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☆ Elon Musk says his Shanghai factory makes the ‘highest quality’ Teslas
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It was the first time Musk has visited the country since January 2020, when a video of him dancing onstage at Tesla’s Shanghai factory went viral. Before leaving, Musk met Chen Jining, the Communist Party chief of Shanghai, according to a statement by the city government. Musk praised the success of Tesla’s Shanghai facility — which opened in 2019 — and said he was hoping to work more with the city in various areas, the statement said. In 2022, the company delivered 1.31 million vehicles globally, more than half of which were from Shanghai, according to its financial results. “Congratulations to Giga Shanghai & Tesla China SDS teams for their excellent work overcoming many obstacles over many years!!

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, Elon Musk, Musk, Chen Jining, Chen, Tesla, —, Variflight, ”, “, ” Musk, “ It’s, ” “, Elon, Jade Gao, Qin Gang, didn’t, Zeng Yuqun Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Communist Party, Beijing Capital International Airport, Getty, Financial Times, Twitter, Giga Shanghai, Tesla China SDS, EV, CNN Locations: Hong Kong, China, Shanghai, Shanghai’s Hongqiao, Beijing, AFP, United States, Weibo

☆ Elon Musk's whirlwind China trip included talks with vice premier
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk departed Shanghai on Thursday, wrapping up a two-day trip to China in which he met senior Chinese government officials including the highest-ranking vice premier. The video released by Tesla showed Musk praising employees for "overcoming so many difficulties and challenges" and making a heart sign with his hands. Earlier in the trip, Musk met with China's foreign, commerce and industry ministers in Beijing and dined with the chairman of battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ). He also met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said. China values its relationship with Tesla and in 2019 Musk had a one-on-one meeting with then premier Li Keqiang.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk's, Tom Zhu, Tesla, Musk, Ding Xuexiang, Ding, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Chen Jining, Chen, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Nicoco Chan, Julie Zhu, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Tesla Inc, Amperex Technology Co, State, Information Office, U.S ., Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, Shanghai, China, Beijing, U.S, Shanghai's Hongqiao, Austin , Texas, Hong Kong

☆ Elon Musk wraps up whirlwind China trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk departed Shanghai Thursday morning, wrapping up a two-day trip to China in which he met government ministers, a key battery supplier and visited the automaker's biggest production hub. Photos of Musk's visit to Tesla's Shanghai factory late Wednesday showed him holding up a "Giga Shanghai" sign, flanked by hundreds of staff including head of global manufacturing Tom Zhu. "A very rewarding day!," Grace Tao, Tesla's China-based public affairs chief, said in a social media post with the photos. Earlier in the trip, Musk met with China's foreign, commerce and industry ministers in Beijing where he also dined with the chairman of battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ). The industry ministry only said Musk and its head exchanged views about development of electric vehicles and connected cars; the commerce ministry announced he discussed Tesla's development in China with its minister.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tom Zhu, Grace Tao, Musk, Brenda Goh, Zhang Yan, Nicoco Chan, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Tesla Inc, Amperex Technology Co, U.S ., Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, Shanghai, China, Beijing, U.S, Shanghai's Hongqiao, Austin , Texas

☆ Elon Musk's private jet scheduled to leave China on Thursday -flight tracking data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk walks next to Tesla's Senior Vice President Tom Zhu and Vice President Grace Tao as he leaves a hotel in Beijing, China May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu WangSHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's private jet is scheduled to leave Shanghai on Thursday morning and head to Austin, Texas, data from flight tracking provider Variflight show. The Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday night and visited the U.S. automaker's plant in the financial hub and met with workers, according to photos posted by Tesla's China-based public affairs chief Grace Tao on her Weibo account. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk's planned departure. Reporting by Brenda Goh and Zhang Yan; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tom Zhu, Grace Tao, Wang, Elon, Tesla, Musk's, Brenda Goh, Zhang Yan, Tom Hogue Organizations: Tesla, Tesla's, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Wang SHANGHAI, Shanghai, Austin , Texas, Tesla's China

☆ Very few U.S.-China flights are back despite the end of Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Previously, the only regular direct flights by Chinese carriers between mainland China and New York since the pandemic were from Shanghai and Guangzhou. Flights of Air China are parked on the tarmac of Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, March 28, 2016. watch nowIn March, Delta announced it resumed direct flights between the U.S. and China — from Shanghai to Seattle and Detroit. Overall, mainland China's international flights remains below 40% of 2019 levels, the Nomura report said. The analysts expect that level to pick up to 70% by the end of the year as international flights recover around the summer holiday season.

