Xi Jinping – TheNewsHub https://thenewshub.in Sat, 16 Nov 2024 23:46:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 During meeting with Biden, China's Xi cautions the U.S. to 'make the wise choice' to keep relations stable https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/during-meeting-with-biden-chinas-xi-cautions-the-u-s-to-make-the-wise-choice-to-keep-relations-stable/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/during-meeting-with-biden-chinas-xi-cautions-the-u-s-to-make-the-wise-choice-to-keep-relations-stable/?noamp=mobile#respond Sat, 16 Nov 2024 23:46:25 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/during-meeting-with-biden-chinas-xi-cautions-the-u-s-to-make-the-wise-choice-to-keep-relations-stable/

China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new U.S. administration.”

During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Xi cautioned that a stable China-U.S. relationship was critical not only to the two nations, but also the “future and destiny of humanity.”

“Make the wise choice,” he cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”

Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the U.S.-China relationship into another valley.

“China is ready to work with a new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.

Xi, who is firmly entrenched atop China’s political hierarchy, spoke forcefully in his brief remarks before reporters. Biden, who is winding down more than 50 years of public service, talked in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship between the two countries has gone. He reflected not just on the past four years but on the decades the two have known each other.

“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We’ve never kidded one another,” Biden said. “These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.”

Biden was expected to urge Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. The leaders, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at Lima’s Defines Hotel and Conference Center.

China “hosted” the meeting this year, after Xi and Biden met a year ago on the APEC sidelines in Northern California, a gathering hosted by the U.S. They had much to discuss, including China’s indirect support for Russia, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the U.S.-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden said it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year.

In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Xi called for the U.S. and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era. In front of the cameras Saturday, Xi spoke to Biden — but it was unmistakable that his message was directed at Trump.

“In a major flourishing sci-tech revolution, neither decoupling nor supply chain disruption is a solution,” Xi said. “Only mutual, beneficial cooperation can lead to common development. ‘Small yard, high fence’ is not what a major country should pursue.”

After he was greeted by Xi, Biden ignored shouted questions from reporters on his concerns about the incoming Trump administration as well as North Korea. The leaders also did not engage reporters after they made their brief comments at the start of the meeting.

Biden administration officials would advise the Trump team that managing the intense competition with Beijing will likely be the most significant foreign policy challenge they will face, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Biden has viewed his relationship with Xi as among the most consequential on the international stage and put much effort into cultivating it. The two first got to know each other on travels across the U.S. and China when both were vice presidents, interactions that both have said left a lasting impression.

“For over a decade, you and I have spent many hours together, both here and in China and in between,” Biden said. “We’ve spent a long time dealing with these issues.”

But the last four years have presented a steady stream of difficult moments.

The FBI this week offered new details of a federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks. The initial findings have revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics.

U.S. intelligence officials also have assessed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine.

And tensions flared last year after Biden ordered the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States.

Biden is looking for Xi to step up Chinese engagement to prevent an already dangerous moment with North Korea from further escalating.

Biden, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow repel Ukrainian forces who have seized territory in Russia’s Kursk border region.

Biden called it “dangerous and destabilizing cooperation.”

White House officials have expressed frustration with Beijing, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade, for not doing more to rein in Pyongyang.

The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. And the U.S., Japan and South Korea have expressed alarm over Pyongyang’s stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests.

Kim ordered testing exercises in the lead-up to this month’s U.S. election and is claiming progress on efforts to build capability to strike the U.S. mainland.

Xi and Biden started their day at the leaders’ retreat at the APEC summit, taking part in a photo where they all wore scarves made from vicuña wool, a symbolic animal for Peru. It’s common practice that leaders at these gatherings are given a gift — usually traditional clothing of the host country — that they don for the photo.

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Xi signals cooperation with Trump in final meeting with Biden https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/xi-signals-cooperation-with-trump-in-final-meeting-with-biden/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/xi-signals-cooperation-with-trump-in-final-meeting-with-biden/?noamp=mobile#respond Sat, 16 Nov 2024 23:12:01 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/16/xi-signals-cooperation-with-trump-in-final-meeting-with-biden/

