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 | Critical Infrastructure Failure

Power maintenance staff in Hubei Province, China, are actively conducting patrols and deicing operations to maintain the stability of the power grid amid widespread low temperatures and severe icing conditions in high-altitude areas.

These efforts are focused on ensuring the continuous and stable operation of power lines, which face significant risks due to ice accumulation. The maintenance activities include on-site inspections, deicing work on power towers, and vehicle patrols across affected regions such as Zouma Town in Hefeng County and Muyu Town in the Shennongjia Forestry District.

China Daily | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedBizdev-Partnering

Chinese companies are shifting from a traditional overseas expansion model focused on exporting products and achieving scale to one emphasizing deep localization, digital integration, and service differentiation. This strategic shift aligns with China's growing outbound direct investment, which increased 6.9 percent year-on-year to $158.21 billion in the first 11 months of 2025, with non-financial investments covering 153 countries and regions. The key transformation lies in how Chinese firms operate abroad, moving toward "high-quality globalization" characterized by stronger operational depth, governance, and local integration.

In consumer sectors, experience gained in China's competitive domestic market, especially in digital execution and user engagement, is becoming a competitive advantage overseas. Trip.com Group exemplifies this by prioritizing service differentiation, offering 24-hour customer support in 35 languages with over 20,000 agents worldwide, which has driven triple-digit growth. Granular localization, such as tailoring services to local preferences like smart toilet features for Japanese users, has strengthened user stickiness and market performance.

Chinese brands are also leveraging digital technology to embed themselves into daily life abroad, moving beyond mere exposure to integrating within consumers' cultural contexts through coordinated data, technology, and content strategies. For example, Govee, a smart home brand, effectively used programmatic advertising in the U.S. to boost purchase intent and outperformed social media advertising in conversion rates. Despite these advances, challenges remain in brand recognition, as shown by Beijing Ultrapower Software, which relies heavily on overseas revenue but struggles with global brand awareness, with users often recognizing products without knowing the brand or country of origin.