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Reader's Digest, April 9 - 22
    
Bilateral relations
Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming Visits Switzerland
Published by fmprc.gov.cn, April 15th 2022
On 14 April 2022, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming met Livia Leu, State Secretary at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern. The two sides exchanged views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Wang Shiting attended the meeting. Liu Xiaoming elaborated on China's position on the Korean Peninsula issue. He underscored that China does not want to see escalation of tension on the Peninsula and calls on relevant parties to stay cool-headed, exercise restraint and resume meaningful dialogue at an early date. He also commended the mediation efforts made by Switzerland for resolving the Peninsula issue and welcomed Switzerland to continue to play a constructive role. Leu appreciated the important role played by China in promoting the political settlement of the Peninsula issue. She echoed the point that relevant parties should stay cool-headed, exercise restraint and resolve the issue through diplomacy. She said that Switzerland will continue to play a positive role for the political settlement of the Peninsula issue and maintain close communication with China in this regard. On 13 April, Liu Xiaoming visited the renowned Geneva Centre for Security Policy(GCSP) and exchanged views with Director Thomas Greminger and other GCSP experts over the Korean Peninsula situation and other international issues of mutual interest.
Notice on New Time Requirements about Tests for SARS-CoV-2 for China-Bound Passengers Departing from Switzerland
Published by zurich.chineseconsulate.org, April 15th 2022
For the better implementation of the COVID-19 prevention and pandemic control, the time requirements for the second RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 before boarding the flight from Switzerland to China will be adjusted since April 18th, 2022. The transition period will be ended until 0:00 on April 18th, during which the original practice still prevails. Passengers taking flights to China after 0:00 on April 18th, 2022 shall meet the new requirements. For passengers who have been fully vaccinated, two nucleic acid RT-PCR tests, which are referred to as “double PCR tests”, must be carried out within 48 hours before the date of departure at the two different testing institutions designated by the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland or the Chinese Consulate General in Zurich, and the second RT-PCR test must be performed within 12 hours before boarding. Passengers are required to present the two negative PCR reports when they apply for health codes, instead of taking the IgM test anymore. For passengers who have not been fully vaccinated, passengers shall take a serum-specific IgM antibody test within 48 hours before the date of departure and a RT-PCR test within 12 hours before boarding at the testing institutions designated by the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland or the Chinese Consulate General in Zurich. Both the IgM test and the RT-PCR test are referred to as “double tests”. And both negative test results are required.
Business
Guiyang Invention Wins Silver Award at International Exhibition
Published by chinadaily.com.cn, April 18th 2022
At the 49th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva recently held in Switzerland, a project on the "preparation of adsorption and separation functional composite materials of agricultural waste straw" won the silver prize. The project was jointly carried out by Guizhou Merit Environmental Technology Co and the School of Geography & Environmental Science of Guizhou Normal University. The project aims to reduce environmental pollution and emissions of carbon dioxide caused by burning agricultural waste straws. The research team suggests preparing plant fibers with agricultural waste straw and extracting polysaccharide compound from the waste straw to prepare adsorption and separation functional composite materials to treat environmental pollution. The International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva is one of the world's biggest invention exhibitions and the world's largest innovation exhibition. All the exhibited inventions will be evaluated by international expert teams. At the 49th exhibition, more than 1,000 inventions from over 40 countries and regions were exhibited.
Three Chinese Lithium Companies Pursue Secondary Listings in Europe
Published by chinadaily.com.cn, April 14th 2022
Three Chinese lithium companies are planning secondary listings in Switzerland, The Paper reported. These three companies are Keda Industrial Group Co Ltd, Gotion High-tech and Ningbo Shanshan Co Ltd. Keda announced on April 8 that it planned to terminate the non-public offering of A shares in 2022 and apply for overseas issuance of global depository receipts or GDR and listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Global depository receipts refer to globally issued stocks and bonds that can be traded in two or more financial markets, which can facilitate international investors in stock trading, dividend payment and rights offering. The newly added A shares of underlying securities represented by the issuance of GDR shall not exceed 100 million shares, which shall not exceed 5.3 percent of the total share capital of the company's ordinary shares prior to this issuance, the report said, citing Keda's announcement. After issuance expense deduction, the company will use the raised funds from the issuance of GDR to expand its main business and strategic investment business, promote the global layout and supplement the company's operational capital, Keda said.
