Liu He

Did China’s ‘skilled’ negotiators help break the US trade deadlock?

13 May 2025 - 5:24PMvideocam

How Trump’s tariff chaos is bringing China’s ‘trade circle of friends’ closer

1 May 2025 - 12:22AM

What did China’s Xi Jinping achieve on his trip to Southeast Asia?

Xi was hoping to galvanise support for a united front against US tariffs. Each country had its own response, observer says.

21 Apr 2025 - 8:38PMvideocam

Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews the Royal Palce honorary guards as he is accompanied by Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen during a send-off ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday. Photo: AKP via AP

How China’s sharper view of US has rewritten its trade war playbook

Beijing’s tougher tariff response reflects new understanding of Washington’s aims under Trump 2.0, analysts say.

17 Apr 2025 - 11:56PMvideocam

China-Japan relations

China coastguard drives off Japanese fishing boats in escalating island dispute

Tokyo accuses Beijing of stoking tensions after Chinese ships expel four vessels from the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands.

25 Mar 2025 - 3:50PM

Hong Kong stock market

Global banks: Chinese stock rally not over yet

‘A short-term fluctuation doesn’t equal a pullback, and markets might go up if there are new catalysts,’ CICC Research analyst says.

12 Mar 2025 - 8:30AM

People stand on a pedestrian bridge with a display showing stock data in Shanghai on March 3, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE

China-Africa relations

China may be prepared to join Zambia debt deal: US treasury secretary Yellen

Janet Yellen met her Chinese counterpart, Liu He, in Zurich on Wednesday. ‘I definitely think they get what the problem is, and that there needs to be a solution,’ she said on Saturday.

22 Jan 2023 - 5:44AM

‘Life’s been restored’: China’s economy will return to normal, vice-premier says

Vice-Premier Liu He tells the World Economic Forum that China is getting back to normal more quickly than expected after lifting its zero-Covid policies last month.

18 Jan 2023 - 9:24AMvideocam

Top China, US trade officials to meet face to face in Zurich

Washington says aim of Yellen’s meeting with Liu is to ‘deepen communication’; Beijing calls the meeting ‘policy coordination’.

17 Jan 2023 - 9:21AMvideocam

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, seen in October, will meet her Chinese counterpart face-to-face for the first time this week. Photo: AP

VP Liu He to represent China at World Economic Forum, ministry confirms

Liu’s attendance in Davos, Switzerland, will be the first by a Chinese leader since the Covid-19 pandemic.

14 Jan 2023 - 1:07AM

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will attend next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday. Photo: AP

Diplomacy

Exclusive | Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He to attend Davos next week, sources say

It will be the first time a top Chinese leader has travelled to the World Economic Forum meeting since the pandemic began.

9 Jan 2023 - 7:04PMvideocam

China’s 20th Party Congress

China’s economic tsar ‘highly confident’ of recovery, mulls property-sector aid

China will see an economic recovery next year and is mulling new measures to support the beleaguered real estate market, Vice-Premier Liu He said on Thursday.

16 Dec 2022 - 1:12PM

Economic and finance shake-up on China’s Central Committee

Reshuffle follows Central Committee retirements, banking crises and Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign but scope of changes prompts uncertainty.

22 Oct 2022 - 8:16PMvideocam

The list of new Central Committee members published after the 20th party congress reveals big changes to finance and economic representation and raises questions about how China will navigate a difficult period. Photo: Reuters

China’s 20th Party Congress

China’s Covid slowdown raises spectre of middle-income trap

Chinese officials have trumpeted dazzling economic figures to make the case that the country can escape the middle-income trap, but some inconvenient statistics point to a worrying trend for the world’s second-largest economy.

20 Jul 2022 - 6:00AMvideocam

Statistically, China already stands at the doorstep of the high-income club, but there are concerns it could fall victim to the middle-income trap. Photo: Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen

‘Constructive’ US-China talks not expected to end long-standing rivalry

Some analysts say any move by Washington to cut tariffs on Chinese goods would be solely in the US’ own interests, rather than signal an abrupt change in President Biden’s China policy.

7 Jul 2022 - 4:04PM

Coronavirus China

Home-grown vaccine back on the agenda, China energises ‘scientific’ strategy

Remarks by Vice-Premier Liu He suggest vaccine development remains on the agenda for China, with clinical trials of a home-grown Omicron jab having started in Zhejiang.

1 Jun 2022 - 6:30AMvideocam

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

Questions raised after China claims economy will ‘soon’ return to normal

The nation’s propaganda machine is churning out pro-growth statements and defending coronavirus-control measures, but some question the official data and say greater policy support is needed.

18 May 2022 - 8:57PMvideocam

Nearly two months after Shanghai was placed under lockdown, party mouthpiece People’s Daily says the nation’s zero-Covid policy is gradually having “the desired effects”. Photo: Reuters

Editorial | Hong Kong borrowers had better get ready for series of interest rate rises

With the US Fed forecasting at least six more increases this year, and more to follow, the city being pegged to the US dollar is bound to feel their cumulative effect.

23 Mar 2022 - 7:30AMvideocam

China’s crackdowns

China’s regulators may ease the pressure on Big Tech companies in 2022

The shift in policy comes as Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He called for order and transparency in regulators’ dealings with the country’s Big Tech firms.

19 Mar 2022 - 2:12AMvideocam

Liu He says China to beat 2021 growth target, despite headwinds

Vice-Premier Liu He says China is on track to beat its economic growth target of ‘above 6 per cent’ this year, but numerous challenges remain – from the coronavirus to power shortages.

1 Dec 2021 - 3:24PMvideocam

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He says China will beat its growth target of ‘above 6 per cent’ for this year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Technological innovation ‘matter of survival’ as China plots economic recovery

Vice-Premier Liu He reflected on the key weakness of China’s economic system In a 6,500-word article published on Wednesday in the People’s Daily.

25 Nov 2021 - 9:15AM

Concerns have been raised that China’s economic growth could further slow to below 4 per cent in the fourth quarter. Photo: Simon Song

China economy

Liu He meets foreign business VIP in Beijing for first time in two years

Meeting comes amid growing debate over when the world’s second-largest economy will reopen its borders in the wake of pandemic.

20 Nov 2021 - 12:37AMvideocam

China, US ‘to up economic coordination’ as Evergrande crisis casts shadow

The sides hold ‘constructive’ economic talks with global recovery ‘at crucial stage’, according to Chinese statement.

26 Oct 2021 - 11:35PMvideocam

US ‘tests’ direct engagement with China in trade talks

‘Candid’ exchange between Liu He and Katherine Tai also sees Beijing pushing for tariffs to be lifted, while Washington raises concerns over China’s economic model.

10 Oct 2021 - 12:07AMvideocam

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He acknowledged the importance of the bilateral trade relationship, and the impact that it has on the global economy. Photo: Xinhua