Yoon’s office said on Tuesday that the president had meant “he can’t accept the claim that improving relations with Japan is impossible unless they kneel down in a time of great need for security alliance”, a presidential aide told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It is foolish to renderContinue Reading
Getty ImagesIndia’s sports ministry has admitted to structural lapses in the federation governing Indian wrestling after top athletes resumed their protests on Sunday.
They have been demanding the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh for alleged sexual abuse.
Mr Singh has denied the allegations.
The ministry has not commented on the sexual misconduct charges in its letter to the Indian Olympic Association.
The protesting wrestlers have also petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to register a case against Mr Singh.
They allege that the police have not registered a case against the WFI chief despite several female wrestlers lodging police complaints against him, accusing him of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.
On Tuesday, the top court said the allegations in the petition were “serious” and asked the Delhi police to explain why they hadn’t registered a case.
In January, several top athletes, including wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, had held protests accusing Mr Singh and other officials of sexually harassing female wrestlers for years.
At the time, the WFI had denied all the allegations made by the wrestlers, including that of sexual misconduct.
As the protests continued, the government asked Mr Singh to step aside for a few weeks and formed a panel to oversee the federation’s activities.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also set up a committee to investigate the allegations against Mr Singh, who is a lawmaker and politician from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The committee submitted its report in April but its findings haven’t been made public yet.
On Monday, India’s sports ministry said the IOA’s report was “under examination” but flagged some “major findings” after a preliminary scrutiny of it.
It admitted that the WFI had no Internal Complaints Committee – as mandated by law – to deal with allegations of sexual harassment within the organisation and added that there was a “need for more transparency” and “effective communication” between the WFI and sportspersons.
President of the IOA PT Usha said that the association would discuss the issue on 27 April and provide “actionable solutions to the current impasse in WFI”.
India’s top athletes have been protesting at Jantar Mantar, a heritage site in the capital, Delhi, since Sunday.
On Sunday night, Vinesh Phogat, a two-time World Championship medallist, tweeted a photo of the protesters sleeping in the open.
“From podium to footpath! Under the open sky at night in the hope of justice,” she tweeted.
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NEA also launched the annual National Dengue Prevention Campaign last month to raise awareness, in addition to ongoing dengue inspections.
Residents, especially those residing at dengue cluster areas, are reminded to take steps to protect themselves.
This includes spraying insecticides in dark corners around the house, applying insect repellent regularly and wearing long-sleeve tops and long pants.
Stakeholders should also take immediate action to suppress Aedes mosquito population and break the disease transmission. This includes measures such as breaking up hardened soil, lifting and emptying empty flowerpot plates, as well as overturning pails and wiping their rims.
Since July last year, NEA expanded Project Wolbachia to about eight additional sites – about 1,400 Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks – in a multi-site field study to determine its impact on dengue cases.
Introduced in 2016, Project Wolbachia involves the release of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at some residential estates with a high risk of dengue to curb the urban Aedes aegypti mosquito population in the community.
“When the released male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes mate with the urban female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that do not carry Wolbachia, the resulting eggs do not hatch. This is due to a biological phenomenon known as cytoplasmic incompatibility,” said NEA.
“Hence, continued release of male Wolbachia-Aedes is expected to reduce the urban Aedes aegypti mosquito population, and hence lower the risk of dengue transmission over time.”
With this, about 30 per cent of HDB blocks and 5 sq km of landed estate will be covered, comprising about 300,000 households.
To support the project expansion, NEA said it has increased the production capacity of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes per week from 2 million to 5 million.
As mosquito production and release is labour intensive, the agency added it partnered Orinno Technology to custom-develop ways to automate production and release.
“Manual processes were thus replaced by automation and engineering solutions,” said NEA, with the partnership addressing challenges in areas of scale and efficiency, accurate separation between male and female mosquitoes, and fit male mosquitoes.
Some of the specific technologies developed include a timed egg hatching chamber – improving productivity by 20 times – as well as the pupae sex sorter, larvae counter and mosquito launcher.
“Development of the automated modular systems has significantly increased production efficiency of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes and reduced reliance on manpower,” said NEA.
“This increase in NEA’s mosquito production capacity supports NEA’s expansion of Project Wolbachia to cover more areas in a shorter time frame, and for NEA to test out different strategies and approaches in different areas. This ultimately contributes towards NEA’s future wider scale deployment of the technology to fight dengue.”
