Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has given up controlling rights in the company he founded, Ant Group Co. All eyes are now on what lies ahead for Ant and Alibaba, which owns 33% of the company and was co-founded by Ma.
Caixin
Economy
While China has reopened its borders, scrapping quarantine requirements for inbound travellers and removing restrictions on international flights, questions remain as to how quickly cross-border travel will return to pre-Covid levels, and how the rampant Covid-19 outbreak nationwide will temper the recovery in demand.
Economy
With China's policy pendulum finally swinging from stamping out and controlling the spread of the virus towards spurring economic growth, how will its economy perform in 2023?
Technology
According to a development plan for China’s software and information technology (IT) service industry from 2021 to 2025, China is expected to significantly expand its capacity for developing key software and build two to three open-source communities with international influence by 2025. Meanwhile, China’s giant state-owned enterprises are also rushing to crank up domestic purchases of innovative IT applications under government pressure.
Economy
The China Containerized Freight Index, which tracks spot and contractual freight rates leaving major Chinese container ports on 12 shipping routes, began to fall in August. These and other indicators point to Chinese exporters bracing for tough times. The main culprit is demand, which has fallen off in recent months in China’s three biggest export markets — the US, the EU and ASEAN.
Economy
The Jakarta-Bandung railway is a landmark project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the country expands its presence in Southeast Asia. While there have been delays and challenges, the project looks to be on track. This and other BRI projects in Southeast Asia are seeing competing investments from the US and West.
Economy
Caixin notes that China is poised to roll out more policies to assist developers in an increasingly desperate attempt to arrest a protracted downturn of the multi-trillion-dollar property sector. However, amid the perform storm of changing demographics, Covid-19 disruptions, weakening demand and Beijing’s campaign of deleveraging, industry practitioners are bracing for a tough battle.
Economy
In 2021, more Chinese families became either rich or richer, with Guangdong overtaking Beijing as the region with the most high-net-worth families in the country. These high-net-worth households largely made up of entrepreneurs, real estate investors and professional financial investors, are expected to transfer an estimated 18 trillion RMB of wealth to the next generation over the next decade.
Economy
This year’s dramatic geopolitical changes have significantly altered the calculus for foreign investment in China as large European enterprises are increasingly taking the lead and Japanese businesses are retreating in manufacturing and advancing in services. American companies, on the other hand, are frozen as the US government imposes tough sanctions on China’s tech sector and as manufacturers weigh strategic moves back to the US.