Apple Inc.’s Chinese Suppliers Facing Challenges as the Tech Giant Diversifies Its Supply Chain Beyond China
Apple’s plan of moving its supply chain out of China is turning into a crisis-ridden adventure. By relocating from China into Vietnam, these contractors will bear huge risks and may miss the development opportunities of China’s consumer electronics market.
A large number of Chinese companies have visited Vietnam and are planning to relocate their factories there. They will enjoy preferential policies such as tax breaks in some cities in Vietnam. Since China lifted the COVID lockdown, more Chinese delegations have flocked there seeking low-cost manufacturing. But in fact, there are more inspectors and fewer entrepreneurs who actually build factories there. As early as five years ago, some Chinese companies followed Apple’s global production strategy and migrated to Vietnam. While there are plenty of benefits to moving operations to Vietnam, the country has many challenges. Once Apple slashes orders these suppliers will have serious problems.
China’s Rural Law Enforcement Teams are Causing Public Concerns about Their Tactics
The nature of agricultural production makes it difficult to regulate agricultural affairs. At present, China’s rural law enforcement officially called Agricultural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement (also known as Nongguan) teams are stirring up public criticism about some of their conducts. This has resulted in frequent occurrence of local violence and several incidents were posted on Chinese social media.
Recently, there have been a lot of questions about the law enforcement of Nongguan all over the country. In some places, Nongguan forcibly demolished the pigpens built by farmers, resulting in fierce conflicts. The law enforcement controversies reflected in these incidents have also become a topic of widespread concern. An expert interviewed by Caijing said that agricultural law enforcement needs to abide by the rules, which is beneficial to both farmers and law enforcers. If farmers do not understand the standards of enforcement, they will have mistrust of the Nongguan.
Alibaba Group Announced Its Historic Organizational and Governance Structure Change
As the quarterly report was released on May 18, Alibaba Group announced the list of board members of all business groups and the listing and financing plans of some business groups. The most significant organizational reform since the establishment of Alibaba has come to an end.
As the top manager of Alibaba Group, Zhang Yong has faded out from the tech giant’s business and management. This is regarded by some Alibaba people as the most important change in this round of structure adjustments. Most of the newly appointed members of the board of directors of each business group are Alibaba partners.
China Continues to Invest in Its Health Systems
At the beginning of May 2023, the People’s Hospital of Ning County, Qingyang, Gansu announced that it will spend 42.8 million yuan to purchase a batch of medical equipment. This is a county located in the southeast of Gansu Province. The entire county was lifted out of poverty only in 2020. In the meantime, the county hospital has only 400 beds. A year ago, Ning County People’s Hospital was included in the “1000-county Project”.
On the national level, the Chinese government continues to invest in its health systems. The State Council announced a loan incentive policy as part of its economic stimulus package. The package is designed to upgrade and renovate equipment in public buildings, universities, and medical facilities. Among other projects “1000-county Project” is expected to enhance the capacity of county hospitals. The “1000-county Project” is designed to address the lack of healthcare resources in counties and to better meet the medical needs of people in less-developed areas. According to the work plan, by 2025, at least 1,000 county-level hospitals will have reached the standards of third-grade hospitals.
