Dominican president arrives in Beijing - CGTN
President of the Commonwealth of Dominica Sylvanie Burton arrived in Beijing on Saturday to attend the upcoming Global Leaders' Meeting on Women. The meeting, co-hosted by China and UN Women, will be held in Beijing from October 13 to 14.
Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. must end zero-sum mindset toward China - CGTN
Speaking on Leaders Talk, Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs traces the roots of America's global dominance mindset back to the 1990s, saying it has led to repeated policy failures. He calls for a change in perception – viewing China as a successful example and a partner for dialogue and cooperation, not as an adversary. Sachs warns that protectionism and trade barriers only weaken innovation and competitiveness in the long run.
Justin Yifu Lin: The logic of China’s rise
In a recent speech at the NSD, the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank quipped that he has spent three decades making an unfashionable claim: China’s economy will continue to grow. For him, China’s rise is more method than miracle. Many transition, late-industrialisers were advised to privatise, liberalise and balance budgets, yet the results were often collapse, stagnation and recurring crises, accompanied by rising inequality and worsening corruption. China’s “dual-track” approach, on the other hand, kept state-owned firms operating under the old rules and subsidies, while opening space for private and foreign entrants in sectors where China had comparative advantages. This mix preserved stability and channelled dynamism into competitive industries, turning latecomer advantages into sustained growth. The record, Lin adds, speaks for itself, with four decades of expansion and no systemic crisis.
On CATL’s Spain Project, A Few Modest Additions to the FT’s Reporting
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Looking across Europe, CATL’s existing plant in Germany may offer a highly relevant benchmark, unfortunately absent from the FT article. Production there began around three years ago, and Germany, as a fellow EU member state, arguably provides the most pertinent point of reference.
Reporting by Semafor, the rising U.S. media outlet, in late 2024, based on interviews with CATL’s first employee in Germany (now leading the site’s learning and development), described
It’s hiring aggressively as production ramps up: The factory’s workforce has grown to roughly 2,200, some 500 of whom are Chinese, a number that will be whittled down to about 100 in a “localization” push starting this year.
More recently, in September 2025, Automobilwoche - the leading industry and business publication for the German automotive industry - cited Matt Shen, a top executive for CATL in Europe, as saying
At first, around 30 percent of employees came from China, but now it’s less than 10 percent.
This progression illustrates a clear pattern: initial reliance on experienced staff from headquarters to establish operations, followed by a steady handover to local employees as recruitment and training advance….
In 2015, a Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS) review of over 400 Chinese enterprises and projects in Africa found
over 85% of their workforces consist of local African workers.
Based on interviews with 11 Chinese firms in Kenya, two researchers at the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies documented that the proportion of Kenyan employees is 78%, only slightly lower than the proportion among U.S. firms in the same region (82%).
In 2017, McKinsey reported after face-to-face interviews and surveys of 1,073 Chinese firms across eight countries in Africa
At the more than 1,000 companies we spoke to, 89 percent of employees were African, resulting in more than 300,000 jobs for African workers. Scaled up across all 10,000 Chinese firms in Africa, these numbers suggest that Chinese-owned business already employ several million Africans.
In 2019, a synthesis report produced by the Industrial Development, Construction and Employment in Africa (IDCEA) at SOAS University of London says…
1. The proportion of national (Ethiopian and Angolan) workers in the labour force is substantially higher than assumed in media perceptions. Our survey suggests that workforce localization rates are much higher than assumed. In Ethiopia about 90% of workers in Chinese firms were, in fact, Ethiopians. In Angola, where localization is more severely constrained by binding skill shortages, our estimated rates were close to 75%. We also found that localization had grown significantly in the previous 10 years as Chinese firms settled in the Angolan market, a trend that is shared by most other African countries, and that Chinese firms contributed to a large proportion of new jobs especially in construction.
2. Wages in Chinese firms broadly similar to other top firms in the same sectors. One factor that contributes to wage variation is that in both countries there is significant labour force segmentation, especially in Angola, where Chinese firms tend to operate a ‘migrant dormitory regime, which includes food and accommodation in addition to cash wages, thereby attracting many young workers from the poorest provinces of the country.
Daniel Kuo-yu Han's Speech at Republic of China's National Day
The Republic of China celebrated its 114th birthday in Taipei on Friday, October 10, 2025.
