CBN丨Government authorities set 2024 policy course with emphasis on innovation

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.Coming up on today’s program.Central government departments list innovation at forefront of 2024 tasks;Xiaomi unveils first electric car, plans to become top automaker.Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours Following China's tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month, various government authorities have convened meetings, making specific arrangements to anchor the growth momentum of the Chinese economy in 2024.Multiple central government departments have aligned their new work plans with a strong emphasis on technological innovation, as the Central Economic Work Conference has declared that "Sci-tech innovation should lead the development of a modern industrial system" as the foremost priority for next year's economic work. In a meeting with the heads of China's central state-owned enterprises, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council vowed to improve the intensity of research and development investment and technological output efficiency, among the key tasks for 2024.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) highlighted key tasks including promoting stable growth in the industrial economy, enhancing industrial technological innovation and fostering the development of emerging industries. While the Ministry of Science and Technology proposed five key tasks for 2024, stressing breakthroughs in key core technologies related to China's development and national security, development of forward-looking and leading technologies, and creation of a favorable environment to support technology self-reliance.Fiscal and financial departments have pledged to prop up the country's sci-tech innovation drive accordingly. A key meeting of the Ministry of Finance stressed the importance of fully supporting key core technologies and ensuring funding for major scientific projects, while the National Financial Regulatory Administration vowed to facilitate the development of new productive forces and the building of a modern industrial system.The national fiscal work conference also focused on implementing another key decision of the Central Economic Work Conference, namely expanding domestic demand while tapping consumption potential and expanding effective investment.In this regard, the fiscal conference called for efforts including advancing the national unified market, leveraging the additional government bonds effectively, and consolidating the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment.In a similar vein, another meeting on national development and reform work also emphasized the effective usage of the additional 1-trillion-yuan of government bonds, government investment within the central budget plan and local government special bonds.The Ministry of Commerce, on the other hand, concentrated on pushing consumption from post-pandemic recovery mode to broader expansion, promoting the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones, and easing the market access in service industries such as telecommunications and healthcare, among other moves.Moving on to regional highlightsChina's first indigenously developed automated container terminal in Qingdao, Shandong province, began operations on Wednesday, marking a significant step forward by the nation in achieving core competitiveness in the ports sector. A total of over 200 loading machines of the automated port can be remotely operated by workers, which can save 80 percent of manpower and lift 30 percent of efficiency over a traditional dock, and the constructors and research team of the dock realized localization across over 28,000 parts, said Shandong Port Group Co.Greater Bay Area, Greater futureHong Kong on Wednesday published a public consultation paper to gather views on a legislative proposal to regulate issuers of stablecoin — digital tokens that are pegged to an existing currency or commodity. The paper, jointly issued by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), came as the SAR government considers introducing a regulatory regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers given the important roles played by the tokens in the virtual asset ecosystem, and the rising interconnectedness between the traditional financial system and the digital asset markets, according to an official statement announcing the consultation. The legislative proposal includes introducing new legislation to implement a licensing regime requiring all fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers that meet certain conditions to be licensed by the HKMA. The consultation period will last until Feb 29. More than five million families in China have net assets of six million yuan, with most of them concentrated in Guangdong, while Hong Kong SAR ranks fifth in China. A recent report from Hurun Research Institute on cash flow management among high-net-worth families in China reveals that there are 5.18 million households with net assets of six million yuan, 2.11 million households with net assets of 10 million yuan, and 138,000 households with net assets of 100 million yuan. Guangdong leads with the highest number of high-net-worth families at 307,000, followed by Beijing with 306,000, and Shanghai with 271,000.Shenzhen recently issued new regulations to promote the high-quality development of the city's low-altitude economy. Companies that newly start low-altitude logistics and delivery routes in Shenzhen will be awarded up to 20 million yuan every year, the Shenzhen government's information office said yesterday. From the qualified companies, those that are newly settled in Shenzhen, have a paid-up capital exceeding 20 million yuan, and research, develop, and manufacture electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and large and medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles or focus on R&D and production of related core parts and components and the relevant commercial operation, will be given the "settlement rewards," according to the rules issued by the Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau and six other departments. The reward equals 5 percent of their paid-up capital in the next year, with a cap of 20 million yuan.Next on industry and company newsChinese smartphone maker Xiaomi took the wraps off its first electric vehicle on Thursday and promptly announced it was aiming to become one of world's top five automakers. The sedan, dubbed the SU7, is a highly anticipated model that is expected to make the most of its shared operating system with the company's popular phones. Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun described it as "a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla” at the event, saying that the firm will become one of the world's top 5 automakers by working hard over the next 15 to 20 years. The Xiaomi-branded cars will be produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group in a Beijing factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Major Chinese e-commerce platforms including Taobao and JD.com implement the "refund only" policy amid fiercer competition to retain customers. Taobao officially started the policy on Tuesday. Based on the platform's big data capabilities combining with the multidimensional recognition, Taobao will make a decision on either applying the "quick refund" or "returning the product for the refund" policy when consumers make requests for after-sales services. JD.com will start implementing the "refund only" policy starting on Friday. The policy was initiated by Pinduoduo in the beginning of 2021.JD.Com said it will increase the fixed salary of its frontline procurement and sales employees by almost 100 percent from the start of next year. The procurement and sales staff greatly contributed to JD's business performance, th firm said late yesterday. All workers at its unit JD Retail will also get an average pay raise of at least 20 percent, it added. The livestream sales model has brought a lot of online traffic to JD.Com, with more than 380 million viewers tuning in to its live broadcast sale studio on Nov. 11, the biggest annual shopping event in China, according to data from the company.East Buy Holding's shares jumped after the Chinese livestream e-commerce site said its board of directors approved a plan to sell its educational business to its parent firm New Oriental Education and Technology Group for 1.5 billion yuan. East Buy has positioned itself as a live-streaming platform focusing on selecting and providing quality products for consumers, the firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday.  New World Development and China Resources Land said they will jointly build a major housing project in Hong Kong's Northern Metropolis next year. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the two developers said the project will create around 1,800 homes in the SAR government-led property development in the northern New Territories. The project has an estimated market valuation of HKD10 billion, according to a source.Sam's Club, a unit of US retail giant Walmart, has opened its sixth membership-only store in Shanghai. The new store began operations today in the eastern Chinese megacity's Jiading district. Sam's Club opened its first outlet in Shanghai in 2010 and the fifth about seven months ago. Sam's Club entered China in 1996 and has since then opened 47 stores in 25 Chinese cities. It plans to open six to seven new stores each year in the future.Switching gears to financial newsChina added an expected sum of 1.8 trillion yuan of tax and fee cuts or deferrals in the first 11 months of this year to accelerate economic recovery, per the State Taxation Administration. Almost 74 percent of the headline figure was made up of tax and fee savings of private firms and self-employed taxpayers. Within different sectors, the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail industry got 42 percent of the savings. Most of the big sum went to micro, small, and medium-sized firms, making up 62 percent of the total.Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock marketChinese stocks advanced on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite gaining 0.5 percent and the Shenzhen Component rising 0.4 percent. Hong Kong stocks continued to rally, as the Hang Seng index jumped 2.5 percent and the TECH index surged 3.4 percent.Biz Word of the DayFiat-referenced stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain its value on par with sovereign currencies like the U.S. or Hong Kong dollar.