China plans to systematically address funding shortages facing some major projects in the course of advancing the national rejuvenation, and it will issue ultra-long special treasury bonds starting this year and over each of the next several years, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in his Government Work Report delivered to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.

The proceeds from the bond issuance will be used to implement major national strategies and build up security capacity in key areas. One trillion yuan ($139 billion) of such bonds will be issued in 2024, read the report.

“Additional government investment is needed in many sectors this year. This means that we should further improve the structure of government spending, ensure sufficient funding for major national strategic tasks and efforts to meet the people’s basic living needs, and strictly control general expenditures,” Li said.

“We should appropriately enhance the intensity of our proactive fiscal policy and improve its quality and effectiveness,” Li stressed.

China will set the deficit-to-GDP ratio in 2024 at 3 percent and the government deficit at 4.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 180 billion yuan over the 2023 budget figure.

“It is projected that fiscal revenue will continue to grow in 2024 and we will also have funds transferred from other sources; on this basis, general public expenditures in the government budget are projected to reach 28.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.1 trillion yuan over last year,” Li said.

This year, 3.9 trillion yuan of special-purpose bonds for local governments will be issued, an increase of 100 billion yuan over last year, according to the Government Work Report.

Ultra-long special treasury bonds are a fiscal policy instrument geared towards the long haul. Given their extended maturity, the bonds are predominantly directed towards foundational, large-scale infrastructure projects that address deficiencies and reinforce long-term capabilities, experts said.

This year’s fiscal policy, including the issuance of the ultra-long special treasury bonds, is poised to play a crucial role in supporting stable economic operations and will provide financial backing for some of the key projects in the process of national rejuvenation and the construction of a great country, Yang Chang, chief analyst of Zhongtai Securities, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Issuing the long-term treasury bonds can help avoid large fluctuations in fiscal expenditures. This is particularly important given the current challenges faced by some local governments, which lack stable financial means to promote economic development, especially amid the structural adjustment in local debt and the real estate sector, Tian Yun, an economist based in Beijing told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Moreover, China's long-term government bonds are relatively popular among investors. China should take advantage of the current low inflation and low financing costs to ramp up their issuance, Tian said.

“Considering the current risks domestically and internationally, we should be comprehensively prepared. The government could expedite the issuance of the one-trillion-yuan ultra-long special treasury bonds,” Tian said.

In 2023, an additional one trillion yuan of special treasury bonds was issued to support post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and build up capacity for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief.

Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the second session of the 14th NPC, told at a press conference on Monday that the one-trillion-yuan treasury bond issuance for 2023 has been fully allocated, supporting over 15,000 projects. It will effectively ensure and improve the livelihoods of the people in disaster-affected areas.

The Biden administration moved on Thursday to block Chinese-made electric vehicles from entering the US market, claiming that internet-connected EVs "pose risks to national security" because the vehicles' software systems could send sensitive information of American drivers back to China. Under Biden's direction, the US Commerce Department has commenced a probe into these "security risks," which may lead to new restrictions on import of Chinese EVs.

The US government's new policy toward China is driven by trade protectionism, offering the world further evidence of economic bullying and coercion. 

The policy is designed to stop low-cost Chinese EVs, whether manufactured in China or assembled by Chinese companies in countries like Mexico, from entering the US and potentially threatening American ICE (internal combustion engine) automakers. Washington also seems to be walking back its transition to a carbon-free economy, despite the Biden administration's claims of leading the world in this direction. 

It is okay for US auto companies to take advantage of cheaper labor in Mexico or other countries, but Chinese car companies are criticized for their lower labor costs. What's this logic? Now that China has developed better EV technology, America suddenly feels disadvantaged. It is not about security, just profits for US automakers addicted to assembling gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Almost all EVs require internet access for their navigation systems, but Chinese-made cars pose a security risk, so this is just a scare tactic played by Washington to justify protectionist measures. 

Chinese enterprises have made significant investments in renewable technology, leading the way in clean, new-energy industrial transformation. Chinese consumers have shown a growing awareness of environmental protection, with over 9.49 million EVs sold in 2023, accounting for nearly 32 percent of all vehicle sales. This stands in stark contrast to the US, where only 1.18 million EVs were sold, making up just 7.6 percent of the market.

As ICE cars decline in China and electric vehicles become more prevalent, major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen have seen a significant reduction in air pollution. The success of Chinese EVs highlights the country's commitment to sustainable transportation and environmental protection.

