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☆ Despite strong Lunar New Year holiday data, consumer spending in China isn’t roaring back just yet
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Laura He | Marc Stewart | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But according to CNN calculations based on official data, the average tourism-related spending per trip was below pre-pandemic levels, as consumer confidence remains weak amid deflationary pressure. However, the most recent holiday season took place over eight days from February 10 to February 18, which was one day more than previous periods. On average, 59.25 million domestic trips per day were made during this holiday period, slightly lower than the 59.29 million trips per day taken in 2019. Movie ticket sales reached a record 8 billion yuan ($1.11 billion) during the eight-day holiday season, according to data released on Sunday by China Film Administration. “The headwinds to growth remain severe and it will take more than a bump in holiday travel for market sentiment to recover,” said Neumann.

Persons: ” Nomura, ”, Frederic Neumann, Neumann, “ Organizations: Beijing CNN, CNN, Ministry of Culture, Tourism, Hangzhou East Railway, National Immigration Administration, China Film Administration, HSBC, China Index Holdings, Shenzhen Component Locations: China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Hangzhou, China's Zhejiang province, Macao, Asia, Shanghai, Shenzhen

☆ The US, Russia and China are in a race to dominate new-wave nuclear energy — and win global influence
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Angela Dewan | Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Russia's floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, leaving the service base Rosatomflot on August 23, 2019. For some experts, nuclear energy — in all forms, large or small — has an important role to play in that transition. Globally, the construction of conventional nuclear power plants dipped following the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. Russia has already built or designed nuclear plants — the traditional type — for China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Slovakia, Egypt and Iran. “It certainly dampens the excitement abroad,” said John Parsons, a senior lecturer at MIT and a financial economist focused on nuclear energy.

Persons: Akademik Lomonosov, Biden, Lomonosov, Maxim Shemetov, “ There’s, ”, Josh Freed, China —, Vladimir Putin’s, Bill Gates ’, Luo Yunfei, Kirsten Cutler, they’re, Cutler, ” Cutler, They’re, John Parsons, John Kerry, Thomas Mukoya, Way’s Freed, “, ” Parsons, Mohammed Hamdaoui, ” Hamdaoui, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Reuters, European Union, International Energy Agency, Energy, World Nuclear, IEA, US, SMR, US Export, Import Bank, International Development Finance Corporation, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, China, Changjiang, China News Service, Nuclear Energy, US State Department, “, MIT, InfluenceMap, The State Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC, Rystad Energy Locations: Alaska, Russian, Russia, China, European, Japan, India, South Korea, Europe, Dubai, America, Poland, North Carolina, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Slovakia, Egypt, Iran, Lomonosov, Siberia, Russia’s, Washington, Bill Gates ’ TerraPower, Wyoming, Changjiang Li Autonomous County, Hainan province, United States, Oregon, Idaho, United Arab Emirates

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday warned Congress about a range of threats against the U.S., from Chinese hackers to heightened terrorist risks after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The FBI director has long warned about the Chinese government’s hacking capabilities. Cyberattacks and disinformation warfare can work in tandem, Wray warned. He also noted that AI can enhance foreign adversaries abilities to collect personal data and feed it into disinformation and influence operations. Heightened Terrorist Risk“We are, since Oct. 7, in a heightened threat environment from various forms of terrorist risk,” Wray warned, alluding to Hamas’ attack on Israel last year.

Persons: Christopher Wray, ” Wray, ” TikTok, Wray, ”, “ Organizations: Wednesday, U.S, Chinese Communist Party, FBI, Intelligence Locations: Israel, U.S, China, PRC, Iran

☆ China Isn’t Backing Off Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report:What was accomplished by applauding China's leader? Images: Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyPresident Biden’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco has been portrayed by both sides as a step forward in relations. But for all the good vibrations, Mr. Xi isn’t giving up his ambition to retake Taiwan, not least by meddling in the island’s January presidential election. Mr. Xi warned Mr. Biden in California to stop arming Taiwan and not to interfere in the election in favor of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that China dislikes. Mr. Biden said he told Mr. Xi that he “didn’t expect any interference, any at all,” in Taiwan’s campaign.

