Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI. Coming up on today’s program Foreign investors hike holdings of Chinese bonds by record levels; China unveils plan to boost “silver economy". Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours  Foreign investment in China is picking up as overseas investors made net purchases of Chinese onshore bonds for months, including a net purchase of $24.5 billion in December, the highest level in almost two years, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Monday. This came after foreign investors purchased a net $33 billion in onshore bonds, the second-highest on record, the administration said. In December, net capital inflow of foreign direct investment also jumped and came in at more than $10 billion.  According to data released by the People’s Bank of China’s Shanghai headquarters yesterday, non-Chinese institutional investors held 3.7 trillion yuan ($510.9 billion) of bonds in the interbank market as of Dec. 31, 2023, accounting for almost 3 percent of the total. More than 1,100 foreign institutions have entered the Chinese bond market as of last year and more than 95 percent of them did that through the Bond Connect, a trading mechanism between the mainland and the Hong Kong SAR. In December, 10 new investors joined. Trade in goods was also a major source of China's cross-border capital flows. Inbound capital flows in this sector in December rose 12 percent year-on-year and 37 percent month-on-month, SAFE data showed. Meanwhile, the administration also reported that Chinese banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 31 billion yuan ($4.36 billion) in December. In yuan terms, forex purchases by banks exceeded 1.43 trillion yuan, and sales were approximately 1.47 trillion yuan. In 2023, forex purchases by banks came in at 15.53 trillion yuan, and sales totaled approximately 16.06 trillion yuan. "In general, China's forex market in 2023 operated steadily while showing strong resilience. The yuan's exchange rate remained stable and within a reasonable range starting in November 2023. The balance of international payments was stable and forex reserves were stable at more than $3.1 trillion throughout the year," said Wang Chunying, deputy head of the SAFE. China's State Council, the cabinet, on Monday unveiled a sweeping guideline on promoting the development of the "silver economy," or the elderly care industry, catering to a rapidly aging population needing services ranging from meal delivery to nursing homes and entertainment options. China's silver economy could reportedly be worth as much as 30 trillion yuan ($4.18 trillion) by 2035. The guideline contains 26 specific measures in four areas, including tackling urgent challenges faced by the elderly, expanding supply of elderly care products and services, and fostering industries with vast potential. China and Switzerland have completed the joint feasibility study on upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and agreed to support the early launch of formal FTA upgrade negotiations, the two sides announced on Monday during talks between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd in Bern, Switzerland. China also announced it will waive visa requirements for Swiss nationals while Switzerland said it will offer convenient visa processes for Chinese citizens and companies. Li is paying an official visit to Switzerland and is scheduled to deliver a highly anticipated speech at the Davos annual meeting on Tuesday. More than half of the Japanese companies with operations in China maintained or increased their investment in the country, according to an official survey. Fifteen percent of the about 1,700 Japanese firms in China polled by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China said they hiked their investment in the country last year from the previous one, while 38 percent claimed their investment in China remained unchanged in the period. Meanwhile, 2