CHINESE
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FILE PHOTO: A logo of Meitu is displayed at a news conference on the company’s results in Hong Kong, China March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
April 17, 2019
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Meitu Inc, the Chinese firm best known for its selfie image-enhancing app, said on Wednesday it is venturing into the offline skincare market as it attempts to offset the impact of dwindling app users and a money-losing smartphone business.
Meitu, which listed in late 2016 in what was then Hong Kong’s largest tech IPO in a decade, has since suffered losses and its share price has more than halved, as China’s smartphone market has run out of steam, shrinking nearly 16 percent in 2018.
The firm announced a deal in November to outsource manufacturing of the smartphone business to Xiaomi Corp and receive brand and tech licenses in exchange.
Meitu said on Wednesday it will launch a face-cleansing brush that can automatically identify the best pulsing setting for a user by detecting his or her individual skin condition.
The company’s beauty-centric camera apps, which exploded in popularity in China around 2015 thanks to strong demand from female users, have recently endured a steep decline in usage.
In its earnings report covering the six-month period to end-December, Meitu said monthly active users across its suite of apps decreased 19.9 percent from a year earlier.
Its smartphone division, meanwhile, made up most of the company’s sales over the same period, but high costs brought the company to a loss overall.
Slowing smartphone sales and a softening economy have placed pressure on domestic smartphone makers, who are increasingly raising prices in hopes of boosting margins.
Shares in Meitu closed up 4.6 percent at HK$3.45 on Wednesday, well below its $HK8.5 IPO price.
(Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Chinese staffers adjust U.S. and Chinese flags before the opening session of trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS
April 17, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – Frustrated U.S. businesses can no longer be counted on as a “positive anchor” in U.S.-China relations, a top U.S. business lobby said on Wednesday, arguing any deal to end trade tensions must address structural problems in China’s economic system.
Long considered the ballast in a relationship fraught with geopolitical frictions, the U.S. business community in China in recent years has advocated a harder line on Beijing’s trade policies.
“Crucially, the mood has shifted,” the American Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement accompanying its annual report on China’s business climate.
“The U.S. business community in China, so long an advocate of good bilateral relations, can no longer be relied upon to be a positive anchor. U.S. companies continue to face an uncertain operating environment in China amid decreasing optimism about their investment outlook,” it said.
The world’s two biggest economies are nine months into a trade war that has cost billions of dollars, roiled financial markets and upended supply chains.
U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on $250 billion of goods imported from China to press demands for an end to policies – including industrial subsidies, forced technology transfers, and market access barriers – that Washington says hurt U.S. companies.
China has responded with its own tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods.
The chamber said tariffs had negatively impacted many of its members who “are not necessarily supportive” of their use, but earlier attempts at dialogue had failed to balance economic relations.
“We understand that any true resolution of the current dispute requires addressing the structural issues … that have long hindered importation of U.S. goods and services and operations of U.S. businesses in China,” the chamber’s chairman, Timothy Stratford, said in the report.
A chamber survey in February showed a majority of its members favored the United States retaining tariffs on Chinese goods while Washington and Beijing try to hammer out a deal to end the trade war.
It noted then that 19 percent of its companies were adjusting supply chains or seeking to source components and organize assembly outside of China as a result of tariffs.
Many in the business community have expressed concern that Trump could settle for a deal that increases commodity sales to China, while doing little to change China’s underlying trade practices and industrial policies.
Reuters reported on Monday that U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a deal after strong resistance from Beijing.
But Trump and U.S. negotiators have repeatedly said talks with China were going well.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that he hoped the two sides were close to a final round of negotiations, and that a deal – if reached – would go “way beyond” previous efforts to open China’s markets to U.S. companies.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Neil Fullick)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A model of the nuclear reactor “Hualong One” is pictured at the booth of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) at an expo in Beijing, China April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
April 17, 2019
By David Stanway
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China plans to gamble on the bulk deployment of its untested “Hualong One” nuclear reactor, squeezing out foreign designs, as it resumes a long-delayed nuclear program aimed at meeting its clean energy goals, government and industry officials said.
China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, was once seen as a “shop window” for big nuclear developers to show off new technologies, with Beijing embarking on a program to build plants based on designs from France, the United States, Russia and Canada.
But after years of construction delays, overseas models such as Westinghouse’s AP1000 and France’s “Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor” (EPR) are now set to lose out in favor of new localized technologies, industry experts and officials said.
