, debt of all sorts – public and private and in all sectors of the economy — amounted to the equivalent of $51.9 trillion, almost three times the size of China’s economy as measured by the country’s gross domestic product. This is the highest level recorded in the 27 years since Beijing first began to track such statistics. Matters seem set only to get worse. According to the … [Read more...] about China’s Overwhelming Debt Burden Points To Still Deeper Problems

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin History is catching up with me. In my last two notes I wrote variously about the tendency for some authors to use the opening line from Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities …’it was the best of times the worst of times’ and, the ability of ChatGPT to write essays and speeches. On Monday, I dug out an old speech from Xi Jinping – and to my horror found it contained the sentence ‘it as the best of times the worst of times’, and it was written in such a balanced, anodyne way, with an obvious appeal to the Western reader, that it must have been written by a ChatGPT engine- the Chinese are apparently years ahead of thus here. The speech in question is worth dwelling on. It was given at Davos in 2017 , only a few days before Donald trump was inaugurated. As America struggled with the reality of Trump’s election victory, Xi Jinping came to Davos to claim globalization for China and to place China in the vanguard of the world order. … [Read more...] about Germany Must Supply Leopard Tanks To Ukraine

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin China diplomat Qin Gang won plaudits at a time of difficult Washington-Beijing relations for getting out to meet the American public as the country’s ambassador to the United States from mid-2021 until earlier this year. Stops in 2022 included a Washington Wizards NBA game, where he shot a basket last month, as well as Garland High School in in Dallas in May, where he wore a cowboy hat. Qin’s success helped to get him promoted to his current job as China’s Foreign Minister. Now based in Beijing, Qin spoke to Americans anew on Saturday by pre-recorded video, using a NBA match between the Wizards and Orlando Magic to express good wishes on the eve of the Chinese New Year. “Happy Chinese New Year to D.C. family!” Qin said. “Today I am glad to join you again in celebrating the Chinese New Year,” Qin said. “I wish the Chinese and American people a prosperous Year of the Rabbit and a bright future! Good luck to everyone … [Read more...] about “Imaginative” China Minister Sends New Year’s Greetings To Americans Via NBA Game

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Talk has re-emerged that China’s yuan will soon challenge the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This time, the spark for such talk came from a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Middle East, where he emphasized the reach of China’s trade and also made clear his desire for oil contracts to settle in yuan and not, as usual, in dollars. The Saudi’s seemed to have no objection. Such actions, though they command notice, nonetheless fall far short of achieving Beijing’s long-standing ambition for the yuan to serve as the premier global reserve. To accomplish this, China will have to jump many more hurdles. The yuan today falls woefully short on every major attribute of a global reserve. Still more vexing for Beijing, success on the yuan will require change in ways that the governing communist party may find impossible. For the yuan to replace the dollar, it will, for instance, have to gain much wider acceptance than … [Read more...] about Yuan Pipe Dreams