CC™ TechSpot
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Wednesday
China's Fujian aircraft carrier, which will house fifth-generation J-35 fighters, will pose a major threat to Taiwan
CC™ Military News
By Maksim Panasovskyi
A few days ago, a photo of China's Fujian aircraft carrier appeared on Chinese social media. Taiwan's Ministry of Defence is wary of the promising ship of China's People's Liberation Army.
Here's What We Know
Taiwan's defence ministry believes the Fujian will pose a major threat to the country in the event of a military conflict. China is expected to begin testing the aircraft carrier's electromagnetic catapults soon.
The Fujian will be one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world. It will be only a few metres shorter than the USS Gerald R. Ford. The future ship will be China's first aircraft carrier with electromagnetic catapults. The People's Liberation Army now operates the Shandong and Liaoning with outdated springboards.
The deck of the Fujian aircraft carrier will carry J-35 and J-15T fighter jets. The former will be the Chinese analogue of the US F-35C Lightning II aircraft. The J-15T, on the other hand, is a deck modernisation of the fourth-generation J-15 fighter. It is expected to be the one that will participate in the electromagnetic catapult test.
The Fujian will have a displacement of 80,000 tonnes, an increase of 20,000 tonnes compared to the Shandong and Liaoning. China's third aircraft carrier will join the fleet in two years.
SOURCE: SCMP
Friday
China sneezes and Apple catches a cold as tech giant loses $200 billion in one day…..
Apple has lost around $200 billion in market capitalization over several days as tensions between the U.S. and China rise, with several media outlets reporting this week that the iPhone maker is being singled out by Beijing.
Apple shares fell 3% Thursday and are down more than 5% for the week on reports of an iPhone ban for Chinese state employees that is being dictated by Beijing.
The ban was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources saying China is ordering officials at central government agencies not to use iPhones or other foreign branded phones. The Financial Times cited six unnamed sources at government institutions and state-owned companies, including a nuclear technology company and a hospital, saying they’ve been told to stop using Apple phones. The ban widens earlier restrictions on using iPhones for work, the outlets said.
“Beijing is looking to reduce its dependence on U.S. technology, but this (ban) acts as a significant headwind to Apple as China is its largest international market and accounts for about 20% of its revenues,” said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, a U.K. investment platform.
Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.
When asked about the ban at a daily briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning didn’t comment directly, saying only that “products and services from any country are welcome to enter the Chinese market as long as they comply with Chinese laws and regulations.”
Tensions between the U.S. and China have been rising and early last month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to impose blocks and regulations on U.S. high-tech investment in China, reflecting the intensifying competition between the world’s two largest economies.
White House officials said Biden, who departed Thursday evening for New Delhi, will use the annual G20 summit as an opportunity for the U.S. to highlight a proposition for developing and middle-income countries that would increase the lending power of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund by some $200 billion.
Biden seeks to drive home that the United States and its like-minded allies are better economic and security partners than China.
The reported ban on the iPhone comes at a bad time for Apple, which is gearing up for its latest product launch next Tuesday Sept. 12, when it’s expected to unveil its latest smartphone, the iPhone 15.
A teaser of the livestream for the event, dubbed “Wonderlust,” has been posted on YouTube, revealing no details. Reports are swirling that big changes are in store for the iPhone, including a switch from Apple’s Lightning connector to the USB-C plug that rivals are starting to adopt, partly in response to a European Union mandate.
Apple also faces a threat from Chinese tech giant Huawei, which recently launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro.
The phone reportedly has enough power and speed to rival the iPhone and has been selling briskly in China. Huawei has been low key about the device, but its capabilities have raised concerns that China has been able to circumvent U.S. curbs on Huawei that stop it from acquiring high tech components like advanced processor chips that had effectively crippled its smartphone business.
Sunday
Hong Kong-listed stocks are about to be priced in yuan, giving China's currency another boost
CC™ Business News
By Jason Ma
Two dozen Hong Kong-listed stocks will be priced in the yuan on Monday, giving China's currency another boost in global finance.
Alibaba and Tencent will be among the shares that will be traded in both yuan and the Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar.
Under the so-called Dual Counter Model program, Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) hopes to attract overseas investors with yuan holdings and eventually mainland Chinese investors, according to Reuters.
Investors with yuan holdings in countries like Russia, which has relied heavily on China's currency since being largely shut out of the global financial system by Western sanction, could also be potential participants.
HKEX will also launch a market-maker program that's meant to minimize the price differences between the two currencies.
Investors can choose to trade using Hong Kong dollars or yuan, which has seen significant volatility lately. So investors trading with the yuan could limit conversion and hedging costs.
In fact, the yuan is at the lowest against the US dollar since November amid a disappointing post-COVID economic recovery. And based on the real effective exchange rate against another currency basket from the Bank of International Settlements, the yuan is actually at the lowest since 2014.
The new Hong Kong trading program comes as Beijing tries to internationalize the yuan and challenge the US dollar's dominance on the world stage.
For example, China and Brazil agreed earlier this year to conduct trade in their own currencies and bypass the US dollar, which is the main currency in international trade, especially commodities.
Meanwhile, Argentina also said it will pay for imports from China in the yuan instead of US dollar, and Beijing has been trying to get countries in the Middle East to price oil in yuan instead of dollars.
Thursday
Nigeria Completes Gas Pipeline Without Chinese Funds
CC™ Energy News
By Charles Kennedy
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has used around $1.1 billion of its own funds so far and has completed work on 70% of a large natural gas pipeline in Nigeria even after a Chinese loan for the project failed to materialize.
Nigeria's federal government announced in July 2020 that the Bank of China and Sinosure had agreed to finance part of the costs for constructing the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline to the economic hub in the north, Kano. In the summer of 2021, reports started swirling that Chinese lenders were reluctant to increase their exposure and finance part of the gas pipeline project estimated to cost $2.8 billion.
Nigeria has started to look for alternative funding for at least US$1 billion of the pipeline's cost and has started to approach other lenders, including export-import credit institutions, sources told Reuters two years ago.
This week, NNPC Group chief executive, Mele Kyari, said on a site inspection that the AKK Gas Pipeline project was nearly 70% completed, and more than $1.1 billion has been released so far to finance the project. The pipeline is planned to run for 614 kilometers (382 miles) and is currently being financed by the NNPC.
The AKK Gas Pipeline line will flow 2 Bscf/d and will power industries and power plants and create gas-based industries, Kyari said. By the third quarter of this year, NNPC will complete the entire welding job on this line, he said while visiting a construction site along the pipeline's route.
“We have so far spent over $1.1 billion on this project from our cashflow," NNPC's Kyari said.
"We are a commercial company today. We have inter-company loans within our company now. This company can fund this project, so we do not need any support to deliver this project now."
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