News Briefing for Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Henry Kissinger had some advice for U.S. President Joe Biden in an interview with Bloomberg, stressing “Nixonian flexibility” to help defuse conflicts between the U.S. and China:

“Biden and previous administrations have been too much influenced by the domestic aspects of the view of China,” said Kissinger. “It is, of course, important to prevent Chinese or any other country’s hegemony…But that is not something that can be achieved by endless confrontations.”

China approves new coal plants to bolster energy security: China recently added 8.63 gigawatts of coal-fired energy capacity to its grid in the first quarter of 2022, a report from Greenpeace shows, as Beijing seeks to stabilize its energy supplies after a series of power shortages hit the country last year.

Russia is still China’s top oil supplier: For the second month in a row in June, Russia has continued to be China’s top oil supplier, with imports jumping to 1.77 million barrels per day — a nearly 10% increase from last year. China has banked on Russia’s lower prices, reducing its reliance on Saudi Arabian oil by 30% compared with last year’s level.

Inflation everywhere but not in Shanghai: According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in June was 2.5%, a slight increase from 2.1% in May, but the highest year-on-year increase since August 2020. Last month, prices increased in all provinces and regions apart from Shanghai.

It’s good to be on the state’s payroll in Beijing: All Chinese provinces and regions apart from Shanghai, Hubei, and Tibet have released data on average urban annual wages in non-private companies, which was 106,837 yuan ($15,836) nationwide in 2021. Average state salaries in Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Qinghai exceeded the national average, with Beijing paying the highest state salaries at an average of 194,651 yuan ($28,853).

China produces double America’s electricity: According to the National Energy Administration, as of the end of June, national installed power generation capacity was 2.44 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%, including wind power capacity of about 340 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, and solar power capacity of also about 340 million kilowatts, an increase of 25.8% year-on-year. By comparison, at the end of 2021, the U.S. had about 1.14 billion kilowatts in total electricity-generating capacity.

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