Tag: internal-open-access-from-nl

$140,000 E.V.s and Heritage Gold: The Rise of China’s Homegrown Luxury Market

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After years of driving a Mercedes-Benz and a BMW, Li Maozai made a choice that surprised even himself: He bought a Chinese luxury car. Mr. Li, a partner at a law firm in the southern Chinese city of Nanchang, chose the Maextro S800, an 18-foot sedan built by Huawei and JAC Motors, for its sleek lines, elegant design and high-tech features that his German cars couldn’t match. At $140,000, it wasn’t cheap, but it was much less expensive than European luxury vehicles. “This car changed our old belief that only…

Trump Again Says He Will Talk to Taiwan’s Leader, Risking China’s Anger

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President Trump said this week that he would speak to Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, a move that would break longstanding diplomatic norms and risk retaliation from China. “I’ll speak to him,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked whether he would call Mr. Lai before deciding on an arms sale to the self-governing democracy. “I speak to everybody,” he said, adding later, “We’ll work that, the Taiwan problem.” Responding on Thursday morning, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Mr. Lai would be happy to speak to Mr. Trump. It was the second time…

Trump Approved a Nvidia Chip for Sale in China. Beijing Doesn’t Want It.

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When President Trump announced late last year that Nvidia could sell one of its most powerful chips to China, the deal looked like a rare win-win in a fraying geopolitical relationship. It would provide a major boost for China’s artificial intelligence ambitions, while handing a win to America’s leading chipmaker. Cutting-edge A.I. systems run on staggering amounts of computing power, and Nvidia’s chips are considered the gold standard worldwide. Chinese competitors have yet to build anything that rivals Nvidia’s best, and Mr. Trump’s decision undercut years of U.S. policy designed…

China’s Endless Housing Crisis Shows Faint Signs of Hope

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During China’s slow-moving housing crash, there have been brief stretches when prices stabilized, raising hopes that the multiyear slide was finally over. Each time, those reprieves have proved short-lived — pauses before the market resumed its decline. After housing prices in several of China’s biggest cities leveled off in the first few months of the year, the market is again at a crossroads. Analysts and economists are split over whether this constitutes a bottom for a downturn that has eroded much of the country’s middle-class savings or merely another lull…

Days After Hosting Trump, Xi Serves Up Tea and Smiles to Putin

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When the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, hosted President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Beijing on Wednesday for what China said was the Russian leader’s 25th visit, the elephant in the room was President Trump. Less than a week earlier, the American president had made the journey to the Chinese capital. During that trip, Mr. Xi warned Mr. Trump against mishandling Taiwan and asked him to reopen the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, as China seeks to stabilize its tumultuous relationship with the United States. Mr. Putin’s…

As a Weakened Putin Follows Trump to Beijing, Iran War Offers an Opening

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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit in a position of relative weakness. His army is struggling to move in Ukraine. His seat of power, Moscow, has been increasingly vulnerable to Ukrainian drones. Russia’s economy is under severe strain. More Russians are growing tired of what increasingly looks like a fruitless and endless war. Even in better times for Moscow, its relationship with Beijing has been defined by economic imbalance. “China has massive leverage and can dictate exactly what it wants from…

What to Watch at Trump and Xi’s U.S.-China Summit

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The summit between the leaders of the United States and China in Beijing this week represents a pivotal moment for a global economy that has been upended by war and trade tension over the past year. President Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, will have a full agenda to cover, as the world’s two largest economies look for ways to cooperate on geopolitical matters and tamp down differences over tariffs, export controls, Taiwan, sanctions and purchases of American farm products. Mr. Trump will be seeking to open China’s market…

In Hungary, Voters Exposed the Limits of China’s Ties to Orban

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The gigantic Chinese lithium battery factory under construction for three years on the edge of Hungary’s second biggest city hasn’t started production yet. But it has already contributed to a political earthquake. As the biggest Chinese investment in Europe, the $8.5 billion project in the eastern city of Debrecen had been hailed by Hungary’s outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orban, as proof of the economic benefits of his close relations with China. Instead, the factory helped bring about his downfall. In the April 12 election, Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party lost all…

New NTSB Report Into Deadly China Eastern Crash Suggests Struggle in Cockpit

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For more than four years, the final moments of China Eastern Flight 5735 remained shrouded in secrecy, with few clues to a baffling descent from 29,000 feet that left no survivors. Now, new data from the Boeing 737 suggests the crash was no accident. The plane’s fatal dive was a deliberate act initiated from within the cockpit, aviation experts say, following what appears to have been a struggle for control of the aircraft. The plane, which was operated by highly experienced pilots, had been traveling from Kunming, in southwestern China,…

China’s Big Bet on Wind Power Is Paying Off

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As the war in Iran threatens to choke off oil and gas supplies from the Persian Gulf, China is seizing the moment to extend its dominance in wind power. Across China, hilltops are dotted with wind turbines, and long rows of them span many miles in western deserts. Ultrahigh-voltage power lines carry electricity thousands of miles to the energy-hungry factories along China’s coast. Last year, China installed three times as much wind power capacity as the rest of the world combined, even as its turbine exports jumped. The global industry’s…