Tag: Xi Jinping

India, China ready to re-set ties as Modi meets Xi in Wuhan

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

India and China will look to re-set their strained ties as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping meet each other at a two-day informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan starting on Friday.

The Asian giants, who fought a brief war in 1962 and have a history of mutual distrust, nearly came to an armed conflict near their border in 2017, taking their ties to a new low.

However, the “one of its kind” rendezvous between Modi and Xi at the heart of China is a sign enough that the two countries were willing for a new start in their tense relationship.

The Xi-Modi meeting will be different from the past ones as the talks will not be choreographed but freewheeling with only one Mandarin-speaking Indian interpreter present.

The meeting is an offshoot of Xi-Modi parleys just after the resolution of the Doklam crisis on the sidelines of BRICS Summit at Xiamen in China.

“The idea germinated at the Xiamen summit,” said an official.

The two leaders will meet not once or twice but “several” times during the two days and will have heart-to-heart conversations, Chinese and Indian officials say.

According to informed sources, Modi and Xi might amble down the East Lake in Wuhan or take a boat ride by the historic villa of Mao Zedong.

Though there is no formal agenda of the meet and both will not issue any joint statement, thorny issues like border dispute will come up during their chat.

“You can imagine the importance Xi provides to India as this is the first time he is having such a meeting with any foreign leader. They will chat on all outstanding issues,” a Chinese government official told IANS.

India and China have a longstanding dispute over their 3,500-km long winding border, which ties them down. Of the 14 neighbours, China is yet to settle its boundary dispute only with India and Bhutan.

New Delhi is against Beijing’s grand Belt and Road project whose artery cuts through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. India’s stance on the Belt and Road matters to China as the opposition by New Delhi could well hamper the project.

Another sticking point is Beijing’s opposition to New Delhi’s application to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group and its plea at the UN to declare the Pakistan-based Masood Azhar as an international terrorist.

China’s foray into the India Ocean also worries India.

India’s inclination to be the part of Quad — an emerging bloc of the US, Japan and Australia apparently to counter China in the Indo-Pacific — worries Beijing.

As both sides have decided not make public the outcome of the two-day meet, a Chinese top official said both leaders may arrive at some important consensus to resolve their outstanding issues.

The Chinese side has said both the leaders will also talk beyond the bilateral relations. US trade protectionist policy will figure in the talks.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China says it welcomes visit by US officials amid trade spat

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China says it welcomes a planned visit by US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to Beijing next week amid trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday that China looks forward to the visit for “consultation on trade and economic issues.”

The United States and China are entangled in their most consequential trade dispute since World War II. Both countries have proposed tariffs of $50 billion on each other’s products; Trump is looking to impose tariffs of up to $100 billion more on Chinese goods.

Mnuchin has expressed optimism that the countries can avoid a trade war. He met last week with finance officials from China, Japan and Europe.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, has vowed to open China’s market wider to foreign companies.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China pledges to allow more foreign investment in financial sector by year-end

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China laid out a clearer timetable on Wednesday for opening its financial sector to more foreign investment by the end of 2018, as Beijing looks to fend off growing criticism from the United States and other trading partners that it unfairly limits competition.

People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang said China will allow foreign firms to compete on an equal footing with domestic companies in the financial sector, giving foreign banks more business scope in the country.

Though the specific details offered were mostly incremental and repeated past pledges, China for the first time said it would implement a number of the measures by the end of this year, with some steps promised to be in place as early as June.

They include allowing foreign firms to invest in trust companies, financial leasing, auto finance and consumer finance, plans that were announced last year. The PBOC also confirmed it aims to launch a planned trading link between its stock markets and London by end-2018.

Foreign businesses and China’s trading partners have long complained about a lack of implementation of reforms announced years earlier, and that outside firms continue to face unofficial restrictions even after some sectors have ostensibly been opened up.

China’s official pledges, made at the annual Boao Forum for Asia in southern Hainan province, echoed previous promises from Beijing to open the financial sector but comes at a time of heightened pressure on China from the United States over trade and access to its massive markets.

China will raise foreign ownership limits to 51% in securities, fund management, futures and life insurance companies “over the next few months”, the PBOC said on its website. The current ownership cap for securities, futures and fund management firms is 49% and the cap for insurance companies is 50%.

The gradual removal of those limits was first announced in November, when an official said the move would take effect immediately following the drafting of related rules.

President Xi Jinping promised on Tuesday to open the economy further and lower import tariffs on products like cars, in a speech seen as an attempt to defuse the increasingly bitter trade dispute with the United States and possibly open the way for the start of negotiations after both sides threatened tit-for-tat tariffs.