Persons: China's, Mark Kelly, Biden’s, Xi Jinping, Xi isn’t, Xi, Mr, Biden Organizations: Democratic Progressive Party, DPP Locations: San Francisco, Taiwan, California, China

☆ Western rival to Belt and Road has much to prove
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Western countries have a window of opportunity to come up with a credible infrastructure plan for the developing world. U.S. President Joe Biden has been talking up the West’s so-called Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). To be fair, the G7 is stepping up efforts to involve the private sector. These initiatives are running in parallel with efforts to get the World Bank to cooperate more with the private sector. For developing countries, it is good to have two rival infrastructure initiatives competing for their attention.

Persons: Joe Biden, PGII, marshall, It’s, Hung Tran, Janet Yellen, Antony Blinken, Jordan, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Peter Thal Larsen, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Initiative, Group, Democratic, Global Infrastructure, Investment, Atlantic Council, coy, Treasury, European, Bank, United Arab, China, Thomson Locations: Italy, Republic, India, Europe, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa, Senegal, United States, China, East, New Delhi, Indonesian, New York, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Beijing

An aerial view shows a crude oil tanker at an oil terminal off Waidiao island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China January 4, 2023. Weekly products supplied, a proxy for demand, rose to the highest since December. Higher interest rates increase borrowing costs, which could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand. On a bullish note, China made a rare draw on crude oil inventories in July, the first time in 33 months it has dipped into storage. Data released on Wednesday showed that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by nearly 6 million barrels last week on strong exports and refining run rates.

Persons: Dennis Kissler, Naeem Aslam, OANDA's Moya, Arathy Somasekhar, Natalie Grover, Katya Golubkova, David Goodman, Christina Fincher, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Brent, . West Texas, BOK Financial, Travel, Energy, Zaye, Markets, Thomson Locations: Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China, Independence, U.S, China's, Houston, London, Singapore

☆ Oil edges up as China seeks to calm economic fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view shows a crude oil tanker at an oil terminal off Waidiao island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China January 4, 2023. China Daily via REUTERS/file photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices crept up on Thursday after China's central bank sought to stem the rising tide of pessimism over the country's property market and wider economy. Higher interest rates increase borrowing costs for businesses and consumers, which could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand. On a more bullish note, China made a rare draw on crude oil inventories in July, the first time in 33 months that it had dipped into storage. Data released on Wednesday showed that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by nearly 6 million barrels last week on strong exports and refining run rates.

Persons: Naeem Aslam, Edward Moya, John Evans, OANDA's Moya, Natalie Grover, Katya Golubkova, David Goodman Organizations: REUTERS, Brent, . West Texas, Zaye, U.S, U.S . Federal, Thomson Locations: Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China, U.S .

Shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai closed lower again, but, unlike on Monday, the damage didn’t spread across Asia. China’s economy, the world’s second biggest, is in a prolonged slump. That poses a challenge for global growth. has previously forecast that China would account for 35 percent of global growth this year, but that’s looking less likely. The slowdown is hitting everything from commodities to construction, and some big U.S. companies that operate in China don’t expect a rapid turnaround.

Locations: China, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Asia

CNN —China’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned the transit of Taiwan’s vice president and presidential candidate William Lai through the United States, calling him a “troublemaker through and through.”Lai arrived in New York on Saturday en route to Paraguay where he will attend the inauguration of Paraguayan President Santiago Pena on August 15. Paraguay is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in South America. Shortly after Lai’s arrival, China’s foreign ministry said it “firmly opposes” any official interaction between the US and Taiwan and any “‘Taiwan independence’ separatists to the US.”“China deplores and strongly condemns the US decision to arrange the so-called ‘stopover,’” it said in a statement. “Lai clings stubbornly to the separatist position for ‘Taiwan independence’. Lai is due to transit through San Francisco on August 16 on his return to Taipei, Taiwan’s vice foreign minister Alexander Yui said during a media briefing earlier this month.

Persons: CNN —, William Lai, ” Lai, Santiago Pena, Lai, ”, ‘, China’s, “, “ Lai, China ”, Alexander Yui Organizations: CNN, Paraguayan, US, Communist Party, Taiwan, ’ Locations: United States, New York, Paraguay, South America, China, Taiwan, ”, Lai, San Francisco, Taipei

☆ Why China Isn’t Feeling the ‘Barbenheimer’ Vibe
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Jacky Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ China records fewest marriages in more than three decades as population crisis looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Some 6.83 million couples married in 2022, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday. That’s down around 10.5% from the 7.63 million marriage registrations in 2021 and marks a record low since 1986, when the ministry began releasing statistics, according to state media. Chinese officials see a direct link between fewer marriages and falling births in the country, where social norms and government regulations make it challenging for unmarried couples to have children. Efforts from Chinese officials in recent years to reverse trends of falling marriages and births have yet to see results amid the looming economic and social issues at play. The Ministry of Civil Affairs’ recent data release also showed a slight fall in divorce registrations, with 2.1 million couples divorced in 2022, down from 2.13 million couples the previous year.

