China is hardening its stance against Washington
News briefing for March 7, 2023
Here’s what else you need to know about China today:
Top story: China became the final major creditor to agree to debt support for Sri Lanka, paving the way for a long-awaited $2.9 billion bailout from the IMF. But the dragged-out timeline has put China at the center of a global debate on which lender — be it a country or an institution — should be responsible for taking on the burden of “haircuts,” or debt forgiveness, to developing countries. Scroll down for a summary or click through for the whole thing.
Xi directly accused the U.S. of having “contained, encircled, and suppressed China,” according to state news agency Xinhua, in yet another signal that Beijing is hardening its stance against Washington. China’s foreign minister, Qín Gāng 秦刚, also issued a warning, stating that “if the U.S. doesn’t hit the brakes and continues to barrel down the wrong track…there will surely be conflict and confrontation.”
Xi is giving China a sweeping bureaucratic makeover in a bid to make the country more self-reliant and resilient. Beijing announced plans for a new government body to manage data, a new financial regulator, and a restructure of its science and technology ministry. Many of the new policies and regulations that are being rolled out at the ongoing Two Sessions meetings this week are being interpreted as strategies to counter U.S. moves against Beijing.
Canada will investigate allegations of Chinese interference in its recent elections, after widespread public pressure drove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to announce a review of classified reports about the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. China has denied the accusations, calling them “purely baseless and defamatory.”
China’s exports in January and February decreased by 6.8% year-on-year to $506.3 billion, and imports decreased by 10.2% to $389.420 billion, according to China Customs. Meanwhile, the Chinese tourism industry is recovering, and discount ecommerce app Temu, the overseas arm of Pinduoduo, will enter the Australian and New Zealand markets on March 13. Click through to today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media for details.
