Tag Archives: China

China Warns US to Stop Investigating Solar Industry Practices

News, , ,
US Investigating Chinese Solar Industry Practices
US Investigating Chinese Solar Industry Practices

In response to a complaint lodged at the end of last year by the US unit of a German solar manufacturer, the US launched an investigation into the imports of solar power from China, sparking a strong response from the Chinese commerce ministry.

The US began investigations on Thursday into the allegations that imports of some solar products from Taiwan and China are being “dumped” onto the US market. China fears that the US investigation could negatively affect their growing solar market.

The US Department of Commerce said it will investigate whether China is selling their solar products in the US at prices below their fair value, or whether their producers are getting inappropriate amounts of foreign government subsides.

The Chinese commerce ministry wrote on their website that

“The Chinese side expresses serious concern. China urges the United States again to carefully handle the current … investigations, be prudent in taking measures and terminate the investigation proceedings.”

The ministry added that China will evaluate the impact the investigation has on its solar industry and will “resolutely defend” it via a variety of mechanisms.

The present investigation was a response to complaints by SolarWorld AG which said they wanted to close a loophole in a previous trade case which allowed Chinese solar panel manufacturers to sidestep duties by using solar cells produced in other countries, such as Taiwan.

High-End Hacker Operation Revealed in China

Tech News, , , ,

Symantec Corporation, a company that provides computer security solutions to companies and consumers, issued a 28-page report on Tuesday saying they had discovered a group of highly sophisticated hackers based in China.

These hackers, who hire out their cyber espionage services, have been dubbed “Hidden Lynx” by the US-based computer security company, and are one of the most technically advanced of dozens of such groups operating out of China.

Symantec however did not accuse the government of China of having any connection to these illegal groups, as some other computer security companies have done. They do believe, however, the Hidden Lynx is a “professional organization” employing about 50 to 100 people with a wide base of skill sets which are necessary to pass through networks and steal information such as valuable corporate secrets.

Symantec said that its researchers believed that Hidden Lynx could have been involved in the famous Operation Aurora attacks in 2009. Operation Aurora is the most well-known of cyber espionage attacks so far revealed against US-based companies.

Operation Aurora involved dozens of companies, including such giants as Google and Adobe Systems. In 2010 Google revealed the attacks in which hackers attempted to read Gmail correspondences from human rights groups and activists. They also tried to get into and change source code at targeted companies.

The report explained that Hidden Lynx is a “highly efficient team” which can run several operations simultaneously. They target specific organizations and companies across a wide spectrum of industries. This description suggests that they are often hired by third party clients who are looking for certain pieces of information.

hackingThe most popular industry targeted by these hackers is the financial sector, making up about a fourth of all victims since November 2011. Symantec did not identify specific targets but they did say that they included companies that had information on pending merger and acquisition activity. Information like this could be quite useful to Hidden Lynx clients when negotiating takeovers or trading shares.

Ford Focus World’s Most Popular Car

Consumerism, , , ,

Due to increased demand in China and the United States, the Ford Focus, achieved the

World's Most Popular Car
World’s Most Popular Car

distinction of being the best-selling passenger car in the world in 2012.

The data for this claim was supplied by the consulting firm Polk, which said that the Ford Motor Company sold a bit over one million units of this popular compact car last year, throughout the world.

The largest impact on sales was made by China, where about 25 percent of the sales took place. Polk also noted that registrations increased by an astounding 51 percent in China, a large number in what is already the world’s largest automobile market. Ford only started marketing their vehicles in China in March last year.

In the United States sales of the Focus were also substantially up, by 40 percent in 2012. Ford pick-up trucks are also a popular Ford product in the US.

The increase in annual sales since 2009 has been in the double digits for the automobile industry as a whole. In 2009 car sales hit its lowest rate since World War II, adjusted for population.

Sony Sales Up After Chinese-Japanese Dispute Recedes Into Past

Companies, Consumerism, Japan, , , ,
Nobuki Kurita

According to Sony Corp’s China head Nobuki Kurita, the giant consumer electronic company’s business in China is “more or less” back to normal levels after recent protests in China against Japan’s actions related to a group of disputed islands.

Last September saw a significant decrease in sales of Sony products in China as calls for a boycott of Sony reverberated in response to the nationalization of two islands in a group of islands under dispute in the East China Sea. In China these islands are called Diaoyu, and in Japan they are referred to as the Senkaku Islands. Japan nationalized these islands after they were purchased from private owners.

Because of the dispute relations between China and Japan were highly strained, adversely affecting sales of Japanese products in China. Kurita however believes that Japanese business in China should completely recover, showing a strong surge in the coming three years.

“My general impression is business conditions have more or less returned to the pre-crisis environment,” he told a media briefing at a Sony store in eastern Beijing.

Microsoft Expanding its Chinese Operations

Companies, ,
Ralph Haupter
Greater China CEO of Microsoft Ralph Haupter

The giant global computer software company Microsoft announced that it will be hiring 1,000 people in China in order to enlarge its research, sales, and development teams in what is the world’s biggest market for personal computers.

Ralph Haupter, Microsoft’s Greater China CEO, explained that the additional workers will be hired over the coming year, increasing the total Microsoft worker-base to 5,500. Marketing and services teams will also grow, Haupter added.

Microsoft is also planning to strengthen its spending on research and development in China by about 15 percent during the coming year.

One of Microsoft’s goals is to sell more of its Windows 8 smartphone in china, where demand for it has been expanding, despite the stiff completion from rivals Google and Apple.