Hello everyone, welcome to “News Perspectives”. Today’s focus: More US media announced they will not endorse any presidential candidate! If Trump wins, the US-China trade war intensifies. Tesla in an awkward position? A-shares fluctuate and fall under the tension. How far can the “artificial” bull market go? Party leader of the CCP loses control? Fujian gang rises to grab power.
On Wednesday, October 30th. First, I have an important announcement about this channel. Our channel will soon be transitioning to the Clean World platform, and the YouTube channel will no longer be updated next week. If you want to watch our program, please visit Clean World, a platform that adheres to traditional values, traditional morals, universal values, and advocates freedom of speech. We hope you can continue to support our program there.
As the US presidential election approaches, Gannett’s “USA Today” newspaper, announced on Tuesday that all of its publications will not endorse any candidate in this closely contested presidential election this year. The newspaper’s spokesperson, Anton, stated: “Because we believe that the future of America is gradually determined by voters from all over the country in each election. The editors of branch publications can still endorse candidates at the state and local levels.”
USA Today has over 200 publications nationwide. It publicly supported Biden in 2020 for the first time as a presidential candidate and in 2016, it urged readers not to vote for Trump.
Following similar decisions by left-wing media outlets traditionally supporting the Democratic Party, such as The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, both of which had editors resign, there has been significant backlash nationwide. Since The Washington Post announced not endorsing a presidential candidate on Friday, 250,000 subscribers have canceled their subscriptions, accounting for 10% of the total 2.5 million subscribers.
On Monday, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, broke his silence and defended The Washington Post in a column, stating that it was to regain the trust of the American people in the media. Bezos emphasized that the decision was not made for commercial gain but to maintain The Washington Post’s reputation amidst declining trust in the media.
He emphasized that the lack of credibility is not unique to The Post. Many other newspapers face the same issue. This is not just a problem for the media, but a problem for the nation. Many people are turning to podcasts and social media for impromptu commentary.
On Monday, Musk praised Bezos on his X platform, saying, “Kudos to @JeffBezos for speaking the harsh truth to the newspaper: the reader is not wrong.”
Musk also quoted some of Bezos’ words in the column, saying, “Reality is unbeatable. Blaming others for our declining credibility (thus weakening influence) is easy, but having a victim mentality is useless. Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to improve our credibility.”
It seems that Bezos realizes that mainstream media is increasingly being abandoned by the public. If the media lacks integrity and does not objectively and fairly report the facts but instead distorts them for their own purposes, misleading the public, their reputation will ultimately suffer. No matter how brilliant they were, they may end up in dire straits.
In this election, Tesla’s CEO Musk fully supports Trump, but Tesla has a special relationship with China. Once Trump takes office, a larger-scale trade war between the US and China is inevitable, which may put Shanghai Tesla in an awkward position.
Tesla is the first foreign car manufacturer to have a wholly-owned production factory in China, while foreign companies like Volkswagen and General Motors are forced to form joint ventures with Chinese companies to enter the Chinese market.
The electric car manufacturer, which began production in Shanghai in 2019, released its third-quarter financial report last week, showing a 13% year-on-year revenue growth in the Chinese market. China is Tesla’s largest market outside the US and where its most efficient factory is located, with an annual capacity of about 1 million vehicles.
However, emerging local competitors have become strong rivals to Tesla, threatening the company’s position.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Musk is walking a tightrope. During a period of heightened tensions last year, he visited China and told Chinese officials that he opposes decoupling the two largest economies in the world. Musk criticized the US government’s decision in May to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
But Trump has stated that if he returns to the White House, he will increase tariffs on imports from China to 60% or higher. Trump also suggested that he would prevent Chinese-made autonomous vehicles from operating on US roads.
If Trump wins and imposes tariffs on China, China will definitely take retaliatory measures. At that time, Tesla’s operations in China may face pressure from both the US and China. Will the CCP withdraw its favorable treatment of Tesla? How will Musk respond? Let’s wait and see.
In China, since reports of the loss of control by CCP leader surfaced, internal power struggles have emerged.
The official website of the People’s Daily reported on the 28th that Chen Jianwen, member of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Minister of Propaganda, has been appointed editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily.
Chen Jianwen, 59, a native of Longhai, Fujian Province, graduated from Fujian Normal University’s Chinese department, worked as a teacher for 7 years after graduating, then pursued postgraduate studies in the Chinese department of Beijing Normal University, and served at the school in 1996. He moved to Beijing Municipal Committee’s Propaganda Department in 2002 and then served as Deputy Director of the Capital Civilized Office in 2009. Since 2011, Chen served in the CCP’s United Front Work Department for 10 years and was “air-dropped” to Guangdong in March 2021 to serve as Minister of Propaganda.
