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Tag: China

  • Laox lets Chinese tourists Flying to Japan pre-order duty-free

    Laox lets Chinese tourists Flying to Japan pre-order duty-free

    Tokyo-based duty-free operator Laox is allowing Chinese tourists to Japan to do their tax-free shopping online in advance of their visit.

    The duty-free goods will be listed on an Alibaba-hosted website, allowing consumers to purchase their goods online and pick them up at Laox locations of their choice within Japan up to a month following the transaction. Travellers will need to show purchase records on their phone and present their passports to be eligible for tax exemption.

    The number of goods available for purchase on the website is expected to grow to about 5000 items from the roughly 100 currently available already.

    The service is launching during a period of stagnation in the Chinese tourist market, as Japanese retailers face intensifying competition.

    Laox’s strategy is intended to spare shoppers the inconvenience of hunting for the products they want within physical stores. It is the first such scheme hosted on an Alibaba site.

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  • Tmall targets 1000 online cosmetics stores this year

    Tmall targets 1000 online cosmetics stores this year

    Alibaba’s Tmall has announced that it expects international and domestic cosmetics brands to open 1000 online cosmetics stores this year to meet burgeoning demand from Chinese consumers. At its annual beauty summit, Tmall announced that seven international cosmetics companies have signed agreements to open flagship stores on Tmall this year. Another five beauty companies signed New Retail partnerships with Tmall during the summit, giving them a complete view of their customer base by integrating insights from digitised offline promotion activities and storefront information with online information.

    “We are honoured to be trusted by 180,000 brands on our platform, empowering them to accelerate their digital transformation and grow their business in China,” said Tmall president Jet Jing. “As China continues its consumption upgrade, more and more people from different age groups and geographic locations are willing to spend on high-quality beauty products. We are looking forward to working with more brands to address the opportunity.”

    Tmall’s sales of beauty products via its online cosmetics stores jumped by more than 60 per cent last year, surpassing the industry’s average growth rate. Online sales of cosmetics, skincare and personal care products grew by 46 per cent, 40 per cent and 37 per cent in China respectively last year, which was also ahead of the whole fast-moving consumer goods sector average of 34 per cent, according to a report jointly released by Tmall and retail market research firm Kantar during the summit.

    The report also highlighted the untapped potential in Generation Z. Aged between 15 to 19 years old, Generation Z female consumers are newcomers to the beauty market and are willing to spend more on high-end lipsticks than women in other age groups, representing an opportunity for cosmetics companies.

    Last year, some 80 per cent of Tmall brands chose the marketplace to launch new products, proof of the platform’s ability to identify new markets and demand. Two new emerging domestic beauty brands were among more than 30 beauty and personal care brands whose sales topped RMB 100 million (US$14.9 million) at last year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

    Also at the summit, Tmall showcased a one-stop solution, the Alibaba Business Operating System, as part of a new effort to help beauty brands succeed in China. The system helps brands digitally transform themselves in sales, logistics and supply-chain management, payment, marketing, cloud computing and other supporting services.

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  • China Unicom hosts 5G in smart education conference

    China Unicom hosts 5G in smart education conference

    China Unicom is collaborating with Chinese gaming and mobile application developer NetDragon WebSoft to develop 5G-enabled future classroom applications.

    The operator jointly held a 5G + Smart Education Industry Education conference in Wuhan to demonstrate the potential of 5G to transform the education process.

    The conference, which was also organized by the National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning of Central China Normal University and National Engineering Laboratory for Educational Big Data, ad co-organized by NetDragon, Huawei and the China Information Communication Technologies Group Corporation.

    At the conference, China Unicom demonstrated the use of 5G and holographic technology to provide a new-experience open physics lecture to students across different regions simultaneously.

    NetDragon WebSoft also  demonstrated a wide range of education products, including Holographic Interactive Learning, VR Immersion Classroom, One-Stop Learning, and other educational products.

    “5G will become a crucial foundation for our country’s information and communication construction, as well as the key to the development of industrial internet and artificial intelligence,” China Unicom deputy general manager Liang Baojun said.

