The month's latest events

Xi Urges Stepping Up Final Preparations for Successful Winter Olympics

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged organizers tocontinue to work hard in the final stages of their preparations to ensure the complete success of the Beijing 2022 Olympicand Paralympic Winter Games. Xi made the remarks duringhis latest inspection of the Games’preparatory work onJanuary 4， 2022.

Xi said that a successful Beijing 2022 is China’s solemncommitment to the international community and after years of preparations， everything is ready.

Xi visited the National Speed Skating Oval， the Main Media Center， the athletes’village， the Games-time OperationsCommand Center and a winter sports training base in Beijing， learning about preparatory work as well as Chinese athletes’ preparations for the Games. This was the fifth time heinspected preparations for the Games in the past five years.

During the inspection tour， Xi said that thanks to yearsof efforts， work on all fronts was mostly ready.“We are fully confident and able to present a brilliant， exceptional andexcellent Olympic Games to the world.”

The 2022 Olympic Winter Games will take place fromFebruary 4 to 20， followed by the Paralympic Winter Games from March 4 to 13.

China-Vietnam Freight Train 'Trips Double in 2021

South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region handled 346 China-Vietnam freight train trips in 2021， up 108 percent from the previous year， according to the China Railway Nanning Group Co.， Ltd.Since its launch in August 2017， the freight train service has transported a huge variety of goodsbetween China and ASEAN countries， including glass， cotton yarn， fruits， electronics， and dailynecessities.

Among the imported fruits， 19，400 tonnes of durians， mangosteens， and longans were transported via the freight service in 2021， up 14.7 percent year on year. A total of 400 China-Vietnam freighttrain trips are expected to be made in 2022.

China-Laos Railway Service Progressing

As of January 3， a month after the China-Laos Railway began operations， the line had handled670，000 passenger trips and 170，000 metric tons of cargo， according to the China State Railway Group. It has facilitated travel for people in both countries and promoted economic and tradeties between China and Laos， the group said in a statement.

On December 3， 2021， the railway began its first journey from Kunming， capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province， to Vientiane， the Lao capital. The 1，035-kilometer line， which runsthrough lush tropical mountains and across the Mekong River， has shortened the journey fromKunming to Vientiane to about 10 hours.

Philippine President Duterte Signs 2022 Budget to Fund Recovery from Pandemic

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed on December 30， 2021 the nearly US$100 billionnational budget for 2022 to fund the country’s sustained recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 5.024 trillion pesos （roughly US$98.44 billion） budget， 10 percent higher than the 2021budget， will prioritize the people’s health by ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare for all Filipinos， said Duterte.

To guarantee the streamlined operation of the current health system， 88.9 billion pesos （US$1.74 billion） were allocated for the health facilities operations program and the procurement of drugs，medicines， and vaccines.

Duterte said the 2022 budget will also provide essential funding requirements to safeguard and support displaced workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to foster socio-economic recovery.

Cambodia Inaugurates China-aided Stadium

Cambodia inaugurated a China-funded national stadium in the northern suburbs of the capital Phnom Penh with a sports parade， martial arts， and traditional dances on December 18， 2021.

Cambodian Prime Minister SamdechTecho Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to CambodiaWang Wentian presided over the event. Hun Sen said the 60，000-seat stadium will be thecenterpiece venue for tournaments when Cambodia hosts the Southeast Asian Games for the first time in May 2023.

He expressed his gratitude to China for building the stadium， saying that it was a great achievement in the country’s sports sector.

Located about 18 kilometers north of the capital， the 39.9-meter-tall stadium was built in the shape of a“sailing ship”with both prows 99 meters tall， and was encircled by an ancient Angkor-style moat.

“Another wave of widespread school closures would be disastrous for children. The evidence is clear：Prolonged， nationwide school closures; limited resources for students， teachers and parents; and lackof access to remote learning have wiped out decades of progress in education and rendered childhood unrecognizable.”

—UN Children’s Fund （UNICEF） chief Henrietta Fore said on December 17， 2021， that closing schools should be last resort in Omicron fight

“We expect our GDP to grow by three to five percent in 2022. We will progressively phase outemergency support measures as businesses revive， though a few sectors will take longer. We will safely expand cross-border travel and re-connect with the rest of the world， Omicron permitting.”

—Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his New Year address on December 31， 2021

“I will try my utmost to bring ASEAN from nine members back to an ASEAN with 10 members as this year’s chair. I have already stated that if ASEAN has just nine members， that would mean ASEAN isweaker with an unhealthy attitude and an unwell outlook.”

—Hun Sen said on December 23， 2021， who will visit Myanmar in January 7-8， 2022， both as Cambodian prime minister and as chairman of ASEAN

7.2%

Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry announced on January 3，2022， that the country’s GDP grewby 7.2 percent in 2021， reboundingfrom the 5.4 percent contraction in2020.

