Ni hao – this category features any blog posts that relate to the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese communist party, Chinese citizens, consumer behaviour, business, and Chinese business abroad.
It is likely the post will also in other categories too. For example a post about Tong Ren Tang might end up in the business section as well. Inevitably everything is inherently political in nature. At the moment, I don’t take suggestions for subject areas or comments on content for this category, it just isn’t worth the hassle.
Why have posts on China? I have been involved in projects there and had Chinese clients. China has some interesting things happening in art, advertising, architecture, design and manufacturing. I have managed to experience some great and not so great aspects of the country and its businesses.
Opinions have been managed by the omnipresent party and this has affected consumer behaviour. Lotte was boycotted and harassed out of the country. Toyota and Honda cars occasionally go through damage by consumer action during particularly high tensions with Japan.
I put stuff here to allow readers to make up their own minds about the PRC. The size of the place makes things complicated and the only constants are change, death, taxes and the party. Things get even more complicated on the global stage.
The unique nature of the Chinese internet and sheltered business sectors means that interesting Galapagos syndrome type things happen.
I have separate sections for Taiwan and Hong Kong, for posts that are specific to them.
Until watching this video on Heat I didn’t understand its link to Michael Mann’s earlier projects Crime Story and L.A. Takedown; which were basically attempts to make the same story for film. One of the reasons why Heat looks so realistic is that the film used a number of ex-special forces consultants including Steven Mitchel, who you might know better as Andy McNab. Heat is a legendary film for putting Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in the same scene at the same time.
Heat has fantastic dialogue and is used by the US military for training purposes.
Beauty
Is the BBL bubble about to burst? – The Face – BBL is Brazil Butt Lift – the big butt is going the way of oversized breast enhancement surgery. It will have its place, but it won’t be so extreme
‘Prison Gothic’: Hong Kong road signs reborn as new font – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – “Responding to the social movements and changes is a big incentive for the fonts’ development,” said Brian Kwok, associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s design school. “In the past, symbols of Hong Kong local culture might be egg tarts, milk tea and the Lion Rock,” Kwok told AFP. “Now fonts have become a way for young people to explore their Hong Kong identity.”
Which means the only listings are likely to be old industry listings of state owned firms that foreign investors wouldn’t want to deal with anyway. The second one was: Alibaba scales back global expansion plan to rival Amazon | Financial Times – Alibaba.com’s US operation has failed to meet its initial targets, forcing the Chinese company to readjust its growth plans, according to three people familiar with the operations. The project has also been hit by dozens of staff departures from its New York office. The troubles at its US business-to-business arm come as Alibaba steps up its international push as its domestic operations continue to get hit by Beijing’s tech crackdown, slowing economy and rising competition. However, Alibaba.com has struggled to retain US sellers since its launch, in part down to the difficulty of competing with the prices of global merchants. “US manufacturers aren’t as competitive, the cost of everything is a lot higher including labour. The team do not have enough support internally, so they can’t get enough suppliers and sellers on board,” one current employee said – you could read this as the US is uncompetitive, or Alibaba only manages to sell on cost rather than value (quality, flexibility, after sales service don’t matter).
Aviation sector will be disrupted for years, Qatar Airways boss says | Financial Times – “Covid has damaged the supply chain of the industry . . . I think that it will last for a couple of years — it is not going to go away tomorrow,” Akbar Al Baker told the Financial Times in an interview. Labour shortages in Europe, delays in aircraft deliveries from manufacturers and a lack of spare parts had all affected Qatar Airways, he added. – and this is without the problems that airports have faced in baggage handling etc. If aircraft deliveries were really an issue, why did Qatar pick a fight with Airbus?
HSBC’s past may not help its future | Financial Times – There is no place in the new Hong Kong for a pre-eminent bank which is not institutionally subject to the Chinese government. As China turns inwards, it makes sense for the ruling party to want its own financiers in command of a smaller standalone lender that will be well-capitalised, regionally-focused and prepared to serve national objectives, not global shareholders. The installation of a Communist party committee at HSBC’s Chinese investment banking subsidiary, reported by the FT, is a prelude of what is to come: a slow, patient strategy of small steps designed to make inevitable a break-up already determined on high in Beijing. That is why Ping An has fired the first shot in the final battle over the colonial legacy of Hong Kong — a place China has always called “a problem left over from history”. – the smart play would be to cut the PRC and Hong Kong business off from the rest of the network. While China is the growth engine, it relies on the rest of the network for this profitable wealth management business. Secondly, what will happen with Standard Chartered?
