Shanghai lockdown snarls world's busiest port and China supply chains

BEIJING — Shanghai's grinding coronavirus lockdown is slowly clogging China's supply chains, as delays hit the world's busiest container port where staff are tangled in a morass of COVID controls.

Beijing has refused to tack away from its strict zero-COVID strategy that has protected its public health system through the pandemic but at a mounting economic cost.

China's financial hub Shanghai -- home to multinational firms and its busiest port -- has been sealed off almost entirely for a week following an outbreak fueled by the Omicron virus variant.

That has many forced companies to halt production and slow new projects, factories told AFP, while those still operating are struggling with a shortage of truck drivers on top of onerous permit and COVID testing requirements.

At Shanghai's port, the lack of drivers and other workers means getting goods in and out is increasingly hard.

The docks are working normally with a "single-digit" number of vessels waiting to berth, Shanghai International Port Group said this week.

"But the fact is... due to restrictions caused for truck drivers, it is not really operating," Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the EU Chamber of Commerce's Shanghai Chapter, told AFP.

"The figure I heard is that... week-on-week volumes at the Shanghai port are down by 40 percent. So that's really enormous."

Shortages are starting to bite across China's vast consumer economy, where online shopping platforms such as Taobao face delivery delays, especially of imported goods.

COVID curbs in a number of cities have forced factories to find new suppliers.

But the impact may soon also be felt outside China if lockdowns persist.

Shanghai is the world's number 1 container port, a spinal point in the global supply chain and a key gateway for foreign trade.

It handles around 17 percent of China's total port volume and shipped 47 million TEU -- the standard measurement for cargo, meaning Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit -- in 2021.

FACTORIES CAN'T WORK FROM HOME

Chinese manufacturers say lockdowns, no matter how flexible or targeted, pile pressure on their business.

"Not many roles allow working from home," said Jason Lee, founder of wheelchair producer Megalicht Tech, whose factory in Shanghai's Puxi area has suspended production.

"People can't enter the factory... and because our raw materials come from other provinces or cities, these can't enter Shanghai either," he said.

A Shanghai-based clothing exporter surnamed Zheng said his biggest problem was that he could not send samples to clients.

"Deliveries can neither leave nor enter," he said

Experts say the outbreak is currently nibbling at growth, but could soon take a big bite.

Nomura economists estimate that 23 cities accounting for 22 percent of China's GDP have rolled out full or partial lockdowns.

"The costs of the zero-COVID strategy will rise significantly as its benefits decline, especially as exports are hit by the ongoing lockdowns," Nomura chief China economist Lu Ting told AFP.

That will challenge Beijing's 2022 GDP growth target of around 5.5 percent, he added.

ADAPTING TO SURVIVE

For now, companies are adapting to try and handle the restrictions.

"Our main business activity is down by over 50 percent," said Gao Yongkang, general manager of Qifeng Technology in eastern China's Quanzhou city.

The company has been unable to transport textile materials to regular clients because of the COVID curbs, and has instead pivoted to supplying the booming market for protective gear.

Meanwhile, those who cannot reach their original suppliers are scouring for new ones.

"The costs are a little higher and it's slightly less efficient but we can fulfill our regular needs," said Shen Shengyuan, deputy general manager of diaper-producer New Yifa Group.

In a nod to struggling industries, Premier Li Keqiang this week announced a temporary deferment of old-age insurance premiums for sectors such as catering, retail and civil aviation.

But industry groups say hard lockdowns on major cities such as Shanghai are unsustainable, especially with many Omicron cases presenting light or no symptoms.

"Does the zero-COVID strategy still work in the current environment," said Eric Zheng, American Chamber of Commerce president in Shanghai. 

"That's a big question, particularly when you try to balance the economic cost."

Agence France-Presse

China steps up measures to protect capital Beijing, reports 107 new cases

BEIJING - China stepped up measures to protect this capital city, as an uptick in coronavirus cases driven by the more infectious Delta variant spread across multiple cities in the country.

The National Health Commission reported on Saturday 107 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for Aug. 6, compared with 124 a day earlier.

Of the new infections, 75 were locally transmitted, the health authority said. That compares with 80 local cases a day earlier. Most of the local cases were in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

Those currently outside Beijing in higher risk areas should temporarily postpone their return, and others should provide a negative COVID-19 test, according to details of a Saturday meeting by local officials reported by the Beijing Daily. Epidemic prevention measures at railways, highways and airports should be strengthened, they said.

Some local governments have been called out by Beijing for lowering their guard, leading to the spread of the Delta variant from multiple sources.

To deal with the infections, some cities have initiated multiple rounds of mass testing to identify carriers. Inter-city travel restrictions have been imposed, and public places of gathering including entertainment venues have been either shut or restricted.

But a health official said last week he expected China's latest outbreak to be largely under control within weeks.

China reported 32 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, which it does not classify as confirmed infections, compared with 58 a day earlier.

No new deaths were reported.

As of Aug. 6, mainland China had recorded 93,605 confirmed cases, with the cumulative death toll unchanged at 4,636. (Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

-reuters

China injects more than 22 million doses of coronavirus vaccines

BEIJING - China has administered about 22.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, a health official said on Wednesday, as the country steps up its campaign ahead of next month's Lunar New Year holidays and the accompanying flurry of travel.

The world's most populous nation has widened its targeted inoculation scheme since mid-December to include more priority groups facing higher risk of virus exposure, in a bid to prevent any outbreaks in winter and spring.

"Overall, the work is progressing in a smooth and orderly manner," Zeng Yixin, vice director of the National Health Commission, told a news conference, referring to the vaccination effort.

China aims to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year in February, state media Global Times said this month.

The nationwide vaccine scheme now prioritizes essential groups such as workers in medical, transport and food services, employees and students going abroad. The elderly and others will have to wait.

However, the Chaoyang district in the capital, Beijing, has already started giving vaccines to citizens outside essential groups.

Some communities in the district of Dongcheng said residents aged between 18 and 59 can sign up for inoculation as long as they have no medical conditions that might make vaccination unsuitable. But they did not say when doses would be available. (Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

-reuters-

Apple invests $1 billion in China taxi app Didi

BEIJING, China — Apple has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride hailing app Didi Chuxing, the Beijing company said Friday as it vies with bitter US-based rival Uber for market share in China.

The injection was the “single largest investment the company has ever received,” said Didi, which dominates the car-hailing sector in China and says it has almost 90 percent of the market.

Formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, it also has backing from Chinese Internet behemoths Tencent and Alibaba.

Its most powerful competitor Uber — in which Chinese search giant Baidu is an investor, along with state-owned Citic Securities — is also trying to win more business in China.

Though Apple’s investment in Didi is large, the money seems more notable for its strategic rather than financial significance.

Didi and Uber both have deep pockets and are spending big in the country.

In February, Uber said it lost $1 billion annually in China as it competes for market share and Didi is thought to be burning through similar amounts as both companies subsidise user’s rides, which are much cheaper than regular cab fares.

Apple’s linkup with Didi fits the California firm’s desire to shore up sales in the Asian giant, and its rumoured plans to enter the auto sector.

“We decided to make the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including the chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market”, chief executive Tim Cook told the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.

He added that he saw “lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies”.

Apple lost its crown as the world’s biggest publicly traded company to Google parent Alphabet in US trading Thursday. Shares closed 2.4 percent down.

The tech giant’s shares have lost more than 13 percent since reporting its first ever drop in iPhone sales on April 26.

The world’s second-largest economy is Apple’s second-biggest market, but revenues are flagging and its business there has taken a number of hits.

Last month, it had its movie and book services shut down by authorities, and it emerged that the company lost a court case over the use of its iPhone trademark.

Cook will travel to Beijing later this month to lobby senior leaders on the company’s behalf.

Apple is also widely believed to be developing a self-driving car, with the Chinese market a likely target.

Large user base

One area of cooperation the companies are likely to explore is mobile payments, according to Chinese analysts who say that the investment could be a good opportunity for Apple Pay.

The service was recently launched in China but has to contend with very well established existing competitors owned by Alibaba and Tencent — now its fellow shareholders in Didi.

Didi says it has more than 300 million passengers registered and provides over 11 million rides a day.

Those numbers provide an excellent opportunity for Apple Pay, according to an article on Chinese web site Huxiu.

“It is undoubtedly a good value for Apple to tie up with an app that has a large user base and where frequent payments are made,” said an article about the deal.

But despite the growing popularity of ride-sharing apps and state-backed investments in them, their future is not necessarily secure.

It is technically illegal in China for private cars to offer rides for payment and authorities occasionally stage stings to arrest drivers, but regulations are spottily enforced, creating an opening for ridesharing services to flourish.

Asked about ridesharing’s future, transport minister Yang Chuantang told the Beijing Times in March that private cars would “never be allowed” to operate commercially in China.

