News briefing for Monday, October 10, 2022

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

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文 Cài Yīngwén) said during her National Day address today, “Provided there is rationality, equality, and mutual respect, we are willing to work with the Beijing authorities to find a mutually agreeable arrangement for upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

• Tsai also warned Beijing there was “no room for compromise in the Taiwanese people’s commitment to democracy and freedom,” and that China should not “attempt to divide Taiwanese society by exploiting the fierce competition between our political parties.”
• “The root cause of the current tensions in the Taiwan Strait is that the (ruling Democratic Progressive Party) authorities have been clinging to Taiwan independence and colluding with external forces to make provocations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Máo Níng 毛宁 said in response, per the Associated Press. “We are ready to create a wide space for peaceful reunification, but will never leave any room for secessionist activities of Taiwan independence.”
• Meanwhile, U.S. tech mogul Elon Musk waded into cross-strait tensions in an interview with the Financial Times, just as the electric car maker hit a monthly record in September of 83,135 China-made vehicle sales: “My recommendation…would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable,” he said. China’s ambassador to the U.S., Qín Gāng 秦刚, tweeted an enthusiastic response.

Even the holidays can’t spur people to buy much in COVID-zero China, as new mobility restrictions rolled out to stop the spread of COVID-19 weigh on consumer spending.

• China’s services activity contracted in September after expanding for three consecutive months, according to Caixin estimates.
• Tourist trips dropped 18.2% from last year’s holiday season, with 422 million trips recorded over the weeklong National Day holiday, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported on Friday.
• Tourism revenues also fell by an even larger margin, dropping 26% from last year to about $40 billion during the holiday, and spending was less than half of the level in 2019.
• Meanwhile, China’s central bank Employment Sentiment Index, which measures households’ sentiment about the job market, declined to 35.4 in the third quarter, the lowest level since data began in 2010.
• Chinese stocks slumped by 2.2% on their return from the Golden Week holiday, to the lowest in two-and-a-half years.

China’s entrepreneurs are pessimistic: Yesterday, the People’s Bank of China released the results of its survey of entrepreneurs at 5,000 industrial enterprises during the third quarter. According to the survey’s “macroeconomic heat index,” 46.9% of entrepreneurs say China’s economy is “cold” right now, 52.2% say it’s “normal,” and 0.8% say it’s “hot.” See today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media, with more links and info on:

• Record sales for Tesla in September.
• Sky-high power lines and triple-layer spiral tunnel expressways.

Jack Ma is having trouble raising money for his new investment firm in China, Juro Osawa reports for the Information, as investors in the country shun Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm Ma (马云 Mǎ Yún) co-founded in 2010, in fear of any further political backlash the embattled Chinese billionaire may incur.

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