The “three requirements” that India government is reportedly asking of Chinese smartphone makers operating in the Indian market, are not something that a country governed by the rule of law or a market-oriented economy would do, industry analysts said.

According to India’s Economic Times, the Indian government wants Chinese smartphone companies to appoint Indian nationals to run the management and administration of local plants. New Delhi also wants the companies to appoint Indian distributors to localize their distribution structure in India. Starting next month, Vivo will replace its agents in some states of India with Indian distributors, according to local media reports.

The third requirement is for Chinese companies to use local contract manufacturers. According to a recent report of the Economic Times, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme have started, or are in the process of starting, smartphone manufacturing with Indian contract manufacturers.

A source familiar with the situation in India told the Global Times that Chinese smartphone brands are shifting their production to local Indian companies. "Changing distributors to Indian companies should also be true," the source said.

Another industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Global Times that Chinese smartphone companies are seeking to make India an important production and export hub in order to expand their exports to neighboring countries and continue to maintain their overseas market advantage.

"This may be why the Indian government is confident that these Chinese companies will accept New Delhi’s so-called localization demands," the insider noted.

The Indian government has been cracking down on Chinese smartphone makers, citing allegations of tax evasion and money laundering. They are also making stringent demands on many Chinese companies.

In June, Chinese smartphone makers were asked to appoint Indian nationals to hold positions including the chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and chief technical officer, the Business Standard reported.

The Indian government's crackdown on foreign companies, including Chinese companies, shows a clear intention to achieve localization, or put it more concisely, is a government-led “robbery” out of foreign enterprises, Lin Minwang, a research fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies, Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

"This short-sighted approach will ultimately undermine India's economic openness and the image of the Modi government's commitment to economic development," Lin said.

Real estate companies that are seriously insolvent should be handled according to market-based principles and rule of law, either subject to bankruptcy or restructuring as appropriate, China's housing minister said on Saturday, pledging measures to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

Although the task of stabilizing the real estate market remains challenging, there is still great potential and room for growth in China's real estate sector. Development of the real estate market should be viewed from a medium and long term perspective, rather than short term perspective, Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development, told a press conference on Saturday during the ongoing two sessions.

"We believe that as long as we have confidence, respect the rules, and persist in solving problems as they arise, we can promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market," Ni said.

This year's Government Work Report noted that China will refine real estate policies and meet justified financing demands of real estate enterprises under various forms of ownership on an equal basis, so as to promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.

Regarding measures to ensure stable and healthy development of the real estate sector, Ni emphasized focusing on stabilizing the market with city-specific policies, defusing risks, and promoting transformation of the sector.

In defusing risks, the financing needs, a prominent issue facing real estate enterprises, of all companies of different ownership types will be supported equally, Ni noted.

To meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate companies, a whitelist coordinating mechanism has been established covering 312 prefecture-level cities and above across China, Ni briefed.

From the reported whitelist projects, more than 6,000 have been completed, with 82 percent of these projects by privately-owned enterprises and mixed-ownership enterprises. As of the end of February, the approved loans through commercial banks have exceeded 200 billion yuan, according to Ni.

While pledging measures to meet the rational funding needs of real estate companies, the minister also emphasized the importance of continuing to strengthen supervision.

In 2023, faced with the individual real estate companies' funding chain breaking, the real estate market adjustment and other challenges, the ministry, together with relevant departments, have introduced a series of policy measures, securing the bottom line of preventing systemic risks, Ni said.

For behaviors from housing developers that harm the interests of the public, they should be resolutely investigated and punished according to law, making them pay the due price, the minister stressed.

Developing new quality productive forces has become a major theme in China's policymaking since it was first put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2023. It is also listed as a priority for this year's economic tasks outlined in the Government Work Report delivered to the ongoing two sessions in Beijing.

"China will strive to modernize the industrial system and develop new quality productive forces at a faster pace this year," noted the report, which placed sci-tech innovation high on the government's agenda.

