Hong Kong’s socio-political tensions and chronic air pollution are dragging the city further down global liveability rankings for Asian expatriates, allowing regional competitors such as Shanghai to gain ground, according to a survey by ECA International. It ranked Hong Kong as the 29th most livable location for Asian expatriates out of 470 countries around the world – one spot down from 2016. In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong ranked 15th. “Hong Kong is essentially a first-world city with third-world air quality levels,” ECA’s Regional Director for Asia, Lee Quane, said. Hong Kong’s regional rival, Singapore, continued to dominate the chart, taking the top spot globally and regionally for the 16th year in a row. Four years ago, Hong Kong was ranked 11th worldwide and 9th in Asia-Pacific, but mainland cities such as Shanghai are gaining ground. Shanghai was highest among mainland cities at the 23rd place in the Asia-Pacific ranking, and was narrowing the gap with Hong Kong. Improving health services, availability of goods and services, and infrastructure, contributed to the rise of China’s financial hub, Quane said. Meanwhile, the quality of living in other cities has improved at a faster rate than Hong Kong, contributing to its fall.

Shanghai has topped another listing of the most attractive Chinese cities for foreigners, released by the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs under the State Council. Shanghai saw six times more permanent residency applications from foreigners and their families in 2016 than in 2015. On the annual list, Beijing came second and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, was third. Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Changchun round out the top 10. More than 900,000 foreigners were employed in China in 2016.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has urged commercial lenders to be more vigilant when providing loans after a spate of heavily indebted companies found themselves in hot water in the last month. The CBRC issued new guidelines specifically highlighting 10 types of credit risk the banks should pay more attention to, including risks arising from bond investment, inter-bank lending, wealth-management business, property, and internet financing. “Banks should effectively verify clients with high risks, and prevent granting credit to zombie companies or shell companies,” the guidelines say. They also advise lenders to investigate loans which have been overdue for 90 days or more, in order to strengthen risk control and maintain asset quality. China’s banks extended a record CNY12.65 trillion of loans in 2016, despite worries about the dangers of prolonged debt-fueled stimulus. The country’s corporate debt is estimated at 175% of GDP, among the highest in emerging economies. It has climbed from less than 100% of GDP at the end of 2008, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in mid March. In their annual reports issued in the past month, Chinese banks have cited deteriorating credit quality and high corporate debt leverage as a primary challenge for the industry. Bad loans written off and transferred out by the top five banks rose by 16% to CNY309.6 billion from the previous year, the South China Morning Post reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will not brand China a currency manipulator, abandoning a core promise of his election platform. In an interview for the Wall Street Journal, Trump said China hasn’t manipulated its currency for months, and added that the U.S. dollar is getting too strong. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the official assessment will come in a semi-annual foreign-currency report due this month. Failure to officially name China a currency manipulator would be the latest indication Trump may tone down trade-related campaign threats, often directly aimed at China. U.S. 10-year bond yields slumped and the dollar fell after the Trump interview was published. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against six major rivals, fell to its lowest since March 30 after the news.

Since 2013 when President Xi Jinping first proposed the One Belt, One Road initiative, trade volume between China and economies along the trading routes amounted to USD3 trillion, total investment reached USD50 billion, and newly signed contracts exceeded USD304.9 billion, according to Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Shen Danyang. China has signed approximately 50 government-level cooperation agreements with these economies and established 56 economic and trade cooperation zones, Shen added.

China is likely to import more American meat, including pork and beef, and allow more Hollywood movies to be shown in the coming months to show that Beijing is taking steps to cut its trade surplus with the United States, Mei Xinyu, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation said. China may also buy more oil and natural gas from the U.S. “The concessions are relatively easy for China to make,” Mei told the South China Morning Post. China’s gestures and a rise in imports from the U.S. “would enable U.S. President Trump to claim quick achievements and in exchange China can ask for bigger market access in the U.S.”, he said. China will probably start by increasing soybean and pork imports from the U.S. and lift a ban on U.S. beef imports, which has been in place since 2003, to narrow the USD347 billion annual trade surplus in goods enjoyed by China, Mei said. “As many of Trump’s supporters are from agricultural states, it’s worth buying more farm produce from them as a reward for Sino-U.S. friendship,” Mei said. One example, said Mei, would be purchasing goods from agricultural states such as Iowa, whose Governor, Terry Branstad, has been named U.S. Ambassador to China and has close connections with Chinese president Xi Jinping. China caps the number of imported films each year under a revenue-sharing deal reached in 2012. The quota, which Hollywood wants to increase from the official number of 34, is scheduled to be reviewed this year.