What Xi Said is a weekly rundown of the top ten emerging issues from the past seven days shaping US-China commercial relations.
What Xi Said is for global communication strategists and C-Suite executives.
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Memo: What Xi Said | Edition 13 | May 10, 2021
1. The European Commission said it would put its efforts to secure the ratification of an investment deal with China on hold. The European Parliament is refusing to consider ratification until China lifts sanctions on several of its members after the EU imposed sanctions on China for abuses against the Uyghurs.
2. Joshua Wong, a democracy activist in Hong Kong, was sentenced to another ten months in prison, this time for taking part in an annual vigil marking the Tiananmen Square massacre.
3. Henry Kissinger discusses US-China tensions with German newspaper Die Welt. He said the two countries must find a way of peacefully coexisting and step back from technology conflict. Although he stressed: "The US needs to maintain a high level of performance in AI."
"The big issue to look upon is not just to prevent Chinese hegemony, but to understand that if we achieve that objective – which we must – the need to coexist with a country of that magnitude remains."
4. Growing 58.3%: Hubei leads GDP: China is no stranger to dizzying GDP growth. But even by its standards, the 18.3% economic expansion logged during the first quarter was a record. The boom came on the back of 31 provinces or municipalities, posting double-digit growth.
Leading the pack was Hubei, which saw its GDP jump 58.3% on the year to Rmb987.2 billion ($152.5 billion). Home to the city of Wuhan and ground zero for the pandemic, the central province was the hardest hit in the first quarter of 2020, with its provincial capital of 11 million citizens sealed off for 76 days.
5. Australia is divesting from China: Grant Wilson in the Australian Financial Review writes Australian investors, in a clean break from the rest of the world, are embedding a sovereign risk premium for China.
"Australian investment in China fell by 25 percent last year. That is unprecedented and ominous."
6. China's ambitions in space: National pride or taking on the Americans? FT reports a lack of international coordination could undermine Beijing's bid to reap the rewards of becoming a space superpower.
Nikkei: China mocks US and says rocket debris landed within its estimates
'Hype and smears were in vain,' according to communist party mouthpiece
7. China's cosmetic surgery market is booming. Some analysts think it is now the world's biggest. In 2019 the Chinese "medical-aesthetics" industry had revenue of $27 billion, around one-fifth of the global total, estimates Deloitte. The consultancy reckons the average annual growth rate in China's market between 2015 and 2019 was 29%, compared with a worldwide average of around 9%. By 2023, Deloitte estimates revenue will reach $48 billion.
8. As cars go electric, China builds a big lead in factories: NYT reports fueled with money from Wall Street and local officials, automakers plan to assemble eight million electric cars a year there, more than Europe and North America combined.
9. David Cameron set to give up on UK-China investment fund: FT reports the former UK PM's plans hit by geopolitical tensions as well as lack of investor appetite.
10. Beijing loses US-China conference to Singapore: Michael Bloomberg picks city-state citing COVID and conditions in China for journalists.
The New Economy Forum also comes as multinationals struggle to navigate a US-China relationship defined by trade tensions, technology stand-offs, and clashes over Beijing’s human rights record, including its handling of Hong Kong and treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
