A major institutional reform in March 2023 created two new Commissions under the Party: the CFC (Central Financial Commission) and the CFWC (Central Financial Work Commission). The CFC soon dispatched staff to meetings of the central bank, the PBoC (People’s Bank of China), and other major commercial banks, voicing Party interest on crucial matters.
The quantum of the hit to PRC exports, a major driver of GDP, is yet to become clear amid the tariff turmoil. One sure thing is that piping cash to innovative firms will be ever more the focus. Change is afoot in scitech finance. A new round of financial tinkering was signalled in 'Opinions' on reaching Beijing’s five financial targets. Published on 7 February (before the Two Sessions, held 5–11 March 2025), the Opinions placed scitech as the top financing priority.
Digitally ordered trade from the PRC is already successful. This is thanks to a thriving CBEC (cross-border e-commerce) sector (e.g. BtoB: Alibaba.com, DHgate.com, Made-in-China.com and BtoC Shein, Temu, Aliexpress). Now accounting for some six percent of total PRC trade, the sector has doubled in value since 2019, according to customs data.
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driving blind: controlling data in the EV and automation race
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partifying financial agencies
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‘doing our own thing well’: Beijing scales up scitech funding
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new economic driver: digital trade
monitoring
recent commentary
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Made in China 2025overcapacitystrategic and emerging industriesscience and technologytech transfer, R&DAIsoftware and apps...read more20 Mar 2025
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AI...read more19 Mar 2025
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basic edhigh schoolvocational ed and skills trainingunemployment...read more19 Mar 2025
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anti-corruptionaccountabilityNPC legislative agendadraft legislation and trendsprivate sector support...read more19 Mar 2025
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Ren Zepingmacroeconomist and Vice President of the China Private Economy Research Association, Chief Economist at Zhongyuan Bank YuWa Population Research
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Tu XinquanUIBE (University of International Business and Economics) WTO Research Institute director
analysis
month in focus
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