Month: April 2023

Chinese liquor: ZJLD is no match for Kweichow Moutai  

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China’s second most valuable listed company, Kweichow Moutai at $315bn, is no tech stock. It is a hot stock nonetheless. This leading maker of baijiu — a local liquor known as China’s firewater — has proven one of the most lucrative businesses and local investments in the past decade. That record did nothing for rival ZJLD’s Hong Kong listing on Thursday. Yet, its flop should not have surprised anyone. With an alcohol content of as high as 60 per cent by volume, baijiu is China’s most popular liquor and amazingly…

China hawk John Bolton to meet President Tsai Ing-wen during week-long Taiwan trip

Chin@Strategy

Bolton is expected to meet Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen and other senior government officials as well as the heads of political parties on the island to exchange views on regional and cross-strait security issues. Tsai Ming-yen, director of the National Security Bureau, Taiwan’s top intelligence agency, confirmed that he would meet Bolton later this week to discuss ways to boost the island’s defences. Advertisement “We respect all kinds of proposals from our friends to increase the defence capability of Taiwan and will have in-depth discussion with [Bolton] on what would…

Friends of Vietnamese Dissident Suspect State-Sponsored Abduction in Thailand

Chin@Strategy

Bangkok —  Friends and colleagues of Vietnamese dissident Duong Van Thai who had been taking refuge in Thailand are gathering video and eyewitness accounts of his last known moments in Thailand for clues about his suspected abduction and forced return to Vietnam earlier this month. Vietnamese police announced Duong’s arrest April 16, claiming he entered the country illegally from Laos, according to Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government-funded private news organization. State media in Vietnam also reported on Duong’s arrest for using an undesignated border crossing to enter the country…

Goldman loses taste for China’s cheese lollipops

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Analysts at Goldman Sachs have made a sharp U-turn on China’s appetite for cheese — and the snacking habits of its children — in the latest reassessment of the way the country’s consumer tastes are changing. At the centre of Goldman’s volte face is a stock recommendation on Shanghai-listed Milkground, China’s leader in the competitive culinary realm of the cheese lollipop — a delight that combines cheese with sweet flavours such as chocolate and banana, is aimed at the under-12s and claims to have solid nutritional value. In June 2022,…

China denounces US plans to send nuclear ballistic submarine to South Korea

Chin@Strategy

In particular, a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine will “visit” South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s. Biden said no nuclear weapons would be permanently based there. “We’re not going to be stationing nuclear weapons on the peninsula,” he said in a joint press conference with Yoon at the White House. “But we will have visits to ports, visits of nuclear submarines and things like that.” Advertisement The two sides will establish a Nato-style nuclear consultative group to share information on nuclear assets and intelligence, as well…

South Korea ponders the high cost of being America’s friend

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Last time it was the Netherlands and Japan, now it’s South Korea and soon it’s going to be the whole of the G7 rich countries. Being a US ally at a time when geopolitics is leaning heavily on trade policy certainly keeps you on your toes. It’s also quite galling when Washington expects you to take economic hits for geopolitical gains when it’s not always willing to do the same itself. This week the Financial Times revealed that the US is pushing Korea’s semiconductor manufacturers (principally Samsung and SK Hynix)…

China Is Cracking Down on Bankers. Here Are Some of the Targets.

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For years, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has railed against greed and corruption in the country’s financial sector, making an example of a few prominent figures along the way. But recently, the anti-graft campaign has kicked into overdrive, sweeping up a who’s who from the country’s financial and insurance sector as Mr. Xi and the Chinese Communist Party seek to consolidate control over a critical facet of the economy. China’s anti-corruption officials warned bankers in February that it would “investigate and deal with the people who neglect the party’s leadership.” They…

UK and Europe are falling behind US and China in biotech, says AstraZeneca boss

Chin@Strategy

The boss of Britain’s biggest drugmaker has said that the UK and the rest of Europe are falling behind China and the US in the creation of biotech firms and clinical trials of new medicines. Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said that while China had seen an “explosion of biotech companies”, and a “rapid expansion of clinical trials” that puts it ahead of the US, the UK and EU had posted declines. Although the UK is great for science research at universities and in commercial laboratories, he argued that…

China’s smartphone market sees lowest first-quarter shipments in a decade with an 11 per cent decline

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“The pandemic affected consumer behaviour in the medium to long term, where consumers tended to spend their income on necessary expenses,” he said. Apple’s performance in China has been a rare bright spot amid strong demand for iPhone 14 series devices that launched in September. With shipments of 13.3 million devices for the quarter, the US tech giant was the top smartphone vendor with 20 per cent of the market, where the brand continues to enjoy immense popularity. Advertisement Oppo followed closely behind Apple for the quarter with 19 per…

Junta raids force more than 7,000 villagers to flee Salingyi

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More than 7,000 residents of villages in Sagaing region’s Salingyi township have fled their homes ahead of junta raids, according to a member of the pro-democracy Salingyi-Yinmarbin Strike Committee. The man, who didn’t wish to be named, said a column of 150 troops descended on the township on Thursday morning, leading residents of nine villages to flee. “Residents from those villages are still on the run,” he said. “There have been no arrests.” He said that the column of troops was made up of soldiers based in Salingyi town and…