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☆ Hong Kong Lifts Citywide Mask Mandate After Almost Three Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Masks will no longer be required whether indoors, outdoors or on public transport in Hong Kong. HONG KONG—After almost three years, Hong Kong said it will scrap its mask mandate starting March 1, removing one of the longest-running pandemic restrictions worldwide as the city tries to rebuild its image as an international financial center. The city’s Chief Executive John Lee announced the move Tuesday, lifting a ban that had been criticized by some health experts for requiring people to wear masks in public places at all times, except during exercise and in country parks, even as most other Covid-19 restrictions had been gradually dismantled in recent months.

☆ Ford Motor Turns to Industry Outsider to Reverse China Slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People looked at a Ford Mustang Mach-E at an auto show in Shanghai in 2021. HONG KONG— Ford Motor Co. promoted Sam Wu to head its China business as the American auto maker struggles to reverse its dwindling market share in the world’s biggest car market. Mr. Wu, who joined Ford China as managing director from Whirlpool Corp. in October, takes over as president and chief executive on March 1, the Michigan-based auto maker said in a statement Thursday. In his new role, Mr. Wu will report to Ford CEO Jim Farley and replaces Anning Chen, who is due to retire in October.

☆ Hong Kong Opposition in Court as Landmark National-Security Trial Opens
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Sixteen pro-democracy figures went on trial Monday in a landmark case in Hong Kong’s crackdown on political dissent, drawing global scrutiny as the city’s government launches a marketing blitz to restore the financial hub’s allure to global business and tourists. The arrests of the 16 in January 2021, part of a larger roundup that snared dozens of the city’s most prominent politicians and activists and effectively snuffed out legislative opposition in the city, drew condemnation and sanctions from Washington and its allies. Most of the 47 people charged in the case have been held in prison for more than two years.

☆ Hong Kong Opposition on Trial in Landmark National-Security Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Sixteen of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy figures went on trial Monday in a landmark case that saw the city’s opposition effectively snuffed out in the government’s biggest crackdown on political dissent. The arrests of the 16 in January 2021, part of a larger roundup in which dozens of the city’s most prominent politicians and activists have been detained for more than two years, drew condemnation and sanctions from Washington and its allies. Monday’s trial comes as the city’s government launches a marketing blitz to attract international businesses and tourists by placing advertisements in American news outlets and by giving out half a million free plane tickets.

☆ Hong Kong Police Arrest Six for Sedition in Fresh Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mong Kok is a bustling shopping district that is especially busy during the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday. .HONG KONG—Authorities here arrested six people for sedition in a raid on a market selling pro-democracy books, trinkets and souvenirs, signaling there will be no letup in the crackdown on dissent in the city. The raid, the biggest since April, came just days after the city’s national security chief was named by Beijing as its top representative in the semiautonomous city. It also followed a warning by Hong Kong leader John Lee that foreign forces were still at work in the city, which was roiled by antigovernment protests in 2019 and early 2020.

☆ China Promotes National-Security Chief to Top Hong Kong Post
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China named Zheng Yanxiong as the new director of its liaison office in Hong Kong. HONG KONG—China signaled its intention to maintain a tough line on Hong Kong by promoting a law enforcer sanctioned by the U.S. for spearheading a national-security crackdown to its top representative post in the city. Beijing named Zheng Yanxiong, who ran Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong since mid-2020, as the director of its liaison office in the city. The liaison office represents the central government in Hong Kong and executes decisions from Beijing.

☆ China’s EV Sales Broke Record in 2022 as Overall Auto Market Stalled
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett, jumped to the top of China’s retail-sales chart in 2022. HONG KONG—Sales of new-energy vehicles almost doubled in China last year, even as overall car sales remained sluggish with auto makers weathering severe production disruptions and economic challenges under strict anti-Covid-19 curbs. China sold 5.67 million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in 2022, the China Passenger Car Association said Tuesday, as state subsidies and high oil prices led buyers to switch from gas-guzzling models.

☆ Tesla Slashes Prices in China After Deliveries Slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG— Tesla Inc. made the steepest price cuts so far on its Model 3 and Model Y cars sold in China, after deliveries of its Shanghai-made cars plunged in December to cap a challenging year globally for the electric-vehicle maker. Prices for Tesla’s two most popular electric car models—made at its Shanghai gigafactory—will be reduced by between roughly 6% and 13%, the U.S. car maker said on Chinese social media Friday. Including the latest discounts, Model Y prices now start at the equivalent of around $37,000. The Model 3 starts at roughly $32,700, more than 30% cheaper than the price of a standard Model 3 selling on Tesla’s U.S. website.

☆ Tesla’s China Deliveries Fell Sharply in December Despite Discounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hong Kong— Tesla Inc. delivered far fewer China-made electric vehicles in December than in November and the company has extended discounts for another two months during a period of weakening demand. Tesla delivered almost 55,800 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles from its Shanghai gigafactory during the last month of 2022—a figure that includes exports—according to data released Thursday by the China Passenger Car Association.

☆ China Lets Hong Kong Leader Override Courts Over Jimmy Lai Lawyer
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jimmy Lai, in a file photo from February 2021, was a fierce critic of Beijing and its rule in Hong Kong. HONG KONG—China’s top legislative body said Hong Kong’s leader has the power to override the courts to determine whether overseas lawyers can participate in national security cases, a ruling that will likely prevent dissident publisher Jimmy Lai from hiring a U.K. barrister in his coming trial. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee sought Beijing’s intervention last month after the city’s top court overruled the government and said Mr. Lai could hire U.K. lawyer Timothy Owen to represent him in the national security trial.

☆ China Stops Issuing Daily Covid Data Ahead of Outbreak’s Peak
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China’s central health authority has stopped publishing daily Covid-19 data, ending a three-year effort that has drawn mounting criticism for massively underreporting the surge in infections now sweeping the country. In a one-line announcement Sunday, China’s National Health Commission said it would no longer issue its daily report on Covid infections and deaths. Relevant Covid information will instead be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research, it said, without giving any further information.

☆ China’s Workers Are Calling In Sick With Covid After Beijing’s U-Turn
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Selina Cheng | Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China’s factories are confronting a new reality after the nation’s sharp U-turn from its zero-Covid policy: Their workers are often out sick or working alongside colleagues who have come down with the virus. Beijing began lifting many of its harshest Covid-19 restrictions earlier this month, including strict quarantines and mandatory testing requirements that have angered large parts of its population and disrupted the economy.

☆ China’s Covid-19 Reversal Sparks Rush for Medicines, Jabs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—People in China are rushing to buy medicines and rapid test kits as well as get vaccinated after Beijing scrapped most virus testing and scaled back other key elements of its pandemic controls despite acknowledging hospitals are poorly resourced and the elderly are under-vaccinated. Protests that erupted across China in late November and further evidence of the zero-Covid strategy’s toll on growth and livelihoods have shifted the focus of China’s leaders to reviving the economy, even at the risk of unleashing a deadly wave of infections during the winter months. The speed of the policy changes surprised experts who had predicted a more drawn-out process to allow time for the government to explain the move and take measures to lessen threats to public health.

☆ Tesla Sales of Chinese-Made Cars Hit Record, as Nation’s Auto Market Shrinks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG— Tesla Inc.’s Shanghai factory had a record month of sales despite China’s auto market shrinking in the grip of a slowing economy and consumer demand under harsh Covid curbs, constraints that Beijing has just moved to start easing. The American EV giant sold more than 100,000 China-made electric vehicles in November even as passenger car retail sales shrunk by more than 9% on the year amid poor market conditions, according to China Passenger Car Association data released on Thursday. More than 60,000 of those were sold domestically, representing more than one-tenth of China’s EV market share. The rest were exported.

☆ China Scraps Most Testing, Quarantine Requirements in Covid-19 Policy Pivot
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China took another step away from its stringent Covid-19 controls Wednesday, easing quarantine and testing requirements and curtailing the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks and raise barriers to domestic travel. The announcement from the State Council adds further evidence of a faster-than-expected pivot by Beijing away from controls that have grown increasingly unpopular and costly—and which failed to prevent the country’s worst and most widespread Covid outbreak in November. The policy shift follows mass demonstrations last month against the pandemic rules that were the biggest that China had seen in decades.

☆ China Scraps Most Covid Testing, Quarantine Requirements in Policy Pivot
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China dropped many of its quarantine and testing requirements and curtailed the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks, as the government accelerates plans to dismantle zero-Covid controls in the wake of nationwide protests. The speed of Beijing’s retreat from its pandemic regime suggests the country’s leaders are now more concerned about the damage those controls have caused to China’s economy than the risk of worsening Covid infections that surged to a record high in November. Trade data released before the Covid easing measures were announced on Wednesday showed Chinese exports fell at the steepest pace in more than two years in November, adding to weakening factory activity and a sluggish recovery in the property sector.

