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China's exports rose nearly 22% in the first two months of the year from a year earlier, as its trade with countries other than the United States expanded. The export figures released by China's customs agency on Tuesday were much better than economists had forecast. They far exceeded the 6.6% annual pace of growth recorded in December. Imports in January and February rose almost 20%, up from December's 5.7% year-on-year increase. However, China's imports from the United States dropped nearly 27% from a year earlier. China's exports have been a bright spot for its economy despite tensions with the US. China's exports climbed 5.5% for 2025 as its trade surplus surged to a record of nearly $1.2 trillion. Higher shipments to other regions including Europe and Latin America helped offset a 20% drop in exports to the US as US President Donald Trump imposed a variety of higher tariffs on imports from much of the world. China's global trade surplus in January-February was $213.6 billion.
Two major economic plans unveiled at the annual meeting of China's legislature outline top priorities that have different ramifications for the global economy. In the government plan for 2026, the No. 1 task is "building a robust domestic market". Then comes accelerating technological progress. But longer-term, a plan for the next five years, gives more prominence to achieving advances in tech. The subtle difference highlights the government's balancing act. Its overarching goal is to transform from a low-cost manufacturing to a tech-driven economy. But a more immediate concern is dealing with a prolonged period of sluggishness that has depressed consumer and business confidence. China is such a large exporter that the choices it makes affect countries and jobs around the world. The plans, presented at the recent opening of the National People's Congress, offer a window into the government's thinking. They are set to be formally endorsed by the rubber-stamp legislature at the end o
China has set an economic growth target of 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent for this year, a slight decrease in the face of a prolonged property slump and other headwinds and uncertainty abroad. The target was announced on Thursday in an annual report being presented by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of this year's meeting of the National People's Congress. The report set the goal and added "while striving for better in practice." The target was lowered from about 5 per cent in each of the last three years. The economy grew 5 per cent last year. Setting a range of 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent gives the government more leeway to adjust policies this year.
China's ceremonial legislature is set to meet Thursday, where it will unveil the country's policy direction and economic goals for the coming years. The meeting is held in Beijing, where the National People's Congress and its advisory body gather. The National People's Congress will ratify new laws decided by China's Communist Party leadership. While the nearly 3,000-member body technically votes, the vote is always almost unanimous. Also meeting is the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body composed of elite members of Chinese society, from businessmen to athletes. They also include representatives from China's minority groups, but the body has little power on issues of public policy. The gathering of these two bodies is called the Two Sessions. The political meetings have changed under President Xi Jinping's rule, with tighter scripts and less scope for debate. "A long, long time ago, it was a venue for policy deliberation," and even controversial ..
China's progress in building a modern economy, evident in its kung-fu fighting robots and self-parking cars, is hitting limits as a downturn in its housing industry drags on, small businesses suffer and young people struggle to find jobs. The gap between Chinese leader Xi Jinping's high-tech, artificial intelligence-driven ambitions and the hard realities of slowing growth is the backdrop for the annual meeting of the country's largely ceremonial national legislature, the National People's Congress, which begins Thursday. During the meetings, which draw about 3,000 deputies to Beijing, top leaders will outline China's annual target for growth and the congress will endorse a five-year blueprint of policy priorities until 2030. "What we'll see is the trade-off between whether it's going to be industry and tech, or looking after domestic demand," said Alexander Davey, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. "These are the two priorities that are juggling for Xi Jinping
The "Life in Venice" housing development, a multibillion-dollar replica of the Italian city on the Chinese coast, stands silent. Many of the tens of thousands of homes are hollow husks of concrete and alabaster. But in recent years the remote, partially abandoned complex has drawn unlikely new residents like Sasa Chen, a burned-out young Chinese woman who until recently worked a high-earning finance job in Shanghai, China's bustling commerce hub. The appeal? Chen pays just 1200 RMB, or USD 168, a month for her apartment in faux Venice in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. It's so cheap that it's allowed Chen to retire at the tender age of 28. Experts say Chen is part of a broader trend that has seen a growing number of young people across China migrating to small towns and cities, taking advantage of cheap real estate prices that have been plummeting since the COVID pandemic. It's a stark reversal from previous generations that prised upward mobility. In decades past, China'