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China’s 15th five-year plan lays out a comprehensive set of quantitative socio-economic development targets, ranging from innovation to food and energy security. To navigate external volatility and sluggish domestic demand, Beijing has built in flexibility by allowing specific economic and innovation metrics to be determined on certain conditions.

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Achieving this year’s inflation target would be one of China’s top economic tasks, a prominent economist and government adviser said, as it was pivotal to accomplishing other government priorities such as boosting consumption, raising incomes and achieving the required headline growth figures. “The inflation target corresponds to a state of relative equilibrium between supply and demand,” Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social...

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This live blog is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. For full coverage of the 15th five-year plan, including policy and economic shifts plus Trump’s visit, subscribe with our China Super March offer now. China’s top economic officials are holding a press conference on Friday as part of the “two sessions”, the country’s annual policymaking meetings. The leaders of the National Development and Reform Commission – Beijing’s top economic planner – the...

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Canada’s defence agreement with South Korea signals the two countries’ “middle-power answer” to increasing cooperation between Beijing and Moscow in the Arctic region and Washington’s pressure on its allies for defence burden sharing, according to analysts. The agreement, signed on February 25 as part of a 2+2 foreign and defence ministerial meeting, followed the security and defence cooperation partnership established by the two countries in October. According to a joint statement issued after...

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China will soon power up an ultra-efficient, nuclear waste-burning reactor with a groundbreaking technology that it projects will safely meet humanity’s energy needs for the next 1,000 years. Accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS) are advanced nuclear reactors that can both generate energy and transmute long-lived radioactive waste into shorter-lived and less hazardous isotopes. Designed by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) along with state nuclear enterprises, the China...

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China will allocate more of its fiscal spending this year towards human capital and social safety nets, as Beijing seeks to boost domestic demand and unlock new growth through “investing in people”. “Efforts must be sustained to optimise the expenditure structure, with greater emphasis on supporting the boosting of consumption, investing in people, and safeguarding people’s livelihoods,” Premier Li Qiang said in his annual work report, delivered during the opening session of the National...

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Leading Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD has unveiled a new-generation battery featuring charging speeds that the company says can rival a refill at a petrol station. BYD’s Blade Battery 2.0, launched on Thursday, can be charged from 10 per cent to 70 per cent in five minutes, and to 97 per cent in nine minutes, which the company said was the world’s fastest charging speed for a mass-manufactured unit. Even in extreme weather, with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius...

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With local governments in China struggling to replenish their treasuries while facing growing public service obligations, Beijing is setting its sights on securing more tax revenue as a major reform goal for 2026 and the four years beyond. Compared with the previous five-year plan period’s emphasis on “tax and fee cuts”, the language in the draft of the full 15th five-year plan – released on Thursday – emphasised “maintaining a reasonable macro tax burden”. The document also pledged to...

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Athletes of Asian heritage have come to the fore at this month’s Winter Olympics. They broke records, reshaped perceptions and inspired millions worldwide. Yet in the United States, the conversation around two of the most successful athletes, Eileen Gu, the freestyle skier representing China, and Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu, has too often drifted from their incredible achievements to questions of identity, loyalty and partisan point-scoring. This speaks volumes about the anxieties of a...

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A top Chinese political adviser has sounded the alarm on forced marriages of women with mental disabilities in rural areas, calling for a prevention mechanism and a nationwide investigation campaign. Jiang Shengnan, a writer and member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, warned that tackling the issue presented multiple challenges. There was a lack of support for such women when it came to marriage-related decision-making, Jiang...

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Hong Kong can reinforce its role as an international financial centre by deepening integration with mainland capital markets and expanding cross-border investment channels, financial industry leaders said on Thursday during China’s annual “two sessions”. Stronger collaboration between Hong Kong and mainland exchanges would enhance the resilience of the mainland’s financial system while supporting the internationalisation of the yuan, said Tan Yueheng, permanent honorary president of the Chinese...

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Hong Kong-listed Insilico Medicine has signed a cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ drug regulator to advance the use of its artificial intelligence tools in drug discovery across the region, even as geopolitical tensions escalate in the Middle East. Shares of Insilico rose as much as 12.8 per cent in morning trading on Thursday before paring gains to close 8.6 per cent higher at HK$56.10. The advance outpaced the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which edged up 0.3 per cent. The...