China signed a technology transfer deal with the United States in 2006 that put the AP1000 at the “core” of its atomic energy program. It also pledged to use advanced third-generation technology in its safety review after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
But by the time the world’s first AP1000 and EPR made their debuts in China last year, Chinese designs had become just as viable.
Though China has yet to complete its first Hualong One, officials are confident it will not encounter the delays suffered by rivals, and say it can compete on safety and cost.
Beijing has already decided to use the Hualong One for its first newly commissioned nuclear project in three years, set to begin construction later this year at Zhangzhou, a site originally earmarked for the AP1000. [nL3N2152KM]
“The problem with AP1000 – the delays, the design changes, the supply chain issues and then the trade problems – has forced their hand, and it has become Hualong,” said Li Ning, a nuclear scientist and dean of the College of Energy at Xiamen University.
He added that China’s licensing procedures would also be an advantage for the home grown tech. “For the Hualong, there are four reactors already under construction and one of them is near completion already. It is a Chinese design so it wouldn’t be very hard to license the next four,” he said.
EDF, France’s state-run utility, which helped build the EPR project at Taishan in Guangdong province, declined to comment. Westinghouse, now owned by Brookfield after entering bankruptcy restructuring, also did not respond to a request for comment.
INTERNATIONAL AMBITIONS
China’s ambitions for the Hualong One extend overseas as well. The first foreign project using the reactor is under construction in Pakistan and the model is in the running for projects in Argentina and Britain.
“(Hualong One) is competitive,” said Li Xiaoming, assistant general manager of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). “The technologies are now just about the same as those of the United States, France and Russia.”
“This is the foundation that we will rely on for our future survival and our international competitiveness,” Li said.
China already has four Hualong Ones under construction, with the first, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, set to go into operation late next year, ahead of schedule, said Huang Feng, a member of the expert committee of the China Nuclear Energy Association.
“China has already become one of the small number of countries that has independently mastered third-generation nuclear power technology, and it has the conditions and comparative advantages to scale up and go into mass production,” he told an industry conference.
As Beijing gets ready to commission eight reactors a year in order to meet its 2030 clean energy and emissions targets, construction speed will be a crucial consideration, benefiting local developers.
Huang said the estimated costs of Hualong One and the AP1000 were now roughly the same, and much now depended on scaling up production to cut costs and allow the Chinese design to compete not only with other reactors, but also with coal-fired power.
Li of CNNC said while foreign-designed projects would still be built, it would “make no sense” to rely on foreign technology if China’s own domestic reactors were equally safe and reliable.
“There are probably some technologies where we will continue to cooperate, but overall we will gradually turn to our own,” he said.
($1 = 6.7139 yuan)
(Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Source: OANN
Political analyst and author Doug Schoen told Newsmax TV it is time for the United States to stand up taller in the face of authoritarianism and live by our values.
During an interview on “The Joe Pags Show,” Schoen — author of the new book “Collapse: A World in Crisis and the Urgency of American Leadership” — said the U.S. needs to act like a world superpower again.
“We’re only gonna succeed together,” he said. “If we can’t conquer our common adversaries as one nation, one people, we will lose. We’ll lose to authoritarians like the Russians and the Chinese, which is the point of my new book.
“We need to strengthen NATO, we need to strengthen our relations in Asia . . . and I would love somebody, as you were saying, Pags, to talk about human rights in China. Xinjiang Province. A million people in detention camps; that’s outrageous. Where is America? Where is our voice? We will not defeat authoritarianism without an articulate assertion of our values, which are freedom, liberty, democracy.”
Regarding the Korean peninsula, Schoen predicted President Donald Trump will fall short of coming to an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the reclusive nation could join the international club of nuclear powers.
“I don’t think we’re going to get a denuclearized Korean peninsula,” he said. “I am worried that this is more rhetoric than action and that we will find that the negotiations will break down and a nuclear North Korea will be as powerful and aggressive and assertive as they’ve ever been.”
The answer to the North Korea problem, Schoen said, lies with China.
“We should be putting pressure on the Chinese, [Kim’s] sponsors, and basically say to them, ‘if you can’t get him under control, you ought to turn the lights off in North Korea,'” Schoen said.
Schoen, a Democrat, also addressed the 2020 presidential campaign. To date, nearly 20 Democrats have thrown their hat into the ring. That figure is expected to grow, particularly with former Vice President Joe Biden ready to jump in.
“As for the Democrats, goodness gracious. Most of the candidates, with the exception of Biden at this point, are people I couldn’t support,” Schoen said.
