By John Richardson XI Jinping, who formally became China’s president last week during the National People’s Congress meeting, faces enormous challenges. Life is, for example, pretty grim for hundreds of millions of people in China. Many have lost out on the country’s “economic miracle” because a hugely disproportionate share of the country’s wealth has ended […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China NPC Meeting: Quality Over Quantity
China’s National People’s Congress Source of picture: Rex Features By John Richardson The focus of next week’s National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting in China – the country’s annual “parliamentary” meeting – is likely to be on the quality rather than the quantity of growth. This is reflected in the fact that almost half of […]
China’s Graduates
China graduates at a job fair in Chongqing in November 2012 Source of picture: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features By John Richardson CHINA sometimes seems like several different countries from the super-rich elite to the middle classes whose average annual disposable income is less than the cost of one square metre of an apartment in Beijing to […]
China’s Two-Speed Recovery
By John Richardson CHINA appears to be in the midst of a two-speed recovery as a result of stronger domestic growth, while the export environment remains very bleak. “Our polyethylene (PE) sales to converters who sell into the domestic market have picked up very well in Q4,” said a source with a global polyolefins producer. […]
China Polyethylene Sentiment Recovers
By John Richardson CHINA’S polyethylene (PE) market is enjoying a mini-rebound on improved confidence in the ability of politicians to turn the economy around, the blog has been told. There seems to be a feeling out there that more help is on the way for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The SMEs, which make […]
China New Leaders Announced
Xi Jinping addresses the 18th Party Congress Source of picture: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features By John Richardson CHINA’S new seven-man Politburo Standing Committee was announced today, with the bad news being that five of its members are thought to be either conservative or cautiously conservative. The country needs reformers. The top job of party chief and putative […]
China’s Intellectual Property Challenge
Wen Jiabao – stepping down Source of picture: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features In the last of our series of posts on China’s leadership handover, which begins today as the 18th Party Congress meets, we look at intellectua property rights protection. By John Richardson WHY bother innovating in China when a state-owned, or state-backed, company is able to steal […]
China: Consumption And Hot Air
Source: New York Times By John Richardson TALK of a billion plus Western-style consumers is nothing more than hot air, with the temperature maintained by the financial sector eager to sell you its products. The reality is very different, as this article from the New York Times describes. In the third of our series […]
China Leadership: Nobody Has A Clue
By John Richardson THE blog has spent a great deal of time talking to lots of people, and reading everything it can get its hands on, concerning China’s leadership handover and has reached one overwhelming conclusion: Nobody has a clue. The comforting, easy analysis is that the once-in-a-decade handover will be handled smoothly – and […]
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