1/10 NYT: "China has offset the decline from America with breathtaking speed. Shipments to other parts of the world have surged this year, demonstrating that China’s manufacturing dominance will not be easily slowed." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

1/2 Caixin: "China’s Ministry of Finance has created a new department to oversee government debt, consolidating responsibilities previously spread across multiple offices in an effort to strengthen fiscal oversight." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-11-04/c...

1/2 Caixin: "Private developers, largely sidelined since 2021 by tightening credit, collapsing sales, and mounting debt, are slowly returning to the market," accounting for 12.4% of total land purchases in the first ten months of 2025. www.caixinglobal.com/2025-11-04/p...

1/4 SCMP: "Chinese listed companies posted their fastest profit growth of the year in the third quarter, as a government-led drive to cut excess industrial output drove up margins and the nation’s tech self-reliance bolstered demand for semiconductors." www.scmp.com/business/chi...

1/4 According to China Daily, steel industry profits rose 1.9% year on year in the first nine months of 2025, even as steel production declined 2.9% and steel consumption declined 5.7%. www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202511/03/...

1/3 Caixin: "China will need to maintain average annual economic growth of 4.17% over the next decade to achieve its goal doubling the 2020 per capita GDP in constant prices." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-31/c...

I'd be a little skeptical While there may indeed be "a group high up within the administration that was interested in bolstering the international role of the dollar," there are also those who understand the relationship between dollar dominance and US deindustrialization. www.ft.com/content/fae0...

1/3 Bloomberg: "It’s clear that Western nations are slowly starting to recognize the need for an embrace of production-oriented — rather than 1990s style consumer-focused — economic strategies." www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

1/6 Reuters warns that China's over-reliance on investment and exports to power its economy appears to have reached a limit, with Chinese leaders signalling a sharper shift towards supporting consumption over the next five years. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

China Banking News: "Lian Ping, director of the China Chief Economist Forum, argues that China continues to face risks and perils on multiple fronts, all of which threaten to undermine its economic growth prospects." www.chinabankingnews.com/p/the-six-po...

1/5 China Banking News says that former PBoC governor Zhou Xiaochuan disagrees with the claim that China's refusal to run trade deficits limits the global role of the renminbi. He also believes that to do so would undermine Chinese manufacturing. www.chinabankingnews.com/p/chinas-ala...

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, on the Foreign Relations Committee, calls for "a rebuilt bipartisan consensus around our approach to China". www.wsj.com/opinion/amer...

For those who might be in Singapore this weekend, there will be some great indie bands from around Asia at the Baybeats festival, including several from China. I would definitely check out Beijing's Carsick Cars at the Arena on Sunday evening. www.esplanade.com/whats-on/fes...

1/3 Yicai: "China has slashed the number of local government financing platforms by more than 70 percent over the past two and a half years, as a package of policies to prevent and resolve implicit debt risks takes effect nationwide." www.yicaiglobal.com/news/china-c...

Xinhua: "China has allocated a total of 500 billion yuan through a new policy-based financial instrument. The move is expected to stimulate over 7 trillion yuan in investment, according to statistics from the policy banks." english.news.cn/20251030/6be...

This is silly. Tariffs should be used to protect strategically important industries or to retaliate against beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies. They should not be used to punish countries like Canada, who share part of the burden of absorbing global saving imbalances. www.ft.com/content/8e90...

Exploration budgets for rare earths are expanding very rapidly around the world, led by Australia, Brazil, South Africa, the US and Canada, in that order. www.ft.com/content/eb13...

FT: "External renminbi loans, deposits and bond investments by Chinese banks quadrupled to more than $480bn over the past five years, as policymakers more aggressively pursue their long-term goal of reducing the centrality of the dollar in global financial flows." www.ft.com/content/4577...

1/2 Reuters: "The first major goal of the next five-year plan is to keep economic growth at a "reasonable" range and "significantly" raise the percentage of household consumption of GDP, said Han Wenxiu, deputy director of the Central Financial and.... www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Yicai: "China now supplies more than 60 percent of the world’s power batteries and about 70 percent of its battery materials, according to official data, giving a competitive edge to the country’s booming new energy vehicle sector." www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinas-...

1/4 Interesting article by Yanmei Xie: "Why does involution defy repeated attempts to purge it?" she asks. "Because the foundational structure of China’s political economy breeds it." www.ft.com/content/e768...

Good Robin Brooks piece on deflationary pressures in China and the role of US tariffs. robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/deflationa...

1/2 For those of my friends living in Singapore, or who plan to be there next week, you should definitely check out Baybeats 2025. The festival features indie bands from around Asia, and this year includes one of my favorite bands, Beijing's Carsick Cars. www.bandwagon.asia/articles/sil...

1/6 "While booming exports supported economic output in the third quarter," according to PKU's Huang Yiping, "indicators ranging from inflation to private investment and unemployment all point to sluggish confidence." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/8 Yale's Stephen Roach says China must raise the household consumption share of its GDP by ten percentage points over the next decade. In August PKU economics professor Lu Feng, said that China should raise it by 5 to 10 percentage points over the.. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/7 The NYT on US (and probably EU) over-reliance on China for the chemicals involved in manufacturing drugs. They argue that it is the combination of lower unit labor costs and a greater tolerance for environmental degradation that makes the difference. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/h...