“The greater detail on the timing of implementation may indicate China’s desire to avoid an escalation in trade restrictions and to boost market confidence that the announced measures to open up the market will be adopted in practice,” credit rating agency Moody’s said in a note on Wednesday.

The government also will not set foreign ownership limits for investment in wealth management companies set up by commercial banks by the end of 2018, the PBOC said.

Scepticism

While China’s stock markets rose following Yi’s pledge to further open the financial sector to foreign investors, there remains reason to be sceptical there will be big changes soon.

China has repeatedly pledged that it would open up sectors such as financial services, including promises to the Trump administration last year that it would give “full and prompt market access” to US payment network operators.

But despite a 2012 WTO ruling that China was discriminating against foreign payment card companies, no US firm has yet been granted a license.

“China often promises a lot, but either because of policy or political opposition domestically, a lot of these reforms on foreign investment take awhile to take effect,” said Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong.

“We won’t know how far this is going to go until we see if there are any non-tariff barriers and how many (Chinese) firms are actually willing to sell themselves to foreign investors.”

Despite some gradual opening of China’s financial sector in recent years, foreign firms still only account for a tiny fraction of the market, and the new moves are unlikely to lead to significant changes as big state-invested companies have a commanding presence in those businesses.

China also said on Wednesday it would quadruple the daily quota for stock connect schemes linking mainland and Hong Kong markets, though the impact is expected to be limited as only a small fraction of daily quotas are being used by investors under the current cap.

Insurance Sector Measures

China also said it was accelerating a plan originally announced in November to lift foreign ownership restriction in life insurance companies, following Xi’s pledge the day before to speed up the opening up of the insurance sector.

China will raise the ownership limit to 51% within a few months, and fully scrap the restriction in three years. In November, China said it would lift the limit to 51%  in three years and fully remove it after five years.

The government will also remove a requirement that foreign

insurers must have a representative office in China for two years before they can set up a company, further easing foreign access to the insurance sector.

While stock indexes rose overall, several of China’s largest insurance firms fell on the news that foreign competition could increase. China Life Insurance Co Ltd was down 0.8, Ping An Insurance Group was down nearly 1% and New China life had fallen 1.8%.

On trade, Yi said China and the United States should deal with their issues in a rational way and that the China-US goods and services trade should balance out in future.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China’s Xi renews pledges to open economy, cut tariffs this year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to open the country’s economy further and lower import tariffs on products including cars, in a speech seen as an attempt to defuse an escalating trade dispute with the United States.

While most of the pledges were reiterations of previously announced measures, for which foreign business groups say implementation is long overdue, Xi’s comments sent US stock futures, the dollar and Asian shares higher.

Xi said that China will sharply widen market access for foreign investors, a chief complaint of the country’s trading partners and a point of contention for US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has threatened billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese goods.

The speech at the Boao Forum for Asia in the southern province of Hainan had been widely anticipated as one of Xi’s first major addresses in a year in which the ruling Communist Party marks the 40th anniversary of its landmark economic reforms and opening up under former leader Deng Xiaoping.

Xi said China would raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile, shipbuilding and aircraft sectors “as soon as possible”, and push previously announced measures to open the financial sector.

“This year, we will considerably reduce auto import tariffs, and at the same time reduce import tariffs on some other products,” Xi said.

He also said “Cold War mentality” and isolationism would “hit brick walls”. His speech did not specifically mention the United States or its trade policies.

Chinese officials have been promising since at least 2013 to ease restrictions on foreign joint ventures in the auto industry, which would allow foreign companies to take a majority stake.

They currently are limited to a 50% stake in joint ventures, and are not allowed to establish wholly owned factories.

Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk has railed against an unequal playing field in China and wants to retain full ownership over a manufacturing facility the company is in talks with the Chinese government to build there.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He promised at the World Economic Forum in January that China would roll out fresh market openings this year, and that it would lower auto import tariffs in an “orderly way”.

Foreign business groups welcomed Xi’s commitment to reforms, including promises to strengthen legal deterrence on intellectual property violators, but said the speech fell short on specifics.

“Ultimately US industry will be looking for implementation of long-stalled economic reforms, but actions to date have greatly undermined the optimism of the US business community,” Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the US-China Business Council, said.

Easing of Tension

Jonas Short, head of Beijing office at Everbright Sun Hung Kai said the market reacted positively to Xi’s speech because it saw it as an easing of trade tensions, but voiced caution about the likely extent of such reforms.

