China's passenger car sales up 8% in Nov 2020

The sales volume of China's passenger cars in November reached 2.08 million, up 8 percent year-on-year, yicai.com reported citing data from the China Passenger Car Association on Tuesday.

"The sales showed a low-to-high trend this year," said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the CPCA, noting retail sales were mainly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and an early Spring Festival. But the market had maintained robust growth since July.

Read more: China's passenger car sales up 8% in Nov 2020

China absorbs 38.4% of Namibia's exports in October

China maintained its position as Namibia's main export market, absorbing 38.4 percent of all goods, ahead of South Africa in the second place which absorbed 13.9 percent, according to country's monthly statistics figures released Wednesday.

The composition of goods exported remained the same mainly comprising of minerals such as non-ferrous metals, metalliferous ores and metal scrap, non-metallic mineral manufactures, as well as non-monetary gold, said Namibia Statistician Agency Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni.

Read more: China absorbs 38.4% of Namibia's exports in October

Huawei 'disappointed' over ruling in Meng Wanzhou case

Huawei Technologies Co expressed disappointment over a Canadian court's ruling over its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, and the company said it will continue to stand with Meng in her pursuit of justice and freedom.

The company released a statement saying "Huawei is disappointed in the ruling today by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. We have repeatedly expressed confidence in Meng's innocence."

Read more: Huawei 'disappointed' over ruling in Meng Wanzhou case

Forest fire kills 19 in China

The forest fire had taken place in the same Liangshan Prefecture in 2019, at that time 27 firemen and 3 locals were killed, above is the photo taken on the1st of April 2019.

A forest fire in southwestern China has killed 19 people who were fighting the blaze and hundreds of reinforcements have been sent in as nearby residents are evacuated, officials and state media report.

The area threatened by the fire in Sichuan province is thinly populated, but there was no estimate on how many people were leaving the evacuation zone.

Read more: Forest fire kills 19 in China

China's virus-hit Wuhan gradually revives

A BorgWarner factory in Caidian E-develop Zone of Wuhan city.

Shopkeepers in the city at the centre of the virus outbreak in China are reopening but customers have been scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months.

"I'm so excited, I want to cry," said a woman on Monday on the Chuhe Hanjie pedestrian mall who would give only the English name Kat.

Read more: China's virus-hit Wuhan gradually revives

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT: Experience of South Africans in Wuhan demonstrates effectiveness and necessity of lockdown

The story of our South African returnees from Wuhan should give us encouragement and hope in the difficult weeks that lie ahead.

Dear Fellow South Africans,

As we begin the first full week of the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic that is devastating the world, we are grateful for good news that brings us joy and hope at this difficult and uncertain time.

Read more: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT: Experience of South Africans in Wuhan demonstrates effectiveness and...

'They are completely intertwined': Tentative signs of recovery in China help some Canadian companies weather COVID-19 storm

The construction site at Jiedaokou Station of the 2nd stage of Wuhan Subway Line 8 March 22, 2020.

One night in late January, Canadian Jacob Cooke found himself in Jiangsu province in China, desperately trying to find seats on a plane leaving the country and promising his brother, Joseph, he’d make it to Vancouver.

For more than a decade, they had run a business called WPIC Marketing + Technologies with an ocean between them, helping brands from Canada and, eventually, all over the globe launch e-commerce operations in China.

Read more: 'They are completely intertwined': Tentative signs of recovery in China help some Canadian...

Trump’s Break With China Has Deadly Consequences

After scuttling its partnership with Beijing on public health, the U.S. was unprepared for the pandemic.

The lesson of COVID-19, influential politicians and commentators are claiming, is that the United States must delink itself from China. “China unleashed this plague on the world,” Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas recently told Sean Hannity, “and China has to be held accountable.” Cotton, who has proposed legislation to ban Americans from buying Chinese pharmaceuticals, isn’t alone. Representative Jim Banks of Indiana has urged Donald Trump to boost tariffs on Chinese products and put the money—which he incorrectly thinks would come from Chinese exporters rather than American importers—into a fund for Americans hurt by the coronavirus. In a recent essay in The American Interest, the political scientist Andrew Michta used the virus to demand a “hard decoupling” from China. Citing that essay approvingly, my Atlantic colleague Shadi Hamid recently argued, “After the crisis, whenever after is, the relationship with China cannot and should not go back to normal.”

Read more: Trump’s Break With China Has Deadly Consequences

Home delivery has helped China through its coronavirus crisis. The US needs to catch up.

The US is “four or five years” behind China when it comes to home delivery. This is bad news for locked-down cities.

Shao Bingbing - the Courier for Meituan APP - who managed 120 home deliveries daily in Yiwu, before the outbreak of Covid-19.

At the peak of China’s Covid-19 outbreak, more than half of the country’s population — some 760 million people — were living under some form of home lockdown. But even as they hunkered down behind locked gates and guarded checkpoints, deliveries of groceries and KFC were often as little as 20 minutes away while parcels containing phone chargers and pajamas could arrive in hours.

Read more: Home delivery has helped China through its coronavirus crisis. The US needs to catch up.

Sam's Club to open flagship outlet in Shanghai

Sam's Club, the high-end membership store of world retailing giant Walmart, is expected to open its flagship store in Shanghai, the third in the city, a proactive move in the face of the fierce competition accelerated by the opening of Costco Wholesale store last year.

Andrew Miles, president of Sam's Club China, said on Wednesday the outlets, growing with their members, are excited to add the flagship outlet into their rapidly expanding footprint, calling it "a testimony of our commitment to our members and China."

Read more: Sam's Club to open flagship outlet in Shanghai

Spain hated being linked to the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. Trump’s ‘Chinese virus’ label echoes that.

Don’t call it the Spanish flu.

That’s what Spain said in 1918 at the start of what would become the deadliest pandemic in history, killing more than 50 million people worldwide. The Spanish got tagged with the killer name during the end of World War I because Spain was the first country to report the disease publicly, not because it originated there.

Spaniards called the highly contagious disease “The Soldier of Naples” after a catchy song popular at the time. But when the deadly virus exploded across the world and became known as “Spanish influenza,” Spain protested that its people were being falsely stigmatized.

Read more: Spain hated being linked to the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. Trump’s ‘Chinese virus’ label echoes that.

Trump's 'Chinese virus' is a racist attack

On March 19, US President Donald Trump stood in the White House to give yet another statement about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). A photograph of the president's speech notes showed the word "Corona" scratched out and replaced with "Chinese" written in sharpie.

The photo, taken by a Washington Post reporter, exposes how factually inaccurate Trump's racist language is. Rather than informing the public with scientifically accurate information, Trump is policing language in order to create a political distraction and cover up his own mishandling of the epidemic.

Read more: Trump's 'Chinese virus' is a racist attack