Welcome to the 56th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.
This week:
- We hear that a majority of American companies don’t support their president’s use of retaliatory tariffs to achieve U.S. trade goals.
- We analyze new data that shows that new-energy vehicle sales in China during the first half of the year doubled to 400,000 units.
- We note that Tesla has signed agreements with Shanghai to set up a vehicle assembly plant that will have the capacity to produce 500,000 all-electric autos per year.
- We find out that Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University has suspended a professor accused of harassing and assaulting multiple women, as China continues to grapple with sexual harassment in academia.
- We explore Apple’s new plan to launch a $300 million fund to promote clean energy in China, representing the latest green initiative in one of its largest global markets.
- We learn that China is assessing the “ideological implications” of online talent shows, including those produced by internet giant Tencent and video site iQiyi, to prevent them from becoming “overly entertaining.”
- We discover that bike-sharing giant Ofo plans to slim down its Asia operations to four overseas markets — Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore — as it focuses on its most promising areas in a bid to become profitable, a knowledgeable source told Caixin.
- We discuss the story of Xu Chaofan 许超凡, former head of a Guangdong branch of the Bank of China, who allegedly embezzled nearly $500 million yuan and fled to the U.S.
In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, senior economics reporter at Caixin Global, about the U.S.-China trade war. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Xiaomi’s long-awaited IPO and Canadian-based fast-food chain Tim Hortons’ plan to enter China.
We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@thechinaproject.com.
