Reuters exclusively reported that China’s securities regulator has ordered some brokerages to inspect their bond trading activities as authorities seek to rein in frenzied buying of Chinese government bonds. The brokerages, all of which are domestic, have been told to conduct compliance checks on all parts of their bond trading operations.
Business
China tells some brokerages to conduct compliance checks on bond trading
Business & Finance
09 August 2024, 10:57 pm 1 minute
Market Impact
A wobbly Chinese economy, long hobbled by a protracted property crisis, has sent investors scurrying away from the volatile stock market while banks have also continued to cut deposit rates. That’s sent investors – from large banks and insurers to mutual funds to rural financial institutions – pouring into the bond market.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Business & Finance
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Business & Finance
Regions: Asia
Countries: China
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
What a Huawei laptop reveals about China’s dream of tech self-sufficiency
China’s demand that the public sector step up use of domestic semiconductors can best be seen within Huawei’s Qingyun L540 laptop.
The “safe and reliable” device features a self-designed processor and a Chinese-made operating system, having stripped out foreign-made components and software as much as possible.
The computer, which is being snapped up by governments and state groups across the country, has become the signature model of China’s localisation campaign known as Xinchuang, or “IT application innovation”.
For decades, Chinese officials have dreamt of creating a domestic tech supply chain, especially in building-block components like semiconductors. Progress was slow. But Washington’s ratcheting embargo on high tech goods has spurred Beijing to redouble its efforts.
“We must ramp up R&D efforts in semiconductors, machine tools and foundational software,” President Xi Jinping exhorted top scientists and policymakers this summer. “They provide the technological backbone for independent, secure and controllable supply chains,” he said.
Chinese officials are now combining the heft of state spending and financial support with top-down directives to buy local tech, particularly in semiconductors.
Late last year state buyers were directed to phase out computers powered by American processors.
Since implementing the directive in March, central agencies have transitioned from exclusively purchasing laptops running on Intel and AMD processors last year to now acquiring three-quarters of their devices with chips from Chinese companies like Huawei, Shanghai Zhaoxin and Phytium, according to public records. Huawei’s Qingyun L540 has won a majority of the orders.
What kicked off as a campaign to cut foreign tech products out of the offices of governments and state-owned groups has gradually expanded into a wider array of products.
Automakers, including major European groups which produce cars in joint ventures with Chinese state-owned firms, have been directed to step up their use of domestic semiconductors, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Two of the people said they had been given a target to use Chinese chips for 25 per cent of the total by next year, though there were not yet consequences for failing to do so. Nikkei Asia previously reported this directive.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is leading the country’s tech localisation efforts, has outlined a plan for national auto chip standards. The goal is to “provide space for our country’s indigenous innovation in auto chips”, MIIT said in December.
An engineer at a major European vehicle maker said they have begun to inventory their components and where their chips came from. “It will not be easy to design-in Chinese chips,” the person said. “But if we are able to do so successfully, I expect they will be pushed into global products because they are so much cheaper.”
Major foreign telecom kit makers are also being encouraged to substitute domestic semiconductors into their gear to maintain sales, two people familiar with the matter said.
State-backed China Telecom recently tendered for 150,000 servers for its network. Two-thirds of the order was reserved for servers equipped with domestic processors, procurement records show.
Huawei’s Qingyun laptop, tested by the FT, also contains Chinese software running on the local hardware. The device ran on the Chinese-made Unity Operating System, based on Linux. Users can play music, edit photos or create word documents and spreadsheets, similar to a Windows machine. But all of the applications are made in China.
The laptop’s Word-like application is made by Chinese software group Kingsoft and saves text files as “.wps” instead of the “.docx” format used by Microsoft. Chinese agencies like MIIT, the State Tax Administration and Maritime Safety Administration have started to publish some government documents in the format.
But Huawei’s Xinchuang laptop is not yet fully divorced from foreign technology, showing the challenges ahead for Xi’s campaign.
Its Huawei Kirin 9006C processor was manufactured in Taiwan in 2020 ahead of tighter US export controls to the Chinese national champion, which came into effect in September of that year, according to an examination by research group TechInsights. Huawei stockpiled a mass of the 5 nanometre chips ahead of the sanctions cut-off.
