Month: August 2021

Advertisement In the 1990s and early 2000s, China’s economic trajectory centered on catch-up industrial policy focused on construction, heavy industry, and manufacturing-led GDP growth. China’s technoindustrial policy for the 2020s maintains that reliance on manufacturing but focuses on high-technology production and consumer markets constructed from a hybrid of domestic and Belt and Road markets. This science and technology-driven technoindustrial policy is focused on innovation, soft platforms, hard networks, and advanced manufacturing. But it is essentially the same industrial policy model, albeit with fiber-optics as the new cement, social media platforms…

According to Chinese customs data, Chinese shipments to North Korea rose to US$16.8 million in July from US$12.3 million in June. That was still less than 10 per cent of the total shipments made in July 2019, months before the pandemic. Advertisement However, there have been signs that the two sides are seeking closer ties amid pressure from the US. Ri, a former deputy premier in charge of trade who was named North Korea’s ambassador in February, said in an interview with Global Times earlier in August that the US…

Calls for authorities to crack down on obsessive celebrity stalkers, who are often referred to as “sasaeng” in China, a word borrowed from Korean, for fans who take their adulation too far, have grown ever louder. Advertisement Last month police in China arrested two obsessed fans by placing an illegal tracking device on a rented car he was using. The pair used the device to follow 23-year-old Wang around Beijing and monitor his daily movements which they then sold to other obsessed fans seeking his location. It was only after…

The new rule came amid a sweeping crackdown on China’s tech giants, such as Alibaba, Didi and Tencent, as well as a series of reforms over activities considered by Beijing as harmful to the young generation, including celebrity fan culture and private tutoring. BBC

Advertisement On August 20, China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) received its final read and formally passed into law. This legislation marks China’s first comprehensive legal attempt to define personal information (PI) and regulate the storing, transferring, and processing of personal information. It has major implications for companies that rely on data for their operations in China. The implementation of the law will provide a legal foundation for the protection of personal information for foreign firms’ operations in China. However, it will also potentially limit cross-border transfer of such information,…

Advertisement The reform-era maxim “Let some people get rich first” has been reworked in Xi Jinping’s China of 2021. Under the new “common prosperity” policy, outlined by the Financial and Economic Affairs Commission on August 17, “The rich should bring others along with them … focusing on hard work and legally compliant operations.” What “common prosperity” means in practice took shape on August 27 when the State Taxation Administration fined high-earning celebrity Zheng Shuang, as well as a number of corporations, for underpaying their taxes. Zheng’s penalty for hiding some…

Advertisement The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) intends to promote regional trade integration in Africa, which can play an important role in accelerating sustained growth and reducing poverty on the continent. Currently, regional trade within Africa is fairly low, and its share amounts to only about 11 percent of total trade. Launched in March 2018 by the African Union, the AfCFTA agreement connects 55 African economies and is the largest free trade area in the world in terms of country membership. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the AfCFTA process,…

“First and second grades of elementary school will not need to take paper-based exams. For other grades, the school can organise a final exam every semester. Mid-term exams are allowed for junior high. Localities are not allowed to organise regional or inter-school exams for all grades of primary school,” the Ministry of Education (MOE) added. BBC