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Volvo opens new China headquarters in Shanghai

Swedish automaker Volvo opened its new China headquarters in Shanghai on Tuesday in its latest bid to expand its market share in the country.

Volvo opens new China headquarters in Shanghai
Volvo China Chairman Freeman Shen

Volvo President and CEO Stefan Jacoby said the company’s Chinese presence had gone from being a sales arm to a full-fledged research and manufacturing operation within months.

“I am glad to see the China operations team has been set up and has made a huge progress over the last few months, expanding our business presence in China,” Jacoby said in a company statement.

The new headquarters on Shanghai’s northern outskirts will also include a technology development centre, the company said. Volvo officials declined to say how much the carmaker was investing in the facilities.

Chinese automaker Geely bought Volvo from Ford in August 2010 for $1.5 billion (9.85 billion kronor) and the Chinese carmaker aims to sell 800,000 Volvos in 2020, including 300,000 in China.

In 2010, Volvo sold 373,525 vehicles worldwide, with sales rising by 29 percent in northern Europe and 36 percent in China. Sales dropped 12 percent in the US to 53,952 vehicles, although it remained Volvo’s largest market.

China’s overall auto sales rose more than 32 percent to 18.06 million units last year following a banner year in 2009, in which the country overtook the US as the world’s top market.

“China is the world’s largest auto market. To capture the business growth and build Volvo Cars [into] an admired brand in China, [the company] has been strengthening the leadership team in China,” senior vice president and Volvo China Chairman Freeman Shen said in the statement.

“Our goal is to build Volvo cars one of the most admired luxury car brands,” he added.

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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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