The EU Commission has spoken the last word in the anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EV imports for the time being. In its draft final report, the Brussels authority revised its extra tariffs again. The average rate increases slightly, and the maximum rate for uncooperative EV companies in the People’s Republic decreases slightly after feedback from China and correcting a calculation error. The main beneficiary of all this is US manufacturer Tesla, as János Allenbach-Ammann from Europe.Table has summarized for us.
The extra tariffs are part of the EU’s efforts to keep key future industries in Europe. To this end, these sectors must either be protected from fierce competition or dumping, as is the case with electric cars – or they are given generous financial aid. This was the path chosen for the chip industry. International companies that settle in Europe and Germany, such as Intel, receive support and money.
The Taiwanese semiconductor market leader TSMC has now broken ground for its new chip plant in Saxony. Alongside CEO C.C. Wei, numerous top politicians, including Chancellor Scholz and EU Commission President von der Leyen, attended the ceremony. They all hope that the plant will increase resilience in an industry that is vital for all future technologies, as J.D. Capelouto analyzes. The German state of Saxony also hopes the plant will create even more attractive high-tech jobs.
Your Christiane Kühl
Feature
TSMC ground-breaking ceremony: What Europe’s politicians hope for from the new plant
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei welcomes EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the groundbreaking ceremony for the TSMC plant in Saxony.
Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC broke ground Tuesday on a massive new plant in Dresden, its first in Europe and a marker of the continent’s newfound chip ambitions. The factory – formally called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – is a collaboration between TSMC and three established European partners: Infineon, Bosch, and NXP.
Top politicians and company CEOs who symbolically shoveled dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday hailed the project as a tentpole in Germany and Europe’s efforts to catch up in the critical sector of semiconductors. “This is more than a groundbreaking ceremony,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “It is an endorsement for Europe as a global innovation powerhouse.”
The 10-billion-euro plant – partly funded by 5 billion euros in subsidies from the German government that were unlocked through the European Chips Act – represents one of the single largest investments in Saxony’s history, and will focus on making chips for cars. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said the company chose to expand to Germany to be “close to our customers.”
EU wants to manufacture semiconductors itself
Pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, which hurt Germany’s critical automotive sector, woke up EU leaders to the reality that the continent needs to be a critical player in the chip industry.
Saxony is already critical to European chipmaking, with a third of the continent’s semiconductors manufactured in the Dresden area. It has branded itself as “Silicon Saxony.” The factory, scheduled to start operations in 2027, is expected to create about 2,000 high-tech jobs, and local officials estimate the surrounding supply chain will generate more jobs.
Looming over the sector’s future in Germany are threats that were only briefly alluded to during the optimistic speeches at the groundbreaking: Though he didn’t mention China by name, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tied the new plant to Germany’s strategy of economically “derisking” from the geopolitical volatile superpower. “We are dependent on semiconductors for our sustainable future technologies, but we must not be dependent on other regions of the world for the supply of semiconductors,” the Chancellor said.
Caught in the geopolitical crosshairs
And von der Leyen pointed out that “at a time of growing geopolitical tensions, TSMC will also benefit from geographic diversification to Europe.” The company has been caught in the crosshairs of US-China tensions, with its stock price dropping last month after US presidential candidate Donald Trump said Taiwan should pay for US protection.
Much of the business sector also worries that the rise of the German far-right could make the country less appealing to skilled foreign workers who are desperately needed in the microelectronics sector. Experts worry there will be a deficit between the number of high-tech roles in the region – Dresden business groups predict the jobs could total 100,000 by 2030 – and the number of qualified people who can fill them.
Scholz said Germany needs to create the “social and political conditions” that invite investment and have “no isolation, no anxiety about the future.” He said a “pro-European and future-oriented Germany” is needed, likely a dig at Euro-skeptic populist parties. Joseph Capelouto
De-Risking
Geopolitik
Tesla benefits: Commission adjusts countervailing duties on Chinese EV
Production line of the AVATR at Changan Auto in Chongqing.
On Tuesday, the EU Commission presented the draft final report on the anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EV imports. The investigation was initiated in October because the EU Commission suspected the heavily subsidized Chinese car industry of damaging the European market. In July, the Commission imposed provisional countervailing duties.
