CBN丨Chinese vice-premier calls for multilateralism at Davos

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• Chinese vice-premier urged the world to uphold multilateralism at Davos;
• China’s domestic tourist trips top 5.6 billion in 2024, generating 5.75 trillion yuan in revenue.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, making him the first senior leader from China to address global concerns about the country’s economic prospects and foreign policy priorities since Donald Trump kicked off his second term as US president.

The vice-premier emphasized that the world is undergoing rapid and unprecedented changes, with global governance facing profound adjustments. He called for the international community to promote universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, uphold and practice true multilateralism.

China is not pursuing a trade surplus and is willing to import more competitively priced high-quality products and services from abroad to promote balanced trade development, according to Ding. “Protectionism leads no where. Trade war has no winners,” he said.

Ding continued to say that the international community should jointly foster new drivers and strengths for global economic development, enhance connectivity in the digital age, promote international cooperation on scientific and technological innovation.

Ding also shared insights into the key trends shaping China's economy. He said high-quality development is making solid progress in China, and there is evident progress in the transition from traditional growth drivers to new ones, emerging and future industries are booming and new quality productive forces are taking shape at a faster pace.

China, which posted economic growth of 5 percent last year, has pledged to create more jobs, revitalize private and foreign investments and spearhead tech self-reliance to ensure resilience and counter external challenges.

The vice premier noted that this year, China will further intensify macro policies, and adopt a more proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately accommodative monetary policy.

He also called on the international community to jointly tackle major global challenges, such as climate change, food and energy security, and work together to advance the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, thereby gathering formidable strength to overcome difficulties and challenges.

Following his speech, Ding engaged in a discussion with WEF founder Klaus Schwab and met with global financiers including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon during a private luncheon.

Ding also participated in discussions with international business leaders from companies including Siemens and ABB Group, who  expressed strong confidence in China's future development and reaffirmed their commitments to invest in China.

Next on industry and company news

• The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China said on Wednesday that domestic tourism boomed in 2024, with Chinese travelers making 5.615 billion domestic trips, up 724 million from a year earlier, marking a year-on-year growth of 14.8 percent. In terms of spending, domestic tourists spent 5.75 trillion yuan in 2024, up 840 billion yuan from 2023, marking a 17.1-percent increase.
• Chinese New Year's Eve dinner bookings are in high demand, with online reservations tripling year-on-year as of January 16, industry data showed. As of January 16, more than 40,000 restaurants nationwide were offering online reservations, with some allowing installment payments to secure meals and seats, data from Meituan showed. 
• China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will roll out a new round of growth initiatives for 10 key industries, and increase support for major industrial provinces and cities, officials said on Tuesday. The 10 key industries are steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, machinery, automobiles, power equipment, light industry and electronics. These industries together account for about 70 percent of the industrial added value of sectors above the designated size.
• China's sales of mobile phones, tablets, and wearables soared on the first day after several regions launched trade-in programs. Sales of mobile phones and tablets increased by three to five times yesterday when regions gradually began implementing the national subsidy program, according to data released by distributors and online platforms. Manufacturers, such as Huawei, Honer and Apple, have also moved to keep their high-end products below the 6,000-yuan price cap for buyers to get the 15 percent discount offered by a new round of trade-in program.
• China's new energy vehicle industry ranked first worldwide by production and sales for the 10th consecutive year in 2024, according to the country's vice minister for industry and information technology. China produced and sold 12.888 million and 12.866 million NEVs, respectively, last year. The average range of electric cars produced in China approached 500 kilometers, and the country has 12.818 million charging piles and 4,443 battery swap stations, the world's largest network.
• All Chinese primary and secondary schools will have at least one VP for science to promote science education, with scientists and experts from universities, research institutes, and others encouraged to apply for the role, the Ministry of Education announced today.
• Nio has assembled a team of about 20 people to research an AI robot dog project. The team is headed by Xu Kang, a former algorithm expert at autonomous driving startup Momenta, who joined Nio's self-driving division a few years ago.
• ByteDance denied a report that it plans to spend up to USD12.3 billion on AI infrastructure this year, with USD6.8 billion overseas and the rest to buy AI chips in China. The company attaches great importance to AI, but the budget and plan are false, it told media today.

Earnings reports express

• CATL, the world's largest battery maker, dropped nearly 4 percent in morning trading in Shenzhen after the Chinese company warned that its annual revenue fell for the first time last year and that profit grew at its slowest pace since 2019. Despite sales volumes’ growth, CATL said late Tuesday that its revenue fell between 8.7 percent and 11.2 percent last year after it adjusted product prices to reflect a decline in the price of raw materials. Net profit rose between 11.1 percent and 20.1 percent in 2024 from the previous year, marking its slowest growth since 2019. Meanwhile, CATL’s co-chairman Pan Jian revealed at the ongoing Davos forum that the firm is expected to unveil a new JV plant project with European carmakers this year.
• Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology and its livestreaming e-commerce unit East Buy slumped due to weak revenue guidelines of the Chinese educational services giant. New Oriental expected its total net revenues, excluding revenues generated from East Buy private label products and livestreaming business, to range from USD1 billion to USD1.03 billion in the three months ending February, much weaker than market expectations. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-listed East Buy logged a net loss of nearly 96.8 million yuan in the fiscal first half of 2024, compared with a net profit of 160.7 million yuan a year earlier, while revenue fell 9.3 percent to 2.2 billion yuan, after the departure of its most popular live sales host Dong Yuhui in July.

Switching gears to financial news

• China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 10.5 percent year-on-year in 2024, which amounted to USD143.85 billion, data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Commerce shows.

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

• Chinese stocks fell on Wednesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite down 0.9 percent and the Shenzhen Component sliding 0.8 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.6 percent and the TECH index dropped 2.4 percent.

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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