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday pledged to work with the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, highlighting the importance of maintaining stability in US-China relations.
His remarks came during a meeting with outgoing US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Lima, Peru. This marked their first meeting in seven months, as both leaders addressed critical global issues, including trade disputes, cybercrimes, tensions over Taiwan, and the ongoing influence of Russia.
Xi acknowledged the historical challenges between the two nations but reiterated China’s consistent aim of fostering a stable, healthy, and sustainable relationship with the US, adding that Beijing is ready to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences with the Trump administration. Biden noted the frank and candid nature of his discussions with Xi, highlighting the importance of dialogue even in times of disagreement.
The meeting occurred amid heightened tensions, as Trump prepared to take office in two months. His campaign promises, including imposing 60% tariffs on Chinese imports under his “America First” trade agenda, have already caused unease in Beijing.
Key flashpoints in US-China relations
Biden’s administration has attempted to manage multiple flashpoints in the relationship, including allegations of China-linked cyberattacks targeting US government communications, growing pressure on Taiwan, and Beijing’s support for Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s leadership has been a source of contention, with reports of President Lai Ching-te planning sensitive stopovers in the US and former economy minister Lin Hsin-i inviting Biden to visit Taiwan, moves likely to provoke Beijing. China continues to view Taiwan as its territory, while the US remains its most significant international backer, supplying arms despite lacking formal diplomatic ties.
Beijing’s economy has faced significant challenges due to US trade policies under Biden, including restrictions on investments in Chinese technology sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as export controls on advanced semiconductors. These measures have compounded domestic pressures, creating economic strains that loom large over bilateral discussions.
As Xi outlined the potential paths forward, he stressed that mutual respect and cooperation could foster progress in the relationship, while antagonism and competition would risk setbacks.
Xi’s visit to the Apec summit also marked a broader diplomatic push to expand China’s influence in Latin America, a region long dominated by US interests. During his trip, Xi signed a refurbished free-trade agreement with Peru, inaugurated the Chancay deep-water port, and announced plans to host the Apec summit in 2026.



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U.S. companies could be caught in the crosshairs if China retaliates to fight Trump https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/15/u-s-companies-could-be-caught-in-the-crosshairs-if-china-retaliates-to-fight-trump/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/15/u-s-companies-could-be-caught-in-the-crosshairs-if-china-retaliates-to-fight-trump/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:48:26 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/15/u-s-companies-could-be-caught-in-the-crosshairs-if-china-retaliates-to-fight-trump/

With President-elect Donald Trump‘s trade and foreign policy team taking a hawkish stance toward China, U.S. companies are increasingly concerned a hard-line approach could stunt their prospects in the world’s second-largest economy – and turn them into targets of Chinese retaliation.

Trump has threatened to hit China with at least 60% tariffs and vowed to end reliance on the country. That alone would be disruptive. It would force companies to scramble to find other sources of supply, American consumers to pay higher prices at the store, and, according to many experts, lead to job losses.

On top of that, the Chinese government could respond with an expanded tool kit to target American businesses.

“The Trump administration’s actions may be seen or may be interpreted as economic war,” Scott Kennedy, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. “If they are interpreted in that way, China might have a much more vigorous response, not limited to tariffs.”

Those actions could range from economic changes to matters of diplomacy and security, Kennedy said, adding China may “push back as hard as they can.”

More combative relations between the U.S. and China also brings the risk of public backlash amid rising Chinese nationalism. The Chinese government has strong controls over information flow which has led to consumer boycotts of international brands.

“The worst part is the consumer brands that are not of a strategic nature and themselves are not controversial and would not be subject to export restrictions might be punished by the local consumer because of their nationality,” said, Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. “Since Covid, companies have been looking to diversify and bolster their supply chains, but there are still no easy and reliable replacements for the supply chains and manufacturing that has developed in China over the past decades.”

PVH, the owner of Calvin Klein, is under investigation thanks to this law.

China has an upgraded anti-espionage law, which international business groups like AmCham China have criticized for what they say is “ambiguity” in the policy.

The law has led to executive and staff detentions and raids on international firms and has made it easier for officials to impose exit bans, barring the accused from leaving the country. 

Many worry that the day-to-day regulatory grind to operate in China could become a bigger slog under a heightened retaliatory environment.

Since Trump’s first term, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has consolidated power even further.

If Xi signals that U.S. companies are out of favor, they can expect regulations for permits, safety checks, licensing and other approvals to be interpreted more harshly by lower-level officials, experts say.