Tesla benefits from lower countervailing duty
Based on car manufacturers’ feedback, the Commission has now slightly adjusted the planned countervailing duties:
BYD: 17 percent (previously 17.4 percent)
Geely: 19.3 percent (previously 19.9 percent)
SAIC: 36.3 percent (previously 37.6 percent)
Tesla: 9 percent (previously 20.8 percent)
Other cooperating manufacturers: 21.3 percent (previously 20.8 percent)
Other non-cooperating manufacturers: 36.3 percent (previously 37.6 percent)
The countervailing duty is levied in addition to the existing duty of ten percent.
The adjustment primarily benefits Tesla. According to Commission officials, the US company requested a separate assessment from the Commission instead of being subject to the general countervailing duty of cooperating manufacturers.
The official justified the favorable decision for Tesla with the company’s simple structure – it is the only wholly non-Chinese company examined. Moreover, Tesla does not obtain its financing from China and therefore cannot benefit from Chinese financial subsidies.
Provisional duties and retroactive duties are not enforced
The Commission slightly raised the countervailing duty for manufacturers that were not evaluated separately but cooperated with the investigation. According to an EU official, the reason for this was an error made by the Commission when it calculated the provisional countervailing duties. The rate was calculated from a weighted average and a mistake in the original version distorted the result. This error has now been corrected with the upward revision of the countervailing duty.
The EU Commission also decided that the provisional duties levied since July will not be enforced. Commission officials say that the legal condition for this – specifically that the European market has already suffered material damage – has not been met and there is still only a “risk” of damage. For the same reason, the EU will also refrain from retroactively applying the countervailing duties.
Deadline on October 30
The companies affected by the countervailing duties now have ten days to respond to the proposed countervailing duties. China also has the opportunity to intervene at any time, said an EU official: “It is up to China to propose a solution,” he said.
The Commission will present its final assessment to the member states within the next two months, which will then enter into force – unless the member states vote against it with a qualified majority. The deadline for the countervailing duties to enter into force is October 30.
Transformation
Sinolytics.Radar
AI: Why the workplace of tomorrow could be decided in China
Dieser Inhalt ist Lizenznehmern unserer Vollversion vorbehalten.
AI productivity apps are revolutionizing the way we work. China is no different. But in China, under the influence of regulatory restrictions, combined with a strong government push for AI development, very different players are exploring the future of how we work and learn.
While outside of China ChatGPT, Claude, Otter.ai, Gamma and many other applications are changing people’s (working) lives, in China the same trend is being driven by players like Moonshot AI’s KimiChat, Baidu’s Ernie Bot, iFLYTEK’s Spark, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qwen, or by the Tsinghua-rooted start-up Zhipu AI.
Broadly speaking, Chinese GenAI productivity applications are not much different from comparable applications from U.S. or European companies. But they benefit from certain advantages: the abundance of training data in China and the openness of Chinese users to try new apps and digital products – combined with fierce competition from other strong Chinese players, a large pool of AI talent, and significant political support, but protected from international competition by regulatory restrictions.
The way we work in the near future could be decided in China. All these advantages might be a perfect breeding ground for the next wave of Chinese tech companies to go global. China’s AI players are ambitious, and the political agenda is clear: By 2030, China wants to become a global leader in AI.
From a European perspective, this raises many questions that European business and policy-makers should be prepared to answer: Is Europe ready for strong Chinese competition in GenAI in its home market(s)? And how can European companies take advantage of Chinese GenAI applications by using or learning from them?
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Technologie
News
Business as usual: Li Qiang visits Russia and Belarus
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has arrived in Moscow for talks with his counterpart Mikhail Mishustin. Beijing announced on Tuesday that the talks were part of the annual consultations between the Chinese and Russian governments launched in 1996. Li and Mishustin will meet “to exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations, practical cooperation and key issues of common interest.” Li will fly to Belarus from Moscow.
The itinerary shows that China continues to focus on business as usual with Russia and Belarus, even though this attitude has led to tensions with the West for years. Mishustin visited Beijing twice in 2023 alone – as did the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
‘Power of Siberia 2’ gas pipeline remains on hold
Generally, the premiers talk less about strategic issues and more about specific cooperation projects. However, the talks are unlikely to make any progress on Russia’s second gas pipeline to China called “Power of Siberia 2”. China has been slowing down the project for some time, and now Mongolia, through which part of the 2,600-kilometer pipeline would run, is apparently also putting its foot down.
