On 12 September, Mr.Stefaan Vanhooren, CEO of Agfa Graphics Asia and Chairman of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) met with Wang Luming, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Weihai, Shandong province; Zhang Tao, General Manager of Le Kai Huaguang Printing Technology Co; Hou Shichao, Member of the Standing Committee of the Weihai Municipal Party Committee and Secretary-General of the Committee; and Zhou Yongdi, Vice Mayor of Weihai.

The Weihai Daily reported that Mr. Stefaan Vanhooren is full of confidence in investment and cooperation in Weihai. He said that Agfa would regard Weihai as the best choice for enterprises to invest and develop in China, and start the project as soon as possible, so as to achieve a mutually beneficial and win-win situation through pragmatic cooperation.

The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce and the Province of East Flanders are organizing a seminar focused on ‘Custom formalities when exporting to China’. This event will take place at 15h30 on Monday 21 October 2019 at the Provincial House, Gouvernementstraat 1, 9000 Ghent.

Mrs. Isabelle Bédoyan, Customs Attaché, Embassy of Belgium in China, will present the procedures and regulations of the Chinese customs and other institutions, which are related to import or export. Special attention will be devoted to the changes caused by the reorganization of the General Administration of China Customs.

The following topics will be covered:
• Belgian Customs in China, can we help you?
• GACC – General Administration of China Customs: Organization and integration of quarantine
• Import and export duties, VAT on export

Mr. Leslie Lambregts, Director of International Affairs, FAVV, will be giving a speech on the support given by FAVV to local companies when exporting to China.

Programme:

15:30     Registration

16:00     Welcome and introduction by Ms. Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce

16:10     Presentation: ‘Custom formalities when exporting to China’ by Mrs. Isabelle Bédoyan, Customs Attaché Embassy of Belgium in China

17:05     Speech by Mr. Leslie Lambregts, Director International Affairs, FAVV Belgium

17:25     Q&A Session

17:40     Networking Drink

Practical Information:


Date and time: Monday 21 October 2019 from 15:30


Location: Provinciehuis, Gouvernementstraat 1, 9000 Gent


Price for members: €45 (excl. 21% VAT)
Price for non-members: €75 (excl. 21% VAT)

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China’s Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min

U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily exempt tariffs on 447 Chinese import products – which he imposed last year – as he asserted progress was made in the trade negotiations with China. Recently, China also agreed to resume purchases of American farm products. The U.S. list of exempted products includes printed circuit boards, dog collars, laminated wood flooring, miniature Christmas lights, certain single-speed bikes, various types of pumps, heat exchangers, compressors, chest-type coolers, upright freezers and household water filter cartridges. Exclusions from a total product list of USD34 billion will apply retroactively from July 6, 2018; exclusions from a USD16 billion list will apply retroactively from August 23, 2018; and exclusions from a USD200 billion list will apply retroactively from September 24, 2018. The exclusions will last for a year for products from the USD34 billion and USD16 billion product lists, but only until August 7, 2020 for products from the USD200 billion product list.

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s survey shows that 40% of midsize company leaders say Trump’s tariffs on imported goods are posing challenges for their business. “Rising tariffs and policy uncertainty are preventing midsize businesses – who employ millions of Americans – from investing and growing,” Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, China’s Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min led a delegation to the United States for talks to prepare the meeting of top negotiators planned for early October. He set out China’s agenda for the October talks, including items that were not negotiable. Liao is also a Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, a Communist Party organ in charge of supervising economic work. It is the first time he has taken a lead role in the trade talks. He was appointed in May last year as Deputy to Vice Premier Liu He, China’s leading negotiator in the trade talks.

The prospect of a substantive agreement in October remained in the balance. A diplomatic source said Beijing’s priority was to ensure a smooth celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1. As such, it could be expected to toughen its position after the anniversary, making an agreement more difficult to reach.

Prospects that the two countries would reach a comprehensive trade deal are still slim. China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun and a team of trade officials canceled a visit to U.S. farming states Montana and Nebraska due to a change in their travel schedule and returned to Beijing earlier than planned.

According to U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Tom Donohue, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the Chamber that there was still much work to be done to reach a trade deal with China, while he did not mention the possibility of an interim deal that could de-escalate trade tensions by further delaying tariff escalations. Negotiations broke down in early May after the U.S. side said the Chinese government had rejected American demands that it enshrines in domestic law major changes to address core U.S. concerns about intellectual property and forced technology transfer.

