China to boost cooperation with Russia

China aims to strengthen its relations with Russia and also step up the implementation of the RCEP

China has proposed sharing development opportunities, expanding two-way opening-up and enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation to strive for more achievements in various aspects of bilateral cooperation with Russia.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made the call when co-chairing the 25th regular meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin via video link.

Li said China and Russia, big neighboring countries, have been following a policy of good-neighborliness based on mutual respect with a goal of realizing mutual benefits and win-win results. He hailed the two countries’ cooperation amid Covid-19, as well as the sustained and high-level development of bilateral ties led by the two countries’ leaders.

Despite the withering global economy and sluggish trade and investment, Li said the two countries made renewed progress in multiple fields. It is indicated by closer bilateral trade, the blooming development of emerging business forms, steady advancement of major projects of strategic importance in energy and other sectors and new outcomes in the Far East and subnational cooperation.

All these speak volumes about the strong complementarity and massive potential of bilateral cooperation, the premier added.

RCEP trade pact

The State Council, China’s cabinet, has made arrangements to step up the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
More work should be done to uphold free trade and open up new space for win-win cooperation, according to a statement released Wednesday after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

The meeting, urging domestic work to ensure RCEP implementation, called for coordinated efforts to promote the opening-up of trade in goods and services, investment and other fields, along with higher standards and rules for trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, intellectual property protection and e-commerce, as well as economic and technological cooperation.

As much as 90% of intra-regional trade in goods will be made tariff-free when the agreement gets implemented. To properly implement the RCEP, the meeting urged measures for tariff reductions, simplified customs procedures, as well as unified and mutual recognition of product standards.

The meeting also demanded efforts to honor China’s commitments on the foreign-investment negative list and all-round protection of intellectual property rights. The meeting, which was held Tuesday, also passed draft rules on government inspections. 

Market liquidity

China’s central bank injected liquidity into the banking system through open market operations on Thursday.

The People’s Bank of China injected 10 billion yuan (US$1.52 billion) into the market through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.2%, according to a statement on its website.

With 80 billion yuan of reverse repos maturing on the same day, this led to a net liquidity withdrawal of 70 billion yuan from the market.

Company news

Baidu has submitted more artificial intelligence (AI) patent applications and secured more approvals for such patent filings than any other company in China, the Chinese tech giant said in a statement on Tuesday, citing research conducted by two units affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The Beijing-based company, which sees AI-enabled smart products and autonomous driving technology as its major potential revenue streams, has filed a total of 9,364 AI-related patent applications in China as of October 2020, followed by Tencent with 8,450 applications and Huawei with 7,381, according to the statement.

Honor, the Chinese smartphone brand sold by Huawei to a group of investors last month, is further expanding its retail footprint in the country by setting up offline stores in more cities, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The retail expansion plan comes close on the heels of the brand getting an unofficial vote of confidence from US chip giant Qualcomm Inc, which said it welcomes the entry of new participants and would discuss cooperation opportunities with the Chinese company.

Source: Asia Times