CULTURE & SOCIETY
Swiss Director Wins at Visions du Réel Documentary Film Festival
Published by swissinfo.ch, April 17th 2022
Büchi’s debut feature film, in which two security guards are charged with securing access to the river in a Lausanne neighbourhood populated by retirees and immigrant families, won over the jury with its “brilliant observation that rewrites the coordinates of geographical spaces in universal terms”, said the organisers of the festival in Nyon, western Switzerland. The Audience Award went to US director Sara Dosa for her film Fire of Love, an epic and spectacular portrait of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. A Long Journey Home, the first feature film by Chinese director Wenqian Zhang, was awarded best film in the Burning Lights competition, which is dedicated to “new vocabularies and expressions, to narrative and formal freedom”. The Swiss-Japanese filmmaker Julie Sando won the Jury Prize in the National Competition as well as the Zonta Prize for female fimmakers with her film Fuku Nashi.
Chinese Pianist Lang Lang Performs at Highest Railway Station in Europe
Published by china.org.cn, April 15th 2022
Chinese pianist Lang Lang on Thursday gave a solo piano performance at Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe, an artistic endeavor to promote cultural exchanges between China and Europe by means of music. Surrounded by mountains and snow on the Jungfrau in central Switzerland, Lang Lang's interpretation of "Love dream," "Jasmine flower" and "Goldberg Variations" won warm applause from the audience. Noting that it is the first time he has played the piano on a snowy mountain, Lang Lang said that having the chance to play in a "fairytale-like" environment is a very special experience despite the low temperature on the snow-capped mountain, which is quite challenging for piano players. The song "Jasmine Flower" was specially chosen for this performance, he said, hoping to arouse the audience's interest in learning more about the Chinese culture through the beauty of oriental music. A well-known scenic spot and snow sports resort, the Jungfrau is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps at a height of 4,158 meters above sea level. In 2001, UNESCO listed the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch as a World Heritage Site.
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022
Published by prnewswire.com, April 6th 2022
QS Quacquarelli Symonds – the international higher education think-tank – released the twelfth edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject: an independent comparative analysis of the performance of 15,200 individual university programs taken by students at 1543 universities in 88 locations across the world, across 51 academic disciplines. They are part of the annual QS World University Rankings portfolio, which was consulted over 147 million times in 2021 on TopUniversities.com and covered 96,000 times by media and institutions. US institutions lead in 28 of the 51 subjects ranked. Harvard University and MIT remain the strongest-performing institutions, ranking number one in twelve subjects. Fifteen subject tables are topped by a British university, with the University of Oxford leading in six. ETH Zurich is continental Europe's top university, achieving number-one spots in three subjects. Moreover, based on its share of top-10 ranks, Switzerland is the world's third-best higher education sector. Australia is the fourth most represented country for the number of entries. China (Mainland) ranks fifth globally for the number of programs (100), achieving a top-50 rank. No university has a larger number of top-50 than Canada's University of Toronto (46). The National University of Singapore – Asia's best-performing university – is the world's best for Petroleum Engineering. NUS ranks among the top-10 in sixteen disciplines.
industries
ENGINEERING / MANUFACTURING / PHARMACEUTICALS
ABB Shrugs Off Uncertainties to Post Big Jump in Orders
Published by reuters.com, April 21st 2022
ABB shrugged off rising global uncertainties like the war in Ukraine and increasing inflation to post a big jump in orders during the engineering and technology company's first quarter. The maker of factory robots and industrial drives increased its new order intake by 21% to USD 9.37 billion, the highest level since ABB sold its power grids business in June 2020. The increase came despite war in Ukraine, components shortages, rising inflation and the reemergence of COVID-19 in China, factors which caused the International Monetary Fund to reduce its global growth forecast this week. "ABB has started the year with a promising performance in the face of multiple external uncertainties," CEO Bjorn Rosengren said. Its shares were indicated 3.1% higher in premarket activity on the Swiss exchange.
