30/12/2022 l China will show its resilience again in 2023 - Bart Horsten
At the end of 2022, China’s Covid measures have seen drastic changes, with eased local rules regarding nucleic acid testing, full accessibility of public transport and venues and the complete abolishment of the Health Code system. This has caused a major outbreak of Covid-19 across China, with a large part of the population being affected, causing quite some chaos in hospitals and medicine supplies. Although from abroad you may have had the impression that there was a ‘standstill&rs...
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At the end of 2022, China’s Covid measures have seen drastic changes, with eased local rules regarding nucleic acid testing, full accessibility of public transport and venues and the complete abolishment of the Health Code system. This has caused a major outbreak of Covid-19 across China, with a large part of the population being affected, causing quite some chaos in hospitals and medicine supplies. Although from abroad you may have had the impression that there was a ‘standstill&rs...
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29/12/2022 l Bridging three years of Covid in China
Just after Christmas, as could be expected after the abolishment of the zero-Covid policy, China announced the opening of its borders and the abandonment of the quarantine for foreign travelers from 8 January 2023 onwards. This is a major change after three years of isolation of China for foreign business travellers. Before we look forward to what’s to be expected in 2023, let’s look back to the past three years one more time. With our permanent office and loyal team in...
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Just after Christmas, as could be expected after the abolishment of the zero-Covid policy, China announced the opening of its borders and the abandonment of the quarantine for foreign travelers from 8 January 2023 onwards. This is a major change after three years of isolation of China for foreign business travellers. Before we look forward to what’s to be expected in 2023, let’s look back to the past three years one more time. With our permanent office and loyal team in...
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13/11/2022 l Xi leads China into a new era
Please note that the views expressed in this article are those from Koen De Leus (Chief Economist BNP Paribas Fortis) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Horsten International. At the Chinese Party Congress in mid-October, Xi outlined the contours of the Chinese future in his speech “The New Era Needs New Development Pattern”. China has been officially poverty-free since 2021. The country aims to evolve into a moderately developed country by 2035. By 2049, China should be a ...
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Please note that the views expressed in this article are those from Koen De Leus (Chief Economist BNP Paribas Fortis) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Horsten International. At the Chinese Party Congress in mid-October, Xi outlined the contours of the Chinese future in his speech “The New Era Needs New Development Pattern”. China has been officially poverty-free since 2021. The country aims to evolve into a moderately developed country by 2035. By 2049, China should be a ...
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28/09/2022 l Opportunities in Inner Mongolia for foreign companies
Inner Mongolia is an Autonomous Region located in the north of China, stretching about 2400 kilometers long from east to west and with a maximum span of more than 1700 kilometers from north to south, accounting for 12.3% of the total land area of China. In 2021, the region achieved a GDP of CNY 2051.42 billion (USD 306 billion). In the same period, the total import and export value of the region’s increased with 17.2% year-on-year. On 21 September, during a webinar of th...
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Inner Mongolia is an Autonomous Region located in the north of China, stretching about 2400 kilometers long from east to west and with a maximum span of more than 1700 kilometers from north to south, accounting for 12.3% of the total land area of China. In 2021, the region achieved a GDP of CNY 2051.42 billion (USD 306 billion). In the same period, the total import and export value of the region’s increased with 17.2% year-on-year. On 21 September, during a webinar of th...
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22/09/2022 l Belgian trade balance with China
According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Belgian exports to China accounted for EUR 8.0 billion in 2021. China is Belgium’s 3rd biggest export country outside of Europe, taking up 1.8% of total Belgian exports, behind the United States (7.1%) and Japan (2.1%). This is a 5.9% decrease, as compared to 2020. The biggest product category was chemicals and pharmaceuticals (31.7%), followed by machinery & equipment (16.8%) and plastics (10.9%). As can be s...
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According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Belgian exports to China accounted for EUR 8.0 billion in 2021. China is Belgium’s 3rd biggest export country outside of Europe, taking up 1.8% of total Belgian exports, behind the United States (7.1%) and Japan (2.1%). This is a 5.9% decrease, as compared to 2020. The biggest product category was chemicals and pharmaceuticals (31.7%), followed by machinery & equipment (16.8%) and plastics (10.9%). As can be s...