The Mongolian government’s new action plan up to 2028 does not include the “Power of Siberia 2,” as the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. Mongolia is reportedly concerned about secondary sanctions from the West. There is also disagreement over financial issues. “Mongolia hopes to get investment from China and Russia, [but] Russia does not have the money and China is not in a rush to build,” the newspaper quoted expert Li Lifan from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences as saying. ck
Geopolitik
Anti-dumping: Beijing imposes tariffs on rubber products
Since Tuesday, China has been imposing anti-dumping duties on halogenated rubber originating in the United States, the European Union and Singapore. It is used mainly in products such as airtight layers of tubeless tires, heat-resistant hoses, medical bottle caps, upholstery, adhesives, and sealing materials. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced this at the beginning of the week.
The new Chinese duties range between 23.1 and 75.5 percent and have been imposed for the next five years. The Ministry states that affected US companies will have to pay a tariff of 75.5 percent, companies from the EU and the UK between 27.4 percent and 71.9 percent, while manufacturers from Singapore will have to pay between 23.1 percent and 45.2 percent. ari
Handel
Nuclear power: State Council approves eleven new reactors
China has approved five new nuclear energy projects with a total investment of around 200 billion yuan (just over 25 billion euros). As reported by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, the projects approved by the State Council include eleven new nuclear reactors in the coastal provinces of Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, as well as in the autonomous region of Guangxi. This is the highest number of plants approved by Beijing at once since 2019. In 2023 and 2022, the State Council approved ten reactors each.
Investments have increased every year since 2019. The new approvals mean that China continues to accelerate the development of nuclear power. The government considers it a green energy source needed to achieve its climate targets. Nevertheless, construction continues to stall. Now CGN Power alone, the listed unit of the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation, announced in a stock exchange listing in Hong Kong on Tuesday that it had received approvals for six reactors at three sites, according to SCMP. China National Nuclear Power will also build three of the reactors and State Power Investment Corporation two.
According to local reports, China commissioned two new reactor units in 2023 and five this year. In total, China operates 55 nuclear reactors with an installed nominal capacity of 57 gigawatts. This ranks third behind the USA and France. According to the South China Morning Post, China’s nuclear power plants generated 433.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, contributing around five percent to the country’s electricity supply. Another 36 nuclear reactors are currently under construction. According to the state news agency Xinhua, this gives China the world’s largest construction pipeline for nuclear power plants. ck
China
Energie
Energy
Nuclear power
Xinhua
Trade-in scheme: How China’s EV sales could reach ten million
China’s car trade-in scheme could increase total EV sales to over ten million units this year. This is according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) after Beijing announced plans in July to double the subsidies for the trade-in program announced in April. The original estimate for the trade-in scheme was 11.2 billion yuan (around 1.4 billion euros). This alone would have been enough to replace up to 1.1 million older gasoline cars with electric cars, writes BNEF analyst Siyi Mi in a new report.
The new total amount of the trade-in scheme has not yet been announced. However, BNEF expects that the higher subsidies could lead to an additional 1.1 million electric cars being sold. In total, the scheme would result in an additional 2.2 million electric vehicles being sold, which could increase sales to ten million.
According to BNEF, China’s drivers scrapped 2.78 million vehicles between January and June as part of the bonus, 28 percent more than in the same period last year. The EV segment could do with increased demand for the trade-in scheme as it suffers from weak sales, overcapacity and an ongoing price war. Following the increase, car buyers are now eligible for 20,000 yuan (just over 2,500 euros) for scrapping an older, high-emission car and replacing it with an electric one. If they trade in a more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicle, they can also receive 15,000 yuan. Some cities offer additional incentives. ck
Autoindustrie
Car Industry
E-Autos
Electromobility
Executive Moves
Lu Xinning, Deputy Director of the Beijing Liaison Office in Hong Kong, has been appointed as a member of the Chinese Communist Party Standing Committee of Guangxi. The 57-year-old joined the Liaison Office in May 2019, shortly before the outbreak of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Before working in Hong Kong, Lu was the deputy editor-in-chief of the state newspaper People’s Daily.
Stella Xu has been appointed Head of Institutional Business for Greater China at the US investment company Capital Group. Xu joins the company from Fidelity International.
Is something changing in your organization? Let us know at heads@table.media!
Dessert
Finding refuge from an approaching typhoon has always been one of the challenges of Chinese coastal shipping. As in centuries past, fishing boats still seek safety in sheltered bays or harbors. Here, dozens of boats have fled to the natural harbor of the now fairly urbanized fishing village of Shenjiamen on Zhoushan Island in the sea off Zhejiang Province. It is purely a precautionary measure: Typhoon Jongdari caused squalls and high swells on Tuesday, particularly off the coasts of South Korea.
