Global communities need to seek ways to advance a hydrogen society based on three aspects — cost reduction through technological innovation, expansion of public receptivity and establishment of a safety management system — according to Hyundai Motor chief Chung Euisun, who attended a CEO event of a global alliance for hydrogen technologies in Paris on Monday.

“There is a no shortcut to the future hydrogen society. It is most important for the hydrogen industry to establish a specific execution plan step by step, industry by industry, and act with continuity,” Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung said in his welcome speech at the annual event, according to Hyundai Motor Group.

To make hydrogen energy a realistic solution and an answer to future energy transformation, the abovementioned three aspects should come first, said Chung, who took up the role of Hydrogen Council co-chair in January last year.

He has called on the governments of each country and businesses around the world to jointly make efforts to create a hydrogen society.

According to a McKenzie report, the hydrogen industry is expected to be worth 280 billion won ($240 million), to create 30 million jobs and to satisfy 18 percent of overall energy demand, by 2050.

Until now, hydrogen production has involved the use of byproduct hydrogen derived from the petrochemical process. Another way involves directly extracting hydrogen from natural gas or separating hydrogen from water.

But all three methods have come under criticism, as using fossil fuel to create hydrogen could contribute to global warming and using water to get hydrogen has low transfer efficiency but high production cost.

Touching on the latter method, Chung said all sectors in the hydrogen industry should cut cost through technological innovation and secure momentum for sustainability.

He stressed the need to cut cost in terms of production, storage and use, as hydrogen has been evaluated as an alternative energy source to replace fossil fuel thanks to its high efficiency and eco-friendliness.

According to market data, the average hydrogen fuel price came to between 6,000 to 8,000 won per kilogram as of last year.

Chung also highlighted the need to expand public receptivity toward hydrogen.

The industry “must effectively suggest the practical value of a hydrogen society, to expand public receptivity and tap into the new market,” Chung said.

He urged the industry to take action to increase public understanding and awareness toward hydrogen energy and the industry’s vision and value.

As for safety management, Chung suggested mutual efforts to create a safety system across industries.

Established in Davos, Switzerland, in 2017, the Hydrogen Council is a first-of-its-kind global CEO initiative and alliance of hydrogen technologies. It promotes the energy transition from fossil fuels and fosters the role of hydrogen technologies. Its members comprise 81 leading multinational companies, including Saudi Aramco, British Petroleum, Shell and Total.

Hyundai Motor said Chung will participate in the World Economic Forum on Tuesday in Davos, to discuss and exchange ideas for the role of mobility in a hydrogen society with world leaders.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

In the week ending Jan 17, four companies listed on the US exchanges, including three Chinese issuers and a US mortgage lender, according to IPO information platform Renaissance Capital.

Phoenix Tree Holdings, a leading Chinese apartment rental service provider operating under the name of Danke Apartment, rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell in celebration of its IPO.

The company, trading under the ticker symbol of “DNK,” announced its IPO of 9.6 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at a price to the public of $13.5 apiece. The stock closed flat on Friday.

Founded in 2015, the Beijing-based company adopts a business model featuring centralization, standardization and online experience. It had established operations in 13 cities across China as of Sept 30, 2019, becoming one of the largest co-living platforms in the country with rapid growth, the company said its prospectus, citing consulting firm iResearch.

Gao Jing, CEO of Danke Apartment, told Xinhua that China’s residential rental market is huge and fast-growing, providing tremendous opportunities for his startup.

Calling the company’s debut on the US exchanges “a milestone,” Gao also expects the move would help the company’s brand building and attract more talents.

“After a long time of preparation, we finally made the listing,” Marco Lai, founder and CEO of LIZHI, a Chinese interactive podcast platform for user-generated content, told Xinhua.

LIZHI, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square on Friday in celebration of its IPO. The company announced its IPO of 4.1 million ADSs at a price to the public of $11 apiece.

The stock, trading under the ticker symbol of “LIZI,” jumped 5.73 percent to end at $11.63 apiece on Friday.

Founded in 2010, the Guangzhou-based company launched the Lizhi app in 2013 to allow users to record and share their lives with voices on mobile devices with the help of intuitive recording, and to reach their audience through various discovery tools.