In the fourth quarter of 2021，Singapore’s GDP grew by 5.9percent year on year. Singapore’smanufacturing sector expanded by 14 percent year on year and 12.8percent in the whole year of 2021. The construction sector expanded by 2 percent year on year in Q4and 18.7 percent in the year. Theservices producing industriesexpanded by 4.6 percent year onyear in the quarter and 5.2 percent in the year.

US$226

Global debt rose to a recordUS$226 trillion in 2020 as theworld was hit by the COVID-19pandemic and a deep recession， the International Monetary Fund （IMF） said on December 15， 2021.

Global debt rose by 28percentage points to 256 percent of GDP in 2020， the largest one-year debt surge since World WarII. Debt increases are particularlystriking in advanced economies，where public debt rose fromaround 70 percent of GDP in 2007 to 124 percent of GDP in 2020.Meanwhile， private debt rose at amore moderate pace from 164 to178 percent of GDP in the sameperiod， according to the IMF.

5.1%

The Asian Development Bank （ADB） forecast a 5.1 percentrise in gross domestic productfor Southeast Asia in 2022. Thatrepresents an acceleration from the3 percent estimate for 2021， whenthe coronavirus shut down factoriesin Malaysia and Vietnam during thesummer， contributing to global supply chain turmoil.

The economic recovery will likelyspur central banks， which largely kept their rates unchanged last year， to shift to monetary tightening. Economistsincreasingly expect interest rate hikesto be on the table in major economies during the second half of 2022. But the threat of the coronavirus complicatesthe picture for central banks.

VNA January 4， 2022

Vietnam Still No.2 Coffee Exporter

Vietnam’s 2021 coffee export revenue is estimated at over US$3 billion despite the COVID-19 pandemic， accordingto an industry official. The country remains the secondlargest exporter of the drink in the world， second only toBrazil， accounting for 8.3 percent of the global marketshare.

Coffee is one of the six agricultural products that bringback over US$3 billion per year for Vietnam. It is nowpresent in more than 80 countries and territories， mainly the European Union （EU）， the US， Russia， Japan， and theUK.

Yet， the value of coffee is not high as most of it is exported raw. The average price for a tonne of processed coffee isnearly US$3，600 while that of coffee beans is only aboutUS$2，400. To improve the situation， enterprises havepromoted processing instead of exporting coffee beans.

TheJakarta Post January 4， 2022

How China Beats US as Trade， Investment Partner for Indonesia

Indonesia has gotten closer to China than the United States in goods trade and foreign direct investment in the past few decades， benefitting from the rapid development of theworld’s second-largest economy.

Indonesia’s trade with China picked up following the EastAsian giant’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Trade between the two countries grew further after ASEAN implemented a free trade agreement with China，called ACFTA， in 2010.

In 2020， exports to China accounted for 19.45 percent of thetotal， expanding from 4.45 percent in 2000， according to the United Nations Comtrade Database. The share of importsfrom the country also expanded to nearly 28 percent in2020 from 6.03 percent in 2000. This growth puts China asIndonesia’s top trading partner.

The Strait Times January 3， 2022

China’s Astronauts Mark New Year with Live Stream from Space

From hosting a children’s art gallery in space to answeringquestions about manned spaceflight， the three astronautsonboard China’s Tiangong space station celebrated the NewYear by cultivating science and inspiration in the country’s youth. On January 1， astronauts ZhaiZhigang， Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu hosted a live video call and interacted with college students at venues in Beijing as well as Hong Kong andMacau. They are the first Chinese astronauts to welcomethe New Year in space.

On October 16， 2021， the Shenzhou XIII mission sent thethree astronauts into the core module of the Tiangongspace station called Tianhe， meaning“Harmony of theHeavens”. Since then， they have conducted two spacewalks and are scheduled to spend six months working in thestation， making it China’s longest space mission.

TheStar January 2， 2022

China to Scrap Subsidies for Electric Vehicles

China will end subsidies for electric and hybrid cars at the end of the year， authorities have announced， saying thestrength of sales in the sector meant state support was no longer needed.

In a statement published on December 31， 2021， the Ministry of Finance said purchase subsidies would be reduced by 30 percent from the beginning of 2022 before being scrapped completely by the end of the year.

Sales of electric and hybrid cars have boomed in China， with increases of more than 100 percent year-on-year in recent months.

The cars are set to represent 18 percent of all vehicle sales in 2022， the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers（CAAM） estimated. In 2019， they accounted for only fivepercent. Of the 27.5 million vehicles set to be sold this year，according to CAAM， five million will be electric and hybrids.