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☆ EV maker Nio to build 1,000 battery-swap stations in China in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup Nio Inc (9866.HK) plans to build 1,000 battery-swapping stations in China in 2023 to bring the total number of such facilities to 2,300 by year-end, its Founder and Chairman William Li said on Tuesday. The move marks an expansion of its plan in December of adding 400 such stations this year. Li found more of them are needed to improve user experience after his trips to northeastern China and lower-tier cities in Zhejiang, he added. Battery swapping allows drivers to replace depleted packs quickly with fully charged ones, rather than plugging the vehicle into a charging point. Nio is among the few EV makers that are betting on battery swapping as one of the major power solutions for electric cars.

The trade also provides a way to get Russian oil to market and bring much-needed export earnings to Moscow. "We've been looking at Russian fuel oil since December. China's total fuel oil imports surged to about 1.76 million tonnes in December, highest since September 2021, official customs data showed. Fuel oil imports from blending hubs trend higher"The deep discounts offered are driving the trend as independent refiners are price sensitive. Asia will continue to soak up cheaper Russian (fuel oil) barrels on top of crude," Jamil said.

☆ In rural eastern China, not testing for COVID becomes the norm
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Brenda Goh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Breathing problems, body aches and lethargy had prompted her to visit a hospital in her home village in Tonglu county in eastern China's Zhejiang province' for treatment. It was a common reaction among patients in Tonglu, illustrating how COVID-19 is spreading across China without recognition, especially in its vast rural regions. Several residents around Tonglu county told Reuters they had COVID symptoms or believed they had been infected previously, but that testing was not that common, especially for those living in the villages. Medical facilities visited this week by Reuters in Tonglu county, in one of China's most prosperous regions and known for farming, were relatively calm. In Tonglu county, residents described how crowded the local crematorium was, echoing what funeral home staff in other cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have told Reuters.

☆ China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-Covid policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Travelers began streaming into mainland China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the abrupt policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions. China on Sunday also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents, and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day. I’m thrilled, I can’t believe it’s happening,” said a business woman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong.

☆ Chinese state media seek to reassure public over COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WUHAN, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese took to the streets to mark the New Year as authorities and state media sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 outbreak sweeping across the country was under control and nearing its peak. China reported one new COVID-19 death in the mainland for Dec. 31, the same as a day earlier, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday. State media in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China said on Sunday that daily cases peaked at around 60,000 recently, and now stand at around 19,000. On Sunday, Australia and Canada joined the United States and others in requiring travellers from China to provide negative COVID-19 tests when they arrive. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen offered on Sunday to provide China with "necessary assistance" to help it deal with the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Nanjing, a historic city in eastern China, vowed to ensure daily supplies of fever medicines. The rapid spread of the virus across China has left many pharmacies sold out of medication to treat COVID-19. A major Chinese pharmaceutical company said this week that it expects the shortage of fever medicines to ease soon as manufacturers ramp up production. The Haikou-based drug manufacturer said there was a “short-term” shortage of its fever and cold medicines mostly due to hoarding. Tech giant Tencent announced this week that it had rolled out a program via its social messaging app Wechat allowing people to share surplus fever medicines.

“I haven’t seen sunlight in what seems like a long time,” Li told CNN, a week after the protests broke out. In recent years, Beijing has extended its crackdown on dissent to the foreign platform, detaining and jailing Chinese Twitter users who criticized the government. TwitterLi received thousands of submissions a day – and up to dozens per second at the height of the protests. Journalists, observers and activists monitored his feed closely, and some of his posts were aired on televisions across the world. And then they went to our house at midnight to harass my parents,” Li said.

In sparse comments on workplace conditions, however, national health officials have urged that high-risk areas should be much more narrowly defined, while production or business operations continue elsewhere. As he stockpiles medicines against such an eventuality, he has told staff to follow new guidelines to stay home if they got infected, in which case he plans to pay them half their wages. To avoid disruption from any infections, Yang initially considered shutting the factory early ahead of the Lunar New Year, but ultimately set aside that option. In Beijing, some state firms and banks are grouping staff into teams to ensure work continues despite any outbreak, sources told Reuters. "I am confident it will be a mess for about 3 months," saidthe firm's executive vice president, Renaud Anjoran.

