China’s average life expectancy hit a record 79 years in 2024, edging closer to developed-nation levels as the country grapples with a deepening demographic crisis and scrambles to improve aged-care resources. In discussing the all-time high, which broke the 2023 record of 78.6 years, National Health Commission (NHC) head Lei Haichao reiterated on Monday that the country’s newborns should be expected to live an average of 80 years by 2030 – a key metric in President Xi Jinping’s “Healthy China”...

As the United States renounces its climate commitments, a chain reaction of wavering pledges and scaled-back investments by other donors and multilateral institutions has followed. This trend raises the stakes for everyone else, underscoring the urgency of closing the financing gap for climate adaptation and mitigation in the developing world. Fortunately, China has increasingly been projecting itself as a source of alternative, low-cost funding for climate and sustainability projects across the...

Global business sentiment towards China improved in the third quarter of 2025, led by a sharp rebound among US companies, but growing concerns in Japan over tensions with Beijing over Taiwan are dragging on the overall outlook, according to a Morgan Stanley report. The US investment bank’s AlphaWise Global MNC China Sentiment Index rose three points to 31, placing sentiment in the “slightly positive” range and signalling a gradual recovery in confidence towards operating and expanding in...

China’s latest credit figures have raised eyebrows, but they need not raise alarm. New bank lending, aggregate social financing and total credit growth all came in weaker than expected for October, marking their softest readings in more than a year. For markets conditioned to expect Beijing to counter every slowdown with a surge of liquidity, the numbers may suggest a worrying loss of momentum. But that reading misses the broader structural shift under way. The data reflects not a collapse, but...

With their domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. The emergence of Chinese companies onto the global stage has been one of the most important business stories of the past 50 years. From engineering contractors...

Mainland China’s falling property prices and a weak economy could lead to rising loan defaults, adding to a surfeit of foreclosed homes and further extending the years-long slump, according to UBS. The number of apartments seized by banks from small businesses could reach more than 2.4 million by 2027, said John Lam, head of China property research at the Swiss bank, on Tuesday. Most small businesses on the mainland pledge property as collateral for loans. The sale of these foreclosed properties...