    “In this context, China Unicom, as one of the leaders in the telecommunication industry, will jointly conduct 5G business research with multiple industrial enterprise partners to lay the foundation for promoting full commercial use of 5G. At the same time, we will leverage on resources from our existing network, incubation of 5G application and support from our industrial chain to fully support the development of education in China.”

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  • Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Carrefour China has boosted its profit 11-fold according to documents filed in France, where its parent company is based. In China, Carrefour achieved €45 million operating income from its 245 outlets and online business, which it put down to investments in previous years in boosting its operations and profile there.

    The company said it has transformed the commercial model of its Le Marche hypermarket chain, and boosted sales online. An investment in technology allowing facial recognition and Scan & Go had particularly paid off.

    “China is a retailing laboratory for the world,” said Thierry Garnier, president and CEO of Carrefour China. “For Carrefour, China is a specific market that has helped us to learn and to understand the future.”

    At the end of last year, Carrefour opened a flagship on Tmall which is expected to further improve sales.

    Globally, Carrefour increased its sales by 1.4 per cent to reach €85 billion.

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  • SoftBank deploying Cisco SRv6 network

    SoftBank deploying Cisco SRv6 network

    Cisco is collaborating with SoftBank on the world’s first Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) deployment. With the anticipation of the coming 5G era, Cisco has been assisting SoftBank to deploy an SRv6 network nationwide to build a future network architecture that is extremely scalable, with improved reliability, flexibility and agility, all while helping to reduce capex and opex.

    Current mobile networks are deployed as divided networks, with several layers and complicated control plane processing, which makes it difficult to respond to strict quality requirements like in the case of 5G. Deploying SRv6 in a 5G mobile network aims to simplify network layers and integrate user plane functions from end-to-end with only IPv6 protocol.

    “Converging 5G features into the end-to-end IPv6 layer with Segment Routing capabilities, is the key to embodying 5G in a simple, scalable architecture,” SoftBank CTO Junichi Miyakawa said.

    “With the depth of portfolio and strong network knowledge that Cisco brings to the table, we knew together we could bring our vision to life.”

    “SoftBank has kept an intense focus on improving service quality for its customers, which can be challenging when trying to reduce costs,” said Sumeet Arora, Senior Vice President of Service Provider Networks, Cisco. “With the launch of SRv6 network programming, it is pioneering the next phase of IP networking through automation, and championing the needs of its customers.”

    Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technology innovations in routing, 5G, subscriber experience (mobile, cable, fixed), automation, optical and optics. Together with its Customer Experience team of experts, Cisco enables service providers, media and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, helps scale and secure their networks, and grow their revenue.

  • Lego China Flagship Heralds with a renewed focus on the East

    Lego China Flagship Heralds with a renewed focus on the East

    Danish toy brand Lego’s bounce back after a tough financial year has seen new enthusiasm from the brand for expansion into China. The new energy has seen the retailer open its first Lego China flagship in Beijing last weekend.

    A drop in demand for its products during the 2017 financial year – the first since 2004 – saw the brand take a sharp conservative turn last year in order to stabilize the business. Meanwhile, double-digit growth in China brought revenue up 4 per cent to US$5.5 billion with profits of $1.2 billion, accompanied by a degree of sales recovery in the US and western Europe.

    “We are especially encouraged by our progress given the challenges facing the toy industry and the departure of specialist retailers such as Toys R Us that went under last year,” said Lego’s CEO Niels B Christiansen. “These shifts gave us the opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with retailers and find new ways to connect with shoppers and consumers across digital and physical channels.”

    Buoyed by the encouraging results, and on the heels of the Lego China flagship opening, the company will launch 80 new physical outlets in 18 Chinese cities this year.

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  • Canada Goose revenues surge more than 50%

    Canada Goose revenues surge more than 50%

    Canada Goose Holdings announced its financial results for the third quarter, highlighting a surge in revenues after new store openings both physical and online. For the quarter ended December 31, 2018, the North American outdoorwear company said total revenues increased by 50.2% to $399.3m from $265.9m, or 49% in constant currencies.