The benefits of mass deployment of EVs are obvious. The fierce competition among dozens of Chinese EV makers has driven EV prices constantly down. It is the affordability of Chinese-made EVs that effectively ramps up their market penetration in China, where throngs of consumers are changing their ICE vehicles to EVs. For example, the $11,000 plug-in Seagull brand manufactured by BYD, the world's largest EV manufacturer, has received good reviews and is also affordable for many Chinese and overseas buyers. 

Even mainstream US media outlets acclaim China's clean, new-energy vehicle effort. They admit that China has rapidly ratcheted up EV investment, innovation and production in recent years, but China's effort sets it on a collision course with the US government's plan seeking to help lumbering American automakers, the likes of Ford, and GM and Stellantis, dominate the auto market at home and aboard. 

But it is problematic for the US government to conjure up the national security issue to protect the "Detroit Three" and keep cheaper and better foreign-made EVs off the road in America. 

The Biden administration's use of "national security" is nothing but a cover for trade protectionism, aimed at restricting normal trade and investment in the name of actual national security concerns, which many in the world see clearly as nothing more than an economic smokescreen. The administration is just using national security as an excuse to protect their own political interests, and the highly protectionist and coercive economic policy won't bode well for America in the long run. 

The previous Trump administration had already imposed excessive 27.5 percent tariffs on Chinese-made cars, and the Biden administration's latest measure is one more step to restrict competition for EVs that will only cause US consumers to pay more for what they could buy on the US market. 

US media outlets revealed that Biden's new measure stemmed from conversations with Detroit automakers, union autoworkers and Tesla. Biden released a statement accompanying the policy announcement, saying "China is determined to dominate the future of the auto market including by using unfair practices. China's policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch."

But a good number of American consumers don't take the side of their government. They spoke out their disapproval in social media, sarcastically. Two posts read: "Seriously, China is spying on us through their electric vehicles? The paranoid thoughts have deprived us from using Huawei cellphones or flying DJI hobby drones." "Do we want to make electric vehicles affordable for the average American? Or do we want to make sure only the rich can afford electric cars? Stop protecting our automakers that make $70,000 behemoths instead of importing much more useful $20,000 economy cars."

Nevertheless, American automakers will praise "the invisible hand of the market" played by the Biden administration to protect them to continue to churn out large, overpowered and overpriced gas guzzlers. What is actually going on in Washington is the government trying to justify economic protectionism to temporarily protect American automakers. The result is that vast US consumers will pay more for those dirty guzzlers poisoning the air. In a sense, the alleged security threat posed by inexpensive Chinese EVs sounds more like a "security threat" to the stock prices of US automakers which don't see developing and producing low-priced EVs as sufficiently profitable. 

As the US presidential election is to be held in the coming November, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are competing to be seen as tougher on China. But the "who's tougher battle" or political pandering is hurting broadly American consumers' pocketbooks and the environment. 

The A-share market experienced a notable rebound on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) surpassing the 3,000-point threshold and all three major Chinese indexes ending the month on a positive note and breaking a six-month streak of losses.

The rally came as the top securities regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has taken strong measures to regulate the market and impose heavy penalties on those who break the trading rules under its new leader, Wu Qing, who was appointed on February 7.

The SCI rose by 1.94 percent on Thursday, the Shenzhen Component Index went up by 3.13 percent, and the ChiNext Index gained 3.32 percent. More than 5,200 shares gained, with more than 100 hitting their daily limits.

Statistics from financial data provider Wind showed that northbound funds hit a seven-month record for single-day net purchases at 16.603 billion yuan ($2.31 billion). Total net purchases in February exceeded 60 billion yuan, the highest in nearly 13 months.

Favorable policies have played an important role in the market rally, Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The CSRC under its new leader has been proactive in implementing reforms, including holding a dozen of symposiums to gather feedback from various stakeholders. This transparent and determined approach has greatly boosted investor confidence and led to a trend reversal in the market," Yang said.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange held a symposium with eight listed companies on Wednesday focusing on promoting the quality of listed companies and accelerating the formation of new productive forces.

The listed companies have agreed to focus on science and innovation, strengthen their core competitiveness, and reward investors. They also suggest strengthening the supervision of listed companies throughout the entire process, tightening IPO issuance, cracking down on financial fraud, and rigorously delisting companies that do not meet the standards.