“We will likely see retaliation against American companies in China where they could be step-by-step squeezed out of the China market and replaced,” McGregor said.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

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India-China border row: Jaishankar announces disengagement process ‘completed’, says ‘will be able to do patrolling’ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/india-china-border-row-jaishankar-announces-disengagement-process-completed-says-will-be-able-to-do-patrolling/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/india-china-border-row-jaishankar-announces-disengagement-process-completed-says-will-be-able-to-do-patrolling/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:11:18 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/india-china-border-row-jaishankar-announces-disengagement-process-completed-says-will-be-able-to-do-patrolling/

India-China Row: After four years and multiple diplomatic and military talks to end the standoff since the India-China skirmishes began in 2020, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced on Monday that ‘disengagement process with China has been completed’.

Jaishankar said, “…We can say that the disengagement process with China has been completed…We will be able to do the patrolling which we were doing in 2020. I think it’s a good development…”

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday informed that New Delhi and Beijing military negotiators have reached an agreement on patrolling arrangement along Line of Actual Control (LAC).

“Over last few weeks, Indian and Chinese negotiators have been in touch.” 

The agreement likely pertains to patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “..As a result of the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the line of actual control in the India-China border area and this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020.”

The announcement of the pact arrives just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Russia for the BRICS summit, where he may engage in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines.

According to news agency PTI, Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.

Relations between the two nuclear-capable nations have been tense since 2020, when violent clashes along their poorly defined border resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and four from China.

Meanwhile, Beijing is yet to respond to the announcement of Jaishankar. 

India-China Border Dispute: A Longstanding Tension

The ongoing conflict between India and China stems from a poorly defined border that stretches approximately 3,440 kilometers (2,100 miles). Known as the Line of Actual Control, this disputed frontier has become a focal point for both nations as they compete to enhance infrastructure in the region.

India’s efforts to construct a new road leading to a high-altitude air base are viewed as significant provocations, contributing to the deadly clash between troops in 2020.

The Galwan Valley confrontation marked a grim milestone, being the first fatal encounter since 1975, where combatants used sticks and clubs instead of firearms. The altercation resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers.

De-escalation efforts have occurred since the intense fighting in June 2020, but tensions remain high. In December 2022, troops clashed once again near the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, resulting in minor injuries among some soldiers.

Historically, Delhi and Beijing fought a single war in 1962, which ended in a significant defeat for India, adding to the complexity of their relationship and ongoing disputes over territorial claims.

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Putin’s plan to defeat the dollar https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/putins-plan-to-defeat-the-dollar/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/putins-plan-to-defeat-the-dollar/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 05:30:14 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/putins-plan-to-defeat-the-dollar/

Now in their 15th year together, the original BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have achieved little. Yet at this summit Mr Putin hopes to give the bloc heft by getting it to build a new global financial-payments system to attack America’s dominance of global finance and shield Russia and its pals from sanctions. “Everyone understands that anyone may face US or other Western sanctions,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said last month. A BRICS payments system would allow “economic operations without being dependent on those that decided to weaponise the dollar and the euro”. This system, which Russia calls “BRICS-Bridge”, is intended to be built within a year and would allow countries to conduct cross-border settlement using digital platforms run by their central banks. Controversially, it may borrow concepts from a different project called mBridge that is part-run by a bastion of the Western-led order, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The talks will shine a light on the race to remake the world’s financial plumbing. China has long bet that payments technology—not a creditors’ rebellion or military conflict—will reduce the power that America gets from being at the centre of global finance. The BRICS plan could deliver cheaper and faster transactions. 

Those benefits may be enough to entice emerging economies. In a sign the scheme has genuine potential, Western officials are wary that it may be designed to evade sanctions. And some are frustrated by the unintended role of the BIS, a Swiss-based organisation known as the central bank for central banks.

America’s dominance of the global financial system has been a mainstay of the post-war order. It reflects its economic and military heft, but also the fact that dollar-denominated assets such as Treasuries are seen as safe from government confiscation and inflation and are easy to buy and sell. Though central banks have diversified their holdings, including into gold, around 58% of foreign-currency reserves are in dollars (see chart) and the network effects of the dollar put American banks at the centre of the world’s payments systems. Sending money around the globe is a bit like taking a long-haul flight; if two airports are not directly linked, passengers will need to change flights, ideally at a busy hub where lots of other planes connect. In the world of international payments the biggest hub is America, where many of the world’s banks swap foreign currencies from those making payments into dollars and then into the currencies in which the payments are received.


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(The Economist)

The centrality of the dollar provides what Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, two scholars, call “panopticon” and “choke point” effects. Because almost all banks transacting in dollars have to do so through a correspondent bank in America, it is able to monitor flows for signs of terrorist financing and sanctions-evasion. 