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16/09/2022 l China’s Economic Outlook 2nd half of 2022
According to the World Bank, China’s economy is projected to slow down to 4.3% in the year 2022 (from an official GDP growth target of around 5.5%). Standard Chartered Bank saw positive signs of China avoiding a contraction in the second quarter of 2022, despite well-known issues causing this slowdown, such as Covid-related shutdowns and measures, shortages of energy, weak consumption, falling housing prices and other real estate issues, growing unemployment rates and global repercussions ...
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According to the World Bank, China’s economy is projected to slow down to 4.3% in the year 2022 (from an official GDP growth target of around 5.5%). Standard Chartered Bank saw positive signs of China avoiding a contraction in the second quarter of 2022, despite well-known issues causing this slowdown, such as Covid-related shutdowns and measures, shortages of energy, weak consumption, falling housing prices and other real estate issues, growing unemployment rates and global repercussions ...
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31/08/2022 l Update about Travel Restrictions to China for Belgian citizens
The summer holiday has passed, but unfortunately, two years and a half after the first Covid-19 outbreak, we are still not able to report the good news that you will be able to travel to China again without quarantine measures, regular testing and administrative hassles. In this article we have prepared the latest update. For updated information, we advise you to check the official websites. The timing of China’s re-opening to the world for regular travel is still difficult to predict. Th...
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The summer holiday has passed, but unfortunately, two years and a half after the first Covid-19 outbreak, we are still not able to report the good news that you will be able to travel to China again without quarantine measures, regular testing and administrative hassles. In this article we have prepared the latest update. For updated information, we advise you to check the official websites. The timing of China’s re-opening to the world for regular travel is still difficult to predict. Th...
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17/08/2022 l Five reasons to keep China on your radar - Interview with Bart Horsten
The Belgian-Chinese Chamber (BCECC) interviewed Bart Horsten about his advice to European companies which have decided to put their China plans on hold or even abandon them entirely. Bart Horsten (middle), together with his two brothers Tom (left) and Wim (right) Due to the pandemic and the ongoing geopolitical and supply chain challenges during the past 2.5 years, European importers and exporters are looking for alternatives for their China business. Companies sourcing products or raw ma...
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The Belgian-Chinese Chamber (BCECC) interviewed Bart Horsten about his advice to European companies which have decided to put their China plans on hold or even abandon them entirely. Bart Horsten (middle), together with his two brothers Tom (left) and Wim (right) Due to the pandemic and the ongoing geopolitical and supply chain challenges during the past 2.5 years, European importers and exporters are looking for alternatives for their China business. Companies sourcing products or raw ma...
> read more
28/07/2022 l 14 Chinese brands in the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking
On 16 June, Kantar Group, a global brand data and analysis company, released the ‘2022 Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands’ list. In 2006, only one Chinese brand (China Mobile) featured in the Top 100. Fast forward to 2022, and the list already includes 14 Chinese brands, demonstrating China’s growing power in the global economy. American brands Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft are still leading the list, with Tencent following as the first non-US brand and th...
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On 16 June, Kantar Group, a global brand data and analysis company, released the ‘2022 Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands’ list. In 2006, only one Chinese brand (China Mobile) featured in the Top 100. Fast forward to 2022, and the list already includes 14 Chinese brands, demonstrating China’s growing power in the global economy. American brands Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft are still leading the list, with Tencent following as the first non-US brand and th...
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13/07/2022 l Foreign Direct Investment into China recovering
China is still struggling to get out of the Covid-crisis. In the past articles, we already talked about these challenges, including lockdowns, supply chain issues, sluggish retail sales and industrial production declines in China. However, in recent months, we also noticed some positive signs, such as the positive evolution of increasing foreign direct investments (FDI) into China and foreign trade data. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in China Western observers claim that China's zero covi...
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China is still struggling to get out of the Covid-crisis. In the past articles, we already talked about these challenges, including lockdowns, supply chain issues, sluggish retail sales and industrial production declines in China. However, in recent months, we also noticed some positive signs, such as the positive evolution of increasing foreign direct investments (FDI) into China and foreign trade data. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in China Western observers claim that China's zero covi...
> read more