☆ Beijing Seeks Positive Spin on Covid Easing as Risks Rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China’s scaling back of lockdowns and mass virus-testing is a response to weeks of nationwide protests against unpopular Covid-19 controls, a Communist Party mouthpiece acknowledged, in a rare sign that Beijing is responding to protesters’ demands and beginning to lay the groundwork for reopening the economy. As pandemic controls were partially lifted in many big cities despite the Omicron-fueled outbreak sweeping the country, new locally transmitted infections fell—likely due in part to reduced mass testing, leading to fewer cases being detected. New daily infections dropped below 30,000 on Sunday, down from a daily tally of more than 38,000 at the end of November. Cases in some of the hardest hit regions have fallen by half or more from their highs, official data show.

☆ Volkswagen, Honda Halt Production at China Plants Due to Covid-19 Curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Auto makers in China including Volkswagen AG and Honda Motor Co. have halted production at some plants as authorities persist in using strict measures to control Covid-19 outbreaks. Volkswagen has suspended production at its Chengdu plant in southwestern China as well as two of five production lines at its plant in the northeastern city of Changchun since early last week, as a result of car-parts shortages and local health-protection measures, a spokesman said.

☆ Twitter Becomes Stage for China Protests Despite Ban by Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Newley Purnell | Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Twitter is banned in China, but it is proving a critical platform for getting videos and images of protests occurring across the nation out to the rest of the world. China’s robust internet censors have sprung into action to scrub domestic social media of photos and video streams showing demonstrations against harsh Covid restrictions, spurring citizens to circumvent the nation’s Great Firewall.

☆ Hong Kong to Seek Beijing’s Intervention After Top Court Rules in Favor of Jimmy Lai
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jimmy Lai, seen nearly two years ago, was a key figure in the protests against China’s tightening of its authority over Hong Kong. HONG KONG—Chief executive John Lee said he would seek Beijing’s intervention after Hong Kong’s top court ruled against the government in a national security case involving pro-democracy newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai . The Court of Final Appeal on Monday rejected a government bid to stop a senior lawyer from the U.K. representing Mr. Lai at his coming trial on collusion charges, backing decisions by lower courts.

☆ Tesla to Recall About 80,000 Cars in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Yifan Wang | Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tesla Inc. is recalling about 80,000 cars in China because of software and seat-belt issues, the country’s market regulator said Friday. The State Administration for Market Regulation said Tesla, the second largest electric-car maker in China by sales, has filed its recall plan.

☆ Apple iPhone Factory in China Offers $1,400 Payments to Quell Worker Unrest
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Selina Cheng | Yang Jie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG— Apple Inc. said it was working to resolve worker complaints at the world’s biggest iPhone factory in China, after police were filmed beating protesting employees at the plant this week and employees began an exodus Thursday. Labor groups have criticized Apple for failing to adequately protect the rights of workers at the vast Zhengzhou site, operated by Foxconn Technology Group and where most of the world’s iPhone 14 models are made. Workers clashed with police Tuesday, angry over delayed bonus payments and conditions at the plant, which has been battling an outbreak of Covid-19 for more than a month.

☆ Apple to Address Worker Complaints After Unrest at China iPhone Factory
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Selina Cheng | Yang Jie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ iPhone Factory Workers Clash With Police at Covid-Hit Plant in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Foxconn has been offering bonuses to workers recruited in November to fill vacancies. HONG KONG—Workers at the world’s biggest iPhone assembly plant in China clashed with scores of police officers after protests erupted at the factory, which has been under Covid-19 lockdowns in recent weeks. Videos circulating among workers’ online chat groups on Tuesday showed chaotic scenes at the factory in Zhengzhou where Foxconn Technology Group assembles most of the world’s latest iPhone models. Police officers in Covid-protective suits holding long shields and wielding batons faced off with workers who threw plastic water bottles and pieces of metal from dismantled barriers, the videos showed.

☆ The EV Rivals Aiming for Tesla’s Crown in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Selina Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tesla struck a deal in 2018 to build a factory in Shanghai, with a government official calling the U.S. auto maker a “catfish” that would stir life into China’s stagnant pond of domestic electric-vehicle makers. The plan succeeded. Tesla has sold more than a million cars in China and helped propel China to become the world’s largest EV market—about 66% of worldwide EV sales are in China. Now, some of those domestic laggards are emerging as strong rivals to Tesla. Its share of China’s all-electric retail car market dropped from 13% in 2021 to 8% in the first nine months of this year, according to data from the country’s car association.

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