02/05/2020
People work at a construction site of a utility tunnel in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, April 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) — China is getting the world’s largest workforce back to work as the nationwide battle against COVID-19 has secured major strategic achievements.
The unprecedented fight has nurtured new trends in the workplace. For example, more attention is being paid to public health and e-commerce to boost consumption and emerging sectors brought by new applications based on the country’s rapid new infrastructure development of 5G networks and data centers.
In this aerial photo taken on April 29, 2020, representatives of frontline health workers fighting COVID-19 attend a bell-ringing ceremony at the Yellow Crane Tower, or Huanghelou, a landmark in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
ANGELS OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Ye Man, head nurse of gastrointestinal department of Hubei General Hospital East District, one of the five remaining COVID-19 designated hospitals in Wuhan, is taking her first weeklong vacation since January.
The 34-year-old mother of two started to take a week off on Monday, one day after her hospital cleared all remaining confirmed COVID-19 patients. The nine ICU wards in her hospital had been kept occupied over the past several months.
Friday marked International Workers’ Day, and the start of China’s five-day public holiday. Ye said she planned to visit urban parks with her family during the holiday.
At her busiest point, she and her colleagues took care of a ward filled with 40 COVID-19 patients.
“It was a really tough time,” she recalled. She had to wear a protective gown and a mask for nine hours a day and be separated from her family to avoid possible cross-infections.
Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province and once hard hit by COVID-19, cleared all confirmed cases in hospitals on April 26. Over 42,000 medical workers mobilized nationwide to aid Hubei have contributed to achieving a decisive outcome in the fight to defend Hubei and Wuhan.
In an inspection tour to Wuhan on March 10, President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, lauded medical workers as “the most beautiful angels” and “messengers of light and hope.”
To reward brave and dedicated medics, major tourist sites in Hubei are offering free entry to medical staff over the following two years.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about development of the black fungus industry in Jinmi Village of Xiaoling Township in Zhashui County, Shangluo City, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, April 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
LIVESTREAMING ANCHORS
“We have a new batch of supplies today. Those who did not get the goods should hurry to buy now,” said Li Xuying, a livestreaming anchorwoman selling agaric mushrooms in Zhashui, a small county deep in the Qinling Mountains in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
Li has been prepared for a boom of online shopping in the holiday, because online buyers rushed to her livestreaming website to place orders, after Xi inspected the county and chatted with her in the village of Jinmi during a recent tour to Shaanxi.
“I used to sell goods worth about 50,000 yuan (7,070 U.S. dollars) on average after a six-hour livestreaming session. Now the sales are 10 times that,” she said.
Li was one of the 10 sales staff sent by the local agricultural e-commerce firm to Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao’s headquarters for livestreaming training. She said livestreaming is effective in bridging buyers and farmers, through which viewers can watch planting and harvesting online.
With the number of netizens in China reaching 904 million in March, e-commerce has been one of the popular means of promoting the sale of farm produce and helping farmers shake off poverty. Despite the impact of COVID-19, the country is determined to eradicate absolute poverty by the end of this year.
Workers work at the construction site of a 5G base station at Chongqing Hi-tech Zone in Chongqing, southwest China, April 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)
HI-TECH WORKERS IN “NEW INFRASTRUCTURE” BUILDING
As an elasticity calculation engineer of Alibaba Cloud, Zhao Kun and his colleagues always stay on alert for high data flow, for example, brought by the anticipated online shopping spike during the holiday.
“The profession, which may sound obscure, is actually closely connected to everyone’s life, as cloud computing is the infrastructure supporting high-tech applications of artificial intelligence and blockchain,” said Zhao.
The Chinese leadership has underscored expediting “new infrastructure” development to boost industrial and consumption upgrading and catalyze new growth drivers.
Seizing the opportunities of industrial digitization and digital industrialization, China needs to expedite the construction of “new infrastructure” projects such as 5G networks and data centers, and deploy strategic emerging sectors and industries of the future including the digital economy, life health services and new materials, President Xi has said.
