Latest news with #EduardoBaptista
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Chinese state media calls for crackdown on 'zero-mileage used cars'
By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -The Chinese practice of selling brand new cars as heavily discounted second-hand vehicles to get rid of inventory should be ended, the official newspaper of the country's governing Communist Party said in an article published on Thursday. The People's Daily, which often signals the positions of China's top Party leaders on a variety of issues, called for a crackdown on the practice, also known as zero-mileage used cars, just weeks after Great Wall Motor's Chairman Wei Jianjun publicly condemned it and China's commerce ministry met with Chinese automakers to discuss it. While China's Commerce Ministry did not make public its position, the People's Daily struck a harsh tone, calling out the inflation of sales data motivating Chinese carmakers and urging "tough regulatory action" to restore market order. "This disguised form of price cutting disrupts normal market order and is a striking example of the auto industry's 'involution'," the People's Daily said, using a term popular in China that describes a race to the bottom driven by excessive competition. "Once market competition rules are properly enforced, 'zero-mileage used cars' won't be able to run far — or for long." China is experiencing growing deflationary pressures as U.S. tariffs add to the gloomy mood in the world's No.2 economy. Companies in sectors from fast food to high fashion have been cutting prices amid concerns about oversupply and sluggish household demand. Price wars have gripped the Chinese auto industry in recent years, partly driven by slumping domestic consumption and overcapacity that has left many struggling to meet sales targets. While the sale of zero-mileage used cars is seen by many Chinese automakers as an effective way of clearing out an ever-growing inventory of unsold cars, with domestic and overseas consumers lured by deep discounts on what are still brand new cars, the state-run newspaper listed a litany of negative effects caused by the practice. "For manufacturers, this sales tactic may help reduce inventory in the short term but compresses profit margins, increases losses, and hinders investment in product quality and innovation — ultimately harming sustainable development," the article said. "For consumers, what seems like a good deal in terms of price comes with hidden risks: the loss of first-owner benefits, potential battery degradation, and steeper depreciation when reselling," it continued, adding the practice undermines fair competition, distorts market data, and disrupts both new and used car markets. The People's Daily singled out manufacturers of electric vehicles as needing to move beyond "data worship" and competing on volume, in order to focus on product quality and technological innovation. It did not name any specific automakers. The newspaper also listed measures Chinese regulatory authorities should adopt in order to prevent the sale of zero-mileage used cars, including strengthening oversight of second-hand vehicle registration, establishing a vehicle lifecycle tracking system, and strictly controlling the practice of immediate resale after registration.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Space Epoch conducts key test for reusable rocket ambitions
By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese private rocket firm Space Epoch said on Thursday it had successfully run a flight recovery test, as China looks to catch up with the United States by developing its own version of a reusable rocket that can rival SpaceX's Flacon 9. As China and other space-faring nations look to develop tourism, infrastructure, and exploration, reusable rockets are indispensable to making their investments economically viable. Beijing-based Space Epoch, or SEPOCH, said its Yuanxingzhe-1 verification rocket was launched at 4:40 a.m from China's first sea-based space launch centre, off the waters of the eastern province of Shandong. The rocket soared upwards, its engines briefly shutting down after the peak of its trajectory, then reigniting as it began its vertical descent to enter the Yellow Sea in a circle of fire, a video posted on Space Epoch's WeChat account showed. "The success of this flight recovery test is a major breakthrough in the development process of liquid reusable rockets," Space Epoch said in a statement. The flight lasted 125 seconds, reaching a height of about 2.5 km (1.6 miles), it added. Space Epoch's ambition to develop reusable rocket technology is highlighted by its demonstration of Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL). In this procedure, a rocket takes off vertically and returns to Earth with a vertical landing that uses rocket engines to slow and control the descent. Used by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship, VTVL is crucial for any firm looking to retrieve and reuse rockets after their launch, a growing focus for investors and firms worldwide that could drastically reduce costs and spread their use wider. While tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is already launching and recovering orbital-class rockets on a routine basis, no Chinese firm has yet matched this feat. SpaceX's Falcon 9 first successful landing test was almost a decade ago, highlighting the yawning gap firms like Space Epoch must bridge to catch up. Space Epoch and Chinese peers, such as LandSpace, aim for maiden flights of their respective reusable rockets later this year, though no dates have been revealed. Last year LandSpace completed a 10-km (6.2-mile) VTVL test marking China's first in-flight engine reignition in descent, a technique Space Epoch appears to have also mastered with its latest launch.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
China's humanoid robots will not replace human workers, Beijing official says
By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -China's humanoid robots will not replace human workers and cause mass unemployment, according to a Chinese official who oversees a tech hub in Beijing, amid a rapid expansion of the sector and state funding for it. Liang Liang, a deputy director at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, which hosts one of China's largest tech hubs, said in an interview on Friday with foreign media that he does not believe that humanoid robots will replace their human creators, but will boost productivity and operate in hazardous environments. "We don't believe robots will make people unemployed, but rather they'll boost efficiency or take on tasks humans are unwilling to do - like exploring the vast universe or the ocean depths where people can't go. Machines can assist us in that exploration," Liang said. "When it's nighttime and humans need rest, machines could keep working, giving us better, cheaper, and more user-friendly products. So we see this as the direction for our future development," he added. Liang explained that the world's first robot half-marathon held last month in Beijing was deliberately set up in a way that would highlight his and other officials' hopes that these humanoids will support and assist humans, rather than replace them. The half-marathon featured two tracks separated by a railing, with humans competing against each other on one side