South China Morning Post:

China’s “big four” state-run banks are the largest in the world in terms of asset scale, a new report has found, underscoring Beijing’s rising ambitions to build the country into a global financial powerhouse.

The ranking released by The Banker magazine on Wednesday was topped by the four Chinese banks – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China – with JPMorgan Chase following in fifth place.

In total, Chinese banks made up seven of the top 10 in the ranking, which lists global banks in terms of tier-one capital size. All seven of them are controlled by the Chinese government.

Postal Savings Bank of China broke into the top 10 for the first time, while US giants Bank of America and Citigroup ranked sixth and eighth, respectively.

Chinese banks collectively held US$54.8 trillion in total assets, more than double the US$25 trillion held by US banks in the ranking, data showed.

However, the race is not only about size, as US banks continue to hold the advantage in terms of profitability.

Chinese banks in the top 1,000 ranking reported combined pre-tax profits of US$392 billion, compared with US$328 billion for US banks.

The publication noted that American lenders maintained a clear lead in profitability performance, while European banks recorded stronger earnings growth after a relatively weak previous year.

The expansion of China’s banks is closely linked to Beijing’s broader financial ambitions: increasing the global role of the yuan, developing alternative cross-border financing channels and extending China’s influence through overseas banking operations.

Silvia Pavoni, editor-in-chief of The Banker, said Chinese banks’ international expansion and efforts to promote yuan internationalisation would become increasingly important drivers of future growth and profitability.

“China’s largest banks continue to underpin their dominance,” Pavoni said, adding that the scale and resilience of the country’s banking sector remained significant as the global economy faced uncertainty and geopolitical challenges.

Chelsea Yang

Chelsea Yang

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Jul 8 insisted he still wanted Greenland, as NATO leaders met for their summit in Ankara. Once again putting the frozen island at the centre of transatlantic politics, he said the United States should control the Arctic island because it is important for global security. "Greenland is a big problem for us," he told reporters, saying it was "very important for the United States, but it's not important for Denmark".

For nearly five decades, China has been cultivating the world's largest reforestation initiative, the 'Great Green Wall,' to halt the spread of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts. A new study reveals a surprising trend: these 66 billion planted trees are expanding their leaf area 66% faster than nearby natural forests.

While younger, human-managed trees naturally grow quicker, researchers found that even after adjusting for age and local growing conditions, the planted forests still grew 4.6% faster than their natural counterparts.

Scientists believe this boost occurs because these younger forests respond more aggressively to rising carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere.

However, this rapid growth comes with a major catch: the advantage is temporary. The study shows that this growth surge peaks when the trees are between 30 and 40 years old, after which the acceleration begins to fade. While natural forests develop at a much slower pace, they continue to store carbon for centuries and support vastly superior biodiversity.

This means that while massive planting initiatives are an excellent short-term strategy to absorb greenhouse gases, they cannot replace the long-term ecological stability and carbon storage provided by protecting existing, ancient forests.

source: Luo, Y., Wang, Y., Wang, H., Wang, H., & Wu, J. (2026). Enhanced CO2 Response and Aging-Related Dynamics Drive a Greater Leaf Area Index Increase in China's Planted Forests in Comparison to Natural Forests. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(11).

In capitalist economy, wealthy people store wealth by buying extra houses which keeps price of houses rising. These house wealth often used as collateral for taking credit and then using that credit in investment. So fall in house prices reduce investment and growth.

In socialist China wealthy class are not allowed to speculate and use house as collateral for investment. Chinese government has ensured over supply in housing market so that house price keeps falling. So housing prices are falling and that doesn't effect investment and growth.

China is doing something almost no Western government has had the courage to try: actually deflating a housing bubble on purpose, in the name of livability instead of landlord profits.

For years, Beijing’s mantra has been that housing is “for living in, not for speculation” – a line first pushed by Xi Jinping in 2016 that then became the guiding principle for national real estate policy. That wasn’t just rhetoric. It translated into tighter credit for developers, curbs on speculative buying, and a refusal to use runaway home prices as a quick-and-dirty GDP stimulus. In other words: while the U.S. and much of Europe let housing become a financial asset class first and shelter second, China explicitly moved in the opposite direction.

China already has one of the highest homeownership rates on Earth, with roughly 90% of households owning their homes, far above most rich countries. When your starting point is near-universal ownership, the political calculus shifts. You can prioritize stabilizing or lowering prices to keep housing affordable for younger and poorer households, instead of worshiping “wealth effects” for existing owners at all costs. Beijing’s line has been consistent: stabilize land prices, stabilize home prices, stabilize expectations – and make rental housing and social housing part of the core system, not an afterthought.

There will be real economic pain, failed developers, and long, grinding provincial restructuring. But history may judge it as an almost unheard-of experiment: a major government choosing to puncture a bubble and accept short-term turbulence rather than keep feeding a housing casino. In a world where “housing policy” usually means “protect asset prices at any cost,” that alone is a radical, and instructive, choice.

Foreign official holdings of US Treasuries are down to 12.5% of total Treasuries outstanding, the lowest this century.

This percentage has declined -24 points since the 2009 peak.

Over this period, marketable US Treasury debt has surged +$23 trillion, or +379%, to $29.1 trillion, near an all-time high.

At the same time, US Treasuries held by foreign government entities have increased by just +$1.5 trillion, or +63%, to ~$3.9 trillion.

China's Treasury holdings have more than halved, to $651.1 billion, the lowest since September 2008.

The US is issuing record levels of debt.

China surpassed the U.S., leading the world in applications for financial technology patents over the last decade, the Nikkei reported Tuesday.

The findings were based on a survey of fintech-related patent applications in 118 countries and regions between 2016 and 2025, jointly conducted by the Nikkei and Tokyo-based research firm Patent Result.

In the period, applications from Chinese companies accounted for more than 38% of the global total, the largest share by far, with filings up tenfold from the previous decade.