Prevailing Winds is a China-focused blog written by Nicholas Borst, Director of China Research at Seafarer. The blog tracks the economic and financial developments shaping the world’s largest emerging market. Learn more about Prevailing Winds.
Rebalancing the U.S.-China Economic Relationship

– In an Asia Society Conference panel titled Rebalancing the U.S.-China Economic Relationship: Trade, Investment, and Technology, Nicholas Borst explains how the increase in holdings of Chinese securities by U.S. investors has emerged as a major source of conflict in the U.S.-China economic relationship.
Rebalancing the U.S.-China Economic RelationshipHow Exposed Are U.S. Investors to China?

– U.S. investors have invested more in China than the official statistics indicate, but remain less important as a financing source for Chinese companies than policymakers and the media may imagine.
How Exposed Are U.S. Investors to China?Tracking China’s Foreign Debt

– China leads the emerging markets in foreign debt, but a closer analysis reveals that China’s foreign borrowing is less risky than it appears, and is manageable relative to the size of the economy.
Tracking China’s Foreign DebtHave Foreign-listed Chinese Stocks Been a Bad Deal for Investors?

– Contrary to the assertions of many critics, foreign-listed Chinese firms – particularly those listed in the U.S. – have provided attractive returns for investors over the past decade.
MoreThe China Investment Dilemma – Part IV
How to Navigate a Tumultuous U.S.-China Relationship
– The fourth and final installment of The China Investment Dilemma: Risks for U.S. Investors During a Turbulent Time offers a disciplined approach to navigating the challenges posed by the volatile U.S.-China relationship.
MoreDivest and Delist? The Case Against Exiting China

– Efforts to limit foreign investment in Chinese companies will be a significant setback for corporate reforms in China.
MoreThe China Investment Dilemma – Part III
Risks for U.S. Investors in China
– The third installment of The China Investment Dilemma: Risks for U.S. Investors During a Turbulent Time examines why the challenged U.S.-China relationship is creating a new set of risks for U.S. investors in China.
MoreThe China Investment Dilemma – Part II
The Rocky State of the U.S.-China Relationship
– The second installment of The China Investment Dilemma: Risks for U.S. Investors During a Turbulent Time reviews major trends behind the deteriorating trajectory of U.S.-China bilateral relations.
MoreHas COVID-19 Led to Financial Instability in China?

– While China’s financial system weathered the initial stages of the COVID-19 crisis well, heightened risks warrant vigilance.
MoreThe China Investment Dilemma – Part I
China’s Financial Rise
– The first installment of The China Investment Dilemma: Risks for U.S. Investors During a Turbulent Time explains how China’s emergence as a major investment destination is driven by the size, depth, and increasing openness of its capital markets.
MoreState-owned Enterprises and Investing in China

– State influence over companies in China defies easy categorization and depends on both ownership levels and government policy priorities.
MoreVisualizing China’s A-Share Market Selloffs

– China’s stock market corrections in 2015 and 2018 illustrate the volatility and peculiar tendencies of the A-share market.
A Tale of Two CorrectionsChina’s Hidden Government Debt

– Local government off-balance sheet borrowing – both a channel of economic stimulus and a source of acute financial risks – complicates measurements of overall government debt in China.
China’s Hidden Government DebtTestimony – What Keeps Xi Up at Night

– In testimony to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Nicholas Borst describes the array of challenges facing the Chinese economy and the structural reforms that would help China achieve sustainable economic growth.
Looking Back on China’s 2018Looking Back on China’s 2018

– China experienced a tumultuous 2018 full of headwinds that drove down equity markets and economic sentiment, but trade growth and private sector resilience remain positive long-term trends.
Looking Back on China’s 2018China’s Private Sector is Feeling the Pinch

– While new government policies in China may ease the financing challenges faced by the private sector, truly leveling the playing field between private and state-owned enterprises will require structural reforms and take years to implement.
China’s Private Sector is Feeling the PinchHow Artificial Intelligence is Shaping Industries Across China

– China has rapidly emerged as a world-class innovator in the field of artificial intelligence and is at the forefront of applying AI to solve real world business problems.
How Artificial Intelligence is Shaping Industries Across ChinaChina’s Tech Rush

– China’s campaign to advance its technological capabilities has the potential to transform many emerging high-tech industries through an unprecedented level of government support and cooperation with the private sector.
China’s Tech RushHow Open Are China’s Capital Markets to Foreign Investment?

– The current stock market correction in China is serving as a useful test of the commitment of policymakers to maintaining recent financial reforms in the face of financial volatility.
How Open Are China’s Capital Markets to Foreign Investment?China’s Crackdown on Financial Risks

– Following financial shocks in China in 2015 and 2016, Chinese authorities have taken steps to reduce risks across the financial system and slow the growth rate of credit, particularly in the shadow banking system.
China’s Crackdown on Financial RisksFixing China’s Municipal Bond Market

– A viable municipal bond market has developed in China, in response to the growing fiscal needs of local governments – but challenges remain, including high levels of borrowing and the availability of long-term financing.
Fixing China’s Municipal Bond MarketChina’s Investment Numbers Don’t Add Up

– While each release of China’s fixed asset investment numbers generates news headlines, the data should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism until China completes reforms to its statistical methodology.
China’s Investment Numbers Don’t Add UpForty Years Later: China in a New Era

– The recent China Development Forum celebrated China’s economic achievements, but it also highlighted a large shift occurring across China: the Communist Party’s reassertion of control over the government.
Forty Years Later: China in a New EraWelcome to Prevailing Winds

– For emerging markets investors, no country is more important to get right than China. Prevailing Winds will track the complex and contradictory forces that are shaping the Chinese economy.
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