They shouldn’t buy Chinese buses to avoid running into security risks like Norway, Denmark, UK, Australia, and practically all others that bought from China. The reports on security issues of buses ‘made in China’ over the last couple of years paint a clear picture.

Just a few weeks ago, Italy awarded a solar capacity in first ‘Not made in China’ auction. Europe needs more of this also beyond solar, hopefully soon ‘Made only in Europe’ auctions.

This is based on official numbers. According to these, the Chinese economy is always doing great. There was never a downturn, it’s always growing, and always by around 5%. Because this annual rate is needed to achieve Xi Jinping’s long-term growth target.

Don’t say something else if and when you are in China, though, or if you would like to do business in China, and Goldman Sachs has a strong presence there, it’s one of the few Western banks with a license for fund sales in China, for example.

In 2024, Zhu Hengpeng, a renowned Chinese economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, expressed doubt of China’s 5% annual growth, claiming the growth to be much lower. He disappeared then for some months. (In the meantime he is back again working for the academy, but he is now convinced that the 5% is the number to be announced, at least that’s what he is doing).

I could tell you a lot more, but I know I can save my breath. You wouldn’t believe anyway. Your post history’s spin tells clearly that you are not interested in independent information.

Just look at @plyth’s comment history. There’s nothing but these weird and skewed pieces. Save our breath I would say.

the Chinese economy has grown by about 30 per cent over the past five years

Not even Chinese economists believe China’s official GDP growth rates of 5% annually. This is rubbish.

the EU had to roll over when Trump threatened tariffs, China refused to bend, and its tough strategy has so far been successful.

There are several economic reports that say the exact opposite. One analysis from April 2025 says that US tariffs with retaliation by other countries will shrink the EU’s GDP by -0.05 percent and China’s GDP by -0.27 percent.

The EU-US agreement that has been reported as unfavorable for Europe was, indeed, a joke. This was not a deal at all as it was not even legally binding. For example, we see now that the EU is not even remotely buying US energy for the ‘agreed’ 250 billion dollars but just a small fraction of it (a fact that all analysts have always been predicting). The only thing where the EU gave in was when it ditched the import tariffs for agricultural products from the US. Sounds impressive and weak - until you hear that these agri tariffs were in the range of 1-2 % on average. That’s next to nothing.

These are just two points out of this very weak article. Not that I contradict everything, but what the author here does is simply conveying Chinese narratives (and he does only that). It would be good if he read other stats and reports rather than just the Chinese ones.

[Edit typo.]

Why is this in Europe?

The least thing the Chinese party-state has in mind is democracy.

The article falls short of a lot of explanations, the most important likely being democracy. It doesn’t even touch the issue even though China is a serial human rights abuser. It’s almost hilarious to interpret this as China ‘saving the soul of democracy.’ This, of course, doesn’t make any sense.

It also says that CO2 emissions in China have been stagnating for over a year and a half. Although this is true, it is very likely because of a downturn in Chinese production. We will see what happens if and when the economic environment improves and output increases. Most economists are very sceptical and think China’s stagnating CO2 emissions is temporal rather than structural. China is -as the article also admits- the world’s largest polluter. No country is on track to meet the Paris goals, but the EU and its members states are better than China. And during the COP30 last year, just 83 countries joined a global movement committing themselves to phase out fossil fuels. Among these are European countries, many from South America, the Caribbean. China is not among them, the globe’s biggest polluter openly refuses to phase out fossil fuels.

The authoritarian state is the worst thing for the future of the world and the humanity. This is blatant propaganda.

Yeah, I get your point, but I think in this case Mr. Carney won’t find a friend in Beijing.

This was originally reported by Reuters as someone already said. We should add that The South China Morning Post is a Chinese state-controlled propaganda medium owned by Alibaba Group and based in Hong Kong.

The issue here is that malign foreign state actors are threatening European and politicians of other democracies to influence decision making, with China and Russia have been singled out here.

Why is this in Europe?

Yeah, as Carney said already back in April, China is a foreign interference and security threat for Canada.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said that China is one of the largest threats with respect to foreign interference in Canada and is an emerging threat in the Arctic … Carney said Canada has to counter Chinese foreign interference threats. He also criticized China for being a partner with Russia in the war with Ukraine and said it is a threat to broader Asia and Taiwan in particular … Carney said China is the biggest threat “from a geopolitical sense.”

“We’re taking action to address,” [Carney] added.

So Carney has a clear and realistic picture. Let’s hope he is doing the right thing for Canada now.

It was this sort of realpolitik that eventually lead to WWII here in Europe. Appeasement doesn’t work with dictatorships.

This is why Canada needs to make the necessary reforms as @[email protected] has said I assume.

This is irrelevant if and when Italy is going to vote in favour of Mercosur, what it reportedly will. It would be enough for the necessary majority vote and the deal could be signed on Jan 12.

Good.

I am not sure as I am not an expert for this industry, but I assume it’s about price hikes to increase profits for the pharmaceutical industry. Unlike in the US, prices for drugs in Europe are subject to strong price regulations, meaning that the companies face legal limits on how to set prices. That’s how I read that at least, but maybe there is someone around with more expertise in the pharmaceutical sector.

The dentists also filed a lawsuit against their advisors in the meantime. According to several reports in 2025, the fund made investments in private capital such as start-ups and real estate projects (including unsecured loans) amounting to around 50% of their assets. This deviates sharply form usual investment-grade guidelines imho (I used to work in this industry and think I understand this a bit). According to VZB’s website (and the article) the fund’s investment committee is composed exclusively of practicing dentists rather than asset management professionals. This is not a good idea imho.

… despite Trump’s repeated claims, there has been no official announcement or decision in France confirming any increase in prescription drug prices.

Did all Russians as a whole decide what they want? All Chinese?

This is a gross oversimplification.

Purchasing Power Parity.

It’s a method that adjusts a country’s GDP to its local level of prices and living expenses. This makes it possible to compare the GDP across different countries. Comparing the countries’ nominal GDPs would be misleading as, simply speaking, earning 1,000 dollars in New York City or London has a different meaning than earning the same amount somewhere in the Global South where price levels are usually lower.