China halted nuclear-weapons talks with the US to show how annoyed it is over Taiwan
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China halted arms control talks with the US over American arms sales to Taiwan.
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China claims that Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to attack the nation.
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A US State Department spokesperson criticized China's stance, noting it mirrors Russia's approach.
China has pressed pause on arms control and nuclear proliferation talks with the US, blaming the suspension on US arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan's independence has been a decadeslong grievance for China's Communist rulers. The island declared its independence from the mainland in 1949 when nationalist rebels fled there after the Communists won the civil war.
However, China claims that Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to attack it if it doesn't cede control.
In a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Chinese government said that the US's arms sales to Taiwan had "seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continuing the arms-control consultations."
"The responsibility fully lies with the US," he said.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller addressed the situation at a press briefing, calling it "unfortunate".
"China has chosen to follow Russia's lead in asserting that engagement on arms control can't proceed when there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship. We think this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of arms race dynamics," he said.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping began talks on nuclear proliferation and arms control in November, ahead of the first formal dialogue between the US and China in five years.
Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy advisor at the International Crisis Group, told Business Insider that this latest decision is unlikely to affect US support of Taiwan.
"The suspension is disappointing given how essential it is for the world's two most powerful countries to have substantive discussions on strategic stability," said Wyne.
"Even so, considering that the talks were in their nascent stages and occurring against the backdrop of a deteriorating bilateral relationship, it is unlikely that either US or Chinese officials had high expectations for them."
A 2023 Pentagon report estimated that China had increased its arsenal of operational nuclear warheads to about 500, is likely to possess more than 1,000 warheads by 2030, and will continue growing its force until 2035.
The upcoming US elections in November will be critical toward setting the agenda for future talks.
A YouGov poll has shown that Donald Trump holds a two percentage point lead over Biden.
Analysts from the Brookings Institution have estimated that a potential Trump presidency could escalate a US-China trade war.
Trump's newly announced Vice President pick, JD Vance, has been vocal about China's relationship with Taiwan, saying in a speech last year that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could be "catastrophic for this country."
"It would decimate our entire economy where the computer chips, so much of those are made in Taiwan."
Representatives for Biden and Jinping did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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China's Communist Party sticks to painful reform playbook to target risks and growth.
China's ruling Communist Party concluded its twice-a-decade policy meeting on Thursday, releasing a communique that sought to strike a delicate balance between growth and security in the face of mounting uncertainties.
Sober in tone, it laid out a wide range of reform objectives to be completed in the next five years when the People's Republic celebrates its 80th anniversary. The party seldom sets explicit deadlines for its reform programmes.
The communique was - as expected - short and vague, with the full statement of the meeting to be released next week. Still, it offered insights into the top leadership's thinking and policy directions for the coming years.
It was released at the end of the four-day session, known as the third plenum, an important event for the party elite to hammer out long-term strategies.
This plenum, during President Xi Jinping's unprecedented third term, took place later than usual, reflecting the complex and challenging environment that China is facing.
The country's economic growth has slowed considerably, and the slumps in the financial and property markets have badly shaken public confidence. Externally, China's rivalry with the United States is set to intensify, and its ties with major trading partners like Europe and Japan continue to fray.
Some have hoped the party would announce drastic changes to jump-start the economy. Instead, the communique contained few surprises, reflecting the leadership's assessment that China needs to finish painful economic restructuring rather than apply a quick fix.
Nevertheless, it did acknowledge the present difficulties.
In a rare departure from the tradition of focusing on long-term goals, the communique stressed that China must "unwaveringly strive to finish this year's growth targets".
Beijing earlier set a 2024 growth target of "around 5 per cent" but weaker-than-expected first-half data prompted investment banks like Goldman Sachs to question that goal.
The communique asked the party members to "faithfully follow the party leadership's economic decisions, taking active steps to stimulate domestic consumption, and build new momentum to drive exports and imports".
Lian Ping, director general of the China Chief Economist Forum, said the reference to this year's growth targets was included in the communique deliberately as a rallying call.
"I believe this part will not appear in the full statement released later. The leadership wants to use the opportunity to address the disappointing performance in the second quarter [of this year]," he said.
Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China agreed the surprising mention of the short-term outlook in the communique pointed to "anxiety".
"The leadership is clearly worried. That means we could see more aggressive policy interventions coming out from the Politburo meeting at the end of the month."
The reference aside, most parts of the communique focused on the long term.
The committee vowed that China would continue to deepen reforms in all areas, including the economy, rural land, taxation, environmental protection, national security, fighting corruption, and cultural development.
The word "reform" appeared 53 times in the statement. Unlike the Western use of the word, which implies liberalisation, in today's China, it means improving governance and increasing efficiency.
Lian said he was glad to see the communique address some long-overdue issues, such as tax reform.
"And it is crucial that it gives a clear deadline for all these reforms to be completed by 2029. That is refreshing compared with the previous third plenums," he said.
"In the past, some reform measures were mentioned and then quietly shelved if they could not be achieved. This time, they seem more determined to get these done."