Two major speeches dominated the event - one from Daniel Kuo-yu Han, of the opposition Kuomingtang Party, who is the island’s legislative speaker and National Day Celebration Chairperson; the other from William Ching-te Lai, the Taiwanese leader and of the ruling Democratic Progress Party….
Below is what Daniel Kuo-yu Han said….
Who is Katie Fang, the Taiwan-born student beauty influencer who parties with Rihanna? | South China Morning Post
Generation Zalpha’s obsession with skincare and make-up may be surprising, but it didn’t come out of left field. Young people grew up on social media, and anyone who spends time on TikTok or Instagram will be more than familiar with one beauty influencer in particular right now – NYC-based Katie Fang.
Huang Yiping: misused industrial policy deepens China's low price trap
In an interview first published on 11 September with Elite’s Talk, a video channel under Tencent Business & Finance, Huang Yiping, Boya Distinguished Professor, Dean of the National School of Development (NSD), Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) at Peking University, delivered a blunt assessment of China’s overcapacity that has trapped firms in price wars and irrational competition—a vicious rat race of undercutting, eroding margins, degrading quality and sapping incentives to innovate.
China’s overcapacity is not just the investment rush typical of any industrial take-off; what makes it distinctive, says Huang, is the amplifying hand of local government. Industrial policy meant to correct market failures has been repurposed to churn out capacity. His remedy: scale back the state’s role, give enterprises and the market more sway over resource allocation, and judge officials by consumption, incomes and jobs rather than GDP alone.
Wu Xinbo: Golden Memories of China–U.S. Exchanges
At a time when talk of U.S.–China relations tends to be cast in the language of rivalry and distrust, it is easy to forget the decades of human encounters that helped steady the relationship. Wu Xinbo, Professor and Dean of the Institute of International Studies and Director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, offers a rare reminder. In a personal essay marking the Centre’s 40th anniversary, he recalls meetings with American presidents, senators, and scholars—Bill Clinton likening Anhui to his Arkansas roots; Joe Biden warning Taiwan’s leaders against miscalculation; Barack Obama lingering to shake hands with students; Henry Kissinger’s pithy reflections; Jimmy Carter’s delighted retelling of Deng Xiaoping’s offer to send students to America.
6 Hong Kong universities set new record in global top 200 | South China Morning Post
Times Higher Education says rankings highlight shift in research and higher education excellence from West to Asia
Six Hong Kong institutions have been listed among the world’s top 200 universities, a record for the city, with the British compiler of the table attributing their higher rankings to increased investments in research and staffing.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the city’s oldest, rose from 35th to 33rd place, the highest among all the local institutions, while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) registered the biggest jump, moving from 66th to 58th.
Renowned British publication Times Higher Education (THE), which released the 2026 World University Rankings on Thursday, said that most of Hong Kong’s improvements were driven by teaching reputation, doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratios and staff-to-student ratios.
China launches world’s first commercial underwater data centre in Hainan | South China Morning Post
The world’s first commercial underwater data centre is now operational in China’s Hainan, as the island province pushes to attract foreign investment by expanding the blue economy in the country’s largest pilot free-trade zone.
The servers manage digital services from restaurant recommendations to travel hacks, and will be installed in a 1,300-tonne underwater data cabin – equivalent to the weight of 1,000 passenger cars – after the first phase of construction was completed in Lingshui county this year.
“We put the entire data cabin in the deep sea because seawater can help cool down the temperature,” Pu Ding, project manager at Shenzhen HiCloud Data Centre Technology, told the Chinese media outlet Financial News.
How a dead US trade deal is pushing Africa further into China’s orbit | South China Morning Post
The apparent collapse of a 25-year tariff-free trade pact between the United States and Africa symbolises an American retreat, according to observers, who say the shift is paving the way for China to deepen its influence across the continent.
The Clinton-era African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) expired on September 30 after Congress failed to pass a renewal bill, leaving more than 6,000 African exports, such as apparel and textiles, subject to higher US tariffs.
The resulting economic uncertainty for businesses is expected to take a toll on countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho and Madagascar – whose textile and apparel industries rely heavily on the US market.
This weekly newsletter is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Visit us at Association for Barbados China Friendship | (abcf-bb.com).
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions for this week’s Update. Please send items of interest to me via the contact page at ABCF-BB.com or to info@DeLisleWorrell.com
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