Persons: Nomura, Ting Lu, Kim Kyung Hoon Organizations: China, U.S, Air, U.S . Department of Transportation, Beijing Capital International Airport, Reuters, American Airlines, Delta Locations: BEIJING, U.S, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Variflight, Middle East, Iran, Beijing, Ukraine, Air China, New York, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Los Angeles, Delta, United, Seattle, Detroit

But retailers in popular Asian destinations are desperate to take advantage of the return of a first wave of Chinese tourists as the country reopens borders after three long years of COVID-19 curbs. And robust demand for destinations like Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand has boosted prospects for the battered travel industry, Ctrip booking data shows. Still, destinations elsewhere show that the return of Chinese tourists remains at a very early stage. Fresh COVID testing requirements for Chinese tourists in some locations may be acting as a barrier, while some countries also require visas that take time to process. Retailers in South Korea are also not seeing a huge influx in Chinese tourists yet, citing the suspension of short-term visas for travellers between both countries.

[1/2] Chinese travellers wear face masks outside the border checkpoint with the neighbouring city of Zhuhai, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Macau, China, December 29, 2022. Over the three-day New Year's Day holiday, businesses and consumers caught their first glimpse of a return to post-pandemic life -- holiday-makers flocked to beaches, flight numbers ticked up, and hotels turned some guests away because they were fully booked. Flight numbers on the last working day ahead of the holiday only recovered 70% compared with pre-pandemic levels, however. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsBOON FOR RESTAURANTSMany businesses have been forced to adapt how they reach customers over the course of the pandemic. As the Lunar New Year rolls in, Chinese officials also expect a significant uptick in activity.

[1/2] A Hainan Airlines aircraft is seen at Beijing Capital International Airport, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China December 27, 2022. About 62% of tickets to and from China were sold by Chinese carriers and 38% by foreign carriers in 2019, ForwardKeys data shows, reflecting the strong outbound market dominating traffic flows. "Foreign airlines don't have that flexibility and it will be hard for them to forecast and project how fast demand returns on their China routes," he added. Many foreign carriers also retired large numbers of widebody planes during the pandemic and have struggled to add capacity even before China opened. TIMING OF REBOUNDThe Chinese travel industry had expected a border opening around March and was not prepared for the Jan. 8 date, according to a research note from Tianfeng Securities.

"It's not a question of if it will happen, it's now just a matter of how many and how fast." As the Lunar New Year holiday - typically a peak travel period for Chinese tourists - starts on Jan. 21, some businesses are already gearing up. Japan, however, is being cautious about Chinese tourism due to the rapid spread of the virus in China. Australia, Germany, Thailand and others, however, said they would not impose additional rules on Chinese travel for now, with France taking to social media platform Sina Weibo to emphasise it welcomed Chinese friends "with open arms". "I suspect any meaningful rebound will have to wait until the travel boom in June or July next year."

Airlines are drawing up plans to expand their services but ordinary Chinese and travel agencies suggest that a return to anything like normal will take some time. But an immediate surge in international travel is not widely expected. According to VariFlight data, international flights to and from China are at 8% of pre-pandemic levels. Weighing on many people's travel plans is the wave of COVID-19 infections now sweeping China, Liu said. One of the fastest bouncebacks is expected to be in international business travel.

[1/4] Women wearing face masks and face shields talk on a street, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 12, 2022. Reuters witnessed similar queues outside clinics in the central city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 first emerged three years ago. But the figures reflect the dropping of testing requirements, say analysts, while Chinese health expects have warned of an imminent surge. Yet China is pushing ahead with efforts to free up nationwide travel, even if foreign trips may still be a while off. The number of domestic flights available across China exceeded 7,400, nearly double from a week ago, flight tracker app VariFlight showed.

