SHARE
COPY LINK

CHINA

Volvo suitor Geely resumes trading

Chinese automaker Geely resumed trading of its Hong Kong-listed shares on Tuesday afternoon following confirmation of strong sales figures announced on Monday.

Geely Automobile Holdings, which suspended trading in its shares on Tuesday morning, said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that statements made by its executive director Lawrence Ang to the media after a shareholders’ meeting on Monday are “accurate.”

Ang told media on Monday that the company had set a sales target of 400,000 vehicles for 2010, representing a year-on-year growth of about 33 percent.

The group had sold around 250,000 vehicles in the first 10 months of this year, meeting its sales target, he said.

He also said that the listed company would be interested in the Chinese operations of Volvo, if its parent company is successful in acquiring the troubled carmaker, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

Ang added that his company is on the lookout for potential acquisitions, especially makers of car engines, the report said.

The company’s confirmation of strong car sales on Tuesday sent its share price up six percent to 4.59 Hong Kong dollars ($0.59 US) shortly after it resumed trading at 0630 GMT.

Reports said US auto giant 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.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SHOW COMMENTS