Xi Internet Push, Ivanka Trump Trademarks: Eye on Chinese Media

(Bloomberg) -- INTERNET PUSH: Official media including the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Daily featured prominent stories on the one-year anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s speech calling for technological advances. China Daily, the official English-language paper, said in a front page story that major progress has been made since Xi called for breakthroughs as soon as possible to ensure cybersecurity and safeguard national security. The more than 700 million internet users in the country "are getting more say in social governance," the paper said. It cited Xi’s speech as calling for "tolerance and patience" toward netizens and welcoming criticism, "whether mild or fierce," as long as it arises from good will.

In Other Reports:

• VIETNAMESE WORKERS: The front page of the People’s Daily features story of a 35-year-old Vietnamese woman whose job in the Guangxi region pays more than three times as much as it would back home. Vietnam’s abundant labor supply is helping to relieve a strain just across the border in Fangchenggang, the Communist Party’s flagship paper said. China is confronting rising labor costs.
• MADE-IN-CHINA: Xinhua promoted some products at the Canton Fair, such as a restaurant management system that doesn’t rely on human operators, a refrigerator that features a health scanner, and a "smart mattress" that collects and analyzes sleeping data. China is working to upgrade manufacturers to higher value products.
• TRUMP MARKS: Ivanka Trump’s company will enter the Chinese market in the second half of the year by selling shoes, handbags and jewelry in Shanghai, the Global Times reports, citing an unidentified person with close ties to the brand. The full-page story that filled the front page of the business section said Donald Trump’s daughter and key White House adviser "could see her business thrive in China this year, as an increasing number of her trademark applications have been approved by Chinese regulators and her warm approach toward China has brought her a good reputation here." The Communist Party tabloid reported that her company, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC, has applied for many new trademarks in China since the election, citing Hao Junbo, a lawyer at Hao Law Firm in Beijing. Many domestic companies are competing to become agents for the sale and distribution of her merchandise, the paper said. When Trump hosted Xi in Florida this month, her daughter Arabella sang a traditional Chinese song in Mandarin for Xi. The Global Times cited an Associated Press story this week that said the company won provisional government approval April 6 for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in China.

--With assistance from Penny Peng

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Xiaoqing Pi in Beijing at xpi1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.net, Jeff Kearns, Ken Wills

With assistance from Xiaoqing Pi