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☆ China's new bonds to help economic recovery, official says, as budget deficit rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Oct 25 (Reuters) - China's new sovereign bonds will help bolster the economic recovery, China's vice finance minister Zhu Zhongming said on Wednesday, as the government's stepped-up fiscal stimulus sharply raises its budget deficit. The government's debt level is still within a reasonable range, the minister said, without giving details. Analysts at UBS expect the government to raise its budget deficit and special local bond quotas for 2024, alongside further cuts in interest rates and bank reserve requirement ratios. China's parliament has also approved a bill to allow local governments to front load part of 2024 local bond quotas. Local governments had been told to complete the issuance of the 2023 quota of 3.8 trillion yuan in special local bonds by September to fund infrastructure projects.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Zhu Zhongming, Zhu, Ting Lu, Ellen Zhang, Kevin Yao, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Nomura, UBS, Thomson Locations: Rights BEIJING, Beijing, China

☆ China names Lan Foan as new finance minister amid stimulus push
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) - China has appointed Lan Foan, a technocrat with little central government experience, as the new finance minister, state media said on Tuesday, as the government ramps up fiscal stimulus in a bid to revive the economy. Lan, 61, who was named the Communist Party chief at the finance ministry last month, has succeeded Liu Kun who had been finance minister since 2018. Previously, Lan was the party chief of the northern Chinese Shanxi province. He transferred to Shanxi in 2021, as the province's vice party chief, before becoming the party chief in December 2022. Liu, China's finance minister since 2018, has surpassed the official retirement age of 65 for minister-level officials.

Persons: Lan Foan, Liu Kun, Lan, Liu, Kevin Yao, Alison Williams Organizations: Communist Party, Hubei University of Finance, Economics, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Shanxi, Beijing, Guangdong

☆ China to issue $137 bln sovereign debt to support economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters reported on Monday that China's parliament was set to approve just over 1 trillion yuan in additional sovereign debt issuance, citing sources. "The additional fiscal support approved today is the intervention we had been expecting and that was needed to prevent an abrupt fiscal tightening in China in the closing weeks of the year," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics. China has previously let local governments issue bonds ahead of the annual session of parliament, which approves government budget plans and is usually held in March. Local governments had been told to complete the issuance of the 2023 quota of 3.8 trillion yuan in special local bonds by September to fund infrastructure projects. The government has not disclosed the size of local governments' 2024 frontloaded bond quotas.

Persons: Mark Williams, Williams, Kevin Yao, Ellen Zhang, Ella Cao, Jason Neely, Susan Fenton Organizations: Xinhua, Reuters, National People's Congress, Capital Economics, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Asia, Beijing

The letter, issued a week before the international AI Safety Summit in London, lists measures that governments and companies should take to address AI risks. Currently there are no broad-based regulations focusing on AI safety, and the first set of legislations by the European Union is yet to become law as lawmakers are yet to agree on several issues. "It (investments in AI safety) needs to happen fast, because AI is progressing much faster than the precautions taken," he said. Since the launch of OpenAI's generative AI models, top academics and prominent CEOs such as Elon Musk have warned about the risks on AI, including calling for a six-month pause in developing powerful AI systems. "There are more regulations on sandwich shops than there are on AI companies."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Andrew Yao, Daniel Kahneman, Dawn Song, Yuval Noah Harari, Elon Musk, Stuart Russell, Supantha Mukherjee, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Safety, European, Elon, Thomson Locations: Rights STOCKHOLM, London, European Union, British, Stockholm

☆ China to choose fiscal muscle over big reforms to revive economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The foundation of economic recovery is not solid," said an adviser to the cabinet who spoke on condition of anonymity. The debate about economic policy in China has heated up in recent months with some government advisers advocating reforms to help unleash new growth engines beyond property and infrastructure investment. For those looking for structural reforms, the focus is on policies that spur urbanisation and household spending power, reduce the reliance on investment and level the playing field between state-owned enterprises and private firms. "Fiscal policy should still play the leading role next year," said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy commission at the state-backed China Association of Policy Science. "We should push reforms as many problems are structural, but reforms are difficult to implement and require political will," said one policy insider.