A hedge fund company had 8.93 million yuan of illegal gains confiscated for excessive high-frequency trading in share index futures by the China Financial Futures Exchange, the latest move by the regulatory authorities to crack down on illegal trading and revive investors' confidence.

The CSRC said that it will strengthen regulatory oversight of various trading activities, including high-frequency trading, and crack down on market misconduct in accordance with the law and regulations.

The CSRC also said that it would strengthen the supervision of Direct Market Access Strategy (DMA) products. "Steadily reducing leverage in the DMA business helps prevent and control market risks, and is good for the stable and healthy operations of the market," the CSRC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The CSRC held a symposium on Tuesday and pledged to further strengthen the rule of law in the capital market to support its high-quality development, consolidate the market's fundamentals, stabilize expectations and benefit it in the long term.

The meeting emphasized the need to ramp up enforcement efforts in administrative, civil, and criminal responsibilities, and to bolster "zero tolerance" law enforcement.

This followed 10 back-to-back meetings on February 18 and 19, right after the Chinese New Year holidays, where the CSRC solicited suggestions on regulations, risk prevention and high-quality development from market participants.

The meeting stressed improving the quality of listed companies at the source, with more focus on strict control over IPO access and stepped-up supervision and inspection of companies with IPO plans and crackdowns on financial fraud.

On the Chinese Lunar New Year's eve, the CSRC announced penalties for illegal activities, demonstrating its determination to create an open, fair and just market environment, Yang said.

The CSRC released a list of penalties on February 9 involving IPO fraud and illegal stock trading by industry professionals.

The penalty list includes a fine of 16.5 million yuan for IPO fraud committed by semiconductor start-up S2C EDA. In another instance, the CSRC fined 63 securities professionals from China Merchants Securities Co involved in illegal stock trading, and it imposed penalties totaling 81.73 million yuan.

The CSRC on February 5 listed several cases of suspected market manipulation and "malicious short selling" and vowed to severely punish those engaged in such illegal activities.

The regulator warned that it would maintain "zero tolerance," resolutely crack down on illegal activities, and ensure that those who dare to manipulate the market and engage in malicious short-selling will be bankrupted and jailed.

With the continuous improvement of living standards, the public is increasingly pursuing a higher quality of life, leading to continuous upgrades and the steady growth in hairdressing and household care products. According to a forecast by Mintel, by the end of 2027, the shampoo and hair care product market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5%, with sales reaching 667.55 billion yuan ($92.73 billion) . Additionally, Frost & Sullivan's statistical survey data show that the retail sales of China's household cleaning and care market continue to grow, reaching 1,108 billion yuan, with a CAGR of 5.3%.

On January 16, Henkel officially opened its new Asia R&D Center for Consumer Brands in Shanghai with an investment of approximate 100 million yuan. As Henkel’s largest R&D facility in Asia, the new center will attract top scientific talent, bolster local R&D capabilities in both Hair and Laundry & Home Care, and further position Henkel consumer products at the forefront of the industry. It will contribute to agile product innovations based on local consumer habits and insights across 11 markets in Asia.

Henkel opens new Asia R&D Center for Consumer Brands
Frank Meyer (left), Corporate Senior Vice President R&D of Henkel Consumer Brands, and David Tung, Regional President of Henkel Consumer Brands Asia

Frank Meyer, Corporate Senior Vice President R&D of Henkel Consumer Brands, remarked, "Across our illustrious 140-year history, Henkel has consistently revolutionized consumer markets, positively impacting the lives of millions through our innovative products. The new R&D center, one of our facilities integrated with consumer centers worldwide, will contribute to a robust global research network spanning Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Anticipating the impact of this state-of-the-art facility, we aim to deepen our understanding of evolving consumer behaviors, fortifying Henkel's commitment to pioneering leading-edge technologies tailored for both local and global markets."

Meyer, an expert in hair color and care research, further elaborated on the differences between Chinese and Western consumers' hair conditions. He explained that while Westerners typically have fine, soft, and curly hair, Chinese individuals tend to have thicker, straighter, and darker hair. As a result, hair care and coloring treatments must be tailored to these unique characteristics, ensuring optimal dye absorption and leaving hair feeling soft and smooth after washing.

