30 October 2026
China received the German head of State in its capital. President Xi Jinping held talks with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany, in Beijing. The central government's English portal carried the meeting as a Xinhua report. In Germany the Federal President is the head of State and the Chancellor is the head of government, so Steinmeier's visit is a State-level call rather than a cabinet-level one. In China the President is the head of State and the Premier heads the State Council, the central people's government. Xi Jinping holds the presidency and Li Qiang is Premier. The same portal recorded a separate meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation in Beijing on the same day.
Venue:
Beijing
German office:
Federal President, head of State
Why it matters for exams: Fixes two offices and their holders: Frank-Walter Steinmeier as President of Germany and Xi Jinping as President of China, with Li Qiang as Premier of the State Council.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Xinhua Xinhua News Agency — The state news agency of China, whose reports the central government's English portal carries.
30 October 2026
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation, in Beijing. The central government's English portal carried the meeting as a Xinhua report. On the same day the portal reported that Xi held talks in Beijing with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German President, so two European heads of State were received in the Chinese capital on one day. In China the President is the head of State, while the Premier heads the State Council, the central people's government. Li Qiang is Premier, and State Council decrees are issued over his signature. Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China and the seat of the State Council. The portal published both meetings as short Xinhua reports, without a joint statement.
Venue:
Beijing
President of the Swiss Confederation:
Guy Parmelin
Premier of the State Council:
Li Qiang
Why it matters for exams: Names the holder of a distinctive office, Guy Parmelin as President of the Swiss Confederation, and fixes Beijing as China's capital with Li Qiang as Premier of the State Council.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
State Council State Council of the People's Republic of China — China's central people's government, headed by the Premier, which issues administrative regulations by decree.
28 October 2026
China's three policy banks have placed the whole of this year's 800 billion yuan of new policy-based financial instruments, worth about 119 billion US dollars. The China Development Bank issued 365 billion yuan for projects carrying about 5.5 trillion yuan of total investment. The Export-Import Bank of China issued 120 billion yuan, which it says helped leverage more than 1.7 trillion yuan of investment. The Agricultural Development Bank of China issued 315 billion yuan for projects with about 4.39 trillion yuan of total investment. Of the China Development Bank's share, 179.01 billion yuan went to artificial intelligence, digital economy, green, biomedicine and consumption projects and 127.99 billion yuan to projects involving private capital. Almost 40 per cent of the Export-Import Bank's allocation went to projects with private capital. The instruments were first launched in 2025 at 500 billion yuan, and the 800 billion yuan figure for this year was set in the government work report.
Total:
800 billion yuan
China Development Bank:
365 billion yuan
Export-Import Bank of China:
120 billion yuan
Agricultural Development Bank of China:
315 billion yuan
Why it matters for exams: Names China's three policy banks and the 800 billion yuan total of the 2026 policy-based financial instruments, up from 500 billion yuan when they began.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CDB China Development Bank — The largest of China's three policy banks, lending for infrastructure and development projects.
19 October 2026
The People's Bank of China, together with ten other departments, released a guideline to strengthen financial support for China's international science and technology innovation centres. Three centres are named: Beijing within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanghai within the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The guideline aims at a full-chain financial service system for technology innovation by 2030, a marked rise in direct financing and integrated financial services across the three regions. It would ease foreign exchange rules for qualified foreign limited partners so that overseas equity investment can flow into Chinese technology firms, and simplify cross-border fund management for multinational technology companies and for Chinese firms funding research centres abroad. Each region gets its own brief: original and coordinated innovation in the north, a technology finance ecosystem built on industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, and open technology finance with closer Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao coordination in the south. The guideline also calls for mechanisms against systemic financial risk.
Departments involved:
People's Bank of China and ten others
Centres:
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
Target year:
2030
Why it matters for exams: Names the central bank behind the guideline and the three international sci-tech innovation centres China recognises, with 2030 as the target year.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PBOC People's Bank of China — China's central bank, which sets monetary policy and publishes the loan prime rate each month.
QFLP qualified foreign limited partners — A Chinese scheme letting approved foreign investors put money into domestic equity funds.
14 October 2026
China's goods trade in the first three quarters of the year came to 39.94 trillion yuan, about 5.94 trillion US dollars, 18.8 per cent higher than a year earlier. Exports were 23.2 trillion yuan, up 16.4 per cent, and imports 16.74 trillion yuan, up 22.3 per cent, so imports grew faster than exports. The General Administration of Customs is the body that compiles these figures. Growth quickened through the year: total trade rose 15.3 per cent in the first quarter, 18.3 per cent in the second and 22.3 per cent in the third. Trade with free trade agreement partners was 19.55 trillion yuan, up 30 per cent, and trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was 6.84 trillion yuan, up 22.7 per cent. Trade with the European Union was 4.78 trillion yuan, up 8.4 per cent, while trade with the United States was 3.18 trillion yuan, up 4.1 per cent.
Total goods trade:
39.94 trillion yuan
Exports:
23.2 trillion yuan, up 16.4%
Imports:
16.74 trillion yuan, up 22.3%
Trade with ASEAN:
6.84 trillion yuan
Why it matters for exams: Names the General Administration of Customs as the source and fixes the nine-month trade total of 39.94 trillion yuan with ASEAN ahead of the European Union as a partner.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations — A ten-member grouping of Southeast Asian countries and China's largest regional trading partner.