Persons: Xu Hongcai, Xu, Guan Tao, Kevin Yao, Sam Holmes Organizations: Reuters, China Association of Policy, BOC International, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Communist, Thomson Locations: China, BEIJING, Beijing

☆ Analysis: China to choose fiscal muscle over big reforms to revive economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Analysis: Middle East throws central banks yet more unknowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Now, to complicate matters for a professional caste which prides itself on being data-driven, the Middle East is throwing a new set of real but unquantifiable risks into their equations. Unless the picture changes dramatically in coming days, the European Central Bank, U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan are already expected to keep their policy rates on hold in meetings over the next two weeks. ECB rate-setter Yannis Stournaras, the governor of the Greek central bank, argued that Europe had broadly managed to absorb the effects of rising energy costs triggered by the Ukraine war and hoped it could do the same if further shocks emerged. For now, the conflict remains largely confined to Israel and Gaza, something S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a study this week was already "muddying the waters" for central banks. As the Fed's Powell put it: "Our institutional role at the Federal Reserve is to monitor these developments for their economic implications, which remain highly uncertain".

Persons: Jerome Powell, David Westin, Brendan McDermid, Powell, Huw Pill, Yannis Stournaras, Tetsuya Hiroshima, Fed's Powell, Dan Burns, Balazs Koranyi, Francesco Canepa, Maria Martinez, Leika, Kevin Yao, David Milliken, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Federal, Anchor, Bloomberg, Street, Economic, of New, REUTERS, Bank of England, International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, U.S, Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan, Fed, ECB, Reuters Graphics, Reuters, Tokai, Toyota Motor Corp, P Global Market Intelligence, Thomson Locations: of New York, New York City, U.S, Israel, Ukraine, Iran, Hormuz, Europe, United States, Japan, Gaza, Washington, Frankfurt, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing, London

ON TRACK FOR GOVT GDP TARGETThe recovery momentum suggests the government's full year 2023 growth target of around 5.0% is likely to be achieved. The key issue is what growth target the government will set and how much fiscal easing will take place." The statistics bureau said China would be able to hit the 2023 growth target if the fourth quarter growth tops 4.4%. Moody's Analytics has also raised its 2023 growth projection to 5% from 4.9%. The faltering property sector has hit some of the biggest developers in the country.

Persons: Matt Simpson, Zhiwei Zhang, Tingshu Wang, Frederic Neumann, Louise Loo, Ellen Zhang, Joe Cash, Kevin Yao, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: Gross, National Bureau, Statistics, Reuters, Index, New, REUTERS, Nomura, JPMorgan, Analysts, Country Garden Holdings, HK, Global Research, HSBC, Oxford Economics, Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Brisbane, U.S, Beijing, China, New Zealand, Asia

☆ China's Q3 GDP growth, Sept activity show economic recovery gaining momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

On a quarter-by-quarter basis, GDP grew 1.3% in the third quarter, accelerating from a revised 0.5% in the second quarter and above the forecast for growth of 1.0%. "It seems that all of that stimulus is finally beginning to take effect, with a broad beat from growth, retail sales, industrial production and unemployment," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index in Brisbane. The economy faltered in the second quarter after a brief post-COVID recovery, dragged by a property downturn and huge debt due to a decades-long infrastructure binge. The recovery momentum suggests the government's full year 2023 growth target of around 5.0% is likely to be achieved. Growth of retail sales, a gauge of consumption, also beat expectations, rising 5.5% last month, and accelerating from a 4.6% increase in August.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Matt Simpson, Zhiwei Zhang, Ellen Zhang, Joe Cash, Kevin Yao, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: REUTERS, Gross, National Bureau, Statistics, Index, Analysts, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, Brisbane

☆ China's Q3 GDP seen slowing as Beijing races to revive growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Gross domestic product (GDP) likely grew 4.4% in July-September from a year earlier, according to economists polled by Reuters, slowing from the 6.3% pace in the second quarter. Separate data on September activity is expected to show retail sales growth picking up but factory output slowing. Economic growth is seen hitting 5.0% this year, according to the poll, broadly in line Beijing’s full-year target, before slowing to 4.5% in 2024. For its part, the central bank is constrained by how much it can ease monetary policy due to worries about adding pressure on the yuan, which has tumbled 5.7% this year. The central bank cut the RRR in September to boost liquidity and support the economic recovery, its second reduction this year.

Persons: Thomas Peter, ”, Ting Lu Organizations: Central Business District, REUTERS, Gross, Reuters, Nomura Locations: BEIJING, Beijing, China

☆ Twitter illegally fired a worker who pushed back at Elon Musk's RTO demands, says NLRB
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's X has been accused of breaking federal law for firing an employee who complained about return-to-office mandates. Five days later she was fired for breaking an unspecified company policy. AdvertisementAdvertisementTwitter illegally fired an employee who complained about Elon Musk's return-to-office mandates, the National Labor Relations Board said. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe complaint says that Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, criticized Musk's policy, tweeting "don't resign, let him fire you," and posting "don't be fired. Yue was then fired five days later in November, with the only explanation given was that she'd violated an unspecified company policy.

Persons: Elon Musk's, Yao Yue, —, didn't, Musk, Slack, Yue, I’m, witter Organizations: Service, Twitter, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, X, CNBC, ue 岳峣, EO Locations: usk

☆ Musk's X illegally fired worker challenging office return -US labor board
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 13 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's X illegally fired an employee in retaliation for her internet posts challenging its return-to-office policy, the U.S. labor board alleged on Friday. In the complaint, a regional director of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accused X — formerly known as Twitter — of violating the federal law that prohibits punishing employees for communicating and organizing with others about their working conditions. Employee Yao Yue responded with a post on Twitter telling fellow workers, "Don't resign, let him fire you." A few days later, she was terminated in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, according to the complaint.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Elon Musk's, X, Musk, Yao Yue, Samrhitha, Brendan Pierson, Maju Samuel, Alexia Garamfalvi, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . National Labor Relations Board, Twitter, NLRB, National Labor Relations, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, Bengaluru, New York

"There's increasing evidence that the cyclical upturn in the global electronics sector is driving a bottoming-out of global trade and China's trade data is the latest sign," said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Reuters GraphicsSouth Korean exports to China, a leading indicator of China's imports, fell at their slowest pace in 11 months in September. Semiconductors make up the bulk of their trade, signalling improving appetite among Chinese manufacturers for components to re-export in finished goods. However, Lv Daliang, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs, said at a press conference on Friday that China's trade still faces a complex and severe external environment. Overall, though, total merchandise imports fell at a slower pace, down 6.3%, reflecting a gradual recovery in domestic demand.

Persons: Smart, David Kirton, Xu Tianchen, it's, Julian Evans, Pritchard, Zou Lan, Premier Li Qiang, Li, Robert Carnell, Kevin Yao, Albee Zhang, Shri Navaratnam, Kim Coghill Organizations: Trade, REUTERS, Economist Intelligence Unit, Reuters Graphics South, Semiconductors, Administration of Customs, ASEAN, Federal Reserve, China Economics, Capital Economics, People's Bank of, Premier, Bloomberg, ING, Thomson Locations: Qianhai, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, BEIJING, United States, Europe, Stocks, People's Bank of China, Beijing, Asia, Pacific

☆ Elon Musk’s X illegally fired employee who publicly challenged return-to-work plans, NLRB alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The NLRB alleged that X fired Yu after she attempted to organize other Twitter workers who were upset about Musk's sudden change to the company's work requirements. Five days later, Yue was fired and told that she was violating an unspecified company policy, the legal document said. The NLRB alleges that X has "been interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed" under national labor law. "After 12 amazing years and 3 weeks of chaos, I'm officially fired by Twitter," Yue said in a tweet on Nov. 15. WATCH: Elon Musk has "cut off the good guys, empowered the bad guys" on X

Persons: Elon Musk, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Fatih Aktas, Elon Musk's X, management's, Yao Yue, Musk, X, Yu, Yue, Slack, Yue's, Twitter, X didn't, I'm Organizations: United Nations, UN, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images, National Labor Relations Board, Twitter, San, National Labor Relations, NLRB, CNBC Locations: New York, United States, San Francisco

☆ China's Xi spurs efforts in core technologies -state media
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a reception dinner at the Great Hall of the People ahead of China's National Day in Beijing, China on September 28, 2023. Jade Gao/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Oct 12 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping has called for speeding up efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies, state media reported on Thursday, amid tensions with the United States. During a speech on promoting the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, Xi also reaffirmed the goal of modernising China's supply chains, developing advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, state media said. Faced with increased technology curbs imposed by the United States, President Xi has repeatedly stressed the need for self-reliance in technology to curb the use of foreign technology. Provinces and cities along the Yangtze River must shoulder the responsibility for food, energy security as well as supply chain security, state media quoted Xi as saying.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Jade Gao, Xi, Kevin Yao, Jason Neely, Sharon Singleton Organizations: of, Rights, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, United States, Provinces

