Skip to content

Briefings - 89. page

China’s Office Vacancies Soar Amid Slowing Economy

China’s economy is showing signs of weakness as business activity slows. According to Chinese media reports, office vacancy rates in major cities have hit multi-year highs in Q2 2023, indicating weak demand. In Beijing the citywide vacancy rate reached 18.3%, the highest level in 13 years. Many of China’s other megacities saw similarly high vacancy rates. Vacancies in Shenzhen and Shanghai were 20.3% and 18.7%, respectively.

Caijing magazine reported that international real estate firm Savills found vacancy rates in Beijing at 13-year highs. Industry sources said the office rental market is struggling with widespread price reductions in 2023. Client demand has dropped significantly, with only 2-3 prospective tenants per month compared with an earlier rate of 2-3 per week.

Negative net absorption of 53,000 sqm in Beijing in Q2 shows a continuous tenant exodus. With weaker demand, rents are falling across major markets. According to Savills, average Beijing office rents dropped 1.5% quarter-over-quarter, now largely back to 2012 levels.

Other top Chinese cities had similar trends. Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen saw Grade A office vacancy rates of 18.7%, 17.5% and 20.3% respectively in Q2 per Colliers data. Cushman & Wakefield data shows vacancy rates in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen increased year-to-date, now at 16.9%, 18.6%, 18% and 24.5%, respectively.

The rise in vacancies stems from oversupply amid weaker than expected demand growth, signaling China’s economic downturn.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 21, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202308210197.aspx

HKET: Poll Shows 2/3 of U.S. Residents Support Increasing Tariffs on Chinese Goods

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported on a new Reuters-Ipsos poll of U.S. residents showing that about two-thirds of respondents support increased tariffs on Chinese goods. A similar proportion of respondents agreed that Washington should do more to deal with the military threat posed to the U.S. by China.

About half of respondents supported providing military equipment to Taiwan, but only 38 percent supported sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to uses force against Taiwan. In terms of U.S.-China relations, 75 percent of respondents held a negative view of China, and about 65 percent believe that the Chinese government is trying to influence the upcoming 2024 U.S. election.

The Reuters-Ipsos poll gathered opinions from more than 1,000 adults across the U.S., including 443 Democrats and 346 Republicans.

Bipartisan concern over relations with China may explain Republican presidential candidates’ increasingly hardline stance on the topic. Many candidates have called for the U.S. to terminate normal trade relations with China. Although President Biden has sought to stabilize the embittered U.S.-China rivalry through high-level diplomatic visits, he has also called the Chinese economy a “time bomb” and has criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping by name at several recent fundraisers.

Source: HKET, August 16, 2023
https://china.hket.com/article/3593364

LTN: Tyson Foods to Sell Its China Poultry Business

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meat supplier, is planning to sell the China-based branch of its poultry business, becoming the latest multinational company planning to divest from the country. Tyson Foods has hired Goldman Sachs to advise on the sale and has sent out preliminary information to potential buyers, including private equity firms.

It’s unclear how much Tyson Foods’ poultry business in China is worth and why Tyson Foods is selling the business. Tyson Foods opened its first factory in China in 2001. Currently, it has four R&D centers, several processing plants, and dozens of farms in China. It operates a vertically-integrated pipeline in China, from breeding and slaughtering to processing and distribution. The company sells chicken, beef, pork, and processed foods.

Livestock business margins have been squeezed in China over the past few years. This is due to the government’s Zero Covid policies as well as higher feed price pressure caused by the Ukraine war. Both Tyson Foods and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Source: LTN, August 17, 2023
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/4399192

NYC Bans All Government Devices from Using TikTok

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that New York City has joined the many U.S. states and jurisdictions that have banned the use of the video-sharing app TikTok on government devices.

The report stated that, on August 16th, New York City’s Network Department asked that TikTok be removed from government equipment within 30 days, citing so-called “security concerns.” According to Sohu, this is the latest move of the U.S. government that unreasonably suppressed Chinese companies and technology applications. This series of “prohibitions” by the United States violate the principle of fair competition.

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in the statement that government personnel will be unable to access the app and its website on city devices as well as city networks. According to the article, many government departments in New York City have TikTok accounts, including Mayor Adams, who has 11,600 followers. The NYC Department of Health also has nearly 50,000 followers on TikTok. After the ban was issued, these city-operated accounts all announced that they would end operation by the end of August. The Politico website stated that more than 30 states across the United States have banned employees from using TikTok on government equipment.