Ideas
Reviving Progress in the UK – there is an issue with the capital injection required by the plans outlined. Would anyone trust the UK government that they would be able to execute in a competent manner on the ideas? I think that the UK is suffering from a crisis of competence as much as anything else.
Associated Press Aims to Drop the Term “Assault Rifle” from StylebookThe Firearm Blog – really interesting change towards more neutral language while the progressive media obsesses about the new SIG-Sauer MCX Spear which is similar in terms of lethal effect to the longer range rifles field during the first part of the cold war. These cold war era designs have been modernised and are available to gun owners across most of the US. The MCX Spear relies on a newer, harder to get ammunition. This ammunition is also harder to fill at home than existing formats like the earlier NATO 5.56mm and 7.62mmm rounds. Older weapons like the Heckler & Koch G3 are a bit heavier but offer a similar performance, yet you wouldn’t get this information from the progressive media. Regardless of your opinion on gun control, the facts matter.
Beijing detains high-flying Tsinghua semiconductor boss, report says | Financial Times – Zhao Weiguo, the former head of an expansive Chinese conglomerate with state backing and deep investments in the global technology sector, has been placed under investigation by officials in Beijing, according to local media. The 54-year-old, who led cash-strapped chipmaking giant Tsinghua Unigroup for a decade, has been out of contact after being taken from his home by authorities in mid-July, reported Caixin, a Chinese business publication.
For a while Vice News was the hotness in news reporting, now they seem to have got their mojo back with a report on Chinese business people taking advantage of corruption at the highest level in Guyana. British Hong Konger Isobel Yeung did an amazing report on how Chinese business, especially state owned enterprises, had supercharged corruption in Guyana.
Hyundai N Vision 74
Korean car manufacturer has been following the path taken by the likes of Toyota to expand from being a manufacturer of value, but low margin cars. This involved making a luxury division – Genesis is a clear Lexus analogue but with Korean characteristics. N is their version of what used to be Toyota’s TRD or Gazoo Racing as it is now.
The N Vision 74 shows a reignition of Hyundai’s interest in hydrogen fuel cells for passenger cars, Hyundai had paused hydrogen fuel cell development for passenger cars in 2021. Presumably the higher energy density of fuel cells together with the skyrocketing price of lithium and cobalt has caused to them to resurrect the programme? The design is a homage to Italdesign’s Hyundai Pony Coupe concept from 1974. The same year Italdesign had also designed the first Volkswagen Scirocco and the Alfa Romeo GTV. Many commentators have compared it to the later DeLorean DMC 12. The DMC 12 was also designed by Italdesign in 1981.
There is a good deal of 1970s and 1980s track car vibes in there as well including a louvred back window and muscular arches. The wheels seem to use vintage Speedline influenced guards that would funnel air into the brake discs but keep rocks, sand and snow ingress to a minimum.
Japanese itchiness
Japanese skincare brand Muhiis a line of products that deal with itchy or irritated skin from the likes of allergies or insect bites. They have launched a campaign that deals with the subject of crotch itch including an e-sports tournament and a branded series of anime. The e-sport tournament is a clever way of getting attention for the series of crotch related games that they have on the Muhi website.
Perun
Perun has done some of the better analysis for armchair warriors following the Ukraine war. The analysis is thoughtful and doesn’t have an inherent bias. He had used to run a mediocre gaming channel, but analysis seems to be his strength.
Emirates statement on operations at London Heathrow – Emirates lays into London Heathrow’s airport chaos. The airport chaos has been labelled ‘airmageddon’, due to the restriction in numbers of passengers who can fly in and out of Heathrow in a given day of just 100,000 people. That’s 25,000 people a day lower than last year. While there is similar restrictions at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and a complete failure of their baggage system.