☆ China issues legal guidelines to support private business
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The guidelines issued by the Supreme People's Court, emphasized the legal protection of private firms and the "personality rights" of entrepreneurs, according to CCTV. Authorities will also crack down on infringements on the legitimate rights and interests of private firms, CCTV said, citing the guidelines. The guidelines also stressed the need to expand financing channels for small and medium-sized private firms and vowed to deal with illegal loans. China is seeking private investment for 4,894 major projects with total investment of 5.27 trillion yuan ($723 billion), after private investment shrank 0.7% in the first eight months of this year from a year earlier. Local governments struggling to balance budgets tend to favour cash-generating state-owned enterprises over their private sector competitors, S&P Global said.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Ellen Zhang, Kevin Yao, Emelia Sithole Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Supreme, Authorities, CCTV, P Global, Local, Thomson Locations: China, Beijing's, Rights BEIJING, COVID

☆ Stocks to bet on China’s economic future after the real estate pain ends
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

For example, China's urbanization rate in 2022 was 64%, the same as Japan's back in the 1960s, she said, noting Japan's urbanization rate in the 1990s was a much higher 77%. China is also leading in innovation based on research and development spending as a percentage of sales, the report said. Easier said than done, especially since that debt and urban development are linked to a struggling real estate sector that's accounted for about a quarter of China's economy. After a summer of mounting worries about China's growth prospects, KKR's head of global macro, Henry McVey, made yet another trip to the region . He pointed to China's push to reduce carbon emissions and increase the integration of tech in the economy — such as through automation.

Persons: Yao Yang, Yao, Bernstein, Rupal Agarwal, Bernstein's Agarwal, BYD — Bernstein, Meituan, Henry McVey, CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Tokyo, CNBC, National School of Development, Peking University, KKR, Citi Locations: China, Japan, Asia, Hong Kong

☆ China forex reserves fall to $3.115 trln in September
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Oct 7 (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange reserves fell more than expected in September, official data showed on Saturday, as the U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies. China's reserves - the world's largest - fell $45 billion to $3.115 trillion last month, compared with $3.13 trillion tipped by analysts in a Reuters poll, from $3.16 trillion in August. The yuan fell 0.5% against the dollar in September, while the dollar rose 0.2% against a basket of other major currencies over the month . The value of China's gold reserves fell to $131.79 billion at the end of September from $135.22 billion at the end of August. Reporting by Albee Zhang and Zhang Yan and Kevin Yao; editing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: China’s renminbi, Athit, Albee Zhang, Zhang Yan, Kevin Yao, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bangkok, Thailand, China

☆ Analysis: Trend hedge funds come out winners in bond market rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Yet in one corner of the hedge fund world, there's a sigh of relief. So-called trend following and systematic hedge funds have long positioned for a fall in government bond prices given higher-for-longer inflation. AlphaSimplex is a $7.9 billion trend following hedge fund. While many trend funds, also known as "managed futures" funds, use price data, their trading models might also interpret macro economic factors playing out in markets. Some trend funds shrank their fixed income holdings in response to the March turmoil.

Persons: Carlo Allegri, Kathryn Kaminski, Morningstar, Razvan Remsing, Yao Hua Ooi, Laurent Le Saint, Metori, Aspect's, Nell Mackenzie, Dhara Ranasinghe, Susan Fenton Organizations: New York Stock, REUTERS, Generale, Reuters, Silicon Valley Bank, Treasury, Virtus, AQR Capital Management, Capital Management, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City , New York, U.S, United States, Germany, Boston, Silicon, Europe, China, Paris, EU, Japan

Most of the people participating in the trend are in their 20s, citing various reasons for quitting ranging from low wages to burnout. LiangAccording to China’s LinkedIn equivalent Maimai, out of 1,554 employees across various sectors surveyed from January through October 2022, 28% resigned that year. A similar movement, dubbed the Great Resignation, had taken off in the United States, with almost 50 million people quitting their jobs in two years. Despite the proliferation of higher education degrees, China’s economy doesn’t currently require as many high-skilled workers and it takes time to transform the economic structure, she said. The resignation trend could affect fertility, but it’s not yet clear how, she said.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, Liang, “, ”, Nancy Qian, they’ve, Jade Gao, Qian, ” Qian, Yao Lu, Veyron Mai, ” Lu, Young Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN, ” CNN, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Getty, Ministry of Education, Columbia University, University Locations: China, Hong Kong, China’s Zhejiang, United States, West, Beijing, AFP, Yibin, Foshan, Taizhou

A new global assessment has found that 41% of amphibian species that scientists have studied are threatened with extinction, meaning they are either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. “Amphibians are the world's most threatened animals,” said Duke University's Junjie Yao, a frog researcher who was not involved in the study. But a growing percentage of amphibian species are now also pushed to the brink by novel diseases and climate change, the study found. The study identified the greatest concentrations of threatened amphibian species in several biodiversity hotspots, including the Caribbean islands, the tropical Andes, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Other locations with large numbers of threatened amphibians include Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southern China and the southeastern United States.