It was pitched as the “most significant” shift in Australia’s armed forces in decades. And among the headline announcements, climate change was recognized as an issue of national security.
But the strategic review of Australia’s military released yesterday doesn’t go a lot further than that when it comes to the climate crisis. The review devotes just over one of its 100 pages to what climate change means for defense.
And while overseas analysts and militaries seriously address the strategic effects of climate change and the role for defense, the Australian review focused more on climate change as a potential distraction from the military’s core business of warfighting.
As our armed forces are increasingly called to respond to natural disasters, the review reports, they are less ready to fight a war.
This focus is too narrow. It’s also a long way from what the research is telling us, and a long way from what our allies are doing.
At a fundamental level, security doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t extend to conditions of survival. The climate emergency has been described as a direct threat to both human and ecological security.
But climate change also hangs over the traditional security agenda, which is to defend against any attacks. Forward-thinking militaries around the world have begun to prepare for these effects.
Climate change could make armed conflict more likely by acting as a “threat multiplier.”
Climate-driven droughts, desertification, changing rainfall patterns and the loss of arable land could lead to the collapse of governments or a fleeing population.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and some analysts have pointed to the role of climate change in contributing to armed conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region and Syria’s civil war.
Unchecked climate change is likely to trigger more demand for armed forces to respond to natural disasters, predicted to increase in intensity and frequency on a hotter planet.
Yesterday’s strategic review focuses on this demand, and for good reason – it’s already happening.
Increasingly, the army and air force are being called on to respond to Australia’s tide of “unprecedented disasters” like the floods of the last three years, and the summer of fire in 2019–20. Navy ships evacuated hundreds from the beach at Mallacoota in Victoria, under eerie light.
And then there’s the world. The demand for army-backed humanitarian help is rising. Our neighbors are among the most vulnerable in the world to the effects of natural disasters.
Beyond responses to refugees, conflict and natural disasters, there’s the question of how militaries are equipped, trained and resourced.
Higher temperatures, rising seas and natural disasters could threaten defense infrastructure and bases. Australia’s defense department is the largest landholder in the country, much of it in exposed coastal areas.
Our military has a substantial “carbon bootprint”, given it relies heavily on machines that burn fossil fuels, from destroyers to tanks. Ensuring these have enough fuel in the future is a concern, especially if the substantial military contribution to greenhouse gas emissions comes under more scrutiny.
In this sense, it was good to see the review note the importance of the military accelerating a transition to clean energy. But the urgency of the climate crisis suggests our military should also be factoring climate change into procurement considerations and equipment management now. To date, there’s little evidence Australia has done so.
Key partners like America, the UK and many other countries are well ahead of us. In my ongoing research, I’ve analyzed climate responses and interviewed policymakers from other nations. This suggests we’re lagging well behind.
The US military began analyzing what climate change would mean for it back in the 1990s. Biden’s government has given climate change greater priority in its National Security Council and firmly linked climate and security in what one interviewee told me was a “game changer.”
The UK has an expert body within its defense ministry examining the security implications of climate change. In 2021, it produced a strategic document with emissions cut goals for its armed forces, as well as investment to make the transition possible.
New Zealand has gone beyond reactive responses and embraced an active role for its military in responding to natural disasters at home and in the region. One interviewee told me this was central to the military’s “social license.”
New Zealand’s position has been strongly influenced by the concerns of its Pacific neighbors. Wellington decision-makers also decided defense will not be exempt from government-mandated goals to get to net zero.
France has taken a similar position on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief focused on its overseas territories and the wider Francophone world. These operations are presented not as a distraction but as a core commitment.
Sweden and Germany used their time on the UN Security Council in recent years to push for a resolution on the organization’s role in addressing the international security implications of climate change.
And when Sweden joins NATO, it’s likely to push for more military preparation for climate change given recent NATO commitments on this front.
Yes. But the first step is to recognize where we are – and where the world is heading.
Australia’s defense sector must seriously engage with what climate change will bring, not least given our region’s acute vulnerabilities and the existential concerns of our Pacific neighbors.
Unfortunately, the recently-released strategic review suggests our defense establishment does not wholly share these concerns.
