ByteDance Takes A Step In Mobile Finance
After receiving an online microloan license through the acquisition of a microfinance company in July, ByteDance is taking control of a China mobile payment company with a third-party payment license.
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is listed as the owner of Wuhan-based online payment company Hezhong Yibao Technology, according to corporate data and information company Qixinbao.
Hezhong Yibao was established in 2012 and has 150 million yuan ($21.9 million) in registered capital. It was given a third-party payment license by China's central bank in 2014 and was the first licensed digital payment company in Hubei province.
Before the acquisition, several ByteDance's platforms, including Toutiao, Xigua Video and Huoshan Mini Video, were already using payment processing owned by Hezhong Yibao.
ByteDance started rolling out its consumer finance strategy in 2017 and has been positioning itself discreetly in the mobile payment field since 2018. In April it applied for a series of payment trademarks, 21st Century Business Herald reported.
Last year, more than 347 trillion yuan was transacted via mobile payment across China from around 9.6 trillion yuan in 2013. The country had more than 765 million mobile payment users in 2019, according to information provider Statista.
China Asks Spain For More Meat And Veg
China plans to import more agricultural products from Spain, which has been the world's largest exporter of pork to China since 2019. Additionally, the two countries want to collaborate on joint research and development of vaccines and drugs against COVID-19, The Paper reported.
Yang Jiechi, the director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Madrid, called on the two sides to maintain high-level exchanges and expand bilateral trade and investment, during a Thursday meeting with Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Pork constituted 55.3 percent of the total value of agricultural produce shipped from Spain to China. Other important agricultural export products include olive oil and wine. In 2019, Spain exported to China pork products valued at 1.13 billion euros ($1.34 billion), a 119 percent year-on-year increase, according to Spain's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. China's domestic pork industry has been badly hurt by the African Swine Flu.
China is ready to import more Spanish agricultural products, Yang said and also encouraged the two counties to strengthen cultural exchanges and promote joint research and development of vaccines and drugs, in order to build an international health network.
Sanchez said that Spain was willing to enhance exchanges and cooperation with China to further explore the China market and welcomed investment from China businesses.
A Lonely Drive In Wuhan
Central China city Wuhan plans to devote more than 100 kilometers of open road to 5G self-driving vehicle testing. Adding another 78 kilometers to the existing 28-kilometer open road will give Wuhan the country's largest self-driving demonstration area, the Hubei Daily reported.
The stretch of open road will have satellite guidance with China's Beidou Navigation System embedded in 33 5G base stations installed along the route in September last year.
5G is an important technology for autonomous vehicles. As of Aug. 13, there have been 17,600 5G base stations built in Wuhan and the number is estimated to rise to more than 20,000 by the end of this year, according to a statement in a government Aug. 25 news release.
To date, a host of automotive and technology companies, including Dongfeng Motor, Baidu, DeepRoute, Haylion Technologies, DeepBlue Technology and Auto X, have tested vehicles in the demonstration zone. The accuracy is reportedly as precise as a few centimeters in navigation and a lag of 5 milliseconds.
China Gets The Trade-Fair Party Started
China's first big trade fair held offline since the COVID-19 outbreak in January, the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services, opened Friday in Beijing and will last through Wednesday, China Business Network reported.
It is the second China International Fair for Trade in Services. President Xi Jinping is expected to speak late Friday via online video at the opening, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The fair will demonstrate China's confidence in opening up and promoting international economic cooperation, China's Ministry of Commerce said.
More than 18,000 international and domestic companies from 148 countries and regions have signed up for the fair. Nearly 2000 will have an exhibition booth. More than 100,000 participants have registered to attend the six-day event.
However, the international trade fair is unlikely to feature as many foreign exhibitors or attendees as last year because China still bans entry to most foreigners, South China Morning Post reported.
Aside from traditional exhibitions, the organizers have built a digital platform where exhibitors can showcase their products, build a 3D immersive online showroom, host virtual meetings and seal deals with new customers online.
China's services trade deficit narrowed by 49.4 percent year on year in the January-July period partly because overseas travel has largely stopped this year, according to South China Morning Post.
'American Factory' Fuyao Founder Splashes Cash At Home
Cao Dewang, the chairman of China's largest motor-vehicle glassmaker Fuyao Glass Industry Group, which was featured in the award-winning documentary American Factory, announced the donation of 1.4 billion yuan ($205 million) to three China provinces, according to a post by Cao's philanthropic trust Heren Charitable Foundation.
The foundation said the money would be for alleviating poverty, natural disaster relief and enhancing medical care and educational standards.
Cao said 900 million yuan of the donation would go to Fujian province where Fuyao Glass is based and Cao was born and raised while 300 million yuan would go to Hubei province, which has suffered the worst economic effect from the coronavirus pandemic. The remaining 200 million will go to Guizhou province which has faced challenges alleviating poverty.
Fuyao Glass laid off more than 2,000 people worldwide in the first half of the year as a result of weak demand caused by the coronavirus.
Its revenue fell to 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in the first half of the year - down 21 percent from a year earlier. Fuyao said half of its revenue came from its business in China, South China Morning Post reported.