Persons: ”, Duke University's Junjie Yao, Michael Ryan, Patricia Burrowes, Juan Manuel Guayasamin, Guayasamin Organizations: University of Texas, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Northern, University San Francisco, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Madrid, Quito, Ecuador, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Forest, China, United States

☆ Can China's economy reverse a sluggish 2023 in the last quarter? Here's what to watch
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In 2020, Beijing tried to rein in real estate developers' high reliance on debt with new restrictions on financing. "The decline in the real estate sector was the result of the government's intentional measures to correct the bubbles in the market," Yao said. But he and other economists mostly don't expect real estate to return to significant growth in the future. Morgan StanleyThis week, worries about China's real estate sector persisted with highly indebted Evergrande running into more liquidity problems — along with reports Wednesday its chairman has been put under surveillance. This month, weekly data from Nomura indicate the real estate sales slump has moderated.

Persons: Stringer, Yao Yang, Yao, Dan Wang, Morgan Stanley, Clifford Lau, William Blair, China's, Robin Xing, there's, Bruce Pang, Pang doesn't Organizations: Afp, Getty, National School of Development, Peking University, Hang, China Center for Economic Research, Communist Party, Financial Work, Communist Party of, Nomura, CNBC Locations: Chongqing, China, BEIJING, Covid, Beijing, Shanghai, Hang Seng China, Communist Party of China, JLL

☆ China's central bank to use 'precise, forceful' policy to bolster recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Paramilitary police officers stand guard in front of the headquarters of the People's Bank of China, the central bank (PBOC), in Beijing, China September 30, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 27 (Reuters) - China's central bank said on Wednesday it would step up policy adjustments and implement monetary policy in a "precise and forceful" manner to support an economy whose recovery was improving with "increasing momentum". The central bank will guide banks to lower borrowing costs for companies and households and support banks to replenish capital, it said. China will step up government investment and policy incentives to spur private investment and promote a recovery in prices from a low level, the central bank said. The central bank also pledged to promote the healthy and stable development of the property market, implementing policies to lower down payment ratios and mortgages rates for some home buyers.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Kevin Yao, Himani Sarkar, Christian Schmollinger, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: People's Bank of China, REUTERS, Rights, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, megacities

☆ Analysis: China's economic woes embolden calls for deeper reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Both camps argue their proposals should be treated with urgency by policymakers, ahead of the annual Central Economic Work Conference, an agenda-setting gathering of top leaders expected in December. The pro-reform camp is beating the drum for faster structural reforms, including relaxing the system of residence permits, or "hukou", to spur consumption, removing market entry barriers for private firms at the cost of state giants. Reforms are urgently needed as growth engines such as property, exports and infrastructure are stalling, he said. Structural reforms with expansionary effects can also have immediate effects." TIGHTROPEDespite the heated debate, analysts expect Chinese leaders can walk a tightrope between stimulus and reforms.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Yu Yongding, Yu, Kristalina Georgieva, Liu Shijin, Liu, It's, Tao Wang, Deng Xiaoping, Yi Xianrong, Kevin Yao, Sam Holmes Organizations: Central Business, REUTERS, Economic Work Conference, Reuters, International Monetary Fund, Fund, UBS, Asian Development Bank, Qingdao University, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, BEIJING, China's, United States

☆ Two mainland China bishops to attend big Vatican meeting after tensions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsVATICAN CITY, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Two bishops from mainland China are due to attend a major Vatican meeting next month, officials said on Thursday, a positive sign after recent tensions between the Holy See and Beijing. The two bishops were chosen by their brother bishops in China, meaning they likely had approval from the Communist government, which holds great sway over the Chinese Catholic Church. Two other Chinese bishops were allowed by the government to attend another synod for the first time in 2018 but did not stay for the entire meeting. A landmark 2018 agreement between the Vatican and China on the appointment of bishops has been tenuous at best, with the Vatican complaining that Beijing has violated it several times. Two months ago the Vatican chided Beijing for not consulting over the transfer of two bishops from one diocese to another.

Persons: Pope Francis, Anthony Yao Shun, Jining, Joseph Yang Yongqiang, Francis, Philip Pullella, Alex Richardson Organizations: Vatican, Handout, REUTERS, CITY, Communist, Catholic Church, Communist Party, Catholic, Churches, Thomson Locations: China, Beijing, Zhoucun, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vatican, Mongolia

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