Matt McDonald is Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
SINGAPORE: A 48-year-old engineer was taking a closer look at a section of false ceiling as part of her work when she stepped onto a 1cm-thick gypsum board or plasterboard, which gave way immediately.
Madam Carina Monton Isip fell 30m or seven floors and died after suffering multiple fractures to her skull, spine, pelvis and limbs.
The coroner’s inquiry into her death opened on Tuesday (Apr 25), with investigating officers from the police and the Manpower Ministry taking the stand.
The court heard that Mdm Isip had a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and had worked in the construction industry for 27 years, including 16 in Singapore.
On the day of the incident on Apr 8 last year, she was at the CapitaSpring building in the central business district, working for contractor Dragages Singapore.
Dragages had engaged a contractor to set up a gondola system to clean the interior facade wall of the building.
As part of the setup, workers on the 16M floor removed the grating cover of the catwalk to review a false ceiling access panel underneath.
It was discovered that the false ceiling around the gondola track was obstructing the installation, so part of the false ceiling panels had to be cut before further work could be done.
Mdm Isip wanted to have a look at the area involved, so she asked another worker to show her the spot.
When they arrived at Level 16M, Mdm Isip walked ahead of the worker on the catwalk. She walked past the opening to the false ceiling, as she was unaware where the relevant portion was located.
The worker called out to Mdm Isip and pointed out the opening to her, and Mdm Isip turned around and walked back.
While the worker was showing Mdm Isip the area that needed to be cut, she bent forward slightly to take a closer look, before stepping forward.
Mdm Isip, who weighed 52kg, stepped through the opening on the catwalk, and onto the false ceiling that was made of gypsum board. The panel gave way and she fell through, landing seven floors below on the ninth floor.
She was declared dead by paramedics at the scene. She was the 11th workplace fatality in 2022.
According to the MOM investigating officer, the occupier of the building, Ascott International Management, had limited the maintenance team’s access to Level 16M.
Only contractors who had prior approval and registration could enter the area with an access card and key. Dragages and the gondola operator had been granted this access.
It was found that the catwalk had an adequate guardrail, and was considered “safe” as there were proper fall prevention measures. There were also signs to indicate a fall hazard along the catwalk.
Dragages also conducted risk assessments and daily briefings, and the only personal protective equipment required was covered shoes, as the catwalk was deemed safe access.
Mdm Isip herself was trained to work at height, so she was “well aware” of the risks, said the investigating officer.
He said it was likely that it “slipped her mind” that the surface was a false ceiling. He added that it was unlikely that work fatigue had contributed to the incident as Mdm Isip had not performed any overtime work in the week before her death.
A further hearing was fixed for May, and findings will be delivered subsequently.
TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE COLLECTIVESingapore is set to hang a man for trafficking cannabis, in the city-state’s latest controversial execution.
Activists say Tangaraju Suppiah was convicted on weak evidence. Authorities say he received due process, and have scheduled his execution for Wednesday.
It follows a high-profile execution last year of a mentally disabled man over a drugs charge.
Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, which it says are necessary to protect society.
In recent days his family members and activists delivered letters to Singapore’s president Halimah Yacob in a last-minute plea for clemency, while British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has called for a halt of the execution and a review of the case.
“I know that my brother has not done anything wrong. I urge the court to look at his case from the beginning,” Tangaraju’s sister, Leela Suppiah, told reporters at a news conference.
Tangaraju, 46, was convicted of “abetting by engaging in a conspiracy to traffic” over a delivery of 1kg (35oz) of cannabis from Malaysia to Singapore in 2013.
Though he was not caught during the delivery, prosecutors said he was responsible for coordinating it, and traced two phone numbers used by a deliveryman back to Tangaraju.
Tangaraju claimed he was not the person communicating with others connected to the case. He said he had lost one of the phones and denied owning the second one.
Singapore law mandates the death penalty for drug trafficking and has lesser penalties for couriers. In Tangaraju’s last appeal, the judge agreed with the prosecution that Tangaraju was responsible for coordinating the delivery, which made him ineligible for a more lenient sentence.
Activists have also raised concerns that Tangaraju was not given adequate access to an interpreter and had to argue his last appeal on his own since his family was unable to secure a lawyer.
Singapore authorities say Tangaraju requested for an interpreter only during the trial, and not earlier. They added that he had access to legal counsel throughout the process.
