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.

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?

While investments by Taiwanese enterprises in mainland China have declined due to geopolitical factors and Covid-19, many still have one foot in the massive domestic market. As a result, a number of Taiwanese enterprises have turned into “new mainland enterprises” as they integrate into the mainland’s domestic market. Zaobao journalist Miao Zong-Han looks into where Taiwanese enterprises are moving towards.

Over three years of the pandemic, China’s economy has suffered, and it is now making up for lost time by sending delegations overseas to gain the business that it previously missed out on. Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing takes a look at China’s strategy of sending trade delegations out in full force.

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.

Academics Guanie Lim and Chengwei Xu examine the close interdependence of Japanese and Chinese firms through the case study of Toyota. Amid the talk of geopolitical tensions accelerating the risk of decoupling, some hard facts may put things into perspective.

Vietnamese academic Huy Pham analyses Vietnam’s growth as a crypto hub. While it is high on the rankings in terms of crypto adoption rate, much still needs to be done to create a stable regulatory framework if it is to take advantage of the vast potential it has in growing its cryptocurrency industry.

While Singapore and Hong Kong are hyped to be vying for cryptocurrency hub status, academic Ben Charoenwong notes that both cities have faced challenges navigating the tricky world of becoming a large cryptocurrency market while setting a regulatory framework. Due to China's unfavourable attitude towards cryptocurrency, activity may flow over to Hong Kong as it acts as the conduit for Chinese participants, but might this be a potential winner’s curse?

Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan looks at China’s declining economy and the factors leading up to it, including the strict Covid controls over the past three years. However, following the recent annual Central Economic Work Conference, there may be signs that the authorities are looking to adjust their approach and help the economy to recover.