Premier Li to attend WEF Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders (China Daily)
2022-07-18

Russia threatens Swiss newspaper with legal action for publishing image of Putin with a clown nose (SCMP)
2022-07-18

Montreux Jazz Festival closes, expecting more Sino-Swiss music exchanges (Xinhua)
2022-07-17

Climate change a far greater threat to global economy than Covid-19 pandemic amid rising intensity of heatwaves and floods, Swiss Re says (SCMP)
2022-07-17

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Indonesian leader Joko Widodo to meet Xi Jinping in China next week (SCMP)
2022-07-22

EU and China hold trade talks after delays, though few advances are made (SCMP)
2022-07-20

China's ‘blue helmets’ on frontlines of safeguarding world peace, stability with firm commitment over decades (GT)
2022-07-20

China-India border: Beijing’s new highway plans near disputed territory expected to spark concern in Delhi (SCMP)
2022-07-20

China urges U.S. to stop looting Syrian national resources (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

China praises Ukraine mediator Macron as Beijing hopes to renew EU ties (SCMP)
2022-07-19

Chinese minister’s trip to US a sign of collaboration on climate and a hint of hope for ties (SCMP)
2022-07-18

Chinese FM spokesperson urges investigations into UK, U.S. war crimes, human rights violations (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

Sri Lanka to maintain excellent ties with China regardless of change in govt: Ambassador to China (GT)
2022-07-18

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Why China’s Gen Z see climate change as less important than their Western peers (SCMP)
2022-07-22

Chinese vice premier urges high-quality development of education (Xinhua)
2022-07-22

China to arrest former official of stockpiler Sinograin for corruption (SCMP)
2022-07-21

Measures counter food security risks (China Daily)
2022-07-21

China’s approvals for new coal plants rebound amid renewed focus on energy security after last year’s power crisis: Greenpeace (SCMP)
2022-07-20

Chinese students vow to fight penalty for distributing rainbow flags at Tsinghua University (SCMP)
2022-07-20

Covid-19 in China: cases near 700 as Shanghai rolls out testing blitz (SCMP)
2022-07-19

As China’s youth unemployment keeps rising, Beijing says regional governments need to step up (SCMP)
2022-07-18

Wristbands, big data used to monitor people who commit ‘less serious’ crimes in China (SCMP)
2022-07-18

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Covid-19: Hotels in Beijing banned from hosting weddings and banquets as Chinese capital tightens controls (SCMP)
2022-07-20

Former senior political advisor of Beijing expelled from CPC, office (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

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Cargo throughput keeps rising at Shanghai airport (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

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China's Guangdong sees foreign trade up 2.8 pct in H1 (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

District govt in S.China's Guangzhou apologizes for unlocking 84 houses of residents under collective quarantine (GT)
2022-07-18

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Chongqing's foreign trade grows 12.5 pct in H1 (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

SW China’s Chengdu hit by faster spreading Omicron variant BA.2.12.1 (GT)
2022-07-18

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New record for horizontal drilling tech set in Xizang hydropower project (GT)
2022-07-21

Residents relocate for better living conditions in SW China's Tibet (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

Top legislator highlights ecological protection on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Xinhua)
2022-07-16

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China lobbying behind scenes at UN to block Xinjiang rights report’s publication, document shows (SCMP)
2022-07-21

Xinjiang attracts over 355 billion yuan of investment in H1 (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

Chinese vice premier stresses innovation-driven development of Xinjiang (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

Urumqi a key hub on Belt and Road (China Daily)
2022-07-18

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US issues ‘wrongful detention’ risk warning for travellers to Hong Kong (HKFP)
2022-07-21

Hong Kong police arrest 48 in crackdown on gambling syndicate controlled by triad (SCMP)
2022-07-21

Hong Kong Law Reform Commission proposes 5 new offences to rein in cybercrime, with tougher penalties of up to life imprisonment (SCMP)
2022-07-20

Over 185,000 people in Hong Kong take 4th dose of COVID-19 vaccines (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist says group was forced to delete online posts allegedly violating security law (HKFP)
2022-07-18

New teaching resources expected to foster passion for Chinese history in HKSAR secondary schools (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

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Macao SAR gov't firmly opposes biased U.S. report on human trafficking (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

Macau to reopen casinos as Covid lockdown eases at weekend (HKFP)
2022-07-20

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China's message of warning 'received' as Pentagon opposes Pelosi's planned Taiwan visit (GT)
2022-07-22

EU wants good ties with Beijing, but will still stand with Taiwan, top lawmaker says (SCMP)
2022-07-21

Taiwan relaxes COVID-19 response measures (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

China urges U.S. to revoke arms sales plan to Taiwan (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

Taiwan welcomes ‘loyal friend’ ex-US defence chief Mark Esper on four-day visit (SCMP)
2022-07-18