David Tung, Regional President of Henkel Consumer Brands Asia, said, “This investment represents a pivotal milestone as the first Asia-based R&D center supporting product development and ingredient formulation for both business categories. Leveraging unique research synergies, the center is set to shape our portfolio for higher growth, adding substantial value to the Asian market and propelling Henkel Consumer Brands to new heights.”

Henkel is currently in the initial phase of product development for home care and detergents. Regarding future plans, Tung shared that the company is actively working to understand the unique needs of the Chinese market, with plans to conduct localized R&D. For instance, Asian families tend to be smaller and have distinct requirements for home care compared to their European counterparts. Additionally, it has been observed that Asian consumers are increasingly focused on sustainability issues, prompting the R&D center to drive corresponding innovations in this area.

According to the report, occupying over 2,500 square meters of floor space, the new R&D center offers ample capacities for future growth ambitions and expanded capabilities. Built on the design concept of “innovation, digitalization, and sustainability,” the R&D center features advanced equipment and encompasses comprehensive capabilities, catering to both current and future needs of Henkel Consumer Brands. The center integrates six functional areas: consumer center, advanced research, product development, packaging design, chemical and physical analysis, and product evaluation.

Professional hairdressers diagnose hair condition for consumer.

• The consumer center is designed to mirror the hair salons and the home environments that consumers are familiar with, enabling Henkel to engage more profoundly with them and transform insights into innovation processes.

• The center will pioneer advanced research and explore breakthrough technologies, using in-vitro and in-vivo testing for comprehensive validation. 

• The center will support formula development and product format development based on consumer and customer needs, ensuring the safety, stability, sensory performance and efficacy of products.

• Advanced instruments and 3D printing technologies will empower packaging design by enabling Henkel to conduct fast prototyping and validate the performance of packaging during its shelf life.

• In the chemical and physical analysis lab, Henkel experts can conduct both qualitative and quantitative analyses on active components, impurities, and other factors, to develop comprehensive insights into raw materials and product performance and quality.

• Performance evaluations are empowered by advanced biophysical test instruments and a laundry performance evaluation lab that can provide accurate and relevant technical performance assessment and validation of laundry products. 

Henkel expert utilizes scalp positioning and capturing system to detect scalp health condition for consumers.

Henkel expert leverages 3D printers for rapid prototyping and iteration of product packaging, accelerating the development of innovative projects.

Rajat Agarwal, President of Henkel Greater China emphasized, “China is one of Henkel’s key strategic markets and plays a critical role in our regional and global business. We are continuously building our local R&D capabilities to respond to the distinctive consumer trends taking place in this dynamic market. This investment further underscores our commitment to the local market, empowering us to develop customized solutions for consumers and pioneer sustainability in China and across the region.”

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) officially opened Japan's most advanced wafer fab in Kumamoto on Saturday, Taiwan media outlets reported. 

However, the plant, which has been long anticipated by politicians on the island of Taiwan and in Japan, may find it hard to bring the expected economic benefits to its parent company.

Many believe the plant's political significance outweighs its economic role.  Lai Ching-te, who recently won the regional election, expressed gratitude to Tokyo last week for Japan's "strong support" in realizing the fab's swift construction, the Japan Times reported. As TSMC earlier this month unveiled its plan to build a second Japanese factory, Lai said the development is believed to be "of great significance to future industrial cooperation" between Taiwan island and Japan, according to the report.

It is easy to make one think of TSMC's investment in the US, which has been subject to controversy in the island of Taiwan, with some local analysts warning about a talent and technology outflow, as well as a hollowing-out of Taiwan's chip industry. However, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, which see the island's semiconductor sector as a bargaining chip for political gains, have shown no hesitancy in selling out Taiwan's semiconductor industry to the US, and now its ally Japan, to use it as a tool to fawn on Washington. 

The wafer fab in Kumamoto is expected to kick off commercial production in the fourth quarter of this year, using the mature 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer processes. Although the Japanese government has reportedly offered certain subsidies to TSMC, the company has to face a challenge: the manufacturing cost of semiconductor in Japan is much higher than that in the island of Taiwan.

TSMC has for decades concentrated its operations in Taiwan, where it enjoys strong support from the island's mature supply chains that helps the company maintain relatively low manufacturing costs even as it pursues cutting-edge technology. From the economic perspective, Japan's high manufacturing costs make it not necessarily a suitable investment destination to develop.