The laptop’s USB controller hub comes from American company Microchip while two memory chips come from South Korean company SK Hynix. The 512GB storage was packaged in December 2020, according to TechInsights.
SK Hynix said it strictly complies with the US export controls and has suspended transactions with Huawei since they were announced. Microchip did not respond to requests for comment.
Lin Qingyuan, a Chinese hardware expert at Bernstein, said that while Beijing’s Xinchuang policy had accelerated adoption of local tech, Washington’s sanctions were actually having a more pronounced impact.
“When companies have no choice, it creates a market for the local players, like for AI chips,” he said.
TechInsights’ analysis showed that most of the important chips were designed by Chinese groups, representing about $109 of the $182 worth of integrated circuits in the laptop.
Stacy Wegner, a senior technology analyst at TechInsights, said it was not what you would typically find in a laptop. “This was a very Chinese IC heavy laptop,” she said. “That’s for sure.”
Business
Reuters reveals ValueAct calls for Seven & i to spin off 7-Eleven retail chain
Business & Finance
19 January 2023, 9:07 pm 1 minute
Reuters was first to report that hedge fund ValueAct Capital urged Seven & i Holdings shareholders to back a spin-off of the company’s 7-Eleven convenience store chain, arguing the move would improve the conglomerate’s valuation and corporate governance. The U.S.-based investment firm, which owns a 4.4% stake in the Japanese company and has been urging it to make changes for at least a year, called on shareholders, in a letter reviewed by Reuters, to express their opinions on the matter to Seven & i’s board.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Business & Finance
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Business & Finance
Regions: North America
Countries: JapanUS
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
US, Vietnam discuss supplying Hanoi with C-130 military transport planes
Business & FinanceDeals
24 July 2024, 7:44 am 1 minute
Reuters exclusively reported that the United States and Vietnam are discussing the sale of Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport planes to Hanoi, in a sign of closer security cooperation between the two former foes.
Market Impact
The discussions show the United States’ growing efforts to gain influence with Hanoi, nearly half a century after the end of the Vietnam War.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Business & FinanceDeals
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Aerospace & DefenceBusiness & Finance
Regions: Asia
Countries: Vietnam
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
VW and Renault end talks to develop affordable EV
Automotive
17 May 2024, 10:01 am 1 minute
Reuters exclusively reported that Volkswagen has walked away from talks with Renault to jointly develop an affordable electric version of the Twingo car, in a setback for the EU carmakers’ efforts to fend off Chinese rivals.
Market Impact
A potential partnership between Volkswagen and Renault would have brought together household names of Europe’s top two economies and formed a counterweight against Asian rivals muscling into the local market.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Automotive
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Transport & Logistics
Regions: Europe
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Important Regional Story
Business
The challenge of preserving coastal forests
Vishal Jaiswal has been flying drones since he was young.
Now 27, that childhood hobby has become his profession. A recent project involved mapping part of the Sundarbans, a vast area of mangrove forests where the waters of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers spill into the Bay of Bengal.
Covering more than 4,000 sq miles (10,360 sq km) of coastal India and Bangladesh, it is the world’s biggest area of mangroves.
“It’s a very dense area with mix of everything, including forests with wild animals,” says Mr Jaiswal.
Along with two other team members he mapped 150 sq km in three days.
“A trained and skilled person is needed to fly a drone in thick mangroves area,” he says.
“It was a difficult task. We mapped the area from deep inside the forest, travelling there on boats and roads.”
It was one of many projects aimed at protecting the mangrove forest from the effects of climate change and human activities.
Globally, more than half of all mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse by 2050, according to a recent report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“Mangroves are threatened by deforestation, development, pollution, and dam construction, but the risk to these ecosystems is increasing due to sea-level rise and the increased frequency of severe storms associated with climate change,” the report said.
In India the picture is mixed.
The mangroves of South India, Sri Lanka and Maldives are “critically endangered,” according to the IUCN report.
Other Indian mangroves are not on that “red list”.
The Sundarbans are one of those mangroves not considered endangered by the (IUCN).
However, Dr Sahadev Sharma, a consultant scientist to the USDA Forestry Service, says there are signs of both manmade and natural stress, which he identified during his field survey beginning of this year.
