Washington Post (January 30)
“The outlook for the global economy in recent weeks has unexpectedly brightened, with the United States, Europe and China all outperforming expectations and avoiding — at least for now — some predicted stumbles.”
Tags: Brightened, China, Europe, Expectations, Global economy, Outlook, Outperforming, Stumbles, U.S.
Seeking Alpha (January 27)
“A war over silicon is brewing between the world’s two largest economies as the U.S. looks to isolate China from one of the most important technologies of the future.” As America tries “to protect the rest of the advanced chip supply chain by forging an alliance that will curtail China’s ability to produce its own domestic silicon…. Restrictions are likely to be imposed on ASML, Nikon and Tokyo Electron, building on earlier business rules and trading regulations, and marking the latest salvo in the semiconductor war.”
Tags: Advanced, ASML, China, Chip, Future, Isolate, Nikon, Protect, Restrictions, Semiconductor war, Silicon, Supply chain, Technologies, Tokyo Electron, U.S.
Investment Week (January 23)
“Chinese equities took a beating in the year of the tiger, with the collapse of the nation’s property market, stringent restrictions on some of its sectors and its zero-Covid policy all hampering investor interest.” In contrast, the year of the rabbit is beginning “in a remarkably different place…. Dynamics are now shifting in a favourable direction, benefiting Chinese stocks and global growth.” Nevertheless, “investment experts remain wary and advise caution.”
Tags: Caution, China, Collapse, Dynamics, Equities, Experts, Favourable, Growth, Investor, Property market, Rabbit, Restrictions, Stocks, Tiger, Zero COVID
Oilprice.com (January 22)
“Since China doesn’t report crude oil inventories, it’s all guesswork as to just how much crude the country has stashed over the past year.” Rising inventory levels “could mean that China’s imports may not be as strong as anticipated. But it could also mean that refiners are preparing for a surge in demand” in the post-Covid restriction era. “There is one certainty in the oil markets – the economic growth in China has been and will continue to be a key factor in global oil demand, capable of moving oil prices in either direction.”
Tags: China, Covid, Crude oil, Demand, Economic growth, Guesswork, Imports, Inventories, Prices, Refiners, Strong, Surge
South China Morning Post (January 17)
“China’s population has declined for the first time in six decades, with the national birth rate for 2022 falling to a record low and the nation’s deepening demographic crisis threatening far-reaching implications for economic growth.” The nation’s “overall population plummeted by 850,000 people – to 1.4118 billion in 2022” while “the national birth rate fell to a record low of 6.77 births for every 1,000 people in 2022… marking the lowest rate since records began in 1949.”
Tags: 1949, 2022, Birth rate, China, Declined, Demographic crisis, Economic growth, Far-reaching, Implications, Population, Record low, Threatening
Bloomberg (January 17)
“Trade between the US and China is on track to break records, a signal of resilient links between the world’s top economies amid the heated national security rhetoric in Washington and fears of ‘decoupling.’” Data for the first 11 months of implies “imports and exports in 2022 will add up to an all-time high, or at least come very close, when the final report comes out Feb. 7.”
Tags: 2022, China, Decoupling, Exports, Fears, Heated, Imports, National security, Resilient, Rhetoric, Top economies, Trade, U.S.
New York Times (December 28)
“China’s hospitals were already overcrowded, underfunded and inadequately staffed in the best of times. But now with Covid spreading freely for the first time in China, the medical system is being pushed to its limits.”
Tags: China, Covid, Hospitals, Inadequate, Medical system, Overcrowded, Spreading, Staff, Underfunded
Reuters (December 22)
Despite official government figures citing just 1,800 Covid cases and only seven resulting deaths last week, more realistic estimates place the true figures at over one million daily infections, with “more than 5,000 people … dying each day from COVID-19 in China.”
Tags: Cases, China, COVID-19, Deaths, Estimates, Figures, Government, Infections, Official, One million, Realistic
Washington Post (December 21)
“China’s new covid nightmare could become a global catastrophe. The absence of a coherent fallback strategy” not only “threatens a fresh set of nightmares for its population, its economy and the Communist Party leadership. A new crisis could shake the whole world. As the Wuhan outbreak demonstrated three years ago, what begins in China does not necessarily stay there.”
Tags: China, Communist party, Covid, Crisis, Economy, Fallback strategy, Global catastrophe, Leadership, Nightmare, Outbreak, Population, Threatens, Wuhan
Wall Street Journal (December 17)
“History is on speed-dial these days, and the latest seismic shift is Japan’s announcement Friday of a new defense strategy and the spending to implement it.” Credit for this historic change goes to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “for taking the political risk to educate his country about the growing threats from China and North Korea and how to deter them.”
Tags: China, Defense strategy, Educate, Historic change, History, Japan, Kishida, North Korea, Political risk, Seismic shift, Spending, Threats