In January 2023, Lin Keqing, Secretary of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee, was promoted to Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. It was rumored that Chen Jianwen would take over as Secretary of Guangzhou. According to the Hong Kong media “Ming Pao,” it was revealed that Huang Kunming, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, originally wanted to promote his fellow Fujian native Chen Jianwen for the position of Guangzhou Secretary. However, when the Organization Department sought opinions, retired Guangzhou officials wrote directly to the top leadership. Among them, former Guangzhou Secretary Lin Shusen wrote to Xi Jinping, stating that Chen Jianwen, who had been working in the cultural and educational departments, had “never done a day of practice,” making him unfit for the high-profile position in a mega-city. The final choice was then shifted to Guo Yonghang, who served as the mayor of Guangzhou and was considered a semi-local official.
It is worth noting that Chen Jianwen is a fellow Fujian native and junior of CCP Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi and Politburo member Huang Kunming.
The CCP has a history of factional gang activities internally, and Xi’s faction has been accused of having multiple gangs that vie for power and profit. Due to Xi Jinping’s longest tenure in Fujian (17 years), many officials with Fujian backgrounds have been heavily utilized, placing the Fujian faction in control of many key positions.
China’s economic recovery has not yet seen the light of day. On Tuesday, the three major A-share indexes collectively fell, with the Shanghai Composite losing the 3300-point mark. On Wednesday, A-shares went through a volatile adjustment, with indexes such as the Growth Enterprise Board Index, the Shanghai 50 Index, and the Science and Technology 50 Index all falling by more than 1%, while the Northbound 50 Index fell by over 2%.
Regarding this, the fiery “Shanghai Uncle” recently warned investors online to sell their holdings right after they break even, and not to trade stocks anymore. He said, “I advise you to make back the money and sell immediately. Do not enter again. This stock market is definitely not for ordinary people.” Netizens commented, “Finally telling the truth.”
This “Shanghai Uncle” used to passionately encourage people to invest in the stock market, and he even gave out some shocking predictions in 2024 of the index rising to 4165 points and reaching 14,600 points by 2026. After the stock market downturn, there were rumors of him being chased to be beaten, and now he finally speaks sensibly.
Professional investor and Weibo influencer “Small Scatterer Beating Indexes” said, “Many free software indicate that main capital has been flowing out massively every day. Just this month, main capital has flown out nearly a trillion…”
Recently, news of a post-95s master’s degree programmer making 1.12 million RMB in the stock market went viral, attracting over 100 million views. This master’s student detailed the source of his investment funds, part of which was a generous gift of 1 million RMB from his mother-in-law, and the other part was 500,000 RMB saved from work, totaling 1.5 million RMB. He said he had “good luck, with a stock rising continuously for 13 days, earning 1.1 million in one go. Does it sound like a dream come true? Yes, I thought I was dreaming, too.” However, he specifically warned everyone that luck played a significant role, so one must not blindly imitate.
There were comments saying, “The only difference between us and him is a wealthy mother-in-law,” while seasoned investors cautioned, “News of a new stock market god’s appearance raises the risk level to five stars. The market being scared by the news of making 1.12 million a month!”
After the People’s Bank of China introduced market-saving measures such as RRR cuts and interest rate cuts on September 24th, the stock market’s ups and downs resembled a roller coaster ride, with A shares soaring for only a few days, then plummeting after the National Day holiday, causing heavy losses for new investors. A programmer in Chengdu, Sichuan lost 320,000 RMB in just 4 days.
Mr. Yang, a programmer from Chengdu, who entered the market on October 8th, bought 1.02 million worth of stocks. He made a profit on the first day but lost over 70,000 the second day, a sharp plunge on the third day resulted in a loss of over 310,000, and by the fourth day, he regained 18,000. Following these four trading days, he totaled a loss of 320,000.
Xu Xiaoniu, a 30-year-old full-time stock trader from Tongling, Anhui, has been trading stocks for three years and has incurred losses of approximately 1.5 million RMB.
A blogger from Beijing, “Expecting Mom Preparing for Exams,” posted on October 10th, expressing disappointment over losing 550,000 in three days, saying, “Is this what they call a bull market? Ha, ridiculous. Who dares to come in again?”
Goldman Sachs pointed out that as of October 23rd, hedge funds had withdrawn nearly 80% of their highest accumulated investments in Chinese stocks. The reason for foreign withdrawal is attributed to disappointment in the lack of details in Beijing’s stimulus policies, coupled with an increased possibility of Trump’s re-election. Goldman Sachs stated, “The net selling of emerging markets this month will be one of the largest scale sales in our records, with a focus on the sale of Chinese stocks.”
On the Wall Street, the big sharks in the China market quickly come and go, looting vast wealth. However, the Chinese authorities no longer disclose the latest data on foreign capital inflows and outflows in the Chinese market. How far can this “artificial” bull market in China go? Since the inception of China’s stock market, the ups and downs of the stock market have never been related to economic fundamentals. It’s wise for individual investors and small stockholders to stay away from the Chinese stock market.
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