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Briefings - 22. page

China Grapples with Severe Flooding: 20.76 Million Affected

China is facing severe flooding in its southern regions this year, with heavy rains causing widespread damage. As of July 12, 2023, official reports indicate that 20.76 million people have been affected by floods and heavy rains, with 86 people dead or missing.

According to Xu Xianbiao, an official from Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM), this year’s flood season came earlier and more intensely than usual. The southern regions, especially areas south of the Yangtze River, have experienced significantly more rainfall than in previous years. Fourteen numbered floods have occurred in the Yangtze River, Pearl River, and Taihu Lake basins.

The government has implemented four measures to address the situation: “strengthening deployment and scheduling,” “enhancing early warning and evacuation,” “reinforcing rescue operations,” and “providing support to local authorities.”

MEM has raised the flood response level to Level 3 for four provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This action has helped prevent mass casualties in some areas.

To support relief efforts, the Ministry of Finance has allocated 848 million yuan (US$117 million) to 12 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions affected by the floods.

The Ministry warns of high flood risks in northeastern, northern, eastern, and central China in July, with potentially severe flooding in major river basins including the Yangtze, Huaihe, Haihe, Songhua, Liaohe, and Taihu Lake.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 13, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202407130119.aspxs

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Bans Guatemalan Coffee and Macadamia Nuts in Retaliation for Pro-Taiwan Stance

In retaliation against Guatemala for the country’s pro-Taiwan stance, Beijing has banned the import of Guatemalan coffee and macadamia nuts. Last year, Guatemala exported $82 million worth of goods to mainland China, with the main products being coffee, nickel, iron, steel, and macadamia nuts.

After China’s ban, Guatemala has been seeking alternate destinations for its export. It has shipped 75 containers of coffee to Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, with Japan receiving most of them. Guatemala currently has eight containers of macadamia nuts stranded at Chinese ports. These containers were already in transit when the ban was issued. Guatemalan exporters are looking for other countries to reship them to.

Source: Epoch Times, July 16, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/7/16/n14291776.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China Tests Robotaxis in 20 Cities

Similar to the pilot test of General Motor’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo in San Francisco and Pheonix within the U.S., China now allowing domestic companies to test driverless taxis. Recently, China approved an initial 20 pilot cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Wuhan, for self-driving tests. These cities have already allowed driverless taxi operators to test vehicles in suburban areas.

Starting in March, Apollo Go, one of China’s largest autonomous taxi companies under Baidu, began offering 24-hour driverless car services in some areas of Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It has more than 500 autonomous taxis in operation, which will increase to 1,000 by the end of the year. In fact, this test started in 2022.

Baidu CEO Robin Li told investors in May that over 70 percent of Apollo Go’s driverless taxi rides in April were fully autonomous. According to netizen’s posting, Baidu has human drivers in a service center. Using high-bandwidth, low-latency 5G networks, these “remote safety drivers” observe the 360-degree conditions around the cars from a screen array and can manually drive the unmanned vehicles using controllers such as steering wheels, gear sticks, and pedals. China allows the ratio of remote safety drivers to vehicles to be 1:3.

Sources:
1. VOA, July 11, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-robotaxi-push-sparks-concerns-about-job-security-for-drivers–20240711/7693880.html
2. Guancha.cn, July 13, 2024
https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2024_07_13_741368.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Luxury Brands See Sales Plummet in China

As China’s economy remains sluggish and consumer spending weakens, more consumers are cautious about spending on luxury goods.

  • Swiss brand Richemont Group: In the three months up to June, the sales of its watch brands dropped by 27 percent in the Greater China Region.
  • Swiss brand Swatch Group: In the first half of this year, sales in China, without counting its entry-level brands Omega, Blancpain, and Breguet, plummeted by 30 percent.
  • American brand Marc Jacobs: Offer discounts of more than 50 percent on handbags, clothing, and footwear on Alibaba’s high-end e-commerce platform Tmall Luxury Pavilion.
  • Italian brand Bottega Veneta: Provide a 24-month interest-free loan service for purchasing handbags on Tmall.
  • Italian brand Versace: Provide discounts sometimes exceeds 50 percent in China.
  • British brand Burberry: Its sales in mainland China is down by 21 percent; also it provides discounts sometimes exceeds 50 percent in China.
  • French luxury brand Kering: Issued a profit warning, stating that demand for its high-fashion luxury brand Gucci was declining in China.