Sir Richard, who previously criticised the 2022 execution of mentally disabled Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, said Tangaraju’s case was “shocking on multiple levels”.
In a blog post, he said Singapore “may be about to kill an innocent man” on the back of “more than dubious circumstances”.
“The death penalty is already a dark stain on the country’s reputation. An execution following such an unsafe conviction would only make things worse,” he said.
Rebutting his allegations, Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry said his claims were untrue and accused him of “disrespect for Singapore’s judges and our criminal justice system”.
It said the death penalty was “an essential component” in a multi-pronged approach that has been “effective in keeping Singapore safe and secure”.
Kirsten Han, a spokesperson for Singaporean anti-death penalty advocacy group the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), said the government did not want to appear to buckle under pressure.
But, she added, “of all the things that Singapore punches above its weight for on the international stage and at the UN, defending its right to murder people in the name of its citizens is not something we should be proud of for being outstanding on the international stage”.
Singapore’s strict rules stand in contrast to some of its neighbours’ recent moves. Thailand has legalised the trade of cannabis while Malaysia has ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Tangaraju’s family members said they were able to meet him from behind a glass partition at Changi Prison after his notice of execution was released last week.
“He puts up a brave front for my mother because he does not want her to break down,” his niece Subhashini Ilango said. “He has mentally prepared for this day to come. He does feel there’s a great injustice and he’ll be executed for something he did not do.”
His family said they would continue to press for reforms in Singapore’s legal system even if Tangaraju ends up executed.
“If such an injustice happens to my brother, I wouldn’t want it to happen to anybody else so I will continue to fight,” said his sister Leela.
US President Joe Biden has rejected Republican plans to prevent American pension-fund managers from basing investment decisions on factors such as climate change, in the first veto of his presidency.
“I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.
The bill cleared the US Congress, when the Senate voted 50-46 to adopt a measure to overturn a Labor Department rule making it easier for fund managers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors for investments and shareholder rights decisions.
Meanwhile, financial firms in the UK and the European Union have “remained under significant pressure” to comply with ESG rules over the past six months, KPMG’s Regulatory Barometer recently revealed.
While there remain difficulties in the US in establishing ESG regulations versus the progress made in Europe, the two global regions are both heading toward greater standardization.
The regulatory push in the area of ESG is being driven by soaring demand by institutional and retail investors.
ESG investments have become increasingly popular in the past decade as investors look for ways to generate decent returns while supporting companies that prioritize sustainable practices and social responsibility.
However, Asia, on almost all counts, lags behind the rest of the world in terms of demand for ESG investing.
In order to catch up, there’s a pressing need to stoke demand with greater, wider awareness about ESG investments and their importance in creating a sustainable future.
Governments and companies need to work together, in a “joined-up” thinking approach, to promote the benefits of ESG investments and to educate the public about their positive impact.
The key messaging that they must include is that ESG can provide significant opportunities for investors, companies, and for society by encouraging investing in long-term performance, reducing risk, driving positive change, increasing transparency, improving brand reputation, and attracting younger investors.
Governments across the region will also need to step up and develop regulations and standards that encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices.
These should focus around reporting requirements and incentives for firms that prioritize ESG factors.
Ideally, there should be a region-wide framework to provide the confidence and clarity that investors require. The lack of standardized ESG metrics and reporting frameworks across Asia makes it harder for investors to compare and assess the performance of different companies and funds in different jurisdictions.
Providers in Asia also need to increase the availability of investment opportunities that prioritize ESG factors. The limited range of ESG products available in some parts of Asia makes it difficult for investors to find suitable options.
Although North America and Europe are streets ahead of Asia in terms of ESG investing, more still needs to be done on a global scale to promote the profits-with-purpose concept.
It’s clear that governments alone cannot combat the worst effects of human-triggered climate change.
Governments are best positioned to develop, implement and manage policy, incentives, standards, metrics and regulations. And yes, they must also provide top-level funding.
But because of the tens of trillions likely to be needed for disaster prevention and mitigation, there will remain a major funding gap if we rely solely on the public sector.
This is especially true as governments are still battling with the unprecedented financial fallout of the Covid pandemic, for which no country was prepared and which upended economies globally.
Therefore, it is essential to enable, unlock and mobilize private capital as a matter of urgency.