The EU Commission has spoken the last word in the anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EV imports for the time being. In its draft final report, the Brussels authority revised its extra tariffs again. The average rate increases slightly, and the maximum rate for uncooperative EV companies in the People’s Republic decreases slightly after feedback from China and correcting a calculation error. The main beneficiary of all this is US manufacturer Tesla, as János Allenbach-Ammann from Europe.Table has summarized for us.
The extra tariffs are part of the EU’s efforts to keep key future industries in Europe. To this end, these sectors must either be protected from fierce competition or dumping, as is the case with electric cars – or they are given generous financial aid. This was the path chosen for the chip industry. International companies that settle in Europe and Germany, such as Intel, receive support and money.
The Taiwanese semiconductor market leader TSMC has now broken ground for its new chip plant in Saxony. Alongside CEO C.C. Wei, numerous top politicians, including Chancellor Scholz and EU Commission President von der Leyen, attended the ceremony. They all hope that the plant will increase resilience in an industry that is vital for all future technologies, as J.D. Capelouto analyzes. The German state of Saxony also hopes the plant will create even more attractive high-tech jobs.
Your Christiane Kühl
Feature
TSMC ground-breaking ceremony: What Europe’s politicians hope for from the new plant
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei welcomes EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the groundbreaking ceremony for the TSMC plant in Saxony.
Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC broke ground Tuesday on a massive new plant in Dresden, its first in Europe and a marker of the continent’s newfound chip ambitions. The factory – formally called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – is a collaboration between TSMC and three established European partners: Infineon, Bosch, and NXP.
Top politicians and company CEOs who symbolically shoveled dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday hailed the project as a tentpole in Germany and Europe’s efforts to catch up in the critical sector of semiconductors. “This is more than a groundbreaking ceremony,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “It is an endorsement for Europe as a global innovation powerhouse.”
The 10-billion-euro plant – partly funded by 5 billion euros in subsidies from the German government that were unlocked through the European Chips Act – represents one of the single largest investments in Saxony’s history, and will focus on making chips for cars. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said the company chose to expand to Germany to be “close to our customers.”
EU wants to manufacture semiconductors itself
Pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, which hurt Germany’s critical automotive sector, woke up EU leaders to the reality that the continent needs to be a critical player in the chip industry.
Saxony is already critical to European chipmaking, with a third of the continent’s semiconductors manufactured in the Dresden area. It has branded itself as “Silicon Saxony.” The factory, scheduled to start operations in 2027, is expected to create about 2,000 high-tech jobs, and local officials estimate the surrounding supply chain will generate more jobs.
Looming over the sector’s future in Germany are threats that were only briefly alluded to during the optimistic speeches at the groundbreaking: Though he didn’t mention China by name, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tied the new plant to Germany’s strategy of economically “derisking” from the geopolitical volatile superpower. “We are dependent on semiconductors for our sustainable future technologies, but we must not be dependent on other regions of the world for the supply of semiconductors,” the Chancellor said.
Caught in the geopolitical crosshairs
And von der Leyen pointed out that “at a time of growing geopolitical tensions, TSMC will also benefit from geographic diversification to Europe.” The company has been caught in the crosshairs of US-China tensions, with its stock price dropping last month after US presidential candidate Donald Trump said Taiwan should pay for US protection.
Much of the business sector also worries that the rise of the German far-right could make the country less appealing to skilled foreign workers who are desperately needed in the microelectronics sector. Experts worry there will be a deficit between the number of high-tech roles in the region – Dresden business groups predict the jobs could total 100,000 by 2030 – and the number of qualified people who can fill them.
Scholz said Germany needs to create the “social and political conditions” that invite investment and have “no isolation, no anxiety about the future.” He said a “pro-European and future-oriented Germany” is needed, likely a dig at Euro-skeptic populist parties. Joseph Capelouto
De-Risking
Geopolitik
Tesla benefits: Commission adjusts countervailing duties on Chinese EV
Production line of the AVATR at Changan Auto in Chongqing.
On Tuesday, the EU Commission presented the draft final report on the anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EV imports. The investigation was initiated in October because the EU Commission suspected the heavily subsidized Chinese car industry of damaging the European market. In July, the Commission imposed provisional countervailing duties.