Persons: That’s, – Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, Communist, United Nations, Authorities, Communist Party, Communist Youth League, China Family Planning, Ministry, Civil Affairs, China isn’t Locations: Hong Kong, China, Beijing, Communist China, India, Japan, South Korea

☆ Opinion | What Americans Don’t Understand About China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It sometimes comes as a surprise to Europeans and Americans that Chinese people who have seen and enjoyed the best of the West nevertheless prefer China. Jin doesn’t ignore China’s faults and failings in “The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism,” which was published on Tuesday. But she tells a nuanced story that deserves attention at a time of extreme tension between China and the United States. Consider this, for example: The United States is a democracy, and China isn’t, of course. Similarly, 93 percent of Chinese participants valued security over freedom; only 28 percent of Americans did so.

☆ Opinion | Even China Isn’t Convinced It Can Replace the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jessica Chen Weiss | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Assessments of China based on cherry-picked phrases from party propaganda overlook the frequent gap between rhetoric and reality. Leading Chinese intellectuals openly acknowledge the difficulty of reconciling what China says with what it does. “Even we don’t believe much of what we say,” the Chinese economist Yao Yang, who is known for his pragmatic views, has said. But it is presently far from clear that it can — or even seeks to — replace the United States as the world’s dominant power. apparently see the United States as trying to keep China perpetually subordinate and vulnerable, opposing whatever China does or advocates in an international system that Beijing believes favors the United States and developed democracies.

☆ A Hydropower Renaissance, but Where Are the Giant Dams?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Mira Rojanasakul | Max Bearak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Pumped Storage Hydropower, 1900-2040 Global map showing a concentration of planned pumped storage projects in China. Pumped Storage Existing Planned China’s momentum has allowed it to surpass Europe’s capacity for pumped storage. “Our data show that pumped storage is set to grow much faster than conventional dams,” said Joe Bernardi, who runs Global Energy Monitor’s hydropower tracker. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines.

☆ Increasing Export Restrictions on Critical Minerals Threaten Energy Transition, OECD Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Rising export restrictions on lithium, cobalt and other raw materials critical to the energy transition threaten to slow the move to a greener economy, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In a new report, the OECD said that over the last decade, export restrictions on critical minerals—usually in the form of taxes—have increased more than fivefold. Now roughly 10% of the global value of critical raw material exports face at least one export restriction measure. These countries hold some of the largest reserves of critical raw materials and account for a significant share of their global production. Despite the additional export controls, demand for these critical materials is increasing as is trade in them, said the OECD.

☆ China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Nina Dos Santos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Madrid-based human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders says it found evidence China was operating 48 additional police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September. When approached by CNN last month about Safeguard Defenders’ original allegations, China’s foreign affairs ministry said the overseas stations were staffed by volunteers. However, the organization’s latest report claims one police network it examined had hired 135 people for its first 21 stations. The organization also sourced a three-year contract for a worker hired at an overseas station in Stockholm. The NGO determines Italy has hosted 11 Chinese police stations, including in Venice and in Prato, near Florence.

☆ Why China Isn’t Facing Another Tiananmen Moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Andrew J. Nathan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In April 1989, a peaceful protest by several hundred university students in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square swelled over the course of four and a half weeks into massive demonstrations. Students, workers, and government and party officials took part, and similar protests broke out in over three hundred other cities across China. Last week’s anti-Covid protests, by contrast, are now petering out, after a few heady days of defiance. Despite the country’s deep-seated and widespread public outrage at three years of rigid Covid restrictions, Xi Jinping has China under much tighter control than his predecessors did three decades ago.

☆ Xi’s Contradictory Vision for China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Nathaniel Taplin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Chinese leader Xi Jinping ’s big moment is finally here. But as he prepares to begin a third term at the pinnacle of Chinese power, he risks squandering China’s chance to become the world’s top economy in pursuit of an ill-advised bid for self-reliance. Mr. Xi can point to some major achievements. Few would argue that China isn’t now a “moderately prosperous society,” a longtime aspiration enshrined in decades of Party documents. China’s environmental problems remain daunting, but the country has made steady progress.

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