In particular, TSMC's investment could spur more competition for talent. Some media outlets reported that TSMC offered starting salaries of 280,000 yen ($1863) per month to university graduates in 2022, 40 percent higher than the local average of around 200,000 yen. TSMC's "competitive" pay may further increase its production costs.

Semiconductor orders from Japan's auto industry are perhaps an important factor contributing to TSMC's investment decision. TSMC announced plans in 2021 to build a chip plant in Kumamoto, at a time when the auto industries had been hammered by COVID-19 disruptions and unprecedented chip shortages. However, now, the situation has changed a lot. The COVID-19-induced semiconductor shortage is over, and the industry has now been left with a surplus of chips. Some Japanese domestic chip manufacturers are already having a hard time curbing overcapacity. It will not be easy for TSMC to reap expected benefits from the Japanese market.

Japan and the US will be the biggest beneficiaries of TSMC's investment. The Japanese government has made rebuilding the country's chip industry a key part of its industrial policy, and against such a backdrop, TSMC may face increasing pressure to move more operations and its most advanced technology to Japan. According to media reports, TSMC is already considering a third Japanese factory using the advanced 3-nanometer tech.

Efforts of the US and its allies to win investment from TSMC may have an impact on the semiconductor maker and Taiwan's chip industry. Lai may regard TSMC's investment as something to boast about, but people should realize that it is precisely DPP's economic policies that are harming Taiwan's chip supply chain.

The US' plan to invest billions in domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes to replace ones made in China due to so-called potential "national security risks" is absurd and unlikely to succeed, experts said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the administration of President Joe Biden plans to invest billions in the domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes used at US ports. The administration aims to replace the China-built cranes, which it claims contain advanced software that poses a so-called potential national security risk.

Administration officials said more than $20 billion would be invested in port security, including domestic cargo-crane production, over the next five years. The money, tapped from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021, would support a US subsidiary of Mitsui, a Japanese company, to produce the cranes. Officials said it would be the first time in 30 years that the cranes would be built domestically, according to the report.

Chinese authorities have firmly rejected the frequent "China threat" hype from the US.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a press conference in January that some US politicians have been blowing up the "China threat" bubble, while exposing their real aim of suppressing China's development in the name of national security.

Two US Congress committees are currently looking into Swiss engineering group ABB's operations in China, particularly regarding the installation of ABB equipment by Chinese firm Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) on ship-to-shore cranes that are bound for the US.

Some national security and Pentagon officials have compared ship-to-shore cranes made by ZPMC to a Trojan horse, claiming that they contain sophisticated sensors that can register and track the provenance and destination of containers, the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023.

For some US politicians, anything advanced from China can be a "threat" and must be stopped by all means. This is sheer bullying and hegemonism, Wang said.

"The true aim of the US is to exclude Chinese manufacturing from its entire supply chain system, to hinder China's industrialization process and prevent Chinese modernization," Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The goal is to further strike at China in terms of trade and economic cooperation, Tian said.

The claim from US politicians is absurd, as the crane itself operates on simple mechanical principles, He Weiwen, a senior fellow from the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Thursday. It is ridiculous to rely on guesswork to determine the security of ordinary trade, He added.

He also noted that Biden's domestic manufacturing replacement plan is unlikely to succeed.

"In the 1990s, many US ports had ZPMC cranes, which were seen as cost-effective. Domestic production would be costly and would rely heavily on federal subsidies. Now, the US government struggles to even subsidize chip production, let alone cranes," he said.

According to senior administration officials, 80 percent of ship-to-shore cranes moving trade at US ports were manufactured in China, CNBC reported.

"If the US insists on generalizing national security, it will eventually have to produce everything itself, even toys," He said.

China is striving to complete negotiations on version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) in 2024 amid a "rich agenda" for FTA negotiations in a bid to further advance high-standard opening-up, Chinese vice minister of commerce Wang Shouwen told a press conference on Friday. 

China's active engagement in FTA talks reflects China's commitment to deepening economic cooperation and integration and will have a positive impact on both China and the world economy by promoting trade, investment, and regional economic integration, experts said.

The talks on version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN FTA are scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, next week, Wang said.

Additionally, China will also complete FTA negotiations with Honduras, complete FTA upgrade negotiations with Peru and continue to promote the joining of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) this year, Wang said.

