CiCM July 12, 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

China’s Foreign Trade Reaches a New High in H1: According to recently released data, China’s foreign tradein the first half of the year has reached a new high of 21.17 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion). The data indicates a year-on-year rise of 6.1%, pointing to China’s upward growth and prosperity in their domestic economy. The General Administration of Customs (GAC) revealed that, on Friday, July 12, the country’s foreign trade surpassed 21 trillion yuan. A quarterly growth was also noticed as it grew by 2.5 percentage points to reach 7.4% in the second quarter. ASEAN countries are China’s largest trading partners, followed by the European Union countries, with the US and South Korea being the third and fourth largest respectively. The Belt and Road Initiative countries contributed to the growth as well. Electromechanical products made up nearly 60% of the country’s exports. The share of automatic data processing equipment and its components, auto exports, and integrated circuits exports continue to increase.
China Abstains UNGA Vote: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) congregated on Thursday to decide upon the resolution that requires Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia and give its control to Ukraine. China, along with India, Brazil and South Africa, chose to abstain from voting. Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative at the United Nations, stated that China supports a ceasefire and finding a political resolution to the conflict. He emphasized the importance of preventing growing tensions through dialogue and negotiations. He restated China’s oppositional stance on attacking nuclear-related facilities and encouraged all parties involved to ensure they stay within the scope of international humanitarian laws and scientific rationality. Fu criticized the resolution's inability to prioritize dialogue and building sustainable stability in Europe. He noted that China continues to support national sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in UN Charter in resolving Ukraine issue and clarified that China is not a stakeholder in the war.
China Responds to Reports of CNS Shandong Aircraft Near Philippines: Several media reports claimed that the recently released commercial satellite images revealed the CNS Shandong aircraft near the Philippines. This prompted analysts to propose that the deployment of an aircraft carrier for the first time was a deliberate move by China to pressurize the Philippines. On Friday 5th of July, the Defence Ministry clarified that the CNS Shandong aircraft carrier fleet’s deployment was part of an annual training schedule and was not a deliberate action to target any specific entity. The spokesperson, Zhang Xiaogang additionally stated that this fell within the gambit of international laws and said this would be a regular occurrence to train their carrier groups.
A Bumper Summer Harvest Graces China in 2024: The National Bureau of Statistics survey on Friday, 5th of July, revealed that China has witnessed another year of a bumper summer grain harvest. The total output is 149.78 million tonnes, with a year-on-year increase of 3.63 million tonnes or 2.5%. The summer yield was 5,628 kilograms per hectare, with a rise of 2.5% from last year. Standing highest at the provincial level, the Henan Province in central China earned a yield of around 37.86 million tonnes in 2024. This is noteworthy as it marks the success of China’s attempts to promote innovative development of agriculture and attain a bummer summer grain harvest in May. It is also taking efforts to implement cross-regional mechanized harvesting, prevent loss or damage from disasters and prepare for summer sowing. To ensure that farmers benefit from this, the government recommended maintaining minimum grain purchase prices.
China opposes Germany’s Removal of Chinese Telecom Components from 5G Networks: The German Federal Ministry of the Interior has decided to remove Chinese telecom components from 5G networks, and the Chinese Embassy in Germany has voiced its disappointment on this move. While the Ministry quoted security risks as the reason, the Chinese embassy called these accusations baseless and stated that companies like Huawei and ZTE have been cooperative with Germany’s laws and have positively impacted its digital growth. They stated that China has been welcoming European companies like Nokia and Ericsson in the arena of 5G, while this is an attempt to remove competition and establish technological hegemony because countries do not face any danger at the hands of Chinese companies. They called this move discriminatory and damaging to China’s relations with the European Union in related sectors. They also stated that China will take steps to protect their interests.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Men hailed as heroes by Netizens after keeping a pregnant woman afloat until the arrival of rescue workers: As heavy rainfall, floods and landslides have affected many areas of China, the Central Hunan Province was one of the most affected. Pinjiang County, on July 1^st, was hit with heavy floods submerging ground-level houses. Debris of household appliances and electronics were floating in the flood water. Three men submerged in shoulder-deep water used a bedsheet as a tether to keep themselves from floating away with the current of the floods and two of them were keeping a tired pregnant woman afloat. They used their torsos and legs to support her and alternated in supporting her while the third man called for help. After more than three hours, rescue workers arrived and promptly saved all four of them. The pregnant lady’s husband was greatly relieved upon the rescue teams’ arrival and asked them to save her first. One of the rescue workers, Lin Jiun, commended the three men for their courageous act of helping the women for more than three hours. Netizens across the mainland were moved by this brave act and took to Weibo to praise the three men for their heroic actions. One of them said, “Thumbs up for these three civilian heroes. They are really selfless,”. Another Netizen commented, “Humans may seem insignificant in the face of natural disasters, but humanity always shines with warmth,”

INDIA WATCH

Retail Inflation in India Reaches Four Month High: Xinhua, a Chinese media outlet, reported on the retail inflation in India. The article stated that, according to the Federal Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Consumer Price Index inflation reached 5.08% in June. It reached its highest in the last four months. The CPI for May was 4.80%. Additionally, food inflation reached 9.36% in June, a hike from the 8.69% in May. The article stated that experts have suggested that inflation in food could have been a result of heatwaves in India.

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.