Regulators summon ride-hailing firms

CHINESE regulators Wednesday summoned DiDi Chuxing and 10 other ride-hailing firms to talk about recent “illegal operation problems and actions disrupting the market order.”

The Ministry of Transport, the Cyberspace Administration of China and three other agencies said some companies have engaged in illegal activities involving a variety of marketing methods and “vicious” competition. Their actions have disrupted the market order, affected the safety and stability of the industry, and damaged the legitimate rights and interests of drivers and passengers, the regulators said.

Hongqi sells over 180,000 vehicles

HONGQI, an automobile brand under China’s leading automaker FAW Group Co. Ltd., posted a rise of 66 percent in sales between January and August this year.

A total of 180,600 Hongqi-branded vehicles were sold during the period, said FAW Group, adding it plans to double its 2020 sales of Hongqi vehicles to 400,000 units this year.

Meanwhile, Hongqi has sped up the development of new energy vehicles (NEVs). A factory focusing on electric cars with an investment of 8 billion yuan (about US$1.24 billion) is scheduled to start production by the end of October this year.

Hongqi, meaning “red flag,” is China’s iconic sedan brand.

Foreign holdings of Chinese bonds rise

OVERSEAS investors raised their holdings of Chinese bonds for the 32nd month in a row in July as the yield of Chinese government bonds remained attractive.

Overseas investors held a total of 3.38 trillion yuan (about US$522.6 billion) of Chinese bonds by the end of July, rising 75.4 billion yuan from a month earlier, data from China Central Depository & Clearing Co. Ltd. showed.

China’s economic resilience, yuan’s stable exchange rate as well as wider financial opening-ups have combined to drive the foreign inflows, analysts noted.

China intl. digital economy expo to open in Hebei

AN international expo on the digital economy will be held next week in Shijiazhuang, the capital of north China’s Hebei Province.

The China International Digital Economy Expo 2021, scheduled from Sept. 6 to 8, is themed “innovative development and digital economy,” according to the Hebei Provincial Government.