More importantly, it exceeds 1.2% of the rest of the world's GDP.

1/7 Bloomberg: "There’s an upside for the entire global economy from the massive, state-led investments China has made over the years: The abundant supply of cheaper Chinese vessels has helped push down freight rates and keep cargo moving around the world." www.bloomberg.com/search?query...

1/3 Bloomberg says that India and the US are nearing a trade deal that could lower tariffs on Indian exports to 15%–16% from about 50%. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/4 Bloomberg: "Ethiopia started talks with China to convert at least part of the $5.38 billion it owes Beijing into yuan-denominated loans, following an example set by Kenya that bolsters China’s efforts to internationalize its currency." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/4 Caixin: "China’s top policy banks have funneled nearly 300 billion yuan into strategic investment projects over the past two weeks, a rapid rollout of a 500-billion-yuan initiative aimed at reviving economic momentum amid a worsening real estate downturn." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-21/b...

1/2 Interesting Bloomberg article on problems in China's commercial real estate market: "Office vacancies in major Chinese metropolitan cities are now among the world’s highest, ranging from 20% to more than 40%." www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

1/3 Satyajit Das worries that structured credit products "Rather than financial alchemy, suggest mispricing, reduced capital buffers and hidden risks, particularly added leverage." www.ft.com/content/6da7...

1/2 Many analysts seem to think that China's move on rare earths give it a permanent chokehold on critical minerals. That may make it a very exciting story, but I suspect that it will instead mean that in few years, and sooner than we expect, there... open.substack.com/pub/nixons/p...

1/9 The FT's Tej Parikh makes a very important point here. China's industrial policies have involved among the greatest support and subsidies for technology in history, and we've clearly seen the benefits when it comes to advanced technology. www.ft.com/content/b444...

1/2 Reuters: "China has scope to ramp up fiscal stimulus, but should shift the focus of spending away from industrial policy and toward steps to boost consumption, Krishna Srinivasan, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Thursday." www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

1/9 China's GDP growth for the third quarter came in at an expected 4.8% year on year, with the first three quarters growing 5.2%. It seems China is very much in line to report GDP growth for 2025 at – or just under – the GDP growth target of 5%. english.news.cn/20251020/f55...

1/2 Former finance vice-minister Zhu Guangyao said at a recent conference that “I personally think that we will keep this 4.5 to 5 per cent growth annually in the next five years and that will build up a solid foundation to achieve the 2035 goal." www.scmp.com?utm_source=t...

1/9 Bloomberg's Chris Anstey notes that "the consumer — not the producer — has been the main focus of officials in Washington. By contrast, China’s leadership, drawing on Marxist tradition, of course focused on production." @AnsteyEco www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

1/6 Yicai: "Agricultural Bank of China has absorbed 190 rural bank branches in northeastern Jilin province over the past month, which banking industry experts see as an emerging approach for resolving credit market risks." www.yicaiglobal.com/news/agricul...

Caixin: "China’s panda bond market — onshore debt issued by foreign entities in yuan — is experiencing a historic surge, fueled by a mix of low interest rates and regulatory reforms that now allow foreign issuers to use the proceeds globally." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-18/p...

1/9 China Daily says that the next Five-Year Plan might see a change in the way local governments collect taxes, shifting collection from the site of production to the site of consumption. www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202510/17/...

1/2 According to Xinhua, China's fiscal revenue for the first nine months of 2025 was up 0.5%, with central-government revenues down 1.2% and local-government revenues up 1.8%. China's fiscal expenditure expanded 3.1%, with... english.news.cn/20251017/166...

Interesting Caixin article on local-government arrearages: "Beijing is amping up support to assist in clearing local public-sector arrears, but how keen localities will be to take on new interest-bearing debts to settle interest-free ones is a cause for concern." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-15/i...

WSJ: "Industrial production in the eurozone fell 1.2% in August, driven by a 5.2% retreat in production in Germany." www.wsj.com/economy/euro...

1/5 Chinese debt continues to rise quickly, with total social financing rising by 8.7% year on year in September (more than twice GDP growth) to RMB 437.08 trillion. This is equal to nearly 312% of 2025's expected GDP (versus 303% at the end of 2024). www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-16/c...

1/2 Caixin: "China’s exports of new-energy vehicles surged 89.4% year-on-year to 1.76 million units in the first nine months of 2025. The export frenzy underscores a broader challenge: stiff domestic competition and significant overcapacity." www.caixinglobal.com/2025-10-16/c...

1/5 David Miliband argues that a program that reduces the external debt of very poor countries "is financial engineering that provides a triple dividend: governments can get breathing room on... www.ft.com/content/f48d...

1/9 WSJ: "According to the people close to Beijing’s decision-making process, Xi’s hard-line strategy is based on the belief that Trump will ultimately fold and offer concessions rather than deploy Washington’s own significant leverage." www.wsj.com/world/china/...