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Monthly Archives: September 2019 - 5. page

Head of State Media Group Meets with Heads of Reuters and Associated Press

Shen Haixiong, deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department and head of the China Media Group (CMG), met with Michael Friedenberg, President of Reuters News, and a leader of Associated Press, who attended the 2019 Belt and Road Media Community Summit Forum in Beijing on September 10. China Media Group is the most predominant state media company. It was founded in 2018 through the merger of China Central Television, China National Radio, and China Radio International.

According to the state media report, Friedenberg said that Reuters attaches great importance to the Chinese market, and attaches importance to the development of cooperative relations with CMG. He hopes to carry out all-round cooperation with CMG in financial reports and financial services, and improve the communication and feedback mechanism with CMG.

As reported by the state media, the AP leader said that the AP colleagues have witnessed the incredible rapid development in innovation and quality since the establishment of CMG. The Associated Press regards CMG as a partner and friend, while being neither a general customer nor a competitor. The Associated Press will support CMG’s objective and fair mainstream voice in the international public opinion arena.

Source: China Central Television, September 10, 2019
http://www.cctv.com/2019/09/10/ARTIFMuBojb1lZpw62KhKxts190910.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Manufacturing PMI Continued Showing Decline in August

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase recently reported that China’s National Bureau of Statistics just released its August Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) number. The PMI index for the Chinese manufacturing sector was 49.5 percent. This is the fourth consecutive month in which PMI has remained below 50 percent. The key sub-indicators that dragged down the overall PMI number were New Orders (49.7 percent), Raw Materials Inventory (47.5 percent) and Employment Level (46.9 percent). Data also showed medium and small companies suffered the most. Large corporations are in a better shape. PMI is an indicator of financial activity reflecting purchasing managers’ acquisition of goods and services. A PMI number below 50 typically reflects a decline.

Source: NetEase, August 31, 2019
https://money.163.com/19/0831/09/ENT7EMEB00258105.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Urgent Political Task: Pork Production

On September 6, Hu Chunhua, China’s Vice Premier of the State Council, said during his trip to northeast Heilongjiang province that ensuring the supply of pork is one of the most urgent tasks of the current agricultural work. Hu mandated that all production areas accomplish the task of ensuring a stable production and supply “one hundred percent,” and that they clean up improper practices in raising pigs.

In the past six months, after the outbreak of African swine fever in China, the retail price of pork soared. This led to a rise in the price of food and other livelihood products. At present, it is a “significant major political task” to restore pig production and stabilize pork prices.

Heilongjiang province is one of China’s main pig production areas. Hu Chunhua was inspecting pig slaughtering and processing companies and breeding bases in Mudanjiang city on September 6. Hu was there to learn about the main problems facing pig production, the demands from farmers and firms, and the impact of the African swine fever epidemic.

Source: Central News Agency, September 7, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201909070053.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Top Apple Supplier Foxconn Will Build Two New Factories in India

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that Foxconn just announce that it plans to build two new factories in India. In the meantime, the company will also expand its current factories in India. Foxconn currently has two factories there. The goal of the new factories is to manufacture more iPhones. Foxconn’s chief of Indian operations Josh Foulger said that the strategy is to avoid putting all of its eggs in one basket. The factories that replace the ones in China must meet the criteria of being competitive. The Indian government is implementing policies similar to China’s in order to ease the process of establishing new factories for foreign investors. Foxconn opened its first Indian factory in Sri City in 2015. According to undisclosed sources, Foxconn has started the manufacturing of high-end iPhone models in India. The assembly lines for now can produce a maximum of one million iPhones. Foxconn also makes other smart phones in India. For example, it manufactures three times more Xiaomi phones than iPhones. Despite long preparation, at the moment it is still challenging to make high-end iPhones in India due to workers lacking the required skills.