Lai said the public listing is a key step of the company’s global strategy, adding the company plans to use the proceeds from this offering to invest in product development and its Artificial Intelligence technology.

Also on Friday, I-Mab, clinical-stage biopharma company in China, made its debut on the Nasdaq.

The company announced its offering of approximately 7.4 million ADSs at $14 per share, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. Traded under the symbol of “IMAB,” the stock opened on an upbeat note while finishing the session lower.

The number of Chinese firms listed on the US exchanges has increased in recent years. As of Friday, the S&P US Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on US exchanges by total market cap, stood at 3,418.51, marking a 7.93-percent gain for year-to-date returns.

The international advisory firm said in the report that public confidence in China and Chinese business continued to gain momentum in emerging markets, with 84 percent of respondents expressing positive opinions of China. Only 16 percent of respondents in these markets expressed negative opinions.

Brunswick found perceptions in developed countries were more mixed, with 58 percent of respondents stating positive opinions of China, and 42 percent holding negative views.

As per the report, positive opinions of China remained stable in the United States at 48 percent, the United Kingdom at 60, Germany and the Czech Republic at 68.

The Select Findings are based on a survey of 9,700 respondents in 23 countries, ranging from developed markets like the US, UK and Germany, to emerging countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The findings showed that the divide of public perceptions between developed and emerging countries is impacted by differing outlooks on China’s rising economic and political leadership.

Emerging countries are seeing economic opportunities in China’s rise, while developed countries are offering a more cautious assessment.

The survey findings also indicate that China’s economic and technological leadership is expected to grow, which may create new areas for competition and tension in the future.

“China has a vision for the future and has found support along the Belt and Road,” said Mei Yan, Brunswick Group’s chair of China. “Now, the developed world must take into account the reality of China as a leading economic and technological power.”

China’s industrial output rose 5.7 percent year-on-year last year, hitting its annual growth target range of 5.5 to 6 percent. It showed that China has stabilized the economic fundamentals against growth pressure and external turbulence, said Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology.

According to Miao, the high-tech sector is playing a bigger role, as witnessed by the fact that the segment registered a year-on-year growth rate of 8.8 percent and outpaced the overall industrial output growth in the period.

Miao noted that emerging industries also maintained sound momentum. For instance, productions of urban mass transit vehicles and solar photovoltaic cells has increased 32.6 percent and 26.8 percent year-on-year respectively.

Last year, sales of vehicles were down by 8.2 percent year-on-year with new energy cars also experiencing a drop. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday it expected that the market will start to stabilize and recover this year.

In response to questions on whether China will cut subsidies for new energy vehicles in June and whether it will completely stop offering such subsidies by the end of 2020, Miao said the issue is still under discussion and the ministry “is likely to postpone the timeline”.

“To build the ‘mansion’ of manufacturing next year, China will first ratchet up efforts in the research and development of core technologies. A group of State-level innovation centers on manufacturing will be built next year,” said Miao.

He added that accelerated steps will also be made to transform traditional industries to boost the “resilience” of the construction.

“Efforts to transform traditional industries and nurture emerging sectors are of significance to China,” said Wang Peng, deputy president of the China Center for Information Industry Development, a government think tank.

To maintain stable growth of the manufacturing industry, the first and foremost approach is to leverage advanced technologies to transform traditional industries, which accounted for 80 percent of the total sector, Wang said.

“Emerging industries, on the other hand, will decide China’s position and competitiveness on the global stage. Sectors including 5G, artificial intelligence and the internet of vehicles will not only pull up manufacturing but will also stimulate investments in new infrastructure,” he said.

China kicked off the commercialization of 5G in late October. GSMA, a global association of mobile operators, predicted the number of 5G users in China will reach 400 million by 2025, accounting for about one-third of the world’s total.

By the end of last year, a total of 130,000 5G base stations have been built and more than 13.8 million smartphones have been shipped, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday. US investment bank Goldman Sachs painted an even more optimistic picture, predicting that China would build about 1 million new 5G base stations this year, up from its original prediction of 600,000.

Another report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology said that the superfast 5G is expected to directly bring 10.6 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) in economic output between 2020 to 2025, and 8 million jobs by 2030.

