- The Chinese have reshuffled their trade negotiation team, bringing in Zhong Shan, the commerce minister. He is expected to take a tougher line in the next round of talks, after demanding that the Chinese “uphold our warrior spirit”, according to the Washington Post. “By parachuting the minister of commerce into the scene, China is trying to tell the US that we mean business more than ever,” Yao Xinchao, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing told the newspaper.
- The impact of the Sino-US trade row is being felt in Central America, with a slump in freight traffic passing through the Panama Canal. Throughput has plummeted this year as the Chinese cut their imports of American food and fuel, according to the canal authority boss Jorge Luis Quijano. Japan has displaced China as the canal’s second-largest user, he added, with American firms retaining their position as the canal’s biggest customers.
- Donald Trump says he will respond to concerns raised by billionaire investor Peter Thiel about Google’s ties to China, tweeting that the Trump Administration will take a look. “I would say answer my three questions,” Thiel had asked during an earlier interview on Fox. “How many foreign intelligence agencies have infiltrated Google? Have the Chinese, in particular, infiltrated? And why are you working with Communist China and not the US? What is the reason you’re doing that?”
- Protests in Hong Kong could put off 350,000 mainland Chinese tourists from visiting the city this year, HSBC estimates. It lowered forecasts for increases in mainland arrivals for the year to 9% from 9.7%. The number of visitors increased 14% last year. City retailers are braced for a double-digit decline in sales over the summer holidays because of the anti-extradition bill demonstrations, the South China Morning Post added.
- The Chinese authorities have prevented JD.com and Meituan Dianping from creating their own high-precision maps for delivery robots, Caixin reports. Both firms have variable interest entity (VIE) ownership – arrangements that allow overseas-listed companies to dodge rules that limit overseas investment in sectors like the internet industry. However, national regulations also ban China-based mapping servers from sending data abroad.
- More targets have been published for the Healthy China 2030 initiative, a public programme first approved in 2016. Goals to be achieved under the campaign include extending life expectancy to 79 years, reducing the proportion of smokers to less than a fifth of the population, making sure that more than 40% of people get regular exercise, and increasing the average intake of fruit and vegetables to more than 500 grams per person per day. “Major health indicators will be included in the performance appraisal indicators of Party committees and governments at all levels,” the official release also promised.
- $40 trillion China’s corporate, household and government debt as of the first quarter, making up 15% of the global total, according to the Institute of International Finance. The debt represents 303% of China’s gross domestic product in the first three months, up from 297% a year earlier.
- $2 billion The sum that ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is looking to raise through selling new shares, the Wall Street Journal reports. That would give the Beijing-based firm a valuation of $62 billion, up from $56 billion in 2017. Didi is yet to make a profit.
- 39% The year-on-year decline in China’s investment in renewable energy in the first half, Caixin reports. About $29 billion was ploughed into solar and wind projects, the lowest in six years, according to Bloomberg’s research arm. The reduced contribution dragged the global figure down by 14% compared to a year ago.
- Rmb924.5 per tonne The price of iron ore futures (for September delivery) on the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Tuesday. The price has doubled since the start of 2019, partly due to production cutbacks at major miners in Brazil and Australia.