    Direct-to-consumer sales totalled $253.3m from $131.7m last year, driven by the strong online and in-store sales. Canada Goose said it opened five new stores during the quarter and an online store.

    Wholesale revenue increased to $164m from $134.2m, on the back of higher order values from existing partners, coupled with earlier shipment timing relative to last year.

    The Toronto-based company reported net income came in at $103.4m, or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to $63m, or $0.56 per diluted share. The 64% increase was due to higher operating income and a lower effective tax rate, said Canada Goose.

    Adjusted EBITDA was $151.1m, compared to $94.7m.

    “Fiscal 2019 is shaping up to be another year of impressive results. In our peak selling season we continued to deliver when and where it matters most, while also strengthening our foundation for future success on the global stage,” said Dani Reiss, Canada Goose President & CEO.

    “We have successfully entered new markets, introduced new product, and increased capacity to meet growing demand in both channels. We remain deeply confident in the long runway we have ahead.”

    Looking ahead for 2019, annual revenue growth is projected to be in the mid-to-high thirties on a percentage basis, compared to at least 30%.

    Annual growth in adjusted net income per diluted share is now predicted to be in the mid-to-high forties on a percentage basis.

    Founded in 1957, Canada Goose is today one of the world’s leading makers of performance luxury apparel. The Made-In-Canada advocate employs more than 3,400 people worldwide.

    In Asia, the Canadian brand has flagships in Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong.

  • CapitaLand tops out Raffles City Chongqing

    CapitaLand tops out Raffles City Chongqing

    CapitaLand has topped out the eighth and final skyscraper of Raffles City Chongqing, expecting to launch it in phases from the second half of this year. This follows the completion of the 200m-high bridge The Crystal which connects six of the towers. “The successful topping out of Raffles City Chongqing represents a new milestone in CapitaLand’s track record of building well-designed integrated spaces,” said Lucas Loh, president (China & investment management) of CapitaLand Group.

    “After six years of construction using state-of-the-art engineering technologies, we are proud to present in Raffles City Chongqing an iconic architectural form resembling a powerful sail surging forward on the historic Chaotianmen site.”

    Following Raffles City Chongqing’s structural completion, the group is now focusing on the interior fit-out works, including transplanting trees to enliven The Crystal sky bridge, which will feature the tallest observation deck across Western China.

    Retail offering

    The development’s five-storey shopping mall will house some 450 retailers of fashion, dining, lifestyle and entertainment.

    Anchor retail tenants committed to date include Chinese electric vehicle company Nio, which will open its largest showroom there, a 1500sqm space also serving as an “exclusive clubhouse” Nio owners.

    South Korean cinema chain CGV will open its 5600sqm flagship and popular bookstore Yanjiyou will open a regional flagship, featuring a lifestyle cafe and other creative and experiential offerings.

    Ole’ will operate a gourmet supermarket with a food hall serving a wide range of fresh produce and international specialties.

    In a tribute to the 3000-year-history of Chongqing, the mall will feature a dedicated zone to promote authentic Made-in-Chongqing products, such as local delicacies, handicrafts and souvenirs.

    Occupying 9.2ha, Raffles City Chongqing brings together a 235,000sqm shopping mall, 150,000sqm of Grade A office space, about 1400 residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing hotel.

  • Wall St rises after Trump stirs China trade hopes again

    Wall St rises after Trump stirs China trade hopes again

    Wall Street’s three major indexes ended higher on Monday but well below the session’s highs after President Donald Trump said he would delay a planned hike in tariffs on Chinese imports. Postponement of the tariff deadline was seen as the clearest sign yet the two countries were closing in on an agreement to end their prolonged trade spat, which has slowed global growth and disrupted markets.

    But gains were capped after weeks of advances for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq, partly due to trade optimism and dovish signals from the Federal Reserve.

    “A lot of the good news related to trade is priced in at this point,“ said R.J. Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.

    “There’s only so much we can rally when somebody says we’re making progress … The trade stuff is a little bit of a sideshow. If you get back to looking at economic growth, it’s clearly slowing.”

