2018Alipay to Debut in U.S.
Chinese online payment service Alipay， controlled by Alibaba’s Jack Ma， will soon be available in the U.S. Ant Financial Services Group， which operates Alipay， is partnering with American payment solutions firm First Data Corp.， which will offer the Chinese platform access to its 4 million clients in the U.S.， the American company said. The move comes just a week after Alipay’s major rival， WeChat Payment， owned by internet firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. and embedded in the popular messaging app WeChat， announced its entry to the U.S. via a tie-up with Silicon Valley-based payment startup Citcon. Mobile payment in China dwarfs that of much of the rest of the world， where even roadside food stalls accept Alipay and WeChat. In 2016， mobile-payment transactions rose 45% to 158 trillion yuan （$23 trillion）， according to China’s central bank， while the figure in the U.S. was only $112 billion， up 39%， according to Forrester Research. In China， Alipay and WeChat accounted for around 90% of that share， according to consultancy Analysys. In their home country， both platforms have rolled out similar strategies to win users， including eliminating service charges for money transfers， and giving out money during Lunar New Year. Alipay was an early entrant into the market， in 2004， and maintains a larger market share in China， at 50% to WeChat’s sub-40%. But WeChat is catching up， and has an advantage in that it began， in 2013， as a sub-function of the WeChat messenger app， positioning it stronger in social networking， as users can pass digital “red envelopes”with money， among other functions. Although Alipay has developed similar uses， it has struggled to become integral to social networking. As battle between the two has moved overseas， they have looked eagerly for partners in Asia， Europe， and North America. In late 2016， Alipay announced plans to partner with four financial institutions in Europe ―Barclays PLC， BNP Paribas Group， UniCredit SpA and SIX Payment Services Ltd. ― to provide payment services to Chinese travelers in nearly 1 million stores throughout Europe. It also inked deals with Thai payment firm Ascend Money， France’s Ingenico and India’s largest online payment provider， Paytm. WeChat is expanding into Europe， with plans to set up an office in the U.K. alongside existing ones in Italy， Tencent Europe director Andrea Ghizzoni said in a recent interview. Despite their efforts， both have had difficulty reaching local consumers in foreign markets， relying mostly on Chinese citizens living and traveling overseas as their main customers.http://
China April Manufacturing Growth Weakest in Seven Months
Growth in China’s manufacturing activity decelerated to its slowest rate in seven months in April， an industry survey showed， in a sign of emerging weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. It was down from 51.2 in March and marked the weakest reading since September’s 50.1. The survey， compiled by information and data analytics provider IHS Markit， is based on figures collected from more than 500 manufacturing companies across the country. A reading above 50 indicates expansion， while a number below 50 points to contraction. The April reading bodes ill for overall economic growth， which gained momentum in the previous two quarters. Some analysts have expected economic growth to lose steam in the coming months. The official PMI for the manufacturing sector， released by the National Bureau of Statistics （NBS） was 51.2 in April， down from 51.8 in March due to corrections in commodity prices and slower expansion in new orders and output. The April reading was the weakest in six months， NBS data showed. Prices of commodities such as steel， coal， and midstream products such as chemical fiber all saw “a notable correction” in April， partially driven by the ongoing financial deleveraging that strained interbank liquidity， they said in a report. Government efforts toward deleveraging have stepped up since March. President Xi Jinping last week renewed a pledge to safeguard financial stability and prevent systemic risks， as authorities are worried about the country’s mounting debt levels and hazards buried in its opaque and increasingly complicated financial system. Total borrowing by the government， companies and consumers in China rose to about 260% of gross domestic product at the end of 2016， up from 250% a year earlier， according to research firm Oxford Economics.
