Chinese Economics Thread

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Continued...

Domestic travel boost

Chinese authorities -- including the Chinese CDC and foreign ministry -- have urged Chinese citizens to avoid unnecessary overseas travel, citing the still-raging pandemic across the world.

The Golden Week holiday -- the longest in China along with the Lunar New Year holiday -- has traditionally seen middle-class Chinese travel abroad in large numbers. Last year, more than
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were made during the holiday, with Japan and Thailand among the top destinations, government data showed.

But this year, overseas trips will be practically impossible to make, given the various visa restrictions and quarantine requirements imposed around the world, as well as a lack of international flights. Upon their return to China, travelers must also face two weeks of strict quarantine -- with at least half of the time required to be spent in government-appointed hotels.
The only exception is Macau, which waived quarantine requirements in July for mainland travelers who obtained a negative test result for coronavirus within seven days. Last week, mainland China fully resumed tourist visas for the semi-autonomous region, just in time for the National Day holiday.

As Chinese holidaymakers turn to domestic destinations, local governments are competing to attract tourists.
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, more than 20 provincial and municipal governments have issued travel vouchers, while some 1,500 tourist spots across China have offered free or discounted tickets.

China's railway operator, China State Railway Group, expected a total of
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from September 28 to October 8. To cope with the increased Mid-Autumn Festival demand, an additional 1,200 trains have been added to service, but some tickets along popular routes have been snapped up anyway.

Some flights have also sold out. Qunar, a Chinese online travel booking site,
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more than 15 million domestic flight tickets would be sold for Golden Week, a 10% increase from 2019, partly due to a drop in the price of airfares.

And on Chinese highways, massive traffic jams are expected again this year. An average of
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per day are expected during the eight-day holiday, a 1% to 3% increase from last year, according to the Transport Ministry.

Wuhan, the original epicenter of the outbreak, has become a popular destination for Chinese tourists since its lockdown was lifted in April. Last month, Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital,
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that nearly 400 of its tourist attractions would be open for tourists for free until the end of the year. On a booking platform set up by the province since the announcement, more than 3.74 million tickets for tourist sites in Wuhan were booked in just over a month, according to the state-run
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.

The
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, a famous landmark of Wuhan, topped the list of the most sought-after attractions for Golden Week, according to Ctrip.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Europe will start limiting Chinese companies’ access to the single market if China does not agree to a major opening up by the end of this year.

The European Union on Friday formally agreed to restrict “high-risk” vendors from building next-generation 5G mobile technology, a move that brings the bloc closer to the US, which has been lobbying its allies to exclude Huawei.

The EU has toughened its stance on China in recent months as the coronavirus outbreak, the situation in Hong Kong, and the continuing stalemate over a proposed investment agreement that would give European businesses greater access to China have all weighed on relations.

“If there is no market access from the Chinese side for certain areas, this will of course also be reflected in the fact that market access to the European market will be narrower,” Merkel said in a press conference in Brussels after a two-day special EU summit.

“We naturally expect reciprocity for the investment agreement with China,” Merkel said. “We find that the barriers to entry with regard to China are still too high. This will now be discussed further.”

...

Should China respond robustly, seek to make concessions or just wait to see if its an empty threat?
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
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Should China respond robustly, seek to make concessions or just wait to see if its an empty threat?

But then it could also be asked why is Germany not opening her market up for China? Why ban Huawei despite no evidence to prove security risks? So far it's just the potential threat of possible future security risk if Huawei is embedded in future telecom infrastructure.

If Germany is going to create barriers for whatever Chinese enterprise, then it's unreasonable to expect China to continue acting in good faith. Looks like China's support of the western world back in 2008 was truly a thankless effort. All those empty cities and bridges to nowhere ;) lol
 

emblem21

Major
Registered Member
But then it could also be asked why is Germany not opening her market up for China? Why ban Huawei despite no evidence to prove security risks? So far it's just the potential threat of possible future security risk if Huawei is embedded in future telecom infrastructure.

If Germany is going to create barriers for whatever Chinese enterprise, then it's unreasonable to expect China to continue acting in good faith. Looks like China's support of the western world back in 2008 was truly a thankless effort. All those empty cities and bridges to nowhere ;) lol
They may have to be careful with there actions though since the current situation is such that Europe needs Russia and China to avoid an economic collapse give that Europe is about to go into a second wave along with the USA also going into collapse mode from all there issues. All these European countries should know that China is a far more reliable partner then the USA so really we would have to see how the elections in the USA goes.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
But then it could also be asked why is Germany not opening her market up for China?