To do this, we need global cooperation among financial advisories, insurance firms, banks, wealth and asset managers, investment companies, fintech groups, banks and auditors, among others, to help unlock and mobilize the trillions of dollars of private finance that is urgently required. Without this, the level of funds required will simply not be there.
Climate change remains the most serious risk multiplier to our planet, to our communities, and to our way of life.
Failing to understand the magnitude of it now is going to have catastrophic, irreversible consequences later. Urgent private finance inflows are essential.
Asia is home to some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges, including climate change, air pollution, and inequality. By increasing demand for ESG investments, Asia can encourage companies to adopt more sustainable and socially responsible business practices, and help address these global challenges.
Nigel Green is founder and CEO of deVere Group. Follow him on Twitter @nigeljgreen.
“We do feel a need to take care of their health, because once a worker is down with illness or the worker is on medication or on (medical leave), then definitely it will affect the workers strength and it will affect our pace,” said LBD Engineering chief strategy officer Lim Boon Huat.
“So we do take note of the situation, to try our best to mitigate the heat.”
The remainder of April is expected to be warm, and temperatures may hit 34 degrees Celsius in the afternoon on most days.
On some days when there is less cloud cover, the daily maximum temperature could reach a high of around 35 degrees Celsius, said the Met Service.
Meanwhile, one rooftop farm in Tampines is using up to 7,000 litres more water in a bid to prevent the soil from drying up too quickly.
Scattered summer storms, gusty winds and some hail are forecast for Bangkok and provinces in the North, Northeast, East and Central Plains on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A moderate high pressure system will cover northeastern Thailand and the South China Sea over the two days, the weather office said.
Hot to very hot weather will affect the upper regions, with strong southerly and southeasterly winds bringing humidity from the Gulf and the South China Sea, the Meteorological Department said.
With these conditions, scattered summer storms could bring strong winds, isolated hail and lightning strikes to many provinces in the North, Northeast, East and Central Plains, including Bangkok and its vicinity, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On April 25, forecast affected areas are 11 provinces in the North (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Phitsanulok and Phetchabun); 15 provinces in the Northeast (Loei, Nong Khai, Bueng Kan, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Mukdahan, Yasothon, Amnat Charoen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani); 6 provinces in the Central Plains (Nakhon Sawan, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Uthai Thani, Lop Buri and Saraburi); and all eight eastern provinces.
On April 26, forecast affected areas are 15 provinces in the North (Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Phayao, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Tak, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit, Phitsanulok and Phetchabun); 15 provinces in the Northeast (Loei, Nong Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu, Udon Thani, Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Mukdahan, Maha Sarakham, Roi Et, Yasothon, Amnat Charoen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani); 14 provinces in the Central Plains (Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri, Lop Buri, Saraburi, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Samut Songkhram, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom); Bangkok and its vicinity; and all eight provinces in the East. (continues below)
House owner Wanit Boonta, 50, left, shows damage to her house at Ban Ton village Moo 8 in Phra Yuen district, Khon Kaen. About 250 houses in the district were damaged during storms and gusty winds on Sunday. (Photo: Chakrapan Natanri)
The weather agency advised people to avoid risky outdoor places during severe weather – such as big trees, unsecured structures and billboards – and not to wear metal and avoid using mobile phones during storms.
Farmers were advised to try and protect their crops from storm damage.
The department said the easterly and the southerly winds prevail across the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea with isolated thundershowers in the west coast of the South. Waves in the Gulf are forecast to be about one metre high and more than 2 metres high during thundershowers. All shipping should proceed with caution.
In Nakhon Phanom, more than 700 houses were damaged when storms hit parts of five districts in this northeastern provinces on Saturday and Sunday.
The affected districts were Renu Nakhjon, Pla Pak, Renu Nakhon, Muang and That Phanom district. The worst hit district was That Phanom, where more than 300 houses were damaged.
In Khon Kaen, fierce storms hit many areas in Phra Yuen district on Sunday, damaging more than 250 houses in the district. Some big trees were uprooted and a large billboard fell down.
This large billboard fell during a storm in Phra Yuen district, Khon Kaen on Sunday. (Photo: Chakrapan Natanri)
Chinese tech giant Huawei has announced the introduction of its own Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, ending its dependence on America’s Oracle and making another move away from vulnerability to US sanctions.