In terms of 6G, Wen Ku, head of information and communication at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out on Monday that China will maintain a steady pace in developing the next-generation technology.

“We started related work of 6G in 2017, but it is still in its infancy since we are still in the process of developing the 5G technology, including in terms of independent networking and applications,” Wen said.

Miao added that China has enlarged the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group to IMT-2030 to join global efforts in promoting standards on such technologies. “Whether for 5G or 6G, China will never close the door on making globally unified standards.”

On Monday, 77 new confirmed cases of the virus — 2019nCoV — were reported on the Chinese mainland, bringing the total number of confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland to 291, six of whom died, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday afternoon. Among the new cases, 72 were reported in Hubei province, two in Shanghai and three in Beijing.

In addition, 27 suspected cases were reported on Monday, bringing the total number of suspected cases to 54, the commission said.

Taiwan health authorities said on Tuesday said a woman of about 50 years of age was confirmed to be infected with the virus, the first such case on the island.

In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, no confirmed cases were reported as of Tuesday evening, but the number of suspected cases rose to 118 as of Tuesday noon, according to official data.

Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, reported 60 new cases on Monday and two additional fatalities — a 66yearold man and 48yearold woman. Both of them died on Monday due to multiple organ failure, the Wuhan Health Commission said. The total death toll from the virus climbed to six, all in Wuhan.

Zhong Nanshan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a prominent expert on respiratory diseases, said existing evidence shows the new virus can spread from human to human, and the epidemic may spread further, given that China will see a massive human migration during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

The source of the infection has not been located, and its means of transmission is not clear. Health experts agree the possibility exists for mutation of the virus, according to the National Health Commission.

Amid the severe situation, China is ramping up efforts in several areas. On Monday, President Xi Jinping ordered that resolute efforts should be made to curb the spread of the virus, stressing putting people’s safety and health as the top priority.

Premier Li Keqiang chaired a State Council executive meeting on Monday to coordinate measures. He called for all related authorities to fully estimate the situation and increase cooperation among government departments.

Li ordered stricter preventive measures at hospitals and better protection for medical workers. The Wuhan Health Commission reported on Tuesday morning that 15 medical workers in the city have been infected.

Also on Tuesday, the National Health Commission listed the pneumonia caused by the virus among Grade B infectious diseases, a category that includes such major infectious diseases as SARS, AIDS and polio.

Currently, however, the new virus will be treated as a Grade A infectious disease, which requires the strictest prevention and control measures, including mandatory quarantine of patients and medical observation for those who have had close contact with patients, according to the commission.

At present, only two infectious diseases — bubonic plague and cholera — are classified as Grade A infectious diseases in China.

Wang Yuedan, an immunology professor at Peking University, said managing the new disease as Grade A will greatly help in its control and prevention. Some other serious infectious diseases, such as SARS, are also classified as Grade B infectious diseases, but have been managed as Grade A infectious diseases during their outbreaks, Wang said.

On Tuesday, Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang called on locals not to leave the city and people from outside not to come to Wuhan if there’s no particular need.

“Less human migration can reduce the spread of the virus, easing the pressure of prevention and control of the disease,” he told China Central Television.

Hubei Governor Wang Xiaodong asked on Tuesday for full efforts to monitor and report the outbreak. He said no delayed reports or coverups would be tolerated, and he asked for better public communication to respond to public concerns.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said in a statement that sustained humantohuman transmission may exist, and warned more cases of the virus could appear in China and outside in the coming days, given travel patterns and increased testing.

The Chinese government is sharing information regularly and working closely with the WHO, it said, adding that a team of WHO experts are working with health officials in Wuhan in response to the virus.

“The WHO encourages all countries to continue preparedness activities,” WHO China said.

Although much remains to be understood about 2019nCoV, including how it is transmitted, the clinical features of the disease, its severity, the extent to which it has spread and its source — progress is underway, it said.

China, along with other affected countries, will attend an emergency committee meeting convened by the WHO on Wednesday to share information about the disease, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.

Representatives from a number of countries, the WHO and relevant experts will make accurate assessments about the outbreak, Geng told a daily news conference.