The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, episode 58

Welcome to the 57th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We hear that China’s currency continued weakening last week and hit its lowest level in a year as escalating trade tensions between China and the U.S. eroded market sentiment. We analyze a new report that shows that China’s currency grew more international over the course of last year thanks to a sound Chinese economy and closer trade ties among countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. We find out that two U.S. companies specializing in hyperloop, a futuristic transport technology using high-speed pods zipping through sealed tubes, have secured funding from Chinese sources to advance their high-cost development. We learn that Britain has joined the U.S. and Australia in voicing concern about leading Chinese telecom-equipment maker Huawei, saying it has “only limited assurance” that the company’s products pose no national security threat. We discuss the rumors that Beijing could be contemplating a merger between China Telecom and China Unicom given that they have simultaneously announced a series of top executive moves. We discover that Chinese car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is taking its service to Japan by launching a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. We note that English soccer giant Arsenal F.C. was duped out of $179,000 by a phony representative of China’s largest electric-vehicle maker, BYD. We are informed that China has received its first delivery of liquefied natural gas from one of the world’s most ambitious energy projects, in Russia, north of the Arctic Circle, just seven months after it began production. In addition, we talk with Coco Feng, business reporter with Caixin Global, about Google’s latest move in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about appliance maker Vatti, a Chinese sponsor of the World Cup champion that gave refunds to some customers after promising such rewards if France’s team won the tournament in a marketing campaign. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to [email protected]. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.