☕️ Good morning, friends,

from now on, everyone at KPMG’s Frankfurt office will also be among the first to know what’s happening in Asia. Welcome to the new subscribers in the asiabits community!

Elon Musk could use some solid advice (both professionally and privately). Tesla sales in China have ticked up slightly, but Xiaomi is still the top dog.

And: CEO Lei Jun has become the richest man in China.

🚀 Benchmarks

🔢 Facts & Figures

20%

This will be the new US tariff rate on goods from Vietnam; in return, Hanoi will open its market to American products duty-free.

0.99 USD

The price at which China’s coffee chain Luckin Coffee is selling coffee in New York. The Starbucks competitor has entered the US market with two stores.

15 months

That’s how quickly BYD completed its first car factory in Brazil, with plans to produce 150,000 EVs per year for all of South America.

Top Bit: ☀️ Record Heat: What Europe Can Learn from Asia

Europe is groaning under record-breaking heatwaves – in the summer of 2022 alone, they caused around 60,000 premature deaths across the continent.

Asian metropolises know this problem well and have already implemented proven solutions that could now serve as a blueprint worldwide to protect cities and people from extreme heat.

Details

🇨🇳 China: In Guangzhou, fresh-air corridors, vertical gardens, and misting alleys cool entire old town districts; AI warning systems alert residents up to three days before heat peaks.

🇯🇵 Japan: Millions of workers wear fan-cooled vests; Tokyo lends out free parasols that can lower the perceived heat index by up to 3°C.

🇰🇷 South Korea: Seoul is rolling out white “cool roofs,” 4,500 shade canopies, and 168 fixed misting nozzles along an inner-city “cooling road.”

🇸🇬 Singapore: Green roofs and facade greening are mandatory (with over 300 hectares of greenery on high-rises); reflective “cool paint” lowers neighborhood temperatures by 2°C.

Why it matters

• Health protection: Early warning systems, cooling centers, and shade measures significantly reduce heat-related deaths.
  

• Urban quality & energy: Passive cooling reduces the urban heat island effect and saves air conditioning energy.
  

• Blueprint for Europe: Proven, cost-effective measures can be quickly adapted and scaled.

Background

Asia is already one of the hottest regions in the world: In 2023, temperatures in northwestern China exceeded 50°C for the first time, while Beijing recorded three consecutive days over 40°C.

Cities like Guangzhou, Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore are responding with a mix of high-tech solutions, nature-based urban planning, and targeted emergency measures – providing practical strategies for a hotter global future.

📊 All Details & Data: Worldbank, The Straits Times, China CDC

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Head Of The Day

🇨🇳 Colin Huang

💡 Bargain Strategist: As the founder of PDD Holdings (Pinduoduo), he turned bargain shopping into a game-like app experience, launched Temu’s global expansion in 2022, and snatched market share from giants like Alibaba and Amazon.

In 2025, however, PDD’s profits plummeted as new US tariffs drove up Temu’s prices, rendering its high-margin direct-from-China shipping model suddenly unprofitable.

👉 Lesson learned: Combining price, fun, and gamification can trigger disruption even in saturated e-commerce markets – and build a billion-dollar fortune in record time.

Market Bit: 🌐 Huawei Opens AI Code and Launches Its Own Programming Language

Details

🔓 Open source: Two Pangu LLMs, an inference tool, and Huawei’s new programming language Cangjie will be freely available on GitHub starting July 30.

🖥️ Chip push: The models run optimally on Huawei’s Ascend GPUs – the free code is designed to boost the company’s server, cloud, and chip business.

🌍 Globally usable: Developers can freely adapt the packages – particularly attractive for price-sensitive emerging markets.

🚫 Sanctions maneuver: Open code bypasses US export bans and positions Huawei as a genuine alternative to Nvidia and others.

Why it matters

• Ecosystem lock-in: More developers strengthen ties to Huawei’s Ascend ecosystem.
  

• AI sovereignty: China’s push for AI independence accelerates, reducing reliance on US software.
  

• Free alternative: For the first time, businesses get a free, industrial-grade competitor to Western AI stacks.

👉🏻 Full Story: CNBC, SCMP

Top Reads

🔒 Singapore grants police power to freeze accounts: A new anti-fraud measure allows officers to block account access and card payments for up to 30 days if a scam is suspected. The goal is to curb billion-dollar losses from increasingly sophisticated online scams; critics argue this infringes on civil rights and demand stricter oversight. Full story.

🎢 Legoland opens as industry slows: Shanghai’s ¥5 billion resort will open on July 5, but the industry association IAAPA warns that growth across China’s 4,437 theme parks may slow to 19% annually. A consumer slump, park oversupply, and fierce brand competition are dampening the boom despite upcoming highlights like the 2027 Harry Potter Park. Full story.

🔄 EU pressures Beijing over rare earths: At a meeting in Brussels, foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas demanded that China immediately lift its export restrictions on rare earths and halt any support by Chinese firms for Russia’s war machine. Otherwise, Europe faces supply bottlenecks and new sanctions – an uncomfortable lead-up to the EU-China summit at the end of July. Full story.

Optional Reads

USA: Washington has lifted licensing requirements for Siemens' chip design software, allowing the German company to grant Chinese clients unrestricted access once again. More on this.

Hong Kong: The government plans to begin registering same-sex marriages conducted abroad – but only for healthcare and next-of-kin rights – thus minimally complying with a 2023 court ruling. More on this.

Canada: Canadian top researcher Julian Cheng, an expert in optical and UV wireless communication, will become the founding dean of information technology at the new Great Bay University in Dongguan, southern China. More on this.

🥠 Fortune Cookie

🚒 China's Coolest Fire Station: Chongqing’s new fire station shines with neon signs and disco-ball vibes, earning it the nickname “cyberpunk nightclub.” But the firefighters take it further: fully suited up, they dance TikTok routines with local street dance crews to spark young people’s interest in fire safety.

The brightest lights had to be dimmed after crowds lined up for selfies, but the flame-fashion has already gone viral.

See you tomorrow,

Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits.

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