☆ China's 'social credit' system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katie Canales | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Since China doesn't have a central social credit system, many local government agencies have been experimenting with what the system could look like. But the plan is for the social credit system to eventually be mandatory and unified across the nation, with each person given their own unique code used to measure their social credit score in real-time, per Wired. In fact, a national social credit system is currently being proposed. Companies will also be at risk if China passes on its Establishment of the Social Credit System law. Citizens with good social credit can also get discounts on energy bills, rent things without deposits, and get better interest rates at banks.

☆ Anti-government protests spread to Shanghai and Beijing as anger grows over China's strict zero-COVID policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shanghai is gripped by anti-COVID-19 protests, which are also happening in Xinjiang, Beijing, and Nanjing. Earlier this week, China reported a record number of COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, Shanghai, China's most populous city and its financial hub, became the latest flashpoint for the anger of of Chinese people. Per the BBC, protests are also happening in Urumqi city, Beijing, and Nanjing, in eastern China, all cities with rising COVID-19 cases and increasing levels of restrictions. Earlier this week, China reported a record number of COVID-19 cases across the country, with 31,444 new COVID cases in the country on Thursday.

☆ Warren Buffett-Backed Electric-Car Giant BYD Halts Spinoff of Chip Unit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese electric-car company BYD Co. said it was pausing the planned spinoff of its chip subsidiary, opting to focus on boosting the unit’s automotive-semiconductor output to meet rising demand for electric vehicles. Warren Buffett -backed BYD said in a filing Tuesday that it was shelving the spinoff of BYD Semiconductor and the company’s listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange until an unspecified date. It said it instead plans to accelerate investments in expanding its chip-making capacity, building on a recent investment in a chip factory in Jinan, in eastern China.

☆ Buffett-Backed Electric-Car Giant BYD Halts Spinoff of Chip Unit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese electric-car giant BYD Co. said it is pausing the planned spinoff of its chip subsidiary, opting to focus on boosting the unit’s automotive-semiconductor output to meet rising demand for electric vehicles. Warren Buffett -backed BYD said in a filing on Tuesday that it is shelving the spinoff of BYD Semiconductor and the company’s listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange until an unspecified date. It said it instead plans to accelerate investments in expanding its chip-making capacity, building on a recent investment in a chip factory in Jinan, in eastern China.

☆ Residents clash with Chinese authorities over Covid rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING — Police in northeastern China said that seven people have been arrested following a clash between residents and authorities enforcing Covid-19 quarantine restrictions. The violence comes as China reports new cases nationwide, with 2,230 cases reported Tuesday in the southern manufacturing and technology hub of Guangzhou. While the numbers remain relatively low, China has relentlessly pursued its strict “zero-Covid” policy of quarantines, lockdowns and daily or near-daily compulsory testing. News of the arrests appeared on social media Tuesday morning, but was erased by the country’s censors before noon. Those include the former party leader of Shanghai, where a draconian two-month lockdown earlier this year led to food shortages, confrontations with authorities and severe disruptions to global supply chains that have grown dependent on Chinese manufacturing and shipping.

☆ China's Sept crude oil imports fall, fuel exports hit 15-mth high
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Chen Aizhu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/StringerSINGAPORE, Oct 24 (Reuters) - China's crude oil imports in September were 2% below their level a year earlier, data showed on Monday, as independent refiners curbed throughput amid thin margins and lacklustre demand. The world's largest crude importer brought in 40.24 million tonnes of crude oil last month, equivalent to about 9.79 million barrels per day (bpd). While state refineries have mostly returned from outages and planned maintenance, independent refiners, which make up about one-fifth of China's crude oil imports, have continued to hold down production. However, the data showed that exports last month of refined fuel - including diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel and marine fuel oil - soared 36% from a year earlier to 5.64 million tonnes. Year-to-date exports were down 27.6% at 35.45 million tonnes, as a result of Beijing's policy adopted in late 2021 to limit fuel exports and excessive refinery processing.

