Skip to content

Economy/Resources - 52. page

India Is Helping Sri Lanka to Reduce its Reliance on The CCP

In an interview with the New Tang Dynasty (NTD) TV, Cleo Paskal, a researcher at the U.K. policy institute Chatham House, said that India is helping Sri Lanka to reduce its dependence on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Paskal said that India has provided loans and sent fertilizer to Sir Lanka. It has been trying, regarding the political war, to create a situation for Sri Lanka in which it is not-so-dependent on the CCP.

By August 2022, Sri Lanka had US $10 billion in debt. Of that amunt,, 44 percent was owed to Beijing. Japan holds 32 percent and India holds 10 percent.

India has become Sri Lanka’s lifeline. It provided around US $4 billion in lines of credit and swaps, to sustain Sri Lanka’s economy.

India also opposes the docking of China’s spy ships at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port. In December 2017, Sir Lanka rented the Hambantota Port to China for 99 years, to convert to equity the US $1.4 billion that it owed to China and didn’t have means to pay back, .

Source: Epoch Times, September 4, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/9/3/n13816991.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China Opens a Direct Shipping Route to Scotland

China and the United Kingdom opened a direct shipping route between the two countries. The route starts at China’s Ningbo Port, Zhejiang Province and ends at Greencok, Scotland.

Six freight ships, each can carry 1,600 containers. They , will run on this route. Since it avoids the traffic jam at the Rotterdam port, the entire shipping duration is cut down from 60 days to 33 days.

The Greenock Ocean Terminal started operating in 1969. It can handle 100,000 containers in a year.

Source: BBC, August 28, 2022
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-62704644

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China Officially Declared Bankruptcy of Two Village and Town banks

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the country’s top regulator of the financial industry, announced on Friday August 26 via its official website that two banks in Liaoning Province were approved to enter bankruptcy proceedings. The two banks are Liaoyang Rural Commercial Bank and Liaoning Taizihe Village Bank. The announcement is tantamount to officially declaring the bankruptcy of the two grassroots banks.

China’s village and town banks have recently plunged into a series of crises, to the extent of bank runs. As the most grassroots financial institutions, they are often directly dealing with less urbanized residents in the vast rural areas, rendering the banks’ operations highly related to the stability of the Chinese society.

According to a publication of the People’s Bank of China, in July, Shenyang Agricultural and Commercial Bank had already completed the takeover of business branches, employees and deposits from the two banks.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 26, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202208260260.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Discrepancy in China-Europe Railway Express Statistics Shows Heavy Shipping from China to Russia

Epoch Times found that the shipping data of the China-Europe Railway Express revealed that China has increased its shipping on the railways, mainly to Russia, but not to other European counties.

Xinhua News reported that, by August 21, in China 10,000 trains had departed on the China-Europe Railway Express, the railway connecting China to Europe through Russia. It took China ten more days last year to reach this target. China shipped out 972,000 standard containers this year, a 5 percent increase over last year.

However, Deutsche Welle reported on July 20 that European countries (excluding Russia and Ukraine) only received 25 percent of the shipping capacity this year as compared to last year’s level, quoting the supply change report from the internally renowned accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers. The report said that there were 15,000 trains with 1.5 million standard containers on this railway last year, averaging 27,500 containers per week. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,  out of the concern for sanctions and merchandise being confiscated, European countries have stopped shipping from Russia over this train line, though is still in operation.

The China-Europe Railway Express has two routes. The northern route goes through Russia. The southern route goes through Kazakhstan and then to Russia. European countries used the first part of the southern route and then after arriving in Kazakhstan, they transit goods through Asabaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, or to the Caspian Sea via Baku, Azerbaijan. The new router can only ship 6,000 containers per week, less than 25 percent of last year’s capacity on the China-Europe Railway Express.

Economist Davy Jun Huang explained that the discrepancy in shipping data is between the starting point and the receiving point. Beijing has an increase in shipping but Europe (excluded Russia and Ukraine) receives less than 25 percent of the shipping capacity, meaning the majority of shipping ends in Russia.

Xinhua News also reported the returning shipping is about 88 percent of the departing shipping, indicating Russia might have exported a large quantity of agricultural products to China. That ratio was 50.6 percent in 2016.

Source: Epoch Times, August 22, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/8/22/n13807912.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Local Officials’ Unconventional Tricks to Boost Home Buying

Ming Pao, a Hong Kong based daily Chinese-language newspaper, recently reported a viral online video of a Chinese official’s speech on promoting home purchasing. Deng Bibo, head of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee in Shimen County of Changde City, Hunan Province, called on CCP cadres at a local real estate trade show to spearhead efforts to buy properties. “I hope that at today’s meeting, we, comrades and leaders, will take the lead in buying properties. After buying one unit, buy a second, third and fourth unit.”