BeiGene and Novartis' tislelizumab was approved by China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who have disease progression or are intolerant to first-line standard chemotherapy. Mark Lanasa, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Solid Tumors, at BeiGene said tislelizumab's regulatory submissions in this indication, which is submitted by Novartis, is under review in the U.S. and EU. The company said in an April 15 press release that tislelizumab is now approved for eight indications in China.
BANK / FINANCE / INSURANCE
Credit Suisse’s Top China Banker Tu Steps Aside for New Role
Published by swissinfo.ch, April 19th 2022
Credit Suisse Group AG’s chief executive officer at its securities venture in China is stepping aside after less than two years on the job, becoming the second top executive at a major foreign lender in the nation to quit this month. Tim Tu informed management that he decided to pursue other opportunities within Credit Suisse, according to a memo that was confirmed by a spokeswoman. Beijing-based Tu intends to relocate to Hong Kong, though his exact new role hasn’t been finalized, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing an internal decision. The spokeswoman declined to comment on his next job. Daniel Qiu, who’s head of investment banking and capital markets at the venture, was named interim CEO of Credit Suisse Securities China Ltd., the memo said. He joined the Swiss lender in 2010 as managing director and relocated to Beijing in 2020. Tu’s exit comes close on the heels of a shake up at JPMorgan Chase & Co’s China venture with its CEO Houston Huang also stepping down this month. Both firms are ramping up in China against a backdrop of U.S.-China tensions, a string of regulatory crackdowns and a growing virus outbreak, which locked down Shanghai and is threatening economic growth.
UBS Finally Gets New Manager for Fund Ensnared in China Property
Published by swissinfo.ch, April 14th 2022
BS Group AG has found a new manager for the fund caught out by China’s property turmoil, ending a five-month gap in permanent leadership. Raymond Lin Gui will join the Swiss bank’s asset management unit in Hong Kong in May, according to an emailed statement. As the head of portfolio management for Asia fixed income, he will be the lead manager of the USD 2 billion Asian High Yield fund. Gui was previously co-chief investment officer at Hong Kong-based Income Partners Asset Management. His appointment comes after the former manager Ross Dilkes left UBS after 16 years in November. The Asian High Yield fund has been suffering losses stemming from the property crisis engulfing China Evergrande Group and other developers in the region. It lost about 15% so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More than 30% of the portfolio is exposed to real estate, according to an investor update for February. Since Dilkes’ departure, assets have tumbled by about USD 1.2 billion due to both poor investment performance and investor withdrawals. At the end of 2021, the fund held big stakes in dollar-denominated bonds issued by several troubled Chinese developers, including Evergrande, Kaisa Group Holdings and Sunac China Holdings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. All three have missed payment deadlines on some of their debts and their shares have been suspended in Hong Kong, with lengthy restructurings looming across the Chinese property industry.
HOSPITALITY / TOURISM / RETAILS / LOGISTICS
Mediterranean Shipping Company to Launch New China-Bangladesh Service
Published by fibre2fashion.com, April 19th 2022
Switzerland-headquartered Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will launch in late April its Bengal service on the Intra-Asia trade, directly connecting South China and Bangladesh’s Chattogram. In addition, the service will enable connections for Bangladesh imports and exports via MSC’s transshipment hubs in Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia.The first sailing will be by the MSC Kymea from Hong Kong on April 27, a company press release said. The service rotation will be: Hong Kong, Yantian, Shekou, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Chattogram, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Hong Kong.
SWISS Flights Will be Suspended Until the Beginning of June
Published by SWISS, April 15th 2022
Due to pandemic prevention control measures and the unavailability of ground services at Pudong International Airport, the Swiss International Air Lines will suspend. Flight LX189 from Shanghai to Zurich will be suspended until 6th June 2022. And flight LX188 from Zurich to Shanghai will be suspended until 4th June 2022. For suspended flights, Swiss International Air Lines provides corresponding re-book or refund policies to ensure the flexibility of passengers' travel. For passengers who booked on the suspended flights, our colleague or your travel agency will give you the notice shortly. We strongly recommend all passengers to check the latest flight status via our website, or SWISS customer service center or your travel agency before journeys are made.