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FILE PHOTO: A man works on a tent for NXP Semiconductors in preparation for the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on January 4, 2015. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo
April 17, 2019
(Reuters) – Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV said on Wednesday that it has invested in Chinese self-driving technology company Hawkeye Technology Co Ltd to expand its footprint in the automotive radar market in China.
NXP also signed a collaboration agreement with the Chinese firm under which Hawkeye will offer its expertise in 77Ghz automotive radar, a technology that enhances automotive safety by enabling vehicles to identify crash situations, a team of engineers and a lab complex within Southeast University in Nanjing, China, NXP said in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Through the partnership, the two companies will create NXP-based reference designs for the Chinese automotive market.
“The collaboration with Hawkeye is evidence of NXP’s confidence in the Chinese market and our determination to continuously invest in the country,” NXP President Kurt Sievers said in a statement.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this picture illustration taken May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
April 17, 2019
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro sagged early on Wednesday following a report that some European Central Bank policymakers have expressed dovish views, with the market awaiting Chinese economic data for further cues.
The euro was little changed at $1.1284 after slipping about 0.2 percent overnight to pull away from a 2-1/2-week high of $1.1324 scaled on April 12.
The single currency came under pressure after Reuters quoted four sources with direct knowledge of discussions that several European Central Bank policymakers think the ECB’s economic projections are too optimistic as economic weakness in China and trade tensions linger.
“It remains to be seen whether the ECB policymakers wanted to check the euro’s recent advance. But the macro environment is not conducive for the euro to keep appreciating when the euro zone economy still remains shaky,” said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was steady at 97.073 after gaining 0.1 percent overnight thanks to the flagging euro.
A bounce in long-term U.S. Treasury yields to a four-week high in the wake of equity gains on Wall Street also supported the greenback.
The market’s immediate focus was on a batch of Chinese data due at 0200 GMT, for a glimpse of how the world’s second largest economy performed in the first quarter.
Economic growth is expected to have slowed to its weakest pace in at least 27 years in the first quarter, as policymakers seek to head off a sharper slowdown that could stoke job losses.
The New Zealand dollar was down 0.8 percent at $0.6706 after falling to $0.6668, its lowest since Jan. 3.
The kiwi was hit after data showed New Zealand’s annual inflation slowed in the first quarter and raised odds of an interest rate cut in the coming months.
The Australian dollar was down 0.15 percent at $0.7166. The antipodean currency is sensitive to the economic fortunes of China, Australia’s major trading partner.
“Chinese data will definitely impact the Australian dollar. But we have to remember that the currency also has key domestic factors to contend with recently,” Kadota at Barclays said.
The Aussie took a brief hit on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of Australia said it believes a cut in interest rates would be “appropriate” should inflation stay low and unemployment trend higher.
The dollar moved out of its recent range and popped up to 112.17 yen, its highest since Dec. 20, following the bounce in U.S. yields.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, November 13, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo
April 17, 2019
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian share markets got off to a guarded start on Wednesday as investors waited anxiously for a raft of Chinese data that might show policy stimulus is finally gaining traction in the world’s second-largest economy.
The main mover of the morning was the New Zealand dollar which dived after a weak reading on consumer price inflation stoked expectations for a cut in interest rates.
Investors are hoping for better news from China which is forecast to report first-quarter economic growth of 6.3 percent. While that would be the slowest pace in at least 27 years, the economy is many times larger now.
A flurry of stimulus measures looks to have put a floor under activity in March, with annual growth in retail sales seen picking up to 8.4 percent. Industrial output is forecast to rise 5.9 percent and urban investment 6.3 percent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a fraction lower, having boasted its highest close on Tuesday since June last year.
Japan’s Nikkei inched up 0.2 percent to reach its highest in almost five months. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.06 percent.
Over on Wall Street, the Dow ended Tuesday with a slight gain of 0.26 percent, while the S&P 500 firmed 0.05 percent and the Nasdaq 0.3 percent.
Healthcare shares fell after UnitedHealth Group Inc discussed concerns about U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan, as well as the White House’s proposal to end discounts from drugmakers.
Shares of Qualcomm jumped 23 percent to $70.45, their biggest gain in more than 19 years, after winning a surprise settlement of a long-running legal dispute with Apple Inc.
Still, action across markets has become steadily more muted after a strong start to the year. The CBOE Volatility Index has hit its lowest level in more than six months, while European stock volatility reached its lowest level since January 2018.
Currency markets have been similarly becalmed. While the dollar has edged up against a basket of currencies to 97.074, it has traded between 95.00 and 97.70 for six months now.
The dollar did finally manage to top resistance on the yen at 112.13 to reach its highest since December at 112.16.
