BUSINESS
14 | Wednesday, August 7, 2019 CHINA DAILY
The company will also build
underwater tunnels, in addition to
its underground tunnels business,
Musk said.Audi reports record
sales in Jan-July
FAW-Volkswagen Audi, a major
brand in the Chinese luxury car
market, saw a record 368,094 vehi-
cles delivered in China in the Janu-
ary-July period, the Sino-German
auto joint venture FAW-Volkswagen
said. A total of 56,223 Audi vehicles
were sold in China last month, up
6.1 percent from a year earlier, also
hitting a monthly record for the
same period. Domestically made
models like the bestselling A4L, the
all-new Q5L and A6L continued to
enjoy booming sales around the
country. Sales of the A4L reached
14,501 units in July and nearly
100,000 units in the first seven
months.tered 51.8 percent, said Anthony
Nieves, chair of ISM’s non-manu-
facturing business survey commit-
tee, noting that the non-
manufacturing sector’s rate of
growth “continued to cool off.”Italy’s economy to see
marginal improvement
The Italian economy was expected
to improve, although slightly, in
the second half of 2019, the
National Institute of Statistics said.
“The leading indicator interrupted
its decreasing trend, suggesting
that Italian economy will improve
marginally in the coming months,”
the institute stated in its bulletin.
The report provided several
insights on the first half of 2019,
and an outlook for the second one.
In the second quarter of 2019, the
country’s gross domestic product
remained stable compared to both
the previous quarter and the sameperiod of 2018, ISTAT said.Georgia’s wine exports
continue to grow
Georgia exported a record more
than 47 million bottles of wine in the
first seven months of this year, up 4
percent year-on-year, the Georgian
National Wine Agency said. The
wines were sold to 47 countries dur-
ing the period from January to July,
totaling $114.2 million, an increase
of 6 percent from a year earlier, the
agency said in its latest monthly
report. According to the report, Rus-
sia, Ukraine and China were the top
three importers, with 29.1 million
bottles, 4.89 million bottles and 4.
million bottles, respectively.S. Korea’s current
account surplus down
South Korea’s current account sur-
plus posted the lowest in seven
years in the first half of this year on
the continued export fall, central
bank data showed on Tuesday. Cur-
rent account surplus was $21.77 bil-
lion in the January-June period,
down 24.7 percent from the same
period of last year, according to the
Bank of Korea. It was the lowest in
seven years since the first half of
2012 as export continued to decline
for the seventh consecutive month
through June.Egypt receives $2b
assistance from IMF
Egypt received $2 billion on Monday
from the International Monetary
Fund which is the last tranche of a
$12 billion loan, Egyptian Finance
Minister Mohamed Maait told inde-
pendent Yom7 news website on Mon-
day. “Egypt will focus on promoting
structural reform program, main-
taining sustainable development and
fixing sectors to boost local indus-
tries in the coming period,” Maait
said. The last $2 billion have been
added to the account of the Central
Bank of Egypt which will increase
the country’s cash reserve of foreign
exchange to more than $46 billion
compared to the current $44.3 bil-
lion, according to Maait.CHINA DAILY — AGENCIESWhat’s news
million yuan rose 2.7 percent year-
on-year to reach 475 billion yuan
($68.5 billion) in the first half of
the year, according to the Ministry
of Industry and Information Tech-
nology (MIIT). These enterprises
saw their output shrink 1.1 percent
to a total of 10.4 billion pieces in
the first half of the year, according
to the ministry.6m blockchain invoices
issued in Shenzhen
One year after the first block-
chain-based invoice was issued in
Shenzhen, Guangdong province,
about 6 million such invoices have
been issued, authorities said.
According to the tax bureau of
Shenzhen, the average daily issu-
ance of the invoice is 44,000, with
a total face value of 3.9 billion
yuan ($554 million) for transac-
tions covering 113 sectors. So far,
more than 5,300 companies in the
city have registered to use block-
chain invoices. The use of block-
chain-based invoices has been
steadily expanding in the tech hub
since a number of local restau-
rants, banks and supermarkets
launched the service last August.
The service is now widely used in
finance, retailing, catering and
hospitality in Shenzhen.COMPANIES AND MARKETSElon Musk firm on
China branch launch
Elon Musk’s Boring Company will
launch its China branch later this
month, Musk has confirmed on
social media. Musk announced
last Friday in response to a social
media post regarding his upcom-
ing visit to China for the 2019
World Artificial Intelligence Con-
ference in Shanghai from Aug 29
to 31. Musk confirmed his attend-
ance at the conference, adding
that he will be launching the Bor-
ing Company China on that trip.AROUND THE WORLDUS service sector
growth hits 3-year low
The US non-manufacturing sector
expanded in July at the slowest
pace in nearly three years, the Insti-
tute for Supply Management (ISM)
said. The non-manufacturing
index, which gauges the perform-
ance of the services sector, was 53.
percent in July, down 1.4 percent-
age points from the June reading,
according to the latest Non-Manu-
facturing ISM Report on Business.
