China is undergoing a profound economic shift anchored in industrial upgrading and technological self-reliance. Amidst global macro uncertainties, the country's relentless focus on innovation across strategic sectors—ranging from semiconductors and artificial intelligence to robotics, green energy, and biotech—is building the foundation for sustained long-term growth. In this article, we discuss how these structural advances, often overlooked amid cyclical challenges, are already yielding tangible outcomes and positioning China at the forefront of the next wave of global industrial transformation. As policymakers are busy drafting the 15th Five Year Plan, and wrapping up the last stretch of the 14th Five Year Plan, it is also important to note how these innovation-led developments would continue to be at the forefront of the policy initiatives, and inform us of market opportunities ahead.

Jun 22, 2025

Amidst months of volatile global equity market performance and unprecedented trade policy uncertainty, the first quarter brought one of the most important events on China’s economic calendar: Beijing’s annual “Two Sessions” meeting, which offers a chance for officials to set economic targets and announce policy priorities for the year ahead. In this article, Dr. Phillip Wool, Global Head of Research of Rayliant Global Advisors, discusses how China policymakers are responding to Trump 2.0 tariff threats, and what it all means for A shares performance going into Q2.

May 07, 2025

The state of China’s consumer spending is better than how it has been portrayed in the media. Further, the latest developments and data suggest that the growth rate will get even better: The Chinese Government is placing more emphasis on domestic consumption as a driver of growth as global trade is disrupted by higher US tariffs. Meanwhile, the latest revenue figure from JD.com suggests a quickening of the pace of retail spending in the final quarter of 2024. The online retailer just reported 13.4% year-on-year growth in sales for the December quarter – the fastest growth rate in almost three years. This compares with its full year revenue growth rate of 6.8%, pointing to the rising growth momentum. In this article, we discuss about the consumption phenomenon in China, driving the decent growth of per-capita consumer spending in China at 5.1% YoY in real terms in 2024 (far higher than that of 1.8% in US).

Mar 20, 2025

It is worth noting that while the significant rally in BATJX – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, Xiaomi – and the offshore listed tech/internet players have dominated headlines lately, the bottoming out of the overall China market since the policy shift in late September last year started onshore, with A shares experiencing a sharper rebound first and with a more slower but sustained trend, as domestic investors were more sensitive to the reset in policy tones and significant shift in government’s commitment to reviving economic growth and capital market activities. In this article, Partner & Co-CIO David Lai discusses the factors that could drive a more sustained outperformance in onshore equity market, and why it is a good entry point to rotate from offshore to onshore companies in policy supported sectors.

Mar 20, 2025

While the market is focused on the size of the fiscal stimulus emerging from the Two Sessions currently underway in Beijing, there are other important drivers that could shape the outlook for the relative performance of Chinese equities versus US stocks. The first is about relative valuation; the second is cyclical – that is, the turning of the US economic cycle; and the third is secular – that is, the sustainability of the repeated use of the “policy bazooka” in the US. In this article, our Senior Advisor Say Boon Lim discusses what causes the underperformance of US market since the Inauguration of President Trump, and diversification out of the US equities has become more important than ever while the slump in consumer confidence and potential debt crisis continue to add downward pressures on the US economy.

Mar 09, 2025