The European draft for a supply chain law goes further than the German approach – but some questions of detail are still open. Some MEPs are calling for an additional import ban on products from forced labor. For goods from the Chinese province of Xinjiang, the control of the specifications could become problematic.
By Amelie Richter
China wants to make its financial markets more solid with the 14th Five-Year Plan and bring the regional governments and the economy down from high debt levels. It also aims to reduce the risk of bubbles. Can this be achieved without slowing down the momentum on the markets?
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In his annual press conference, Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised controversial issues – and made China's positions clear: In Hong Kong, the politicians there must "love their motherland", and the accusations of genocide in Xinjiang are "rumors". He called for more cooperation with the USA but, at the same time, forbade Washington to interfere in internal affairs. With regard to the ILO's forced labor requirements, he promised "efforts". However, there were no concrete announcements.
By Frank Sieren
The leadership in Beijing has set growth at a relatively low six percent. Apparently, it fears overheating and stresses that it is aiming for "qualitative" growth. The IMF expects growth of over eight percent. Exports, in particular, have been booming for several months.
By Felix Lee
China's official military budget is growing by 6.8 percent. This means that the increase is in line with previous years. In any case, experts assume that the actual expenditure is higher. For example, pensions, construction projects, and the military police are booked in other budgets. Beijing wants to have modern, technologically powerful armed forces by 2027 – and thus also protect its own investments abroad.
By Christiane Kuehl
Nuclear power is considered an important component of the energy concept in the new five-year plan – it is supposed to enable growth without emissions. With 20 new reactors by 2035, the expansion is now proceeding more rapidly. However, it is still well below the original, much more ambitious plans.
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China's government leader Li Keqiang opened this year's plenary session of the Chinese People's Congress in Beijing this morning. The main points are: stronger market economic reforms, accelerating research and development, strengthening smaller businesses, more domestic consumption, expanding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At the same time, China plans to increase its military budget by 6.8 percent this year. That is 0.1 percent more than last year. In addition, Beijing wants to further restrict the leeway of the Hong Kong parliament.
By Frank Sieren
The relationship between China and the Czech Republic is in tatters. Czech politicians are taking a confrontational course, also because the People's Republic is not fulfilling the expectations it has raised. Promised investments have largely failed to materialize. Chinese money, however, is flowing into local media companies to manipulate public opinion in Beijing's favor. In this series, China.Table reports on the relations of all EU member states with China.
By Marcel Grzanna
If you look through the list of names of the members of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party, you will see 女 in brackets behind some of the names – the sign for "female". Although women make up nearly one-third of the party, they are rarely found in top offices. Xi Jinping's return to Confucianism reinforces this tendency because it envisions a patriarchal order.
By Ning Wang
It hasn't been a good year for Jack Ma – or for his billion-dollar fortune. Three countrymen have overtaken the Alibaba founder in the rich ranking. The richest Chinese is now 66-year-old Zhong Shanshan. He made his money not with a tech company or real estate but to a large extent with mineral water.
By Redaktion Table