The national lawmakers and political advisers have expressed full confidence on the prospects of China's sci-tech advance and economic development, saying that the rapid development of strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and new green energies will shore up sustainable momentum to support the high-quality development of Chinese economy.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Tuesday stressed developing new quality productive forces in China in accordance with local conditions during the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), the Xinhua News Agency reported.

President Xi called for focusing on high-quality development as the top priority, urging efforts to step up innovation, foster emerging industries, adopt forward-thinking plans for developing future-oriented industries and improve the modernized industrial system.

New growth drivers

The term - new quality productive forces - emerges from continuous breakthroughs in science and technology, which will drive the development of strategic emerging industries that may bring disruptive technological advances in the era of intelligent information.

Developing new quality productive forces is a decisive step in the economy's high-quality development course, Guo Guoping, an NPC deputy and a vice director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.

"The concept offers guidance for our country to take advantage of the historical opportunity of a new round of technological upgrade and aims to develop strategic emerging industries and future industries," Guo said, noting it is of great importance for China to implement innovation-driven development strategy, seize the high ground in global industrial competition and build up China's manufacturing edge.

Currently, the development of new quality productive forces in China is picking up pace.

Official data showed that China's output of new-energy vehicles reached 9.44 million in 2023, up 30.3 percent on a yearly basis, while the output of solar panels rose by 54 percent to reach 540 million kilowatts. Last year, the country's production of service robots reached 7.83 million sets, up 23.3 percent year-on-year.

The development of new quality productive forces has great potential in China, as its huge market place ensures full testing, application and evolution of new technologies and new business models, Xu Jiuping, a professor of Sichuan University and a member of the National Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times.

Xu advocated that enterprises, with the support of national innovation policies, make full use of the market demand to help China's manufacturing sector overcome shortcoming and boost the development of new quality productive forces in China.

AI Plus initiative

In recent years, the economic growth in the world was mainly driven by new technologies, which would give birth to new industries and then form new productivity. In order to promote the development of new quality productive forces in China, analysts said the country should firmly adhere to deepening scientific research and technological innovation.

China is now beefing up support for building new manufacturing lines that are integrated with advanced tech breakthroughs such as AI, quantum computing and new and green energies. China ranked 12th place in the 2023 Global Innovation Index, and became the country with the largest number of top 100 sci-tech innovation clusters in the world for the first time, according to the latest ranking by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

It's projected that global AI competition will become a systemic contest in 2024, which will also be a crucial year for China and the US to compete in the in-depth application of generative AI breakthroughs said Liu Qingfeng, chairman of Chinese artificial intelligence company iFlytek who is also a deputy to the NPC.

Liu suggested that China should accelerate technological advances in key sectors including neural science, brain-like intelligence innovation, and quantum computing so as to achieve an overtaking on the curve.

Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile and also a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, suggested that the country boosts an AI Plus initiative in the national level by strengthening top-level design and clarifying development goals and key tasks, in order to fully give play to the huge potential of AI in achieving leapfrog development of technologies, industrial upgrade and productivity.

Comprised of AI and the manufacturing sector, smart manufacturing is an important part of forming new quality productive forces. However, China's smart manufacturing faces three major problems: Supply capability need to be strengthened, application needs to be promoted, and a standard system needs to be established, said Zhong Zheng, an NPC deputy and vice president of Midea Group.

She suggested that the country support leading companies in various industries to take the lead in developing industrial solutions so as to help more companies set up world-leading smart factories.

While putting focus on emerging and future industries, Chinese analysts said the country should aggregate high-level innovation talent to foster the whole chain of innovation. In addition to independently nurturing high-level talent, the country should also deepen reforms in talent introduction channels and set up a new mechanism to attract talent from all over the globe.

A Chinese national lawmaker has called for more progress in implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, so as to be able to produce fully domestically made systems and related products and eventually gain dominance in the key emerging industry.

Huang Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and chairman of Wuhan Guide Infrared Co - a high-tech firm specializing in infrared thermal imaging technology - said he has submitted a motion that focuses on supporting research and development in the BCI field at the ongoing NPC annual session in Beijing.

"The country should improve laws and regulations, break through institutional barriers, and encourage the development of fully domestically produced, independent, and controllable BCI system platforms and related products to compete for dominance in the industry," Huang told the Global Times in an interview.

