Key View: The Chinese central government will accelerate its Made In China 2025 programme as trade barriers threaten its access to key foreign technology, and technological progress remains a key source of legitimacy for the Communist Party.

In our view, China will double down on its efforts to be self-reliant in tech in order to advance its

Key View:

• Stricter environmental regulations in China will weigh on manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
• Chinese API manufacturers will be confronted with new environmental and regulatory restrictions due to their history of poor waste processing and disposal.
• The tougher pollution curbing measures will in turn pose risks to

In many respects, the Middle East is a market in transition. This includes the e-Commerce sector, which is only beginning to come into its own as the region's economies look to diversify away from petrochemicals to more sustainable industries. Overall, there is a lot of promise for e-Commerce in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and the United

Key View: Tesla's plan to produce its electric vehicles in China will allow it to reduce operating risks associated with any potential future trade disputes between Washington and Bejing as well as give the automaker more direct access to a fast fast growing EV market. That said, Tesla will face tough competition as a number of domestic and foreign

China's latest tightening of regulations on money market funds (MMF) is unlikely to slow sector growth significantly, but should lower liquidity risks marginally, says Fitch Ratings. One effect of the changes will be to discourage retail clients from viewing and using their MMF investments like bank deposits, but there will be only a limited impact

Following the issuance of a new directive by the Chinese authorities aiming at tightening the access of LGFVs/SOEs (collectively, government related entities - GREs) to offshore bond markets, Fitch Ratings is reviewing the directive for evidence of any change in practical support as measured by our criteria. The directive may potentially limit or

China's securitisation issuance slowed down in 1Q18 as a whole, while retail loan and consumer assets remain active in the Credit Asset Securitisation Scheme which includes RMBS, auto-ABS and consumer loan/credit card ABS. Fitch Ratings expects such assets will continue to grow as a proportion of underlying assets in 2018.

RMBS has enjoyed a

We expect intellectual property protection to improve over the coming years as the Chinese government seeks to move up the value chain. However, the standards in China are unlikely to meet the expectations of Western companies in the near term due to significant training required for government employees and vested interest groups.

We expect

BMI View: Chinese demand for steel and iron ore will slow in 2018 as the country re-balances economic growth away from heavy industry towards services. The uptick in steel demand in April 2018 from the autos sector is temporary as vehicle production is set to slow in the coming years.

In this monthly article we analyse and forecast China's demand

Recent admissions of data falsification by some Chinese local and regional governments (LRGs) highlight governance weaknesses within the sector and add to uncertainty over reported fiscal data. We will continue to monitor developments and take rating action, as appropriate, if further examples come to light. That said, the central authorities'