LEGAL / TAX / CONSULTING / SERVICES
The First Edition of the Sino-Swiss Zero Carbon Building Seminar Series “ZEB Talk” was Successfully Held
Published by Intep, April 15th 2022
On April 8, 2022, with the joint support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD) and the Swiss Green Building Association the China Academy of Building Research (CABR), the Science Technology and Industrialization Development Center, the China Association Of Building Energy Efficiency, Intep - Integrated Planning LLC and Skat Consulting, INFRAS and more other institutes, the first edition of "ZEB TALKS", the Sino-Swiss Zero Emission Building Seminar Series, was successfully held. Within the framework of the "Sino-Swiss Zero Emission Building Partnership"，government officials, decision makers, technical experts, planning and design professionals, university teaching and research personnel as well as students from China and Switzerland are invited to the monthly "ZEB TALKS" to present and discuss cutting-edge ideas, solutions, technologies and tools related to zero emission buildings, community development and building standards. The seminar featured Stefan Kessler, partner at INFRAS and consultant to the Swiss government, and Roland Stulz, the founder of intep. The two experts shared their insights on how Switzerland can achieve its zero emission goal of 2050+ in the building sector, as well as their experiences for China, and had an in-depth interaction with the participants. Ms Nadja Bennani, Head of International Cooperation of the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development, Ms Gao Hui, Senior Project Officer SDC, and Zhang Shicong, Director of the China Academy of Building Research, as well as more than 100 experts from other government agencies, universities, research institutes, enterprises and industry associations attended the seminar.
Company Law Revision Draft of China: Major Changes Concerning Company’s Management Personnel
Published by roedl.com, April 14th 2022
Besides the key changes in the company capital regime as mentioned in our previous article, the “Revision Draft” of the Company Law makes further amendments with regards to company’s organ structure, responsibilities and liabilities of company’s management personnel. Directors, supervisors and senior management personnel bear greater and clearer responsibilities. Under the current Company Law, the main organizational structure of a company consists of shareholders' meeting, board of directors (BoD)/executive director and board of supervisors (BoS)/supervisor(s) (hereinafter collectively referred to as the BoD and BoS). In the current Company Law, BoD of limited liability companies comprises of three to 13 members, while BoD of companies limited by shares can have five to 19 members. The Revision Draft removes above restriction and stipulates that BoD shall consist of three members or more, regardless of the legal form of company. Following the Securities Law revision, which was adopted prior to the Kangmei Pharmaceuticals case, responsibilities and obligations of directors, supervisors as well as senior management personnel are more clearly defined in the Revision Draft. With regard to the preservation of the company's capital, the Revision Draft also clarifies the responsibilities of the Management as well as their compensation liabilities in event of capital contribution default, surreptitious capital withdrawal, illegal profit distribution, illegal capital reduction and illegal financial support for the acquisition of company shares by others. On the basis of current Company Law, the Revision Draft clarifies the reporting and resolution requirements for affiliated transactions of the Management and expands the scope of affiliated parties. Fulfilling certain prerequisites, affiliated transactions are allowed.
Survey Result: Lockdown and COVID-19 Restrictions Lead to Revenue and Profit Cuts in 2022
Published by SwissCham, April 11th 2022
SwissCham published a new survey report about the impact of the lockdown in Shanghai and other Covid related measures in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. In the past few weeks, along with the spread of the Omicron variant, many cities across China have implemented partial lockdowns to conduct mass testing. Starting from March 25, Shanghai kicked off 2-phased lockdown right after the partial lockdown in an earlier stage. To assess the impact for Swiss companies in the region of the Yangtze river delta, SwissCham Shanghai, in cooperation with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai, launched a survey. According to this flash survey, the lockdown in Shanghai and additional COVID-19 restrictions in neighboring regions have a big impact on Swiss companies. 94% of surveyed companies expect lower revenue and 86% believe their yearly profit target will be impacted. The lockdown and further restrictions affect the companies in several ways. The majority of the companies believe that they can return to normalcy by June (61%), while 20% believe this will be the case in the third quarter of this year. 17% think normal business will only be possible again in 2023. To offset lower revenue and profits, companies say they will likely cut marketing and administration costs (58%) and try to expand their customer base (46%). 23% plan to adjust their headcount in China while 15% say they will ask the Swiss headquarter for financial support. This Revision Draft shows the legislator's intention to reinforce the duties and responsibilities of directors, supervisors and senior management personnel in corporate governance.
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