while on the other side 20 teams each operated a robot, varying wildly in size and ability. "You see, in the marathon, humans have their track where they push their physical limits, and the machines have their own track where they jointly challenge their limits - but they aren't trying to take over the human course to sprint to the finish line. The future will be like this too," Liang said. Liang spoke to reporters at the headquarters of state-backed X-Humanoid, also known as the Beijing Humanoid Robotics Innovation Centre, whose robot Tiangong Ultra won the inaugural robot half-marathon. Besides the sports-focused Ultra model, which can reach a top speed of 12 kph (7.56 mph), the centre also displayed other protypes that showed it was working on robots that can complete mundane tasks in the face of obstructions and changing environments. In one demonstration, an employee repeatedly moved the position of a piece of litter or snatched it from the robot's hand, which would then relocate the object and carry out the task until it was completed, a self-corrective ability the centre says will be key in turning the humanoids into productive workers.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Two Taiwan allies attend Beijing forum as China steps up diplomatic pressure
By Liz Lee and Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -Haiti's foreign minister was one of Taiwan's two diplomatic allies attending a forum on Tuesday in Beijing between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, as China steps up its pressure campaign against the diplomatically isolated island. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has formal ties with only 12 nations, two of which, Haiti and Saint Lucia, joined the event, the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC. Reuters reporters at the forum saw the flags of both in the main plenary hall at the venue in the Chinese capital, with Haiti represented by Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste and Saint Lucia by diplomat Peter Lansiquot. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, asked about the presence of the two countries, said the forum is an important platform for "mutually beneficial cooperation" between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries. "China has always welcomed and supported the participation of CELAC member states in the activities within the framework of the forum," he told reporters, without elaborating. Haiti and Saint Lucia are both members of CELAC. Taiwan's foreign ministry said it had been told in advance by the respective countries of their officials' attendance, and that Haiti had said its foreign minister was there given the country's membership of CELAC. Saint Lucia said that Lansiquot was present not as a government representative but as a member of the Saint Lucia Labour Party, according to the ministry's statement. Senior officials from both countries have repeatedly expressed the importance of their friendship with Taiwan, the ministry added. Neither the Haiti nor Saint Lucia embassies in Taiwan responded to requests for comment. Two diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, said China has previously had such interactions with Taiwan allies at the same event. The flags of other CELAC members who also have ties with Taiwan, such as Guatemala and Belize, were not seen in the room. Taiwan strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying it has every right to have diplomatic relations with other countries and that China has no right to speak for it on the global stage or pressure its international space. Honduras was the last regional nation to switch diplomatic ties to Beijing from Taipei, in 2023. Saint Lucia has had relations with Beijing before, and re-established ties with Taiwan in 2007, bucking the trend of countries switching to China. Haiti's relations with Taiwan date back to 1956.
Straits Times
24-04-2025
- Science
- Straits Times
China to lend moon rocks to NASA-funded US universities
FILE PHOTO: The Chang'e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Eduardo Baptista/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A large screen shows news footage of a Chinese national flag carried by Chang'e-6 probe's lander on the far side of the moon, in Beijing, China June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo SHANGHAI - China's national space agency announced on Thursday it would let scientists from the U.S. and allied countries analyse rocks it retrieved from the moon, Beijing's latest move to increase the international influence of its lunar exploration programme. The announcement highlights how U.S.-China cooperation in some areas like space has not completely ended, despite tensions between the two countries over geopolitics and tariffs. Two U.S. universities that receive NASA funding, Brown University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, are among the seven institutions that have been allowed to borrow lunar samples China retrieved from the moon in 2020. The remaining authorised institutions are from Japan, France, Germany, Britain, and Pakistan. With its uncrewed Chang'e-5 mission in 2020 China became only the third country to collect rocks from the lunar surface, joining the Soviet Union and the United States, which last went to the moon and retrieved samples in 1972. China's subsequent uncrewed Chang'e-6 mission, completed in June last year, made it the first country to bring back rocks from the side of the moon facing away from Earth. U.S.-China cooperation on space has long been deterred by a 2011 U.S. law that seeks to ensure American technologies stay out of the hands of China's military. Under the law, NASA must work with the FBI to certify to Congress that any such talks with China would not threaten U.S. national security. NASA head Bill Nelson told Reuters in October that NASA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) were discussing the terms of Beijing's loan agreement for the Chang'e-5 moon rocks after he assured American lawmakers that the talks would not pose national security concerns. Four U.S. universities had applied for access to the Chang'e-5 samples, Nelson said then, adding he thought the talks would end with China agreeing to provide access to samples. However, he said he expects NASA to have to work with the FBI for another national security certification to enable any moon rock deliveries to U.S. universities for research. Beijing hopes to use its space prowess to forge closer political ties with close partners and U.S. allies alike. "It seems the United States is quite closed off now despite being open in the past, while we were closed off in the past and are now open; this is because of the increase in our nation's overall strength and consequent rise in self-confidence," Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, adding that growing U.S. "isolationism" would not help its space ambitions. A CNSA official said on Wednesday the Chang'e-4 and 6 missions had four international payloads, while the Chang'e-7 mission next year will have six international payloads and "cooperation with 10 countries" is being discussed for the subsequent Chang'e-8 mission. China hopes Chang'e-7 and 8 can help provide the information it needs to decide where and how to build a permanent manned lunar base by 2035. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
