CiCM 19 January 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Chinese Vice Premier held talks with the US delegation of the China-US Financial Working Group: He Lifeng, Vice Premier of State Council and the Chinese leader for China-US economic and trade affairs, met the US delegation of the China-U.S. financial working group personally in Beijing on 19^th January. During the meeting, Chinese side expressed readiness to work with the United States and execute the consensus reached by the two Presidents in San Francisco to promote a stable and healthy development of bilateral relations between the two countries. Mr. Lifeng called on both parties to properly utilize the mechanism to gather results and enhance cooperation in the financial field with greater momentum. The China-US Financial Working Group is essentially an exchange mechanism between the two states established following the meeting of the two Presidents in Bali. The current visit by the US delegation to China is the third meeting of the working group and it ended with “both sides agreeing to continue to meet regularly”. Dominic Chiu from a New York based consultancy called Eurasia Group stated that the meeting shows good efforts from both sides to keep communication channels open following the Biden-Xi summit despite the presence of differences between the two countries on various topics.

The Supreme People’s Court clarifies on issues around ‘bride prices’: The Supreme People’s Court on 18^th January issued a document that clarified the scope of ‘bride price’ or betrothal gifts and mentioned the circumstances under which they should be returned. It further prohibited such ways of securing money or other material possessions in the name of gifts. This decision will be effective from 1^st February after which experts say that such bride prices that place big financial burden on families can be curbed to an extent. Bride prices, essentially betrothal gifts, is a traditional marriage custom in China where the groom’s family offers either money or a valued possession to the bride’s family as a symbol of respect and expressing good wishes for the newlyweds. However, this tradition in China has gone to its extremes in recent years where some grooms and families were even bankrupted or burdened with debts due to demands of high-cost bride prices, said a lawyer from the Beijing Jingsh Law Firm. There have several cases of divorce lawsuits where couple have fought over whether the large sum should be returned or not. Bride prices could be as high as 300,000 yuan in the more developed eastern provines of China and around 200,000 yuan in the less developed western region. This sum could amount to 5-7 years of income for a city-dweller and even 10 years of earnings for someone from the rural areas.

Asia’s largest lithium ore source known found in China: China recently discovered Asia’s largest known pegmatite monomer lithium ore source in Yajiang county, Sichuan province which nearly amounts to one million tons. The Minister of Natural Resources, Wang Guanghua, stated that this discovery has achieved an important breakthrough in discovering lithium in China. This detailed investigation and exploration work on the lithium mine lasted five years and the scale is reportedly super large. This discovery is extremely significant when China’s growing export products are electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar batteries. The total exports of these three products from China exceeded one trillion yuan for the first time in 2023 as per the data from the General Administration of Customs. China has over 1,500 salt lakes across the country which present great opportunities for future lithium mining operations.

China leads global manufacturing sector for the 14^th consecutive year: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) revealed that China continues as the world’s leading manufacturing hub for the 14^th consecutive year. China’s large manufacturing enterprises, which are businesses with an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan, saw their combined value-added output increasing 5 per cent year-on-year in 2023. The vice minister of the MIIT, Xin Guobin said that the total value-added industrial output increased to 4.6 per cent year-on-year in 2023 which is one percentage point higher than the 2022 data. Xin said that China focused on its advantageous industries and increased production of new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products in 2023. He also said that the annual revenue of the telecommunications industry increased by 6.2 percent and the software industry increased both in volume and efficiency. He also mentioned that the internet industry in China has recovered steadily and its total scale of computing power has become second in the world.

Shenzhou 16 astronauts appear in public 80 days after returning from space: The China Astronaut Research and Training Centre organized a meeting between the three Shenzhou 16 astronauts and reporters on 19^th January in Beijing Space City. This was the first official public appearance of the three astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao, 80 days after returning from space. The three astronauts flew into space on the Shenzhou 16 aircraft on 30^th May, 2023 and landed at the Dongfeng Landing Field on 31^st October. During their 154-day stay in orbit, the astronauts conducted the 4^th space teaching activity of the China Space Station and completed multiple space station cargo exodus missions to further allow the normal execution of space station missions. They also performed several experiments and made significant progress in the fields of space life science, microgravity physics and new space technologies as they carried the manned space expedition from construction to application. It was revealed during the meeting that the recovery period of the crew is segregated into the isolation recovery stage, the recuperation recovery stage, and the recovery observation stage. The crew has completed the first two stages so far.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Promotional videos on Douyin by local tourism authorities attract young students: China’s local culture and tourism authorities have been posting promotional videos on Douyin, a short video platform. These have attracted a lot of viewers online, particularly young students who say that they watch these videos as they provide them with information to make their travel plans. A postgraduate student at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Xu Bo, said that these videos allowed her to better understand about regions she is not familiar with. She mentioned that she particularly enjoys watching videos of Harbin in Heilongjiang province which is her hometown. Xu added that authorities in Harbin have tried many ways from rolling out carpets on Central Street to installing an artificial moon over Saint Sophia Cathedral to attract tourists. Feng Weiyi, a student from Changsha in Hunan Province lauded the videos saying that they provide appealing content for young people and target a huge follower base on short-video platforms. She said that this method is cost-effective when compared to spending huge amounts of money on advertising. Ao Simin from Central South University in Changsha said that she most enjoys watching videos put up by Jiaozhou culture and tourism authorities in Shandong province as they are both entertaining and informative at the same time. She expressed that she wanted to visit Jiaozhou after watching the videos which talked about the local food culture and traditions there.

INDIA WATCH

With China’s recent discovery of Asia’s largest Lithium ore source, India on the same day, 19^th January, revealed that the state-owned Coal India (CIL) company will be engaging in mining of critical minerals with a focus on lithium. The company’s Technical Director B. Veera Reddy said that the CIL shall obtain a mining block from the Government of India for lithium exploration purposes and once confirmed, will engage in full-scale mining operations. Lithium is considered extremely important for India’s energy security strategy as it aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. Last year alone, 20 blocks of critical minerals valued at Rs 45,000 crore were launched for auction by Indian Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi where two blocks were specifically designated for lithium exploration and extraction. This was done as a part of India’s increasing efforts to secure a sustainable and diverse supply of critical minerals to support its green and renewable energy initiatives. With the demand for lithium continuing to rise, CIL’s potential mining exploration is expected to contribute crucially to India’s self-reliance in this sector. During 2023, India discovered lithium reserves in Jammu & Kashmir. Rajasthan, Karnataka and Jharkhand. Earlier, India was heavily import-dependent on minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt from countries like China. China, which had less than 7 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves until last week, is the world’s largest importer, refiner and consumer of lithium. China also supplies 70 per cent of lithium production in the world largely to domestic lithium battery makers out of which six are among the top ten in the world. In recent times, India has been seriously looking to strengthen its own supply of key minerals, especially lithium.

Prepared By

Adhithi Senthilkumar

Adhithi Senthilkumar is an undergraduate student pursuing a major in International Studies and a minor in Public Policy at FLAME University, Pune. She is fascinated by the complex dynamics of international relations and the substantial impact that policies can have on communities around the globe. Her passion for studying history, societies and contemporary global and domestic politics has been a driving force in her academic journey. She has participated in internships, attended conferences and engaged in volunteer work related to public policy gaining valuable insights into real-world application of policies. She aspires to apply her knowledge and skills to contribute to addressing pressing global issues and collaborate with like-minded individuals to make a positive difference through policymaking.