“We are seeing a loss in dense mangrove cover in Sundarbans. Additionally, patches on the western coast are extremely fragmented and eroded due to shrimp farming and development,” he says.
But it’s hard for scientists to know exactly what’s happening to the Sundarbans. There’s a lack of field research, partly because it’s a difficult place to work.
“It requires coordination with officers and ground staff, procuring field supplies in remote areas, and planning extensive logistics for field operations.
“The risk of saltwater crocodiles and Bengal tigers, tides and treacherous terrain make the field work even more difficult,” he says.
So, scientists are turning to tech, like Mr Jaiswal’s drones, to monitor the mangroves.
One key bit of information needed is the height of the mangroves in relation to the sea level.
The rivers flooding into the Sundarbans dump sediment, raising the ground level.
But if the sea level rises faster than that soil building process, then the mangroves will be threatened.
This process is monitored by installing rSETs (rod surface elevation tables) across mangrove forests.
The first part of the process is to drive steel rods into the mud, to provide a base for the measuring equipment.
Then Lidar scanners are attached to the top of the rods. These use lasers to scan the ground up to 2m away from the central rod, taking hundreds of thousands of extremely accurate measurements.
It’s a big improvement on the previous system, which involved attaching cumbersome fibreglass arms to the rods, which were extended to take height measurements.
That method would take hours to produce just 36 measurements and relied on the user placing the arms in the exact same positions as previous surveys.
“Because we are using a laser, there is minimal human error and the precision of this method is much greater than the traditional pin methods,” says Mr Sharma.
But it has one drawback – it’s more expensive than the old way.
Nevertheless, the project is making progress with the help of local partners.
Measuring sites are in place in the Andaman Islands, Sundarbans and Coringa and there are plans to install more in Bhitarkanika National Park, Orissa.
The research is still in its early days, they have a few data sets, but are waiting for the water level to recede before they can start measuring in the Sundarbans.
Many who live in the coastal regions that support mangrove forests rely on them for survival.
In Andhra Pradesh, which has a long coastline in eastern India, fisherman Laxman Anna blamed the destruction of mangroves for poor catches.
“A few years back it had become a frustrating job. Going into the creek to catch fish and coming back empty handed.”
“Imagine a day when I made just 60 cents for my entire day in the creek, as there were no fishes. Barely enough to sustain my family of five.”
He blamed shrimp farms for upsetting the ecosystem.
But Mr Anna says communities in his area have realised the importance of preserving the mangroves.
“We are planting saplings, nurturing them back to life with help of an NGO and the forest department.”
And that effort is paying off.
“Things are changing I have a smile on my face when I go to fishing now. I am able to get a good catch and make around seven to eight dollars a day, which is a good catch for my survival.”
Business
Generation X Germans may be last to enjoy Europe’s dolce vita
As an American-German family living on both sides of the Atlantic, I must sadly agree with Janan Ganesh’s assessment in his characteristically insightful article “Why Europe will not catch up with the US” (Opinion, September 19). He captures the core issues with precision. However, I find myself even more pessimistic about Germany’s ability to preserve the European “dolce vita” beyond Generation X.
The challenges facing Germany are multi-faceted. Entrepreneurs here continue to struggle with a lack of support and access to funding, which stifles innovation and economic growth. Despite the growing need for modernised industries and fresh ideas, the “old boys’ club” mentality persists, keeping power concentrated in the hands of the traditional elite. This resistance to change is not just limiting entrepreneurship but also the ability of Germany to adapt in a rapidly evolving global economy. Moreover, the country’s education system is underfunded, leaving younger generations with fewer opportunities to compete in a highly skilled, global workforce.
At the same time, the burden on the social welfare system is at an all-time high, with a worrying trend that many welfare recipients and their offspring may remain dependent on state support. This situation risks creating a growing divide between those who contribute to the system and those who rely on it, further hampering economic progress.
My 20-year-old, who sees these issues first-hand, recently commented that if things continue this way, she may reluctantly move back to the US — a decision she views as a last resort.
It’s a sentiment I hear echoed more often by young people in Germany, and it’s deeply concerning for the country’s future.
Alka Schumacher
Cologne, Germany
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