Sinolytics Radar • Table.Briefings

November 15th, 2022

Will the digital yuan become an international model?

While the geopolitical focus on China currently revolves around US-China tensions, semiconductors and Covid restrictions, China’s central bank has been silently pushing another project of potentially geopolitical significance. Since 2020, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has been conducting trials for a “Central Bank Digital Currency” (CBDC), experimenting with various e-CNY digital payment applications for restaurant, entertainment and public services. However, whether this centralized solution can aid China’s ambitions to influence international payment systems remains in question.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

November 8th, 2022

Foreign investors welcome in China's ports

The planned investment of COSCO in the “Tollerort” Terminal of Hamburg’s port has raised a multi-faceted discussion about Chinese investments in European infrastructure. One of the points of debate is the question of reciprocal opportunities for foreign investors to invest in Chinese terminal operation. Currently, at least 34 port terminals in China have one or more non-mainland investors.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

November 1st, 2022

Xi focuses favors national security over growth

At the 20th Party Congress, China's President Xi Jinping expressed his strong focus on national security as the central objective of policymaking. Therefore, it is expected that national security issues will increasingly take precedence over growth in the country's future economic policy. This is also likely to affect foreign companies.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

October 25th, 2022

Certification procedures put pressure on foreign companies

Already in 2017, authorities like the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) jointly issued the first catalog of critical network and cybersecurity products. Companies that sell the products listed in this catalog need to obtain additional security certification or undergo testing. So far, however, mostly domestic companies underwent certification.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

October 18th, 2022

Zero-Covid remains a dilemma

China’s zero-Covid policy is criticized due to its unsustainability in maintaining normal social activities and the damage it causes to economic growth. However, at this point, the government faces a real dilemma regarding whether to relax Covid restrictions. The low vaccination rate among the elderly population plus an insufficient level of medical treatment capacity could translate into disastrous death rates if dropping the current covid measures. Therefore, it is highly improbable that existing covid restrictions will be removed in the short term.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

October 11th, 2022

Beijing's model of opening and closing

The underlying logic and pattern of opening and closing market segments in China is one of the most fundamental realities foreign companies are confronted with in the Chinese market. While in their respective detail all markets develop differently, the overarching pattern of industrial policy interventions has been applied to numerous industries in the past and present.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

October 4th, 2022

Market leadership thanks to Beijing's White List

Implementing active industrial policy measures has gained increasing traction in the European Union in recent years, at least to some degree contemplating approaches now that China has already employed and perfected for the past decades. One of the focal points of the industrial policy debate in the EU is battery production. A good occasion for taking a look at how China has played its industrial policy game some years ago.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

September 27th, 2022

Zero Covid could cause lasting damage to consumer confidence

The Chinese economy is in a uniquely difficult situation. Chinese consumer confidence dropped sharply in recent months in parallel to the dramatic decline in GDP growth caused primarily by Zero Covid policies. Even if the Zero Covid measures are relaxed in the future, the damage to the Chinese economy is likely to have lasting effects.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

August 30th, 2022

Biden administration fuels trade war

Under the Biden administration, the US has further restricted exports of US technology to China. European companies are also affected by tightened US licensing rules due to the extraterritorial application of the rules and because of the increasing pressure, the Biden administration puts on partner countries to coordinate export controls with the US.

By Experts Table.Briefings

Sinolytics Radar

August 23rd, 2022

Tax revenues slumped sharply in first half of 2022

The Chinese government’s efforts to revive the economy are restrained by high debt levels and decreasing tax revenues. In the first half of 2022, the top 10 tax revenues totaled ¥9.7 trillion, 12 percent lower than the tax revenues in the first half of 2021. Value Added Tax (VAT), vehicle purchase tax and taxes related to real estate show the largest decrease. This raises the question of how much further stimulus the government can provide to revitalize the Chinese economy weakened by covid disruptions.

By Redaktion Table