In November 2022, China and ASEAN jointly announced the official launch of the negotiations. The two sides agreed that the negotiations will cover fields including trade in goods, investment, and digital and green economy, so as to build a more inclusive, modern, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial China-ASEAN FTA.

"The upgrade of the China-ASEAN FTA caters to the mutual development needs of both China and ASEAN, and will contribute to further enhancing the bilateral trade volume," Zhou Shixin, a research fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Friday.

Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN reached 6.41 trillion yuan ($900 billion) in 2023, with ASEAN maintaining its position as China's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year. China has continued to be ASEAN's largest trading partner for multiple years.

Additionally, the upgrade of the China-ASEAN FTA is expected to drive the upgrades of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and lay a good foundation for China's joining of CPTPP and DEPA, Zhou said.

Wang believes China now has more mature conditionsfor joining the CPTPP, as it has been consistently making efforts to promote deep exchanges with CPTPP members and enhance pilot projects and experiments within its domestic free trade zones, aligning with high-level international standards. 

"We have full confidence and the capability of meeting the high standards set by the CPTPP," Wang said.

China will also continue to engage in free trade negotiations or upgrade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, New Zealand, South Korea, and Switzerland to further implement the high-standard free trade zone network, Wang added.

High-standard economic and trade rules, as well as new content such as the lifting of the zero tariff ratio for goods traded, the promotion of telecommunications and healthcare services opening-up, and the expansion of market access for digital products will be included in the new free trade negotiations, Wang said.

"The proactive moves demonstrate China's commitment to further opening its doors and injecting new vitality into the regional economy amid the slowdown in global economic recovery," Zhou said.

2024 is indeed a pivotal year for the enhancement of free trade agreements. China's increasing domestic competitiveness, coupled with the opportunities of the digital and green era, as well as the "decoupling" and supply chain disruptions imposed by the US and the West, call for renewed efforts to upgrade free trade agreements, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

"It will not only drive China's economic growth but also contribute to open and inclusive economic globalization," Wang Yiwei added.

2023 saw the RCEP come into full effect and was a fruitful year for China to expand free trade agreements with other partners. 

"In 2023, we signed four new free trade agreements. As of today, we have signed 22 free trade agreements with 29 countries and regions, and trade with those countries and regions accounted for approximately one-third of China's total foreign trade volume," Wang said.

Chinese enterprises enjoyed import duty reductions of 2.36 billion yuan under the RCEP last year. At the same time, import enterprises from RCEP partner countries benefited from preferential treatment worth 4.05 billion yuan when importing products from China, which is a clear and mutually beneficial outcome for both sides, Wang said.

China-Switzerland cooperation has bright prospects and China's visa-free policy for Switzerland will facilitate bilateral economic ties, said Felix Sutter, president of the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC).

China's visa-free policy has been hailed by Swiss business communities. It allows Swiss entrepreneurs and professionals to serve the Chinese economy and clients in China better and faster, and it also reduces costs, Sutter said in a written interview with the Global Times. He noted that the visa-free policy shortens the lead time for travel to China and allows flexible itineraries.

"For example, during a planned visit to Southeast Asia, a businessperson can change travel plans at short notice and enter China without going through the visa application process," said Sutter.

China will apply a unilateral visa-free policy for Switzerland, and the Swiss side will provide more visa facilitation measures for Chinese citizens as well as Chinese enterprises investing in Switzerland, the two countries announced on January 15, 2024, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In addition, China and Switzerland also announced on January 15 the completion of a joint feasibility study on upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), an important stride toward negotiations and deeper economic cooperation.

The FTA was signed on July 6, 2013 and entered into force on July 1, 2014 after being ratified by both countries.

Sutter said that the FTA is considered a success, as it is the only FTA that China has signed with a continental European country.

The SCCC has been focusing on restarting economic communication between Switzerland and China in the past year.

"Since December 2022, the SCCC has hosted numerous government and business delegations from China to Switzerland. Facilitating interactions between Swiss and Chinese organizations, companies and entrepreneurs served to reopen dialogue and identify business opportunities and challenges," said Sutter.

The year 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Switzerland, and analysts said that the two countries will embrace more cooperation opportunities.

"With more than 1,000 Swiss companies operating in China, we see potential for more Chinese companies to set up operations to serve their European customer base and understand the needs of the European market," said Sutter. He added that industries with opportunities for increased cooperation between China and Switzerland include life sciences, renewable energy, cleantech, precision engineering and education.