    The S&P 500 index ended 4.9% below its late September record closing high after narrowing the gap to 4.3% earlier in the session.

    Investors were also looking ahead to an appearance by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell before a US Senate committee on Tuesday.

    “In the short term trade got taken off the table today so next up on the calendar is Powell speaking to Congress. It’s possible investors are starting to clam up a bit because of what they think Powell may say,“ said Michael Cuggino, portfolio manager at Permanent Portfolio Funds in San Francisco.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.14 points, or 0.23%, to 26,091.95, the S&P 500 gained 3.44 points, or 0.12%, to 2,796.11 and the Nasdaq Composite added 26.92 points, or 0.36%, to 7,554.46.

    Investors were also wary of weakening estimates for current quarter earnings, with Wall Street on Monday expecting a 0.9% decline in S&P first-quarter earnings per share compared with expectations for 5.3% growth on Jan. 1, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

    “It’s hard to get valuations to continue to rise in the face of falling earnings estimates,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab in Boston.

    Of the S&P’s 11 major sectors, 7 ended the day with gains.

    After advancing as much as 1.4%, the financials index lost ground late in the day to close up 0.4%.

    The S&P technology index rose 0.5%. The Philadelphia semiconductor index climbed 0.8% as chip companies have a big exposure to China.

    The industrials sector rose 0.4%, getting its biggest boost from General Electric Co, which gained 10.8% after announcing a sale of its biopharma business to Danaher Corp for $21.4 billion. Danaher shares rose 8.2%.

    A flurry of M&A activity also helped the risk-on sentiment.

    The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rose 2%, its biggest boost coming from shares in Spark Therapeutics Inc, which soared 120% after Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG agreed to buy it for $4.3 billion.

    The biggest laggards were the S&P’s defensive sectors – consumer staples, utilities and real estate. The consumer discretionary sector also ended down 0.3%, with the biggest drag from Home Depot, down 1.3%, on concerns about a soft housing market ahead of its quarterly results.

    Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.14-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

    The S&P 500 posted 58 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 128 new highs and 14 new lows.

    Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.36 billion shares, compared with the 7.32 billion average for the last 20 trading days.

  • Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Woori Bank launched a money-transfer service linked with Chinese banks to allow its customers to readily and easily send money to people holding Chinese bank accounts. On Monday, the bank said the service will be carried out in real time. The partnered entities include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and also Chinese financial services company UnionPay.

    The service will charge 10,000 won ($8.9) in fees for a transaction less than 2 million won. For remittance over 2 million won, the charge will increase to a flat rate of 20,000 won.

    The service was jointly developed by Woori Bank, Woori Card and UnionPay. Once a user sends money, the service will notify the user of the transfer result via text message.

    The sender must send Korean won and the receiver will receive Chinese Yuan.

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  • Wayne’s Coffee debuts in China

    Wayne’s Coffee debuts in China

    Swedish cafe chain Wayne’s Coffee has opened its first outlet in China. The new store on Shanghai’s Nanjing Xi Lu serves coffee, sandwiches and Swedish pastries to consumers. The move represents a courageous first step in a market dominated by international and local competitors. China is Wayne’s second market in Asia after the brand launched in Vietnam in June last year. It currently operates seven locations in Ho Chi Minh City.

    While the brand has been criticised for lacking a distinctive look and presumed by some observers to be a local Starbucks clone, the brand has in fact been running in Sweden since 1994, where it was the first venue in the country to serve cafe latte. It was also the first to serve the latte in Saudi Arabia when it opened there in 2010.

    Wayne’s more aggressive expansion phase was recognised when the brand won “Franchise chain of the year 2017” in Stockholm. It currently operates more than 140 locations internationally.

  • Convenience drives Chinese smart-home market

    Convenience drives Chinese smart-home market

    New research from market intelligence agency Mintel has suggested that convenience will drive the future of the Chinese smart-home market. However, affordability is the biggest barrier to purchasing, in an environment where today’s Chinese consumers are growing increasingly familiar with smart home devices. According to Mintel, as many as 68 per cent of urban Chinese consumers who have purchased or are interested in smart-home devices say that convenience is a primary reason for their interest. Meanwhile, 60 per cent attribute their interest in smart-home devices to trying new technology and half because smart home devices make them feel more relaxed at home.

