If you’ve been waiting for Beijing to unveil a plan to fix China’s flagging consumption, we have an answer for you. Two prominent essays published earlier this month – one in the Party’s flagship theoretical journal Qiushi and the other in state media Economic Daily – laid out with unusual clarity how Party leadership is thinking about the country’s economic
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Despite Washington’s best efforts to keep frontier semiconductor chips out of Beijing’s hands, China’s leading AI labs are – according to one estimate – using the equivalent of at least 670,000 top-tier Nvidia chips. The catch? They aren’t obtaining these chips through smuggling or other illegal methods – they are legally renting them from overseas data centers. US Export Administration Regulations
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Beijing’s counter-sanctions toolkit was back in the headlines this week. The commerce ministry (MofCom) announced a spate of tit-for-tat measures against US entities and launched a first-of-its-kind national security investigation into office equipment with foreign software installed. A MofCom spokesperson spelled out exactly which actions by Washington had inspired the retaliation – a new approach in recent months that forces foreign
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China’s economy has a shape problem. For years now, we have highlighted the structural imbalances at the heart of China’s economy – weak consumption, over-reliance on exports, and a persistent supply-demand mismatch. In recent months, those imbalances have well and truly come to a head – welcome to the K-shaped economy. The upper arm of the K is powered by
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Every June, China’s financial regulators gather in Shanghai for the Lujiazui Forum – the financial sector’s annual gabfest. The event brings together regulators, finance executives, and experts to discuss all things finance. The forum is a big deal, and Beijing has a history of using the occasion to unveil major policy shifts. For example, in 2024, the central bank (PBoC)
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China’s economy is bifurcating – and the gap is widening fast. On one side: A roaring AI and clean-energy export boom that is reshaping China’s position in the global economy and powering headline growth figures. On the other: A domestic economy that just registered its first contraction in retail sales in over three years. Both things are true simultaneously – and understanding
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