China Direct

Digital Insights - ASEAN - Accelerating digital transformation in Asia

Dear CBI members and partners,

Please find a link to the article Accelerating digital transformation in Asia in the EAF.

Our thanks to Dr. Chen Lurong of ERIA for kindly sharing this.

EUCCC publishes European Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2022

On 20^th June, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, in partnership with Roland Berger, released its European Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2022 (BCS). The annual survey shows that while most European companies in China posted positive revenues and were profitable in 2021, doing business became more difficult for the majority.

As the rest of the world returns to a pre-pandemic level of normality, and China’s stringent COVID-19 policy exacerbates the challenges of doing business, many European Chamber members are questioning just how many eggs they are willing to keep in their China basket.

To download the Report and read more details please click below:

EUCCC 2022 Business Confidence Survey

Our thanks to the EUCCC team for sharing the Report and insights.

Order from chaos: US & China present duelling narratives at Shangri-La Summit

 

The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore provides the closest thing to an X-ray of the strategic situation in the Indo-Pacific. The convening brings together defense leaders, diplomats, strategic thinkers, journalists, and business leaders for examination of the most pressing challenges to regional security and prosperity. In the 2022 edition this past weekend, through two days of intensive discussions among nearly 600 delegates from 59 countries, including defense chiefs from the United States, China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, France, Fiji, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members states, a picture emerged of the strategic situation in Asia.

A consistent through-line of the dialogue was the cascading challenges confronting the region. Participants spoke of the dangers facing their peoples from energy and food insecurity, climate-induced crises, and the scourges of COVID-19. In this context, virtually every defence leader stressed the need to find ways to pull China into global and regional efforts to address these systemic challenges.

To read the full summary please click here.

Our sincere thanks to the Brookings Institute for sharing this insight.

 

 

 

Dates for Diaries: Global China: US-China relations through the lens of great power competition: 23 June 22 1430 (DC)

 

 

The Beijing-Moscow Joint Declaration of February 4 declared their relationship knows “no boundaries.” 20 days later, Russia brutally expanded its ongoing war against Ukraine. This sequence of events has sharpened the focus on the conduct and goals that animate the China-Russia relationship. It also has raised questions about how China will respond to Russia’s invasion, and how China’s orientation to the war will impact its relations with the United States, the European Union, and others. Ultimately, what international order will arise from this crisis?

On June 23, the Foreign Policy program at Brookings will host a webinar with Senator Mark Warner to pursue answers to these and other questions. Brookings Vice President of Foreign Policy Suzanne Maloney will kick off the conversation and engage Senator Warner in a moderated discussion before Brookings scholars Ryan Hass, Angela Stent, Jim Goldgeier, and Constanze Stelzenmueller examine China’s ambitions, their implications for the existing international order, and how the U.S. should navigate its relationship with China.

Viewers may submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using the hashtag #GlobalChina.

To register free for this event please click here

Our sincere thanks to The Brookings Institute for kindly sharing this event information.

China updates its national strategy for climate adaptation

For reports, interviews and insights into a country shaping the world please review China Dialogue directly here.

Download News digest China Dialogue 13-20 June 2022

With grateful thanks to the team at China Dialogue for so very kindly sharing this content.

China's economy continues to stutter post-lockdown - Macro Polo Insight

While the Covid-19 situation is looking up in Shanghai, the Chinese economy’s outlook is just the opposite. At this point, we are revising down China’s second-quarter growth to roughly 0%, with full-year growth of around 4%.

This downward revision is predicated on factors that were not present during the 2020 lockdown, making that period less apt of an analogy than we previously assumed. Because this time is different, the normalization of economic activity in Shanghai will not lead to the same V-shaped recovery in 2020.

The main differences are 1) stimulus has been much weaker in this round than in 2020; 2) this lockdown hit during what was already an economic down cycle as illustrated by consumer sentiment.

To read this article please visit the Macro Polo site here.

Our thanks to Song Houze of Macro Polo for kindly sharing his insights.

