Welcome to the 73rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.
This week:
- We note that U.S. and Chinese negotiators are set to meet this week in Beijing, their first face-to-face talks since Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agreed to a 90-day truce to their trade war last month.
- We report that China has become the first nation to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon last week, in what has been called a groundbreaking achievement for the country’s growing space program.
- We analyze weak demand for the iPhone in China, which shows that Apple’s flagship product is being hurt by its high price and the rise of cheaper rival devices in the world’s biggest phone market.
- We hear that China’s securities regulator imposed record penalties in 2018 on dodgy market players, reflecting the country’s continued crackdown on market misconduct.
- We learn that international airlines will get to decide whether to hop over from Beijing’s current international airport to the colossal new $12 billion one when it opens in September, China’s air regulator said, giving the market a say in the major airline realignment.
- We discuss the spread of Chinese-made apps in India’s consumer-facing tech scene, where they are increasingly following the playbook developed in their home market.
In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, this show’s co-producer and the head of Caixin Global’s Breaking News desk, about China’s population situation and the central government’s population policies historically. We also chat with Charlotte Yang and Fran Wang, both reporters at Caixin Global, about eight interesting or particularly representative economic keywords that collectively encapsulate the issues facing the Chinese economy.