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Didi Fined $1.2 Billion for National Security and Data Violations (Caixin)
2022-07-21
China’s cyberspace regulator announced Thursday that it will fine Didi Global Inc. 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) for breaking national security and personal information protection laws, according to an official statement. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said Didi, which took in 178 billion yuan in revenue in 2021, committed 16 violations including illegally collecting facial recognition information, according to a laundry list of breaches provided by the CAC in a Q&A fact sheet about the fine. The regulator also slapped Didi Chairman Cheng Wei and President Liu Qing each with 1 million yuan fines for their roles in the misconduct that led to the violations. The announcement raises the key question of whether the penalty signals the end of the government’s one-year investigation into the ride hailing giant, which led the company to delist from the New York Stock Exchange last month and helped send its stock price down more than 75% from its June 2021 IPO price. Shares of the firm trading on the over-the-counter market were up around 17% since Monday when the Wall Street Journal first broke news that a fine in excess of $1 billion would be imposed, citing unnamed sources. Some analysts and company insiders were expecting the punishment, and think it could herald the end of the current raft of restrictions, allow it to restart registering new users and move ahead with its planned Hong Kong listing. “The company is looking forward to the results of the cybersecurity review,” a Didi employee told Caixin previously. “There won’t be hope for the business to restart until the results come out.”Among Didi’s transgressions, according to CAC were that the firm had illegally collected 107 million pieces of facial recognition information, 153 million bits of data about where people live and work, and it said almost 54 million driver ID numbers were stored in plain text. The CAC said Didi had posed serious security risks to the country's key information infrastructure and data security, according to the fact sheet. It said it could not reveal the details of the risks because they involved national security. Furthermore, it said the company had refused to comply with specific orders from regulators. Didi’s illegal actions, which stretch back to June 2015, continue to the present day, the statement noted. The CAC found violations in multiple apps that Didi runs, which it said “severely violated users’ privacy.” The fine is China's largest ever for data breaches — but at around 4% of Didi’s 2021 revenue it is proportionally similar to the record fine of $2.8 billion levied against Alibaba last year for anticompetitive practices by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). That fine was about 4% of Alibaba’s domestic revenue in 2019. And it is a little steeper than the $533 million fine paid by Meituan last year, also for antitrust violations, which was about 3% of its domestic revenue in 2020. At least 90% of Didi’s revenue for 2021 came from domestic ride-hailing services, according to its annual financial report. The Didi fine was a “special case” because the firm crossed multiple different regulatory lines, said Qi Wang, CEO of MegaTrust Investment (HK) in a self-published financial newsletter. Going forward, China’s big tech firms will have more and more rules to comply with, he wrote. Didi, which was started in 2013, now operates a variety of services through dozens of apps, including taxi hailing, bike-sharing and freight transportation. The investigation against Didi kicked off in July 2021, soon after the company filed for a U.S. IPO that raised $4.4 billion despite instructions from Chinese regulators not to list overseas so soon due to data security concerns. Didi has since suffered a series of regulatory setbacks, including the suspension of new-user registrations and the removal of its apps from major app stores. Didi has also been named as a defendant in several class action lawsuits as a result of the debacle, with at least one accusing the firm of failing to disclose to investors that the CAC had warned it not to proceed with its New York IPO. In 2021, Didi’s net loss attributable to shareholders widened to 49.3 billion yuan from 10.5 billion the previous year, while its revenues rose 22.7% to 173.8 billion yuan. In a response to the CAC’s announcement of the fine, Didi said on social media that it will fully comply with the punishment and will correct any wrongdoing accordingly. But hope for a reset may be premature. China’s central bank just last week fined Didi’s online payment arm 4.3 million yuan for violating money laundering regulations and other rules. Didi’s major offenses listed by the cybersecurity watchdog:

• Illegal collection of over 11.96 million screenshots from users’ photo albums.
• Excessive collection of 8.32 million pieces of user information from clipboards and application lists.
• Excessive collection of 107 million pieces of passengers’ facial recognition data, 53.5 million pieces of age information, 16.33 million pieces of occupation information, 1.38 million pieces of family relationship data and 153 million bits of data about where people live and work.
• Excessive collection of 167 million pieces of precise location data of passengers.
• Excessive collection of 142,900 pieces of information about drivers’ educational backgrounds and 57.8 million pieces of drivers’ personal identity information.
• Analyzing passengers’ travel intentions without consent and collecting their residency and travel data.
• Unnecessarily requesting access to users’ phone books.
• Failure to clearly inform users about the use of their personal information.
• Data processing activities that posed severe national security risks. Details were not provided as they involve national security.

How China’s rare earth dominance spurs US and its allies to diversify supply chain of critical minerals (SCMP)
2022-07-21

Mortgage boycott risks manageable for China’s banking system, but small lenders vulnerable, experts say (SCMP)
2022-07-20

Central SOEs seen coasting on fine H1 (China Daily)
2022-07-19

China GDP: why red-hot inflation could slow Beijing’s bid to unseat the US as world’s No 1 economy (SCMP)
2022-07-19

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Coronavirus: North Korea claims it will soon ‘defuse the crisis completely’ as Asian neighbours fight Covid resurgence (SCMP)
2022-07-18

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COVID-19 incidence rate rises again in Mongolia (Xinhua)
2022-07-21

China-Mongolia border port sees more fruit, vegetable exports (Xinhua)
2022-07-20

AI-92 fuel price to be kept stable until the end of 2022 (Montsame)
2022-07-20

Bank of Mongolia signs MoU with Hungarian central bank (Montsame)
2022-07-19

Meeting of International Organizing Committee for World Mining Congress takes place in Ulaanbaatar (Montsame)
2022-07-19

Mongolia's inflation rises to 16.1 pct in June (Xinhua)
2022-07-18

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Embassy of Switzerland