China
China’s Collapsing Global Image – China’s image abroad has declined significantly in the past four years, a sharp revearsal from the relative popularity it enjoyed in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe from the 1990s to the late 2010s. While previous Chinese regimes stressed humble non-intervention on the global stage, distributed generous infrastructure funding via the Belt and Road Initiative, and conducted massive soft power outreach programs through media and academia, many of these strategies have been reversed or rendered ineffective. As Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia Joshua Kurlantzick notes, “[there] are multiple reasons for China’s deteriorating global public image. China’s overall rising authoritarianism at home, its cover-up of the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and its brutal repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang have hurt its perception among many foreign publics. China’s continued zero-COVID strategy has cut it off from much of the world, undermined people-to-people relations with other states, and cast some doubt on the Chinese model of development—even among some Chinese citizens.” – worthwhile contrasting with the following research, which implies a negative but more complex and nuanced situation – China seen as better than EU in completing African projects, survey finds | South China Morning Post – Poll of more than 1,000 policymakers on the continent puts priority on physical infrastructure, speedy results and non-interference in internal political affairs. European Union charts higher on quality of products or services delivered; good working conditions; creating jobs for Africans; upholding environmental standards
HSBC installs Communist party committee in Chinese investment bank | Financial Times – I don’t think that it would be beyond the realm of possibility seeing HSBC China and Hong Kong breaking off ARM China style under the auspices of Ping An and the Chinese government. Ping An is actually a cross holding: HSBC is the largest shareholder in Ping An and vice versa. The question is can they take the bulk of the HSBC Asia businesses with them like Singapore et al as well? This could happen based on company structure and western shareholders would be left with the equivalent of an empty husk
Hong Kong Law Reform Commission proposes 5 new offences to rein in cybercrime, with tougher penalties of up to life imprisonment | South China Morning Post – Will this proposed ordinance be available as a charge, with the prosecution claiming the criminal intent is an offence involving national security?” he asked. “Could all social media become a target? Given the wide criminalisation of speech in the context of national security and sedition charges is there a risk a charge under this ordinance will be added?” Davis said he was also worried the proposed amendment would be used to reverse the outcome of an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal in 2019 which limits the reach of an ordinance that prohibits “access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent” to cover a person using their own tech devices.
Qantas chaos: outsourced baggage handler says one in 10 bags not making flights | Qantas | The Guardian – this lost luggage mess is emblematic of what is happening globally. Delta Airlines put on a dedicated flight to repatriate 1,000 pieces of lost luggage that had been left behind in in London Heathrow airport. Lost luggage and other overwhelmed ground services has seen both Heathrow and Schiphol airport in Amsterdam cut flight numbers. Lost luggage will tarnish airline reputations.
A poor experience on lost luggage will give discount airlines an opening, given that they will be supporting fuel related price increases anyway. These lost luggage problems will also help rail companies. I could see Eurostar running some ‘lost luggage’ response ads as a way of putting pressure on British Airways
China’s image loses its shine in Europe | Financial Times – In the UK, Germany and France, only 14 per cent, 33 per cent and 41 per cent of people questioned in 2006 had an unfavourable view of China. Now, they stand at 69 per cent, 74 per cent and 68 per cent respectively. – its human rights, then military power, then economics and finally Chinese political interference. Central and eastern European’s governments joined hands with Beijing in launching an initiative known as the 16+1 format. It was meant to herald a new dawn of mutually beneficial co-operation. China managed to alienate all with the exception of Hungary and Serbia. The Chinese ignored the region fears of Russia and strong attachment to the US as the ultimate guarantor of each country’s independence – likely because of China’s laser focus on the US as its enemy. Serbia makes sense, Russia backed them during the break-up of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia wasn’t ‘freed’ by the Soviet Union from Nazi occupation and Tito managed to maintain a distance from them. Hungary is the one that is more puzzling my perspective; the people were crushed in 1956 by Russian tanks when they tried to move away from communism
The UK economy is stagnant — and the reasons run deep | Financial Times – the 15 years between 2004 and 2019 — pre-Covid and pre-Brexit — were the weakest for growth in gross domestic product per head since the years between 1919 and 1934. Low growth in GDP per head caused low growth in household real disposable incomes: those for non-pensioners rose by 12 per cent between 2004-05 and 2019-20. This can be compared to an average rise of 40 per cent every 15 years since 1961. Also significant have been changes in income distribution. Between 1980 and 1995, median non-pensioner household real disposable incomes rose by 37 per cent, but by 67 per cent for the top decile and only 3 per cent for the bottom one. Between 1992 and 2007, incomes rose by 41 per cent, 47 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively: growth then was both fast and widely shared, which was surely far better. But then, between 2004 and 2019, as median incomes rose by a mere 12 per cent, the top decile’s rose 11 per cent and the bottom’s 2 per cent: that was stagnation all round
Hong Kong’s legacy — from Chris Patten’s Diaries to City on the Edge | Financial Times – Patten argues convincingly that for Britain or any other country to abandon liberal principles and yield to the Chinese Communist party’s demands at every opportunity brings neither political nor commercial benefits. The trade and investment statistics he cites from the final decades of British rule do indeed suggest there is little correlation between grovelling and real rewards for business & … “China’s decision [in 2020] to impose the national security law as a pre-emptive strike against a perceived revolutionary situation in Hong Kong amounts to the premature end of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ [the formula for autonomy] 27 years before the 2047 deadline,” Hung writes. “The cost of this move for China could be grave,” he concludes, at a time when the US is already seeking to curb Beijing’s technological and strategic ambitions and China still benefits from Hong Kong’s role as an internationally connected financial centre.
