Latest news with #TwoSessions
Fibre2Fashion
09-05-2025
- Business
- Fibre2Fashion
Moody's Ratings reduces China's 2025 growth forecast to 3.8% from 4.5%
China's economy is likely to see a major slowdown over the next two years, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth falling to 3.8 per cent in 2025 and 3.9 per cent in 2026 as trade tensions intensify and global economic conditions weigh on investment and consumer confidence, Moody's Ratings recently said. In February, the rating agency had projected a GDP growth of 4.5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively for 2025 and 2026. The new projection also falls well short of the Chinese government's official 5 per cent growth target. However, the country's GDP rose by 5.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, indicating a strong start for the financial year. China may see a major slowdown in two years, with growth falling to 3.8 per cent in 2025 and 3.9 per cent in 2026 as trade tensions escalate and global economic conditions weigh on investment and consumer confidence, Moody's Ratings said. In February, it projected a GDP growth of 4.5 per cent for 2025 and 4 per cent for 2026. US tariffs on China will be 'considerably restrictive' in the near term. This early-year boost was largely driven by a surge in exports and a combination of government fiscal and monetary policies aimed towards stabilising growth. Fixed asset investment improved, property sector contraction eased, and credit demand levelled off while industrial production and retail sales also showed signs of recovery, a report by the rating agency said. However, it cautioned that without further stimulus beyond measures announced at the annual Two Sessions in March, the current momentum may not stay the same for long. A heavy drop in Chinese shipments to the United States in April, combined with the growing impact of elevated tariffs, is casting a long shadow over the outlook for the coming months. Moody's Ratings believes US tariffs on Chinese products will remain 'considerably restrictive' in the near term. The rating agency said domestic demand remains vulnerable despite Beijing's continued investment in high-tech and green industries. Even support from government's fiscal and monetary policies is 'unlikely to lift domestic demand enough to offset the negative impact on external demand'. The trade measures imposed by the China and United States on each other are 'so prohibitively high that they would likely choke off most direct bilateral trade if they remain in place, on top of the likely short-term disruptions noted earlier,' the report noted. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Time of India
06-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Moody's cuts China 2025 GDP growth forecast to 3.8% weighed by ongoing tariff tensions
China's economy is expected to undergo a major slowdown over the next two years, with GDP growth dipping below 4% as trade tensions intensify and global economic conditions weigh on investment and consumer confidence, a recent report by Moody's Ratings report projects Beijing's real GDP growth for 2025 to stand at 3.8% and 3.9% in 2026, a sharp downgrade from its February projections of 4.5% and 4%, respectively. The outlook also falls well short of the Chinese government's official 5% growth the country's GDP rose by 5.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, indicating a strong start for the financial year. This early-year boost was largely driven by a surge in exports and a combination of government fiscal and monetary policies aimed towards stabilising asset investment improved, property sector contraction eased, and credit demand levelled off while industrial production and retail sales also showed signs of the ratings agency also warned that without further stimulus beyond measures announced at the annual Two Sessions in March, the current momentum may not stay the same for long, with GDP growth decelerating below 4% dragged down by the ongoing trade tensions and weakening global growth.A steep decline in Chinese shipments to the US in April, combined with the growing impact of elevated tariffs, is casting a long shadow over the outlook for the coming months.'We estimate that export growth drove nearly a third of China's economic growth in Q1 2025,' Moody's said. ' 'Repeating that feat from last year's high base would be difficult given ongoing tariff uncertainty and softer export demand.'At present, China faces a base 10% tariff and an additional 145% levy from the US, a move that could further strain already fragile trade there are indications that both sides are open to negotiations, no formal talks have begun, and Moody's believes tariffs will remain 'considerably restrictive' in the near agency also cut its global growth forecast for 2025 and 2026, citing increased policy uncertainty, especially in the world's two largest economies, the US and China. Despite Beijing's continued investment in high-tech and green industries, Moody's says domestic demand remains report further added that even support from government's fiscal and monetary policies is 'unlikely to lift domestic demand enough to offset the negative impact on external demand'Commenting on the ongoing tariff war between Beijing and Washington, the report said that the trade measures imposed by the two nations on each other are 'so prohibitively high that they would likely choke off most direct bilateral trade if they remain in place, on top of the likely short-term disruptions noted earlier.'