 

Advocacy Success: Easing of International Travel Restrictions to China - EUCCC

Quarantine times for international inbound travellers in multiple Chinese cities have been shortened. Beijing (from 15th May), Jiangsu (from early June, on a trial basis) and Wuhan have reduced centralised quarantine time to seven days if the entry airport and final destination are the same and travellers have conditions to do home quarantine for an additional seven days. By end of May 2022, Chinese embassies in many European countries had simplified their Health Declaration Certificate (HDC) code application requirements. Please click here for detailed information and to download a flowchart. On 6th June, The European Chamber was informed during a meeting with Shanghai Vice Mayor Zong Ming that the requirement for PU letters would be rescinded for foreign nationals returning for work and their dependents, an initiative from the central government to promote company operations. Official announcements confirming this policy shift were subsequently published from 10th to 14th June on the websites of Chinese embassies in some European countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania and Switzerland. The European Chamber is pleased to see positive steps being taken to reduce international travel restrictions after having continuously advocated for this at both central and local government levels since the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago. The Chamber recently had separate meetings with Premier Li Keqiang and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, during which this topic was raised. The Chamber’s local chapters have also maintained regular communication with local foreign affairs offices, commissions or departments of commerce, and local offices of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, among others, to advocate for the relaxation of travel restrictions and assist their members to return to China.

Broadening the Quad’s appeal in the Indo-Pacific

Broadening the Quad’s appeal in the Indo-Pacific

15 June 2022

Authors: William Choong and Sharon Seah, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

The wilderness years of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), after its initial inception during the 2004 Asian tsunami, are over. The latest summit in Tokyo reaffirmed its mission as a ‘force for good’ while promising a broad array of Indo-Pacific cyber security, maritime awareness, pandemic recovery, space, climate change and infrastructure initiatives.

At the recent IISS Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasised the importance of the Quad in promoting a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ and the need to cooperate with ASEAN to achieve these goals. But the group will need to consider the region’s needs to get support for its vision.

Meeting for their fourth leaders’ summit in just over a year, the Quad appears to have finally turned a corner with more coherent and cohesive language directed at upholding the so-called rules-based order. Compared with previous joint statements, the May 2022 Tokyo summit was replete with China-directed ‘code’ — the settlement of disputes without the threat of use of force, no ‘unilateral attempt to change the status quo’ and a regional order free from all forms of coercion. Quad members also advocated the ‘Free and Open’ Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy.

To read the full article please click here.

Our sincere thanks to the East Asian Forum for providing this article.

Dates for Diaries: new frameworks - RCEP'S key role in driving Asia's digital economy 22.06.22

Asia House, in partnership with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), is convening senior business and policy figures to explore the digital trade aspects of RCEP, and how they could drive Asia-Pacific's digital economy. 

Digital trade has been a key driver of Asia's economic recovery from the pandemic and could be boosted further by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) - the world's largest free trade agreement, which came into force in January this year. 

Bringing together 15 signatories across Asia-Pacific, RCEP includes enhanced provisions in areas such as cross-border data flows, online customer protection, and several aspects of digital trade. It has the potential to consolidate and deepen the digital trade environment for businesses and SMEs throughout Asia.  

Event Details:

Date: 22.06.22

Time: 1600-1700 (Singapore) 0900-1000 (UK)

To register please click here.

Our thanks to Asia House, the EU-ASEAN Business Council, British Chamber of Commerce Indonesia and CKGSB for kindly sharing this information.

 

This digital event will launch CKGSB's new report: 'RCEP: Can Multilateralism Lead to Economic Growth in Asia Pacific?'.

China Dialogue - China's no overseas coal pledge - 15 cancelled but grey areas remain

New analysis sheds light on the impact of China’s pledge to not build new coal power plants overseas, and offers suggestions for how it could be strengthened.

China's no overseas coal pledge

For more reports, interviews and insights into a country shaping the world please review China Dialogue directly here.

With grateful thanks to the team at China Dialogue for so very kindly sharing this content.