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CHINA

Geely comments raise doubts over Volvo buy

Geely CEO Gui Sengyue has once again caused ripples of concern in Sweden after comments indicating a less independent role for Volvo within the Chinese firm.

When Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed a contract in late March with Ford to buy Volvo Cars, Geely president and shareholder Li Shufu underlined that Volvo would become an independent company within the group.

Geely’s produces cars through its Geely Automobile subsidiary, which is 51 percent controlled by Li Shufu. The rest of the shares are listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Shufu’s comments have hitherto indicated that the two firms should be siblings within the the group.

But when Geely Automobile presented its accounts for 2009 at a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, the car company’s CEO Gui Shengyue painted a different picture. According to Shengyue, Geely’s parent company plans to incorporate Volvo Cars into Geely Automobile.

“It will definitely not take a long time. Maybe three years,” Shengyue said according to Sveriges Radio’s Ekot news programme.

This is not the first time that Geely representatives have made apparently conflicting comments and unions have demanded an explanation.

“It makes me wonder. They do not seem to be working together within Geely,” said union representative Magnus Sundemo.

Sundemo has now forwarded a question to one of Geely’s representatives seeking clarification over the issue.

“They must of course clarify this so that we understand how they work. Internal communication does not seem to be their strong suit,” said Sundemo.

Geely Holdings Swedish spokesman Anders Fogel considers that Shengyue’s statements may be an expression of his own personal dreams. The parent company has no plans to merge the two companies into one car making company, Fogel told Ekot.

“The plan remains to run Volvo as an independent, stand-alone company directly under the parent company,” said Fogel to news agency TT.

Fogel has joined the unions in asking for an explanation over how Shengyue views the takeover of Volvo.

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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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