Category: Business
Changan Becomes Latest Chinese Automaker to Break Ground in Thailand
Changan, one of China’s Big Four automakers, held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for its first assembly plant in Thailand, following other Chinese car sellers in a rapid expansion into Southeast Asia. The new manufacturing facility is located in Thailand’s auto hotspot ...
Indonesia’s EV Ambition May Be Underestimating Some Challenges. Relying On China Won’t Be Enough
Indonesia is on a quest to build an end-to-end electric vehicle (EV) industry. The country is rich with nickel, an important raw material for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM)-based EV batteries. It’s a “confident middle-income” country, according to the World Bank, and it’s got a thriving automotive ...
New Documentary Humanizes the China-Africa Relationship
Eat Bitter is a new documentary making the rounds of the international film festival circuit that tells the story of two men, one from China and the other from the Central African Republic (CAR), who work on opposite ends of the ...
Kenyan-Chinese Smartphone Assembly Plant Debuts
Kenyan President William Ruto launched the country’s first smartphone assembly plant earlier this week. Located in a town outside of Nairobi, the East Africa Device Assembly Kenya plant is a joint venture between Kenyan telecom companies Safaricom and Jamii and the Chinese mobile device dealer Shenzhen TeleOne Technology. ...
China’s BYD Takes Pole Position in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s Largest EV Market
Chinese electric vehicle brand BYD has been taking over Thailand by storm. Its most popular model – Atto 3 SUVs now controls 31% of Thailand’s electric vehicle (EV) segment, less than a year after it launched in October 2022. This ...
South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and China Construction Bank Boost Ties for Trade, Financing
South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and China Construction Bank have extended a partnership for another five years to foster trade relations between China and Africa. The two will focus over the next five years on supporting customers within the China-Africa corridor ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Foreign Minister Wang Yi Said China Willing To “Play a Constructive Role” at Upcoming APEC Summit in November
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to "play a constructive role" at the upcoming APEC summit in November but wouldn't confirm if President Xi Jinping will attend. Xi stayed home from both the recent G20 and ASEAN summits, prompting speculation he'll do the same for APEC.
China’s Wuling Electrifies Indonesia’s EV Market, but Can the Spark Last?
Chinese electric vehicle maker Wuling is reaping what it sowed almost eight years ago in Indonesia — the largest and most lucrative auto market in Southeast Asia. After injecting a billion U.S. dollar investment over that period, Wuling has now sold over 10,000 Air EVs and ...
Vietnamese EV-Brand VinFast Hopes Possible EU Sanctions Against Chinese Electric Cars Will Give It an Opening
Vietnamese electric vehicle company Vinfast plans to ship its first batch of 3,000 VF8 crossovers to Europe later this year and the upstart EV brand may even get an assist from European Union trade authorities. Earlier this month, the European Commission ...
China’s Two-Pronged Auto Export Strategy: EVs to the North, Gas-Powered to the South
Analysts are forecasting Chinese automakers will ship 5 million vehicles this year, solidifying the country's position as the world's largest auto exporter. But there's a stark discrepancy in terms of what kind of cars go where, according to Michael Dunne, one ...
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema Does the Rounds of Shenzhen’s Tech Giants
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema devoted the third day of his week-long China tour to visiting some of the country's largest tech companies headquartered in the southern megacity of Shenzhen. The president visited the headquarters of internet giant Tencent, automaker BYD and ...
Two Weeks After the Coup, It’s Business as Usual For Gabon’s Chinese Community
Other than a 6 p.m. curfew every night, daily life for most of the 3,000 Chinese expatriates in Gabon hasn't changed much since the military overthrew the government of longtime dictator Ali Bongo on August 30. A media worker for the ...