Source:
1. Epoch Times, July 16, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/7/16/n14292022.htm
2. Epoch Times, July 17, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/7/16/n14292139.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Develops Solar-Powered Micro-Drone

Solar power is a key technology for continuous drone flight. The technology to power large drones exists, but powering micro-drones via solar panels has been a challenge. Xinhua reported that a research team from Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) has successfully developed a solar-powered micro-drone weighing only 4.21 grams, capable of sustained flight under natural sunlight. The team created a new electrostatic drive scheme and developed a micro electrostatic motor with low rotational speed, low heat generation, and high efficiency. They also built an ultra-lightweight high-voltage power converter weighing only 1.13 grams, which boosts the voltage generated by solar cells from around 4.5 volts to 9000 volts, creating an electrostatic system.

Source: Xinhua, July 18, 2024
https://app.xinhuanet.com/news/article.html?articleId=d1b63946dc0ec93f9132f654cf97be27

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Saudi Arabia Places Two Large Orders with Chinese Companies

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi energy equipment company Vision Industrie and China’s second largest wind turbine manufacturer Envision Group have reached an agreement to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia to promote the Kingdom’s renewable energy production goals. The joint venture will carry out localized production and manufacturing of wind turbines and key components. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is also vigorously developing energy storage facilities to improve the reliability of the power grid. Since Saudi Arabia proposed its “Vision 2030” plan, the country has committed to developing renewable energy to accelerate the green transformation.

Chinese photovoltaic company Sungrow announced that the company signed a contract with Saudi Arabia’s Algihaz for the world’s largest energy storage project, with a capacity of 7.8GWh. The three sites of the project are located in the Najran, Al Madaya and Khamis Mushait areas of Saudi Arabia. Delivery is expected to begin in 2024, and the connection to the grid at full capacity will be in 2025.

Previously, Chinese technology company Huawei also announced its cooperation with Saudi Arabia to build an off-grid battery energy storage system for the Saudi Red Sea New City project. Under the leadership of Huawei, this energy storage project has recently reached 1.3GWh capacity. Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih said last December during his visit to China that, Saudi Arabia invites Chinese companies to participate in the green transformation supply chain. Both in the capital city and throughout the Kingdom, there is a large workload that requires China’s participation.

Source: Sina, July 16, 2024
https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1887344341_707e96d501901hx78.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

U.S. to Introduce Regulations Restricting Chinese Automotive Software

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the U.S. Commerce Department plans to release rules on “connected cars” in August and is expected to impose restrictions on some parts and software produced by China and other countries that are seen as adversaries. The rules will not apply to the entire car, but rather to some management software and key driver components that manage car data. These components must be produced in U.S.-allied countries.

There are a lot of software capabilities in modern smart cars. They may be able to take photos, engage with the driving system, connect to smartphones, and know where the car is going. In May of this year, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that, after the U.S. government’s risk assessment on Chinese car imports, “extreme actions” may be taken to ban or restrict Chinese-made cars. California’s privacy regulatory authority said it would examine the growing amount of data collected by smart cars.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged the United States to “respect the laws of the market economy and the principles of fair competition.” China call on the United States to stop its “generalization of the concept of national security” and to “stop discrimination against Chinese companies.”

Source: NetEase, July 17, 2024
https://www.163.com/dy/article/J7AR2HKC051481US.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Times: China Announces Suspension of Talks with U.S. on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that Mainland China is dissatisfied with the United States’ continued arms sales to Taiwan. China just announced that it has suspended negotiations with the United States on nuclear non-proliferation and on arms control issues.

The United States and China held arms control and non-proliferation talks in Washington last year. As of last week, however, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated at a press conference that the United States “has ignored China’s firm opposition by continuing arms sales to Taiwan. This has seriously damaged China’s core interests, undermined political mutual trust between the two sides, and seriously undermined the political atmosphere for the two sides to continue arms control talks.”

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it pays close attention to the exchanges and dialogues between the United States and China. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no comment on the recent statement from Beijing.

Source: China Times, July 18, 2024
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/realtimenews/20240718002264-260407?chdtv

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations