Latest news with #Qiushi
Bloomberg
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China's Car Wars Seen Lasting for Years Despite Leaders' Angst
I'm Chris Anstey, an economics editor in Boston. Today we're looking at China's concerns about excessive competition. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@ And if you aren't yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here. You know something's important in China when the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, carries it on the front page. All the more so when Qiushi, the party's theoretical journal, chimes in.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China Communist Party magazine calls for crackdown on price wars
HONG KONG (Reuters) -A prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on forms of competition that fuel price wars and squeeze profits in various industries, criticising big firms and local governments for unfair practices. In the most strongly-worded Communist Party warning yet on the risks of industrial overcapacity, the Qiushi article on Tuesday said the phenomenon brings "enormous waste of social resources," and unsustainable debt that could endanger long-term growth. The article, written under a pseudonym, focused on "involutionary competition" in which it said firms and local governments invest vast amounts of capital to chase market share in an environment of limited demand, while failing to achieve revenue growth. It singled out industries such as photovoltaics, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and e-commerce platforms. To cut costs, some companies compromise on product quality, Qiushi said, disincentivising innovation and investment in research and development and harming consumer interests as "bad money drives out good money." Other firms are using resources to expand capacity, while delaying payments to suppliers and contractors, squeezing the entire industrial chain. E-commerce platforms compete on prices by using their advantageous position to transfer pressure on the merchants using them to get through to customers, Qiushi said. The magazine also offered some rare criticism of local officials, accusing them of both "absence and overreach." Officials should step in more as regulations have not kept up with the development of new industries and business models, it said. Bankruptcy mechanisms are also "imperfect," preventing curbs to excessive supply. On the other hand, some local governments, focused on short-term growth, attract investment by "artificially creating policy havens" with preferential taxes, fees, subsidies and land use, as well as protectionist measures. Many economists have warned Beijing for years that high levels of state-guided investment and subdued domestic demand - caused in part by a feeble social safety net and deep rural-urban inequalities - leave China overly dependent on exports for growth, and pose debt and deflation risks similar to what Japan experienced in the 1990s. Qiushi did not mention deflation, but warned that China might suffer from "development model path dependence" and needed supply-side reforms that reduce excess industrial capacity and a strategy to expand domestic demand. It warned, however, that this would take time. "Rectifying 'involutionary' competition is a complex systematic engineering project that cannot be accomplished overnight or with a single decisive move," the magazine wrote. (Writing by Marius ZahariaEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
Reuters
02-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China Communist Party magazine calls for crackdown on price wars
HONG KONG, July 2 (Reuters) - A prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on forms of competition that fuel price wars and squeeze profits in various industries, criticising big firms and local governments for unfair practices. In the most strongly-worded Communist Party warning yet on the risks of industrial overcapacity, the Qiushi article on Tuesday said the phenomenon brings "enormous waste of social resources," and unsustainable debt that could endanger long-term growth. The article, written under a pseudonym, focused on "involutionary competition" in which it said firms and local governments invest vast amounts of capital to chase market share in an environment of limited demand, while failing to achieve revenue growth. It singled out industries such as photovoltaics, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and e-commerce platforms. To cut costs, some companies compromise on product quality, Qiushi said, disincentivising innovation and investment in research and development and harming consumer interests as "bad money drives out good money." Other firms are using resources to expand capacity, while delaying payments to suppliers and contractors, squeezing the entire industrial chain. E-commerce platforms compete on prices by using their advantageous position to transfer pressure on the merchants using them to get through to customers, Qiushi said. The magazine also offered some rare criticism of local officials, accusing them of both "absence and overreach." Officials should step in more as regulations have not kept up with the development of new industries and business models, it said. Bankruptcy mechanisms are also "imperfect," preventing curbs to excessive supply. On the other hand, some local governments, focused on short-term growth, attract investment by "artificially creating policy havens" with preferential taxes, fees, subsidies and land use, as well as protectionist measures. Many economists have warned Beijing for years that high levels of state-guided investment and subdued domestic demand - caused in part by a feeble social safety net and deep rural-urban inequalities - leave China overly dependent on exports for growth, and pose debt and deflation risks similar to what Japan experienced in the 1990s. Qiushi did not mention deflation, but warned that China might suffer from "development model path dependence" and needed supply-side reforms that reduce excess industrial capacity and a strategy to expand domestic demand. It warned, however, that this would take time. "Rectifying 'involutionary' competition is a complex systematic engineering project that cannot be accomplished overnight or with a single decisive move," the magazine wrote.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China Communist Party magazine calls for crackdown on price wars
HONG KONG (Reuters) -A prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on forms of competition that fuel price wars and squeeze profits in various industries, criticising big firms and local governments for unfair practices. In the most strongly-worded Communist Party warning yet on the risks of industrial overcapacity, the Qiushi article on Tuesday said the phenomenon brings "enormous waste of social resources," and unsustainable debt that could endanger long-term growth. The article, written under a pseudonym, focused on "involutionary competition" in which it said firms and local governments invest vast amounts of capital to chase market share in an environment of limited demand, while failing to achieve revenue growth. It singled out industries such as photovoltaics, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and e-commerce platforms. To cut costs, some companies compromise on product quality, Qiushi said, disincentivising innovation and investment in research and development and harming consumer interests as "bad money drives out good money." Other firms are using resources to expand capacity, while delaying payments to suppliers and contractors, squeezing the entire industrial chain. E-commerce platforms compete on prices by using their advantageous position to transfer pressure on the merchants using them to get through to customers, Qiushi said. The magazine also offered some rare criticism of local officials, accusing them of both "absence and overreach." Officials should step in more as regulations have not kept up with the development of new industries and business models, it said. Bankruptcy mechanisms are also "imperfect," preventing curbs to excessive supply. On the other hand, some local governments, focused on short-term growth, attract investment by "artificially creating policy havens" with preferential taxes, fees, subsidies and land use, as well as protectionist measures. Many economists have warned Beijing for years that high levels of state-guided investment and subdued domestic demand - caused in part by a feeble social safety net and deep rural-urban inequalities - leave China overly dependent on exports for growth, and pose debt and deflation risks similar to what Japan experienced in the 1990s. Qiushi did not mention deflation, but warned that China might suffer from "development model path dependence" and needed supply-side reforms that reduce excess industrial capacity and a strategy to expand domestic demand. It warned, however, that this would take time. "Rectifying 'involutionary' competition is a complex systematic engineering project that cannot be accomplished overnight or with a single decisive move," the magazine wrote. (Writing by Marius ZahariaEditing by Shri Navaratnam) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Star
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
China urges officials to rein in overzealous dining austerity measures
Leading publications of China's ruling Communist Party have urged local governments to implement strictures on lavish banquets carefully, an attempt to temper overzealousness amid concerns from the country's beleaguered food and beverage industry. Qiushi, the party's theoretical journal, said in a commentary piece on Friday that recent affirmations of the need for frugality in official meals are intended to limit extravagant practices, not ordinary dining. 'Some local governments scrutinise every meal gathering and intervene in every banquet. Some agencies, to 'avoid trouble', simply cancel all official receptions. Some cadres even go so far as to avoid normal working meals,' the piece read. Such 'oversimplified' measures have complicated understanding of the regulations in question, derailing their original intention and bringing 'unnecessary shocks to the catering industry'. Curbs on perceived excess in official meals spread across the country in May after the party's Central Committee and the State Council, the national cabinet, released their 'Regulations on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Bodies'. The document stipulates rules for receptions involving government officials or employees of state-backed organs, banning 'high-end dishes', cigarettes and liquor at these events. Localities, to demonstrate their compliance, have rolled out their own guidelines on the matter, with some extreme cases receiving media attention. Earlier this month, two bank managers in the central province of Anhui were each fined 3,000 yuan (US$417) for accepting bowls of noodles priced at around 6 yuan (83 US cents) each from a client, according to Yangcheng Evening News, an official publication of the southern city of Guangzhou. '[Some places] ban officials from drinking alcohol 24 hours a day, limit attendants at meals to three heads, or mandate bill splitting ... There have been some misinterpretations of the regulations,' state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary on Thursday. 'Addressing illicit feasting and promoting normal consumption and market prosperity are not mutually exclusive,' Xinhua said. 'This must not negatively impact the normal operations of the catering industry or the public's regular consumption.' In its Friday commentary, Qiushi told government agencies to assess cases comprehensively based on 'reception standards, sources of funds, the relationships between participants' and other factors to identify non-compliant meals. 'This protects compliant officials, respects normal social interactions among friends and family and avoids disrupting regular dining activities.' On Tuesday, People's Daily also warned of consequences for the catering industry and the economy as a whole if the regulations continued to be excessively enforced. 'When restaurants lose their customers, what disappears is more than just the vibrancy of life; it is also service staff's wages, orders for farmers and supply chain flows,' the Communist Party paper said. 'The cost of these escalating measures ultimately falls on the shoulders of labourers.' According to government data, 34.35 million people were working in China's food and hospitality industries as of the end of 2023. Among them, 25.41 million were employed by individual operators. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