The euro was flat at $1.1285, having slipped form $1.1314 overnight on a Reuters report that several European Central Bank policymakers think the bank’s economic projections are too optimistic.
One currency on the move was the New Zealand dollar which sank 0.8 percent to $0.6708 after annual consumer price inflation came in well below expectations at just 1.5 percent for the first quarter.
Yields on two-year bonds dived 9 basis points to 1.48 percent as investors wagered the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) would have to cut rates in response.
In commodity markets, the general improvement in risk sentiment saw spot gold slip to its lowest for the year so far and was last at $1,276.61 per ounce.
Oil prices were buoyed as fighting in Libya and falling Venezuelan and Iranian exports raised concerns over tightening global supply.
U.S. crude was last up 31 cents at $64.36 a barrel, while Brent crude futures were up 14 cents at $71.86.
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Buildings are seen in Beijing’s central business area, China, April 1, 2018. Picture taken April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo
April 16, 2019
By Kevin Yao
BEIJING (Reuters) – China is expected to report on Wednesday that economic growth slowed to its weakest pace in at least 27 years in the first quarter, as policymakers seek to head off a sharper slowdown that could stoke job losses.
But China’s trading partners and investors likely will focus on readings for March, hoping for signs that months of stimulus are starting to stabilize activity in the world’s second-largest economy at a time when global demand looks shaky.
“The data is likely to show the clearest evidence yet of economic recovery,” though questions remain over the strength of any rebound and how long it will last, analysts at Nomura said in a research note on Tuesday, reflecting high expectations in the market.
Beijing has stepped up fiscal stimulus this year to shore up growth, announcing billions of dollars in additional tax cuts and infrastructure spending, while Chinese banks lent a record 5.8 trillion yuan ($864.8 billion) in the first quarter, more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Switzerland.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect China to report GDP grew 6.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, which would be the slowest pace since the first quarter of 1992, the earliest quarterly data on record.
That would mark a further loss of momentum from the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent, which was the weakest since the global financial crisis.
But data for March, which will be released at the same time (0200 GMT), is expected to show stronger growth in industrial output, investment and retail sales, according to analysts polled by Reuters, suggesting the economy may be bottoming out, even if a turnaround is too early to call.
Premier Li Keqiang recently said changes in the economy in March had exceeded expectations, with the economy operating in a steady manner in the first quarter.
Prices for steel reinforcing bars used in construction shot to 7-1/2 year highs this week, while steel mills have ramped up output to nine-month highs as winter pollution restrictions are eased.
Analysts say an unexpectedly strong lending report on Friday set the stage for a recovery in investment in the second half of the year, though other data showed imports shrank for a fourth month and auto sales fell again, indicating domestic demand remains sluggish.
Upbeat March activity readings would add to growing optimism over China’s outlook amid signs that Washington and Beijing may be nearing a deal to end their bruising trade war.
But analysts do not expect a sharp rebound in China like recoveries in the past, which created a strong reflationary pulse worldwide, noting its latest stimulus measures have so far been relatively more restrained.
MORE SUPPORT SEEN NEEDED
Some China watchers have dialed back their expectations of further policy easing in light of better-than-expected March credit and export data, and improvements in factory surveys.
But most economists believe more support will still be needed to ensure a sustainable recovery.
Earlier growth-boosting measures will take time to fully kick in, and corporate balance sheets are expected to remain under stress if profits are slow to recover from their worst slump in more than seven years.
The central bank has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) five times since early last year to free up more funds for lending. It has also pressed banks to keep lending to struggling firms despite the risk of more bad loans, and has guided interbank interest rates lower to reduce financing costs.
Economists in the latest Reuters poll released on Friday (before the credit data) forecast three more RRR cuts of 50 basis points each in this quarter and the next two.
But the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has so far refrained from cutting benchmark lending rates as it did in past downturns, suggesting policymakers are treading more carefully in pump-priming an economy that is laden with debt from past credit sprees.
The OECD echoed those concerns in a report on Tuesday, saying stimulus measures will shore up economic growth this year and next but may undermine the country’s drive to control debt and worsen structural distortions over the medium term.
China’s economic growth cooled to 6.6 percent in 2018, weighed down by multi-year clampdowns on riskier lending and pollution that deterred fresh investment, and by escalating U.S. and Chinese tariffs on each others’ goods.