☆ Analysis: For China's COVID policy, change comes in small increments
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Tony Munroe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Authorities are making changes such as more precisely targeting lockdowns, rolling out new vaccines and adding international flights. Daily infections, though extremely low by international standards, are hitting six-month highs, while officials repeatedly reaffirm the zero-COVID policy that President Xi Jinping argues saves lives. Still, Huang does not expect fundamental change in China's COVID policy anytime soon. "COVID is not scary, it is preventable and treatable," the city's health authority told residents. China recently began rolling out what is believed to be the world's first inhalable COVID vaccine, which could help in reducing vaccine hesitancy that is especially widespread among older Chinese.

☆ China to make 'substantial' COVID policy changes soon - ex-govt expert
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"The situation is changing now and China's 'dynamic zero' will also undergo major changes. Substantive changes will happen soon," he said, according to the recording of the session, which was titled "China's Exit Strategy from Zero-Covid". Chinese health authorities will hold a press conference on Saturday on COVID-19 prevention, according to a notice that said officials from the the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention would attend. LOCKDOWNS AND PROTESTSZeng was part of a top team at China's National Health Commission when the virus started to spread from the central Chinese city of Wuhan to other parts of China in 2020. On Wednesday, the country's National Health Commission said the nation should unwaveringly stick to zero-COVID.

FILE PHOTO: A health worker wears a protective suit near a testing booth as outbreaks of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue in Beijing, China, Oct. 23, 2022. An index measuring road freight transport turnover tumbled 26.2% on Oct. 21 from a year prior versus a 23.7% drop a week earlier, according to Nomura. New local infections fell 24% to 6,096 during Oct. 18-24 from a week earlier. Zhengzhou’s metro traffic slumped 79% from Oct. 11 to Oct. 15, according to the latest available data. Metro traffic in Guangzhou dropped 8.8% during Oct. 18-24 from the previous week, Reuters calculations based on data released by local metro operators showed.

☆ China's diesel fuel exports more than doubled in September
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Dominique Patton | Chen Aizhu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jason LeeExports of diesel fuel last month more than doubled from a year earlier to 1.73 million tonnes, the highest monthly rate since July 2021, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. Exports of aviation fuel, including refuelling at Chinese airports for airlines plying international routes, jumped by 38.6% from a year earlier to 1.23 million tonnes last month. China had maintained broad curbs on fuel exports this year, resulting in total fuel exports in the first nine months of 2022 falling 28% from a year earlier. But in an about-turn in fuel trade policy, Beijing in late September released an additional large batch of 15 million tonnes of export quotas, including 13.25 million tonnes for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, with the remainder for marine fuel. Table below shows trade details, volumes in million tonnes.

☆ Mongolian airline's Boeing 737 MAX flight in China the first since 2019 -FlightRadar24
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING/SYDNEY, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Boeing 737 MAX flight by MIAT Mongolian Airlines that landed in Guangzhou on Monday morning was the first commercial flight by the model to China since the country grounded the plane in March 2019, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said. Chinese airlines have not returned the 737 MAX to commercial service and Boeing last month said it would begin to remarket some of the planes meant for Chinese customers. The 737 MAX has returned to commercial service in almost every market globally, with the exceptions of China and Russia, which is now sanctioned over its invasion of Ukraine. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterFlight OM235 from Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar landed in Guangzhou on Monday morning, according to FlightRadar24 and VariFlight. Boeing declined to comment on the MIAT flight, saying it continued to work with global regulators and customers on the safe return of the MAX, which was grounded after two fatal crashes.

Passengers wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak sit in a sightseeing bus during a night tour, ahead of the Chinese National Day Golden Week holiday in Beijing, China September 26, 2022. REUTERS/Florence LoBEIJING, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Travel during China's Golden Week holiday, which begins on Saturday, is set to hit its lowest in years, analysts say, as COVID-19 concerns spur calls for people to avoid travel and keep to their cities, while economic woes damp spending. If trips this holiday reached half the levels of 2019 and spending over the period reached 30% to 40% of holiday spending before the pandemic, that would amount to a "pretty good" result, he added. In the past two years, China's Golden Week travel and spending have fallen short of the levels of 2019, which racked up 782 million trips and tourism revenue of 650 billion yuan ($90 billion). Sanya "is not back", said Shirley, the manager of a luxury store in the city, where travel industry workers despair of the return of Golden Week tourists.

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