The U.S. government will need to agree to talks with Huawei Technologies as part of a future trade deal with China, according to Andy Purdy, Huawei’s Chief Security Officer. Huawei is regarded by some as a bargaining chip in the negotiations. He said the U.S. crackdown against Huawei is hurting American technology companies and workers more than the Chinese company. He said Huawei spent USD11 billion on U.S. supplies last year and that an estimated 40,000 U.S. jobs depend on its business. Huawei wants “transparent mechanisms” for evaluating its equipment and that of its competitors, which would build “trust through verification”, Purdy said, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

It remains to be seen whether U.S. President Donald Trump will increase tariffs on USD250 billion worth of Chinese goods from 25% to 30% in mid-October after a two-week delay. If he goes ahead, this could further derail the trade talks. Trump has also warned Beijing to agree to a trade agreement before the American presidential election next year. “I think there’ll be a deal maybe soon, maybe before the election, or one day after the election. And if it’s after the election, it’ll be a deal like you’ve never seen, it’ll be the greatest deal ever and China knows that,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “If it’s after the election, it’ll be the toughest deal anybody’s ever had to make from the standpoint of China, and they know that. China knows that,” Trump added.

Despite the trade war, China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) maintained steady growth in the first eight months of this year, increasing 2.7% to CNY493.09 billion, injected into 4,659 companies in 159 countries and regions. By the end of August, the number of Chinese employees working abroad reached 999,000, an increase of 5,000 over a year earlier.

In another development partly influenced by the trade war and the slowing economy, financial assets held by Chinese households dropped last year for the first time since the turn of the century, according to a report by Allianz. The country dropped three places to 34th in the global ranking of richest countries by financial assets per capita. Meanwhile, loans held by Chinese households grew 18.2% year-on-year, the highest among all countries in the region.

The Vivo IQOO Pro, the cheapest 5G-capable smartphone on the Chinese market

5G is poised to power the next generation of internet connectivity and e-commerce. Faster and more reliable than anything that has come before, 5G networks will enable people to communicate, consume entertainment and shop at unprecedented speeds. Markets like South Korea and Japan are leading the way in 5G adoption, along with China, which is set to become the world’s largest 5G market by 2025 with 460 million 5G users.

Huawei set up its mobile phone department in 2003, when China was still using 2G, or second-generation mobile technology. Back then, it took about 5 seconds to open a webpage. Sixteen years later, Huawei is the world’s second-largest smartphone maker. Its 5G-enabled handsets can download large data files, such as a 1 GB movie, in seconds. Huawei’s rise has been meteoric, coinciding with the development of China’s telecom industry, which has been transformed from a follower during the period of 2G and 3G to a pioneer in the 5G era.

Four of the world’s top six smartphone makers – Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo – are Chinese. In 2018, the country produced 1.8 billion smartphones, accounting for 90% of global production, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). At the end of May, Chinese companies accounted for more than 30% of all patents essential to the global standards for 5G. China issued commercial 5G licenses in June, and since then telecom carriers have been accelerating the building of the network infrastructure.

Yang Jie, Chairman of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator, said the company plans to cover 50 cities across China with 5G signals by the end of this year. “That will involve deploying 50,000 5G base stations across the country,” Yang said. Similarly, China Unicom said it will cover at least 40 cities with 5G signals by the end of this year and work together with all industry partners, including foreign companies, to accelerate 5G infrastructure construction. The country’s telecom carriers are expected to spend CNY900 billion to CNY1.5 trillion on 5G network construction from 2020 to 2025. The first batch of 5G smartphones hit the market in August.

Chinese companies have released 11 5G mobile phone models so far. James Yan, Research Director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said the prices of 5G smartphones are lower than market expectations. The cheapest one is the Vivo iQOO Pro at CNY3,798, about CNY2,000 to CNY3,000 lower than 5G alternatives by domestic rivals such as Huawei and foreign competitors such as Samsung. Vivo said pre-orders for its iQOO Pro model are worth more than CNY100 million as of September 1, 10 days after its launch.

China Eastern Airlines is introducing new intelligent boarding services based on 5G technology at Beijing’s new Daxing international airport. Along with Huawei and China Unicom, it has installed a facial recognition system that allows passengers to complete boarding procedures by having their faces scanned. The carrier has also launched the world’s first electronic luggage tag, which allows travelers to check-in and track their bags via their mobile phones. Such smart services will be field-tested when the new mega airport opens by the end of the month, and then promoted at other airports in Shanghai and Beijing as well as nationwide, China Eastern said. Passengers can also check flight information, gates, weather at their destination, and walking time to their gate by scanning their faces at devices around the airport.

