CiCm 25th July 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

China Introduces Targeted Policies To Balance Ageing Population, offers Childcare Incentives: Among the reforms adopted during the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, those aimed at improving population development have garnered the public’s attention. The National Bureau of Statistics released data that the number of people aged 60 and above made up 21.1% of the total population, and those aged 65 and above made up 15.4% by the end of 2023. At the same time, the fertility rate was low with 1.3 live births per woman in 2020. The reforms propose rectifying policies and introducing incentive mechanisms to bolster the birth rate and create an environment that encourages childbirth. These policies and mechanisms include reducing the cost of childbirth, parenting, education, improving parental leave, introducing childbirth subsidies, upgrading public services of childbirth and pediatric care, and reducing personal income tax for childcare. The government will support public childcare services, employer-run nurseries, community childcare services, and home-based childcare facilities. Support will be provided across rural, urban and other regions. In the last decade, China has been making multiple efforts by implementing policies that encourage declining birth rates like the two-child policy in 2016, and the three-child policy in 2021. The government provides further support by giving maternity allowances and increasing paternal leaves.
China And Laos Hold Talks To Increase Economic And Political Partnership: On Thursday, 25th July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith held talks to promote cooperation and political exchanges. Wang acknowledged Laos' continuous support for China in issues regarding China’s core interests and concerns. He pledged China’s support for Laos, the most reliable partner in Southeast Asia. They discussed deepening economic and political interactions between the countries, the China-Laos Railway being the most significant development. The Lao President regarded the significance of the railway in promoting the economic and social development of the Lao people. Both countries pledged to tackle the challenge of cross-border crimes to nurture a friendly environment for economic and trade relations between the countries. Laos invited Chinese companies to invest and to facilitate internal development, increase regional interconnectivity and stabilize the supply chain. Wang stated that the friendship between China and Laos stands on a strong political base and the public support and consensus. Furthermore, Wang offered Laos governance support to introduce China’s modernisation initiatives adopted during the third plenary session. The Laos-China talks deepened their partnership and encouraged powerful bilateral collaboration.
Chinese Warship To Participate In Russia’s Naval Celebrations: People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent a warship to St. Petersburg, Russia to partake in Russia’s Navy Day celebrations. The warship, Jiaozou, is a Type 052D guided missile destroyer and is a part of China’s 46th escort task group. The ship was greeted with a Russian military celebration with Russian military representatives and locals present at the dock. On Thursday, 25th July, the warship participated in rehearsals for the parade that will take place on Sunday, 28th July. China and Russia have previously collaborated for navy parades. In 2019, China sent Xi’an, the PLA Navy’s Type 052C guided missile destroyer. This time, China has sent a more robust and advanced warship. This upgrade underscores the growing military partnership and cooperation between Russia and China. China’s participation in Russia’s Navy celebrations prompted Western news media sources to refer to the Chinese warships’ transit to Russia as a threat to NATO’s sea borders. China and Russia have a long-standing military cooperation, and together they aim to promote peace and stability.
China’s Overseas Investment Shows Strong Growth In First Half Of 2024: Official data released on Thursday, 25th July, revealed that China saw a gradual increase in overseas investment in the first half of 2024. The Ministry of Commerce stated that non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) grew by 16.6% annually, reaching $72.62 billion in H1 2024. The growth rate surpassed the 12.5% increase recoeded in the first quarter of the year. China’s Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) cooperation further bolstered China’s ODI. It led to an increase of 9.2% annually reaching $15.46 billion. Overseas projects garnered $72.25 billion, indicating a 2.2% increase, and future contracts further catapulted the growth by 22% to $115.5 billion. To streamline procedures for relevant businesses and enable Chinese foreign investments, the ministry released a regulation for overseas projects on July 1, 2024.
National Development and Reform Commission And Ministry Of Finance Release Plan To Grow Consumer Market In H2 Through Trade-Ins: On Thursday, 25th July, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance jointly released a document enlisting 16 points to fuel the consumer market in the second half of the year. The 16 points list how to implement the plan for equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods. Relevant departments are expected to collect funds to meet an allocation of 300 billion yuan ($41.58 million) by the end of August 2024. The fund will be raised through ultralong treasury bonds and will support the campaign. The campaign includes measures to support equipment renewal by providing financial support. These measures include providing subsidies for the scrapping of operating ships and vehicles, agricultural machinery, new-energy buses and battery renewal. Trade-in of home appliances has also been encouraged by offering subsidies of 15% to 20% of the cost price. Subsidies for vehicle trade-ins will be 15,000 to 20,000 yuan. China’s State Council on March 13 2024 introduced the plan to widely encourage equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods to replace old products with highly durable consumer goods and to replenish the chain of resources to improve and smoothen economic circulation. Since then, investments and funding to enable the green transition and a smoother recycling process have been in progress. This campaign is hoped to revitalize the consumer market.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Chinese Social Media Platform, Douyin, Helps Revive Intangible Culture Heritages: Recently, Douyin, a Chinese short video platform, collaborated with eight state-owned rare opera troupes in a five-day event to host live streams to promote these intangible culture heritages (ICHs). The event featured 70 performances of rare opera genres like Wanbang Opera, Han Dio Guangguang and Yao Opera. These online live streams have garnered over 64.2 million views and have created increased interest in these niche or rare art forms. Nearly 50 state-owned troupes have opened social media accounts on Douyin to promote their performances. 871 performances in total have been held by the troupes. These performances have helped promote ICHs. Data reveals that 53,000 ICH-related performances have been hosted every day on Douyin, amassing an average of 3,534 viewers. According to Douyin, nearly 10,000 performers saw income growth because of the tips from online viewers. The social media presence of these troupes has helped revive nearly extinct art forms, thus ensuring the survival of the rare opera. Douyin played a key role in revitalizing these ICHs.

INDIA WATCH

Chinese Foreign Minister and India’s External Affairs Minister Meet Encourages Cooperation And Development: An article in Xinhua stated that Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, met on Thursday in Vientiane to encourage greater cooperation for mutual benefit and reach a solution for their differences. According to the author of the piece, Wang emphasized that cooperation between two largest developing economies is important, and that the political knowledge both countries possess should be directed at enhancing unity and cooperation in the global south and at addressing international challenges. The piece further quoted Jaishankar saying that it is in the interest of both sides to stabilize bilateral relations in a manner beneficial to both countries to promote regional peace and establish multipolarity. He underscored the importance of settling border differences using a historical lens. Both countries said their diplomatic interactions through organizations like East Asia Cooperation Platform, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Group of Twenty, and BRICS will further promote multiculturalism and protect the interest of developing countries.

Prepared By

Sanjana Shah

Sanjana Shah is a graduate in International Studies with a minor in Journalism from FLAME University, Pune. Her interests lie in exploring the nuances and intricacies of geopolitics and understanding the complexities that arise from the socio-political-economic nexus. She is deeply interested in history, defence and security studies, and humanitarian studies.