During the epidemic, Zhao and his colleagues expanded more than 100,000 cloud servers to ensure the stable operation of “cloud classrooms” and “cloud offices” for millions of people working and studying from home.
In the “new infrastructure” building, people like Zhao contribute to constructing the virtual infrastructure of an ecosystem, which enables e-commerce, e-payment, online teaching and the digital transformation of manufacturing and supply chain management.
In early April, China released a plan on promoting the transformation of enterprises toward digitalization and intelligence by further expanding the application of cloud and data technologies, to nurture new business models of the digital economy.
Source: Xinhua
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29/04/2020
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s biggest listed banks posted higher profits in the first quarter despite the wider impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, though margins shrank.
The world’s largest commercial lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) (601398.SS)(1398.HK) on Tuesday reported a 3.04% rise in first quarter net profit compared to a year earlier, while Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) (601328.SS)(3328.HK) reported a 1.8% rise.
Meanwhile at Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (AgBank) (1288.HK)(601288.SS) and China Construction Bank Ltd (CCB) (601939.SS)(0939.HK), first quarter net profit rose 4.79% and 5% respectively from the same period last year.
Following suit, Bank of China Ltd (BOC) (601988.SS) (3988.HK) posted on Wednesday a 3.17% rise in first-quarter net profit.
The growth came despite China’s economy posting the first quarterly contraction since at least 1992 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The government restricted people from travelling and going back to work to contain the spread of the virus, reducing revenue for companies and income for residents.
China’s largest banks are historically more resilient than their smaller kin, as they lend more to state-backed enterprises and have larger capital reserves.
However, despite this firmer base, net interest margins shrank at four of the five lenders, as loan prime rate reform and looser monetary policy weighed, said analysts.
AgBank did not report its net interest margin, the difference between what banks pay on deposits and earn on loans.
SOURED DEBT
ICBC, AgBank and CCB bucked the trend of the wider banking sector by posting steady non-performing loan (NPL) ratios.
The banking sector’s NPL ratio climbed in the first quarter to 2.04%, the banking and insurance regulator said, the highest level since the global financial crisis.
The rise came despite Chinese regulators moving to give banks leeway, allowing them to postpone some loan repayments until the end of June, as credit card and mortgage defaults surged.
About one-third of Chinese bank loans are to sectors including transport and retail that are significantly stressed by the pandemic, according to S&P Global.
“You can see generally from banks’ results that some lenders have reported falling asset quality, the NPL ratios have risen quite a lot,” said Richard Cao, an analyst at Guotai Junan International on Monday.
The largest banks are best placed to absorb such losses with a better ability to get financing and withstand a substantial volume of bad loans, S&P said in a research note in April.
Source: Reuters
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27/03/2020
JINAN, March 27 (Xinhua) — A shipment of medical supplies donated by Chinese companies in Shandong Province was delivered via a chartered flight on Friday morning from Jinan, the provincial capital, to Serbia to help with local coronavirus fight.
The supplies include 60,000 masks, 100 protective suites, 1,000 goggles and 2,000 boxes of medicine, donated by the Shandong High-speed Group and the First Company of China Eighth Engineering Division Ltd.
A batch of medical supplies donated by Chinese companies earlier, including the HBIS Group Co., Ltd., arrived in Serbia on Thursday with the help of the United Nations Development Programme and the European Union.