Apple’s new iPhone 11 went on sale in China on September 20, but received a cooler reception compared to its predecessors. Many compared it with Huawei’s newly launched Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, saying the Chinese firm’s device beats the new iPhone in terms of innovation and quality. The 5G version of the Huawei Mate 30 moreover offers connectivity to the new 5G networks already operating in China, a function which the iPhone lacks. Huawei unveiled its Mate 30 smartphone series in Munich, Germany, on September 19 and the phones will be available for pre-ordering in China this week. The Shenzhen-based company will promote its own Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) app gallery, in lieu of Google’s own system. Sales in Europe have been postponed due to the lack of the Google Play Store under the U.S. trade ban.

The European Commission is preparing a coordinated EU-wide evaluation of the potential risks associated with 5G networks by October 3. The Commission will propose measures for addressing the risks identified during the assessment process by year’s end. Huawei has been appealing EU member states to oppose the U.S. effort to block it from supplying EU countries with 5G mobile network hardware and software. The U.S., in turn, has threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing with countries that use Huawei’s products. Huawei has been temporarily suspended from the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), an organization that shares threat intelligence in security incidents among more than 400 member companies in Europe, the Americas, Asia and elsewhere.

Shanghai’s Hongkou District is striving to become the world’s first district to be covered with gigabit 5G connectivity and broadband network. The Superfast North Bund Comprehensive Demonstration Zone was set up in the district and by the end of June there was 5G coverage across the district. The internet speed at key office buildings was increased as part of efforts to optimize its business environment. China’s three major telecom carriers have preferential policies to help companies based in Hongkou upgrade their internet speed. By the end of August, over 120 companies had finished internet upgrading to enjoy gigabit internet connectivity.

By the end of September 6, the district had built 610 5G base stations, which means every square kilometer of land has 14 5G base stations. Key areas such as the North Bund and Sichuan Road N. commercial street have the fastest download speed of 1.6 Gbps, while the average in the district is above 800 Mbps.

Meanwhile, the district has initially released 10 5G applications, covering medical services, education, finance, retail, public security, fire prevention, urban management, construction and sports. Many of the services are being offered at hospitals, schools, construction sites and sports venues in Hongkou. The district has established a number of major innovation parks and maker spaces to create an innovative 5G ecological system, including the newly unveiled 5G International Innovation Harbor, Huawei-Shanghai 5G+VR/AR/MR Innovation Center and Lingang 5G scientific park.

The 10 major 5G applications in Hongkou district as reported by the Shanghai Daily:
1. Smart medical treatment: Shanghai General Hospital in Hongkou has become the city’s first hospital to be fully covered by the 5G network. It is exploring the application of 5G for pre-hospital first-aid, remote consultations, remote surgery guidance, remote ultrasound connections and augmented reality.
2. Wisdom education: The Shanghai East Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU has been sharing its quality classes with the North Daqiu Middle School in Yunnan province. The program aims to improve linguistic education in remote mountainous regions.
3. Smart finance: China Construction Bank’s North Bund branch is the first 5G bank in the city. It uses 5G and AI to improve customers’ self-service experience.
4. Smart retail: An unmanned supermarket has been opened in Hongkou featuring 5G and AI technologies. The Aiqunar store has high-definition cameras to track customers’ actions and offer remote payment.
5. Smart public security: The Hongkou Public Security Bureau is exploring a three-dimensional patrol system for the police, providing intelligent law enforcement.
6. Smart firefighting: The Hongkou fire brigade uses drones to spot fires quickly and send photos through the 5G network, helping firefighters to choose the most efficient way to extinguish fires.
7. Smart city management: The Hongkou District Urban Management Law Enforcement Bureau has installed high-definition panoramic cameras on law enforcement patrol cars, while officers wear recorders to send back real-time information to the command headquarters.
8. Smart construction site: The No. 78 plot in Hongkou has launched a smart site management platform to monitor personnel and construction materials entering the site.
9. Smart Party construction: Hongkou District Science and Technology Financial Party Construction Service Center applies 5G+VR technology to improve the quality of Party classes and to revive the history of the Communist Party of China.
10. Smart sports: A popular public basketball game has been using 5G, 4K and VR technologies for live broadcasts.