Commentary: How Huawei and Apple swung and missed for Chinese consumers

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When most other business players are showboating untested AI updates, Huawei was clever to capitalize on the moment and have out with natural hardware innovation.

And years of brutal US-led sanctions have caused nationalist Chinese buyers to resent their country’s return as the underdog story of the century. The Shenzhen-based business slyly unveiled its Mate 60 Pro smartphone, featuring a made-in-China device that the US had tried so hard to prevent, during US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s attend to the region last month.

SPLASHY SHOW MASKS HUAWEI’S Faults

However, Mate XT’s most recent showy release conceals deeper flaws. For starters, it’s priced from a jaw-dropping 19, 999 yuan ( US$ 2, 800 ) at a time when Chinese consumers are pulling back on spending.

Many news outlets are highlighting that millions of people have pre-ordered the Mate XT on Huawei’s established e-commerce site ( as of Wednesday, this tallies&nbsp, 4.8 million registering to buy the cellphone ). However, these statistics are misleading because the booking method only informs those who sign up for the device’s buy when it goes on sale later this month, on the same day as the phone 16 –&nbsp, on the same day as the phone 16.

Bloomberg Intelligence researchers, however, forecast&nbsp, shipments&nbsp, may be capped at 1 million products. According to the analysts, its great value and market appeal possible think it may have less of an impact on China’s premium smartphone market than the Mate 60 did.

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Commentary: Foreign carmakers also have a China overcapacity problem

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Foreign companies ‘ market share of Chinese car sales is tracking at a record low of 37 per cent in the first seven weeks of 2024, along from 64 per cent in 2020, according to information from Automobility, a Shanghai firm. So far this year, US companies are over more than 23 per cent while Chinese, Asian and German carmakers have likewise suffered double-digit falls, the information showed.

By contrast, selling of Chinese companies are up nearly 22 %, with Chinese firms increasingly capturing the top spot in the EV business.

WHEN CHINESE EXPORTS ARE ADDED TO WESTERN Trucks

The parties ‘ market share declines are occurring in the framework of a divided domestic automobile market in China. Sales of Vehicles, including real power Batteries and plug-in variants, are up more than 30 per cent this year while sales of fuel-powered cars are lower roughly 7 per share, the Automobility data also showed.

In response to this, foreign manufacturers, including Hyundai, Nissan, Volvo, and BMW, have started reversing their manufacturing operations in China, according to recent company announcements and media reports. More than half of the Chinese-made electric vehicles imported into Europe in the first four months of the year, according to a report from The FT in June that included Tesla, Volkswagen, and Honda.

Tu Le, the founder of Sino Auto Insights, predicts that Stellantis, the owner of the Jeep, Peugeot, and Fiat brands, will eventually all export from China. Additionally, he thinks that as foreign organizations become more financially challenged, they will likely need to increase their sourcing from Chinese suppliers to stay competitive.

Chinese companies, spearheaded by Warren Buffett-backed BYD, are rapidly expanding their global manufacturing footprints. Foreign companies will increasingly have to keep up with cheaper, and potentially more technically advanced, Chinese-branded models all over the world.

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Commentary: The real lessons South Korea should learn from an EV fire

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BACKLASH OVER Capacitors

Korean media sources cover controversies at Chinese companies with enthusiasm. The way these stories are shared and presented on social media and by them has sparked a perception that Asian products are essentially superior and unreliable, and Foreign products are by definition uncertain.

The response to a luxurious Mercedes-Benz EV that reportedly caught fire last month in an underground storage in Incheon, South Korea, injuring 23 people and injuring 40 others was a good example of how people responded. Electric vehicle owners are panicking about selling their cars, and some EV manufacturers are under pressure to release their power suppliers for the first time as a result of the incident.

It soon emerged that the Mercedes had contained nickel-manganese-cobalt ( NMC) batteries manufactured by Farasis Energy, a lesser known Chinese battery producer. Local EV owners responded by requesting information on whether their vehicles had Chinese or Korean batteries, according to reports from the Asian media. Some potential EV clients expressed disapproval toward dealers when they saw a car with Taiwanese batteries.

Despite the fact that the true reason of the Mercedes blaze in Incheon has not been determined, this is done. Major Asian cell manufacturers have their own record when it comes to EV burns, as some experts pointed out. In 2021, LG Energy Solution paid General Motors US$ 1.9 billion after a string of fires brought on by defective batteries for GM’s mass-market Chevrolet Bolt.

