China’s deflationary slide is worsening as companies spiral into price wars
"A reflection of the breadth of impact, consumer prices fell by 0.1% in the first six months of the year from a year ago, while factory-gate producer prices dropped by 2.8%, official data shows. In that time, only seven of 48 producer price sub-categories rose, versus about half of the 37 consumer price components. That fierce and often unproductive competition is described as “involution” in China. The government has picked up on the term in recent policy documents"
--- Much better than the world talking about a possible recession in China, I suppose.
"China is expected Tuesday to report second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 5.2% from a year ago, according to a Reuters poll. That would be slower than the 5.4% increase in the first quarter, but in line with the national target of around 5% growth for the year."
"To achieve the growth target, Beijing will have no choice but to launch a major demand stimulus"
--- Ah, we're back there again... So, the great stimulus is still coming. Any moment now.
China coup? Rumours of Xi Jinping’s decline are premature
"Despite the noise, no one has credibly explained how a leader who dominates every significant CCP organisation could be toppled. All seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee are either long-time Xi allies or have served him loyally for over a decade. More than half of the broader Politburo’s 24 members are his protégés, and nearly all the others had direct ties to him prior to their appointments. The factions rumoured to be plotting against Xi lack meaningful representation in the bodies that appoint and remove senior officials. The notion that these sidelined groups have somehow outmanoeuvred a political operator as shrewd and relentless as Xi strains credulity."
--- Yep, but still, the usual suspects keep blubbering about emperor Xi having lost power. I'll keep calling that bullshit until some concrete evidence appears.
EU lawmakers rebuke China over rare earth curbs before summit
"Two weeks before an EU-China summit at which rare earths are set to be a key topic, EU lawmakers backed a motion saying that China's action was unjustified and had coercive intent and that its "quasi-monopolistic position" gave it enormous leverage. The European Parliament approved the motion by 523 in favour to 75 against, with 14 abstentions. The motion is non-binding but influential, since the parliament is the EU's only directly elected institution."
--- Quite a majority there. This suggests that the EU parliament is not as easily fooled by Chinese promises & "signals" as some governments.
TikTok faces fresh European privacy investigation over China data transfers
"During an earlier investigation, TikTok initially told the regulator it didn’t store European user data in China, and that data was only accessed remotely by staff in China. [...] TikTok noted that it was one that notified the Data Protection Commission, after it embarked on a data localization project called Project Clover that involved building three data centers in Europe to ease security concerns."
--- Well, what good does 'localization' do, if China then has remote access?
Chinese hackers suspected in breach of powerful DC law firm
Rubio meets China's Wang amid trade tensions, says good chance of Trump-Xi talks
US commander says China has failed to coerce rival states in South China Sea
--- China Uncensored features the usual weekend news variety:
--- China Uncensored: Truth about rumors Xi has been purged
--- CNA: What tariffs? In the world's largest wholesale market in China, it's business as usual
Schweiz setzt 4 Millionen für Botschafts-Neubau in den Sand
Volkswagen schließt Werk in China