“China is opening sectors where they already have a distinct advantage, or a stranglehold over the sector,” Short said, citing China’s banking industry, which is dominated by domestic players.

Xi’s renewed pledges to open up the auto sector come after Trump on Monday criticised China on Twitter for maintaining 25% auto import tariffs compared to the United States’ 2.5% duties, calling such a relationship with China not free trade but “stupid trade”.

Xi also said China would speed up opening up of its insurance industry, with Shanghai Securities News citing a government researcher after the speech saying foreign investors should be able to hold a controlling stake or even full ownership of an insurance company in the future.

Trump’s move last week to threaten China with tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods was aimed at forcing Beijing to address what Washington says is deeply entrenched theft of US intellectual property and forced technology transfers from US companies.

Chinese officials deny such charges, and responded within hours of Trump’s announcement of tariffs with their own proposed commensurate duties.

The move prompted Trump last week to threaten tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods, which have yet to be identified, and none of the announced duties have been implemented yet.

Beijing charges that Washington is the aggressor and spurring global protectionism, although China’s trading partners have complained for years that it abuses World Trade Organization rules and practices unfair industrial policies that lock foreign companies out of crucial sectors with the intent of creating domestic champions.

While China has recently expressed optimism that the two sides would hammer out a trade deal, Chinese officials in recent days have said negotiations would be impossible under “current circumstances”.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Experts discuss Xi Jinping’s plans to ‘open’ China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday promised to open the country’s economy further and lower import tariffs on products including cars, in a speech that comes amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States.

Xi also said China would raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile sector “as soon as possible” and push previously announced measures to open the financial sector.

Richard Harris of Port Shelter Investment Management said that the market was getting too excited about the issue of trade war etc. “We have seen enough consolidation in global markets to move ahead now”, he said.

Shane Oliver, Head Investment Strategy & Chief Economist at AMP Capital Investors said that emerging market is more exposed to a trade war than developed markets because exports tend to be a higher share of their economic activity particularly Asian markets.

“The trade war is going to be between US and China. The supply chain across Asia is going to be much vulnerable to that,” he added.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China blames US for trade frictions, says negotiations currently impossible

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China stepped up its attacks on the Trump administration over billions of dollars worth of threatened tariffs, saying Washington is to blame for frictions and repeating that it was impossible to negotiate under “current circumstances”.

The comments come after US President Donald Trump on Sunday predicted China would take down its trade barriers, and expressed optimism that both sides could resolve the issue through talks.

Chinese state researchers and media talked down the likely impact of US trade measures on the world’s second largest economy and described the Trump administration’s posturing on trade as the product of an “anxiety disorder”.

“Under the current circumstances, both sides even more cannot have talks on these issues, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular news briefing.

“The United States with one hand wields the threat of sanctions, and at the same time says they are willing to talk. I’m not sure who the United States is putting on this act for,” Geng said.

The trade frictions were “entirely at the provocation of the United States”, he added.

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming said at the Boao Forum for Asia in the southern province of Hainan, that Beijing did not want to fight a trade war, but was not afraid of one.

Focus this week will be on the forum, with President Xi Jinping and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde delivering speeches on Tuesday.

“GREAT WALL OF DENIAL”

The US move last week to threaten China with tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods was aimed at forcing Beijing to address what Washington says is deeply entrenched theft of US intellectual property and forced technology transfer from US companies.

Beijing’s claims that Washington is the aggressor and is spurring global protectionism, though China’s trading partners for years have complained that it abuses World Trade Organization rules, and practices unfair industrial policies at home that lock foreign companies out of crucial sectors with the intent of creating domestic champions.

After repeated pledges to open up sectors such as financial services, Trump has said in speeches that the United States will no longer let China take advantage of it on trade.

“China’s reaction to Mr. Trump’s legitimate defence of the American homeland has been a Great Wall of denial — despite incontrovertible evidence of Beijing’s illicit and protectionist behaviours,” White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said in a commentary in the Financial Times on Monday.

“Nothing less than the US’s economic future is at risk from China’s assault on American technology and IP, and its mercantilist bid to capture emerging high-tech industries,” he said.

Chinese officials deny such charges, and responded within hours of Trump’s announcement of tariffs with their own proposed commensurate duties. The move prompted Trump to threaten duties on an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.

None of the measures have yet gone into effect.

China’s ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said in an interview in China’s Securities Daily newspaper that the United States should “adopt a more responsible attitude” on trade or it would harm itself with its own policies.