There is” no evidence to suggest that Asian chargers have better security performance than Chinese chargers,” according to Bernstein scientist Neil Beveridge.

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Commentary: China’s debt divide is hurting its economy

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PRESSURE ON LOCAL Administrations

Local governments almost all of the paying, but rely on the center for revenue in a way that is uncommon elsewhere in the world, is a fundamental fact about China’s macroeconomic system.

Regions bear most of the responsibility for education, health, social protection and enclosure, in addition to clear local duties such as roads, parks and rubbish variety, and spend about 85 per cent of the state overall. Only about 55 % of government revenues are directly collected by them. Payments from the center to the areas provide a balance for the program.

There are benefits to developing decisions more closely to the people in a country as big as China, but the disparity between revenue and expenditure causes a lot of issues. For instance, the lower down the tower of management, the more the program gets starved of resources, because each rank- state, province, county- tends to hold back what it needs before passing cash onwards down the chain. The execution of northern federal spending programs is haphazard.

However, local government officials, who may deliver growth to walk the administrative ranks, do whatever they can to discover money.

China’s housing bubble was largely fueled by regional institutions ‘ rely on land sales as a source of income. To avoid the profit squeeze and fund infrastructure, off-the-books borrowing by supposedly regional government financing vehicles was a strategy.

There are numerous reports of municipalities imposing fines and penalties, starting retroactive tax investigations, or just failing to pay staff on time as their books are hampered by the housing slump and the key government’s crackdown on local borrowing. None of this is beneficial for the struggling personal business.

Beijing has long aspired to resolve these structural issues, but it is unaware of them. However, when Xi Jinping initially came to power in 2012, fiscal reform was a major part of his private policy objective, parts of which he delivered. Local governments are having trouble, for instance, because fiscal control and financial administration reforms helped make it easier to paper over issues by removing them from the books.

The central government has refused to give up power, as is customary for Xi. It frequently specifies the services that local governments must provide, but it wo n’t give over the funding sources. It is anxious to assign significant new spending obligations to the main books.

It has cracked down on regional authorities debt, and still accurate to Zhou’s preferences, it is willing to allow central government debt rise otherwise. The end result has been a de facto fiscal tightening over the past few years, despite the economy’s struggles to recover following COVID-19.

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Commentary: Chinese tourists are travelling again, but mostly in their own country

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DOMESTIC TOURISM: A STIMULANT FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

China’s tourism field is important not only for the country’s business but also for the global economic environment. The market drives intake, which is essential as the globe grapples with economic slowdowns.

In recent years, the Taiwanese government has put a lot of focus on promoting regional travel to boost economic growth.

With China’s business slowing down- it grew 4.7 per share in the second quarter this year, down from the previous month’s 5.3 per share development- boosting hospitality services consumption has become a priority.

Local hospitality aids in the growth of the demand-side economy by boosting consumption as a counterweight to the pandemic’s weak demand. Urban people, facing increased societal pressures, today see commerce as an essential consumption decision.

They seek mental and physical renewal by removing the hustle and bustle of cities and by visiting beautiful beaches and stunning landscape. Middle-class households in China also have money available for home vacations despite the possibility of household income shrinking. Families holiday give parents a chance to bond with their children while also imparting knowledge to them. Parents would spend money to take their children on a” study tour” during the summer or spring when they are unable to accompany them on a trip.

However, the development of the high-speed road system and increase of online traveling apps like Ctrip, Qunar, Mafengwo, have greatly facilitated regional travel convenience. Fresh visitors in China are becoming more explorative, seeking book attractions and niche, interactive visitor experiences. The popularity of lesser-known destinations has also increased as a result of the rise of user-generated short travel videos on social media and travel live streaming.

In consequence, according to official data released on July 26, approximately 2.73 billion domestic trips were made between January and June this year, an increase of 14 % over the same period last year. Domestic travellers spent 2.73 trillion yuan ( US$ 378 billion ) on tourism activities, up 19 per cent. By the end of the year, domestic travel spending alone is projected to reach new heights, contributing 6.79 trillion yuan to the economy.

This surge highlights China’s robust recovery and growing importance for domestic tourism. According to the China Tourism Association, the travel and tourism sector is expected to make up at least 9 % of GDP this year.

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