Deng’s remark was not an isolated incident. According to the mainland Chinese media, the government of Si County in Suzhou City, Anhui Province, also issued an “Initiative on creating prosperity for the real estate industry,” calling on civil servants to mobilize their friends and relatives to participate in the home buying campaign.

In Huzhou city, Zhejiang Province, there is a “Notice on promoting the stable and healthy development of the real estate industry in our city.” The proposed measures include encouraging state-owned enterprises to acquire the unsold houses of real estate developers, and adjust the policy on the use of the “housing provident fund,” a mandatory contribution by employees and employers for the purpose of housing expenditures.

In the first seven months of this year, the total sales area of commercial properties in China dropped by a whopping 23.1 percent over the same period last year, and sales revenue by 28.8 percent. It is believed that sluggish consumer purchasing power is behind the downturn in the housing market.

In addition to traditional measures of stimulating the housing market, Beijing also passes political pressure onto local governments to “stabilize the property market.” That is why local officials, who generally look to the housing market for fiscal revenue, are coming up with unconventional tricks such as Deng’s remark and practices in other provinces.

Source: Ming Pao, August 18, 2022
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/%e4%b8%ad%e5%9c%8b/article/20220818/s00013/1660759572212

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Seventeen Ministries Issued Joint-Notice to Encourage Chinese to Have More Babies

China is facing a severe population drop. According to the China Business Network’s report, China had 10.62 million newborn babies in 2021, a significant decrease from the 18.83 million in 2016.

On July 25, seventeen ministerial-level agencies in China issued a joint notice to encourage Chinese people to have more babies. The agencies include the National Health Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese Communist Party, the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the People’s Bank, to name just a few.

The notices mentioned the need to improve services for pregnancy, child health, education, job finding, and a number of other issues. It also stressed a need to increase childcare services and reduce its cost.

However, Epoch Times reported that many online responses to the notice stated that the real reason that people do not want to have a baby is not the lack of childcare services but the overall high cost of raising a child from birth to college.

Sources:
1. China National Health Commission Website, August 16, 2022
http://www.nhc.gov.cn/rkjcyjtfzs/s7785/202208/9247dd64744c42df9522c4fa2cb78e42.shtml
2. Epoch Times, August 17, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/8/17/n13804712.htm
3. China Business Network, January 17, 2022
https://www.yicai.com/news/101291490.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Talked about “Common Prosperity”

Xi Jinping promoted the “common prosperity” concept last summer but then the media cooled down on it for about a year. Recently, he started talking about it again.

There have been doubts about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intended to do. Its practice in the past was to confiscate the wealth from the rich and redistribute it to the people or to the “government” (the officials themselves). Chinascope has a deep analysis on this topic: Common Prosperity and Xi’s Desire to Be China’s “Greatest Leader (”http://chinascope.org/archives/28655  http://chinascope.org/archives/28655)

On August 15, People’s Daily republished Xi Jinping’s speech given on January 28, 2021.at the twenty-seventh collective study of the 19th Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political Bureau, His speech made five points:

  1. Implement new development concepts (innovation, coordination, green, open, and sharing)
  2. Focus on common prosperity.
  3. Continue deepening reform and opening up.
  4. Have the systematic (big picture) view.
  5. View things from a political angle.

On August 16, when visiting Northeastern China, Xi Jinping talked about common prosperity. Xi said that Chinese-style modernization is not just for a few people. Rather all people will be rich.

Source:
1. People’s Daily, August 15, 2022
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0815/c1024-32502880.html
2. China’s Official Government Site, August 17, 2022
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2022-08/17/content_5705661.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Chinese People Have Difficulty Withdrawing Money from Banks. The Problem Has Spread to Shenzhen

Since July, customers of many banks in China have experienced difficulty withdrawing their money from their accounts. The problem has now spread to Shenzhen.

According to reports in the Chinese media, a number of depositors have shared their stories on the Internet. Bank of China’s debit card holders in Shenzhen have been unable to withdraw cash through WeChat, or transfer funds through Alipay. Their accounts have shown up as “suspended.”

The Bank of China stated that the purpose of freezing the accounts was to cooperate with the police operations to combat telecom fraud and Internet gambling. Holders of the suspended accounts have to go to the bank in person to unfreeze their accounts. Due to the large number of involved customers, people often have to wait more than an hour outside their banks.

In addition to the Bank of China, other banks, including China Construction Bank (CCB), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), are in a similar situation. Long lines of depositors are waiting outside bank branch offices to unfreeze their accounts .

In the middle of July, in Beijing, Shandong, Hainan and in other provinces and cities, a number of bank depositors already had issues with their bank accounts being frozen and they could not withdraw their money.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 14, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202208140056.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources