Starbucks says it is not currently considering a full sale of its China operations
June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. cafe chain Starbucks (SBUX.O), opens new tab said it is not currently considering a full sale of its China operations, after Chinese financial magazine Caixin reported that it was without disclosing where it obtained the information.
Starbucks has held preliminary talks with more than a dozen potential buyers, Caixin also reported on Monday citing sources who did not specify what was for sale.
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Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Spy chiefs handed £600m to tackle China ‘threat'
Spy chiefs have been handed an extra £600 million to fight the 'threat' of China, David Lammy has announced, after an audit into the UK's vulnerability to Beijing. The review, which began after the election last year, found that Chinese spying, interference in the UK's democracy and attempts to undermine the economy had increased in recent years. In Tuesday's national security strategy, ministers promised 'greater robustness and consistency' in the way the UK dealt with China but acknowledged the desire for a 'trade and investment relationship' with the world's second-biggest economy. Mr Lammy referred to China explicitly as a 'threat', a term that Downing Street later refused to support. The 'China audit', which examined the extent of the UK's relationship with Beijing, recommended increasing the Government's ability to engage with the Asian economic superpower while increasing 'resilience' against risks. The Foreign Secretary said on Tuesday that Britain would increase its intelligence budget by £600 million in light of the findings. He said that ministers 'understand that China is a sophisticated and persistent threat ' - an apparent shift from the Government's previous description of it being a 'challenge'. But he also told MPs that in the past decade, China has delivered a third of global economic growth, becoming the world's second-largest economy and, together with Hong Kong, the UK's third-largest trading partner. 'Not engaging with China is therefore no choice at all,' he said. 'China's power is an inescapable fact.' Mr Lammy said the audit painted a 'complex picture' but 'the UK's approach to China will be founded on progressive realism, taking the world as it is, not as we wish it to be'. A Downing Street spokesman later refused to repeat Mr Lammy's description of China as a 'threat' – reopening a debate about the use of the word, which had plagued Conservative prime ministers over the last five years. 'Potentially huge consequences' Sources close to the Foreign Secretary insisted there was no disagreement between him and No10 on the issue, and that Downing Street had advanced sight of the statement in which he used the word 'threat' several times. A summary of the audit's findings - including guidance for colleges and universities - which rely on Chinese students and partnerships for vital funding - was laid out in the national security strategy. 'The challenge of competition from China - which ranges from military modernisation to an assertion of state power that encompasses economic, industrial, science and technology policy - has potentially huge consequences for the lives of British citizens,' it said. 'Cap in hand to China' Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Government 'has gone cap in hand to China to bail out its terrible handling of the British economy', and pointed to the decision to 'call in' a planning decision on the new Chinese 'super embassy' in London. The controversial plan will see China open a new site in East London, which opponents claim will allow them to hack telecom cables. Angela Rayner, who is responsible for planning, is reportedly poised to approve the application but has declined to comment in public about it.
Auto Blog
3 hours ago
- Auto Blog
From Assembly Line to Attraction: China's EV Factories Are Redefining Tourism
A different kind of showcase In China's capital city, Beijing, a long list of historical sites and other attractions attracts visitors from home and abroad every year, including the Forbidden City, the Olympic Stadium known as the Bird's Nest, and even a section of the Great Wall of China. With a history that stretches back to 1045 BC, Beijing is a city that blends both the rich history of China's past with the wonders of a new age. Today, alongside other major Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, it thrives as a dynamic economic hub, and sites that showcase the country's latest technological and industrial dominance have become the focus of some curious visitors. Previous Pause Next Unmute 0:00 / 0:10 Tesla sales in Europe drop yet again Watch More Chinese EV factories are the new science museum According to a new report published by Wired magazine, the latest must-see attraction in Beijing is not something old, but something relatively new: its electric vehicle (EV) factories. According to the tech authority, tens of thousands of people have flooded online ticket lotteries each month for a chance to walk through the factory floors of the country's most advanced EV makers like Xiaomi and Nio. It's not just car lovers lining up, either. Families, tech-obsessed geeks, and even students treat these factory visits as if they're a stroll through a museum or gallery. Consumer electronics giant turned EV powerhouse Xiaomi was one of the first to open its doors to the public, kicking off the craze by offering tours of its Beijing factory to those who wanted to see inside. Very quickly, the demand to see inside the factory where the Xiaomi SU7 is made reached Wonka-levels. When the company started offering tours, Xiaomi's online lottery system gave the 'golden tickets' to just 60 people per month. However, demand has since exploded, and Xiaomi expanded the program. It aims to accommodate more than 1,100 visitors in July, with one tour each weekday and six on most weekends. According to data from the Xiaomi app, more than 27,000 people applied for July slots on the first night after registration opened. The future of automaking, now These tours offer a rare glimpse into what the future of ultra-automated manufacturing will look like. Xiaomi's plant boasts a 91% automation rate, with some lines being entirely run by robots. Visitors are shuttled around the factory, where they observe robotic arms moving with machine-like precision, lifting and assembling components without a human in sight. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. 'The factory is huge, with only a handful of workers. As I stood there watching, it was all robotic arms doing the work. The robots were all running preset programs—picking up parts from one place and delivering them to another, all in a very orderly manner,' Yuanyuan, a Beijing resident who took her 13-year-old daughter on the Xiaomi tour in May, told Wired. Xiaomi's Electric Vehicle Factory In Beijing — Source: Getty Images However, Xiaomi's factory isn't just about watching robots; the experience combines the exhibits of a science museum, a factory tour, and ends with amusement park-esque thrills. Before touring one of three active production lines out of six total to gawk at the workers and robots, guests stroll through a tech-filled exhibit hall. At the end, thrill-seekers hop into a Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan and experience a test ride with a professional driver who is glad to showcase the car's seat-pinning acceleration. Xiaomi isn't the only company capitalizing on this trend. Chinese electric vehicle giant Nio recently opened its partially automated factory in Hefei and welcomed over 130,000 visitors in 2024. To take a tour, prospective visitors must register through the Nio app and pay 1,000 'Nio points,' which is equivalent to $14. Users can either purchase these points or earn them for free by regularly engaging with the Nio app. Final thoughts Guided tours are nothing new for car manufacturing. Stateside, some facilities, including BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, Honda facilities in Ohio, and GM's Bowling Green, Kentucky plant, allow visitors to book tours. But in the same way that the factory tours mentioned in the West help connect with enthusiasts, Chinese EV factory tours help market the brand. Freya Zhang, a research analyst at Tech Buzz China, told Wired that by opening doors, EV makers allow the public to 'experience the human side' of these brands. I agree. It's one thing to advertise, but I think a complimentary latte with foam shaped like BYD car models' logos, or an affordable lunch and souvenirs at the Xiaomi factory, will etch a kind of feeling that will stick with potential buyers. BYD, Nio, and Xiaomi have even organized tours for elementary school students, which is a covert way to develop brand loyalty from the start. They'll definitely remember that field trip. However, these tours of EV manufacturing facilities, where industrial robots can outnumber people, can be a sobering reminder of reality for some visitors. After the tour, Yuanyuan, the mom who tried really hard to secure the coveted Xiaomi tour tickets, told Wired that her daughter said, 'I need to study harder or robots will take all the jobs,' after they went. About the Author James Ochoa View Profile
Time Out
3 hours ago
- Time Out
Review: I tried the buzzy new 'Starbucks of tea' that just opened in Century City and it didn't live up to the hype
When I see influencers of every stripe and specialty posting about a buzzy new L.A. opening, I tend to take a wait-and-see approach before going—if I bother to even visit at all. Which is why, despite loving tea (and preferring it over coffee), I waited nearly two months before trying the brand-new Chagee Tea House at Westfield Century City, a brand founded in Yunnan, China, one of the world's most important tea-producing regions. In April, the fast-growing Chinese company, which has over 6,400 locations around the globe, made its debut on the Nasdaq and is reportedly worth approximately $6 billion. Given that valuation, some folks in the media have billed Chagee (pronounced 'CHAH-jee') the ' Starbucks of tea." After trying the drinks firsthand earlier this month, I wholeheartedly agree with that metaphor—Chagee serves the same exact kind of premium mediocrity as the multinational Seattle-based coffee chain. While I wouldn't say the drinks are terrible, per se, there are much better milk tea options in the San Gabriel Valley, including a handful of independently run boba shops and tea houses you probably already know and love. Nevertheless, it's easy to see why the masses love Chagee. The aspirational, Dior-esque branding and high-touch customer experience carries the patina of luxury, even if the semi-automated brewing leaves much to be desired in the taste department. In many ways, the brand reminds me of the recent Zoomer obsession with 'old money style'—all of the class signifiers, none of the actual class. To find Chagee, you'll need to navigate to the top floor of Westfield Century City. The store is located a few short steps away from Knotted, an equally buzzy (and equally premium mediocre) South Korean dessert café, and right next to the Container Store. Coincidentally, I needed to pick up an online order from the latter, which meant several large, unwieldy wooden shoe racks tagged along with me during my weekday afternoon visit to Chagee. Inside, the all-wood interiors and paper lanterns overhead created a warm, inviting atmosphere, though the overall sleekness of the place and the gust of air conditioning still reminded me I was in a mall-anchored corporate business entity. From the moment I walked in the door, it was readily apparent that Chagee places a higher emphasis on customer service than most tea or coffee shops. The day of my visit, an employee hovered near the front to open the door for guests. A second employee was also stationed at the back of the then-short line, shortening wait times for guests; the store only has enough counter space for one cashier. The bulk of the counter space is taken up by AI-powered teaspresso machines, shielded behind glass, which allegedly improve brew consistency. Unlike most Chinese and Taiwanese tea shops, Chagee doesn't offer boba or other drink toppings, although the brand does allow customers to adjust the ice and sugar levels or swap the standard whole milk for nondairy options. There's also a small selection of pastries for sale, including tea-flavored cruffins, croissants and other baked goods, sourced from Farmshop in Brentwood. Through Chagee's PR, I received a QR code to sample five different drinks, which I was able to order through a manager. To experience Chagee in its corporate-intended fashion, I ordered all of my drinks unmodified, starting with the BOYA Tea Latte, Chagee's signature jasmine milk tea, and one of the chain's top sellers. I also tried an iced roasted black tea latte, an iced peach oolong tea latte, an iced roasted black pure tea and an iced jasmine green lemon tea. The manager informed me that my drinks would take about 10 to 15 minutes, so I decided to head to the Container Store and return once I'd finished picking up my online order. Once I returned, the store had filled up with even more shoppers, tourists and local office workers picking up large orders. Almost every seat in the house was occupied. An employee called out people's names. When I approached her to ask if my name had been called (eyeing a drink with my order number on the counter), I was told it hadn't been called yet. Several minutes later, I discovered from another employee that my order had been ready and was sitting against the back wall, in separate to-go bags. Slightly annoyed, I decided to find a seat outside and try Chagee's drinks while they were still in optimal condition. It wasn't until I sat down outside and looked at my order that I realized why Chagee's signature blue-and-white patterned cups, to-go bags and other merchandise looked so familiar. The pattern and cup design are both blatant ripoffs of Dior's Book Tote, and the pattern bears more than a passing resemblance to the French luxury brand's actual line of home goods. Sip by sip, I sat down and tasted through all five drinks. 'This is it?' I thought to myself. 'This is what everyone's raving about?' In a line-up of jasmine milk teas I've had in my life (and I first visited Sawtelle's Volcano Milk Tea at the tender age of six), I wouldn't be able to identify Chagee's BOYA Tea Latte in a l line-up next to other slightly higher-quality boba tea shops like Latea in Culver City, Boba Guys (Culver City and Historic Filipinotown) or even the jasmine milk tea offered at Din Tai Fung. It may be an apples-to-oranges comparison, but when it comes to international Chinese tea brand expansions, I was far more impressed with Heytea, a cheese tea specialist that opened an outpost in Beverly Hills last year and has other locations in Monterey Park and Rowland Heights. The other teas at Chagee were a slight cut above anything I'd find at Starbucks or even most specialty coffee shops without well-considered tea programs, but they weren't outstanding in any way. Like many East Asian drinks, none of the drinks were particularly sweet. The iced roasted black pure tea, which I ordered unsweetened, brought out the roasted notes in the leaves. The peach oolong and jasmine green lemon tasted only vaguely of each fruit, like someone had whispered the name of each flavor into each drink. None of the drinks were offensive, but nothing really stood out. The only milk tea option, jasmine or otherwise, that stands out to me in L.A. is Taiwan's oolong-oriented Chicha San Chen, whose perpetually busy locations in San Gabriel and Alhambra also use teaspresso machines, minus the use of artificial intelligence. Recently, I also tried the San Gabriel outpost of Molly Tea, another equally popular Chinese jasmine tea brand originally founded in Shenzhen. It wasn't anything special in my book, and I still think Chicha San Chen is the best overall. Even then, however, I would still put Molly Tea above Chagee. Another dark-horse favorite of mine in the San Gabriel Valley is Good Alley, a restaurant in Rosemead that also uses a teaspresso machine, uses direct sourcing from Chinese growers and also offers to-go drinks. For fruity teas, the obvious favorite in my book is Sunright Tea Studio. Of course, all of the aforementioned options are slightly tainted by the fact that these mostly iced drinks are served out of paper or plastic cups. Even the casual afternoon tea aficionado understands that proper ceramicware and the ability to sit down and relax elevates the tea drinking experience. If you're looking for truly great loose-leaf tea (I'll leave the matcha shortage-causing cafés out of the equation here), I love the traditional brewed teas and Korean-style sweets at DAMO in Koreatown. In still-recovering Altadena, Callisto Tea House offers a traditional Chinese gong fu tea service on the weekends that includes a delightful, color-changing tea pet and your choice from a selection of high-quality, carefully selected imported varieties you can't find anywhere else in Los Angeles. Other solid options for properly brewed loose-leaf tea include Steep LA in Chinatown and the tiny but mighty Golden Dragon Tea Room in West L.A. You also can't go wrong with Chado Tea Room, which has locations in Little Tokyo, Hollywood, Pasadena and Torrance. Given this abundance of options, I can't really recommend visiting Chagee. Maybe if you happen to be at Westfield Century City and the line isn't too long, give it a shot. It's the Starbucks of tea for a reason—there are way better caffeinated drink options in Los Angeles, and you don't need to deal with weekend crowds at the mall to experience them.