Didi invested in Uber’s US rival Lyft last year, along with Alibaba and Tencent, and announced last month that it would cooperate with it to compete with Uber on its own turf.

source: interaksyon.com

Western countries issue rare Christmas security alerts for Beijing

BEIJING - At least four Western countries took the unusual step on Thursday of issuing Christmas security warnings for Westerners in a popular Beijing diplomatic and entertainment district as police stepped up patrols.

Beijing is generally safe and criminals rarely target foreigners, although the fashionable Sanlitun bar and restaurant area occasionally sees fights. In August, a lone attacker stabbed a French man and a Chinese woman there. The woman died.

The US Embassy said in a brief statement it had "received information of possible threats" against Westerners in Sanlitun, also home to many embassies, on or around Christmas Day, December 25.

The French Embassy, Britain's Foreign Office and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs issued similar warnings. None of them elaborated.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he was aware of the reports and that the government paid great attention to foreigners' safety.

Beijing police, in a statement on their official microblog, said they had issued a "yellow" security alert for Christmas and New Year, the second lowest level, focused on areas like malls, which are likely to see more people visiting during the festivities.

"Beijing police are planning ahead and taking many measures ... to ensure good public order," it said.

Christmas is not a holiday in officially atheist China, but more and more young people celebrate it as they view it as a sophisticated Western custom and excuse to give gifts.

A Reuters photographer saw police commandos with guns in front of Sanlitun's main mall. Regular police tend not to carry guns in China, and gun crime is in any case uncommon.

The city overall has been on much higher alert, with patrols by armed police in popular shopping and tourism sites, since a fatal car crash in 2013 at the top edge of Tiananmen Square in which five people died.

The government blamed that incident on Islamist militants from China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in unrest in recent years.

While the violence has generally been limited to Xinjiang, last year at least 31 died in a knife attack at a station in China's southwestern city of Kunming, also blamed on militants from Xinjiang.

source: interaksyon.com

Angry kin of Chinese passengers on MH370 march on Malaysian embassy

BEIJING -- Scores of angry relatives of the Chinese passengers aboard Flight MH370 set out on a protest march to the Malaysian embassy in Beijing Tuesday to demand more answers about the crashed plane's fate.

Around 200 family members, some in tears, linked arms and shouted slogans including "The Malaysian government are murderers" and "We want our relatives back."

The embassy is about four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Lido Hotel, where meetings have been taking place throughout the drama.


A new chapter opened late on Monday when Malaysia said the plane had crashed in the Indian Ocean.

Chinese authorities normally keep a very tight rein on any protests in Beijing.

Scores of black-clad uniformed police officers were blocking traffic at the diplomatic mission, their walkie-talkies abuzz.

A relative who refused to give his name, but who has been one of the unofficial leaders of the Flight MH370 group, told AFP that the police "would have known" about the demonstration.

"We are still discussing with the police what we are going to do," he told AFP. "Maybe they are preparing for us to arrive."

Earlier, the relatives boarded large shuttle buses bringing them from various hotels to the Lido, intending to take them to the diplomatic mission, but dozens of police surrounded the vehicles and prevented them from driving off, leading them to march instead.

"We are going to protest at the Malaysian embassy," one man told AFP as he joined some 200 other relatives to board the buses at the hotel where they had gathered throughout the 17-day ordeal.

One family member was holding a loudspeaker and urging journalists to head to the embassy, while others stood in a group, somber and motionless, many holding pre-prepared printed placards and wearing "Pray for MH370" T-shirts.

"We want our families," read one placard. Others read "Son: mother and father's heart is broken, hurry home" and "Husband, hurry home. What am I and our son going to do?"

The protest did not appear to be spontaneous, as at least a dozen police cars were waiting nearby at the Lido.

The officers were standing in a row behind a sign reading: "Traffic restrictions, vehicles take a circular route." A policeman refused to say why the traffic restrictions had been imposed when asked by an AFP reporter.

The move to protest outside the embassy came hours after relatives reacted with grief and anguish as Malaysia confirmed their worst fears about the flight.

In dramatic scenes at the Lido Hotel, stretcher-bearing paramedics were drafted in to tend to family members devastated by the news, with at least two people carried out.

China has demanded that Kuala Lumpur hand over the satellite data that led it to conclude that the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight crashed at sea and that none of the 239 people aboard survived.

Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese.

source: interaksyon.com

Angry kin of Chinese passengers on missing Malaysian jet demand info

BEIJING -- Chinese relatives of passengers on a Malaysia Airlines flight missing between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on Saturday angrily accused the airline of keeping them in the dark, while state media criticized the carrier's poor response.

