CiCM 18th August 2023

NEWS IN CHINA

In a statement issued on August 17, China’s Central Bank conveyed that it will ensure steady growth of money supply through various monetary policy tools. The People’s Bank of China reaffirmed its goal of sustaining money supply and keeping social financing in line with nominal growth. Policy in the second quarter will attempt to keep liquidity in the banking system and ensure money market interest rates remain stable. Concerning China’s disinflationary pressures, the bank is of the view that there is no deflation in China’s economy and money supply is growing relatively fast. The Central Bank intends to increase macro control efforts, strengthen counter cyclical adjustments and better leverage the dual functions of monetary policy tools to firmly support the development of the real economy. On the exchange rate front, it will adjust the supply and demand of the foreign market while correcting the pro cyclical and unilateral behaviour of the market. In another development according to the “Party and State Institutional Reform Plan” the central sub regional branches of the Central Bank were abolished and in turn provincial level branches were established in 31 provinces.
China is hosting the World Robot Conference from 16 to 22 August in the city of Beijing. The event will feature almost 600 exhibits from over 140 domestic and international companies. China’s ministry of Industry and Information Technology commented on August 17 that China is willing to work with the international community to accelerate the application of robotics in a wider range of fields, create an open and inclusive development environment and encourage foreign robot companies to invest and grow their businesses in China. Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology also highlighted the need for more efforts to expand international cooperation in robotics and establish regulation to better develop the emerging technology. China’s robotics industry generates revenue of 170 billion yuan and according to the Ministry, China’s output of industrial robots reached 222,000 units which is 5.4 percent higher than the last year and output of the service robots jumped 9.62 % to 3.53 million units between January to June.
The latest regulation announced by Chinese authorities have made it mandatory for all App providers to submit their business details to the government. This regulation has raised concern among the Chinese software community as it may stifle local innovation and hinder access to advances created overseas. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) sent out a notice that failure to register will be penalised. As per the MIIT, the new regulations have the objective to clamp down on rampant scams online and the filing process will put control on providers from doing quick launch and rapid iteration. This development is unlikely to affect the large players but there has been a public outcry by independent developers on site X.com. Two developers even launched a complaint to the State Council as this movie is likely to impede the development of the private sector. As per the December guidelines, the Cyberspace Administration of China will clamp down on disorder in every part of the Internet. Similarly last July, the MIIT stopped publishing data metrics of domestic apps which is crucial for outside analysts to assess the health of the industry.
The Chinese shadow banking giant Zhongzhi Enterprise Group whose liquidity crisis has fanned fears about financial contagion has hired KPMG to audit its balance sheets. The Enterprise, which manages more than 1 trillion yuan of assets, plans to restructure debt and sell assets after the review to repay investors. Investors started protesting outside the Beijing office of the Enterprise after the firm skipped payments on dozens of investment products. There are speculations that the issue is deeper than previously known, as fall out from the real estate slump is spreading to the financial sector and Evergrande is one of the groups backed by the Zhongzhi enterprise. The Chinese authorities have already set up a task force to analyse any possible repercussions of the contagion as Zhongzhi is one of the country’s largest private wealth managers with a US$ 2.9 trillion trust industry.
On August 18, China’s Manned Space Agency disclosed that China is currently developing a large scale space survey telescope that is anticipated to deliver remarkable scientific results, once its placed alongside the country’s space station. According to Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the agency, the Chinese Space Station Telescope or Xuntian Space Telescope is expected to make significant breakthroughs in areas of cosmology, dark matter and dark energy, neighbouring galaxies, star formation and exoplanets. The telescope will be capable of taking deep field surveys with an area of 17,500 square degrees and fine observation of celestial bodies with its high resolution. The telescope has the spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope but it functions with a 300 times larger field view. Additionally, it will stay in the same orbit as the space station and will dock with the space station for supply, maintenance and upgrading.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Angry teacher’s video rant goes viral: In a viral video a famous mathematics teacher in China is seen fuming over fans of the band TFBoys flocking to a concert in Xian.The crowds were triggered by a concert organised by China’s top boy band TFBoys. The maths teacher reacted to thousands of students flocking to the event, crowding and blocking public spaces. Almost 6.5 million people were waiting for 30,000 seats at the Xian Concert. The chaos did not go down well with teacher Tang Jiafeng, who took to social media platform Weibo on August 10 to vent his anger. He rants about what these fans are crazy about, calling it “brainless star chasing. He critiques them if they are good at collecting faeces? The sentence was deleted after the backlash from social media. Social media was divided into two factions over Tang’s rant. His post has received 5,50,000 likes and 80,000 comments on Weibo. Fans responded to him, saying that he doesn’t understand young people or the acting and singing of the band. On the other hand, some users cautioned him against online hate he was bound to receive as the fans of the band are a “horrible cult of followers”.

INDIA WATCH

China has been the largest industrial robot market for nine consecutive years since 2013 with the fastest growing market. However, China still lags in comparison to other East Asian countries when measured by the number of robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers, which is 322 robots per ten thousand people in 2021, overtaking the US and placing China in fifth place. To make further strides, China has unveiled the five year development plan for the robotics industry in the 14th five year plan. Sophisticated robots can also be used for military purposes. Recently, China deployed machine gun wielding robots on the India China borders along Tibet where soldiers struggle because of harsh winters. As China enters in a new age of robotics, the threat to India will become more grave if not defended properly.

India’s Robotics Industry has been clocking impressive numbers in the last decade but there is a huge gap between India and China. According to the CEO of Cybernetik Technologies, Mahesh Wagle India is almost 5 years behind China in automation but India is pacing fast to cover this gap. India lacks a hardware ecosystem, financial incentives, critical human resources and a willingness to deploy robots. If policymakers and industry bodies can develop more talent with niche skills while improving exposure to better technology in a more nurturing environment, India can possibly innovate for the world.

Prepared By

Rahul Kheswa

Rahul Kheswa has recently completed his MA in East Asian Studies with a specialisation in China from the University of Delhi. For his BA, he majored in History and Political Science. During his MA, he learnt elementary Mandarin Chinese through elective course. Rahul’s research interest lies in Chinese society and continental philosophy.