Day: September 8, 2023

China’s deflation pressures ease as consumer prices rise

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Receive free Chinese economy updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese economy news every morning. China’s economy edged out of deflation in August, as Beijing struggles to promote growth and revive investor confidence following a slide in the country’s property market and a plunge in exports. The consumer prices index was 0.1 per cent higher year on year in August, below a Reuters poll of analysts for a 0.2 per cent increase, but emerging from the negative territory of minus 0.3 per cent…

Chinese economy out of deflation but faces threat of relapse

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China’s consumer price index rebounded in August as the world’s second-largest economy emerged from deflation, official data released on Saturday suggested, despite sluggish domestic consumption that is complicating its post-Covid economic recovery. Last month’s CPI, the main gauge of inflation, rose 0.1% year on year, the national statistics bureau said. China briefly slipped into deflation in July for the first time in more than two years, with prices falling 0.3% year on year. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated a rebound in August of 0.2% year on year. Deflation indicates…

Apple faces tough test with iPhone 15 launch in China amid government use ban and as Huawei fights back with Mate 60 Pro

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Apple is facing one of its toughest sales seasons yet in China, with next week’s planned launch of the new iPhone 15 range coming just as the company’s products have been banned for use by government agencies and state-owned enterprises in the country, according to industry analysts. While China is still home to thousands of loyal Apple consumers, there are growing signs that the road ahead will be tough for the Cupertino, California-based company, amid continuing geopolitical tensions and as Huawei Technologies tries to make a comeback with its new…

China Appeals for Foreign Investors as Its Policies Push Them Away 

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Chinese leaders, worried by a wave of discouraging economic reports, have been appealing for foreign investors to remain in or return to China even as Western officials point out that it is Beijing’s own policies that are driving investors away. August saw a flurry of Chinese trade officials talking to state media about the government’s commitment to “improve foreign investment environment” and “spare no effort in keeping foreign capital onshore.” These proclamations followed a July 24 meeting of the 24-member Communist Party Politburo chaired by party General Secretary Xi Jinping,…

Kweichow Moutai’s saucy latte a good example of Chinese culture adapting to stay relevant

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This week, one of the most discussed topics on Chinese social media was a “sauce-flavoured latte”. It is a coffee product infused with Mao-tai, being offered by Kweichow Moutai – a well-known producer of the fiery Chinese spirit – and Luckin Coffee, a Chinese coffee brand. Despite its long history and reputation as the national liquor of China, Mao-tai is losing its appeal to China’s younger population. To rejuvenate its brand, Kweichow Moutai has been looking for ways to, as Reuters put it, “pull in a new generation of users”.…

China jobs: as the iron rice bowl starts to crack amid mounting debts, can civil servants still put bread on the table?

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As China’s heavily indebted municipalities grapple with worsening fiscal conditions, the so-called iron rice bowl of secure jobs at public sector or state-owned firms have started to crack in some less populous regions amid a scaling back of the civil service. Institutional restructuring in Guzhang, a county of 143,000 in the central province of Hunan, could include consolidating and merging various administrative departments, while staffing levels could also be downsized. “[The goal is to] optimise administrative service efficiency, alleviate fiscal support pressures, and direct limited financial resources towards ensuring and…

Top US Air Force general warns against China’s push to recruit pilot trainers

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The US Air Force’s top general warned the service’s ranks to be on guard against offers to work for companies training Chinese military pilots, the most explicit public acknowledgement yet of a practice the US has sought to clamp down on. In a letter dated September 5 but circulated on Friday, General Charles Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, asked airmen to report if they or someone they know has been recruited or targeted for recruitment to train foreign armed forces. “By essentially training the trainer, many of those…

Is Xi Jinping’s G20 summit pass a ‘missed opportunity’ or a sign of things to come?

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As world leaders gather this weekend in New Delhi for the Group of 20 summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision not to attend the event has thrown a possible meeting in November with US President Joe Biden further into question. The move has also prompted speculation about whether the decision signaled changing priorities for Beijing’s global relationships. This week, Beijing confirmed that Premier Li Qiang would attend the G20 summit in India in place of Xi – without explanation – marking the first time that the Chinese leader will miss…

Opponents of Texas ban on TikTok urge US federal court to halt directive over ‘far-reaching effects’

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First Amendment lawyers and digital security experts urged a US federal court to stop Texas from enforcing a ban on TikTok this week, arguing the prohibition was already having “far-reaching effects” on research and teaching at public universities without protecting citizen data from China. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a directive to ban the Chinese-owned app on state-issued devices and networks in December, and a law codifying aspects of the ban was passed in June. In July, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit to exempt…