    “Chinese consumers are now increasingly knowledgeable about how smart-home appliances can help to simplify daily lives,” said Mintel China research analyst Kaye Huang. “Convenience as well as an interest in trying new technology are big reasons for Chinese consumers to purchase smart-home devices. Parents are showing more interest in smart-home devices than those without children; which is likely to be attributed to how the devices can help parents save time and effort. On the flip side, price, more so than privacy, is what is keeping Chinese consumers from purchasing these devices. This indicates that companies in the smart-home market need to put more effort into communicating why these products are value for money.”

    Meanwhile, Mintel research reveals that automatic adjustment to environmental changes is a big opportunity for players in the smart home devices market; more than half of urban Chinese consumers think that this function is a necessity.

    “What will stand out in the smart-home market is the ‘automatic adjustment of parameters’ which enables smart-home devices to automatically respond to environmental changes, such as temperature and humidity. Today’s Chinese consumers have higher expectations on their living conditions and automation is an important part of making the living environment ‘smarter’,” said Huang.

    “Voice control has been a popular area of development in recent years especially since the industry believes that it could be the next generation of user interaction,” continued Huang. “Yet, our research finds that voice control, while widely-known, is a less-used smart home function. While playing music and asking for general information are two main functions that Chinese consumers are using for voice control, in reality this only counts for a handful of consumers, suggesting consumers’ habit of using voice control is far from being firmly established. In the future, brands can look at rolling out strategies and initiatives to instil the habit of using voice control among consumers in China.”

  • ViSenze AI technology helps people shop on Samsung phones

    ViSenze AI technology helps people shop on Samsung phones

    Visual commerce AI firm ViSenze has partnered with Samsung to help users easily discover and purchase products using the Shopping by Bixby Vision app on the electronics firm’s mobile devices. The partnership employs ViSenze’s automated visual-commerce technology and visual-search capabilities customised to consumers’ personalised shopping demands.

    “Consumers are exposed to countless products in their everyday lives that inspire and empower them to explore new trends,” said ViSenze CEO Oliver Tan. “Samsung is one of the first major companies to capitalise on this, recognising how essential it is to ensure the path from discovery to purchase is effortless.

    “At ViSenze, we work globally with some of the largest brands and retailers. Coupling this knowledge with our market-leading visual commerce technology, we are able to provide our partners with the insights and capabilities they need to find success with visual search and the commerce it’s driving each day.”

    According to material released by the brand, “Visual commerce solutions enable mobile shoppers to seize inspirational moments instantaneously by enabling them to find the same or visually similar products directly on their devices from top retailers such as Rakuten, Urban Outfitters and Zalora.”

    “Thanks to ViSenze, customers in this region can now take mobile shopping to new heights via Shopping by Bixby Vision, which makes shopping easier than ever, via your camera,” said head of mobile services & partnerships for Samsung Southeast Asia & Oceania Christopher Tarr.

    “From inspiration to instant gratification – it is that simple.”

  • Sands China mall sales increase when land-based visitors return

    Sands China mall sales increase when land-based visitors return

    Sands China mall revenue rose 5.8 per cent last year as Mainland China visitor numbers rebounded. Sands China owns The Venetian Macao, Sands Cotai Central, The Parisian Macao and The Plaza Macao shopping centres which boast a combined 1.87 million sqft of retail-mall space. They form a key part of the company’s giant gaming and resorts business in the territory, which combined posted US$8.67 billion in sales last year, up more than 14 per cent, and achieved a post-tax profit of $1.87 billion, up 17 per cent.

    The company says mall revenues for the year increased 5.8 per cent overall to $507 million, compared to $479 million the previous year.

    The increase was primarily driven by higher turnover fees from Shoppes at Four Seasons, Shoppes at Venetian and Shoppes at Cotai Central, and from additional retail space becoming available at Cotai Central.

    The strongest-performing mall complex was the smallest of the four, The Plaza Macao, which has the 241,548sqft gross leasable area (GLA). It achieved 99 per cent occupancy with a base rent of $460 per sqft and tenant sales of $4373 per sqft, contributing $145 million in revenue, up 10.7 per cent year on year.

    The weakest-performing mall was The Parisian Macao, with 89.8 per cent occupancy of its 295,915sqft GLA. Base rent per sqft was $156 and tenant sales per sqft $649. Revenue there fell 13.6 per cent year on year to just $57 million.

    The company’s largest Macau property, and its first, The Venetian Macao, has 813,376sqft of GLA. It achieved total mall revenues of $233 million last year – up 6.4 per cent – with 90.3 per cent occupancy, a base rent of $263 and tenant sales of $1746.

    Sands Cotai Central, with 519,681sqft GLA, achieved $69 million in revenue – up 9.5 per cent – and achieved 91.5 per cent occupancy. Base rent was $108 and tenant sales $892.

    Sands China said its food and beverage revenues rose 4.1 per cent last year to $304 million, driven primarily by increased foot traffic.

    Chairman Sheldon G Adelson said Macao’s development and evolution as Asia’s leading tourism destination accelerated during the year, with market-wide visitation from China reaching a record 25.2 million visits, an increase of 14 per cent compared to last year.

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  • New Zealand bans Huawei from 5G mobile network

    New Zealand bans Huawei from 5G mobile network

    From offering mobile payment services such as WePay and Alipay to hiring front-desk staff proficient in Mandarin, the New Zealand Chinese Travel and Tourism Association was not short of advice for Kiwi tourism operators on how to benefit from an influx of mainland Chinese visitors to New Zealand this year.

    “Chinese tourists enjoy spontaneous travel so there are a lot of last minute bookings. For businesses who’d like to attract Chinese tourists, this is the major challenge for them,” association chairman Simon Cheung said in a promotional video.

    But preparations for the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism – a campaign by both governments to strengthen economic and bilateral ties – were cast in doubt when China postponed the launch event, which was expected to take place in Wellington next week. Huawei is banned, but where is the backlash in New Zealand?

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday acknowledged that the country’s relationship was complex and not without challenges, but dismissed talk there was a rift. But she revealed that dates for her first official trip to China, planned for the end of last year, still had not been finalised.

    “I have been issued with an invitation to visit China, that has not changed. We continue to find dates that would work,” she said.

    Her admission fuelled concerns from opposition parties and the media that ties, already tense after Ardern’s government blocked Chinese telecom giant Huawei from the nationwide roll-out of a 5G data network over “significant national security concerns”, were deteriorating further.

    Last weekend, an Air New Zealand flight en route to Shanghai was turned back to Auckland, with some reports suggesting it was due to how paperwork on board the plane had referred to Taiwan. According to Bloomberg, the airline said the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was not yet certified to fly to China, but had been “unfortunately assigned” the flight.

    The Civil Aviation Administration of China last year told foreign firms and airlines not to refer to Taiwan as anything other than a Chinese territory on their websites.

    Former New Zealand government trade consultant Robert Scollay said from the point of view of those in the country, China’s latest actions “raised the question of whether this is a temporary expression of displeasure or if it means something more significant”.

    After Wellington’s decision on Huawei, which it took in support of its fellow members in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, there was a debate on whether it had finally chosen a side in its long-running balancing act between the United States and China – its two most important economic partners.

    But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday dismissed the suggestion, saying both countries had a common interest in ensuring healthy and stable ties. “China is willing to work with New Zealand on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit to promote the continued development of China-New Zealand relations,” Geng said.

    Noakes from the University of Auckland said he was not convinced ties had deteriorated, despite recent events. “The really unlucky thing is that the perceived souring of ties dovetails with commonly held misperceptions of what China is and what engagement with China means for New Zealanders.”

    Jason Young, director of New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington, had a more ominous take.

    “This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. “We talk ourselves into having a bad relationship with China, and that’s quite dangerous.”

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