That provides America’s leaders with an enormous lever of power—one that they have been keen to pull as an alternative to going to war. The number of people under American sanctions has exploded by more than 900% (to around 9,400) in the two decades to 2021. America has demanded that some foreign banks are disconnected from SWIFT, a Belgium-based messaging system used by some 11,000 banks in 200 countries to transfer funds across borders. In 2018 SWIFT cut off Iran.

All this paled in comparison with the ferocity of the financial attack on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The West froze $282bn of Russian assets held abroad, disconnected Russian banks from SWIFT and prevented them from processing payments through America’s banks. America has also threatened “secondary sanctions” on banks in other countries that support Russia’s war effort. Even European policymakers, who support sanctions, were alarmed at how fast Visa and MasterCard—two American firms that the euro zone relies on for retail payments—closed shop in Russia. 

And the tsunami crashing over Russia has prompted America’s adversaries to accelerate their efforts to move away from the dollar, and pushed many other governments to look at their dependence on American finance. China views it as one of its biggest vulnerabilities.

Mr Putin is hoping to capitalise on this dollar dissatisfaction at the BRICS summit. For him creating a new scheme is an urgent practical priority as well as a geopolitical strategy. Russia’s foreign-exchange markets now almost exclusively trade yuan, but because it cannot get enough of this currency to pay for all of its imports, it has been reduced to bartering. In October Russia agreed to buy mandarins (the citrus fruit) from Pakistan paid for with chickpeas and lentils. According to some reports these liquidity strains are growing.

Mr Putin hopes to make life outside the American system more bearable by laying some financial plumbing of his own. BRICS officials have held a flurry of meetings ahead of the summit in Kazan. They have discussed creating a credit-ratings agency to rival the main Western ones, which Russia sees as “susceptible to politicisation”. They also examined creating a reinsurance firm to sidestep Western ones that are blocked from reinsuring some tankers transporting Russian oil, and a payments system to replace Visa and MasterCard. Mr Putin has pushed for creating a common BRICS currency for pricing trade, based on a basket of gold and other non-dollar currencies, but Indian officials objected to this in recent weeks.

By far the most serious initiative is a plan to use digital money backed by fiat currencies. This would place central banks, not correspondent banks with access to the dollar clearing system in America, in the middle of cross-border transactions. In decentralising the financial system, the proposal would mean that no one country could disconnect another. Since commercial banks would transact through their own central banks, they would not need to maintain bilateral relationships with foreign banks, side-stepping the network effects of the current correspondent-banking system.

The “BRICS Bridge” plan was outlined in a report by the Russian finance ministry and central bank in October. Running to 48 pages it critiques Western finance and states that “a new multinational platform for the purposes of cross border settlement needs to be examined in further detail due to its novelty, associated risks, and, potentially, game-changing economics”. With its focus on digital currencies run by central banks it appears to be at least partially inspired by an experimental payments platform called mBridge, which was developed by the BIS alongside the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. Chinese state media say that the new BRICS plan “is likely to draw on the lessons learned” from the mBridge project by the BIS.

That BIS experiment was innocent in design and initiated in 2019, before Russia’s full-scale invasion. It has been stunningly successful, according to several people involved in the project. It could cut transaction times from days to seconds and transaction costs to almost nothing. In June the BIS said mBridge had reached “minimum viable product stage” and Saudi Arabia’s central bank joined as a fifth partner in the scheme. Some 31 other members are observers. By creating a system that could potentially be far more efficient than the current one—and which would weaken the dominance of the dollar—the BIS has unwittingly stepped into a geopolitical minefield.

“If someone is transacting outside of the dollar system for political reasons, you want that to be more expensive for them than the dollar system,” says Jay Shambaugh, a senior treasury department official. The efficiency gains of new kinds of digital money may erode the use of the dollar in cross-border trade, according to the Fed. Reciprocally they could boost China’s currency. Speaking to bankers and officials about mBridge in September, a Hong Kong official said it “provides another opportunity to allow the easier use of the renminbi in cross-border payment, and Hong Kong as an offshore hub stands to benefit”.

Is it possible that mBridge’s concepts and code may be replicated by the BRICS, China or Russia? The BIS doubtless views mBridge as a joint project and believes that it has the ultimate say over who can join. Yet some Western officials say that participants in the mBridge trial may be able to pass on the intellectual capital it involves to others, including participants in the BRICS Bridge. According to multiple sources China has taken a lead on the software and code behind the mBridge project. The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, leads the project’s technology subcommittee and, according to comments made by a BIS official in 2023, its digital ledger “was built by” the PBOC. Perhaps this technology and know-how could be used to build a parallel system beyond the reach of the BIS or its Western members. The BIS has declined to comment on any similarities between its experiment and Mr Putin’s plan.

