More than six decades after British historian AJP Taylor termed war the “mother of invention”, economies around the world appear to be ramping up their military spending, at least in part, to reinvigorate industrial production. Taylor was referring to the genesis of the tank, the aeroplane and poison gas in World War I, and that of radar, the jet engine and the atomic bomb in World War II. More modern examples, such as satellite-based navigation systems and the internet, were the products of the...

Beijing pressed German carmakers to help resolve disputes over the European Union’s anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and the Nexperia semiconductor saga, in separate video meetings on Monday. Vice-Minister of Commerce Ling Ji made the appeal to German industry leaders, seeking to leverage their influence in Brussels. Ling spoke with Hildegard Mueller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), and Ola Kallenius, president of the European Automobile...

China’s tax authorities have told internet platforms to avoid passing tax obligations onto gig workers, tightening industry oversight while stepping up a crackdown on tax-dodging internet influencers. “Platforms should not disguise additional fees during tax withholding and remittance processes, nor should they use such processes to shift tax obligations and increase gig workers’ burdens,” officials from the State Taxation Administration said at a press conference on Monday. As regulation of the...

China’s securities regulator has called on the country’s 160 mutual fund houses to establish a performance-based salary mechanism, as part of efforts to uproot elitism from the industry. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has drawn up guidelines governing asset managers’ pay perks, suggesting that the performance of the funds they run should factor up to 80 per cent in determining their annual salaries, according to a report on Monday by the official Securities Times. The...

China’s commerce minister has urged the country to push forward with opening-up policies over the next five years to reshape China’s role in the global economy while bolstering domestic consumption, as Beijing gears up for one of its most important economic planning meetings of the year. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao highlighted China’s commitment to open markets and multilateral trade in an article published in the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, on Monday. His remarks...

Emmanuel Macron has warned Beijing that Europe would be forced to retaliate with “strong measures” against Chinese goods – including punitive tariffs modelled after US policy – if a trade imbalance between the two sides remains unaddressed well into 2026. Back in Paris, fresh from a diplomatic visit to China that ended on Friday, the French president told business newspaper Les Echos that China was “effectively killing their own customers” by running unsustainable surpluses while curbing...

Spain’s ambitious multi-billion-euro plan to become Europe’s leading player in the electric vehicle market presents a golden opportunity for Chinese car brands, which could be vital to the strategy’s success, according to analysts. The Spain Auto 2030 Plan, presented by Madrid on Wednesday, seeks to mobilise government funding to provide consumer subsidies, support the construction of charging stations and help the Spanish car industry – which drives about 10 per cent of the country’s economic...