China unveils a new round of electric car subsidies [BBC] #RisingChina #ElectricCar

Those who have set foot in China in recent years will know: it can be difficult to spot a motorcycle run on gasoline. Across the cities, there are >120m electric-bikes zipping around in numbers.

Electric car sales in China are currently miniscule, said Jeff Schuster, an industry analyst with LMC Automotive. Out of 18 million passenger vehicles sold in China last year, just 22,000 were plug-ins. That number is expected to grow to 60,000 next year, however. CNN August 2013

Can they pull off the same with cars? … perhaps Tesla Motors can stimulate this shift with the nifty Model S.

Also, see New-energy vehicle policy shifts gears in the China Daily (September18, 2013)

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China unveils a new round of electric car subsidies
Source – BBC, published September 18, 2013

China has unveiled a new round of subsidies for fuel-efficient vehicles in a bid to combat rising air pollution in its major cities.

The government will provide up to 60,000 yuan (£6,160; $9,800) to buyers of all-electric, “near all-electric” and hydrogen vehicles until 2015.

The policy is expected to boost Chinese automakers such as as BYD, which makes electric cars and batteries.

However, the programme does not include gasoline-electric hybrid cars.

Please click here to read the entire article at the BBC online.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, China Dream, Chinese Model, Climate Change, Culture, Domestic Growth, Environment, Government & Policy, Ideology, Influence, Modernisation, Peacekeeping, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Resources, Strategy, Technology, The Chinese Identity, Trade, Transport

When it comes to China, which side is Germany on? [Guardian] #RisingChina #Germany

China and Germany teach each other lessons on contemporary influence without brandishing hard power.

On the ground, however – In a 25-country poll by the BBC (44-page PDF) published in May 2013, German opinion on China was 13% positive vs 67% negative in 2013, a marked drop – from 42% positive vs 47% negative in 2012.

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When it comes to China, which side is Germany on?
Berlin’s ‘special relationship’ with Beijing means it is not keen for the EU to start a commercial war with the Asian giant
Source – The Guardian, published September 12, 2013

Angela Merkel is escorted by President Xi Jinping of China after their meeting at the G20 summit this month. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

A long-running dispute between the EU and China over the prosaic, but economically significant, matter of solar panels has thrown up a fundamental question: which side is Germany on? The trade war concerned billions of pounds of Chinese panels that Europe suspected were being heavily subsidised and then “dumped” on the European market. Germany led the opposition to taking punitive action against the Chinese.

“What is certain is that the Germans have taken up almost word for word the rhetoric of the Chinese trade ministry,” said a European diplomat from one of the countries in favour of imposing sanctions on China.

There’s a paradox at play here: it is German manufacturers who wanted the European commission to look into the solar panel issue. But for the German leadership there are bigger matters to consider, not least the country’s burgeoning “special relationship” with the Asian powerhouse.

Please click here to read the entire article at the Guardian.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Education, Ethnicity, Germany, Government & Policy, High Speed Rail, Ideology, Influence, Intellectual Property, International Relations, Mapping Feelings, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Resources, Soft Power, Solar, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, Transport

How CNN uses disaster to propagandize against a government [Hidden Harmonies] #RisingChina #Propaganda

On CNN agenda setting and the manufacture of dominant narratives.

For more, see
一样的出轨，两样的CNN (Guancha, July 26, 2013)

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How CNN uses disaster to propagandize against a government
by Yin Yang
Source – Hidden Harmonies, published July 24, 2013

(最近，一些中国朋友对这篇文章表示兴趣。我简单解释。两年前，中国温州有高铁遇意外。最近，西班牙的高铁也有意外。右边的CNN报告是关于中国的意外。左边是报西班牙的。这两篇文章非常清楚。CNN关于中国文章的目的是骂中国。不像西班牙的报告, 唯一关于意外。这是他们的宣传技巧。这是西方媒体的宣传技巧。他们不希望中国高铁进入他们的市场。中国人，行业，社会，政府都需要被他们骂的臭臭的。)

Western propaganda has become an art-form, and for the unsuspecting audience, it is invisible. If you decide to be critical though, you will immediately see how thinly-veiled the propaganda is. Some of you might have heard about the recent high-speed rail crash in Spain, killing 69 people according to the latest count. The weird coincidence is that China’s Wenzhou crash was exactly 2 years ago.

Below are two articles from CNN reporting on the crashes. On the right column is of China’s crash two years ago and on the left column is a recent coverage for Spain’s. Notice how the Spain article is about the accident while the article on China is a condemnation of China’s HRS and governance. CNN can find tons of criticism and dwissatisfaction on Spain’s Internet too if it wants. Yes, right now. CNN can find critical things to write about the Spanish government: for example, Spain woefully under-funds its infrastructure. These are CNN’s explicit choices to make. See the glaring difference in the articles as a result of the choices CNN made. Welcome to “free” press.

Source – by Yin Yang, Hidden Harmonies, 2013

DO note the table above is not complete , please click here to view the entire table and full article at Hidden Harmonies.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, China Dream, CNN, Communications, Culture, Democracy, Disaster, Education, High Speed Rail, Influence, Mapping Feelings, Media, Modernisation, Public Diplomacy, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Transport, U.S.

Here flies the dragon: Chinese airlines flex their muscles [the Age] #RisingChina #Aviation

Fruits on reform to enhance connectivity checklist. Planes, working on it. Trains, ticked. Automobiles, working on it.

There is still a long road ahead for rising China to sort it its mass transit issues because quite simplify, its volume for ‘mass’ is one for larger than most countries can only dream off.

The bonus with air travel is the extended amount of positive influence that can be massaged into a short or long haul flight…

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Here flies the dragon: Chinese airlines flex their muscles
Matt O’Sullivan and Peter Cai
Source – The Age, published June 17, 2013

Ready for takeoff: Passengers watch a China Southern Airlines plane take off at Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport last year. Photo: Reuters

Singapore Airline’s second-in-charge, Mak Swee Wah, summed up what looms on the horizon from China.

“Chinese airlines’ ambition is a reflection of the country’s ambition,” he said during a visit to Australia two weeks ago. “It is taken as a given that they will be growing aggressively.”

There is no doubt China’s airlines are beginning to flex their muscles.

In the case of China Southern, its tentative interest in a strategic stake in Qantas is reflective of a wider foray overseas by Chinese enterprises.

Please click here to read the full article at The Age.

Filed under: Australia, Automotive, Aviation, BBC, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Communications, Culture, Domestic Growth, Government & Policy, Ideology, Influence, Infrastructure, International Relations, Mapping Feelings, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), The Age, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade

MOR rails against ticket plug-in chaos #China #SpringFestival #Rail #Global Times

China Daily on the new online dynamic of getting a train ride home during China’s most important time of year.

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MOR rails against ticket plug-in chaos
By Zhang Zihan and Li Cong
Source – Global Times, published January 21, 2013

Web browser providers have denied earlier reports that they had been ordered to stop providing plug-ins for buying train tickets, which the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said had caused a huge amount of traffic to flood its online ticketing system ahead of the Spring Festival travel rush.

“So far, we haven’t received any request from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and our plug-in is running as usual,” Li Ping, a public relations officer from Kingsoft, a software provider, told the Global Times on Sunday, refuting a report from China National Radio.

China Central Television also reported that other browser providers including Maxthon and Qihoo 360 all denied receiving orders from MIIT, while the ministry has not yet responded.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Censorship, Chinese Model, Communications, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Government & Policy, Infrastructure, Modernisation, People, Population, Reform, Social, The Chinese Identity, Transport

Jaguar Land Rover building factory in China [Guardian]

Guardian: JLR and Chery ramping up for China’s middle class boom? The Guardian’s industrial editor provides details as the famed UK off-road powerhouse now join European counterparts Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz with full-blown local production capability direct in the world’s biggest auto market.

Quite a few of my mainland Chinese peers who now live in Australia love the Land Rover aesthetic. Most do not push (yet) their stately steel horses to the brink, preferring to drive them inland and keeping them spotty clean but I digress.

“China is now our biggest market,” Ralf Speth, chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover at press briefing announcing their 10.9b yuan eastern China plant in their 65th year of operations. The plant will also see an R&D component.

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Jaguar Land Rover building factory in China
Car firm to start manufacturing vehicles in world’s largest automotive market from 2014 after agreeing £1.1bn-joint venture
by Dan Milmo, Guardian Industrial Editor
Source – Guardian, published November 18, 2012

Source – Guardian, 2012.
Jaguar Land Rover posted a 58% increase in Chinese sales in the second quarter, boosted by demand for the recently launched Range Rover Evoque, above. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Jaguar Land Rover has signalled the importance of China to its growth prospects by starting the construction of a factory outside Shanghai.

JLR and its Chinese partner, Chery, formally laid the foundation stone for a plant in Changshu, near Shanghai, as part of a 10.9bn yuan (£1.1bn) investment that will include a new research centre and an engine production facility. The firm’s owners, Tata, also own a JLR assembly plant in India but the Chinese venture is the company’s first full-blown sortie into overseas manufacturing, reflecting stellar growth in the car firm’s third largest market.

The business posted a 58% increase in Chinese sales in the second quarter, boosted by demand for the recently launched Range Rover Evoque model.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Environment, Finance, Infrastructure, Intellectual Property, International Relations, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, Technology, The Guardian, Trade, Transport, U.K., China's Rise, Economics, Environment, Identity, International Relations, Public Diplomacy, Strategy, Transportation

Chinese automakers to tap Brazil through local production [Want China Times]

Brazil was the fifth largest auto market in the world in 2011. Sales topped 3.6 million cars then and Chinese cars accounted for a quarter of the market. Interdependent synergy where bridges can be found?

For more, see

Transnational media financial coverage: China’s Cars Grab Brazil Market Share (Bloomberg, September 21, 2011)

Chinese state media coverage: Feature: Chinese cars win hearts of Brazil’s new middle class (Xinhua, October 17, 2012):

“No one had anything good to say about the quality of Chinese products in the past… That was the Brazilian people’s first impression of China,” Fernando Morais, general manager of the Chinese state-owned JAC dealership at Botafogo. It made 494,800 vehicles in 2011. Exports began in 1990 after 26 years of being established. They started with Bolivia, today its products are claimed to be sold in over a hundred countries.

For a perspective from an internationalist automotive journalist who was recently in Brazil, check out Motor Mouth: I’m going back to Brazil! (National Post, October 25, 2012):

Auto sales are growing so rapidly that traditional automakers — such as Volkswagen and Renault — are expanding their manufacturing base here (the French company expanded its Ayrton Senna complex to build 100,000 more cars), while even the Chinese upstarts — JAC, for instance — are offshoring to Brazil to beat local tariffs. (The Chinese presence at the Sao Paulo auto show is huge, dwarfing its national presence at any mainstream exhibition I’ve attended. Great Wall, Chery and the aforementioned JAC all had huge booths as did Changan and Haima, along with smaller participation by Jonway and Landwind.). But despite their obvious ambitions, their displays are definitely second-rate compared with even the cheapest of the established marques. Indeed, if their products lag mainstream brands as much as their show displays, it may be some time before they are competitive.

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Chinese automakers to tap Brazil through local production
Staff Reporter
Source – Want China Times, published October 26, 2012

Chinese carmakers are setting up production bases in Brazil, which is currently the world’s fifth-largest auto market, to tap into the surging business opportunities offered by the South American country, Shanghai’s First Financial Daily reports.

On Oct. 23, Brazilian car distributor Districar announced that it will be adding Changan and Haima to the list of Chinese auto brands it distributes, including Chery and JAC, in Brazil from early next year.

The announcement preceded the Sao Paulo International Motor Show, which opened on the following day, where China’s Great Wall Motors unveiled its plan to enter the Brazilian market in the second half of 2013 and to set up factories in the country.

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Brazil, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Environment, Finance, Influence, Intellectual Property, International Relations, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, Strategy, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, Brazil, China's Rise, Economics, International Relations, Public Diplomacy, Trade

Photos: China Int’l Green Vehicle Industry Expo kicks off in Hangzhou [Xinhua]

Visitors sample a pure electric vehicle at the China International Green Vehicle Industry Expo (Hangzhou) in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, Aug. 10, 2012. The three-day expo, which kicked off on Friday, presented numerous green vehicles, batteries and relative new technologies. Source – Xinhua / Li Zhong

Click here to check out photo gallery. Fittingly hosted in Hangzhou from August 10 to 12 (I was impressed with how clean and green the city was on my visit – no surprises property prices are one of the highest in China here), check out the Expo’s official site here. It is important for China to keep working on going green , for as it stands we’re looking at urbanisation rate of 51% end 2011, from 26% in 1990. If and when it gets close toward 70% targeted for 2035 as China’s development spreads towards the centre and westwards internally, we’ll be looking at a far bigger consumer market and its direct demands on resources will be even more significant.

With the increasingly shortage of global nonrenewable resources and under the pressure of energy and environmental protection, new resource vehicles have undoubtedly become the development direction of future vehicles. Early from 2001, the research project on new energy vehicles has been listed into “863” major scientific research program during the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and schemed the strategy of starting with gasoline cars and proceeding to target of hydrogen powered cars. Since the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan”, our country has put forward with the strategy of “energy saving and new energy vehicles” and our government has paid high attention to the research and industrialization of new energy vehicles. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, new energy vehicles in our country will formally step into the developmental stage of industrialization and popularize new energy urban buses, hybrid cars and small electric vehicles in the whole society. During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”, i.e., from 2016 to 2020, our country will further popularize new energy vehicles, and hybrid cars, plug-in electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars will gradually drive into ordinary families.

Source – China International Green Vehicle Industry Expo: About Us

Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Economics, Government & Policy, Green China, Influence, Lifestyle, Population, Resources, Technology, The Chinese Identity, xinhua

China to dictate world car design [The Age/AFP]

Source - BBC, 2012

Fancy a dragon-tattooed jeep?

On the back of the Auto China Show 2012 in Beijing, AFP reports that the world’s top auto market since 2009 is set to influence how cars are designed around the world. Is the world ready for automobiles that appeal to Chinese tastes first? Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise with bottom-line figures telling.

When it took over the US as top car market, it saw 13.5m cars and trucks roll out. Last year car sales were at 18.5m. Analysts believe this year will see an increase of 10%. 20m cars sold each year just sounds staggering.

Interestingly, the Chinese government requires foreign automobile makers to team up with domestic partners. This way they enter the market as a domestic producer than as an importer.

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China to dictate world car design
AFP
Source – The Age, published April 30, 2012

The sheer size of the Chinese car market is forcing Western car makers to think about restyling their cars to appeal to Chinese tastes first.

As more and more Chinese buy cars, car makers say consumer tastes in the Asian nation have a growing influence on vehicle design the world over.

China emerged as the world’s top car market in 2009, and though the sector stalled last year, with sales rising just 2.5 per cent to 18.51 million, carmakers are convinced it is where the industry’s future lies.

Filed under: AFP, Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Influence, Soft Power, Strategy, The Age

Ford to Build Plant in China to Bolster Global Sales [New York Times]

Ford forges ahead on the Chinese automotive bandwagon with the largest factory expansion in 50 years.

This however, comes at a time of increased competition, with Japanese, European and American automakers plus fast-growing, low-cast local manufacturers. Can China’s market handle the intensity? After a decade of double-digit growth, Chinese auto sales rose just 2.5 percent in 2011. The first quarter of this year was the first decline in seven years when indicated sales were down 1.3 percent.

President of Ford’s operations in Asia howver indicates that ‘Ford had forecast in 2010 that the Chinese market would grow at a compound annual rate of 5 percent for the next decade.’

‘Until early this year, Ford had an annual manufacturing capacity in China of 450,000 cars, in what has become the world’s largest market, with annual sales of 18 million vehicles. But by 2015, it plans to have an annual capacity of 1.2 million cars.’

From Ford’s media site, Soundbites: New Hangzhou Assembly Plant in China 

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Ford to Build Plant in China to Bolster Global Sales
By KEITH BRADSHER
Source: New York Times, published April 19, 2012

BEIJING, CHINA — Ford Motor has chosen China for its largest factory expansion program in a half century, announcing on Thursday that it would build a $760 million assembly plant in Hangzhou, two weeks after announcing another $600 million plan to expand an assembly plant in Chongqing and less than six weeks after completing a third assembly plant in Chongqing.

Ford is late to China’s party, and its new factories will open in a slowing, increasingly competitive Chinese market. Rapid factory construction in China is a throwback to the company’s last big factory building campaign in the 1950s, when models like the Thunderbird captured the hearts and wallets of young Americans and when Ford was racing to increase capacity in postwar Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Auto sales in China rose just 2.5 percent last year, after a decade of double-digit annual growth. Sales were down 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, the first quarter to show a decline in seven years, according to official figures.

Filed under: Automotive, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Finance, Influence, Infrastructure, International Relations, New York Times, Soft Power, Transport, U.S.