As of 3:00 p.m. Thursday local time, Serbia had reported 457 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in chartered flight, Chinese, COVID-19, deaths, donate, enterprises, European Union, First Company of China Eighth Engineering Division Ltd, HBIS Group Co., Ltd., Jinan, medical supplies, Serbia, Shandong High-speed Group, shandong province, Uncategorized, United Nations Development Programme |
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05/09/2019
The fourth China-Arab States Expo is opened in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)
YINCHUAN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — The fourth China-Arab States Expo opened Thursday in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The four-day event will feature trade fairs and forums on infrastructure, Internet plus healthcare, high technology, modern agriculture, logistics, tourism, digital economy and industrial cooperation.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Ningxia regional government, this year’s event attracts around 12,600 participants from 2,900 regional organizations, commerce chambers, associations and enterprises in 89 countries, according to the organizer of the expo.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Associations, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China-Arab States Expo, China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chinese Ministry of Commerce, commerce chambers, countries, digital economy, enterprises, forums, healthcare, high technology, industrial cooperation, Infrastructure, Internet, logistics, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce (MOC)., modern agriculture, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Ningxia regional government, organizer, participants, regional organizations, Tourism, trade fairs, Uncategorized, Yinchuan |
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27/08/2019
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, reads a congratulatory letter to the 2019 Smart China Expo sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the expo’s opening ceremony in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, Aug. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)
CHONGQING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Monday called for seizing the new opportunities in technological development and promoting the healthy development of the intelligent industry.
Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at the 2019 Smart China Expo that opened Monday in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality.
At the opening ceremony, he read a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping.
The letter fully demonstrated that the president attaches great importance to the development of intelligent industry, and pointed the direction for the sector’s healthy development, Liu said.
Noting that China’s economy is switching from high-speed growth to high-quality development, Liu said the country’s dynamic microfundations and sufficient macro-policy tools can ensure the sound fundamentals of its economic development.
China’s intelligent industry is developing rapidly and emerging as a new economic growth point, Liu said.
To promote the sector’s development, efforts must be centered on promoting the well-being of humanity, maintain a balance between efficiency and job creation, respect and protect individual privacy, and uphold the ethical and moral bottom line, he said.
In underscoring China’s willingness to advance international cooperation in the intelligent sector, Liu said China welcomes enterprises from all over the world, including the United States, to invest and operate in China.
The country will continue to create an appealing investment environment and strengthen protection of property rights and intellectual property rights, he said.
China is willing to resolve problems calmly through consultation and resolutely opposes the escalation of the trade war, Liu said, adding that any escalation will run against the interests of the people of China, the United States and the whole world.
Source: Xinhua
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11/04/2019
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) — China on Wednesday urged relevant countries to offer a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for enterprises of various countries, including Chinese ones.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the remarks at a routine press briefing when asked whether Australia applies double standards on the cybersecurity issue.
Recently, a number of Australian media reported that relevant Australian law mandated communication enterprises install “backdoors” for the Australian government. Google, Apple, Amazon and other technology companies have expressed serious concern about the act, saying it threatens cybersecurity in Australia and the world.
While the Australian side previously claimed that the country does not want any company in its communications networks that have an obligation to any other government. For this reason, Australia banned Huawei from the 5G telecommunications network.
Noting China has been closely following the relevant developments, Lu said the communication market and international cooperation will be seriously affected when it forces enterprises to install “backdoors” by legislation, which builds its own security and interests on the basis of violating other countries’ security and the privacy of their citizens.
“As you can see, the business communities have expressed serious concern about this,” Lu said.
A puzzling thing is that on the one hand, relevant countries use cybersecurity and sensationalize the so-called “security threat” of other countries or enterprises with trumped-up charges. On the other hand, they are doing things that endanger cybersecurity, Lu said.
“I am just as interested as you are in what the Australian government would say,” said the spokesperson.
Emphasizing that China has always attached great importance to and firmly maintained cybersecurity, Lu said that the Chinese side is willing to continue to actively participate in international cooperation in cybersecurity and work with all parties to build a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in 5G telecommunications network, Amazon, Apple, Australia, China alert, cybersecurity, double standard, enterprises, fair business environment, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Google, Huawei, Lu Kang, relevant countries, technology companies, Uncategorized |
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10/03/2019
WUHAN, March 9 (Xinhua) — The city of Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, will invest 40 billion yuan (about 6 billion U.S. dollars) to provide key support to the development of high-tech infrastructure by 2022, local authorities said.
The province and its capital will forge ahead with high-tech industries by raising a 10-billion-yuan fund per year for major projects, platforms, industrial parks, equipment and talent teams, from 2019 to 2022.
