China

Xinhua | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

Hong Kong is taking a proactive yet cautious approach to developing digital assets, emphasizing the principle of "same activity, same risk, same regulation" to ensure responsible and sustainable market growth. Since 2023, Hong Kong has licensed 11 virtual asset trading platforms and plans to introduce a stablecoin licensing regime later this year. The government has also been a leader in tokenization, issuing three batches of tokenized green bonds totaling about 2.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan highlighted the synergy between finance and technology, noting that digital assets improve transparency, efficiency, inclusiveness, and risk management in financial services. These innovations also support better capital allocation to the real economy. Chan's remarks were made during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, where he also met with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to express Hong Kong and China's strong support for free trade, multilateralism, and WTO reform efforts.

Additionally, Chan held discussions with senior officials from various economies, international organizations, and business leaders to promote Hong Kong's latest developments and strategic advantages as an international financial center.

Peoples Daily | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedTaxes

In 2025, China's manufacturing sector accelerated its shift toward intelligent and green development, solidifying its role as a key stabilizer of the national economy. The sector's sales revenue growth exceeded the national average by 1.7 percentage points, reaching 29.7 percent of the country’s total sales revenue, a 0.5-percentage-point increase from 2024.

Procurement of automated and digital equipment by manufacturing enterprises rose by 11.3 percent and 10 percent respectively, illustrating progress in intelligent transformation and digital upgrading. The intelligent equipment manufacturing industry's sales revenue jumped 28.1 percent, supported by output increases in industrial robots (17.4 percent) and special operation robots (42.1 percent).

The share of high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises' sales revenue declined by 1.1 percentage points, indicating ongoing industrial structure optimization. Spending on environmental governance services by manufacturing enterprises also increased steadily. Moreover, procurement of digital technologies surged 10.4 percent in value, an acceleration of 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Going forward, China's tax authorities plan to implement preferential tax and fee policies to support the sector's transformation and upgrading. They will continue optimizing tax and fee services to promote the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.

Xinhua | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | Regulation

China's Ministry of Finance issued a notice on January 21, 2026, to curb excessively low bidding in government procurement, effective February 1, 2026. The measure aims to reduce involution-style competition and promote a healthy market environment where quality is rewarded with fair pricing.

The notice requires procuring entities to set reasonable price ceilings and configure appropriate procurement packages to support competitive bidding. Financial authorities will oversee bid evaluations, and if evaluation committees fail to properly review abnormally low bids, corrective actions will be taken, including legal accountability for responsible experts.

Procurement entities are also mandated to ensure performance acceptance procedures comply with legal standards, with thorough reviews of all technical and commercial contract requirements during inspections and complaint handling.