Travelers waiting to cross the Hong Kong-China border at Lok Ma Chau, January 8, 2023. Credit: Vernon Yuen via AP Images
If 2021 could be characterized as China’s year of crackdowns, these last few months might be called its season of u-turns.
It’s not just zero-Covid where China has changed its tune. On property, tech, foreign direct investment and diplomacy, Beijing seems to be adjusting its position too. This week, The Wire looks at China’s recent policy changes: the sectors affected, what’s changed, and what may stay the same.
TECH COMPANIES
Background: Private technology companies have had a brutal few years after Beijing launched a slew of investigations and new rules for the sector, hammering their share prices. Some of the hardest hit firms included ride-hailing company Didi, which was forced to delist from the New York Stock Exchange in May; as well as Alibaba and Ant Group, two firms founded by Jack Ma.
What’s changed: In January, Guo Shuqing, the head of China's Central Bank, announced that the campaign to “rectify” Chinese internet companies’ bu
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When Ken Wilcox, a former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, moved to Shanghai in 2011, he was optimistic and eager to start up the bank's new joint venture in China. A decade later, however, he is extremely cynical about U.S. business interests in China. While analysts will, rightly, be debating SVB's missteps in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, Wilcox insists the bank's challenges in China should not be overlooked.
The former secretary of state talks about how the Trump administration changed U.S.-China relations; why he accused Beijing of genocide in Xinjiang; and why U.S. politicians should visit Taiwan.
