News briefing for Tuesday, September 27, 2022

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

No big business deals before the Party congress: Reuters and Bloomberg both reported that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), as well as the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, gave unofficial, verbal instructions (also known as “window guidance” 窗口指导) to several big mutual fund managers and brokers to refrain from large sales of stocks, in a bid to stabilize the market before the party congress next month.

• Meanwhile, Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 has reemerged in Beijing, his first public appearance since his trip to Central Asia earlier this month.

Will Pakistan be the next debt-ridden country to get help from China? U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Pakistan to ask China for help in relieving its massive debt, which has been exacerbated by torrential floods that displaced more than 33 million people in the South Asian nation this month.

• China, Pakistan’s single-largest creditor, has been wary of recent acts of terrorism and other signs of rising instability that could threaten its heavy investments in the region.
• “Since the floods hit the country, China has rushed to Pakistan’s aid as its genuine friend and brother in times of need…We will continue to do our utmost to help the Pakistani people overcome the floods and rebuild their homes at an early date,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wāng Wénbīn 汪文斌 said when asked at a press conference today.
• The Wall Street Journal reported today that, “after nearly a decade of pressing Chinese banks to be generous with loans, Chinese policy makers are discussing a more conservative program…[and] have also become open to accepting some losses on loans and renegotiating debt, something they had been previously unwilling to do.”
• The WSJ also says “Beijing is revamping its troubled” Belt and Road Initiative “after loans have gone sour and projects have stalled.” China has also recently signed deals with Ecuador and other countries to help restructure their debts.

Yet another tax-free year for electric cars: Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance and two other ministries announced that new energy vehicles (NEVs) purchased in 2023 will be exempt from vehicle purchase taxes. This is the third time the policy has been extended since it was first implemented in 2014. More on this in today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media, and on these topics:

• NIO invests in Argentinian lithium mine.
• Metaverse job boom.

Australians have some pretty negative associations with the Chinese government, according to a recently released 2021 survey from the Pew Research Center. After asking 1,127 Australians “to describe, in their own words, the first things that come to mind when they think about China,” the survey found that:

• The top three topics that come to mind were the political system (29%), human rights (23%), and threats (23%).
• The Australian public is more focused on China’s government than its people, a finding consistent with the center’s studies on the perception of China in other countries, like the United States.
• While perceptions of the Chinese government were largely negative in Australians’ responses, only 1% of responses expressed negative views of the Chinese people, compared with the 4% of responses that described the people of China in a positive light: Negative responses included words such as “selfish” and “unsympathetic,” while positive sentiments mentioned traits such as “hard-working,” “ingenious” and “family oriented.”

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