So far, a research facility of precise gravity measurement, a national major science and technology infrastructure, is under construction in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.
In the past few years, the city has completed a pulsed high magnetic field facility and opened China’s first national bio-safety level four lab, which requires the highest level of biological safety.
Wuhan will work with universities, institutes and enterprises to achieve great breakthroughs in various fields including integrated electromagnetic energy, optoelectronics, microelectronics, geomatics, and new materials, as well as build national laboratories.
Data released at the city’s science and technology conference for 2019 on Friday showed that the value added of the hi-tech industries in Wuhan exceeded 300 billion yuan last year, accounting for 20.56 percent of the city’s gross domestic product.
With 3,536 high-tech enterprises in total, the city is making efforts to build itself into a tech hub of the country.
Source: Xinhua
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28/02/2019
HONG KONG, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) — The financial secretary of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government delivered Hong Kong’s annual budget on Wednesday, saying the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area offers golden opportunities for Hong Kong to explore new directions and open up new horizons.
To support implementation of various measures, the budget, themed “supporting enterprises, safeguarding jobs, stabilizing the economy, strengthening livelihoods,” provides new resources ready for use of about 150 billion HK dollars (about 19.1 billion U.S. dollars), with additional resources earmarked for various purposes.
“This demonstrates our determination to enhance public services, support enterprises, relieve people’s burden and invest for the future,” Financial Secretary of the HKSAR government Paul Chan said.
Under mounting external pressures, Hong Kong’s economic growth moderated from 4.1 percent in the first half of 2018 to 2.1 percent in the second half of the year, with growth for the fourth quarter at a mere 1.3 percent, the lowest since the first quarter of 2016, he said.
Overall, Hong Kong’s economy grew by 3 percent in 2018, at the lower end of the range projected in last year’s Budget but still higher than the trend growth rate of 2.8 percent over the past decade, he added.
Chan forecast a surplus of 58.7 billion HK dollars for 2018-19. Fiscal reserves are expected to reach 1,161.6 billion HK dollars by March 31, 2019; economic growth of 2 to 3 percent in real terms for Hong Kong in 2019.
He said the development of innovation and technology (I&T) will bring huge economic benefits to Hong Kong, adding that sufficient resources, with a commitment of over 100 billion HK dollars has been allocated in this area so far.
More efforts will be made to support scientific research and I&T sectors by developing I&T infrastructure, promoting research and development (R&D), pooling talent, supporting enterprises and promoting reindustrialization.
Talking about national development strategy, Chan emphasized that the Greater Bay Area development and the Belt and Road Initiative are providing rare opportunities for Hong Kong.
Chan said that the outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area, promulgated last week, is a milestone setting out the development directions for the Greater Bay Area up to 2035.
Hong Kong, positioned as international financial, transportation and trade centers as well as an international aviation hub in the Greater Bay Area, will strengthen its roles as a global offshore Renminbi business hub and an international asset and risk management center; and will devote great efforts to develop I&T industries as well as international legal and dispute resolution services, the financial chief said.
Meanwhile, the Belt and Road Initiative will create greater room for Hong Kong’s economic and social development. There has been positive outcomes in areas such as supporting industries in exploring markets, establishing business matching platforms for enterprises and encouraging Hong Kong’s professional services sector to participate in Belt and Road projects.
As for land supply, Chan said, the HKSAR government will ensure that adequate resources are provided to support fully the short, medium and long-term measures to increase land and housing supply.
The estimated public housing production for the next five years is about 100,400 units and the supply of first-hand private residential units is expected to remain at a relatively high level in the coming three to four years at about 93,000 units, according to Chan. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.84 HK dollars)
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Belt and Road Initiative, China alert, enterprises, financial, financial secretary, Greater Bay Area, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, HKSAR government, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Infrastructure, national development strategy, new horizons, Paul Chan, private residential units, professional services, public housing, reindustrialization, Renminbi, research and development (R&D), trade centers, transportation, Uncategorized |
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CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 