Category: Technology

China, through the Information Office of the State Council, announced on Friday 27 December that its GPS-equivalent system, Beidou, will be fully operational with two satellites in geostationary orbit before June 2020.

The Chinese satellite geolocation system, Beidou, should cover the entire planet by June 2020.

The Chinese strike force to impose its system

The authorities did not hesitate first to impose it on their citizens and the country’s public services to convince users to prefer the Chinese system to Uncle Sam’s GPS history. According to Les Echos, in 2018, six million private cars were using Beidou in China, as were domestic airplanes, buses, postal services, and a large number of ships.

Also, based on this strategy, China has used its long-standing Silk Road project to encourage countries such as Pakistan, Laos, and Thailand to use Chinese technology. Today Beidou is present in 90 countries.

Enough to scare off American and European competitors. Especially since in the same conference, Ran Chengqi confirmed the project of an even more precise geolocation system planned for 2035.

A project launched in 2020

With this announcement, China has become a real competitor to the American geolocation system. For its part, the European Galileo project is experiencing multiple delays and breakdowns and its completion is not expected until 2023 with a 10-year delay.

Beidou, the name is a reference to the Chinese word for the Big Dipper, was launched in 2000, the year it began to be used in China. By 2012, the entire Asia-Pacific region was covered. Last year the project managers announced that they would be able to cover the planet in 2020, and the press conference held on 27 December confirms this forecast.

The director of the project, Ran Chengqi, announced, relayed by ABC, that the core of the system was completed with the launch of satellites in December. This launch brings the number of Beidou-3 satellites dedicated to the positioning service to 24. In all, some 30 satellites are being mobilized.

For some, the satellites sent into orbit will relay others that have become obsolete. In 2012, Beidou’s first satellite was put into service to set up an increasingly sophisticated system. ” We plan the launch of two more satellites into geostationary orbit before June 2020, and the Beidou-3 system will be completed,” said Ran Chengqi.

The project director was keen to highlight China’s space technology success story, describing “high-performance” indicators, new technology systems, accurate location, a mass production network, and a wide range of users.

Created in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin had its first successes in 2017, after having passed the $1,000 mark and then by reaching the $20,000 mark at the end of the same year. After a good year and half of bear market, at the beginning of April 2019, it once again created the buzz online, with a value of more than $5,000.

Only five countries have banned bitcoin mining worldwide.

Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, and Nepal. According to a report published on 9 April 2019, China is preparing to join this short list. Mining is part of a list of 450 industrial activities banned published by the National Development and Reform Commission (CNDR). All would have the same thing in common, the waste of resources or pollution caused by these activities considered unsafe by the Chinese authorities.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies consume a large amount of electricity.

Because of the complex calculations it requires, each Bitcoin transaction requires about 215 kWh of energy, more than the consumption of a the average Chinese household for two weeks. In China, the public consultation on this subject remains open until 7 May. The country had already taken measures to this end in 2017, banning virtual currency swaps as well as ICOs (Initial Coin Offering), fundraising that can be exchanged for cryptocurrencies.

The kilowatt-hour is the miner’s obsession

These are surprising decisions, considering that 58% of the world’s mining farms are located in China. It is difficult to believe China’s environmentalist ambitions in this area since the majority of the energy used in China for Bitcoin already comes from renewable energy sources.

Ghost towns, located near such dams, were even repopulated by miners, seizing the opportunity to mine at a lower cost.

A way to protect the Yuan?

This move allows the country to protect and to preserve the exchange rate of its national currency, the Yuan. According to experts, other states that have chosen to ban cryptocurrencies are most concerned about capital flight.

In China, the chosen decline in leadership has already begun. Recently, the authorities have raised its electricity prices, which has forced many miners to flee. It was too expensive, and they could no longer make their business profitable. Many have moved elsewhere, to Kazakhstan, Canada or Ukraine, where they have been able to set up near hydraulic dams. In any case, it is all great news for cryptocurrencies, which will be able to decentralize. The Chinese government will have less control over Bitcoin.

In China, the display speed of a page hosted out of Chinese mainland territory is much higher than 30 seconds! Yes I know this sounds insane but trust me this is the truth.

The variable quality of the internal network and the weakness of the network between European and Chinese operators partly explains this issue. On the other hand, the Chinese government has set up a firewall that filters foreign content. The rules of censorship are complex, and it is difficult to make a comeback after blocking a website.

You must not miss your first submission to the engines. For a good search engine optimization campaign on Baidu, your site must be imperatively hosted in China, with a Chinese IP address, and a domain name in “.cn” or a.com in Chinese alphabet. Baidu awards, according to Chinese government guidelines, a bonus to local sites and gives a negative point to sites hosted outside its territory.

The ICP license: The holy grail to host a site in China

The ICP license is a permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which allows a publisher to publish a site in China. The ICP license distinguishes between merchant and non-dealer sites.

For a non-commercial site, a form in Chinese is to be filled on this site www.miibeian.gov.cn. The response time can vary from a few days to several weeks. It is possible to resubmit a file in case of refusal, which is not final. The submission of the PKI file must be written in Chinese.

A site that offers online sales must obtain a commercial PKI license. The company wishing to obtain the ICP license must be located in China.

Do I need a host in Shanghai or Hong Kong?

To avoid obtaining the ICP license, some hosting companies are operating from Hong Kong. This solution does not address Chinese firewall filtering and the lower quality of Baidu SEO. A hosting service located in Shanghai helps to avoid censorship in this vast country.

The Chinese market specificities?

In the Chinese market, it is essential to protect your trademarks and domain names and to monitor their use on the Internet. An online risk monitoring platform: cybersquatting of domain names, brand abuse, risks are numerous.

It is essential to be accompanied by a law firm specialised in international law, as well as by lawyers in China for any local intervention.

For Foreign investors such as Opportunités Digitales, we highly advise you book a consultation with a business consulting and law firm operating locally!

Google is multiplying its investments in Asia to take advantage of the development of the middle class. The Mountain View firm is this time placing 550 million dollars (about 475 million euros) in the Chinese e-merchant JD.com.

Google is strengthening its presence in Asia. Mountain View has just invested 550 million dollars (about 475 million euros) in Chinese e-merchant JD.com, Alibaba’s number one competitor.

In return for this capital increase, Google would now hold a little less than 1% of the company’s capital.

In a joint press release, the two companies explain their desire to collaborate on a series of strategic initiatives, including the development of new retail solutions in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia.

GOOGLE INTERESTED IN THE INDIAN FLIPKART?

The goal is to combine JD.com’s supply chain experience (the e-merchant recently unveiled a highly automated warehouse in Shanghai that employs only four people) with Google’s expertise in data, marketing, and customer knowledge to develop new products online. This merger should, therefore, result, in the first place, in the promotion of JD.com’s products on the Google Shopping platform around the world.

Listed on the Nasdaq, JD.com is now valued at approximately $60 billion. Among the principal shareholders of JD.com is the American Walmart but also the Chinese Tencent, at the origin of the Wechat application and Alibaba’s great rival and its Alipay application.

In recent months, Google has accelerated its investments on the Asian continent to take advantage of the development of the middle class and the lack of infrastructure in retail and finance, in particular. Besides, Google recently acquired a stake in Indonesian Go-Jek, a specialist in tourism with chauffeur vehicles services, and according to Reuters sources could invest in the Indian e-merchant Flipkart.