Economists polled by Reuters expect a further pullback to 6.2 percent in 2019 – the slowest in nearly 30 years but roughly in the middle of Beijing’s 6-6.5 percent target range.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Shen Yang (3rd R), general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, a joint venture of General Motors and its Chinese partners, attends a Baojun launching event in Shanghai, China April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yilei Sun/File Photo
April 16, 2019
By Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirouzu
LIUZHOU, China/BEIJING (Reuters) – By many measures, General Motors’ China brand Baojun has been an exceptional success story, growing at breakneck speed by selling low-cost no-frills vehicles in smaller cities and rural areas.
But as Chinese consumer tastes shift away from basic and affordable, Baojun is engineering a different image for itself – launching mid-market models that will sport a redesigned logo and be sold through new or revamped showrooms.
The move is aimed at ensuring Baojun has offerings in the 100,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan ($15,000-$22,300) range that holds the most potential for the brand, said Mike Devereux, executive vice president at SGMW, GM’s venture with Chinese partners SAIC Motor Corp and Guangxi Automobile Group.
“When you look at what might happen in terms of some of the shrinking segments, you are going to make sure you don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” he told Reuters in an interview.
The first model off the block is the RS-5 SUV, which went on sale last week.
More sleekly designed than other Baojun vehicles, it is the first to feature semi-autonomous driving technology and will be priced from 96,800 yuan to 132,800 yuan. By comparison the most expensive model under Baojun’s old badge is priced from 85,800 yuan to 117,800 yuan.
Another three models will be rolled out this year, Devereux said, declining to provide further details on the cars.
GM executives and analysts see Baojun’s move upmarket as a natural progression as the brand seeks to stay relevant to younger consumers.
It is also supported by a large existing customer base. Most of Baojun’s sales are in smaller and less economically developed cities, but those were areas few Western automakers sought to target and the brand, which only got its start in 2011, rocketed to sales of almost 1 million in 2017.
Amid a slowing economy, sales slipped last year to around 840,000, accounting for 23 percent of GM vehicles sold in China.
For a graphic, click: https://tmsnrt.rs/2X5Th9E
Han Dehong, senior sales manager at SGMW, said the venture had been exploring a makeover of the Baojun brand since 2014 in tandem with a wide-ranging overhaul of its R&D, supply chain and distribution system.
“Younger groups have become the main force of consumer spending in our society and we need to respond to this new younger wave with brand upgrades and revamped models,” he said.
NEW SHOWROOMS, BIGGER CITIES
Compared to 10 years ago when there few models in the mid-market price range, competition has become fierce. Popular models include Toyota Motor Corp’s Corolla and Volkswagen’s Lavida. VW’s newly launched Jetta brand, which like Baojun is a China-only brand, is expected to also be sold in the same range.
“Baojun will need a competitive edge,” said Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, noting that Volkswagen is known for quality, Geely Automobile Holdings is known for design while Great Wall Motor vehicles offer roomy interiors.
To set itself apart, the revamped Baojun brand will emphasize self-driving technology and internet connectivity, GM officials said.
The new models will be sold in 365 new or refurbished showrooms, equivalent to 60 percent of Baojun stores across China. The brand will also strengthen its presence in bigger cities like Chengdu, Tianjin and Nanjin.
A new mobile phone app was also recently launched, allowing customers to arrange a test drive and buy the new models online.
GM officials declined to say how much the automaker had invested in the new models, the logo redesign and new stores.
The move upmarket for Baojun is partial as some cheaper models will still carry the old Baojun badge although others will be folded into the Wuling brand, – the other marque sold by SGMW, said Matt Tsien, GM’s chief in China.
Tsien said GM had little concern that a more upmarket Baojun might eat into sales of GM’s Chevrolet as Chinese customers interested in buying a Chevy tend not to be attracted to domestic brands.
Roughly equivalent vehicles would also be priced differently. Whereas the most expensive version of the RS-5 will cost 132,800 yuan, the Chevy Equinox SUV will start from 174,900 yuan.
“No matter how far you take Baojun, Baojun is still going to be domestic, it’s going to focus on the local market here and it’s going to still represent very good value for customers,” said Tsien.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirozhou; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond attends the IMF and World Bank’s 2019 Annual Spring Meetings, in Washington, April 13, 2019. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan
April 16, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Philip Hammond plans to attend China’s 2019 Belt and Road forum later this month, the Treasury said, subject to a clear parliamentary schedule.
Hammond met the Chinese Minister of Finance, Liu Kim on Friday at an IMF meeting. The two will also discuss British-China bilateral economic and financial cooperation when Hammond is in Beijing.
The first summit for Belt and Road — which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending — was in 2017.
(Reporting by William Schomberg; writing by Kate Holton; editing by Andy Bruce)
Source: OANN
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