Chinese lenders plan to steer more money toward technology and innovation-oriented firms, bankers say, responding to Beijing's pledge to aggressively adopt artificial intelligence throughout the economy and dominate emerging sectors, Reuters reports. The credit-allocation shift toward tech is ​well underway and is set to accelerate further under the government's plans, unveiled last week, to go all-in on technologies from AI, semiconductors to advanced manufacturing, ‌they said.

China’s domestic passenger car sales fell sharply in February from a year earlier, industry figures showed Wednesday, reflecting weakening demand as some trade-in subsidies are phased out, Bloomberg News reported. Only 950,000 units of passenger cars were sold in China last month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, down from nearly 1.4 million vehicles sold in January. It was the fourth straight month of year-on-year declines.

China's exports jumped nearly 22% in the first two months of the year from a year earlier, powered by a surge in shipments of computer chips, autos and electronics, the Associated Press reported. 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. Shipments to the U.S. fell 11% in January and February, narrowing from a 30% drop in December. Exports to the European Union increased almost 28% while those to Latin America climbed 16%.

With oil prices surging and the conflict in the Middle East intensifying, the economic stakes for China are rising, the New York Times reported. The cost of oil on Monday hit levels not seen in four years, one week after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, an ally and financial partner to China. Fighting has halted virtually all traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for China’s energy and goods. China has a lot to lose in a widening conflict. In Iran, China found a cheap source of oil in recent years.

Every March, China’s leaders gather in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to announce how much the world’s second-largest economy is expected to grow that year. It doesn’t change much from year to year. The target for 2026 was set on Thursday at between 4.5 percent and 5 percent. It was the first time in more than three decades that the benchmark was placed below the 5 percent mark, and represents an official acknowledgment that China is on a slower growth path.

China’s progress in building a modern economy is hitting limits as a downturn in its housing industry drags on, small businesses suffer and young people struggle to find jobs, the Associated Press reported. 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.

In decades past, China’s ascendent middle class flocked to booming megacities to chase jobs and dreams, once abundant as the country went from rags to riches. But as the once red-hot economy cooled, expectations have soared, opportunities have dwindled and competition has grown fierce, the Associated Press reported. Most large Chinese companies, especially high-paying tech firms, requires a work schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, a grueling lifestyle popularly known as the 996 culture.

China said on Wednesday it had already met obligations linked to Washington's Section 301 unfair trade practices statute, after the U.S. Trade Representative signalled he would continue investigations that could lead to more tariffs, Reuters reported. Beijing made an agreement with the United States linked to that statute in 2020, a spokesperson from China's Commerce Ministry said. China hoped the U.S. would not "shift responsibility" or "provoke trouble" but will instead see that the agreement had been implemented, the spokesperson added in a statement. U.S.