SOEs Lead Infrastructure Push in 1，700 ‘Belt and Road’ Projects
With a large portion of initial Belt and Road projects focusing on infrastructure projects such as highways， railways， and ports， state-owned enterprises（SOEs） have been playing a leading role in the first phase of the program’s over- seas expansion. About 50 Chinese stateowned corporate giants have invested or participated in nearly 1，700 projects in countries along the new Silk Road routes over the past three years. The“One Belt， One Road” initiative， a pro- gram initiated by President Xi Jinping in 2013 aims to better connect trade paths across central Asia and Europe by land， and sea routes across Southeast Asia and Africa. Officials， business leaders and scholars from more than 110 countries will attend the meeting， with 28 heads of state or governments having confirmed their attendance， including Russian President Vladimir Putin， Argentine President Mauricio Macri， Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan， Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang. Chinese companies have also been building more than 60 energy projects in more than 20 countries along the Belt and Road routes， including oil and gas pipelines from Russia， Kazakhstan and Myanmar to China. China has also been helping other countries build industrial parks， where Chinese companies enter a market in groups to engage in manufacturing or trade. Although some media reports said there are about 65 countries designated as “countries along the Belt and Road routes，” the Chinese government has not confirmed the numbers， saying the program is not an exclusive member’s club.
Sandstorm Chokes Northern China
Air pollution in Beijing has once again hit serious levels as a sandstorm swept across northern China recently， grounding dozens of flights at the world’s second-busiest airport. Large amounts of dust blowing in on strong winds from the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang regions will affect air quality and visibility in several provincial-level areas in northern China for 24 hours， according to the National Meteorological Center （NMC）. The sandstorm， the first to envelope the Chinese capital this year， has driven air pollution to offthe-scale levels in numerous northern cities， including Beijing， the Ministry of Environment Protection said. The country’s Air Quality Index （AQI）， which represents a weighted average of several toxic substances in the air， is capped at a maximum reading of 500. Beijing shrouded in dust in the early hours of May 4， as a result of a sand storm in neighboring Inner Mongolia. China’s National Meteorological Center issued a sandstorm alert warning that dusty weather would affect vast areas of northern China including Xinjiang， Inner Mongolia and Beijing. High concentrations of the particulates can lead to lung cancer and other serious medical conditions such as strokes， research shows. PM10 particulates are those with a diameter of 2.5 to 10 micrometers， while PM2.5 particulates have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. Over the past decades， fewer sandstorms have hit northern china， and they’ve also become less intense. But toxic emissions from factories and vehicles， as well as dust from construction sites， have worsened the region’s air pollution problem.
Inner Mongolia City Becomes First in China to Halt Ride-Hailing
One of the largest cities in the Inner Mongolia region has halted ridehailing operations， including those of market leader Didi Chuxing， a week after protests from taxi drivers blocked major roads.
This is the first time a local govern- ment in China has banned the online service since it was legalized nationally in last November. The transportation authority in Baotou ordered ride-hailing firms to suspend all operations in the city because they have “yet to receive transportation licenses as stipulated by law，” the agency said on its official WeChat social-media account. The authority ordered “unauthorized platforms，”including Didi and LeEco-backed Yidao， to cease service indefinitely， reacting to a protest from taxi drivers， an incident that was mentioned in a notice published by Baotou transportation police a day before the ban. Around the same time， a document with the letterhead of the Baotou Transportation Department and addressed to Didi was leaked online， stating： “Taxi drivers have gathered and petitioned， causing a social disturbance because you lack the necessary certifications. … If the situation worsens because you do not promptly cease operations， you must bear the negative consequences.” Beijing-based Didi received a national operating license in March， giving legitimacy to its online app across China. But new laws stipulate that each ride-hailing company must also negotiate separate transportation licenses with local governments in order legalize operations there. Nationwide regulation of the industry has allowed substantial local discretion， and governments at different levels have given various interpretations of the rules. Baotou said it is still deliberating its interpretation of the regulations. First-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai have rolled out stringent regulations that outlawed more than 9 in 10 Didi drivers. Lower-tier cities and towns have been more generous toward online carhailing， which has boosted employment and forced an overhaul of traditional taxi services.
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