BCI technology has broad application prospects in medical and healthcare fields. It can be widely used in detection and diagnosis, screening and monitoring, treatment and rehabilitation for neurological and psychiatric diseases, according to Huang.

"It is an important means to explore unknown fields of the brain, and is also one of the technological highlands that many countries are competing for," he said, adding that the technology also has broad application prospects in areas such as education, entertainment and the military.

China has begun a push to step up research and development in disruptive and frontier technologies. The Government Work Report, which was delivered to the NPC on Tuesday, said that China will vigorously advance new industrialization, make more breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, and promote the cultivation of emerging industries and future-oriented industries such as hydrogen power, new materials, biomanufacturing, commercial spaceflight, quantum technology and life sciences.

"Cultivating future industries such as BCI is a way for our country to seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation," Huang said.

China has already made solid progress in the field. In the latest major development, a research team at Tsinghua University recently unveiled cases in which two paralyzed patients regained a degree of movement through wireless, minimally invasive BCIs. One of the patients, who had been paralyzed for 14 years, successfully drank water from a bottle using robotic hands for the first time.

Still, greater efforts are needed to accelerate the research and development of BCI in China, as enterprises and scientific research institutions that have mastered the core technologies in this field are mainly based in the US, Huang said.

Huang also called for a green channel for registration and approval of BCI products and a comprehensive medical-engineering platform for conducting basic research into neurotechnology and clinical applications. Another key area is the need to tackle looming ethical concerns, he said.

The threshold for China's individual income tax exemption should be raised to ease pressure on middle- and low-income earners and propel domestic consumption and economic recovery, according to Dong Mingzhu, a prominent entrepreneur and deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).

The current monthly individual income tax cutoff point is 5,000 yuan ($694.6), enacted in 2019. Dong's motion suggests it be raised to 8,000 yuan or 10,000 yuan.

Dong, chairwoman of Chinese home appliance giant Gree Electric Appliances, has been calling for raising of the individual income tax threshold for many years, while also optimizing the progressive tax rates, in order to extend more tax reduction benefits to the low and middle-income groups.

During a recent media interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, Dong reiterated that she will continue to ask for raising the individual income tax threshold at the NPC session this year, given the cutoff point remaining at 5,000 yuan for many years. "Now it's high time the threshold needs to be hiked," Dong said.

Dong has been elected as an NPC deputy for five consecutive terms, ever since 2003. Data reveals that her past motions proposed during the annual two sessions have consistently focused on raising the individual income tax threshold.

Zhang Xuewu, another NPC deputy and chairman of Yanjin Shop Food Co, took the side of Dong by putting forward a motion asking the individual income tax threshold be raised to 8,000 yuan to increase household income for ordinary people while boosting broad consumer confidence in the country.

"In 2024, sustaining economic recovery hinges on restoring and expanding consumer demand, which entails implementing effective measures to ramp up residents' disposable income and their confidence to consume," Zhang said.

Their motions have triggered heated debate among netizens, and raising individual income tax threshold has quickly been trending on Weibo, China's social media platform, gaining over 62,000 likes and 3,400 comments as of press time.

There is a groundswell of support for the motions among Chinese netizens, who uttered that raising income tax threshold is necessary and imperative which will greatly benefit low-income groups and help them cope with life burden.

Editor's Note: While China's economy is undergoing a crucial transformation and upgrade amid the current complex international environment, Western propaganda machines persist in attempting to undermine China's economic progress by creating biased and inaccurate narratives. To counter these false claims, the Global Times is publishing a series of articles that unveil the reality of China's consistent economic development.

During the upcoming two sessions, China is expected to announce this year's targets for GDP growth, as well as consumer prices, employment and other economic metrics. Taking into account the goals announced at recent provincial-level two sessions, it is anticipated that China's 2024 economic growth target may be set at about 5 percent.

The potential growth rate of the Chinese economy is estimated to be 5.5 percent. In my opinion, setting the target at 5-5.5 percent and striving to reach the potential growth rate will be more conducive to fully utilizing economic resources. 