The BRICS’s foray into the payments race reveals the new geopolitical challenges facing multilateral organisations. At a meeting of the G20 group of large economies in 2020, the BIS was given the job of both improving the existing system and, at China’s urging, of experimenting with digital currencies. Earlier this year Agustín Carstens, its boss, called for “entirely new architectures” and a “fundamental rethink of the financial system”. Yet as different members of the organisation have rival objectives, staying above the fray is getting harder. The world has become more difficult to navigate, acknowledges Cecilia Skingsley, the boss of the BIS Innovation Hub. But she says it still has a role to play in solving problems for all countries “almost independent of what other kind of agenda they might have”.

One option for America and its allies is to try to hobble new payment systems that compete with the dollar. Western officials have warned the BIS that the project could be misused by countries with malign motives. The BIS has since slowed down its work on mBridge, according to some former staff and advisers, and is unlikely to admit any new members to the project. Another option is to improve the dollar-based system so that it is as efficient as new rivals. America is already gearing up to compete. 

In April the New York Fed joined six other central banks in a BIS project aimed at making the existing system faster and cheaper. The Federal Reserve may also link its domestic instant-payments system with those in other countries. SWIFT said this month that it plans to conduct trials of digital transactions next year, leveraging some of its incumbent advantages including strong network effects and trust, says Tom Zschach, its innovation chief.

Any rival BRICS payments system will still face huge challenges. Guaranteeing liquidity will be difficult or require large implicit government subsidies. If the underlying flows of capital and trade between two countries are imbalanced, which they usually are, they will have to accumulate assets or liabilities in each others’ currencies, which may be unappealing. Distrust of China runs deep in India, a key BRICS member. And to scale a digital-currency system, countries must agree on complex rules to govern settlement and financial crime. Such unanimity is unlikely to win the day in Kazan.

Yet, for all that, the BRICS scheme may have momentum. There is a broad consensus that the current cross-border-payments system is too slow and expensive. While rich countries tend to focus on making it quicker, many others want to overturn the current system entirely. 

At least 134 central banks are experimenting with digital money, mostly for domestic purposes, reckons the Atlantic Council, a think-tank. The number working on such currencies for cross-border transactions has doubled to 13 since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This week’s BRICS summit is no Bretton Woods. All that Russia and its pals have to do is move a relatively small number of sanctions-related transactions beyond America’s reach. Still, many are aiming higher. 

Next year the BRICS summit will be held in Brazil, chaired by its president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who fulminates over the power of the greenback. “Every night I ask myself why all countries have to base their trade on the dollar,” he said last year. “Who was it that decided?”

© 2024, The Economist Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com

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China’s Xi calls for troops to boost war preparedness https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/20/chinas-xi-calls-for-troops-to-boost-war-preparedness/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/20/chinas-xi-calls-for-troops-to-boost-war-preparedness/?noamp=mobile#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 06:01:18 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/20/chinas-xi-calls-for-troops-to-boost-war-preparedness/

Chinese President Xi Jinping called this week for troops to strengthen their preparedness for war, state media reported on Saturday, just days after Beijing staged large-scale military drills around Taiwan.

Xi made his comments while visiting a brigade of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force on Thursday, according to state-run broadcaster CCTV.

Xi said the military should “comprehensively strengthen training and preparation for war, (and) ensure troops have solid combat capabilities”, CCTV reported.

Soldiers must “enhance their strategic deterrent and combat capability”, Xi said.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has stepped up its shows of force around the self-ruled island in recent years.

On Monday, Beijing had deployed fighter jets, drones, warships and coast guard vessels to encircle Taiwan — its fourth round of large-scale war games around the democratic island in just over two years.

China’s communist leaders have insisted they will not rule out using force to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control.

Xi on Thursday said the Chinese military must “strongly safeguard the country’s strategic security and core interests”, according to the CCTV report.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.

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Beijing is ready to be Washington's friend, partner: Chinese president https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/beijing-is-ready-to-be-washingtons-friend-partner-chinese-president-2/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/beijing-is-ready-to-be-washingtons-friend-partner-chinese-president-2/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:42:53 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/beijing-is-ready-to-be-washingtons-friend-partner-chinese-president-2/

Chinese President Xi Jinping has extended an olive branch to the United States saying that Beijing was ready to be Washington’s friend and partner with Washington.

