The 2025 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week Held in Guizhou
The 2025 CAECW took place from July 24 to 27, under the theme "Smart Education Empowering People-to-People Exchanges, Educational Cooperation Enhancing Common Development." This year's edition focused on showcasing the achievements of China-ASEAN cultural and people-to-people exchanges, enhancing the platform functions of CAECW, and deepening innovative models of "Education+" projects. The event aimed to attract broader participation from ASEAN countries and Belt and Road partners, and was expected to establish a brand for large-scale, impactful China-ASEAN educational and cultural exchange programs, which would contribute to building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
A total of 116 activities were held during the 2025 CAECW. Of these, 19 events were staged during the opening period, while 97 activities will take place throughout the remainder of the year. It was expected that over 60 agreements or memorandums would be signed, 8 joint overseas (industry) colleges or research institutes would be established, and 6 internship and training bases would be built. Additionally, 3 high-level vocational education communities or industry-education alliances would be formed, and it was expected that 1,100 international youth would come to Guizhou for study tours and exchange visits.
As the only intergovernmental exchange and cooperation platform between China and ASEAN dedicated to education, the CAECW has been successfully held 18 times. Through faculty and student exchanges, youth dialogues, and cultural immersion programs, CAECW has increasingly become an important international platform for strengthening people-to-people ties between China and ASEAN. It has also served as a vital bridge for fostering mutual understanding and friendship among the younger generation and deepening mutual trust at the grassroots level.
With a focus on integrating education with culture, tourism, sports, scientific innovation, industry, business, and trade, CAECW has grown from an initial platform for exchanging educational ideas into a comprehensive platform for multi-level and wide-ranging cooperation in both cultural and economic fields. It has created a series of influential branded initiatives, made significant contributions to bilateral relations, and played a positive role in building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
Looking ahead, CAECW will further deepen the principles of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation. It will align closely with regional development trends and the educational needs of young talent, continuously expand areas of cooperation, and explore innovative "Education+" cooperation models. Building on the valuable experience of the past 18 editions, CAECW will move forward with greater vision, further enhancing its influence and injecting sustained vitality into the creation of a more resilient China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
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Korea Herald
5 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Contribution] Is China equity recovery durable?
China's equity rally faces a wall of scepticism after years of false dawns. However, this time could be different: Beijing's crackdown on irrational competition in key industries and sustained stimulus, compounded by moderating US trade rhetoric ahead of a potential Trump-Xi meeting, are setting the stage for a sustainable equity market rebound most are missing. The Hang Seng index and MSCI China index have soared over 25 percent year to date. However, China equities still registered a net fund outflow this year. This illustrates that global investors have yet to gain high conviction in China equities. Such sentiment could mainly be attributable to policy uncertainty and lacklustre equity performance in recent years, among other reasons. We see reasons for optimism for a durable recovery in China equities. Early signs of economic improvement are emerging, including stronger-than-expected 6.4 percent year-on-year retail sales in May. 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There is a risk China's retail sales growth could decelerate without incremental stimulus. Subsidized trade-in consumption programs launched last year, which contributed to strong retail sales in the first half, will likely lose steam in the coming months. Given consumption is a key engine of China's growth, we see an increased likelihood of additional policy measures to drive retail growth tactically and structurally. Policies will likely include ways to widen the scope of consumption subsidies and ease restrictions on household registration, or 'hukou.' Hukou relaxation could be strategically bundled with housing stimulus and social safety net reforms. On one end of the demographic spectrum, retirees could be incentivized to shift to lower-tiered cities or rural areas with lower costs of living and better living conditions. The lower-tiered cities suffering the largest housing supply gluts could turn the unoccupied housing projects into social housing developments for older adults. Affordable housing projects could also be developed in the outskirts of top-tiered cities, with the aim to attract younger, educated migrants, who, encouraged by better career prospects, could establish families sooner. Structurally, China is seeking to spur childbirth by recently announcing the first nationwide cash handout program for every child under the age of three. Furthermore, the nation will likely accelerate the upgrade of elderly care goods and health care services to stimulate consumption of the 'silver hair' segment, including the development of humanoid robots for elderly care. Recent official meetings since July have further reinforced our optimism about China's policy outlook. On 1 