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Haining Gao
Production Executive, SCMP Plus
Haining joined the Post in early 2024 as a production executive on the SCMP Plus team. His interests lie in AI development and US-China relations. Before joining SCMP, he was a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He holds a degree in international relations from New York University.
Haining joined the Post in early 2024 as a production executive on the SCMP Plus team. His interests lie in AI development and US-China relations. Before joining SCMP, he was a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He holds a degree in international relations from New York University.
Areas of Expertise:
US-China relations, artificial Intelligence, diplomacyLanguages Spoken:
English, German, Mandarin
Chinese firms are investing in overseas factories and marketing to develop global brands. Domestic price wars are pushing more companies to go global – “chuhai” in Chinese – in search of new growth opportunities.
China and Japan have built deep economic links, while also still having regular diplomatic rows. The latest blow-up came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that the nation’s military forces could potentially be deployed in the event of a Taiwan conflict.
Since presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met on October 30, US-China trade relations have improved with a tariff rollback, soybean purchases resuming and new curbs put on shipments of fentanyl precursors.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil met Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng at the fourth China-Germany high-level financial dialogue in Beijing. Below is the joint statement released by the German Ministry of Finance.
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The Fujian, China’s first self-developed aircraft carrier, entered service on Wednesday after about 18 months of sea trials. The vessel launches planes with electromagnetic catapults, a technology previously only used by the US.
Trade-weighted average tariffs between the US and China have largely returned to pre-Liberation Day levels following the Trump-Xi summit in South Korea. The risk of sky-high tariffs and export controls has been averted for now.
This is the second in an SCMP Plus series annotating different parts of China’s five-year plan recommendations. The focus is on market reforms and opening up.
The 20th Central Committee of China’s Communist Party adopted a recommendation for formulating the country’s 15th five-year plan. Below is the official translation of the full Chinese text released by Xinhua.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to meet in South Korea on Thursday, where they may strike a trade deal following five rounds of face-to-face talks between negotiators.
Attempts to build a unified national market will likely feature in China’s next five-year plan as President Xi Jinping seeks to boost domestic consumption amid economic pressures and global trade tensions.
China has a near-monopoly on rare-earth mining and processing. It has extended export controls to a further five elements, taking the number restricted to 12.
Chinese holdings of US government debt fell to US$731 billion in July, trailing Japan and the UK, while gold reserves kept on climbing.
This week: US-China trade deal is ‘pretty close’ ahead of Trump-Xi call, China clamps down on Nvidia chips, Chinese economic data worsens. Next week: Zijin Gold closes books on IPO, Chery Auto starts trading, PBOC announces rates, and more.
China unveils19-point plan to boost service consumption through market opening, fiscal support and sector-specific measures.
Advancing the transition to a consumption-driven economy is likely to be a key focus in China’s 15th five-year plan. The country will start the plan having largely met the main economic targets of the 14th programme.
Overissuance, market manipulation and speculative trading are among key dangers posed by stablecoins, according to Zhou Xiaochuan.
The 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a forum for China and Russia to promote their foreign policy visions, opens its 25th summit in Tianjin on August 31.
Trade-weighted average tariffs between the US and China have increased significantly this year, even with a trade war pause that has been extended to November. The tariff truce, first agreed in May, only reduced new levies that had reached sky-high levels amid spiralling countermeasures.
Chinese reliance on imported oil and gas has risen over the past decade. Increasingly it has turned to low-cost supplies from Western-sanctioned Russia and Iran.
The two countries are pursuing divergent paths in the race to develop a true artificial intelligence that is virtually indistinguishable from human cognition.
China’s novel drug industry is experiencing a meteoric rise, fuelled by the increased development of new medicines and the prospect of many patents expiring.
China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is expected to be commissioned this year as the country seeks to build up its naval power and narrow the gap with the US carrier fleet.
The Chinese economy expanded 5.3 per cent in the first half of the year, in line with the government’s target, as consumption stimulus measures helped offset a real-estate slump and trade tensions.
The US is due to impose new tariffs on imports from around the world on August 1, as President Donald Trump seeks to pare trade deficits and revive domestic manufacturing.
In the first half of 2025, corruption investigations were launched against 32 senior officials, including five at the ministerial level.
China’s holdings of US government bonds fell to US$757 billion in April, behind those of Japan and the UK, as its gold reserves rose.
China is one of the few nations willing to buy Iranian oil amid Western sanctions. The two countries signed a 25-year cooperation pact in 2021 under which China pledged to invest US$400 billion in Iranian infrastructure in return for secure access to low-cost crude.
Manufacturer Comac has so far only delivered 18 of China’s first domestically built narrowbody passenger jets, all to mainland carriers, out of a reported order book of around 1,500 planes.
Passport holders from 46 countries can visit China for 30 days visa-free under Beijing’s loosened entry policy.
