Amid trade tensions between the United States and China, China has blocked the access of Microsoft’s search engine Bing. And with the blocking of Bing, China blocked all major non-Chinese search engines that had been operating there.

And according to the reports from the sources, the order to block the search engine had come from the Government.

Microsoft Spokesperson in reply said they have confirmed that Bing is currently not accessible in China and they have engaged experts to determine the next step.

It should be reported here that the Internet is heavily censored in China as a form of information control. Many non-Chinese techs and social media giants like Facebook and Twitter are blocked there.

The report of blockage of Microsoft’s Bing engine comes in the time of on-going negotiations for tariff between the two largest economies of the world. And experts believe that the trade war may have spillover effects on the technology world turning it into a tech war.

On Tuesday, the former deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhu Min said that China is also considering completely cutting investment into the Silicon Valley after the scrutiny episode with world’s largest telecom equipment maker, Huawei.

The issue with Huawei aggravated when its Chief Financial Officer was arrested in Canada last year. It is believed that the arrest was made on the request of Washington. The allegations on him were he violated American sanctions on Iran. Though he has been released on bail, the possibility of extradition is still substantial.

The United States along with many western countries including Canada, Germany, Britain, and Australia accuse China of data theft through its link with Huawei. They have even blocked Huawei’s equipment from sensitive infrastructure projects. However, Beijing denies these allegations.

In the past couple of years, China has declared openly its intention to become a world tech leader over the next decade, and it has been investing hundreds of billions of dollars in technologies like Artificial Intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

After the banking and financial technology firms, the blockchain technology has found a new client in the automobile industry. SEAT, a Spanish car maker, has joined hands with the Alastria consortium to develop products and services based on blockchain technology. The carmaker is looking to develop a system for exchanging its various product and services without the need of any third party, and hence, it has decided to embrace the concept of the blockchain. The company is of the view that the adoption of blockchain will help enhance procedural security of the system and make the transactions far safer for its clients.

SEAT and Alastria

SEAT is looking forward to testing and further developing its platform of blockchain-based products and services while seeking cooperation and synergies from the other participating companies in the consortium. So that you know, Alastria is a first blockchain infrastructure consortium promoted by the Spanish business institutions and companies belonging to a range of different business sectors. The primary objective of this consortium is the establishment and promotion of independent and neutral blockchain infrastructure that will work under the legal framework of Spain besides complying with regulations of the European Union. The consortium will help to make the funds and contacts available for the community members. It aims to develop a holistic blockchain ecosystem that will not only help the member companies but will also ensure that the benefits reach users and organizations outside the consortium.

Application Areas

The carmaker SEAT wants to make sure that different divisions in the company apprise themselves with the blockchain and the potential benefits they can derive from the technology. In the first phase of blockchain implementation, SEAT has chosen finance and production division for the blockchain implementation to improve the efficiency of procedural standards in the organization. The carmaker is looking forward to develop and implement digital solutions for improving the process of producing cars that will subsequently help it to become more flexible, agile, and efficient in the long run.

SEAT has already initiated the process of adopting and implementing blockchain technology. The company has recently collaborated with Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunication company, to implement the blockchain-based project to improve supply chain management at its Martorell factory. The project will help in traceability of the parts in the factory and will help SEAT to drive up the overall efficiency of its supply chain.

China’s leading mobile and online payments app Alipay has received e-money license in Luxembourg.

Alipay already holds a license issued by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority. Luxembourg, a small country between Belgium, Germany, and France gave Alipay the surety of uninterrupted and smooth business in the event of a strong exit of UK from the European Union. The new P2D2 license will allow the Alibaba group to connect Chinese users with local merchants in EU countries and vice versa. The increase of mobile payments has effectively increased local merchant sales and advance the financial tech economy both in China and Europe. According to a recent survey, about 71% of Alipay adopting sellers said they recommend its use to increase sales.

With more than a billion users worldwide the Chinese giant Alibaba has been lobbying the Brexit situation and proactively approaching solutions to a worst-case scenario Brexit. The new Luxembourg licensed entity will be called Alipay (Europe) Limited S.A. and was officially introduced to the world in a Hong Kong press release by Pierre Gramegna, the Minister of Finance in Luxembourg.