In the long run, a higher economic growth target for 2024 will also prepare China to achieve its long-term objectives through 2035. To achieve these long-range visions, an average annual growth rate of 4.7 percent is needed. In the past few years, due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's average growth rate did not reach this level. Until 2030, the annual growth rate should exceed 5 percent.

A higher economic growth target will also boost market sentiment. Setting this year's GDP growth rate at higher than the 5.2 percent actual rise for 2023, will send a clear signal that the priority this year is stabilizing economic growth.

During the two sessions, China is expected to announce its fiscal deficit ratio too. Regarding macroeconomic policies, China has repeatedly stated that it will not adopt a deluge of strong stimulus measures like some Western countries. China has learned from the negative impacts of excessively loose monetary policies in Europe and the US. In order to avoid debt expansion and high inflation, China is unlikely to implement the kind of large-scale stimulus measures seen in Europe and the US.

China will introduce more stimulus plans to boost economy, but these are expected to be more targeted and precise. China's monetary policy has always pivoted on precision in implementation, so the pace of reserve requirement ratio cuts has been relatively measured. 

As for fiscal policy, it is expected that the scale of local special-purpose bonds will remain the same as last year, while the central government may slightly raise the deficit ratio. It is generously believed that a deficit ratio of 3.5 percent is more plausible.

The fundamentals of the economy are sound. Some foreign China watchers who make pessimistic comments about China's long-term economic growth do so without any basis. The growth potential of the Chinese economy is still very significant.

When Western media outlets hype the "confidence collapse theory" or "peak theory" about China's economic development, their major arguments interpret short-term phenomena as long-term ones. Because China's economy has encountered some setbacks in recent years, they tend to see these phenomena as long-term trends, which is actually a common mistake made by many observers.

Western media outlets' hype about the "collapse of confidence" exaggerates the impact of the technological and economic crackdown by the US on China. In reality, it is still a form of US-centric thinking. 

Such claims hype the idea that if American capital and technology are not allowed to come to the Chinese market, China's economic prospects are dim. Given the immense size of the Chinese economy and its strong technological capabilities, it can still do very well despite US containment.

Many economic observers, including domestic observers, do not understand the logic of the Chinese government's policy-making. Unlike Western countries' macroeconomic policies, China's policy goals are diverse, including economic, social and political objectives. 

When observing China's economic policies, it is essential to consider the changes in the weights given to these multiple objectives. When non-economic goals have a higher weight, the economic growth rate will obviously be affected, as can be observed from economic fluctuations in recent years.

Last year, the Central Economic Work Conference clearly called for including non-economic policies in the assessment of macroeconomic policy consistency to ensure that the policies form a synergy. It is obvious this year that the weight of China's policy-making has shifted more toward expansion, so the outlook for economic growth this year is promising. If foreign experts and media outlets understand the logic behind China's government policy-making, they will not have a pessimistic view of the Chinese economy.

China's economy saw many new growth points in 2023, and there are still many new highlights to look forward to this year. In the field of medium-level technologies, China is constantly replacing products from developed countries. In the high-tech field, China is rapidly catching up with developed countries. 

In some areas, such as new-energy vehicles and artificial intelligence applications, China is even playing a leading role. A potential new bright spot in China's economy this year is the process of making electric vehicles (EVs) smarter. The development of the EV industry has already entered the second-half stage. 

The first half-stage competition was about the battery, now it's about smart cars. In the field, China is leading the world. In some areas, Chinese brands have even surpassed Tesla. This is something worth paying attention to this year. 

Another issue worth paying attention to is whether the real estate market stabilizes this year. If it does, it will play a very important role in stabilizing the entire economy.

This year, it is likely that foreign trade will resume growing on a full-year basis, as exports rose in the final months of last year. Yuan-denominated exports did not decrease last year. This year, if the Chinese economy recovers well and the US Fed lowers interest rates, the yuan may even appreciate against the dollar. Additionally, global demand is recovering, so with these two factors combined, it is believed that China's foreign trade will most likely record a growth this year.

