Weblog with daily updates of the news on a frugal, fair and beautiful China, from the perspective of internet entrepreneur, new media advisor and president of the China Speakers Bureau Fons Tuinstra
China’s President Xi Jinping met last week with the country’s major tech leaders, for the first time he did so since 2018. Business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China’s Economy in the New World Order, discusses the importance of this policy change after the country’s tech industry suffered from a major crackdown in the past years, he tells at the Thinkers Forum. China’s industrial leaders heard it is ok to make money again after a long time, he added
According to Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein in The Global View, capital is moving back to China, and the country will be back in business in six to 12 months. In the short run investors in the stock markets have to be careful, as China’s stock markets behave more like volatile retail markets where institutional investors have little influence. He adds that the tech markets will especially be booming again now Xi Jinping showed his full support for the sector.
China’s consumers turn to local brands because they tend to be cheaper than international brands, and because of patriotism because of the US-China trade war, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein to CNBC. Anti-US sentiment was already virulent under Biden because of anti-Chinese measures. Under Trump that has not yet improved, adds Shaun Rein, but the Chinese hope Trump is more transactional than Biden was.
Business analyst Shaun Rein looks at the nervewracking few weeks for the global IT industry, starting with the DeekSeek moment of fame, proving that China was way ahead of the US competition in AI. Also, TikTok, Trump’s curtailing of Nvidia, RedNote’s success, censorship in the US, and Silicon Valley get his verdict on East-West Investment opportunities.
Business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China’s Economy in the New World Order, dives into the future of EU-China relations, as Trump is getting settle for his second term as US president. He discusses the currently hostile relationship between some of the EU leaders and how the European continent can move ahead with a better relationship with China, more independent from the United States, he tells Volker Friedrich.
‘Trump will use a shock and awe strategy to control China, similar to his tactics with Denmark, Greenland, Canada, Panama, and Mexico,’ says Shaun Rein, Founder and Managing Director, China Market Research Group (CMR) in an interview at WION. Tariffs, TikTok, and many other issues are hanging over the negotiations. But in the end, both countries are better off working together, says Shaun Rein.
While he remains optimistic about China’s economy in the long run, he foresees a rough time in most of 2025 as deflation and layoffs melt away the financial stimuli of the past months, tells business analyst Shaun Rein at CNBC’s Squawk Box. He sees a recovery only in nine to twelve months as consumer confidence is not going up in 2025.
Beijing will avoid escalation of its dispute with the European Union over tariffs on its electric vehicles, industry watchers said, a day after China again approached the World Trade Organization for resolution.
China’s commerce ministry said Monday that it had filed an additional appeal with the WTO over the EU’s tariffs on its EVs, as bilateral talks have yet to lead to a breakthrough.
The move is “a warning shot against Europe to show that it [China] is strong but won’t go too far,” Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research told CNBC, who expects China’s response to be “measured” as it seeks closer economic relations with Europe amid intensifying tensions with the U.S.
Since the tariffs came into effect last Wednesday, both sides have explored the possibility of setting minimum price commitments from Chinese car producers, as an alternative to the tariffs. The EU reportedly accounted for more than 40% of Chinese EV exports in 2023.
According to Shanghai-based analyst Shaun Rein, most Chinese prefer Trump over Harris because they expect Trump to be more transactional, while they feared Harrid would lead a more ideological struggle, he tells CNBC.
Business analyst Shaun Reintells AP that the 11/11 singles day shopping bonanza has lost its previously sensational attraction. Even the shopping highlight has not been immune to the lackluster mood among China’s consumers.
AP:
Some experts say that Beijing’s recent stimulus measures have had little impact to boost consumer confidence.
“People are not interested in spending and are cutting back on big-ticket items,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. “Since October 2022, the weak economy means that everything has been on discount year-round, 11.11 is not going to bring in more discounts that the month before.”
Rein said he expects low growth for the Singles’ Day shopping festival as consumers tighten their spending in anticipation of difficult economic times ahead.
Categories such as sportswear and fitness, however, have been doing well as customers “trade down a Gucci bag for Lululemon sportswear,” he said.
Financial analyst Shaun Rein expects the stock markets to rally for another two to three weeks, as Chinese investors return from their holidays and try to gain on the A-shares bump, he tells CNBC. The economy is still a mess, and export is having some problems, but in the short term stock markets will do fine, he says.
Some e-commerce firms in China have profited from a rally of their stocks, triggered off by a major financial stimulus, but that might not help the economy to really improve, says financial analyst Shaun Rein at CNBC. It’s a rally of exuberance, he adds, and might only triple down into the economy in six to nine months. The real problem is for example companies cannot fire their staff very easily, and make their lives hard, hoping they will leave by themselves, he says.
China’s massive financial stimulus is good for the short term, but the economy needs more structural change, away from real estate, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein to CNBC. While it is good Xi Jinping moves away from politics and ideology and turns to the economy, more is needed to restore long-term confidence in the economy by the consumers, he adds.
China’s lunar new year is usually the time of the year consumers spend their money, but 
