Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

China introduces a nationwide childcare subsidy of CNY3,600 per year for child aged under 3;

CNY45 billion worth of deals were inked at this year’s WAIC.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

China released a nationwide childcare subsidy policy offering families CNY10,800 per child during their first three years of life to boost the country’s birth rate.

Children born from January this year will be eligible to receive CNY3,600 per year for three years, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The subsidies will be exempt from individual income tax and will not be counted as household or individual income when identifying assistance recipients.

The policy is expected to benefit more than 20 million families each year.

As one of the world's most populous countries, China is facing a dual demographic challenge: a shrinking number of newborns and a rapidly aging population.

The country's birth rate and total number of newborns declined for seven consecutive years before experiencing a modest rebound in 2024, thanks to more government support and a slight effect from Chinese people waiting to have children during the Year of the Dragon. Meanwhile, China's population aged 60 and above had reached 310 million by the end of last year.

In response to this dual challenge, China has steadily loosened its family planning policies over the past decade. It phased out its one-child policy by allowing married couples to have two children in 2016, and announced support for couples wishing to have a third child in 2021.

The national childcare subsidy was first introduced in this year's annual government work report in March, which stressed the need to formulate pro-natal policies, issue childcare subsidies, develop integrated childcare services, and increase the supply of affordable childcare options in China.

Before this nationwide policy, around 70 Chinese provincial, municipal, and county-level governments had rolled out local childcare subsidy policies. Families in some regions can receive up to CNY10,000 for their first child, CNY50,000 for their second, and CNY100,000 for their third or above.

While the childcare subsidy is a key step toward easing the burdens on families, providing reassurance about having children, and optimizing the population structure, it is not a cure-all, experts noted. Other measures such as parental leave, childcare services, education, and housing should function together with financial incentives.

In a separate move, China's central government last Friday issued a directive urging local governments to draw detailed plans to introduce free preschool education.

The government is also ramping up nursery care services for children under three, aiming to relieve the pressures on working parents and improve early childhood development.

GBA express

Hong Kong's goods exports and imports recorded year-on-year increases in June of 11.9 percent and 11.1 percent respectively, according to statistics released by the city’s Census and Statistics Department on Monday. The value of goods exports reached HK$417.8 billion in June, marking 16 consecutive months of growth. The value of goods imports was HK$476.7 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of HK$58.9 billion, equivalent to 12.4 percent of total imports value.

Industry and company news

The three-day 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) has ended with deals penned for 32 projects with a total investment of CNY45 billion, while reaching an intended procurement amount of CNY16.2 billion. Ended yesterday in Shanghai, the event saw more than 3.05 million offline visitors, with over 800 exhibitors showcasing more than 3,000 cutting-edge technologies, according to the organizing committee.

China leads the world in AI large language models and has released 1,509, accounting for 40 percent of the global total, according to data released yesterday by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology during WAIC 2025. Of the more than 35,000 AI firms worldwide, more than 5,100 are in China, making up around 15 percent of the global total.

Shanghai yesterday unveiled a comprehensive support package of 12 measures to expand artificial intelligence applications and reduce innovation and entrepreneurship costs at the closing ceremony of the WAIC 2025, featuring subsidies worth CNY10 billion. The measures cover the entire value chain from computing power and models to data, industrial ecosystems, talent services, and investment and financing.

Alibaba will introduce new smart glasses powered by artificial intelligent, the Chinese company's first entry into the sector, by the end of the year. It said its Quark AI Glasses will be powered by its Qwen large language model and Quark AI system. The new glasses are a direct challenge to market players Meta and Xiaomi.

WuXi AppTec's net profit more than doubled in the first half from a year earlier to CNY8.5 billion and revenue surged 20.6 percent to CNY20.8 billion, the Chinese pharmaceutical firm said today. The company expects full-year revenue to be between CNY42.5 billion and CNY43.5 billion.

Changan Automobile Co has officially restructured into an independent automaker, becoming the third centrally-administered automotive behemoth directly overseen by China's central government, following FAW Group and Dongfeng Motor, CCTV reported on Tuesday. With 117 subsidiaries under its umbrella, the automaker will prioritize advancements in smart vehicles, robotics, flying cars, and embodied intelligence, among other cutting-edge manufacturing fields.

Morgan Stanley has successfully issued CNY2 billion in panda bonds in China's interbank bond market, marking the first such issuance by a U.S.-headquartered company, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors announced Monday.

Asia-Pacific highlights

The Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary, the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, have been added to Malaysia’s list of Specified Exchanges, paving the way for Malaysian investors to access China’s futures market through local brokers, according to the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s latest newsletter. Malaysia will be the first overseas market for the Shanghai Futures Exchange, and the third for the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, after Hong Kong and Singapore.

Chinese automaker Chery Auto unveiled five new models -- the Arrizo 5 FL, Arrizo 8, Tiggo 7 Pro Max, Tiggo 8 Pro Max, and Tiggo 9 PHEV -- in the Egyptian market yesterday, as part of its expansion into the North African country, Xinhua reported on Monday.

Chinese automakers are moving to pole position in the Australian market and on track to become the major source of automotive imports by 2035, with 43 percent of all new vehicles sold by that time coming from the country, according to the latest research by the Australian Automotive Dealer Association.

China offers CNY10,800 childcare subsidies per child over 3 years