The US government, together with its allies, has released a joint statement on endorsing 6G principles under the name of national security, a move that Chinese experts said reflects the White House's latest attempts to compete with China in the telecommunication sector.

Gaining an edge in 6G technology is based on the positive development of 5G, an area where the US has fallen behind amid its relentless attempts to block Chinese technological gains. Such an approach, driven by a politically motivated zero-sum game mentality, may not yield substantive results, experts said.

Experts urged the US to drop the "small yard and high fence" mentality and shift toward cooperation rather than competition for win-win outcomes.

The US, together with nine allies including Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK, released on Monday a joint statement to endorse principles for 6G under the name of national security.

The move aims to "advance research and development and the standardization of 6G networks." Trusted technology that is protective of national security is the highlight of the principle.

Although there is no mention of China, it's rather obvious that the move has a target, raising concerns of another round of US-led protectionism in the world telecommunication sector, experts said.

Some foreign media outlets characterized the move as another stage of the US tech race with China.

Before the principles were unveiled, hyping the tense atmosphere, the US publication The Hill, which covers Congress, used a sensational headline in an article on February 21, claiming that "If China dominates 5G and 6G, no defense system can protect America."

The US move was within expectations as it is desperate to make up for what it lost in the 5G era, but by drawing a "little circle" may not help the US catch up in the field, Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

6G technology does not come from the sky but is an expansion of 5G development. China has been successful not only in technology and standards but also applications with scenarios ranging from smart manufacturing to ports and mining, providing a good foundation for its 6G development, Xiang said.

China has built the world's largest optical fiber and mobile broadband networks, and more than 80 percent of administrative villages across the country have 5G access, data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows.

On this basis, Chinese companies are making progress on 5G-A, or 5.5G, which represents a transitional phase between 5G and 6G, with a series of products on show at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

"In order to race with China, the US should at least make some progress on 5G before reaching for 6G," the expert said.

The US announcement of its 6G principles did not shatter the Chinese telecommunication industry - just the reverse. Right after the principles were unveiled, the shares of many Chinese corresponding companies, including ZTE, closed higher by the daily limit of 10 percent on Tuesday. ZTE's transaction volume was 7.889 billion yuan, a new high for the past seven months.

Experts said that China's approach to telecommunication technology is notably open and encourages international collaboration in the realm of 6G. This stands in stark contrast to the imposition of tech restrictions by the US, which disrupts global supply chains.

In the development of 6G, international cooperation needs to be strengthened to allow more international companies to form an understanding and recognize China's standards in the area. In this case, if the US wants to isolate China's standards, it will be isolating itself, Fu Liang, a Beijing-based tech analyst, told the Global Times in a previous interview.

"If the US refuses to learn from China and open up to cooperation with China, including using more equipment from China, it will be a severe test for the development of 6G in the US, as it has already proved in its confrontation with 5G with China," Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom observer, told the Global Times, calling for more cooperation instead of confrontation or competition.

China's home-made C919 aircraft arrived back in Shanghai on Monday, after making its debut at the Singapore Airshow.

The plane arrived in Singapore on February 17 together with another C919 and three ARJ21 aircraft.

China Eastern Airlines said the C919 was on static display for the public during the air show.

During the six-day show, the booth welcomed more than 20 groups of visitors per day, said Hu Hong, cabin manager of China Eastern Airlines' cabin department. She said that the visitors included heads and senior professionals from aircraft manufacturers, aviation service providers, and upstream and downstream enterprises in the aviation industry chain.

They were very interested in asking about every detail in the cabin, especially the C919's cabin layout, number of passengers, commercial routes, operating data and routes to be opened in the future, Hu said.

China's Tibet Airlines and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China signed a deal at the airshow for 50 aircraft suitable for high-altitude plateaus - 40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 jets.

A sea-rail intermodal train loaded with 100 TEUs of thermos cups, folding chairs and other goods departs from a train station in Jinhua City, East China's Zhejiang Province, and heads for Ningbo Zhoushan Port, to ship overseas on February 23, 2024. It is the station's first freight train trip after resumption of work following the Spring Festival. Photo: VCG