China news roundup / Nachrichten 2024-04-29

20 days ago

--- It's travel time again. The coming 10 days there will be disruptions to the usual service.

China stands by economic data, says defence spending 'transparent'

"Responding to a request for comment on Aquilino's remarks, the foreign ministry told Reuters, "The release of China's economic data has always been open and transparent, and is highly recognised by society."
[...] "China's defence spending is open, transparent and reasonable," it said in a statement on Wednesday."

Cash is king — for now: China signals it will slow transition to cashless society

"today it’s not unusual to find places that can’t or won’t accept cash at all, particularly after the pandemic when much of the world grew wary of handling shared items.
If visitors want to enjoy convenient travel, she says, they’re better off downloading one of the major payment apps and hoping it works for them."

--- Nothing better to attract foreign tourists for them to hope that something works.

'The EU needs up to 50% of tariffs to hamper Chinese EVs'

"Rhodium Group, an independent research provider, stated that the EU will likely impose duties in the 15-30% range. The anti-subsidy inquiry is expected to finalise in a few weeks, and the expected tariffs may come after that. According to the report, if the tariffs were 30%, this would not stop some Chinese EV producers from continuing to generate high profits with their exports to the EU, thanks to the government subsidies they enjoy."

--- Sometimes the profits in Europe are 10 times higher than in China, even if they are selling cheaper than European rivals. A 50% tariff is highly unlikely, though, because people like Scholz will fight it.