Xi Jinping is known for his deft touch. If, as expected, he becomes the leader of the Communist Party and president of China in 2012, he may have his hands full.
Mr Xi's promotion to a role where he is likely to succeed Hu Jintao came at the close of the Communist Party summit on Monday. At the annual meeting party leaders discussed ways to confront imbalances between the country's east and west and rich and poor and how to reform the country's bureaucracy. There are a number of reasons to believe these will pose challenges well before Mr Xi would take office.
While concerns about bubbles in the Chinese economy have been around since the country's rapid development began, China's pace of growth does appear to be slowing. Demand for Chinese exports began to decline late this summer. The $570 billion stimulus that the government initiated at the height of the global financial crisis is beginning to run out. Too much of that money, and of all investment in China, is tied up in fixed assets such as real estate projects. Property prices in China's cities, which doubled in the past decade and are on track to grow an additional 40 per cent this year, reflect this imbalance. Real estate bubbles have been the source of many financial contagions, which should concern the Chinese.
While the government raised interest rates yesterday and has introduced measures to cut speculation and re-orient the property market towards more affordable options, these efforts may be too little, too late. China's ratio of property prices to GDP is nearly the same as Japan's in the 1980s. When Japan's bubble burst, two decades of economic stagnation followed. Of course China is not Japan. But China's political stability has long depended on its rapid economic growth, adding an additional uncertainty.
Recent remarks from China's leaders reflect more than a tinge of anxiety about the future. The warning of China's premier Wen Jiabao that the country "faced disaster" if it allowed the value of the yuan to appreciate, weakening the competitiveness of its exports, was particularly revealing.
Whatever China does with its currency, it won't be enough to address the imbalances in its economy. It needs new tools. China also lacks the social programmes that helped to soften the blow of a recession in many western countries; it is a communist country in name but lacks a safety net. And while much has been made of a recent statement from 22 senior leaders advocating more political freedoms, China still lacks institutions that can serve to vent popular frustration.
Meanwhile, in China's booming cities on its eastern seaboard, residents continue to spend and borrow. The promotion of Mr Xi signifies a changing of the guard but also continuity. He has helped to modernise China's economy and make it what it is today. He delicately navigated the party apparatus, while avoiding confrontation or taking positions on political reforms. By 2012, China's leader may not have that luxury.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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more from Janine di Giovanni
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Reading List
Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung
How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever
Mindful Eating by Dr Jan Bays
How to Raise a Mindful Eaterby Maryann Jacobsen
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg