News Briefing for Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Attack on Chinese kindergarten: Three people were killed and six wounded during a stabbing attack at a Jiangxi Province kindergarten today. The suspect, a 48-year-old man with the surname Liu, is still at large. Lethal knife attacks at schools in China have been on the rise in recent years.

Chinese mobile phones will be able to send texts via satellite using new short message chips that communicate directly with the BeiDou navigation system, China’s equivalent to GPS. The function will be rolled out later this year.

The U.S. and Indonesian militaries began annual joint combat exercises on Sumatra island, “joined for the first time by participants from other partner nations,” which AP says signals “stronger ties amid growing maritime activity by China in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Hong Kong’s “Captain America 2.0” wins lighter jail sentence: Ma Chun-man (馬俊文 Mǎ Jùnwén) partook in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2019 — where he was dubbed “Captain America 2.0” for wielding the superhero’s shield. He was accused of “inciting secession” under the National Security Law imposed by Beijing, and later sentenced to six years in jail. He appealed the sentence, and the high court lowered his jail term to five years.

China released a new industrial carbon-peaking plan, which, among other requirements, calls for new energy vehicles (NEVs) to comprise 40% of all vehicles by 2030. Click through to today’s Business Briefs for links and more numbers on that and these stories:

• The country’s renewable energy capacity is now over a billion kilowatts.
• High-end liquor brand Kweichow Moutai reported revenue of 57.6 billion yuan ($8.51 billion) for the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 17%.
• The logistics industry took a knock in July.

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