UnionPay, US Dollar, Chinese Opinion, Globalization, Week 22 Updates

How did UnionPay become the global debit card king? – The China Project

In 2022, China’s UnionPay overtook Visa to become the world’s most popular provider of debit cards, according to a report by payments industry research firm The Nilson Report. UnionPay, a state-owned financial services firm based in Shanghai, managed to corner just over 40% of the global market, whereas Visa, the next-biggest player, provided 38.78%, with Mastercard at 21%. …

UnionPay’s cards are currently accepted in 181 countries and regions across the world, and the company issues cards in 79 of those countries. …

As the report from Nilson highlights, Visa still ranks number one with 38.7% of market share when it comes to overall debit and credit card transactions, with UnionPay still behind on 34%....

Meanwhile, many Chinese consumers make no use of debit cards at all, preferring mobile payment systems offered by internet giants Alibaba and Tencent.

 

Quick Study: China’s Plan to Challenge the Dollar | Stanford Graduate School of Business

China hopes that its currency will someday challenge the U.S. dollar’s place as the world’s reserve currency. Getting there won’t be easy. But, as Stanford Graduate School of Business finance professor Matteo Maggiori explains, if Beijing sticks to its plan, it will have profound effects on the global economy.

Here, in the latest episode of our video series Quick Study, Maggiori discusses what China must do to achieve its ambitious financial and monetary goals.

 

2023 Public Opinion Polls: Chinese Outlook on International Security (chinausfocus.com)

The opinion polls show that Chinese people are somewhat optimistic about the current situation of international security as well as China’s global influence. The respondents are highly supportive of globalization, and expect China’s diplomatic posture to be more proactive. At the same time, the older and better-educated reserve a more cautious or complicated attitude….

Chinese people are highly supportive of globalization and international cooperation. …

80.1% of respondents think the US and Western countries are most accountable for the “Ukrainian crisis”, 11.7% think Ukraine is to blame, and only 8.2% think the onus is on Russia.

 

A New Economic Globalization to Reshape the World Order (substack.com)

To adapt to these realities, a new global economic governance will need to embody three principles.

1. It needs to be more inclusive. It should better represent the voices and interests of emerging economies and mobilize a new set of actors to work on global problems.

2. Global economic governance needs to be more integrated. Complex, cross-cutting challenges need to be addressed in an integrated manner, accounting for links between different sectors and issues based on strong connections between global and regional organizations, international financial institutions, and other global alliances and institutions.

3. Finally, our post-pandemic world calls for more flexible global institutions. Rather than sticking to large, unwieldy member-driven formats for all purposes, global mechanisms should be tailored to the job at hand. For some purposes, such as kick-starting the process of reforming key global institutions, a smaller group of powers may be preferable. For other tasks, it may be more suitable to forge a broad and inclusive group of nations and other stakeholders.

Recommendations: WTO reform, resurrect China-EU investment agreement, multilateralise BRI, upgrade AIIB to Global IIB, China should join the CTPPP

 

Reminder: 3rd Youth Forum on Modernization and Development

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This compilation is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Previous updates may be found at commentary | Association for Barbados China Friendship (abcf-bb.com)