5 Things That Happened in China This Week (150) 27 September

Here are 5 things that happened in China this week.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

China Unveils Fresh Stimulus

China's central bank, top securities regulator and financial regulator announced a raft of monetary stimulus, property market support and capital market strengthening measures to boost the country's "high-quality economic development". Some of the measures included cutting the Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR) by 0.5 percentage points in the near future, providing about 1 trillion yuan ($141.82 billion) in long-term liquidity to the financial market; reducing mortgage rates for existing home loans benefitting 50 million households; establishing a swap program for securities, funds and insurance companies to obtain liquidity from the central bank through asset collateralisation and creating a special re-lending facility for banks to lend to listed companies and their major shareholders for buybacks and increasing shareholdings.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

?China Protests U.S. Proposed Ban

China's Ministry of Commerce strongly objected to the U.S. proposal to restrict the use of Chinese connected vehicles, as well as their software and hardware, in the United States saying it has no factual basis, violates the principles of the market economy and fair competition, and is a typical act of protectionism. The U.S. Commerce Department this week proposed banning the use of Chinese and Russian-developed software and hardware on autonomous and internet-connected vehicles, citing "national security" concerns. Many Chinese automobile firms say such concerns are groundless and camouflage the U.S. resorting to political means to knock out Chinese firms that outcompete their U.S. peers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

?China Issues Consumption Vouchers

Local authorities in China have issued consumption vouchers to boost spending ahead of the country's National Day holiday, a major occasion for consumption. The Sichuan provincial Department of Commerce announced that the province will pour more than 400 million yuan ($57 million) from its fiscal budget to issue the vouchers, with 75% of them earmarked for the home improvement sector. In Shanghai, the municipal government's information office said the city will allocate 500 million yuan ($71 million) to issue consumption vouchers for the dining, accommodation, cinema and sports sectors. China will have a seven-day National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7, with robust holiday spending expected.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

?China Protects Arable Land

China released a guideline on arable land protection introducing measures to combat the conversion of arable land to non-agricultural uses and to prevent permanent basic farmland from being utilised for non-grain production. The guideline stated that the national arable land area should not fall below 124.33 million hectares, with the area of permanent basic farmland set at no less than 103 million hectares. To achieve these goals, the guideline states that local party committees and governments will be required to treat the protection of arable land as a critical political task and must ensure that strict accountability measures are in place for violations, including a "one-vote veto" punishment for officials who breach protection guidelines. China continues to prioritise food security, as it feeds over 1.4 billion people with just 9 percent of the world's arable land.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

?China Adjusts University Programs

China's Ministry of Education highlighted significant changes in the country's universities to align with national development goals. The ministry revealed that over the past 12 years, 21,000 new undergraduate programs have been launched nationwide, while 12,000 programs deemed unsuitable for social and economic growth have been removed. In 2024 alone, 1,673 new programs in fields that are of national strategic importance were established, while 1,670 programs were discontinued. Future changes will focus on aligning educational offerings with national strategic needs, supporting regional development, and promoting the comprehensive development of students. Currently, China has 1,308 universities offering courses across 816 majors, resulting in a total of 62,000 undergraduate programs nationwide.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

If he commands them by benevolence, and unifies them by discipline, this is called certain victory – Sun Tzu