“China is willing to be a partner and friend with the United States. This will benefit not only the two countries but the world,” said Xi in remarks from a letter to the 2024 annual awards dinner of the National Committee on US-China relations, according to a CCTV news report on Wednesday.

The president also highlighted that relations between the two countries were among the most important bilateral relations in the world and which had a bearing on the future and destiny of mankind.

The two countries have been at odds over national security concerns, ongoing trade spats as well as China’s actions in the South China Sea and intensified military drills around Taiwan.

Trade relations soured over the past year and have centred around issues including restrictions on electric vehicles and advanced semiconductors.

“China has always handled China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and has always believed that the success of China and the United States is an opportunity for each other,” said President Xi.

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FOMO grips China stock buyers on ‘epic’ trading day before break https://thenewshub.in/2024/09/30/fomo-grips-china-stock-buyers-on-epic-trading-day-before-break/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/09/30/fomo-grips-china-stock-buyers-on-epic-trading-day-before-break/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:33:44 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/09/30/fomo-grips-china-stock-buyers-on-epic-trading-day-before-break/

The Fear and Greed Indicator of the Shanghai Composite Index, rose to the highest since 2015 on Monday.

For Shao Qifeng, the frenzy in Chinese stock trading in the last five sessions was a first in his 15-year market career.
The Beijing-based chief investment officer at Ying An Asset Management Co. has been receiving non-stop client inquiries in his WeChat groups asking whether this is the time to buy stocks, after authorities unveiled a stimulus blitz last week.
“I think this means we are in the second phase of a bull market, when stocks are getting wide attention,” Shao said. “On the surface, I’m keeping my cool, but deep down in my heart I’m celebrating.”
Shao’s experience was shared by many stock investors in China where the benchmark index posted the biggest gain since 2008 on Monday, entering a bull market. The rush into the market before a weeklong holiday has also sent trading turnover to a record high. The interest was so intense that broker applications collapsed and requests for opening trading accounts surged, according to local media.
The latest leap came after three of China’s largest cities relaxed rules for homebuyers, while the central bank also moved to lower mortgage rates. The measures were among the key elements of a sweeping stimulus package released last Tuesday that also included interest rate cuts, freeing-up of cash for banks, as well as liquidity support for stocks. Meanwhile, the Golden Dragon index of US-listed Chinese stocks rallied 4.7%.
While Chinese stocks have produced multiple false dawns in recent years, there appears to be growing conviction that this time may be different given the sense of urgency that authorities have shown to achieve their ambitious economic growth target of around 5% this year.
The surging retail interest has even prompted some funds to impose a cap on how much people can buy. Beijing Jiuyang Runquan Capital Management, for example, set a one-million-yuan ($142,603) limit on fund subscriptions for investors.
‘Painful Time’
For Winnie Wu, chief China equity strategist at BofA Securities, caution still lingers with many of her clients asking whether it’s time to take profit after a few days of strong gains.
“It’s really hard to either chase the rally or adjust positions. It’s a very exciting time, but it is also a very difficult, challenging, painful time for many investors,” she said.
So far, the fear of missing out is palpable. Brokerages, typically seen as a barometer for market sentiment, led gains Monday with many posting double-digit jump. A Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of Chinese property developers rose as much as 15.7%. Hedge funds are selling US technology stocks and piling into mining and materials firms. Meanwhile, iron ore spiked about 11% as investors bet that China’s efforts to ease property woes will improve demand from the world’s top consumer of the steel-making ingredient.
The pivot towards risk assets has sent the country’s ten-year sovereign bonds reeling Monday, extending their biggest weekly drop in a decade.
The Fear and Greed Indicator of the Shanghai Composite Index, which measures the buying and selling momentum for the stock benchmark popular among China’s retail investors, rose to the highest since 2015 on Monday.
“This is an epic day in the Chinese market history,” said Hao Hong, chief economist at Grow Investment Group. “This is one of the happiest days” of his 30 years covering the Chinese market, he added.
Some are urging cooler heads, after being burned chasing past rallies in Chinese stocks.
“I must confess, after busily gobbling on this week-long policy banquet, my concern about a potential replay of the previous disappointing cycle lingers,” said Hebe Chen, an analyst at IG Markets Ltd. “It’s still too early to tell if this ‘Golden-Week rush’ will blossom into a true gold rush or fizzle out into another mirage.”



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