China did not get the support it was looking for from India regarding Beijing’s One Belt One Road Initiative (BRI) following an important security bloc meeting Tuesday, April 24. India’s Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping in China later this week to discuss India’s potential membership. – Adriana Ray
Formula One (F1) Racing is considered one of the most popular sports in the world. It’s viewership in 2017 exceeded 340 million unique viewers, which surpasses the highly popular National Football League (NFL). F1, which represents the pinnacle of the vehicle racing world, showcases multi-million dollar open air rocket ships made possible from teams of multinational enthusiasts doing their part to ensure the continued existence of the sport.
According a studied released on August 14 by the China National Bureau of Statistics China’s economic growth slowed 5.5%. This rate is lower compared to the first seven months (January through July) of the previous year’s growth. Beijing tried to explain the slow growth by China transitioning from ““high-speed growth” to “high-quality growth,” which was promoted by high tech initiative as part of Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” industrial policy. – Ziqing Zhang
For our assessment on the global impacts on businesses, see our detailed summary and assessment here.
China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) is facing another challenge in Southeast Asia. On July 5, Myanmar announced it would be ceasing the continuation of billions of dollars of Chinese-sponsored projects. In the beginning of August, sources said that Myanmar was now scaling back on the Chinese-led Kyauk Pyu deep-water port project over cost concerns. – Weiting Li
On June 28, Chinese officials announced the loosening of restrictions on foreign investments in a variety of industries in the country’s 12 free trade zones, ranging from agriculture to banking. China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan stated that China “will continue to defend the global multilateral trading system” and that this move was part of a greater plan to continue opening up its market to the world. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planning organization for the country, published the latest version of the Special Administrative Measures on Access to Foreign Investment 2018, also known as the “negative list,” a document that enumerates which industries foreign firms are prohibited from investing in. The number of sectors on the list is now just 48, a noticeable drop from 2017’s 63, and 2011’s 120. For the sectors not listed in the publication, foreign firms (on paper) are given equal treatment to domestic companies although recent surveys by the American Chamber of Commerce indicate a different picture. Many experts argue the changes are mostly superficial but the reduced list does provide opportunities for foreign investors to take advantage of.
United States President Donald Trump’s first round of tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports will take effect on Friday, July 6, 2018. The first 25% tariff will impact a variety of products including farm machinery, industrial products, medical devices, automobiles, and aircraft parts. Read a more detailed summary and our assessment here.
The Friday, July 5 deadline of US president Donald Trump’s $34 billion USD tariffs on Chinese goods has already started causing trouble for American businesses in China. Smaller firms have been struggling with new obstacles in customs, regulations, inspections, and licensing applications. For a more detailed summary and our analysis, read more here.
SUMMARY On June 18, Jingdong, or JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce company, began testing their prototype drone delivery service, an initiative to reduce transportation costs and delivery times for more remote areas. On the same day, Google announced that it would be investing $550 million to develop new retail solutions using cutting edge AI and logistics…
From June 19th to the 24th, Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during Oli’s visit in Beijing to discuss Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI). Both sides expressed a willingness to work together to build a railway network across the Himalayan Mountains and increase economic ties through BRI (previously known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative) transportation and communication projects.
SUMMARY In a report released on June 10, labor rights NGO China Labor Watch and British newspaper, The Observer, criticized Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, for mistreating workers in a factory located in Hengyang, China. Headquartered in Taiwan, Foxconn owns thousands of factories and manufactures products for American tech giants like Apple and Amazon.…
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