Bloomberg
23-04-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
China Makes Weight Loss a National Priority
Hey, it's Amber in Hong Kong. Weight-loss clinics are popping up around China as the country dials up the alarm on its obesity problem. But before I dive in to that … China's Two Sessions, the annual parliamentary meetings where politicians set the nation's agenda for the year ahead, is typically a somber occasion. But this March, one exchange stole the show.
CNA
22-04-2025
- Business
- CNA
Unmet romantic demand in China fuels matchmaking scams targeting singles
East Asia Scammers are exploiting China's growing singles population. As demand for matchmaking services grows, so too does matchmaking-related fraud. SINGAPORE: To lure singleton victims, a criminal syndicate recruited female workers from KTVs and bars as 'matchmaking decoys' to spark interest on dating platforms. The ruse worked: 128 people were swindled out of more than 2.5 million yuan (US$342,000). The case is part of a worrying trend in fraud cases related to matchmaking and dating platforms, highlighted by China's top prosecutorial body as it sounded the alarm over scams exploiting the country's growing singles market. From January 2024 to March this year, 1,546 individuals were prosecuted in criminal cases linked to the matchmaking industry, revealed the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) in a statement published last Thursday (Apr 17). 'In recent years, demand for matchmaking services has steadily grown - but so too have related illegal and criminal activities,' said the SPP. There are no other statistics available showing whether there has been a rise in such cases. China saw its biggest drop in marriages on record in 2024, with just over 6.1 million couples registering for marriage. It was a 20.5 per cent drop from 7.68 million the year before, according to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs. Almost 30 per cent of 30-year-olds in the country were unmarried in 2023, according to the China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook 2024 - up from 14.6 per cent a decade earlier. Against this backdrop of shrinking marriages and a swelling pool of singles, illicit matchmaking operations have found fertile ground. Chinese lawmakers have prioritised legislation to crack down on scams and corruption, while improving the country's business environment. This and more as delegates reviewed the standing committee's work report during China's annual Two Sessions. CNA'S Deborah Wong reports. In one case, Wang and four other suspects repeatedly introduced married women to their customers, and scammed six victims into paying 890,000 yuan in cash gifts and referral fees. The SPP also warned that some matchmaking agencies and dating websites do not review the information of registered members, and criminals have made use of this loophole to commit fraud by using falsified identities. One suspect, Xu, scammed a victim of 3 million yuan. Xu met the victim on a dating website and hid the fact that he was married with children. He developed a relationship with her, then fabricated reasons such as investments, parents' hospitalisations and even the death of his mother to scam her. One other case involved a 32-member ring that used fake identities to run investment scams. The suspects, having undergone 'training' from an overseas wire fraud group, posed as successful individuals on multiple matchmaking platforms. They scammed victims out of 16.8 million yuan through fake investment schemes. Some agencies also provided illegal cross-border matchmaking services. Under Chinese regulations, domestic agencies are prohibited from offering or covertly engaging in such services. Some agencies would fly customers out of China to go on blind dates with foreigners, under the guise of business trips or tourism. Others facilitated the entry of foreigners into China - either by helping them apply for short-term visas or, in some cases, through illegal means such as smuggling - all for matchmaking purposes. In one case, four suspects were charged with human trafficking and rape. They had advertised cross-border matchmaking services on the internet, and either took clients overseas to select their 'brides', or brought 'brides' into the country for them to choose from. Another suspect, surnamed Wan, trafficked 46 foreign women into China. Despite knowing that some were already married, Wan repeatedly sold them as 'brides' to single men across multiple regions in the country, profiting 1.33 million yuan in the process. Authorities reminded matchmaking agencies to uphold integrity, abide by the law and provide 'high-quality matchmaking services'. China crime Scams
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - China's military is going to war against itself
