White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this weekend in Malta. The aim is to pave the way for a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping expected to take place in November. The two governors may have the opportunity to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in San Francisco. The Chinese minister said the two sides had agreed to hold…
Banca March: China is taking steps to revive the real estate sector. In order to support the real estate market and revive the economy, the Chinese government is once again focusing on demand. On the one hand, local governments in major cities are offering more favourable conditions to first-time homebuyers. On the other hand, for people wishing to buy a second home, the country had strong restrictions to avoid massive…
BancaMarch| US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that effectively limits US investment in several Chinese tech firms. According to Biden, China’s strategy facilitates and supports “advances in sensitive technologies and products that are critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance or cyber capabilities of other countries”. The ban is limited to three key sectors of the Asian giant: semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence. At the same…
BancaMarch: China responds to the United States. As one of the world’s leading producers, China is imposing new export controls on drones and related equipment. Yesterday, the Chinese government announced new controls that will take effect from September.
China published its second-quarter GDP data on Monday with a big – but disappointing – number, 6.3% growth year on year. The reason for the disappointment comes from the hugely positive base effect, as last year’s second-quarter GDP growth was virtually because of the severe lockdowns happening in Shanghai and elsewhere in the country. The underwhelming growth in the second quarter is not all about the lack of external demand….
Link Securities| In his speech to the Summer Davos Forum, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said China is still on track to achieve its annual growth target of close to 5%, with 2Q2023 expected to grow faster than 1Q2023. The Chinese Premier acknowledged that China’s development still has imbalances and is inefficient, and that economic output per capita still remains low. He argued that companies, not governments, must decide how to…
Link Securities| China’s advance manufacturing activity index, the manufacturing PMI compiled by media group Caixin unexpectedly rose to 50.9 in May from 49.5 in April. The FactSet consensus of analysts had expected a lower reading of 49.4. An index reading above 50 points indicates expansion in activity from the previous month, while a reading below that level indicates contraction in activity. Production increased at its fastest pace in eleven months,…
Alicia García herrero (Natixis) | During the past fifteen months after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, China and Russia’s trade value increased by 36.5% compared to pre-war levels, showing their much-enhanced ties in merchandise trade. Meanwhile, in addition to the upswing of the headline amount, some new patterns in their trade structure are also worth watching. For example, Russia has moved up rapidly in the rank of China’s external…
Banca March: Activity accelerates in China, but at a slower pace than expected. The April set of activity indicators showed a rebound in growth, as industrial production accelerated to 5.6% while retail sales advanced 18.4%. Although these data are very positive and confirm that the reopening of the economy is boosting activity, they fell short of expectations (10.9% and 21% respectively). On the consumer spending side, the best performing components…
Alicia García Herrero (Natixis) | The strategic competition between the US and China started in early 2018 when the Trump administration implemented untargeted import tariffs and reoriented most of its trade efforts towards widening the technology gap between China and the US with a special focus on deep tech, such as semiconductors. The Biden administration has pushed even further in that direction. However, one should not forget that well before…