Relatives were taken to a hotel near Beijing airport, put in a room and told to wait for information from the airline, but none came. Malaysia Airlines said at least 152 of the 227 passengers on flight MH370 were Chinese.

About 20 people stormed out of the room at one point, enraged they had been given no information.

"There's no one from the company here, we can't find a single person. They've just shut us in this room and told us to wait," said one middle-aged man, who declined to give his name.

"We want someone to show their face. They haven't even given us the passenger list," he said.

Another relative, trying to evade a throng of reporters, muttered: "They're treating us worse than dogs."

Amid chaotic scenes, an unidentified Malaysia Airlines official spoke to reporters for just a few minutes without taking questions before leaving.

"We are working with authorities who have activated the search and rescue teams," the official said. "Our thoughts and prayers are deeply with the affected passengers and their family members."

Adding to the confusion, the official mentioned a rumor that the Chinese government has already denied -- that the aircraft had landed in the southern Chinese city of Nanning.

"There has been speculation that the aircraft has landed in Nanning. We are working to verify the authenticity of the report of others," the official said.

Some Chinese media reported that he meant a place in Vietnam called Nanming. It was unclear exactly what he was talking about.

Chinese media outlets took to their official Weibo microblogs to criticize the airline for taking so long to announce what was going on and for refusing to answer questions.

"Malaysia Airlines, why did you wait for five hours after losing contact with the aircraft to first announce the news, and why did you only have a news conference after almost 13 hours?" the official Xinhua news agency wrote on one of its Weibo accounts.

Sanved Kolekar, an Indian working in Beijing, stood stunned at the airport where he was waiting for his parents who were coming over on a visit.

"My parents are on the flight, they were supposed to come here at 6.30, I don't know what happened," he said. "They haven't given me any information, it's very difficult because I don't understand the local language."

Malaysia Airlines told passengers' next of kin to come to Kuala Lumpur's international airport with their passports to prepare to fly to the crash site, which has still not been identified.

About 20-30 families were being kept in a holding room at the airport, where they were being guarded by security officials and kept away from reporters.

Malaysia Airlines said people from at least 14 nationalities were among the 227 passengers.

Chinese media said at least 24 artists and their family members were aboard, returning from an art exchange forum, including a well-known calligrapher.

At least two names on a passenger list released by Beijing police appeared to have been redacted, with the names pixelated out, leading to online speculation that they could have been ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim people from the restive far western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

The government has not confirmed this, and it was not possible to reach Beijing police for comment.

source: interaksyon.com

China reports 70,000 new HIV infections in 9 months

BEIJING -- China reported some 70,000 cases of new HIV infections in the first nine months of the year, bringing the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS to 434,000, the country's health authority said Sunday.

From January to September, 80.7 million people received tests for HIV, an increase of 8.9 percent from the same period last year, said a National Health and Family Planning Commission statement.

A total of 3,413 anti-virus treatment organizations have been set up in 31 provincial-level regions. As of the end of September about 209,000 people were receiving therapy.

China tested 7.43 million pregnant women for HIV/AIDS in the first nine months of the year to prevent possible mother-to-child transmission, the statement said.

source: interaksyon.com

Chinese-American billionaire blogger held on 'sex charges'

BEIJING - China has arrested Chinese-American billionaire blogger Charles Xue, who has attracted 12 million followers with his reform-minded comments, for suspected involvement in prostitution, police said Sunday, as Beijing steps up controls on web users.

Venture capitalist Xue, one of the country's most popular bloggers, was detained by Beijing police Friday evening.

His arrest comes as authorities have been stepping up controls on the country's freewheeling web users in recent weeks.

Billionaire Xue is an avid blogger who posted his last message on China's hugely popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog site at 5:41pm (0941 GMT) Friday, hours before he was detained.

He has previously backed a campaign to release transparent details on pollution in China, and also highlighted the problem of child trafficking.

His detention dominated weibo discussion, with his Chinese name Xue Manzi the most searched phrase on Sunday.

Beijing police said on their verified weibo account they had arrested a 60-year-old man surnamed Xue and a 22-year-old female.

"The two of them candidly confessed about the fact of the prostitution. They are currently under administrative detention," the statement said, adding that the arrest followed a tip-off from local residents.

It also emerged Sunday that a journalist had been detained for "fabricating rumors" after he made online accusations of wrongdoing against a former senior official in Chongqing, the megacity once headed by fallen politician Bo Xilai.

