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CHINA

Geely halts trading in wake of Volvo comments

Chinese automaker Geely suspended trading of its Hong Kong-listed shares on Tuesday to clarify statements it made about Volvo Cars the previous day.

Lawrence Ang, an executive director of the listed company, said on Monday that it would be interested in the Chinese operations of Volvo, if its parent is successful in acquiring the troubled carmaker, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

“The listed company is not involved in the Volvo deal. But our parent’s acquisition of Volvo should help the company (because of similarities between their businesses),” he reportedly said after the company’s shareholder meeting.

Geely Automobile Holdings said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday that trading in its shares had been suspended around 0200 GMT, adding that the announcement would be “price sensitive” in nature.

It gave no further details.

“The company suspended the trading because it will make an announcement later to clarify the statements it had made to the media yesterday,” a company spokeswoman told AFP.

Ang also said Geely is on the lookout for potential acquisitions, especially makers of car engines, according to Dow Jones.

The company’s shares bucked the Hong Kong stock index Monday and ended 6.1 percent higher at 4.33 Hong Kong dollars ($0.55) following Ang’s comments.

Reports said Ford picked Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Geely Automobile’s unlisted parent, in October as its preferred bidder for money-losing Volvo, which is based in Sweden.

Geely said last month it had reached an agreement with Ford to buy the intellectual property rights to Volvo’s key technologies, including those related to safety and the environment, the reports said.

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CHINA

China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as ‘political farce’

China on Tuesday blasted a democracy conference in Copenhagen attended by Taiwan's president and a Hong Kong activist alongside Danish government officials this week, qualifying it a "political farce".

China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as 'political farce'
Demonstrators gathered outside the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit was held Monday and Tuesday in the Danish capital and organised by the Alliance of Democracies, an organisation targeted by Beijing sanctions in March and founded by former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod also participated in the forum by video link, which Beijing said violated “the one-China principle.”

“This summit is a political farce,” the Chinese embassy in Denmark wrote in a statement published on Tuesday. “Inviting those who advocate Taiwan and Hong Kong ‘independence’ to the meeting violates the one-China principle and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” it said.

“Some hypocritical western politicians are good at meddling in other countries’ internal affairs and creating divisions and confrontation in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. They are bound to fail,” it added.

At the conference on Monday, Kofod said it was “deplorable” that Beijing had imposed sanctions on 10 European individuals and organisations in response to EU sanctions on Xinjiang officials over their actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Like most countries, Denmark applies the one-China principle — under which Beijing bars other countries from having simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taipei — though it does maintain relations with Taiwan.

Cut off politically from the rest of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the territory is self-governing but is not recognised by
the United Nations.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that will one day return under its control, by force if necessary.

China’s sabre-rattling has increased considerably over the past year, with fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers breaching Taiwan’s air defence zone on a near-daily basis.

“Our government is fully aware of the threats to regional security, and is actively enhancing our national defence capabilities to protect our
democracy,” Tsai told the conference in a video address on Monday. US President Joe Biden is expected to present his China strategy soon, as
calls mount for him to publicly commit to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

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