Germany cannot unilaterally open up its market to China - that decision is taken at the supranational (EU) level. The article suggests that the EU is frustrated that talks are progressing slowly and that China isn't willing to make concessions to get the sort of access to EU markets that it (Beijing) wants.

Whether or not you think China can demand what it wants, the EU will have its own red lines. All parties to trade negotiations will seek to get the best deal for them.

Why ban Huawei despite no evidence to prove security risks?

I don't think there has been an explicit ban on Huawei, rather the are restrictions on high risk companies. Whether Huawei falls into that category is a different discussion.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Germany cannot unilaterally open up its market to China - that decision is taken at the supranational (EU) level. The article suggests that the EU is frustrated that talks are progressing slowly and that China isn't willing to make concessions to get the sort of access to EU markets that it (Beijing) wants.

Whether or not you think China can demand what it wants, the EU will have its own red lines. All parties to trade negotiations will seek to get the best deal for them.

Well fair enough, it works both ways. From what I've seen and this comes back to the trade war with the US as well, China's always happy with the natural equilibrium. It's never the first complainer or the one to initiate disruptions and changes. China just works with what things are like but will react to disruptions and attempts to change those previous equilibrium. Now I should probably emphasise that when I say "happy with" I don't mean your typical internet troll or nationalist. But when the west wants to shift things up so much so that there is some sort of Chinese reaction as well, the west cannot also demand what it wants out of China either.

All of it is like the west wanting China to be exactly as they demand it to be and it is extremely unhappy when China doesn't comply. Then it goes on a massive whinge and declares trade wars decoupling and whatnot and is further surprised (sometimes) when China starts to also rock the boat. Anyway it's just a two way street and it pays for all to be more mindful of their own side's behaviour as well.

Natural equilibrium on trade issues will always be reached and it is the only end result however unfavourable it may be to one or all parties. For example is Germany is unhappy with that then boo hoo go ahead and do what is in its liberty to do. China isn't stopping it even if they make a political fuss about it (btw something the west does on an hourly basis - making a fuss over everything). China itself would have every right to act as it sees fit and if that creates some sort of reaction on the other side, we'll just see where all this ends up. There is one certainty here I am sure of, China has an upper hand in every aspect except for kinetic war. The net balance is eventually going to heavily favour China and anyone who believes otherwise can just wait and see although I doubt it'll ever get to that stage without the west either capitulating eventually or going to kinetic war which is something they are no longer capable of really tolerating against peer or even near peer adversaries. The US would attack China the very moment it has confidence in some revolutionary military advancements that improve its lead on China by some margin.

Westerners honestly thought the trade war would be an easy and quick win. The US has long lost the original trade war and their entire hypothesis fell apart and the opposite of what they believed was proven true. They've since escalated it to attempts at suffocating China through other means but their lead in semi-conductors isn't all that impressive in the grand scheme of things. These same people are going to be very wrong on where this cycle ends up and who will truly have the upper hand in reality and not in Google news reports written by liberal arts muppets who can barely spell.

I don't think there has been an explicit ban on Huawei, rather the are restrictions on high risk companies. Whether Huawei falls into that category is a different discussion.

Sure Germany and China have relatively stable and cordial diplomatic and trade relations with the main obstacle being the recent Huawei issue. Any business targeted intentionally can be set up as justified through many things. If not for potential security risks, then it's owned by the CCP accusations can fly etc and so on and it can apply to any Chinese business. One could say Samsung has ties to Korean military therefore being a nation dedicated to peaceful reunification, Samsung should be banned and restricted too. Or Toshiba supplied Soviets with technology therefore ban it. One could find a myriad of reasons for literally any business. It's just a matter of how ridiculous it can get. When it comes to China, the US is basically down to a level where it's about as ridiculous as the excuse "I just don't like the way they look"... which could have some truth to it haha being a racially motivated... you get the point.

I don't see why Chinese trade barriers for Germany product should remain as low as previous levels. If they want to totally decouple (won't happen), let's see German car manufacturers potentially lose a third of their income. Since western economies are desperate to slash China's income, why shouldn't China even react. China's been pretty damn tame actually. They haven't even brought out any real disruptions because the CCP recognises that disruptions won't be great for China either. Trump and his group and handlers seem to be the first and only ones so far who are all too happy to shoot at China through their own limbs.
 
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