☆ Anti-Xi protest spreads in China and worldwide as Chinese leader begins third term
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Obtained by CNNCNN spoke with two Chinese citizens who scribbled protest slogans in bathroom stalls and half a dozen overseas Chinese students who put up anti-Xi posters on their campuses. Chen had tried to share the Sitong Bridge protest on WeChat, China’s super app, but it kept getting censored. But as the widespread anti-Xi posters have shown, the rising nationalistic sentiment is by no means representative of all Chinese students overseas. In the day following the protest in Beijing, Jolie saw on Instagram an outpouring of photos showing protest posters from all over the world. But the extensive censorship around the Sitong Bridge protest also betrays its paranoia.

☆ A rout by the US in an air battle around Taiwan led Japan to adopt desperate tactics in World War II's final months
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Their goal was to destroy as much of Japan's air and naval strength before US troops landed on the Philippine island of Leyte. A diversionA Japanese heavy cruiser after being bombed by US Navy aircraft during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. But Japan's air and naval power were still major threats, and to ensure the Philippines could be liberated, they had to be degraded, if not eliminated. By 1944, Japanese military leaders recognized their situation and devised a plan to prepare for US invasions of Japanese-held territory. Japanese attempts to attack the carriers were fruitless, with 42 more Japanese planes shot down trying to conduct attack runs.

☆ Long picked for promotion, Xi loyalist Chen may get his chance
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( James Pomfret | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Chen, party boss of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, is regarded as a steady technocrat and has often espoused Xi's ideologies and policies in public. A native of Zhejiang province in eastern China, Chen spent close to three decades there before being promoted to deputy party secretary in Guizhou province in 2012. In 2017, Chen was parachuted into the more politically challenging position of Chongqing party chief, a clean-up task after the sudden dismissal of Sun Zhengcai in a corruption scandal. Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang, another contender for promotion, was also in the group. In Zhejiang, Chen worked as chief editor of the party's main local media organ, the Zhejiang Daily, rising to become propaganda chief for the province.

☆ As Cantonese language wanes, efforts grow to preserve it
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Or worse, the Cantonese language and culture won’t survive another generation. Ceci Pang, a former kindergarten teacher, runs classes for children at Rainbow Seeds Cantonese school in London. Some turn to social media for advice and camaraderie — a Facebook group called “Cantonese Parents” has thousands of members sharing tips on everything from Cantonese books to YouTube videos. After more than 20 years, the school opted not to renew her contract, which effectively eliminated the Cantonese language program. Aleyda Poe has been overseeing the Cantonese kindergarten at Merit Chinese School in Plano, Texas, for over a decade.

☆ 3 ways China and Russia are forging much closer economic ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Laura He | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Beijing has carefully avoided violating Western sanctions or providing direct military support to Moscow. For the first eight months of this year, total goods trade between China and Russia surged 31% to $117.2 billion. "Russia needs China more than China needs Russia," said Keith Krach, former Under Secretary of State for Economic growth, Energy and the Environment in the United States. For China, Russia now accounts for 2.8% of its total trade volume, slightly higher than the 2.5% share at the end of last year. "Russia's war in Ukraine is not in China's interest, but given Western hostility, China will not oppose Russia," she added.

☆ Explainer: Does China need more Russian gas via the Power-of-Siberia 2 pipeline?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Negotiations will be complex, however, not least because China is not expected to need additional gas supply until after 2030, industry experts said. The proposed pipeline would bring gas from the huge Yamal peninsula reserves in west Siberia - the main source of gas supply to Europe - to China, the world's top energy consumer and growing gas consumer. The idea gained impetus when the first pipes of the currently operational Power of Siberia pipeline were laid in Russia's eastern Yakutia region in 2014. DOES CHINA NEED MORE RUSSIAN GAS? Russia's Gazprom already supplies gas to China through the first Power of Siberia pipeline under a 30-year, $400 billion deal, which was launched at the end of 2019.

☆ Malaysia food: Top 40 dishes to try
▼ + stars: | 2017-11-30 | by ( Justin Calderon | Cnn Travel Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

A fish curry popular throughout peninsular Malaysia, it’s commonly made with freshwater fish or stingray. Gulai ayam kampungThis chicken curry dish can be cooked in a number of ways. Chai tow kwayIn this dish, rice flour and grated white radish is mixed and steamed into large slabs or cakes. These are cut up into little pieces and fried with preserved turnip, soy sauce, fish sauce, eggs, garlic and spring onions. A Peranakan dish, chicken curry kapitan has a tangy flavor made from tamarind juice, candlenuts, fresh turmeric root and belacan (shrimp paste.)

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