Tesla benefits from lower countervailing duty
Based on car manufacturers’ feedback, the Commission has now slightly adjusted the planned countervailing duties:
BYD: 17 percent (previously 17.4 percent)
Geely: 19.3 percent (previously 19.9 percent)
SAIC: 36.3 percent (previously 37.6 percent)
Tesla: 9 percent (previously 20.8 percent)
Other cooperating manufacturers: 21.3 percent (previously 20.8 percent)
Other non-cooperating manufacturers: 36.3 percent (previously 37.6 percent)
The countervailing duty is levied in addition to the existing duty of ten percent.
The adjustment primarily benefits Tesla. According to Commission officials, the US company requested a separate assessment from the Commission instead of being subject to the general countervailing duty of cooperating manufacturers.
The official justified the favorable decision for Tesla with the company’s simple structure – it is the only wholly non-Chinese company examined. Moreover, Tesla does not obtain its financing from China and therefore cannot benefit from Chinese financial subsidies.
Provisional duties and retroactive duties are not enforced
The Commission slightly raised the countervailing duty for manufacturers that were not evaluated separately but cooperated with the investigation. According to an EU official, the reason for this was an error made by the Commission when it calculated the provisional countervailing duties. The rate was calculated from a weighted average and a mistake in the original version distorted the result. This error has now been corrected with the upward revision of the countervailing duty.
The EU Commission also decided that the provisional duties levied since July will not be enforced. Commission officials say that the legal condition for this – specifically that the European market has already suffered material damage – has not been met and there is still only a “risk” of damage. For the same reason, the EU will also refrain from retroactively applying the countervailing duties.
Deadline on October 30
The companies affected by the countervailing duties now have ten days to respond to the proposed countervailing duties. China also has the opportunity to intervene at any time, said an EU official: “It is up to China to propose a solution,” he said.
The Commission will present its final assessment to the member states within the next two months, which will then enter into force – unless the member states vote against it with a qualified majority. The deadline for the countervailing duties to enter into force is October 30.
Transformation
Sinolytics.Radar
AI: Why the workplace of tomorrow could be decided in China
Dieser Inhalt ist Lizenznehmern unserer Vollversion vorbehalten.
AI productivity apps are revolutionizing the way we work. China is no different. But in China, under the influence of regulatory restrictions, combined with a strong government push for AI development, very different players are exploring the future of how we work and learn.
While outside of China ChatGPT, Claude, Otter.ai, Gamma and many other applications are changing people’s (working) lives, in China the same trend is being driven by players like Moonshot AI’s KimiChat, Baidu’s Ernie Bot, iFLYTEK’s Spark, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qwen, or by the Tsinghua-rooted start-up Zhipu AI.
Broadly speaking, Chinese GenAI productivity applications are not much different from comparable applications from U.S. or European companies. But they benefit from certain advantages: the abundance of training data in China and the openness of Chinese users to try new apps and digital products – combined with fierce competition from other strong Chinese players, a large pool of AI talent, and significant political support, but protected from international competition by regulatory restrictions.
The way we work in the near future could be decided in China. All these advantages might be a perfect breeding ground for the next wave of Chinese tech companies to go global. China’s AI players are ambitious, and the political agenda is clear: By 2030, China wants to become a global leader in AI.
From a European perspective, this raises many questions that European business and policy-makers should be prepared to answer: Is Europe ready for strong Chinese competition in GenAI in its home market(s)? And how can European companies take advantage of Chinese GenAI applications by using or learning from them?
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Technologie
News
Business as usual: Li Qiang visits Russia and Belarus
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has arrived in Moscow for talks with his counterpart Mikhail Mishustin. Beijing announced on Tuesday that the talks were part of the annual consultations between the Chinese and Russian governments launched in 1996. Li and Mishustin will meet “to exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations, practical cooperation and key issues of common interest.” Li will fly to Belarus from Moscow.
The itinerary shows that China continues to focus on business as usual with Russia and Belarus, even though this attitude has led to tensions with the West for years. Mishustin visited Beijing twice in 2023 alone – as did the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
‘Power of Siberia 2’ gas pipeline remains on hold
Generally, the premiers talk less about strategic issues and more about specific cooperation projects. However, the talks are unlikely to make any progress on Russia’s second gas pipeline to China called “Power of Siberia 2”. China has been slowing down the project for some time, and now Mongolia, through which part of the 2,600-kilometer pipeline would run, is apparently also putting its foot down.