In what could be the most dangerous developments in the world today, the Chinese military is tearing itself apart. Xi Jinping has been purging officers for more than a decade. But other officers, it appears, are now purging Xi's loyalists. The main propaganda organ of the People's Liberation Army is printing pieces openly criticizing his rule. The Chinese military is apparently embroiled in its worst crisis since Marshal Lin Biao died in a mysterious plane crash in 1971. Lin fled either after a failed coup attempt or after being blamed for one. Gen. He Weidong, the number three-ranked uniformed officer, was reportedly detained on March 11, after the end of Beijing's major political event of the year, the so-called Two Sessions. So far, there is no confirmation of the initial report on this by citizen journalist Zhao Lanjian. 'Gen. He was instrumental in Xi's earlier purges in the military, so his disappearance, if confirmed, could indicate a great threat to Xi's authority,' Charles Burton of the Sinopsis think tank told me. The news of the disappearance of He, the second vice chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission and former commander of the all-important Eastern Theater Command, has been accompanied by other unconfirmed reports last week of sackings of senior officers. For instance, Gen. Zhao Keshi, a former member of the commission, may have been formally arrested. The possible detentions of He and Zhao follow a Financial Times report of other demotions immediately before the Two Sessions, the annual meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Journalist Jennifer Zeng, in a March 13 X post asked if 'factional struggle within the military entered a new phase?' The answer is almost certainly 'yes.' Xi Jinping, since being named general secretary of the Communist Party in November 2012, has purged officers — ostensibly for 'corruption' — and restructured the People's Liberation Army. Both moves resulted in his taking firm control of the military. Yet two recent waves of purges — the first beginning in 2023 and ending in the middle of last year and the second beginning in November of last year — have targeted officers loyal to Xi in two factions, the Shaanxi Gang and the Fujian Clique. There are two likely explanations for the recent targeting of Xi loyalists. First, Xi could have become a Stalin-like paranoid and is taking down people he previously selected. Second, Xi's enemies might be removing Xi's officers. Of the two, the second explanation is more likely. Why? Because while Xi loyalists were being removed, PLA Daily, the Chinese military's main propaganda organ, ran a series of articles praising 'collective leadership,' a direct rejection of Xi's continual calls for unity and centralization of control. These articles, which began appearing last July, were written by those aligned with the top-ranked uniformed officer, Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Gen. Zhang Youxia. The propaganda pieces could not have appeared if Xi were in complete control of the military. 'What is starting to become purge season around the regime's Two Sessions should be a warning that all is not well in China,' Blaine Holt, a retired Air Force general, told me this month. 'The extraordinary successive purging of such a high proportion of senior military officials suggests that this is more than just rooting out of corruption and associated ills,' Burton points out. 'Severe dissatisfaction with Xi's rule by significant factions of the Chinese Communist Party and of the Party's People's Liberation Army suggests that the current leadership of China faces an existential threat.' Xi's weakening hold over the military, which reports to the Communist Party and not to the Chinese state, complicates the situation. Whoever is controlling the purges — Xi or his political enemies — the Chinese military does not look either stable or loyal to China's paramount leader. The spate of confirmed disappearances of senior officers since 2023 is unusual, and the new rumors are especially troubling. Even if all the fresh rumors are untrue — possible — the fact that they are circulating tells us that there are elements trying to destabilize the Chinese ruler. A Xi under siege could decide to lash out. As Holt points out, 'Danger to the regime could have global consequences as Xi and the [Chinese Communist Party] consider options to save themselves.' There is a lot we do not know, so anything can happen at this moment. The Chinese regime, as it goes to war against itself, can now take the world by surprise. Gordon G. Chang is the author of 'Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America' and 'The Coming Collapse of China.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