On April 20, Huawei announced that it had “replaced the legacy ERP system” with its own MetaERP system “over which it has full control.” The legacy system was provided by US software company Oracle.
Oracle defines ERP as “a type of software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations.”
It says: “A complete ERP suite also includes enterprise performance management, software that helps plan, budget, predict, and report on an organization’s financial results.”
Huawei refers to ERP as “the most critical enterprise management IT system.” It was therefore critical when Oracle was forced to stop providing software upgrades and technical services to Huawei after the Bureau of Industry and Security of the US Department of Commerce added Huawei to its Entity List in May 2019.
Tao Jingwen, president of Huawei’s Quality, Business Process & IT Management Department, said “We were cut off from our old ERP system and other core operation and management systems more than three years ago. Since then, we have not only been able to build our own MetaERP, but also manage the switch and prove its capabilities. Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through the blockade. We have survived!”
Huawei’s announcement included this statement: “Today, Huawei hosted the MetaERP Award Ceremony to recognize the individuals and teams who made critical contributions to this project. The event titled ‘Heroes Fighting to Cross the Dadu River’ was held at the company’s Xi Liu Bei Po Village Campus in Dongguan, China.”
In addition to thousands of its own employees, Chinese partner companies including Qi An Xin Technology, Kingdee International Software and Kingsoft contributed to the project.
Qi An Jin is one of China’s largest cybersecurity companies. Kingdee is one of China’s larger providers of ERP software. Kingsoft provides office, security and other software, and cloud computing services.
In 1935, the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party defeated Nationalist forces in the Battle of Luding Bridge, crossing the Dadu River in western Sichuan on the Long March.
In the words of Tao Jingwen, “Not having access to ERP became Huawei’s ‘Dadu River’ that blocked our way forward and threatened our very existence.”
According to Huawei: “The old ERP system was the core system underpinning Huawei’s enterprise operations and rapid development for more than 20 years. It supported Huawei’s efficient business operations, which generate hundreds of billions of dollars every year, across more than 170 countries and regions worldwide.”
In 2016, Huawei and Oracle agreed to deepen their collaboration using Huawei’s KunLun Mission Critical Server and Oracle’s database platform technologies.
In 2017, they announced a “Power IoT Ecosystem Partnership” in advanced metering infrastructure and smart grid software. After that, however, the relationship unraveled.
In 2019, Oracle laid off around 900 of the 1,600 workers at its R&D Center in China, most of them researchers and Huawei soon thereafter announced its own database management software called GaussDB.
Then, with the onset of US government sanctions, Huawei “decided to develop a completely self-controlled MetaERP system to replace the old ERP system.”
“MetaERP,” according to Huawei, “currently handles 100% of Huawei’s business scenarios and 80% of its business volume. MetaERP has already passed the tests of monthly, quarterly, and yearly settlements, while ensuring zero faults, zero delays, and zero accounting adjustments.”
ERP in China
China’s commercial ERP market should grow by about 15% this year to $2.2 billion, in the estimation of Chinese market research and consulting firm Tenba Group.
The global ERP market, according to Tenba Group, is forecast to grow by 11% to $55 billion, with China accounting for only 4% of the total. Given the size and sophistication of the Chinese economy, China should continue to outgrow the global market for many years.
Two companies, SAP and Oracle, have more than half of the ERP business at large Chinese companies, according to Tenba, while the top seven suppliers have almost 90%. These companies are:
Most Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use domestic ERP providers, but SAP has about 15% and Oracle 6% of the market.
The manufacturing and communications industries are the largest users of ERP in China, followed by construction, utilities and transportation.
SAP has been in China for 30 years. It now has more than 6,500 employees, 100 official partners, 20,000 certified consultants and about 16,000 customers in the country.
In March, the president of SAP Greater China told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that “Chinese companies are going fully digital, connected and environment-friendly, which opens a window of opportunity for SAP in China.”
“As a multinational company founded in Germany, SAP’s business development in China has benefited from China’s deepening reform and opening up and rapid economic development,” he said. Indeed, the market share numbers bear this out.
Huawei now has its own ERP software and SAP is the largest provider of ERP software in China, with Oracle running a distant second. That makes two own goals for the US government – a result perhaps only to be expected when government trade strategy prioritizes vindictiveness over profit motive.
Follow this writer on Twitter: @ScottFo83517667
