CX Daily: Chinese Merchants Plow Cash Into Overseas Warehouses Amid Global E-Commerce Boom
TOP STORY
Overseas warehouses?/
China’s e-commerce merchants are investing ever more in overseas warehouses to keep pace with the booming cross-border trade and make deliveries more efficient.
Driven by strong global demand, building or leasing these warehouses has become an essential part of the logistics strategies for Chinese merchants and the cross-border e-commerce platforms they do business on, as well as a major source of business for third-party warehousing providers. ?
BUSINESS & TECH
Aerospace?/
Geovis Insighter Technology Co. Ltd., the first commercial aerospace company to list on the Beijing Stock Exchange, achieved a successful IPO with a surge of 407.23% on its debut, in contrast to the recent failed listing attempt by another Chinese satellite company.
Established in 2016, state-backed Geovis Insighter specializes in integrated solutions for spacecraft measurement, control management and aerospace digital simulation. The company’s stock was first listed on China’s New Third Board in February 2023. ?
领英推荐
Energy Insider?/
BRIEFING
A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:
Earthquake hits Xizang: A 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook Shigatse in the Xizang autonomous region on Tuesday morning. The deaths of 126 people had been confirmed as of 7 p.m., while 188 people had been injured. A member of Tingri county emergency management staff said they had seen many collapsed or heavily damaged homes in the area. President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out rescue efforts.
Guo Wengui associate: Yvette Wang, former chief of staff for fallen Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a U.S. court for wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said that Guo, Wang and a third alleged conspirator defrauded over 1,000 victims out around $1.4 billion between 2018 and 2023. Guo was convicted last year, but has not yet been sentenced. Guo was a real estate magnate who fled China around 2014 to avoid a corruption-related investigation. Beijing confirmed in 2017 that Interpol issued a red notice seeking his arrest at China’s request for alleged money laundering, bribery and fraud. After fleeing China, Guo amassed a social media following by posting videos in which he would release purportedly confidential documents from the Chinese government, portraying himself as a government critic.
Law enforcement overreach: China’s top economic planner called for more efforts to prevent profit-driven law enforcement. In a new set of guidelines on building a “unified national market,” the National Development and Reform Commission said local authorities must not use administrative or criminal measures to illegally intervene in economic disputes or infringe businesses’ rights. The guidelines also remind local governments that they shouldn’t conduct illegal cross-regional law enforcement or exercise cross-regional jurisdiction. The problem of local governments actively seeking out businesses based in other areas to target with fines and asset confiscation — dubbed “long-distance fishing” — has grown as cash-strapped regions look to bolster their income.
Brain-computer interface: A team of Chinese scientists and doctors reportedly achieved a breakthrough in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. The Shanghai Science and Technology Commission said the NeuroXess startup worked with neurosurgeons at a top Shanghai hospital to implant a device which can decode the Chinese language. The device helped to preserve the language abilities of a patient who underwent surgery to remove a tumor near their brain’s language center. It can also gather information which will help develop future language-decoding algorithms. As China is increasingly emphasizing scientific and technological development as key to its economy’s long-term growth, BCI has been identified as a promising field.
Alleged military ties: The U.S. Department of Defense has updated its list of companies allegedly linked to the Chinese military, adding dozens of names including internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and battery-maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL). In its statement announcing the updates, the defense department didn’t detail why any individual firm warranted inclusion on the list. At the same time, it removed a handful of companies, including facial-recognition tech specialist Megvii Technology Ltd. While the list doesn’t carry sanctions or other direct penalties, it is expected to restrict access to some defense contracts. Both Tencent and CATL referred to their addition to the list as “a mistake.”
Watching the algorithm: Following in the footsteps of its rival Douyin, Kuaishou has announced steps it will take to fall in line with an official campaign to address issues with the algorithms that choose content for users. The short-video platform said it will make its algorithm more transparent, ensure users don’t end up in echo chambers and crack down on misinformation, among other measures. According to a recent survey, Chinese mobile internet users spend over one-fifth of their online time watching short videos. Kuaishou has a vast userbase — over 400 million monthly active users — but is dwarfed by Douyin, which has over 700 million. ?
Long Read?/