Source: Sohu, August 17, 2023
https://www.sohu.com/a/712608913_121332532

Xi’an Government Threatens to Punish Families of Alleged Fraudsters Staying Abroad

The Chang’an Branch of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau, Shaanxi Province, issued a notice on August 14 regarding individuals staying abroad who are “highly likely to have engaged in fraud.” Among those mentioned were those “staying in northern Myanmar,” “staying in the Golden Triangle,” “staying in the UAE,” and “staying in Cambodia.” The article didn’t name specific crimes committed. {Editor’s Note: This might refer to people involved in the crime rings of Internet fraud operated in those areas, but it may also include people trying to escape the communist regime by going to those countries to apply for asylum.}

The notice stated that “those individuals involved in fraud who are illegally staying overseas” must return through official channels by September 10. They must also report to local police stations 14 days before entry to China. Failure to comply with the order would result in “the individual and those within his/her direct three generations being subject to strict scrutiny during political examination when applying to join the Communist Youth League, the Communist Party, and the military, or when applying for the jobs of civil service and positions supported by public funding.” The term “three generations” include grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren.

Source: Radio France International, August 16, 2023
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20230815-西安通告-家有嫌犯不归-查直系三代

Qiushi: Xi Jinping’s Speech on Modernization With Chinese Characteristics (Not “the Old Path of the Western Countries”)

Qiushi Theory recently published speech given by Xi Jinping. The speech was given on February 7, 2023, following the CCP’s 20th Party Congress. The audience was the newly “elected” members and alternate members of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Committee as well as major leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial level.

Xi stated: “The path of modernization that a country chooses is determined by its historical tradition, social system, development conditions, external environment, and many other factors. Different national conditions will lead to different paths of modernization. Practice has proved that a country’s modernization should not only follow the general law of modernization, but also conform to its own realities and have its own characteristics. Chinese-style modernization has the common features of modernization in all countries, but it also has distinctive features based on its own national conditions.”

Xi further stated twice that China should not take the “old path of Western countries.” {Editor’s note: the problems that Xi highlights as resulting from “the Western path” of modernization have already come to pass in China. See below.}

“Fourthly, the modernization of mankind in harmony with nature. Since modern times, most of the modernization of western countries have gone through the stage of wanton plundering of natural resources and vicious destruction of the ecological environment, often causing serious problems such as environmental pollution and resource depletion while creating huge material wealth. … (I)t is impossible for China to follow the old path of Western modernization.”

“Fifthly, modernization on the path of peaceful development. The modernization of Western countries is full of bloody evils such as war, slavery, colonization, and plundering, and has brought deep suffering to the vast number of developing countries. The Chinese nation, having experienced the tragic history of invasion and abuse by Western powers, is well aware of the preciousness of peace and will never repeat the same old path of the Western countries.”

Source: Qiushi, August 15, 2023
http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2023-08/15/c_1129801483.htm

Guangcha: U.S. Media Reported on China’s New Airport at Disputed Island Near Vietnam

Chinese media outlet Guangcha reported on a story run by U.S.-based news website The Drive. The “Warzone” of section of The Drive reported that China is building an airport on Triton Island, a small island among the disputed Paracels archipelago in the South China Sea. Triton Island is the closest of the archipelago’s islands to the coast of Vietnam.

Satellite images show a newly constructed runway, a large construction area, and a cement factory. The Drive’s article notes swift progress on construction of a 600-meter (2,000 feet) runway which the article says enhances logistic and aviation support capabilities, strengthening the Chinese army’s presence. The runway could be used for hosting short takeoff and landing fixed-wing types, such as turboprops and light aircraft, and also unmanned drones. According to the article, the island expands China’s surveillance and regional denial capabilities and may also be able to host forward operations such as submarine base.

The Guangcha article, after republishing some content from the article by The Drive, quoted Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The U.S.’ use of the South China Sea issue to provoke issues among regional countries is extremely irresponsible and has ulterior motives.” “China, together with ASEAN countries, will continue to work to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and to promote prosperity and development in the region.”

{Editor’s Note: Guangcha is a Chinese media outlet that translates or summarizes reports from media in other countries with the purpose of aggrandizing the Chinese communist regime or of criticizing the U.S. and other Western countries, taking shots at the Western democratic system and “`values.}

Sources:
1. Guangcha, August 17, 2023
https://www.guancha.cn/military-affairs/2023_08_17_705410.shtml
2. The Drive, August 15, 2023
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/runway-being-built-on-chinas-closest-island-outpost-to-vietnam

US Order Banning Sensitive Investments in China: Impact on EU

German state-run media Deutsche Welle reported that the U.S. government has passed an executive order to restrict US corporate investment in China in key areas such as semiconductors and AI. This has implications for European businesses — the order reportedly applies not only to U.S.-based firms but also to European firms managed by US citizens.

Berlin regarded the new U.S. order with caution, noting that the E.U. is examining security risks associated with investment in third-party countries.  A spokesman for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that, while Germany has mechanisms to screen Chinese investments, controlling outbound investments in China is a complex task.

Meanwhile, the E.U. announced that it will use a new tool to prevent circumvention of export bans related to sensitive technology, working with E.U. member states to identify affected tech areas like quantum computing and AI.

Some have criticized the U.S. order as lacking economic justification, saying that the US is using national security arguments to justify protectionism against China.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 15, 2023
https://p.dw.com/p/4VCfM