For the first time since the 1980s, Beijing is redefining China’s grand strategy. How Washington responds to these reforms has far-reaching implications in Asia, as well as across the globe.
In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms and opening-up policies enabled China to industrialize through investment and export-led growth.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is set to revise the method it uses to calculate the national GDP, in order to bring it in line with global standards, reported Reuters on Monday.
The new system, if implemented, will come online by the end of 2014 at the earliest, said NBS’s vice head Xu Xianchun; and would see China’s accounting measures adhere more closely to the 2008 United Nations system of national accounts.
China is set to usurp India as the world’s largest gold consumer this year, according to forecasts from the World Gold Council (WGC) on Thursday, as a slide in the rupee’s value and strict import curbs saw India’s gold demand drop by nearly 24 percent.
In a study, the WGC reported that China had already imported 797.8 tons of gold up till September 30 this year, while Indian demand stood at just 715.7 tons.
Chinese gold imports are expected to grow further to 1,000 tons by the end of year, while Indian will purchase around 900 tons.
China’s Communist Party ended its Third Plenum on Tuesday by promising a “decisive role” for markets in the economy, as they push for reforms to deliver results by 2020.
In a communiqué released by state news agency Xinhua, the Chinese leaders pledged to promote market forces for allocating resources; though state-owned companies would still remain the “leading” factor in the economy.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares for Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee this weekend, he will know that his country has now reached the end of an economic super-cycle first set in motion by Deng Xiaoping some 35 years ago. The challenges Xi face today may be completely different to those once faced by Deng; yet both could turn out to be equally vital for China’s future.
The scale of China’s military build-up has raised flags among Western alarmists. Yet the focus of the military spending appears to be oriented more towards defending China’s periphery, rather than any expansionist plans. In fact, one common argument is that China’s growing military power is only meant to counter the force of the U.S., which has been increasing its presence in the region.
China’s economy must continue growing by at least 7.2 percent per year in order to sustain the unemployment rate from rising, said Premier Li Keqiang in remarks published on Monday.
In a national workers’ meeting two weeks ago, Li told the attendees that the government was hoping to cap the urban unemployment rate at 4 percent, requiring GDP growth to maintain at a medium-to-high speed in order to so.
Nearly 40,000 Chinese couples living in Bejing have filed for during the first nine months of this year, according to the China Daily on Tuesday, a year-on-year increase of close to 41 percent – with experts speculating that couples had been deliberately avoiding a property tax imposed earlier this year.
Estimates for China’s local government debts are now close to $3.3 trillion. Some analysts though believe that the government need not be duly concerned about rising bad debts in its banking sector, as their central bank’s extensive foreign reserves is easily enough to recapitalize the banks. What these analysts fail to understand is that these reserves were not accumulated merely by savings, but also involved more borrowing by the People’s Bank of China.
The Chinese government is set to install GPS tracking systems in all state-bought vehicles, reported local state media last weekend, seeking to crack down on officials who use government cars for their own private purposes.
