China and the EU forms united front against the "America First" global order.

5G technology has the potential to spark a new technological revolution, while recharging Europe’s ailing tech companies. But if the EU joins the US in waging “Tech Cold War” on China and Chinese companies like Huawei, Europe risks losing out on the advantages of this new generation of technology.

The two Boeing crashes of recent months show the risks and complications entailed by an increasingly globalized industrial chain. China and the US should use the incident as a trigger to scrutinize their manufacturing processes, including the usage of automation and artificial intelligence, and build novel cooperation mechanisms to prevent future accidents.

China is about to slash the employer contribution rate to the social-security fund from 18-20% (with some variation across regions) to 16%, and cut the value-added tax (VAT) rate from 16% to 13% (for most enterprises). This is on top of a previously announced reduction in the corporate income tax charged on the first CN¥3 million ($447,000) of taxable income.

Analysts are now looking at early to mid-May for a final presidential deal on trade.

While shadow banking remains too risky to fully legitimize as a reliable form of finance for China’s economy, there is one aspect that, under strong supervision, may provide relief for financing needs that banks cannot fully satisfy.

For the West, the year 2008 marked the beginning of a difficult period of crisis, recession, and uneven recovery. For China, 2008 was also an important turning point, but one followed by a decade of rapid progress that few could have foreseen.

China’s 2019 government work report lays out the country’s economic policies to sustain growth and avoid the “middle income trap” that Premier Le Keqiang has warned of. In taking steps next year to realize the “Chinese dream,” three battles will be tough but key: defusing financial risks, effecting targeted poverty alleviation, and achieving pollution control.

As EU dependency relationships adjust to changes occurring in geopolitics and world commerce, member states will explore deals with China and Russia at the expense of Washington’s preferred global order.

The rise of tribalism internationally makes for politics rife with reflexive scorn; it’s US vs China, Airbus vs Boeing, “we” vs “them.” Beijing’s decision to ground Boeing’s newest jetliner only emphasizes such tribalism within the US-China relationship.