China is looking to slash taxes on home purchases as the government strengthens fiscal support for its ailing real estate sector, a media report said on Tuesday. Regulators are preparing a proposal that would enable major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing to reduce the deed tax for buyers to as low as one percent from the current level of up to three percent, Bloomberg News said, citing people familiar with the matter.The property sector has long accounted for around a quarter of gross domestic product and experienced dazzling growth for two decades, but a years-long housing slump has battered growth as authorities eye a target of around five percent for 2024.China is trying to shore up the sector, and said in October that it would boost credit available for unfinished housing projects to more than $500 billion.  Beijing has in recent months also announced a raft of measures aimed at boosting economic activity, including rate cuts and the easing of some home purchasing restrictions. China last week unveiled an ambitious plan to relieve public debt, aiming to turn local governments away from belt-tightening practices that have exacerbated the domestic downturn.Policymakers approved a proposal to swap six trillion yuan ($840 billion) of hidden debt belonging to local governments for official loans with more favourable terms.Hidden debts are defined as borrowing for which a government is liable, but not disclosed to its citizens or to other creditors.This move would free up space for local governments to better develop the economy and protect people’s livelihoods, state broadcaster CCTV said.Lawmakers are also eyeing the possibility of escalating trade tensions following Donald Trump’s re-election, with China’s top economic planning body on Monday urging the government to bolster domestic demand.Trump has promised punishing tariffs on Chinese goods that threaten further grief for the world’s second-largest economy, which is already grappling with sluggish consumption on top of the prolonged housing crisis.”In the coming period, the dominance of the domestic market in the economic cycle will become increasingly apparent,” according to a commentary written by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in China’s Economic Daily.Focusing on lifting domestic demand is not only a “strategic necessity for national development but also mitigates the impact of external shocks and declining external demand”, the NDRC added.

Once confined to rectangular screens, chirpy plumber Mario and pointy-eared Princess Zelda are popping up in theme parks and toy stores as Nintendo goes all out to win non-gamer fans.It wasn’t always this way: for many years, the Japanese company shied away from promoting products or creating media other than video games.But its push for broader brand recognition over the past decade has reached the point where even Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto describes Nintendo as something of a “talent agency” for its colourful characters.A new area based on the “Donkey Kong” games was unveiled at the Universal Studios Japan amusement park on Tuesday, expanding Nintendo’s zone there — already a major tourist draw.Its doors open on December 11, following last month’s launch of the first ever Nintendo museum in a renovated factory in Kyoto.At the box office, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was 2023’s second-highest grossing title, with a sequel due in 2026 and a film based on Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda” also on the way.”Over the past decade, there has really been an about-turn” in Nintendo’s strategy, said Florent Gorges, an expert on the company’s history.- ‘Reclusive’ -The gaming giant started life in Japan’s traditional former capital of Kyoto in 1889, producing playing cards.For a long time, it took a “conservative” and “somewhat reclusive” approach to cashing in on its intellectual property, said Gorges.”There was a certain culture of secrecy, taken to extremes within Nintendo, that made it very squeamish about trying new things,” he told AFP.Hiroshi Yamauchi, company president for over half a century between 1949 and 2002, “hated” the idea of any kind of company mascot, Gorges added.An early foray outside of the gaming world also proved tricky.In the 1990s, Nintendo entrusted its Mario IP to a Hollywood production team who made a live-action movie that was roundly panned.The flop may have contributed to its cautious approach, until disappointing sales of the Nintendo 64 and GameCube consoles in the following decade forced a re-think.- Wii success -The two next consoles — the portable DS with two screens, and the remote-controlled Wii — were designed to attract non-gamers.Each sold more than 100 million units and remain among Nintendo’s biggest commercial hits.But when updated versions of these two consoles did not perform so well, the company decided to again venture beyond video games.Fast-forward to today, and Nintendo is “selling soft toys and sweets, allowing its characters into consumers’ everyday lives”, said Hideki Yasuda of Toyo Securities.Nintendo is sometimes compared to Disney, but its business model differs from that of the US giant, which acquires and develops existing franchises, such as Star Wars, said Kensaku Namera of Nomura Securities.Instead the Japanese company “is focused on what it can do on its own”, and so collaborates with external studios and creators for its films and other projects.Going forward the firm may draw inspiration from the success of Pokemon, which began as a Nintendo game but now spans movies, playing cards, and a merchandise empire controlled by several entities.That has “really pushed Nintendo to further exploit its franchises”, Namera told AFP.”Many children love Pikachu, and buy soft toys even if they have never played the game,” he said, referring to Pokemon’s famous electric mouse.Game and console sales account for over 90 percent of Nintendo’s revenues, so exposure to characters such as Mario or friendly dinosaur Yoshi could be “a trigger” to attract more people to consoles, Namera said.

Fighter jets and attack drones took centre stage as China’s largest air show officially opened on Tuesday, an opportunity for Beijing to showcase its growing military might to potential customers and rivals alike.China has poured resources into modernising and expanding its aviation capabilities as it faces off against the United States and others around regional flashpoints like Taiwan. Record numbers of Chinese warplanes have been sent around the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as its territory, over the past few years.The star of Airshow China, which showcases Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector every two years in the southern city of Zhuhai, is the new J-35A stealth fighter jet. Video from state media showed the warplane rearing up into the air, engines roaring, before flipping upside down and speeding away as spectators on the ground excitedly cheered. Its inclusion in the airshow suggests it is nearly ready to enter operation, which would make China the only country other than the United States to have two stealth fighters in action, experts said. The J-35A is lighter than China’s existing model, the J20, and looks more similar in design to a US F-35. A group of J20s also performed a display flight on Tuesday morning, in a diamond formation across the sky. State news agency Xinhua quoted military expert Wang Mingzhi as saying the combination of the two models greatly enhances the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)’s “ability to conduct offensive operations in high-threat and contested environments”. For the first time, a PLA naval jet will be present at the airshow, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The J-15T’s design suggests it may be intended for use on China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian.Another key piece of hardware making its debut is the HQ-19 surface-to-air missile system, designed to intercept ballistic missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles, according to state media. – Drone zone -The airshow features a dedicated drone zone for the first time, reflecting their increased prominence in warzones, including Ukraine.The SS-UAV — a massive mothership that can release swarms of smaller drones for intelligence gathering, as well as strikes — will be on display in Zhuhai, according to the South China Morning Post.In October the United States unveiled sanctions targeting China-based companies linked to the production of drones that Russia has deployed in Ukraine.Moscow and Beijing have deepened military and defence ties since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour three years ago, and the secretary of its Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, is due to visit Zhuhai. Russia’s Su-57, a stealth jet with a distinctive grey-and-white mosaic pattern, also took to the skies on Tuesday. In another display, soldiers descended on ropes from helicopters.This year the show’s focus is squarely on the military sector, as it coincides with the 75th anniversary of the PLAAF, but China’s burgeoning space industry will also be showcasing developments.A model of a homegrown reusable space cargo shuttle will debut at the show, Xinhua reported on Monday. Named Haoloong, the shuttle is designed to be launched on a commercial rocket, and then dock with China’s space station Tiangong. “It can re-enter the atmosphere, fly and land horizontally at a designated airport, allowing for recovery and reuse,” Xinhua said. Beijing has poured huge resources into its space programme over the past decade in an effort to catch up to traditional space powers the United States and Russia.