U.S. will remove Xiaomi from the government blacklist.
The removal means that the Chinese company can revive its relations with American investors. After the news, Xiaomi’s shares skyrocketed 6% in Hong Kong.
The investments in the company were blocked under the Trump administration. The U.S. Department of Defence decided that Xiaomi had ties with the Chinese military, but the company filed a lawsuit denying the accusation, ultimately winning it.
Similar restrictions were placed on China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, Huawei and several other Chinese tech firms. With news of Xiaomi being removed from the blacklist, now many other companies hope that some of those may be lifted too.
Sources: Asia Nikkei, Reuters
China is relaxing its rules on household registrations
The household registration system (户口 hùkǒu) was introduced in 1950s. It is used to monitor and restrict people’s mobility to ensure urban areas do not get overcrowded, and dictates where Chinese citizens can live, work or study. In the new Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government said that local authorities, except for the megacities of Beijing and Shanghai, should relax household registration regulations.
The hukou system has become more flexible through the years as cities compete for domestic talents: in Zhengzhou (Henan province), the new guidelines on residency aim at attracting people to support the development of high-end manufacturing and modern enterprises.
Source: SCMP
China’s fertility rate may become ‘world’s lowest’ without a strong intervention policy
The number of newborns in China fell by 15% in 2020 compared to its 2019 level, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Normally, once the total fertility rate slips below 1.5, a country falls into the low fertility trap and is unlikely to recover. Liang Jianzhang, from Peking University, said that China’s fertility rate will continue to drop in the coming years, and may become the world’s lowest. China needs to encourage its population to have more children, to sustain its future society.
Some Chinese demographers also predicted that India may overtake China in population as early as 2023.
Sources: Reuters, Global Times
