Thread: The View, from China

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected China Telecom Corp's (0728.HK) challenge to a Federal Communications Commission order withdrawing the company's authority to provide services in the United States.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the bid by the U.S. arm of China Telecom to reverse the order that took effect in January. The FCC said in 2021 that China Telecom (Americas) "is subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government."

A lawyer for China Telecom (Americas) did not immediately comment. The appeals court panel did not immediately make its opinion public.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday praised the ruling upholding the unanimous commission decision she said "was based on the recommendation of national security agencies that found that China Telecom's operations in the U.S. provided opportunities for increased Chinese state-sponsored cyber activities, including economic espionage and the disruption and misrouting of U.S. communications traffic."

The FCC has raised mounting concerns about Chinese telecom companies in recent years which had won permission to operate in the United States decades ago.
Last month, the FCC banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE (000063.SZ) because they pose "an unacceptable risk" to U.S. national security, in the latest crackdown on China by U.S. regulators.

In 2019, the FCC voted to deny state-owned Chinese telecom firm China Mobile Ltd (0941.HK) the right to provide U.S. services and later withdrew U.S. authorizations for several Chinese telecom carriers.

Appeals court rejects China Telecom bid to reverse U.S. ban | Reuters

Oh for Christ’s sake, sabang. News anywhere does that. Get a grip.

I have got to say,...prices in the states are also high (especially in S. Florida). But not this kind of high as outlined in the article below.

• China’s US$1.3t housing crackdown leaves few winners

CHINA’S housing affordability problem is so entrenched that the massive crackdown on the once-frothy real estate sector has made little difference for residents such as Qian, a teacher in the high-tech centre of Shenzhen.

For nine years, she’s been sharing a two-room school dorm while saving to buy an apartment in one of China’s most expensive cities. Although prices came down about 10 per cent after the recent market crash, her salary has been cut by 9 per cent. She needs to save for a few more decades to afford her own place. “I was frightened by home prices when I came to Shenzhen, and all the big policy changes didn’t give me any hope,” says Qian, 31, who declined to give her full name discussing a sensitive topic. “The idea that I might stay as a dorm dweller until retirement terrifies me.”

Policymakers have led an unprecedented assault on China’s housing market. Restrictions on developer borrowing have largely achieved the goal of lowering financial risk by kneecapping overleveraged companies such as China Evergrande Group. Yet on the key metric of affordability, so central to President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity’” push, the results are mixed. For all the pain inflicted on bondholders and real estate companies, housing remains stubbornly expensive in the world’s most unaffordable market. Homebuyers are questioning whether it was all worth it.

Governments around the world are struggling to make housing more affordable. Surging prices and stagnant wages over the last few decades have pushed real estate out of reach for young buyers from Sydney to Stockholm. For 19 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average price-to-rent and price-to-income ratios are higher now than before the 2008 financial crisis.

China’s challenge is particularly daunting, even for an authoritarian regime with plenty of levers to pull. Home prices in Beijing and Shanghai have jumped tenfold and twelvefold, respectively, this century, according to government statistics, after the economic opening prompted more people to park their life savings in real estate rather than in stocks or other investments.

The ratio of median home prices to income surged to more than 25 at the end of 2021 in Beijing, compared with about 20 in Hong Kong and just seven in the US, according to research from Nordea Bank Abp. Nationally, the ratio in China improved slightly last year to 9.1 from 9.2 in 2020, accord to E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings, a real estate firm.

In most Chinese cities, income is nowhere close to keeping pace with the cost of housing-a problem that’s felt in many countries but is particularly acute in the world’s second-largest economy. In Qian’s home of Shenzhen, an apartment typically costs 40 times the average annual salary. That’s quadruple the relative price in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to separate data from E-House and Harvard University’s Joint Centre for Housing Studies. In Shanghai, China’s business and finance hub, a 950-square-foot, two-bedroom condo sells for almost US$725,000. For about that price, a buyer could snap up a one-bedroom unit in Manhattan, where the average disposable income is more than six times higher.

Global measures to deal with the affordability problem have ranged from government subsidies to increased rental housing. Australia imposed a foreign-buyers tax to keep prices in line, while Canada will ban foreign purchases for two years starting in January. Cities from New York to Berlin have attempted rental caps.

China’s moves have been much more blunt and costly for the industry and investors. As early as 2016, Xi spoke of making “housing for living in” and not for speculation, while he pushed a housing model that emphasises renting. By 2020, “common prosperity” became the catchphrase to tackle inequalities, from income and education to housing.