The Mongolian government’s new action plan up to 2028 does not include the “Power of Siberia 2,” as the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. Mongolia is reportedly concerned about secondary sanctions from the West. There is also disagreement over financial issues. “Mongolia hopes to get investment from China and Russia, [but] Russia does not have the money and China is not in a rush to build,” the newspaper quoted expert Li Lifan from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences as saying. ck
Geopolitik
Anti-dumping: Beijing imposes tariffs on rubber products
Since Tuesday, China has been imposing anti-dumping duties on halogenated rubber originating in the United States, the European Union and Singapore. It is used mainly in products such as airtight layers of tubeless tires, heat-resistant hoses, medical bottle caps, upholstery, adhesives, and sealing materials. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced this at the beginning of the week.
The new Chinese duties range between 23.1 and 75.5 percent and have been imposed for the next five years. The Ministry states that affected US companies will have to pay a tariff of 75.5 percent, companies from the EU and the UK between 27.4 percent and 71.9 percent, while manufacturers from Singapore will have to pay between 23.1 percent and 45.2 percent. ari
Handel
Nuclear power: State Council approves eleven new reactors
China has approved five new nuclear energy projects with a total investment of around 200 billion yuan (just over 25 billion euros). As reported by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, the projects approved by the State Council include eleven new nuclear reactors in the coastal provinces of Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, as well as in the autonomous region of Guangxi. This is the highest number of plants approved by Beijing at once since 2019. In 2023 and 2022, the State Council approved ten reactors each.
Investments have increased every year since 2019. The new approvals mean that China continues to accelerate the development of nuclear power. The government considers it a green energy source needed to achieve its climate targets. Nevertheless, construction continues to stall. Now CGN Power alone, the listed unit of the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation, announced in a stock exchange listing in Hong Kong on Tuesday that it had received approvals for six reactors at three sites, according to SCMP. China National Nuclear Power will also build three of the reactors and State Power Investment Corporation two.
According to local reports, China commissioned two new reactor units in 2023 and five this year. In total, China operates 55 nuclear reactors with an installed nominal capacity of 57 gigawatts. This ranks third behind the USA and France. According to the South China Morning Post, China’s nuclear power plants generated 433.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, contributing around five percent to the country’s electricity supply. Another 36 nuclear reactors are currently under construction. According to the state news agency Xinhua, this gives China the world’s largest construction pipeline for nuclear power plants. ck
China
Energie
Energy
Nuclear power
Xinhua
Trade-in scheme: How China’s EV sales could reach ten million
China’s car trade-in scheme could increase total EV sales to over ten million units this year. This is according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) after Beijing announced plans in July to double the subsidies for the trade-in program announced in April. The original estimate for the trade-in scheme was 11.2 billion yuan (around 1.4 billion euros). This alone would have been enough to replace up to 1.1 million older gasoline cars with electric cars, writes BNEF analyst Siyi Mi in a new report.
The new total amount of the trade-in scheme has not yet been announced. However, BNEF expects that the higher subsidies could lead to an additional 1.1 million electric cars being sold. In total, the scheme would result in an additional 2.2 million electric vehicles being sold, which could increase sales to ten million.
According to BNEF, China’s drivers scrapped 2.78 million vehicles between January and June as part of the bonus, 28 percent more than in the same period last year. The EV segment could do with increased demand for the trade-in scheme as it suffers from weak sales, overcapacity and an ongoing price war. Following the increase, car buyers are now eligible for 20,000 yuan (just over 2,500 euros) for scrapping an older, high-emission car and replacing it with an electric one. If they trade in a more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicle, they can also receive 15,000 yuan. Some cities offer additional incentives. ck
Autoindustrie
Car Industry
E-Autos
Electromobility
Executive Moves
Lu Xinning, Deputy Director of the Beijing Liaison Office in Hong Kong, has been appointed as a member of the Chinese Communist Party Standing Committee of Guangxi. The 57-year-old joined the Liaison Office in May 2019, shortly before the outbreak of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Before working in Hong Kong, Lu was the deputy editor-in-chief of the state newspaper People’s Daily.
Stella Xu has been appointed Head of Institutional Business for Greater China at the US investment company Capital Group. Xu joins the company from Fidelity International.
Is something changing in your organization? Let us know at heads@table.media!
Dessert
Finding refuge from an approaching typhoon has always been one of the challenges of Chinese coastal shipping. As in centuries past, fishing boats still seek safety in sheltered bays or harbors. Here, dozens of boats have fled to the natural harbor of the now fairly urbanized fishing village of Shenjiamen on Zhoushan Island in the sea off Zhejiang Province. It is purely a precautionary measure: Typhoon Jongdari caused squalls and high swells on Tuesday, particularly off the coasts of South Korea.