Supporting the country’s decision of license grant, Mr. Pierre said: “Alipay’s presence would be beneficial to the Luxembourg financial ecosystem and will facilitate Luxembourg to consolidate the country’s position as the leading European hub for financial technology and e-commerce in EU.”

The news comes instead of another technology giant Alphabet Inc. being granted a payments license in Ireland, a move that will see Google expand its financial services offerings across all European countries.

Germany is considering various ways to block Huawei’s 5G mobile network as per reports. If the government does block it, it will follow other countries like Australia and the United States which has already restricted Huawei from accessing its next-gen mobile networks. Both countries have cited national security as the reason behind banning it. The US officials said that the network equipment provided by the company might have ‘backdoors’ which can be used to access confidential information and that China controls them. Huawei has refuted such concerns as baseless allegations.

The German administration has not yet decided as to what steps to take, but they are considering many options to make the security more robust and find ways to remove Huawei. They are considering enforcing stricter regulations which prevent Huawei products used in 5G. Some government sources also said that Germany might also consider making some changes in the telecommunication laws as a last resort to block Huawei’s participation. Changes in law and stricter standards will ensure Germany is in line with other countries like the US and Australia.

The countries that are taking action

• The US and its Allie Australia have banned Huawei from involvement in their 5G networks.
• New Zealand has already stopped Huawei from supplying 5G equipment since November.
• Canada is doing a review of the products shipped by Huawei and will soon come up with a decision.
• British Telecom who is the leading network provider in the United Kingdom has ordered the removal of Huawei equipment from its 5G network.
• Germany is considering banning supplies of the firms 5G networks.
• The European Union has also expressed concern over Chinese manufacturers.

What does the company say?

Even as there are fears that Huawei is being used by China to spy on other countries and to gather confidential information, the company says it is an independent company who has nothing to do with the Chinese government apart from paying taxes as it is based in China. However, there are doubts regarding this claim as the founder of Huawei was a former army employee and is a member of the communist party. Moreover, there are also concerns on the freedom that Beijing provides to businesses and could ask the Chinese firm to make modifications to the devices they export to other countries and do cyberespionage.

In a bid to appease the German government Huawei appreciated the urge to regulate standards and has supported them by opening a lab in Bonn to help with the regulation.

Nissan Motor Co which has its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and a manufacturer of trucks and buses has many manufacturing and assembly plants across the world, and one of it is in Mississipi. The company announced that it planned to lay off up to 700 contract workers in its assembly plant in Mississipi. The official reason was given as reduction in pickup trucks and van sales. Close to 6,500 contract and direct employees work in the Canton arm of Nissan. This lay off comes after the company announced that it planned to ax 1000 employees in Mexico.

In a statement by Brian Brockman who is a spokesperson of Nissan, he said that “Nissan is adjusting production capacity at its Canton manufacturing facility to match market demand and maintain healthy inventory levels,”

The company is reducing the production shifts of Nissan Vans from its original two to one and pickup trucks from three to two shifts. He also added that some of the employees affected by this cut would be reassigned to other areas and some of them will have to remain unassigned.

The company maintained that the direct employees will not be affected by job cuts and will be retained and assigned to other areas of work. Nissan is trying to reduce jobs through buyouts of employees who are older than 55 years of age and also through attrition.

Nissan has been in crisis over the past few months after the auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn who was Nissan Chairman was arrested on charges of underreporting his pay and financial misconduct. Nissan’s board took its time to remove Ghosn as the chairman as he was the mastermind behind the bringing together of three auto giants Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan in a three-way which together became the most prolific car sellers worldwide.

When Carlos Ghosn who was once a darling of Japan both with common people and corporates with even a comic inspired by him was arrested, the stock values of all three companies plummetted and is considered one of the reasons for Nissan being in this financial condition. His arrest had caused huge concern among many workers who worked for the three companies, especially Renault’s as the company was deeply entwined with Nissan. Currently, each of the Nissan workers in Mississipi is hoping it’s not them that is going to be fired.

Though many believe that the job cuts are a result of the arrest of its chairman Carlos Ghosn in November, the company says that the layoffs have nothing to with the arrest.