Key View

• The westernisation of diets and demand for premium product offerings are the key drivers behind Chinese consumers growing appetite for coffee and the increase in coffee sales in the country.
• International coffee chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee will continue to aggressive expand in China to benefit from this growth story.
• Future

Key View

• We expect US-China trade tensions to persist and weigh on Chinese exports over the coming months. China's trade surplus with the US reached a record USD31.1bn in August, and is likely to cause Washington to double-down on its hard-line approach to the issue.
• We are revising up our 2018 average consumer price inflation forecast to 2.3%

Key View

• We expect China's fiscal policy to be more expansionary in H218 amid rising headwinds to economic growth.
• Beijing will likely provide fiscal support by cutting taxes and speeding up the implementation of infrastructure investment and spending.
• We maintain our forecast for the fiscal deficit as a share of GDP to come in at 2.9% of GDP

Key View

Tonga and China are celebrating their 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2018, and we expect that they will maintain warm bilateral ties over the coming years. Tonga remains in need of aid for further economic development, and therefore, will continue to cooperate with China, which is seeking to extend its

While a rise in trade tensions involving tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's two largest economies may be increasing, Chinese companies are continuing in their pursuit of listings on US exchanges. Thanks to the support of China's tech industry giants providing both financing and credibility as early-stage and cornerstone investors, a growing

Key View:

• China's far-reaching healthcare reforms will be a positive for the sector.
• The pharmaceutical sector is well-placed to see an uptick in foreign drugmaker activity.
• Emerging market growth potential will offset challenges for drugmakers.

China will continue to benefit from significant investment from the innovative pharmaceutical

Key View: The increasing demand for more premium beer offerings in China is being driven by the country's young, middle income consumer segment, with the tier one cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin offering the greatest volume of this consumer group, as well as large numbers of bars and restaurants for the distribution of more premium alcohol

Key View:

• If imposed, higher tariffs on US LNG will drive-up the cost of China's ongoing state-led gasification efforts, particularly during the winter months when China's domestic gas demand, and with it the need for US LNG, peaks.
• In contrast, the impact on the US LNG industry will be fairly limited, as most of the US' current LNG exports are

Key View:

• Substandard medicines undermine market attractiveness for drugmakers in China.
• Recent vaccine scandal will impact the country's long-held ambition to become a major player in the global pharmaceutical industry.
• Controversy around Chinese medicines further erodes public trust in domestically produced drugs.

Forecasts:

The Chinese

Key View:

• China will continue to deepen its investment presence in the infrastructure markets of Central and Eastern Europe in service of its broader aim of increasing logistical connectivity throughout Eurasia.
• As such, we expect that China will maintain its investment focus on sectors that encourage cross-border mobility, such as transport