The May reading was 56.9 percent.
This is the index’s lowest reading
since August 2016, when it regis-By OUYANG SHIJIA
[email protected]New types of telecommunication
and online fraud are posing threats
to personal safety and social stabili-
ty given the surging demand for
mobile communications and devi-
ces, a new report said.
Released on Tuesday by Chinese
social and gaming giant Tencent
Holdings Ltd, the report noted that
the blossoming of the mobile inter-
net, artificial intelligence and other
new technologies has created fresh
avenues for fraudsters to breach
data and target prospective victims.
“New types of fraud are develop-ing features of industrialization,
intelligence and internationaliza-
tion. And there’s also been the grad-
ual formation of a dark internet
industrial chain,” said Zhu Jinsong,
general manager of Tencent’s securi-
ty management department.
The Tencent official said unlike
the traditional ways seen before of
fraudsters working solo or in teams,
telecom and online fraud has been
using new ways to get away with
crimes.
Zhu gave the remarks on Tuesday
at a news conference in Beijing on
preventing and combating new
types of telecom and online fraud.
The conference was jointly held bythe Supreme People’s Procuratorate,
the Ministry of Public Security and
Tencent.
The Chinese have become big
users of digital technology. Thanks
to the rapidly developing internet
sector, more consumers are enjoy-
ing shopping online.
Of the nation’s 610 million online
shoppers, 591 million are using
mobile payments, accounting for
72.5 percent of overall mobile neti-
zens, statistics from the China Inter-
net Network Information Center
showed.
While people are actively embrac-
ing online shopping and innovative
online payment services, many haveexperienced fraud while transacting
online, the report said.
Trading scams sit in first place as
the largest category of all telecom
and online fraud in China, with 39.
percent of the total.
Younger people, especially those
born in the 1990s, topped all other
groups with a high likelihood to
experience telecom and online
fraud. Some 54 percent of victims of
scams are those aged between 18 to
28, representing the majority of net-
work users.
Middle-aged and elderly people
above 45 years old lose the largest
amount of money in telecom and
online fraud, with average lossescalculated at 7,000 yuan ($995).
Tencent said in the report that a
large number of online fraud will
first target potential victims
through social platforms. This
would include secondhand goods
trading platforms, internet dating
sites, job sites and short video plat-
forms.
To prevent and crack down on the
fraud, more efforts would be needed
to constantly update security man-
agement tools, improve technical
strategies against online fraud, pro-
mote cybersecurity education, offer
early warnings, and improve legal
regulations, the report said.
“Telecom and internet fraud is anew type of crime that emerges with
the boom in internet technologies.
On the one hand, judicial authori-
ties need to firmly combat cyber-
crime. On the other hand, it requires
a joint effort from all sectors of soci-
ety,” said Zhang Xiaojin, deputy
director of the first procuratorate of
the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Tencent claimed it will continue
to implement its Guardian Project
against increasingly sophisticated
cybercriminals.
During the conference, Tencent
also unveiled a WeChat mini pro-
gram to enhance users’ anti-fraud
awareness and help them learn
more about various frauds.Report: Online fraud a threat to personal safety, social stability
Visitors check out vehicles during the 20th Harbin International Automobile Industry Exhibition over
the weekend in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. The 12-day exhibition has attracted a total of
419 automakers from 12 countries and regions. WANG JIANWEI / XINHUADriving force
GOVT AND POLICIES
Chemical industry sees
healthy momentum
China’s chemical sector saw faster
value-added growth in the first half
of this year, official data showed.
The value added for the Chinese
chemical industry grew 4.6 percent
year-on-year in the first half of this
year, 1 percentage point quicker
than the same period in 2018,
according to the National Develop-
ment and Reform Commission
(NDRC). Output of ethylene
reached 10.15 million metric tons
in the first six months of 2019, up
9.8 percent year-on-year. Fertilizer
output totaled 29.65 million tons,
up 2.9 percent year-on-year, NDRC
data showed.
Home appliance sales
expand in first half
The output and sales of China’s
home appliance saw a stable
growth in the first half of the year,
an industry report showed.
Domestic retail sales reached 429.
billion yuan ($62.28 billion) dur-
ing the period, with over 40 per-
cent contributed by online sales,
according to a report released by
the think tank CCID under the
Ministry of Industry and Informa-
tion Technology. The home appli-
ance market upgraded by turning
its focus from functional consump-
tion to upgraded consumption,
which boosted the sales of new
types of home appliances includ-
ing robots and dust mite control-
lers.
Garment industry in
nation on steady path
China’s garment industry saw its
sales grow steadily in the first half
of the year despite slower expan-
sion of the sector. Retail sales of
garment enterprises each with an
annual operating revenue of 20