The drive to speed up China's science and technology development is central to the reforms, with the area seen as mission-critical to the nation's economic transition.
The communique also called for the country to deepen supply-side reform, better integrate the digital economy into the real economy, upgrade modern infrastructure, and build resilience in its industrial supply chain.
It has identified improving human capital and talent as the foundation to achieve these goals.
"We must thoroughly and faithfully implement the strategy of rejuvenating the nation through science and education and strengthening our talent pools. Education and innovation must go hand in hand."
On the economic front, it promised to "give better play to the role of the market" but curiously omitted the often-used phrase of the market being the decisive force in the economy. Instead, the communique stressed the need to maintain market order and correct market failures, reflecting Beijing's concerns about risks in its financial system.
It did pledge "unswerving support and guidance" to the development of the "non-state sector" and said the government should ensure "all forms of ownership" in the economy could compete fairly and lawfully "on an equal footing", a reference to China's depressed private sector.
The need to control risk came as China faced "complex and fast-changing internal and external challenges".
"We must implement the right measures to prevent and resolve risks in critical areas such as the property sector and local debt. We must ensure financial institutions strictly follow safety guidelines," it said.
"The government must improve the monitoring and prevention of natural disasters, especially floods. We must build a social security network to maintain social stability effectively."
It said China also needed to strengthen "the guidance of public opinion and prevent and defuse ideological risks" - a euphemism for media censorship.
China's leadership has stressed the need to maintain market order and correct market failures.
Ultimately, the party sees the key of managing risks and maintaining stability in improving its overall governance.
It vowed to continue the fight against corruption, particularly in the military. The plenary session received and approved reports on corruption cases of former defence minister Li Shangfu and two other generals.
It said the party must ensure absolute leadership over the military and carry out necessary reform to ensure the People's Liberation Army could achieve its 100th anniversary goals - targets widely understood to mean reaching parity with the United States.
Xie Maosong, a senior researcher at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, described the communique as "firm but patient".
"Xi said many times that the easy part of the reform is over, and now we are in uncharted waters. The party must watch its step, particularly as the external risks build. We are also touching the vested interests of many groups," he said.
Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Capital, said the communique contained no surprises for the financial market.
"Rather than a concrete target, 'Chinese modernisation' is more of a prospect for successfully meeting the economic, social, environmental and geopolitical challenges that China will face in the years ahead," Hu said in a research note.
"A signature ideology is extremely important to the party, but it's not something the market can trade on."
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China Is Remaking Itself Into a Tech Behemoth
Any discussion of the Chinese economy in the past few years is likely to have touched on its property sector implosion, the catastrophic loss of life following its “Covid zero” reopening, crackdowns on the tech sector and a general failure to launch. But amid all his struggles, President Xi Jinping has been pursuing a long-term plan to turbocharge China’s new engines of economic success—with an eye toward catching and surpassing the world’s tech behemoths.
How China Is Rewiring Its Faltering Economy, we explain how Beijing has directed massive resources toward transforming its famous “factory floor” industrial economy into one dominated by, among other things, the clean technology that will eventually power a post-fossil fuel world.
From electric vehicles to solar, batteries and semiconductors to artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals, Chinese offiicials see de-emphasizing the economic cornerstones of heavy industry and cheap manufacturing as critical to finally overtaking the US as the world’s largest economy. Such advances will not only reduce China’s reliance on foreign companies for key technologies, but strengthen its position when it comes to any future geopolitical confrontation.
In the 20th century, China’s rapidly growing economy was driven by urbanization, property and infrastructure. In How China Is Rewiring Its Faltering Economy, we show how the technologies underpinning the green global economy, advanced computing and cutting-edge medical advances might power China’s new century.
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China's leadership aims for modernization to boost economy
The Communist Party has set "promoting high-quality development" as the most important task "for building China into a great modern socialist country," a party communique published in Beijing on Thursday said.
The statement followed the Third Plenary session of the party's Central Committee which generally meets once every five years to chart China's economy for the period ahead.
The statement released following the four-day session confined itself to generalities, with concrete measures likely to emerge only in the weeks and months ahead.
Observers' expectations were confirmed that President Xi Jinping would use the meeting to underline efforts to turn China into a high-tech power. "It was stated that education, science and technology, and talent function as a basic and strategic underpinning for Chinese modernization," the statement said.
In specific terms, the Central Committee report referred to developing "new quality productive forces." The term refers to driving forward economic development by creating modern industrial sectors.
Acute economic problems were also addressed, with a reference to implementing "various measures for preventing and defusing risks in real estate, local government debt, small and medium financial institutions, and other key areas."
The statement also called an intensification of "efforts to improve conduct, build integrity, and combat corruption; and work with relentless persistence to ensure the implementation of reforms." The aim is to complete the reforms by 2029, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
Among the problems faced by Beijing are low consumption as families save for a perceived uncertain future and the persistent crisis in the property market. Young Chinese are also struggling to find work.
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