10 October 2026
China's Ministry of Justice began full operation of LexCom, a public database of foreign-related law meant to help enterprises working abroad. The database carries Chinese translations of foreign laws and of representative cases involving foreign-related matters. It holds more than 1,500 foreign legal entries covering 187 countries, together with over 1,800 Chinese laws, regulations and rules on foreign affairs. Users may put questions to it and receive either an answer generated by artificial intelligence or a reply from legal professionals. The database had run as a pilot from July before going into full operation. Putting foreign law into Chinese in one public place is aimed at reducing the legal risk Chinese firms face when they invest or trade overseas.
Foreign legal entries:
more than 1,500
Countries covered:
187
Chinese foreign-affairs laws and rules:
over 1,800
Why it matters for exams: Names LexCom and the Ministry of Justice behind it, with its coverage of 187 countries and more than 1,500 foreign legal entries.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
LexCom LexCom foreign-related law database — A public database of translated foreign laws run by China's Ministry of Justice.
29 October 2026
Hainan's free trade port has been opened wider to foreign firms and foreign professionals through a circular of 16 measures. Four central bodies signed it jointly. The Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission are two of them; the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the General Administration of Customs, makes up the rest. Companies from outside China may use bonded facilities where Hainan receives liquefied natural gas, and futures delivery warehousing for that gas is to be supported at the port. A doctor who holds a licence in another country can be permitted to diagnose and treat patients on the island, the permit running up to three years and open to extension. Energy trade, medical practice and bonded business are the fields the package touches, while work permit, stay and residence rules for foreigners are to be made easier. Payment in yuan is encouraged in newer barter arrangements, and closer trade work with the Hong Kong SAR is written in. The port covers the whole of Hainan, the island province at China's southern tip.
Measures:
16
Issuing bodies:
4
Permit for foreign physicians:
up to three years
Why it matters for exams: Names the four bodies that jointly issued the 16 measures for the Hainan Free Trade Port and the sectors they open, including the three-year permit for foreign physicians.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NDRC National Development and Reform Commission — China's top economic planning body under the State Council.
LNG liquefied natural gas — Natural gas cooled to liquid form for shipping; Hainan's receiving terminals handle it.
28 October 2026
Liu Yandong, who had served China as a Vice Premier and as a State Councilor, died of illness in Beijing at the age of 81. Xinhua carried the announcement and the central government's English portal reprinted it. Her party career took her into the Political Bureau, where she sat during the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and again during the 18th. Earlier she had been a vice chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in its 10th National Committee. Vice Premier and State Councilor are posts inside the State Council, the central people's government that the Premier heads. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is a different body, advisory in character, which gathers in Beijing each spring at the same time as the National People's Congress.
Age at death:
81
Place:
Beijing
Political Bureau terms:
17th and 18th Central Committees
Why it matters for exams: Records a named office-holder in China's State Council and the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and the distinct role of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CPPCC Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference — An advisory body that meets in Beijing each spring alongside the National People's Congress.
26 October 2026
A ceremony in Beijing marked ninety years since the Long March ended in victory, and President Xi Jinping spoke at it. The force that made that march was the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. His speech has now come out as a booklet from the People's Publishing House, on sale through Xinhua Bookstore outlets around the country. The official wording is worth noting: what is commemorated is the victory, so the anniversary falls at the end of the march and not at its start. A ceremony in the capital followed by an official booklet is the settled pattern in China, and the text then serves as study material for party members. The People's Publishing House is the state publisher for party and government texts, and Xinhua Bookstore is the state chain that sells them.
Anniversary:
90th
Publisher:
People's Publishing House
Ceremony venue:
Beijing
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the 90th anniversary of the Long March victory, the full name of the force that made it and the People's Publishing House as the state publisher of the speech.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Red Army Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army — The Communist armed force of the 1920s and 1930s, forerunner of the People's Liberation Army.
Background
The customs figures that put China's nine-month goods trade at 39.94 trillion yuan are reported by a country that trades inside the rules of the World Trade Organization. The organisation's own country page states that China has been a member of the WTO since 11 December 2001. The same page sets out China's trade profile, tariff data, disputes and notifications under those rules. The World Trade Organization is the body that administers multilateral trade agreements, runs a dispute settlement system between members and reviews their trade policies. Membership means China's tariff schedules and trade remedies can be challenged by other members under those rules. The separate free trade agreements China signs sit alongside its WTO commitments rather than replacing them, which is why its customs data report free trade partners as a distinct group.
Member since:
11 December 2001
Why it matters for exams: Fixes China's WTO accession date of 11 December 2001 and what the organisation does, the frame behind every Chinese trade figure.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
WTO World Trade Organization — The body that administers multilateral trade agreements and settles trade disputes between member governments.
Background
The German and Swiss heads of State met Xi Jinping in Beijing on the same day. China's place in the United Nations system is fixed by a permanent seat on the Security Council. The United Nations Security Council has 15 members, and five of them are permanent: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, as the Council's own page names them. Each permanent member can block a substantive decision of the Council, which is the veto. The other ten members are elected for two-year terms and have no veto. The Security Council is the only United Nations organ whose decisions member States are bound to carry out, which is what makes a permanent seat so heavy. A permanent seat is held by the State, not by a rotation, so China's presence on the Council does not depend on any election.
Total members:
15
Permanent members:
China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States
Why it matters for exams: Names the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as the Council lists them, and the 15-member total, with China among the five.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNSC United Nations Security Council — The fifteen-member UN organ responsible for international peace and security, whose decisions bind member States.