By Yang Ge via Caixin | Offshore listings by Chinese firms surged to record highs in 2018, fueled by strong demand from global investors chasing some of China’s hottest names, especially in the technology sector. That listing wave is expected to continue into 2019, but could quickly peter out if recent bearish sentiment becomes the norm, observers said.
In this new binary world where China is bad and the US is good, there is a great danger of over-looking the very real structural risks in the west at the moment. As told by Mark Tinker, AXA strategist in Asia, one of the current amusing party games might be to play ‘substitute the words US for China in different bearish economic projection’ and see if it worries you more or less.
By Cao Wenjiao and Denise Jia via Caixin | After years of booming growth, China’s real estate sector, a major pillar of the world’s second-largest economy, is wobbling.
The US and Canada have reached a trade agreement which will replace the existing NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). This new deal shows the ability of the US administration to negotiate and secure new trade agreements, although it is very unlikely to reach one with China given the geopolitical rivalry between both countries.
James Rice via Caixin | The U.S. media’s daily narrative on China and the U.S.-China relationship paint a bleak picture: Pollution, exchange rates, ghost cities, protectionism, and unfair trade practices dominate the story. Rather, we should remember that historically, China and the U.S. have been friends and have long enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship.
Jeremy Stevens via Caixin | When the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was established in 2000 to strengthen China-African economic cooperation and trade, the rest of the world was perhaps bemused. Bilateral trade and investment was minimal and African economic prospects unpromising. Now, just 18 years later, China is Africa’s largest trade partner and bilateral trade and investment ties are growing rapidly.
I. de la Torre and L. Torralba (Arcano Partners) | The economist Dornbusch says that “crises take long to arrive than you can possibly imagine, but when they do come, they happen faster than you can possibly imagine”. The events that have affected the emerging countries this summer have proven Dornbusch was right.
Intermoney | The unanimous approval by the Senate of a law to reduce or eliminate the tariffs applied to around 1,660 products made outside the US, of which half are made in China, could be the perfect excuse for Trump to return to the charge on trade attacks on Chinese interests. However, as we have insisted over the last few weeks, the key to the summer from a Chinese perspective, could lie more in the yuan than trade issues.
Israel Rafalovich | A remarkable summit between the EU and China in Beijing was marked by a turning point in Chinese views of the European Union. The summit unblocked talks about further opening of Chinese and EU market access and investment and speed up negotiations over geographical indications.