Despite multiple sources of global headwinds including geopolitical tensions and a sluggish economic recovery, Sutter pointed out that Switzerland and China need to address issues including climate change, where the two countries can work together to find innovative and affordable solutions.

Four home-made C919 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines will serve the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, as the 40-day travel peak which starts on Friday, China Eastern said on Wednesday. 

The four planes will fly the routes between Beijing and Shanghai, Shanghai and Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. 

China Eastern welcomed its fourth C919 plane on January 2, which started flights from Beijing to Shanghai.

On May 28, 2023, China Eastern operated the maiden flight of the C919 and the plane has been flying the route from Shanghai and Chengdu.

China Eastern said in January that its C919 fleet has carried out 655 commercial flights, transporting a total of nearly 82,000 passengers since its maiden flight.

The fleet size for the coming travel rush is part of the plan that China Eastern has planned for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year travel rush. The carrier will fly 3,280 flights per day during the travel peak, a growth of 42 percent year on year.

Air China said on Tuesday that it plans to arrange 67,691 flights during the 40-day travel peak with an average of 1,693 flights per day, increasing by 32 percent compared with 2019, and rising 40.6 percent compared with 2023.

China is expected to record 9 billion passenger trips during the annual Spring Festival travel rush, the Ministry of Transport said last week. 

The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicted that the total number of passengers via air could hit 80 million in the 40-day travel rush or 2million per day on average, expecting to hit a record.

There has been a lot of discussion about the rise or fall of China-US trade, but less attention has been paid to another important participant in global industry chains - Southeast Asia. A Bloomberg article said Monday that for the first time, China exported more to Southeast Asia in 2023 than to the US. If Bloomberg's report is true, the news can be seen as a new milestone for the realignment of global trade.

Chinese customs data showed that ASEAN emerged as China's largest export market in 2023, with an annual value reaching $523.7 billion. The US, which held the top spot in 2022, slid to third place in 2023 with $500.3 billion, down 13.1 percent from the previous year.

The realignment of global trade is the result of many factors, such as rising US trade protectionism, unilateral and anti-market suppression and economic bullying, which are threatening not only China but also the global economy. 

In a world undergoing drastic changes, both challenges and opportunities exist. Washington has been trying to squeeze China out of global supply chains through a series of approaches in the name of "de-risking," but trade data suggest things are going in the opposite direction of what people expected. China has integrated deeper into global supply chains, established an open and cooperative system, and further opened up its manufacturing sector to counter combined challenges. 

Research by economists showed that goods that were supposed to be processed in China and exported to the US are now subject to increasingly complex delivery routes: China now exports more high value-added intermediate products to Southeast Asia, India, Mexico and other countries for final assembly, and then re-exports them to the US. 

In the past, China imported core components and assembled them into final products for export. The volume was relatively high but the profits made by assembly lines were limited. Now, China has made itself an important exporter of intermediate products. China's exports to the US have declined, but as China's companies move up the industry value chain, they can earn more money.

In recent years, some manufacturers have been shifting parts of their assembly lines out of China to Southeast Asia and other regions, but they still import intermediate products from China. This fosters closer industry chain cooperation between China and those countries.

As for Southeast Asia and other regions, more imports mean more trade deficits. However, taking a closer look at their foreign trade structures, a noteworthy part is intermediate products. It brings opportunities for industrialization, rather than substitutes for manufacturing products in the local market.

However, some people in countries especially India hold a negative attitude toward Chinese-made products and trade deficits with China. With a zero-sum mentality, they may miss out on the opportunities created by supply chain restructuring. China and those countries enjoy strong complementarity in strengthening economic cooperation. We should seize the opportunity.

Although ASEAN has reportedly surpassed the US as China's largest export market, the US, at least in the short term, remains an important final consumer market, as some of China's exports to Southeast Asia will eventually be re-exported to the US. This reality reminds China and its trade partners to diversify their markets.

Amid a decline in external demand, companies doing businesses in China are focusing more on Chinese domestic consumer markets. Chinese authorities in 2023 issued 20 measures to boost domestic consumption, including support for expanding real estate and auto sales, underscoring the country's intensifying efforts to ensure a steady economic recovery. 

China has made itself an important final consumer market in the world. This will promote industry chain cooperation between China and Southeast Asia from another perspective.