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China Communist Party magazine calls for crackdown on price wars

China Communist Party magazine calls for crackdown on price wars

The Standard2 days ago
China's Xi chairs meeting of financial officials aimed at better regulating pricing by firms, Xinhua says
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China's trade-in programme boosts sales of foreign brands
China's trade-in programme boosts sales of foreign brands

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China's trade-in programme boosts sales of foreign brands

Global brands including US tech giant Apple have recorded an unexpected bump in sales in China over recent months, as they reap the benefit of Beijing's giant consumption-boosting subsidy campaign. China has ploughed 300 billion yuan (US$40.9 billion) of funding from a special bond sale this year into the trade-in programme – which provides hefty discounts on goods ranging from cars to smartphones – as the government strives to raise domestic demand and offset the impact of US tariffs. The policy had already driven 1.1 trillion yuan in sales as of the end of May, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce, providing a boost to several major multinationals. Sales of iPhones in China grew by 8 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2025, marking Apple's first quarter of positive sales growth in the country for two years, consulting firm Counterpoint Research said in a research note on Thursday. The report attributed the uptick to Apple's aggressive discount campaigns in May, which were bolstered significantly by China's national trade-in programme. The company cut prices for the iPhone 16 series ahead of China's '618' shopping festival on June 18. 'Second quarter performance has been propped up by the national subsidy for smartphones, but it looks like the programme will be scaled back during the latter half of the year,' the note said.

More than 90% of Hong Kong's AI supercomputing capacity in use, Cyberport says
More than 90% of Hong Kong's AI supercomputing capacity in use, Cyberport says

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More than 90% of Hong Kong's AI supercomputing capacity in use, Cyberport says

Hong Kong's ambition to create an artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem is bearing fruit, with more than 90 per cent of the city's flagship supercomputing centre at Cyberport now in use, according to officials. Advertisement The AI Supercomputing Centre, which began operations in December, is a cornerstone of the government's strategy to foster a vibrant local AI ecosystem. Authorities have earmarked HK$3 billion (US$418.6 million) in subsidies to support AI model development and applications. Cyberport said on Friday that it had received 20 applications for the subsidy programme, with 10 projects approved so far. Among the recipients is the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre, which is developing a foundational audio model and a ChatGPT-style tool used by more than 70 per cent of government departments. The centre has also launched a multilingual transcription tool capable of detecting Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The government is seeking to boost computing resources for start-ups as part of its ambition to transform Hong Kong into a leading technology hub, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said in June. Plans are under way for a new supercomputing centre at Sandy Ridge in the Northern Metropolis – a government project to transform a large swathe of land in the New Territories into an economic hub. At the Cyberport event, Yang Hongxia, one of China's top AI scientists and head of computing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said access to the centre's resources helped her project achieve breakthroughs in medical applications. Advertisement 'By collaborating with the top cancer treatment hospitals in Hong Kong and mainland China, we have enhanced data analysis and localised applications in the specialised field of cancer treatment based on vertical large models and specialised models,' Yang said.

China's top diplomat on Ukraine war, US-Vietnam deal in spotlight: SCMP daily highlights
China's top diplomat on Ukraine war, US-Vietnam deal in spotlight: SCMP daily highlights

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China's top diplomat on Ukraine war, US-Vietnam deal in spotlight: SCMP daily highlights

Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union's top diplomat on Wednesday that Beijing did not want to see a Russian loss in Ukraine because it feared the United States would then shift its whole focus to Beijing, according to several people familiar with the exchange. The passage of a sprawling budget bill has raised concerns over the long-term debt of the United States, which analysts said could compound already heightened worries over the reliability of the country's currency as a safe-haven asset. Tasting glasses of aged French cognac brandy are poured in France. Photo: Shutterstock China has decided to levy anti-dumping tariffs on European brandy, mostly produced in France, for the next five years – an announcement made while Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on his European tour seeking to resolve trade disputes and improve ties amid a reshuffle of global trade dynamics introduced by the United States.

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