China

China's government devoted the week to a red carpet welcome for foreign executives to try to halt a retreat in corporate investment from a market once seen as the engine of global growth, Reuters reported. But many executives leave China with a shared caution: While things may not be getting worse, the risks of an expansion in China still outweigh the rewards, they say. In a series of high-profile events, Chinese officials pledged equal treatment for foreign firms, expressed confidence China will hit its 5% growth target this year and President Xi Jinping held an audience with 15 U.S.

A sentence from a months-old speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping has sparked speculation the central bank might start aggressively buying government bonds to support the economy, a stimulus measure China has long shunned, Reuters reported. But most analysts say the People's Bank of China (PBOC) will stick with traditional tools rather than resorting to massive liquidity injections through "quantitative easing" (QE), as some major economies such as Japan and the United States have done.

In a sign of easing tensions between Australia and China, China said Thursday that it would lift the tariffs it placed on Australian wine more than three years ago, the New York Times reported. The tariffs, which were first imposed in 2020 amid a nasty diplomatic spat between Australia and China, had all but vaporized the country’s biggest overseas market, worth 1.2 billion Australian dollars or around $800 million at its peak. Australian winemakers faced desperate hardship and were stuck with a surfeit of big-bodied red wines.

LGD, a Chinese esports team, was regarded as the region’s dominant Dota 2 team, but there have been rumors circulating for the past week suggesting that the company may be close to filing for bankruptcy, Betus.com reported. A YouTube video featuring a montage of words from Wang “Ame” Chunyu, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi, Lin “planet” Hao, and other former and current Dota 2 players affiliated with LGD Gaming was uploaded on March 24, 2024. The statements alluded to the organization’s impending bankruptcy.

Country Garden has hired Kroll to carry out a liquidation analysis ahead of a court hearing in mid-May, according to three sources, as the embattled Chinese developer pushes ahead with its offshore debt restructuring plan, Reuters reported. China's biggest private developer is facing a liquidation petition for nonpayment of a $205 million loan, with a court hearing in the case set for May 17. Companies that are restructuring their debt normally conduct an independent liquidation analysis to assess potential recovery rates for creditors that they can present in court, legal experts said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called out China’s ramped-up production in solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world,” the Associated Press reported.

Massive layoffs, production cuts, project delays and cancellations, Bloomberg reported. As China’s world-leading solar manufacturers grapple with excess capacity and a fierce price war, the industry looks poised to enter a period of brutal consolidation. There have been no reports of major bankruptcies yet, but Longi Green Energy Technology Co.’s warning in May that more than half the nation’s solar companies could go under no longer seems far-fetched. Previously reliant on subsidies and fickle technological trends, solar has a history of boom-and-bust cycles.

Before China came to dominate the solar panel industry, Germany led the way, the Wall Street Journal reported. It was the world’s largest producer of solar panels, with several start-ups clustered in the former East Germany, until about a decade ago when China ramped up production and undercut just about everyone on price. Now as Germany and the rest of Europe try to reach ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the demand for solar panels has only increased. Some of the last remaining manufacturers in Germany’s solar industry are not ready to give up.

Foreign investment flows into China shrank 19.9% in January-February from a year earlier to 215.1 billion yuan ($30 billion), data from the commerce ministry showed on Friday, even as the government gears up to woo foreign firms, Reuters reported. China's cabinet on Tuesday unveiled new steps to arrest a slowdown in foreign investment, including expanding market access and relaxing some rules.

Chinese property developer Evergrande Group says it will withdraw the application for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection that it filed with a U.S. court last August, NHK World reported. The heavily indebted developer has been discussing with creditors how to repay its foreign-currency-denominated debts since it filed for chapter 15 protection. But the liquidation order made by a Hong Kong high court in January made it virtually impossible for the company to implement the debt-restructuring plan.