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Brief Consumer Economics & Trade Investment Law & Regulation Politics & Society

China calls US attempts to resolve trade spat insincere

Chinese and US officials continued to present sharply contrasting accounts of the state of negotiations over trade between the two sides on Thursday, with China saying that no formal talks have been held and calling American attempts at dialog not sincere, Reuters reports. After President Xi Jinping’s speech to the Boao Forum on Tuesday, in […]

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Brief Politics & Society Tech, Media & Telecom

Popular news and joke apps shutdown by Beijing

China continues its no-tolerance policy towards social media by ordering one of the country’s fastest-growing startups, Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., to close one of its joke-sharing apps and delete its WeChat account, Bloomberg reports, on the grounds that its content clashes with party ideology. Bytedance, which boasts a $20 billion market value and hundreds of […]

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Autos Brief Consumer

Auto sales move up a gear in China

Vehicle sales in China were up 4.7% year-on-year in March, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), a sharp uptick in growth compared to the 1.7% rise posted in January and February. According to The Wall Street Journal, the slow growth during the first two months of the year was likely caused by the distortions […]

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Banking & Finance Brief Investment Markets

Early signs of China’s financial markets opening-up to the West

A trading link between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges will open by the end of the year, said China’s central bank yesterday, as part of the country’s commitment to opening-up its financial sector. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said that the exchange link will “provide UK businesses, savers and investors with unique […]

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Brief Economics & Trade Energy & Environment Manufacturing Politics & Society

Cooling inflation points to economic slowdown in China

Producer and consumer inflation cooled sharply in March, according to the latest Chinese official data, which Reuters suggests could probably indicate that demand is ebbing in the Chinese economy. The producer price index (PPI) was up 3.1% year-on-year in March, a 17-month low and the fifth consecutive monthly slowdown. The consumer price index, meanwhile, rose 2.1% year-on-year, […]