Just weeks before Taiwan holds general and presidential elections, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou announced he will hold face-to-face talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Singapore. The meeting Saturday will be the first between Taiwanese and Chinese leaders since 1949 and authorities in China are predicting it will be a “major historic milestone” in the development of cross-strait relations.
Chinese manufacturing has contracted for the third month in a row, according to the government's latest factory survey. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed a reading of 49.8 for October, unchanged from last month. A figure below 50 indicates that factory activity contracted.
As China establishes itself as the world’s second largest economy and top trading nation, its currency, the renminbi (RMB), is also gaining popularity around the world. According to the People’s Bank of China’s 2015 Renminbi Internationalization Report, the RMB was the world’s 5th most used payment currency, the 2nd most used trade finance currency, and the 6th most traded currency in 2014.
China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Couples will now be allowed to have two children, it said, citing a statement from the Communist Party. The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to slow the population growth rate.
By Alex Calvo (*) - Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United Kingdom has been met with grand-sounding headlines, including references to a “golden era”. Public statements by both governments have focused on growing economic links, while some voices referred to human rights and US commentators expressed their concern at London’s closeness to Beijing at a time of increased tensions in the Indo-Pacific, above all the South China Sea.
China's economy grew 6.9% in the third quarter, the weakest rate since the global financial crisis. The growth rate is below the government's 7% target. Though slightly above expectations, the data is expected to raise pressure on policymakers to step up monetary policy to stem the slowdown.
The number of billionaires in China has overtaken that of the United States for the first time, an annual survey said on Thursday, calling it a “turning point” for the super-wealthy. Communist-ruled China now has 596 billionaires, up a “staggering” 242 over the last year, Shanghai-based luxury magazine publisher Hurun Report said, surpassing the 537 Americans.
Since 2009, China has been taking a much more active role in its pursuit of international oil contracts. In 2009, for the first time, Saudi Arabia exported more of its oil to China than it did to the US. China also made large investments in Saudi Arabia's oil refining industry as well. But China's oil investments didn't stop there; they also pursued oil producing Canadian assets in 2011/12.
Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA will raise $2 billion through a 10-year leasing contract with China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Leasing, the Brazilian company said in a statement on Tuesday.
China's September imports fell a more-than-expected 17.7% in Yuan-denominated terms, while exports fell 1.1% from a year earlier, official figures show. The numbers leave the country with a trade surplus of 376.2bn Yuan ($59.4bn)