Thinking About the Unthinkable in Ukraine | Foreign Affairs – with back-and-forth tactical nuclear shots is that Russia would be at an advantage because it possesses more tactical nuclear weapons than the United States does. That asymmetry would require U.S. policymakers to resort sooner to so-called strategic forces (intercontinental missiles or bombers) to keep the upper hand. That, in turn, would risk unleashing the all-out mutual destruction of the major powers’ homelands. Thus, both the tit-for-tat and the disproportionate retaliatory options pose dauntingly high risks. A less dangerous option would be to respond to a nuclear attack by launching an air campaign with conventional munitions alone against Russian military targets and mobilizing ground forces for potential deployment into the battle in Ukraine. This would be coupled with two strong public declarations. First, to dampen views of this low-level option as weak, NATO policymakers would emphasize that modern precision technology makes tactical nuclear weapons unnecessary for effectively striking targets that used to be considered vulnerable only to undiscriminating weapons of mass destruction. That would frame Russia’s resort to nuclear strikes as further evidence not only of its barbarism but of its military backwardness. Direct entry into the war at the conventional level would not neutralize panic in the West. But it would mean that Russia would be faced with the prospect of combat against a NATO that was substantially superior in nonnuclear forces, backed by a nuclear retaliatory capability, and less likely to remain restrained if Russia turned its nuclear strikes against U.S. rather than Ukrainian forces.
Hollywood won’t budge for Chinese censors anymore. Here’s what changed – CNN – talent in the Chinese industry had become stronger. Local stories told “in Mandarin and portrayed with Chinese sensibilities … naturally appeal to local audiences, particularly as you move from urban to rural markets,” he noted. “As Chinese producers venture further into the action and sci-fi genres in particular, where Hollywood dominated for many years, there will likely be increased competition from local fare.” – the pandering of Hollywood to the Chinese government has created a sector that will likely attempt to bury the US film industry
A new study points out the biggest threat to the potential of TikTok as it lacks massive earnings for creators compared to rivals / Digital Information World and Nearly Half of Gen Z Prefers TikTok and Instagram Over Google Search – according to Google’s internal studies, “something like almost 40% of young people when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram.” Google confirmed this statistic to Insider, saying, “we face robust competition from an array of sources, including general and specialized search engines, as well as dedicated apps.” Google highlighted changes it plans to make to its search engine to appeal to a younger audience, including the ability for a user to pan their camera over an area and “instantly glean insights about multiple objects in a wider scene.” Insider has previously reported about the threat TikTok poses to YouTube, which is also owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Insider Intelligence predicts TikTok’s advertising revenue will overtake YouTube by 2024. – which makes the TikTok shopping TV service shutdown a bit more puzzling
US and UK intelligence chiefs call for vigilance on China’s industrial spies | Financial Times – In a joint appearance in London, the chiefs of the US and British intelligence agencies called on companies to be much more vigilant about China. FBI director Christopher Wray said Beijing was using “elaborate shell games” to disguise its spying and was even taking advantage of Spacs, or special purpose acquisition vehicles. “The Chinese government poses an even more serious threat to western businesses than even many sophisticated businesspeople realise,” Wray told business leaders at an event with his MI5 counterpart, Ken McCallum. “I want to encourage you to take the long view as you gauge the threat.” In a reference to the Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army, Wray added: “When you deal with a Chinese company, know you’re also dealing with the Chinese government — that is the MSS and the PLA — too, almost like silent partners – that this is news to business leaders shows how naive they all are. Based on my experience I believe that the reality is that the business community is already state captured, culpable and willing to endanger their home countries for marginal short term gain. More here: Joint address by MI5 and FBI Heads | MI5 – The Security Service and NEW: Top UK and USA spy chiefs warning on CCP
