Sky Canaves previously reported for The Wall Street Journal in Beijing and Hong Kong, where she covered media, culture, social issues, and legal affairs, and served as the founding editor and lead writer of the WSJ’s China Real Time site. Prior to becoming a journalist, Sky worked in the China corporate law practice of Baker & McKenzie, and she has also taught journalism and media law at the University of Hong Kong. She speaks Mandarin and has accumulated more than a decade’s experience living, studying and working in China.
Former finance chief Lou Jiwei “came to office in 2013 promising to change the system and restructure local government debt. He failed on both counts: local government spending as a share of the total has risen from about 65 percent in 2001 to about 85 percent in 2015, transfers from the center have widened, and local governments’ borrowing has increased.”
"There’s a great deal to be worried about, and yet one hopes that, as pugnacious and vindictive as Trump is, he is also proud and thin-skinned, a man intent on maintaining the veneer of a winner," writes Jiayang Fan.
"Analysts say Chinese leaders are looking for a more transactional relationship, one that doesn’t delve into human rights and stays out of geopolitics. They hope Trump, a businessman with no political experience, will offer that possibility."
Chinese companies looking to do deals in the U.S. are being advised by lawyers and bankers to take a “wait and see” approach on whether Donald Trump will create a more challenging environment for cross-border business.
Private investment growth has increased for two consecutive months but remains low, and the uptick may simply indicate that the decline has bottomed out.
A credit-to-GDP gauge from the Bank for International Settlements shows that China reached a record high of 30.1 percent in March 2016. "It's the single most reliable indicator of looming financial crises, according to the BIS, which found in a 2011 analysis of 36 countries that a majority of banking crises followed readings higher than 10 percent." Related: For a more sanguine take, listen to our Sinica podcasts: Why China bears are wrong: An interview with Andy Rothman and Arthur Kroeber vs. The Conventional Wisdom.
China’s consumer-price index rose by 2.1 percent in October from a year earlier, compared with September's 1.9 percent gain.
The British retailer will close 10 department stores and lay off more than 400 workers in mainland China, where it has been losing money, as part of a broader global reorganization of its operations.
"Beijing tends to prefer incumbent party successors with consistent policy lines. Trump's lack of a governance track record and his unorthodox take on long-held Republican priorities could prove a headache for Chinese officials."