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China has earmarked a 7 per cent increase in defence spending this year, keeping the growth rate largely stable even as the White House aims to ramp up expenditure for the military. In a budget released on Thursday at the start of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), Beijing said it would allocate 1.91 trillion yuan (US$277 billion) for defence. The 7 per cent is a shade down from the 7.2 per cent rise last year but still above the 4.5 to 5 per cent GDP growth target set...

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Beijing has set a relatively cautious yet pragmatic economic growth target for 2026 amid persistent domestic headwinds and escalating external pressures. A 4.5 to 5 per cent GDP growth target – the lowest since 1991 – was announced by Premier Li Qiang on Thursday at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature. In delivering his annual government work report, Li reaffirmed Beijing’s aim for stronger economic growth where conditions allowed. He emphasised...

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Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com reported a 2.7 billion yuan (US$392 million) loss in the fourth quarter and a halving of annual profit amid an ongoing food delivery battle it ignited last year. The fourth-quarter loss contrasted with a profit of 9.9 billion yuan a year earlier, marking the company’s first quarterly loss since the start of 2022, according to its earnings results on Thursday. Profit for last year dropped nearly 53 per cent to 19.6 billion yuan. However, by non-generally accepted...

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President Xi Jinping urged China’s major provincial economies to take the lead in technological innovation and strengthen their resilience to external shocks over the next five years, as part of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) – the country’s top legislature – which began in Beijing on Thursday. Addressing deputies from the eastern province of Jiangsu, Xi said the region should be at the forefront of developing “new quality productive forces” – the emerging industries...

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China’s “two sessions” this year presents less of a story of an economic miracle than of transition: from high-speed to high-quality growth, and from dependence on external demand to a more resilient, innovation-driven economy. Against a backdrop of global tensions and fragmenting supply chains, Beijing is using this political moment to signal that it sees opportunity in adversity and is prepared to recalibrate its development model rather than cling to the habits of the boom years. For China,...

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China is expanding its diplomatic budget by 9.3 per cent, the highest increase in three years, signalling Beijing’s plans to consolidate its geopolitical clout as instability mounts around the globe, according to analysts. The Ministry of Finance on Thursday proposed that 70.975 billion yuan (US$10.28 billion) be allocated for Beijing’s diplomatic spending in 2026, up 9.3 per cent from the previous year. It is the fifth consecutive year that China has increased its foreign affairs...

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has repeated his country’s condemnation of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and stressed that China stands for peace in a number of diplomatic exchanges. Following his March 1 phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the following day Wang spoke with the foreign ministers of Iran, Oman and France. … Continue reading China’s diplomacy condemns aggression and pushes for peace

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As the United States grapples with mounting debt, China is doubling down on efforts to clean up its own balance sheet, vowing to tackle risks with “iron discipline”. The pledge came as the world’s second-largest economy weathers a years-long real estate slump and cooling domestic demand. Beijing faces growing pressure to balance short-term growth targets with longer-term deleveraging, as it seeks to transition to a more sustainable economy. In the government work report delivered on Thursday to...

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stirred unexpected debate in Taiwan after invoking the phrase “unleash Chiang” while warning that Washington would intensify its strikes against Iran. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday about the escalating Middle East conflict, Rubio said the world would soon see a change in the scope and intensity of the attacks. “We’re going to unleash Chiang on these people in the next few hours and days,” he said. The remark, made in the context of US efforts to dismantle...

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Mainland China and Hong Kong should ease listing rules for biotechnology companies and lower takeover thresholds for listed firms to capitalise on renewed foreign interest in the healthcare sector, venture capitalist Nisa Leung said. “Besides artificial intelligence, Premier Li Qiang also highlighted biomedicine in the ‘two sessions’ annual government work report,” said Leung, a managing partner at Aulis Capital, speaking in a sideline interview during China’s annual meetings of the National...

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The deadly US-Israeli military strikes on Iran have triggered an outpouring of public sympathy and support in China, with many social media users condemning the attacks and discussing ways to help. The Iranian embassy in China thanked the “righteous” Chinese public on Thursday for their support, but said it was not accepting financial help from Chinese individuals and organisations for now. “The embassy would like to express its sincere gratitude to the civilised and righteous Chinese people,”...

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More of the world’s billionaires live in China than anywhere else, after stock market gains and artificial intelligence generated a record number of billionaires globally, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List. China overtook the United States to recapture bragging rights on the annual report released by Hurun Group on Thursday, with 1,110 billionaires out of 4,020 globally. China added 287 billionaires since the previous edition of the report, more than recouping its losses over the...

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