“Some people in the United States are still accustomed to being the world leader, and haven’t adapted to the change in the global situation,” Cui said.

The Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper described US trade policies as a populist tilt by Trump ahead of the US mid-term elections, but that the steps would ultimately end up hurting US households through higher consumer prices.

“In the world’s perception, the US is overshadowed by an anxiety disorder and is very keen to show its anxiety,” the newspaper said.

“IMPACT WILL BE LIMITED”

A researcher with China’s state planning agency said China’s economy will see little impact from the trade dispute, as the country’s vast domestic market can compensate for any external impact.

“As China’s economy is stable and improving … the China-US trade friction will impact our economy, but the impact will be limited,” Wang Changlin, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission, wrote in a post on the commission’s official microblog account.

Even with the US tariffs, China can still reach its 2018 GDP growth target of around 6.5 percent and the impact on employment will be limited, Wang wrote.

Fan Gang, an influential economist and adviser to China’s central bank, on Sunday flagged the possibility of a US trade war as the US economy faces pressure from China’s rapid development.

Discussion of the trade dispute also touched on the possibility of China leveraging its massive holdings of US government debt, which has been dubbed the “nuclear option”.

Zhang Yuyan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank, said China was unlikely to sell off its holdings of US Treasury bonds as a tactic in its trade dispute with the United States.

“On whether China will reduce its foreign exchange reserves, how policymakers think, I don’t know. I personally believe this possibility is very small,” Zhang said on Sunday in Boao.

China is evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation as a tool in the trade dispute, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, though it said the analysis doesn’t mean officials will carry out the move.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xi Jinping to attend Boao Forum for Asia

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Boao Forum for Asia, dubbed the Asian Davos, a meeting of economic and political leaders, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The forum, scheduled for April 8 to 11 in Boao, a coastal town in China’s Hainan island province, will be themed “An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi will give an opening speech to provide “a new vision of development that will offer greater opportunities for the world”, said State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a press conference.

The Chinese President will also hold meetings with leaders attending the economic forum, he said. This year will mark Xi’s third attendance as President.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Presidents of Philippines and Austria, Rodrigo Duterte and Alexander van der Bellen respectively, will be present.

The Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Singapore, the Netherlands and Mongolia will also be participating.

Although the discussions in the forum will focus primarily on economic issues, Wang did not rule out the possibility of discussing regional political issues, such as the sovereignty disputes over the South China Sea.

The forum will be attended by more than 2,000 political and economic leaders, including the heads of large multinational companies, both Chinese and international.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Key moments in North Korea-China relationship

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s surprise visit to China makes clear that Beijing, the North’s only major ally and chief provider of energy and trade that keeps the country’s broken economy afloat, will have a major role in any effort to rein in the North’s nuclear program.

A look at key moments in relations between North Korea and China:

___

October 1949: North Korea and China establish diplomatic relations.

October 1950: China intervenes in the Korean War and engages in combat with U.S.-led forces, saving North Korea from defeat. The war ends in 1953 with an armistice.

November 1958: North Korea founder Kim Il Sung visits China, shortly after China withdraws troops from the Korean Peninsula. He successfully requests economic aid in meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Kim goes on to visit China and the former Soviet Union many times through the 1960s while maintaining a balancing act between the competing communist powers and consolidating his leadership at home.

April 1982: Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visits North Korea to attend celebrations of Kim Il Sung’s 70th birthday. Kim visits China five months later to discuss his plans to pass his leadership to his son, Kim Jong Il, and also reassure Beijing that the North wouldn’t tilt toward the Soviet Union once he’s no longer in power.

August 1992: China establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, complicating its relations with the North.

May 2000: Kim Jong Il, who took power in 1994 after his father’s death, makes the first of his eight visits to China as the North Korean leader. The trip was reportedly aimed at consulting with the Chinese leadership weeks before Kim’s summit with then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, which opened a temporary era of rapprochement between the rivals. Kim, rumored to have had a fear of flying, traveled to China on a green-and-yellow armored train that was also used by his son this week.

August 2003: North Korea joins first round of six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing, which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The talks continue periodically over the next several years before stalling.

December 2011: Kim Jong Un takes power after the death of his father.

May 2013: Senior North Korean official Choe Ryong Hae visits China as Kim’s special envoy and meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

October 2015: Senior Chinese official Liu Yunshan visits the North and attends a military parade with Kim.

March 2018: Kim visits Beijing for a meeting with Xi, weeks after the announcements of his planned summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow