Day: June 7, 2022

In post-lockdown Shanghai, “open” means different things to different businesses, and the only shared sentiment is the future is hard to predict.

Some local businesses are bustling back. Some foreign companies are taking a more cautious approach, with some even contemplating leaving China.

With the lockdown lifted as of June 1, this will be a critical month for all businesses, according to a Shanghai economist, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

In an interview with VOA Mandarin, the economist said it is too early to predict the strength of Shanghai’s economic recovery, in part because the metropolis of 26 million is not yet completely reopened. The biggest variable, he said, is the possibility of authorities discovering new cases throughout the city and reinstituting a lockdown in compliance with Beijing’s insistence on a zero-COVID policy.

Ker Gibbs, former president of American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, echoed that it is difficult to predict what’s next for the reopened city given that Omicron variants are so contagious.

Gibbs said that “reopening the ports and transportation hubs will be very important. But that’s also where you have a lot of COVID-19 related risk. So that’s going to be something that has to be managed.”

He told VOA Mandarin he hopes Shanghai authorities will increase the vaccination rate, especially among vulnerable populations, to avoid another lockdown. Shanghai is the world’s largest port, according to World Shipping.

Gibbs also said that because Shanghai has a large population of migrant workers —people who moved from city to city throughout China doing construction work, service jobs, and factory assembly— one of the biggest challenges in the reopening will be making sure people who left the metropolis can return and that those who remained can travel to workplaces in districts other than where they live.

Complicating the return to work is the city’s continuing patchwork of lockdowns. As of Monday, thousands of residents remained locked down in scattered neighborhoods and others have been placed back under these local lockdowns, according to Agence France-Presse.

Local businesses in Shanghai had varied responses to the reopening.

Jin Lei, a brand manager with Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co., China’s largest retail conglomerate, said some famous restaurants that operate in the group’s mall, but do not belong to the group, such as the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant and the Ningbo Glutinous Rice Ball Shop, were open throughout the lockdown, offering take-out and delivery services. While he wouldn’t reveal the extent of lockdown losses, by June 1, the first day of official reopening, almost all of the mall’s workers were on the job.

“It’s almost 80% or 90%. It’s definitely a process, but [everyone will be back] very soon, because they are all restored now, the subway and traffic, they are all restored,” he told VOA Mandarin.

Hu Peng, CEO of Shanghai Heyi Tech Co., a high-tech service company, told VOA Mandarin the company reopened after the Dragon Boat Festival, which fell after a two-month lockdown. During the lockdown, employees worked from home to handle long-term orders, but as workers return to the office, she said, “I can’t say when we turn on the computer, everything is back right away.” She’s hoping travel restrictions in the areas surrounding Shanghai will be completely removed soon to facilitate business travel so people can visit customers face-to-face.

According to the latest data from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the total industrial output value of enterprises above a designated size in the city reached 128.6 billion yuan (about 19.3 billion U.S. dollars) in April, down by 60% from the same period last year. Foreign companies—including businesses from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan—have been hit the hardest during the two-month lockdown, and their output value is down by 70% in April from a year earlier, although they have resumed production.

Sue Yen, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association in Taipei, said Taiwanese companies in the information and communication technology sector operating in surrounding areas of Shanghai are still facing a labor shortage, with only about 70% of workers reporting for work in early June. She predicted it may take two weeks after the June 1 reopening for Taiwanese businesses in Shanghai to fully resume work and production.

Yen told VOA, “What everyone is most worried about now is the issue of dropped orders.” Buyers are asking if companies have factories in other provinces or in Southeast Asian countries, or Taiwan. If the answer is yes, the companies who place orders with you will be more at ease. However, if you don’t, they may place their orders elsewhere.”

She said the Taiwanese-funded factories are cooperating with Beijing’s determination to prevent a renewed surge by testing employees every day. Workers who test positive are moved outside Shanghai for quarantine or treatment to lessen the chances of widespread infection and factory closings, Yen told VOA Mandarin.

Darson Chiu, a research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research in Taipei told VOA Mandarin the Shanghai lockdown was the last straw for many foreign businesses, breaking their confidence in the Chinese economy as supply chain issues brought operations to a standstill. Even before the lockdown, he said many businesses felt that China was moving away from a market economy, making it harder for them to operate.

“Despite Shanghai lifting its lockdown, if relevant restrictions remain or another wave of outbreaks occurs, foreign businesses may expedite their exit [out of China],” Chiu said.

Separate surveys released by the Beijing-based European Union Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in early May showed that 23% of European businessmen surveyed are considering shifting their existing or planned investment in China to other markets this year while a whopping 52% of surveyed American businessmen said that its investment in China has been delayed or reduced.

European companies have reopened since June 1 with about 50% of their workforces, according to a written response from European Union Chamber of Commerce in China to a VOA Mandarin inquiry. Delays in reopening are being caused by ensuring the air conditioning systems are clean and complying with other similar internal policies.

According to a EU Chamber of Commerce survey released in early May, 58% of its members have downgraded their 2022 revenue projections as a result of the lockdowns, with more than a third of affected members doing so by more than 15%.

The Chamber said it hopes Shanghai authorities will add to economic recovery measures, such as its 50-policy Action Plan released May 29. The plan encompassed tax breaks, rent relief and subsidies for affected businesses.

Source: Voice of America

For the first time in the Lao PDR, on May 26-27, key justice agencies came together to explore how they could fulfill their role in responding to and preventing violence against women.

Thirty two officials from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Security Department of Police, Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor, and the People’s Supreme Court gathered for a two-day training session on Gender and Violence Against Women in Vangvieng.

This training session follows the recommendations outlined in a detailed capacity needs assessment conducted across the sector last year by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on their capacity and readiness to implement the National Action Plan on Preventing and Eliminating Violence Against Women.

At this two-day training session, officials discussed how gender roles and norms perpetuate violence against women and agreed upon next steps in this journey to ending violence against women. Participants used digital tools and storytelling techniques to explore complex yet sadly familiar cases of gender biases, stereotypes, and violence.

“Coordination between and within our four agencies is especially important for the justice sector because whether a perpetrator is held accountable and the case of violence is processed successfully depends on how well we work together,” said Lothchana Khemthong, Director of the Justice Organisation Management Division, Ministry of Justice. “This is important as holding perpetrators accountable for their actions means upholding the rule of law, which will ultimately eliminate violence against women from society.”

In the Lao PDR, more than a third of women will experience at least one type of violence but just 2% will report.

“Usually, women seek justice services as a last resort, after other options have been tried, so the justice sector has an important role in ensuring survivors of violence can trust the government to protect them,” Mr. Seán O’Connell, UNDP Head of Governance, said, “UNDP is firmly committed to supporting the Justice Sector to fulfill their role in holding perpetrators accountable and send a message that violence will not be tolerated.”

In the coming months, the Justice Sector, guided by the international standards outlined in the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, will develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for responding to violence against women to be rolled out in pilot provinces. Under this SOP, each of the key justice agencies will outline their specific responsibilities, from questioning of suspects, collecting of evidence, provision of legal aid to survivors, prosecution of defendants, and sentencing for those convicted, to ensure coordination both within and across justice agencies.

Under the Khan Hom Project supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in partnership with UNFPA, UNDP is supporting the implementation of the National Action Plan on Preventing and Eliminating Violence Against Women by justice agencies through strengthening coordination between agencies to ensure survivors get access to legal aid, police investigate cases and collect evidence to increase rates of prosecution and conviction of perpetrators, to ultimately break the cycle of violence.

Source: Lao News Agency

Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone has recently visited Phieng district, Xayaboury Province to observe the fact that farmers there plant rice three times per year.

The vice premier was welcomed by Xayabury Governor Phongsavanh Sitthavong, and officials of relevant authorities.

The high yield rice farming has been demonstrated on 29.9 ha of farmland by a farmers’ group of Nasom village with technical assistance from Songyuan Co., Ltd. They use Thinkeo rice strain with a life cycle of 140 days.

The next harvest is expected to be next month. Meanwhile the third production round will start in August and end (harvested) in November 2022.

Farmers harvested their first rice crop in March at a yield of 3.88 tonnes per hectare.

They are expected to sell two thirds of their annual yield to Songyuan Company and keep one third for domestic consumption and reproduction.

DPM Sonexay appreciated farmers and relevant authorities upon their success in rice production.

He urged them to attach attention to applying up-to-date production techniques and machinery to lift their rice production to higher level of productivity.

He also visited a cattle farm and a woven handicraft producers’ group in Sengchaleun, Phieng district.

Source: Lao News Agency