economy

Chinese Home Appliances Favored in European Market

The IFA Global Markets 2018 was held in Berlin， Germany， from August 31 to September 5. A total of 1，814 exhibitors across the world participated， among which were 680 Chinese enterprises， including Gree， Midea， Hisense， and TCL， showing up with their latest products and cutting-edge technologies. Jens Heithecker， IFA executive director， pointed out that the event has seen an increase in the number of Chinese participants and improvement of the quality of their products.

In recent years， Chinese home appliances have enjoyed a good global reputation for their high quality， good service， and global influence. Chinese brands are focusing more on medium- to highend production， and no longer relying solely on low price to be competitive.

Statistics from GfK show that Haier refrigerators are priced seven percent higher than the mainstream local brands in Germany， but are still favored by customers there. This， in the eyes of Yannick Fierling， CEO of Haier Europe， is because Haier and many other Chinese brands set user experience at the core of their innovation.

TCL CEO Li Dongsheng also pointed out that an effective way for a company to break trade barriers is through localization， which means to base the whole design， manufacturing， and sales process in targeted countries. To him， Chinese enterprises need to globalize their industrial chains to become truly international brands.

Online Diagnosis Fees to be Covered by Public Medical Insurance

The General Office of the State Council recently issued a document on medicare reform in the second half of 2018， in which it says eligible online diagnosis and treatment services will be covered by each citys public medical insurance in the near future.

The document， which puts“Internet+ healthcare” at the core of Chinas medicare reform in the second half of 2018， stresses integration of online diagnosis into the public medicare system.

Unlike telemedicine， online diagnosis and treatment provides services that cover the whole consultation process in an online and offline style. No boundaries exist between different medical institutions and doctors as they are encouraged to provide service to patients of common or chronic illnesses.

As the service of “Internet+ healthcare” is developing well nationwide， demands for multiple payment ways are emerging. The public hope the fees derived from this online service be reimbursed by public or commercial medical insurance agencies.

In response， governments at various levels have stepped forward to combine public medicare and commercial insurance with individual payment to facilitate this online service.

Favorable Policies for the Development of the Real Economy

This year， China launched a series of policy measures to push forward its real economy.

According to National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）， in the first half of 2018， concrete measures were taken to promote the real economy such as a reduction in value-added tax， targeted cuts to required reserve ratios， and the standardizing of administrative fees.

Statistics show that in the first half of 2018 enterprises above state designated scale saw a net year-on-year profit increase of 17.2 percent. The profit margin of their major business reached 6.51 percent， a year-on-year increase of 0.41 percent. Meanwhile， the digital economy and the real economy are now more closely linked to each other. Besides， the first seven months saw an 8.6 percent increase of value added in strategic emerging industries.

However， there are still challenges facing the economy in the second half of this year， especially the real economy. An estimate from Zhao Chenxin， head of the Bureau of Economic Operations Adjustment of NDRC， indicates that RMB 1.1 trillion in cost is expected to be reduced for enterprises. Besides， government at all levels is also thinking of financial ways to support enterprises.

China Contributes to Open-Source Software Development

China ushered in its opensource software industry 20 years ago when Linux first entered the country. For a long time， it has been a supporter of opensource software. Now， China has become a contributor as many of its IT companies， software and hardware providers， network operators， schools， and research institutions contribute to the development.

At the national level， this year alone， the Ministry of Science and Technology （MOST）， Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT）， and NDRC undertook several major projects related to open source in areas such as cloud computing， big data， AI， and digital economy.

In 2008， the rise of mobile Internet in China hastened the birth of dozens of terminal manufacturers which based their operating systems on Androids open source. In the decade that followed， millions of Chinese Android developers developed numerous mobile Internet applications， an active participation which develops the worlds largest mobile Internet ecosystem in China.

Ni Guangnan， an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering， said that in the past decade， Chinas booming IT industry gave it the chance to be a big contributor to the worlds open-source software industry and many Chinese businesses now play a key role in global open-source communities.