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Twenty-nine countries signed the founding agreement of WAICO (World AI Cooperation Organisation) in Shanghai on 16 July 2026, in what Beijing calls the world’s first intergovernmental organisation dedicated to artificial intelligence. The agreement commits WAICO to 共商共建共享, ‘shared consultation, joint construction, shared benefit’, the formula Beijing has used for the Belt and Road Initiative since 2013, now applied to artificial intelligence.
Once a description of uneven post-pandemic recovery, the notion of a K-shaped economy has become an organising frame for PRC macro debate, increasingly common in commentary on the economy’s direction. The argument now turns on what is driving the divergence, and therefore what policy should do about it.
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industry groups—anti-involution’s third axis
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how Beijing squares its trade surplus
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the next test for east–west collaboration
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WAICO: training the Global South
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same K, different diagnoses
monitoring
recent commentary
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central budgetfiscal transferstax systemstrategic and emerging industries...read more03 Sep 2026
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commercial bankingbanking regulationNPLscorporate debtcredit ratinghousehold debtsubnational relationsstability maintenance...read more02 Sep 2026
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ag bankingfarm upscalingstate farms (nongken)farmlandthree ruralsag SOEsag industrialisationnew ag operatorsrural non-farm industryag machinerygrain reservesag price settingag subsidiesag insuranceag futuresag riskfood standardstraceabilityfood safety strategyfood security strategyfood productiongrainfeeddraft legislation and trends...read more01 Sep 2026
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growth modelcentral budgetlocal budgetlocal government debtinvestment fundstax incentivestax systemVATconsumption taxtax sharingpolitical trendsdevolutionsubnational relations...read more01 Sep 2026
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Zhang LinghanData Law Institute professor China University of Political Science and Law
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Wu HongyaoCentral Rural Work Leading Group Office deputy director, MARA (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs) Party leadership group member
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Wang Yahuaexecutive director Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management , Tsinghua University China Institute for Rural Studies
analysis
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