The government has been trying to avoid the type of upheaval seen in Hong Kong, where the lack of affordable housing has led to a sense of hopelessness among young people. Expensive homes have even prompted many families in China to avoid having children, exacerbating a looming demographic crisis.

To bring the housing sector in check, Beijing introduced the so-called three red lines in 2020 to halt borrowing by developers unless they meet rigid financial targets and imposed lending limits on banks. With credit markets largely closed, developers were forced to slow construction, and dozens defaulted on their debt. As the crisis spiraled, buyers became spooked, driving sales down by the most in at least two decades.

Beijing was betting the financial straightjacket and construction curbs would limit speculation, as the red-hot market had prompted some buyers to snap up two or three new condos as pure investments, pushing prices out of reach for many.

“So three red lines was a deliberate choice by them to try and squeeze the air out of the property bubble and improve affordability,” says Tom Orlik, chief economist at Bloomberg Economics.

More than two years later, China’s efforts to reduce prices or at least halt the increases-have had limited success. New-home prices fell for the 15th straight month in November. Yet most of those dips have been too small to make much of a difference. November’s drop of 0.25 per cent in 70 cities was typical: None of the pullbacks has been greater than 0.40 per cent.

That steady drip of declines-more than 3 per cent over 15 months-compares with much sharper plunges in other markets as global interest rates surge. Prices in Toronto are off 18 per cent from their peak, while Sydney is down 11 per cent. Sweden’s market is forecast to drop by a fifth from a March peak, according to Nordea estimates.

There are signs of steeper declines in some parts of China. An existing-home price index tracked by KE Holdings shows that values in the less regulated market dropped 7.5 per cent in August from a year earlier. In Hangzhou, near tech giant Alibaba Group Holding’s headquarters, existing-home prices are off more than 15 per cent from a peak last year, agents say.

The meagre national declines, even as sales collapse, partly reflect the quirks of China’s housing market that keep a floor on prices. Some 90 per cent of city dwellers own their homes, according to Goldman Sachs Group research, compared with about 65 per cent in the US. Ownership is so ingrained, a single man or woman has a much better chance of finding a match if they own a condo.

And cash is king. Down-payment requirements run as high as 80 per cent for big-city buyers, who save for years and tap parents for funds. That makes forced selling much rarer than in other countries, where downturns can push mortgages underwater, meaning the loan is worth more than the home. Prices in China have been less volatile than sales and new construction, which have gone through boom and bust cycles several times this century.

Much more in the link: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/int...es-few-winners

Restrictions on developer borrowing have largely achieved the goal of lowering financial risk by kneecapping overleveraged companies such as China Evergrande Group.

Good to see- of course the usual suspects were saying the usual "China is doomed" nonsense about this a few months back. I wonder what Socialist China might do to address housing affordability though? It has a very high rate of home ownership nationwide, and the gov't clearly thinks that is the best way to go.

Anyway, if anything the housing affordability crisis is worse over the internal border in HK. History now, but I had plenty of chances to buy a shoebox or two in rapidly growing Shenzhen/ Dongguan back in the day. Wish I had! A couple of chappies I knew who shall remain nameless bought themself pied a' terres within convenient distance of the border crossing, to house their mistress. Canny investment.

Unsafe Intercept of U.S. aircraft over South China Sea

On Dec. 21 (China Standard Time), a People’s Liberation Army - Navy J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, which was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace. The PLAN pilot flew an unsafe maneuver by flying in front of and within 20 feet of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Joint Force is dedicated to a free and open Indo-Pacific region and will continue to fly, sail and operate at sea and in international airspace with due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law. We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law.

Originally Posted by Switch

What do you really think will happen when the Chinese are allowed to leave China?

The nub in case of LOS

You often fancy a Chinese that heady poison of MSG sweet sour , crispy butterfly prawns.

However too much can make you sick, though of course like so many vices after a brief interlude you are gagging for another one.

I fear the open door/arms will rebound.

However the first wave was killing over 1% , seems to be lower mortality now I guess due to the very sick old low hanging fruit have already succommbed.

I reminded a members wife of free boosters here on Tuesday but she'll stick with her prayers incense nd Jatukoms as is her right.

Call me new fangled I'll go with the science epidemiology and a lifetime in risk analysis, the jab cannot prevent if you are mingling but fewer deaths.

I know there are contra indications, long Covid19 and varying efficacy models but rather like rubba up better safe than Johnny

Oh HNY Switcheroo are you still rogering feral Ozzies in Kutabove the Highwater mark or training for the real assault course the Monger Games that is Thailand. I trust your lower post rate is not since wankers cramp and more to do with iPhone fatigue or bandwidth bumfeckery?