Latest news with #LiQiang
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Singapore leader's visit gives China chance to pitch itself as reliable partner for Asean
Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will visit China next week, on a trip that is expected to give Beijing a chance to promote itself as a reliable partner for Southeast Asian countries and defender of multilateralism. China will also be keen to reassure Singapore that the Chinese economy is 'back on track' as it gears up for a trade war with the United States, analysts said. It will be Wong's first trip to China since becoming prime minister in May 2024. The visit follows his People's Action Party's decisive win in the country's general election last month. On Friday the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed the visit would start on Sunday and run until Thursday. It added that Wong was visiting at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang 'China looks forward to using this visit to further enhance strategic communication with Singapore, deepen exchanges and cooperation across various fields, jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade and to advance bilateral relations to greater heights,' foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said trade and economic cooperation were expected to dominate the agenda.
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Premier urges China's Jiangsu to step up efforts in technology, trade and consumption
As Beijing looks to shore up China's economic growth amid mounting challenges, Premier Li Qiang has called on Jiangsu province, a key manufacturing hub on the country's east coast, to step up its efforts in technology, trade and consumption. Advertisement During a three-day visit to the province from Monday, Li emphasised the importance of embracing innovative development, stimulating effective demand, fostering entrepreneurship, and deepening reform and opening up to support China's sustained economic growth. 'Jiangsu has a solid economic foundation and strong capabilities, but it also faces higher development expectations,' Li said, calling on the province's officials and residents to stay focused on economic growth and shoulder greater responsibility in meeting the challenges facing the broader economy, Xinhua reported on Wednesday. In the first quarter of this year, Jiangsu's gross domestic product rose 5.9 per cent year on year to 3.31 trillion yuan (US$460.5 billion), closely trailing top-ranked Guangdong's 3.35 trillion yuan, which was up 4.1 per cent. One of China's most advanced manufacturing provinces, Jiangsu has been tasked by Beijing with playing a leading role in stabilising growth amid sluggish domestic demand and growing external pressure from increased US tariffs. Advertisement At a factory that makes machinery, Li highlighted the need to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence and clean energy technologies to upgrade traditional industries and keep pace with global manufacturing trends.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China's property market recovery stalls as falling prices hit sentiment
Just days after Premier Li Qiang called for 'greater efforts' to halt a decline in China's housing market, fresh data on Monday laid out
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia to attend China supply-chain expo in July for first time, CCTV reports
By Che Pan and Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -U.S. chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) will attend a major supply-chain expo in July in Beijing for the first time, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. The third edition of the China International Supply Chain Expo will be held from July 16 to 20 and will welcome more than 230 new Chinese and foreign participants, CCTV reported. Nvidia is the market leader for artificial intelligence-related chips. The company is having to defend its decreasing share of the Chinese market while complying with increasingly strict U.S. export controls aimed at curbing China's access to the types of advanced chips the firm manufactures. The expo is not known to deliver big deals. However, it provides an opportunity for foreign participants to demonstrate commitment to the Chinese market. Premier Li Qiang spoke at the expo's opening edition in 2023, highlighting the reliability of Chinese supply chains at a time when some Western countries were calling to reduce dependence on China. Trade disputes with the U.S. in particular have since intensified. Even so, U.S. firms will represent the largest contingent of foreign businesses at this year's expo, with an increase of 15% compared to last year, CCTV reported.
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
New Zealand PM to discuss trade, tourism, security in first visit to China
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he expects his Beijing visit to also broach security and defence topics. (EPA Images pic) BEIJING : New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will visit China from today, looking to foster trade ties and woo tourists and students, although thorny issues of security and defence will figure on his agenda in meetings with top leaders. Making his first visit to China since becoming prime minister in November 2023, Luxon will arrive in the financial hub of Shanghai before heading to Beijing for meetings on Friday with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, his office said. 'The challenging global outlook makes it vital that we are sharing perspectives and engaging China on issues that matter to New Zealand,' it said in a recent statement. The visit comes as Beijing's growing influence in the Pacific during the last few years has alarmed many Western nations whose traditionally stronger security foothold there is being challenged. 'There are a whole bunch of issues and challenges in the relationship,' said Jason Young, director of the New Zealand contemporary China research centre at Victoria University, while adding that both sides agree they have significant interests. New Zealand aired concerns in February, for instance, when the Cook Islands, within its constitutional ambit, signed pacts, such as one on co-operation on the economy, infrastructure and seabed mining, with China, without consulting it first. 'The presence of a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy task force in the Tasman Sea and Chinese activity in the Pacific also pose challenges for the relationship,' Young added. Significant interests Trade and travel have proved less fractious areas for the two countries, however. The first developed nation to sign a free trade deal with Beijing in 2008, New Zealand counts dairy, meat and wood products as its largest items of export to China. Tourism and education are major services sectors. The Pacific country's exports to China in 2024 stood at NZ$20.85 billion (US$12.64 billion), made up of NZ$17.75 billion in goods and NZ$3.1 billion in services, the foreign ministry says on its website. Chinese tourists are the third-largest group of international visitors to New Zealand, though their numbers are still nearly a fifth lower than in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, official data shows. On the weekend, New Zealand said it would start in November a 12-month trial of visa waivers for Chinese passport holders arriving from Australia with visas valid for its neighbour, reciprocating China's visa-free policy for New Zealanders last year. Luxon, who has called China 'a vital part' of his Pacific nation's economic story, has told domestic media that based on the 'mature relationship' with Beijing, he expects conversations during his visit to also broach security and defence topics. The leaders of the two countries previously met on the sidelines of November's Apec summit in Peru, while Li visited New Zealand in June last year. Wellington has historically taken a more conciliatory approach towards China than Australia or its other partners in the Five Eyes security arrangement. However, in recent years it has beome more vocal on issues such as human rights, the international rules-based order and potential militarisation of the Pacific. In June 2023, then prime minister Chris Hipkins visited Beijing, prior to Luxon.