Source: Sina, August 30, 2019
https://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2019-08-30/doc-iicezueu2270971.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

Huawei Founder: Harmony OS Won’t Work on Phones Anytime Soon

Major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei made a comment not long ago on Huawei’s much hyped operating system called Harmony OS. Ren stated, in a BBC interview on September 6, that “it’s unclear” how Huawei’s natively developed operating system Harmony can be migrated to phones. It may need a few years of research and development. Under the U.S. sanction, Huawei runs the risk of losing the capability of using Google’s Android operating system for phones. According to Ren, Huawei’s Harmony OS was designed for low-latency Internet of Things (IoT) types of use cases, such as watches and TVs. His position is different from what Huawei Consumer Business CEO Yu Chengdong said on a number of occasions in the past several months. However, Ren criticized the United States, saying that Huawei cannot be blamed for the failure that the U.S. has suffered in leading the communications industry. He said, “The U.S. took the wrong path on communications technology.”

Source: China Times, September 7, 2019
https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20190907002727-260410?chdtv

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

China’s Central Bank to Release $126 Billion to Boost Economy

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Friday, September 6, that it would lower the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions by 0.5 percent, effective September 16. China’s central bank said the move was to support the real economy and reduce social financing costs. The reserve requirement ratio is the minimum amount of reserves that must be held by a commercial bank.

In addition, the PBOC will lower the reserve ratio of 1 percent for the urban commercial banks. These measures are to be implemented on October 15 and November 15, respectively, with a 0.5 percent reduction each time. In other words, the PBOC will have successively lowered the reserve ratio for urban commercial banks three times, with a total reduction of 1.5 percent.

It is estimated that this round of ratio reductions will release funds of 900 billion yuan ($126 billion).

Earlier this year, the PBOC already implemented two rounds of reductions: a comprehensive ratio reduction of 0.5 percent in January and another 0.5 percent reduction for small and medium-sized banks between May and July.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 6, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/bank-09062019112953.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

A Chinese University to Introduce Extensive Use of Facial Recognition Technology on Campus

Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (NJUCM), a university located in Nanjing city in China’s Jiangsu province, announced that it will adopt a “pilot program” in the new semester of 2019 to install a facial recognition access control system at the school gate, the entrance to the student dormitory, the library, and the laboratory building. The school said that, by storing student and faculty information in a back-end database, students and faculty can swiftly pass the gate access control by “showing their faces.” which is more convenient and safer than the legacy system.

The surveillance cameras in the classroom, said the school, will automatically capture the student’s faces. In addition to helping improve the attendance rate, the system can also monitor the student’s class performance, including whether they are listening, how many times they look up (to the teacher), whether they are playing with their phone, and whether they doze off. NJUCM said that the intention is to remedy the situation of students skipping classes, being late, or leaving early. It will even eliminate the practice of hiring others to take classes.

Regarding the concerns over students’ privacy, NJUCM said it has consulted with the police and legal authorities. As the classroom is a public place, there is no issue of an infringement on privacy.

Chiu E-ling, secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR), pointed out that this kind of comprehensive surveillance of students violates their human rights and is unnecessary. Chiu also questions how the collected data will be used.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 3, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/Safety-09032019141214.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Former Central Banker Suggested Renminbi Globalization to Solve World Market Problem

On August 10, 2019, at a 40 person forum on China’s financial system, Zhou Xiaochuan, the former Chairman of China’s People’s Bank, stated that trade protectionism, the development of modern technology, and currency-based economic sanctions have caused significant twists in the global market system.

Zhou pointed out that the first global market twist came from trade conflicts between countries. A trade war can last a long time and cause obvious twists in the distribution of global resources.

The second one is due to the development of technology. Some IT companies pursue a “winner takes all” or “winner takes the biggest share” result. They therefore burn a tremendous amount of money to claim that market share and increase traffic. Zhou suggested fair competition as the solution.

The third one is that the U.S., due to its control of the U.S. dollar, uses currency as its means to impose economic sanctions. Zhou argued that the globalization of the Renminbi will solve this problem.

Source: Sina, August 11, 2019
https://finance.sina.com.cn/money/bank/yhpl/2019-08-11/doc-ihytcern0062585.shtml

 

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources