[Text/Observer Network Zhang Jingjuan] While the United States is still struggling to deal with the sequelae of the hollowing out of the manufacturing industry, another more hidden industrial loss has quietly occurred. American Bio
The world is changing faster and faster, but women are becoming more determined.
On March 6, a female travel report released by Qunar Travel showed that in the past year (March 2025-March 2026), the number of women choosing to stay in hotels alone increased significantly by 63% year-on-year, and the number of women traveling alone by plane also increased by 34%. Compared with men, women fly more economically and live more comfortably. The average hotel price paid by women is 20% higher than that of men.
Women on a solo trip don’t need complicated preparations to set off. They only need an air ticket of their own and a hotel room that only they can stay in.
In the past year, the most popular cities for hotel stays and flight destinations were still large cities with both business and travel attributes such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is worth mentioning that the number of women choosing to stay in hotels alone increased significantly by 63% year-on-year.
Judging from the increase in hotel check-in cities, in the past year, women on solo trips have turned their attention to niche cities around them. Data shows that in Chongzuo, Weifang, Handan, Puyang, Ziyang, Lishui, Haikou, Putian, Linfen, and Jiuquan, the number of women staying in hotels alone has nearly doubled.
Among the increases in female solo trip routes in 2026, short-distance routes will lead the country. Data shows that in the past year, the fastest growing route was Chengdu-Lijiang. In just one weekend, with a one-way flight of 1.5 hours and a round-trip ticket as low as 600 yuan, the "Chengdu Girl" flew to the romantic Lijiang, driving a nearly 50% year-on-year increase in route ticket volume. The Nanjing-Guangzhou route followed closely, with an increase of more than 40%, becoming a popular choice for cross-city roaming.
In terms of outbound travel, in the past year, the number of women traveling alone by air has also increased by 34% year-on-year. The most popular flight routes are still from first-tier cities to neighboring countries such as Thailand and South Korea, as well as China, Hong Kong and Macao. The TOP10 includes Shanghai-Seoul, Beijing-Seoul, Shanghai-Jeju Island, Hangzhou-Seoul, Qingdao-Seoul, Beijing-Hong Kong, China, Guangzhou-Seoul, Shanghai-Bangkok, Shanghai-Hong Kong, China, and Guangzhou-Bangkok. In terms of growth rate, Yantai-Seoul increased by 1.6 times, Guangzhou-Chiang Mai and Hangzhou-Seoul increased by 1.3 times, Shanghai-Busan increased by 1.2 times, and Tianjin-Seoul increased by 1.2 times.
Jiupai News Reporter Li Yang Li Kai
Editor Wan Xuan Fu Shan
Jacob Becraft, co-founder and CEO of the American biotechnology company Strand Therapeutics, published an article in the Washington Post on the 6th. At the end of the last century, the United States outsourced manufacturing to countries with lower labor costs, such as China, in an attempt to maintain its local innovation leadership while enjoying the dividends of cheap goods. However, behind the short-term economic gains are irreversible long-term losses: the hollowing out of the domestic manufacturing industry, the significant weakening of supply chain resilience, and the loss of millions of jobs, which have also contributed to the rise of foreign competitors. Today, these former "contract factories" can compete with the United States in many industrial fields, or even surpass them.
"Today, the United States is repeating the same mistakes in the field of biotechnology." Beckcraft wrote that more and more American biopharmaceutical companies are choosing to transfer clinical trials to China. They value China's high efficiency and low cost of early medical research.
Data show that from 2010 to 2021, the number of clinical trials conducted by Western companies in China more than tripled. By 2023, the number of interventional clinical trials registered in China has been approximately 50% more than that in the United States.
The most common argument among those supporting this trend is that it doesn't matter where a drug is initially tested in clinical trials, as long as Americans eventually have access to it.
But in the view of Becraft, who has worked in the field of genetic medicine for more than a decade, this view has serious flaws. He believes that early clinical research and development is by no means a low-value link that can be replaced at will. Where trials are conducted determines where professional knowledge is accumulated, where data is generated, and where the next generation of treatments is conceived. “Giving this stage of innovation to China will threaten the scientific strength and national security of the United States.”
Becraft said that outsourcing of early innovation is not inevitable. As long as the United States makes a targeted adjustment to the clinical trial approval policy, the United States can reverse this trend and make new drugs cheaper and more accessible to the American people.
In early-stage drug development, speed and cost are critical. The sooner a company starts testing, the sooner it can verify whether its scientific hypothesis holds true. These key milestones will attract investors and partners, which in turn will bring more investment to early-stage innovators and ultimately provide more treatment options for patients.
Clinical trial center staff use centrifuges to separate blood. IC photo
China realizes this and takes decisive action. The direct costs of trials in China can be as much as 30% lower than in the United States, patient recruitment is faster, and logistical processes are simpler. Behind all this is the decentralized trial approval mechanism at work.
It is worth mentioning that China continues to optimize the review and approval mechanism for clinical trials and significantly shortens the relevant review and approval time limits. China's State Food and Drug Administration previously stated that the average time for clinical trial review of innovative drugs has been shortened from 175 working days in 2017 to 50 working days in 2024.
The article mentioned that China has decentralized trial approval rights to the local ethics review committees of each hospital, which has greatly shortened the time and energy required to conduct early clinical trials. Coincidentally, Australia also adopts a similar model, with the local ethics committee approving the first human trial while maintaining strict supervision. This model does not compromise safety; after all, no one is more motivated to ensure patient safety than the hospital's own review board. As a result, China and Australia have become popular destinations for early-stage clinical trials.
In the United States, no matter what stage or scale a clinical trial is in, it must be reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before starting. It is undeniable that strict supervision is necessary for late-stage trials aimed at final approval for marketing, but for small first-in-human trials involving only a few dozen patients with no other treatment options, such review has formed a bottleneck, not only driving up research and development costs, but also hindering the progress of innovation. This misunderstanding of delayed approval is transmitted to the entire R&D process, resulting in high drug prices and long R&D cycles.
Becraft warns that outsourcing clinical trials, which may seem harmless at first, risks repeating the same dangerous vicious cycle that manufacturing has fallen into. As early-stage trials flow overseas, so will the biotech infrastructure. Overseas experimental institutions have accumulated experience in conducting cutting-edge research, and the local industry formed around them continues to grow with the advantages of speed and iteration.
As the central bank's digital currency began to recruit troops, a campaign against the currency circle began across the country.
According to rectification notices from Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, any local Internet companies or exchanges that are engaged in virtual currency activities, including digital currency fund raising, will be deemed to be operating illegally, and the companies will be urged to immediately correct and exit. As of November 22, the official Weibo of two of China's three major digital currency exchanges has been blocked, and one has been filed for review by the court due to customer prosecution.
On the morning of November 22, the progress of the central bank’s digital currency accelerated again, and the Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China, released recruitment information for 2019.
Due to the heavy blows of regulatory authorities in the past three weeks, the regular army may replace the existing currency trading ecosystem. Investors' willingness to hold currency has been significantly reduced, selling has been fierce, and the digital currency market has been bleak. On the evening of November 22, the digital currency market suddenly plummeted across the board. Amid investors' fright, the price of Bitcoin once fell below US$7,000 during the session. The market value of Bitcoin fell by 150 billion yuan in 24 hours, and the decline was close to 30% in the past three weeks.
The crackdown on bandits and arrests in the currency circle may be serious.
If the regular army wants to enter the scene and gain the support and trust of the people, they must first drive away the bandits who are harvesting leeks.
On November 22, the Shanghai Headquarters of the Central Bank of China announced that the Shanghai Financial Stability Joint Conference Office and the Shanghai Headquarters of the People's Bank of China, together with relevant departments at both urban and Shanghai levels, carried out special rectification of virtual currency-related activities in the Shanghai area, ordering problematic companies found during the survey to provide publicity, diversion and other services for virtual currency trading platforms registered overseas to immediately rectify and exit.
On November 22, the official website of the Shenzhen Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau announced that the Shenzhen Leading Group Office for Internet Financial Risks and Other Special Rectification Work recently issued a risk reminder on preventing illegal activities of "virtual currency". The notice stated that in response to some phenomena of organizing virtual currency transactions, issuing virtual currencies, raising funds or virtual currency assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum within the country, the Shenzhen Internet Financial Risks and Other Special Rectification Leading Group Office will investigate and collect evidence for the above illegal activities. Once discovered, it will be dealt with seriously in accordance with the requirements of the "Announcement on Preventing Token Issuance and Financing Risks".
On November 15, under the leadership of the Shanghai Mutual Finance Rectification Office, the Shanghai Joint Financial Stability Office and the Shanghai Headquarters of the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out Rectification and Rectification of Virtual Currency Trading Places" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") to carry out the Rectification and Rectification of Virtual Currency Exchanges within their jurisdiction, and complete the investigation and rectification work before November 22.
On November 13, the Beijing Local Financial Supervision Bureau issued the “Risk Warning Regarding Trading Venue Branches Carrying Out Business Activities Without Approval.” According to relevant reports, the "Tips" clearly stated that if branches of out-of-town trading venues (especially financial asset exchanges) carry out business activities in Beijing, it is an illegal operation.
On November 11, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a notice on a joint inspection of the cleanup and rectification of virtual currency “mining” companies. The inspection period will last from November 11 to November 25, 2019.
It is worth mentioning that the notice of this rectification activity in Shanghai stated that recently, with the promotion of blockchain technology, virtual currency speculation has shown signs of resurgence. In order to prevent a resurgence, according to the relevant deployment of the National Mutual Finance Rectification Office, each district rectification office is requested to conduct a survey and ranking of the three types of virtual currency-related activities within its jurisdiction.
It is reported that the activities included in the scope of rectification include: organizing virtual currency transactions within the country; issuing virtual currencies in the form of "xx coins" and "xx chains" on the grounds of "implementation of blockchain application scenarios" to raise funds or virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum; providing publicity, diversion, agency trading and other services for ICO projects and virtual currency trading platforms registered overseas. The "Notice" requires that once Internet companies engaged in the above-mentioned virtual currency-related activities are discovered, the rectification offices of each district in Shanghai should immediately report to the Shanghai Financial Stability Joint Office (Shanghai Local Financial Supervision Bureau) and the Shanghai Headquarters of the Central Bank, and urge the companies to rectify and exit immediately.
Since the end of October, the regulatory level has launched a heavy attack on the currency ecosystem. Who is the core target of this attack?
“It seems like we are going to crack down on digital currencies that raise illegal funds, but in fact the core target of the attack is digital currency exchanges.” The person in charge of a blockchain project in Shenzhen told a reporter from China Brokerage that the core of the chaos in the currency circle is the exchange. For all digital currency projects, if there is no platform, endorsement and publicity provided by the exchange, it will be difficult to cut leeks.
It is the exchanges that really make money in the currency circle. As for various digital currency projects, the income they get from cutting leeks is only a drop in the bucket compared to digital currency exchanges.
On October 30, most of the staff of the Biss exchange were taken away by the police for investigation, mainly on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, including the founder BMAN and BISS employees. It is said that the people taken away also included an intern who had not officially joined the work.
Since BISS Exchange stores a large number of digital currency assets, the exchange itself also issues Villa Coins, a digital currency variety based on the exchange business. After everyone lost contact inexplicably, on the afternoon of October 30, many users belatedly discovered that there was no review of currency withdrawals on the BISS exchange. Users' currency withdrawals prompted a server error, and customer service staff did not respond. Fearing what might have happened, some smarter users immediately began to sell villa coins. That night, the villa coins issued by BISS exchange plummeted by 50% in 15 minutes.
Rectification focus may be on digital currency exchanges
Why digital currency exchanges are the most dangerous part of the industry rectification is because digital currency exchanges are the infrastructure that maintains the operation of the currency circle, and they are also the most capable of cutting leeks. Each exchange is keen to issue its own digital currency. Although securities companies in the A-share market also hope that their companies will issue stocks and go public, this is easy to understand due to the support of licensed businesses. However, digital currency exchanges that do not have domestic license qualifications have more naked intentions in their operations.
Digital currency exchanges issue their own digital currencies. In fact, these copycat teams hope to use their own digital currencies to obtain Bitcoins from users through currency-to-crypto transactions.
Theoretically speaking, Bitcoin may be the only credible asset in the current digital currency field. In other words, the exchange uses the so-called digital currency created by itself and has no scarcity to exchange for the relatively scarce Bitcoin in the hands of users.
High school history textbooks once gave a detailed introduction to the old society's indiscriminate distribution of gold yuan coupons to obtain silver dollars. If the exchange is closed, the digital currency issued by the exchange itself will become worthless. However, by exchanging the Bitcoin in the hands of users, the income has been locked in advance, because Bitcoin assumes the functions of gold and US dollars in the currency circle.
However, BISS is only a smaller exchange after all. Once the regulatory authorities direct their efforts to rectify the currency circle at digital currency exchanges, it means that greater uncertain risks are about to come.
On the evening of November 13, Binance’s official Weibo showed that the account was no longer viewable because it violated laws and regulations and the “Weibo Community Convention.” It is worth noting that when Binance’s official Weibo was blocked, the content displayed in its account and the number of fans were also cleared. Some insiders believe that Binance may have received relatively severe penalties this time.
On the afternoon of November 20, Huobi China’s Weibo account was blocked. This was the second Weibo account to be tricked after Binance’s official Weibo account was blocked on the evening of November 13. Industry insiders pointed out that the blocking of Huobi China’s Weibo account was more serious than the blocking of Binance’s official Weibo account a few days ago, indicating that the regulatory actions launched in Shanghai on November 14 have been extended to the whole country, at least to Beijing.
A digital currency analyst in Shenzhen believes that one of the reasons why Binance was blocked may be that the company openly announced that it would open legal currency transactions. On October 9, Binance announced the launch of OTC fiat currency trading services on the Android version of the app. Shortly thereafter, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stated on Twitter that users would soon be able to use WeChat and Alipay to purchase cryptocurrencies on the OTC market. After the news was released, Binance Coin issued by Binance Exchange began to rise, with the largest intraday increase of more than 10%. This increase was Binance's largest intraday increase since May 21 this year.
It seems that only OKEX is more compliant? OKEX, an exchange headquartered in Beijing, announced at the end of 2017 that after the regulatory authorities issued an ICO ban, it would stop all RMB-to-Bitcoin transactions and transfer all its business to the overseas site OKEX.
However, not providing legal currency trading services does not mean that there is no cutting of leeks. Brokerage China reporters have obtained multiple videos of investors going to OKEX to defend their rights. OKEX is also considered to be one of the companies with the most records of investor rights protection. Brokerage China reporters also learned on the 21st that OKEX's alleged "misappropriation" of customer funds has been officially filed in the Hangzhou Internet Court recently.
This wave of sweeps by regulatory authorities since the end of October has caused many small and medium-sized investors in the currency circle to begin to consider risk control.
A digital currency investor in Shenzhen told a reporter from Brokerage China that he and some friends have been selling digital currencies one after another since October. The number of digital currency assets held has dropped by half compared to June this year. In particular, the assets stored in some risky digital currency exchanges have been sold out, and he is worried that something will happen.
The digital currency market is bleak
After the heavy blows of regulatory authorities in recent days, the digital currency market has been bleak. On the afternoon of November 22, the digital currency market suddenly plummeted across the board.
Bitcoin plunged 11% intraday on November 22, once falling below 7,000 US dollars, and the circulating market value of Bitcoin also fell below 1 trillion yuan. This was the largest single-day decline for Bitcoin since the regulatory launch of Bitcoin at the end of October this year, and its decline in three weeks was close to 30%.
Trading data shows that on the evening of November 22, the top 100 companies by market capitalization Of the digital currencies, more than half of the currencies have fallen by more than 10% intraday, and more than 90% of the varieties have suffered financial suppression. After the regulatory authorities rectified the currency circle, the OKEX digital currency exchange, which was trapped in the "customer funds gate", also encountered greater market pressure. The OKB issued by it has experienced six consecutive declines. On November 22, the intraday decline reached 15%, and the decline in the past three weeks reached 30%.
The above information means that the regulatory authorities are strongly attacking, or confirm that the regular army is expected to completely replace the existing currency ecosystem, including the three major digital currency exchanges that store a large number of users' funds. Once they fail to obtain operating licenses issued by regulatory authorities, they may face the fate of being banned. The risk appetite of digital currency investors has dropped sharply. As investors' willingness to hold currency has been significantly reduced, the pressure to sell funds has also increased, leading to a collapse in currency prices.
The central bank’s digital currency recruitment staff will have a monthly salary of at least 50,000?
Not long after the regulatory authorities launched a forceful attack, a recruitment message hinted that the currency circle’s anti-bandit operation was preparing for the entry of the regular army.
The Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the People's Bank of China, recently released recruitment information for 2019. According to the official introduction, the Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd. is a financial technology company established by the Central Bank's Digital Currency Research Institute and relevant units in Suzhou. It will undertake the construction and stable operation of legal digital currency infrastructure; undertake key technical research and pilot scenario support, supporting R&D and testing of legal digital currency; focus on the cutting-edge directions of financial technology such as blockchain and cryptography.
According to the main recruitment positions of Yangtze River Delta Financial Technology Co., Ltd., they mainly include data center managers, security and cryptography research specialists, senior network engineers, architects (platform, mobile), blockchain technology directors, blockchain architects, blockchain R&D engineers, big data R&D engineers, etc. It is reported that these positions have a minimum monthly salary of 50,000.
It is worth mentioning that at the 2019 China Economy 50 Forum held in Shenzhen, Zhu Min, dean of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University, spoke on November 22 and believed that if digital currencies are not issued, central banks of various countries will face great pressure, including pressure from the market. Various cryptocurrencies are currently emerging in the market. Although these cryptocurrencies are not sovereign currencies, they are actually eroding the field of sovereign currencies. The central bank of some small countries is particularly worried that if it does not issue a digital currency, the sovereign currency of the host country is likely to be marginalized.
Huang Yiping, deputy director of the National School of Development at Peking University, believes that mastering the global digital currency will have a great influence on the global payment and monetary system. Not only the central banks of various countries will participate in the competition, but also some less formal non-governmental organizations and institutions. He believes that the People's Bank of China is well prepared for research and is likely to become the first to officially issue a central bank digital currency.
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4. Admission method
1. The admission method of the "Double Excellent Experimental Class": On the premise that the candidate's art (sketch) test reaches 80 points or more (80 points included), the top 100 students will be admitted from high to low according to the total score of their cultural and professional scores. At the same time, the candidate's junior high school graduate academic test scores must reach the minimum admission score for ordinary high school public-funded students in Laoshan District, Guangzhou in 2015 before they can be formally admitted to our school. If the total scores of the last two candidates are the same, they will be admitted based on their scores in the basic art test; if the last three candidates have the same total scores, they will be ranked in descending order by their scores in Chinese, foreign languages, and mathematics.
2. The admission method of the "Art Specialty Class": On the premise that the candidate's art (sketch) test score reaches 70 points or above (including 70 points), admission will be based on the Guangzhou junior high school graduates' academic test scores from high to low.
In principle, it should not be lower than the minimum admission score for public-funded students in ordinary high schools in the third district.
. At the same time, for candidates who do have the potential for art development and have achieved particularly excellent results in our school's art (sketch) test, after reporting to the city's admissions and examination office for approval, their scores will be appropriately reduced for admission. The admission score will not be lower than the average score of the city's high school entrance examination scores.
3. Candidates who apply for the second batch of early admission "Basic Art Class" will be admitted from high to low according to their academic test scores after passing the art entry test. In principle, their academic scores should not be lower than the minimum admission score for public-funded students in ordinary high schools in the third district.
5. Open Day specific time and contact information
April 26, May 9, and May 24, 2015 (open day time: 8:30-12:00 am, 1:00-4:30 pm) are our school’s admission consultation open days.
We welcome junior high school graduates (students with art talents and art potential) to apply for admission to our school. Please come to the school, call or log on to the school website for consultation.
School address: No. 580, Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou (Bus: Dongfeng Hotel Station, Cemetery West Station; Metro: Martyrs Cemetery Station)
Consultation hotline: 83830377, 83833755, 83838418, 83832911
School website: www.gzmszx.cn
The Financial Times quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Nissan warned the British government that if the UK cannot fully integrate into the EU's "Made in Europe" goal, Nissan will be forced to close its factory in Sunderland; a Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson said that the current EU proposal may seriously affect the competitiveness of British automakers in the EU market; Ford, which produces engines in the UK and commercial vehicles in Turkey, also said that the proposed rules will disrupt the existing supply chain.
In April 2025, British Prime Minister Starmer inspected Jaguar Land Rover Solihull Factory Oriental IC
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), also stressed that the industry had "grave concerns" about the IAA, saying the proposals would be "discriminatory" against British-made cars and parts. In response, British Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kell quickly reassured that he would take potential threats to British car manufacturers "very seriously."
'The toughest year in a generation'
In fact, the original intention of the EU in proposing the IAA bill was to compete with Chinese manufacturing. However, since the EU is the UK's largest export market, the new bill has put the UK on the defensive and dealt a huge blow to British-made cars and auto parts: 6 out of 10 cars sold in Europe belong to corporate fleets, which is exactly within the IAA's precise attack range; and for some car manufacturers, this market segment accounts for half of their annual sales.
The Financial Times quoted a person familiar with the "Made in Europe" negotiations as saying that the UK was a "collateral victim" of the EU's need to protect its car market.
In addition, the EU's stricter rules of origin for electric vehicle batteries will come into effect in January 2027. By then, if the localization ratio of batteries and core components is insufficient, UK electric vehicles exported to the EU may face high tariffs of 10% to 22%, which will completely make it lose its price advantage in competition with zero-tariff fuel vehicles.
The EU has always been the largest export destination for British cars. But after Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the British automobile industry began to decline. Although five years after Brexit, the British automobile industry still maintains a trade volume of 115 billion pounds, but by 2024, the total automobile trade between the two sides has shrunk to 68.4 billion pounds, nearly halved.
Coupled with the sudden changes in the international trade situation in recent years, the chain reaction brought about by intensified global automobile competition and US tariff increases, the competitiveness of the British automobile industry is becoming more sluggish, and the IAA's "Made in Europe" strategy is further accelerating this process.
Nissan UK Sunderland plant Financial Times
SMMT data shows that the total production of cars, trucks and other vehicles in the UK in 2025 will be 764,700 units, a year-on-year decrease of 15.5%, setting a record low in 73 years, and more than half of the peak of 1.7 million units during Brexit in 2016. Hawes even called 2025 "the most difficult year in a generation."
Last year, Stellantis closed its truck factory in Luton; BMW also suspended its 600 million pound investment plan to produce electric MINI in Oxford; local brand Jaguar Land Rover also shut down its factory for more than a month due to a cyber attack, resulting in a loss of more than 200 million pounds.
Among them, as one of the largest automotive employers in the UK, Nissan's Sunderland plant has about 6,000 workers and provides another 30,000 jobs for the overall supply chain. Nissan has invested 6 billion pounds in the Sunderland plant, but its capacity utilization has been hovering around 30% due to weak demand. Sources familiar with the matter have warned that it could pose an existential threat to Nissan if it is frozen out of EU incentives.
New options?
But it is worth mentioning that under heavy pressure, the British automotive industry is not without gains, and some new opportunities are emerging.
In February this year, Chery, China's largest passenger vehicle exporter, stated that it would launch its new energy overseas brand Lepas in the UK in the next few months. During British Prime Minister Starmer's visit to China, Chery Commercial Vehicles also signed a cooperation agreement with the Liverpool City Council in the UK to set up its European headquarters in Liverpool to support engineering and software development. This is also Chery's first headquarters project in Europe.
Including Chery, 10 Chinese brands have launched and sold cars in the UK. Among them, SAIC MG's cumulative sales in the UK's "home" have exceeded 370,000 units, and pure electric vehicles alone have exceeded 100,000 units. Chinese brands including NIO, GAC Aion and Jikry also plan to launch new cars in the UK this year.
Chery New Energy Brand Lepas Chery Automobile
The main reason why Chinese cars have aggressively entered the British market in recent years is precisely because the UK, unlike the EU, has not imposed countervailing tariffs of up to 37.5% on electric vehicles produced in China.
On the other hand, in order to revive the British automobile industry, which continues to decline, the British government has also set an annual production target of 1.3 million vehicles by 2035. But this also means that the British market must welcome an infusion of new blood. Hawes also said that with the current downturn in the traditional automobile industry, new automobile manufacturers must be introduced, and Chinese automobile companies are regarded as core potential partners.
According to the Financial Times, the British government has been actively seeking for Chery to produce cars in the UK in the past few years. Chery has been exploring the idea of using spare capacity at Jaguar Land Rover's British factories to produce cars under a proposal backed by the British government, people familiar with the matter said.
According to SMMT forecasts, UK automobile production is expected to grow by 10% in 2026, and may return to the 1 million level in 2027. In this process, whether Chinese electric vehicles can replace European and American companies and become a new booster for the UK is posing a new test to the British government and the British automobile industry.
When the war between the United States and Israel was tense, I thought that Trump would repeat his old trick and find a bunch of pastors to "pray" around him, which was abstract enough. Unexpectedly, things developed in an even more unexpected direction.
According to a report on the US "Military.com" website on the 6th, more than 20 Democratic members of Congress called for the launch of an internal investigation into the US Department of Defense, accusing top military officials of allegedly citing Christian "Bible prophecies" and "Doomsday Judgment" arguments to justify military actions against Iran. The Pentagon has so far not responded directly.
The original complaint to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) came from an anonymous noncommissioned officer. This person claimed that superiors instilled in the non-commissioned officers that the war with Iraq was part of "God's plan." Trump is the so-called "Chosen One", that is, the person "anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran, trigger the end of the world, and mark the return of Jesus."
The noncommissioned officer is outside the war zone in Iran but could be redeployed at any time to support operations against Iraq. He claimed to be a Christian and filed a joint complaint on behalf of 15 soldiers, including at least 11 Christians, 1 Muslim and 1 Jew.
This is not an isolated case. Mitch Weinstein, founder of the foundation, revealed to "Military.com" that from last Saturday to Tuesday afternoon, more than 200 similar complaints had been received from 50 US military bases.
On March 5, local time, Trump prayed with pastors from all over the United States in the Oval Office.
On Friday local time, Reps. Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin, co-chairs of the U.S. Congressional Free Thought Caucus, and Krissy Holahan, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee, and 27 Democratic colleagues sent a letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense Pratt Morin, requesting an investigation into relevant complaints and checking whether there is any behavior that “cites religious prophecies and doomsday theology to justify U.S. military operations in Iraq.”
The signatory members include moderates and progressives in the Democratic Party, including Pelosi, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Mark Pocan and others.
The report pointed out that members of the U.S. Armed Forces take an oath to uphold the secular constitution rather than specific religious doctrines, and service members have the right to perform their duties without forced religious indoctrination by the chain of command.
The lawmakers said in a two-page letter: "If the relevant remarks are true, using biblical prophecies to justify war and telling soldiers that they die for a specific religious vision not only constitutes a serious constitutional issue, but also violates the Department of Defense's religious neutrality regulations and violates the professional obligations and standards of military leadership."
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