Day: November 9, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for letting the internet better benefit people of all countries when he addressed the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit via video.

Xi said that the vision of jointly building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, which he proposed at the second WIC in 2015, has garnered widespread international recognition and positive responses.

The vision answers the questions of our times related to resolving the development deficit, addressing security challenges, and enhancing mutual learning between civilizations, Xi said.

Xi stressed that the international community needs to deepen exchanges and practical cooperation to jointly advance the building of a community with a shared future in cyberspace to a new stage.

He called for prioritizing development to let the fruits of internet development benefit more countries and people.

Xi emphasized the need to improve public access to information-based services, bridge the digital divide, and improve people’s livelihood with internet development.

Calling for building a more peaceful and secure cyberspace, Xi stressed the need to respect cyber sovereignty and each country’s way of internet governance and the need to oppose seeking hegemony, bloc confrontation and arms race in cyberspace.

Xi went on to underscore the need to crack down on cyber crimes, strengthen data security and personal information protection, and properly respond to the risks and challenges brought by sci-tech development to rules, society and ethics.

China is willing to work with all parties to implement the Global Artificial Intelligence Governance Initiative and promote the safe development of AI, Xi said.

He also called for building a more equal and inclusive cyberspace. He stressed the need to better promote the shared values of humanity.

Xi underlined more high-quality online cultural products and efforts to fully showcase the outstanding achievements of human civilizations and actively promote civilization preservation and development.

France offered support for Israel after a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas Islamists, yet Israel’s retaliatory bombardment has raised concerns as civilian casualties have soared. Thousands have been killed, wounded and displaced in Gaza.

“It’s not a secret for anybody that access is difficult today in Gaza for basic necessities, medicines, water, etc… So the object is really to work with all the participants and also with Israel … to allow improved access,” a French presidential official told reporters ahead of the conference.

The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister will be present, but Israel was not invited. French officials said Israel was being kept informed of developments.

The conference brings together regional stakeholders such as Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf Arab countries as well as Western powers and G20 members except for Russia. International institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Gaza, such as Doctors Without Borders, are also due to attend.

However, few heads of state, government or foreign ministers will attend, and NGOs have been critical that there is not more pressure at the conference for a cease-fire.

“It will be an exercise in repeating the national positions, saying what each state has given and will give, that civilians have to be protected and international humanitarian law kept to,” said one European diplomat.

French officials hope it will lay the groundwork for a swift international response when there is an actual pause in the fighting.

There will be some effort to mobilize financial resources with several sectors identified for emergency support based on U.N. assessments of the $1.1 billion of immediate needs and the opening of strictly humanitarian crossing points into Gaza.

France is due to announce an increase in its commitments.

Reestablishing the supply of water, fuel and electricity would be under discussion, while ensuring accountability processes to ensure aid was not diverted to Hamas.

There will be a discussion to set up a maritime corridor to use sea lanes to ship humanitarian aid into Gaza and see how ships could be used to help evacuate the wounded.

Talks will also assess the prospect for establishing field hospitals, although diplomats have said Egypt is reluctant to host a multitude of hospitals on its territory while setting them up in Gaza seems difficult without a humanitarian pause or cease-fire.

Without buy-in from Israel or Hamas for a pause there is little prospect of things moving quickly.

“We expect that the conference on humanitarian issues in Gaza will certainly raise the issue of the 241 Israeli hostages, who are in Gaza, including babies, children, women and the elderly,” an Israeli official told Reuters.

“This is a first-rate humanitarian issue and the international community has to discuss this topic as part of a humanitarian discussion on Gaza.”

The French presidency official said the issue would be on the table.

The consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.2% in October from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday, a faster decline than the 0.1% fall expected in a Reuters poll.

The headline figure was dragged by a further slump in pork prices, down 30.1%, speeding up from a 22% slide in September, amid an oversupply of pigs and weak demand.

However, even core inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices, slowed to 0.6% in October from 0.8% in September, pointing to China’s continued battle with disinflationary forces and the risk of again missing the government’s full-year headline inflation target, set around 3%.

Consumer prices slipped into deflation in July and returned to positive territory in August but were flat in September. Factory deflation persisted for the 13th straight month in October.

Combined with other economic indicators, the data in the fourth quarter so far suggests a meaningful economic recovery remains elusive. 

“The data shows combating persistent disinflation amid weak demand remains a challenge for Chinese policymakers,” said Bruce Pang, chief economist at Jones Lang Lasalle.

“An appropriate policy mix and more supportive measures are needed to prevent the economy from a downward drift in inflation expectations that could threaten business confidence and household spending,” he said.

Month-on-month, CPI fell 0.1%, compared with a 0.2% gain in September.

The producer price index fell 2.6% year-on-year against a 2.5% drop in September. Economists had predicted a 2.7% fall in October.

Authorities have repeatedly downplayed the risks. 

“There is no deflation in China and there will be no deflation in the future,” said a statistics bureau official in August.

Beijing has been ramping up measures to support the broader economy, including 1 trillion yuan ($137.43 billion) in sovereign bond issuance and a move to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas.

But a property crisis, local debt risks and policy divergence with the West all complicate the recovery process.

Recent indicators of the economy have been mixed. 

China’s imports unexpectedly grew in October while exports contracted at a quicker pace. Meanwhile, the official purchasing managers’ index showed factory activity unexpectedly contracting and services activity slowing last month.

China also recorded its first-ever quarterly deficit in foreign direct investment (FDI), underlining capital outflow pressure following Western governments’ “de-risking” moves.

“We expect China’s economy to grow by 5.0% in 2023, in accordance with the target set by authorities, followed by 4.0% growth in 2024 and 2025,” said Moody’s on Thursday. “However, we see downside risks to China’s trend growth on account of structural factors.”