July, the Central Commission for Finance and Economic Affairs called for the need to curb irrational price competition, accelerate the eradication of obsolete capacity and promote local government standards to support businesses. Following the meeting, the State Council pledged on 16 July to regulate the irrational price competition in the EV industry. The State Administration for Market Regulation also met with major online food delivery platforms to stem unfair competition. We believe these measures align with China's shift in growth focus from quantity to quality. These measures will help mitigate deflation, boding well for China equities. There is no coincidence that the policy-sensitive onshore A shares index, which has underperformed Hong Kong's Hang Seng index YTD, has been catching up with the latter in July. Backed by improving fundamentals, China's equities are at the cusp of a turnaround, with earnings expectations bottoming and valuations ticking up. China equity valuations, partly constrained by low investor positioning, still trail their historical and peer averages, with a price-to-earnings multiple of 12-13x notably below the US level of above 22x. China's earnings prospects are also brightening as pricing and profit margin trends stabilize with policymakers focusing on rationalizing competition and capacity. Rising prospect of a Trump-Xi meeting this year, the dollar's ongoing weakness and a peak in trade tensions are broadly supportive of our positive view on global equities. Within our globally diversified allocation, we are overweight Asia ex-Japan equities. Within Asia, excluding Japan, we believe China equities will generate excess returns (alpha) thanks to Beijing's concerted and targeted policy measures to sustain growth, reduce capacity and overcome deflation. That said, we reiterate the importance of diversifying across asset classes, including quality bonds, gold and alternative investments, to produce optimal returns and protect your wealth against market volatility.


Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Korea Herald
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Korean battery-maker gains edge as US tariffs squeeze China's CATL LG Energy Solution has secured a 5.9 trillion won ($4.3 billion) deal to supply lithium-iron phosphate battery cells, likely for Tesla's energy storage systems, solidifying its position as the only producer of these cost-effective batteries in the US. According to LG Energy Solution's regulatory filing on Wednesday, it will supply LFP cells for a global client for three years from Aug. 1, 2027, to July 31, 2030, with the possibility of extending the contract to 2034. This agreement represents 23 percent of last year's sales revenue of 25.6 trillion won, marking the company's largest ESS contract. Assuming a price range of $85 per cell, media reports project the total supply amounts to approximately 50 gigawatt-hours worth of cells. LG Energy Solution declined to share details of the deal, citing confidentiality, but industry sources anticipate that the company will be supplying batteries for Tesla's ESS products. LG Energy Solution is currently manufacturing LFP cells for ESS in its Michigan plant, targeting the US market. Meanwhile, its LFP battery products for electric vehicles, intended for Renault Group, are slated for production at its Wroclaw facility in Poland. During Tesla's conference call for the first quarter of this year, Travis Axelrod, head of investor relations at Tesla, said, 'The impact of tariffs on the energy business will be outsized since we source LFP battery cells from China. We are in the process of commissioning equipment for the local manufacturing of LFP battery cells in the US, however, the equipment that we have can only service a fraction of our total installed capacity.' 'We've also been working on securing additional supply chains from non-China-based suppliers, but it will take time.' In response to industry headwinds from US tariffs that restrict the use of batteries and battery components sourced from China, Tesla has accelerated construction of its LFP cell manufacturing plant for ESS in Nevada, with recent reports indicating the site is nearing completion. Given Tesla's strong business relationship with China's CATL for its ESS business, a key strategy has been to incorporate equipment and battery designs from the Chinese battery behemoth at its Nevada facility. However, Tesla has recognized the limitations in expanding its battery cell capacity to meet the rapidly growing ESS market in the US, fueled by artificial intelligence data centers and the demand for reliable electricity supply solutions. Lee Ho-geun, a car engineering professor at Daeduk University, noted, 'There may be a delay before Tesla ramps up its production capacity (at its Nevada plant). This potential production gap likely prompted Tesla to turn to LG Energy Solution, which seems to have offered competitive pricing compared to tariff-impacted Chinese companies, including CATL.' Chinese-made ESS batteries imported into the US are reported to face a 40.9 percent tariff, which is anticipated to rise to 58.4 percent next year. Korean battery-makers have been pushing for local production of ESS cells in the US to brush off the current 10 percent tariff impact, which is set to increase to 25 percent starting Friday. Industry insiders project that the price of a Chinese LFP battery cell targeting the US market will increase from $73 last year to $87 by 2026. As of June, LG Energy Solution has secured multiple contracts exceeding 50 GWh capacity, with key US clients including Delta Electronics, Excelsior Energy Capital, Terra-Gen and Hanwha Qcells. According to market tracker Global Market Insights, the US ESS market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 13.4 percent, reaching $305.5 billion by 2034 from $78.9 billion last year.


Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Korea Herald
US and China agree to work on extending the deadline for new tariffs in trade talks
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The United States and China have agreed to work on extending a deadline for new tariffs on each other after two days of trade talks in Stockholm concluded on Tuesday, according to Beijing's top trade official. The US side says the extension was discussed, but not decided. China's international trade representative Li Chenggang said the two sides had 'in-depth, candid and constructive' discussions and agreed to work on extending a pause in tariffs beyond an Aug. 12 deadline for a trade deal. 'Both sides are fully aware the importance of maintaining a stable, healthy China-US economic and trade relations,' Li said, without elaborating how the extension would work. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the talks as a 'very fulsome two days with the Chinese delegation." He said they touched on US concerns over China's purchase of Iranian oil, supplying Russia with dual-use tech that could be used on the battlefield, and manufacturing goods at a rate beyond what is sustained by global demand. 'We just need to de-risk with certain, strategic industries, whether it's the rare earths, semiconductors, medicines, and we talked about what we could do together to get into balance within the relationship,' Bessent said. He stressed that the US seeks to restore domestic manufacturing, secure purchase agreements of US agricultural and energy products, and reduce trade deficits. The latest round of talks opened Monday in Stockholm to try to break a logjam over tariffs that have skewed the pivotal commercial ties between the world's two largest economies. The two sides previously met in Geneva and London to address specific issues — triple-digit tariffs that amounted to a trade embargo and export controls on critical products — China's chokehold on rare earth magnets, and US restrictions on semiconductors. Monday's discussions lasted nearly five hours behind closed doors at the office of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Before the talks resumed Tuesday, Kristersson met with Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer over breakfast. The talks in Stockholm unfolded as President Donald Trump is mulling plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, a summit that could be a crucial step toward locking in any major agreements between their two countries. 'I would say before the end of the year,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. On his Truth Social media platform, Trump insisted late Monday that he was not 'seeking' a summit with Xi, but may go to China at the Chinese leader's invitation, 'which has been extended. Otherwise, no interest!' Bessent told reporters the summit was not discussed in Stockholm but that they did talk about 'the desire of the two presidents for the trade team and the Treasury team to have trade negotiations with our Chinese counterparts.' Greer said the American team would head back to Washington and 'talk to the president about' the extension of the August deadline and see 'whether that's something that he wants to do.' The US has struck deals over tariffs with some of its key trading partners — including Britain, Japan and the European Union — since Trump announced earlier in July elevated tariff rates against dozens of countries. China remains perhaps the biggest challenge. 'The Chinese have been very pragmatic,' Greer said in comments posted on social media by his office late Monday. 'We have tensions now, but the fact that we are regularly meeting with them to address these issues gives us a good footing for these negotiations.' Many analysts had expected that the Stockholm talks would result in an extension of current tariff levels, which are far lower than the triple-digit percentage rates proposed as the US-China tariff tiff reached a crescendo in April, sending world markets into a temporary tailspin. The two sides backed off the brink during bilateral talks in Geneva in May and agreed to a 90-day pause — which ends Aug. 12 — of those sky-high levels. They currently stand at US tariffs of 30 percent on Chinese goods, and China's 10 percent tariff on US products. While China has offered few specifics of its goals in the Stockholm talks, Bessent has suggested that the situation has stabilized to the point that Beijing and Washington can start looking toward longer-term balance between their economies. Since China vaulted into the global trading system more than two decades ago, Washington has sought to press Beijing to encourage more consumption at home and offer greater market access to foreign, including American-made goods. Wendy Cutler, a former US trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump's team would today face challenges from 'a large and confident partner that is more than willing to retaliate against US interests.' Rollover of tariff rates 'should be the easy part,' she said, warning that Beijing has learned lessons since the first Trump administration and 'will not buy into a one-sided deal this time around.' Bessent said the 'overall tone of the meetings was very constructive" while Li said the two sides agreed in Stockholm to keep close contact and to 'communicate with each other in a timely manner on trade and economic issues.' On Monday, police cordoned off a security zone along Stockholm's vast waterfront as rubbernecking tourists and locals sought a glimpse of the top-tier officials through a phalanx of TV news cameras lined up behind metal barriers. Flagpoles at the prime minister's office were festooned with the American and Chinese flags.