Police in Beijing said the journalist with the News Express tabloid, whom they identified only by his surname Liu, "has been put under criminal detention according to the law for fabricating and spreading rumours".

New Express journalist Liu Hu was handcuffed and taken away by police on Friday from his home in Chongqing, earlier Chinese media reports cited his wife as saying.

On his own weibo account, Liu last month accused Ma Zhengqi, a former Chongqing vice mayor, of dereliction of duty in the restructuring of a state-owned company in the city, leading to losses of dozens of millions of yuan (millions of dollars), the reports said.

"I call on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and other authorities to immediately suspend Ma Qizheng's public office and start an investigation," he said, referring to the Communist Party's anti-corruption department.

Ma is now a deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

His action followed corruption allegations posted online by Wang Wenzhi, a journalist with the official Xinhua news agency, against the head of state-owned conglomerate China Resources.

Separately, the former deputy director of China's top economic planning agency Liu Tienan has been put under criminal investigation after a journalist at an influential business magazine accused him of improper business dealings late last year.

The arrests come after authorities told Internet celebrities with millions of online followers to "promote virtues" and "uphold law" online.

source: interaksyon.com

With no real lion, Chinese zoo closed for going to the dogs

BEIJING - A zoo in central China has been closed after visitors were outraged to discover its lion was really a bushy and barking Tibetan mastiff.

The dog was not the only fake at People's Park Zoo in the city of Luohe, which tried to pass off other common mammals and rodents as a leopard and snakes, Chinese media reported.

Photographs showed the mastiff with its muzzle poking through the bars of its dingy enclosure. A grimy sign on the cage read "African Lion" in Chinese characters.
 

The zoo apologized for the exhibits and was closed down for "rectification", the Beijing News said, citing local officials.

Animal rights activists have criticized Chinese zoos for their record of poor conditions and other abuses.

source: interaksyon.com

China’s Baidu buys mobile app firm for $1.9 billion

BEIJING — China’s leading Internet search engine is to buy a smartphone app distribution firm for $1.9 billion, it said Tuesday, in what is said to be the largest takeover deal in the country’s Internet industry.

The move will consolidate Baidu’s position as a leading access portal to China’s mobile Internet, according to a report by Chinese industry research firm CCID.

Baidu held 80.6 percent of the country’s search engine market in the first quarter of this year, independent research firm iResearch said in a recent report.

The firm said in a statement it has signed a preliminary agreement to acquire a 57.41 percent stake in 91 Wireless Websoft currently held by NetDragon, a company based in southeast China’s Fujian province.

It will buy the rest of 91 Wireless’ shares owned by other parties on similar terms, giving the deal a total value of $1.9 billion.

That makes it by far the largest acquisition in China’s Internet sector, CCID said on its website.

Started six years ago, 91 Wireless operates two leading smartphone app distribution platforms in China, with more than 10 billion apps downloaded to date, according to the Baidu statement.

The company is the top third-party app distribution platform in China by both active users and accumulated downloads, Baidu said, citing a 2011-2012 report by iResearch.

source: interaksyon.com

Beijing restaurant owner won't apologize to Pinoys and Vietnamese - but takes down inflammatory sign

BEIJING - A defiant Beijing restaurant manager refused to apologize Thursday despite removing an inflammatory sign barring citizens of states in maritime disputes with China, along with dogs, following an international outcry.

The notice in the window of the Beijing Snacks restaurant read: "This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s)" in both Chinese and English.

But despite taking down the sign after accusations of racism, the manager said he had no regrets and would not apologize for any offense caused.

Images of the sign went viral in Vietnam and were splashed across newspapers in the Philippines on Wednesday. Both are involved in bitter territorial disputes with China over islands in the South China Sea.

The manager, surnamed Wang, said it was taken down "because it was a lot of bother."

"I don't have any regrets," he told AFP. "I was just getting too many phone calls about it."

He seemed surprised at the attention it had generated but said he would not apologize, suggesting it may have been misinterpreted.

"Maybe people misunderstood our meaning ... it only said we would not serve customers from those countries," he said.

The sign's wording was particularly inflammatory as it recalled China's colonial era, when British-owned establishments barred Chinese from entering.

A sign outside a Shanghai park supposedly reading "No Dogs and Chinese allowed" became part of Communist propaganda, and was featured in the 1972 Bruce Lee film "Fists of Fury" - but many historical experts say no such notice ever existed.

The restaurant sign provoked an outcry in Vietnam and the Philippines, generating thousands of posts on Vietnamese social networking sites and newspaper comment threads.

Filipinos greeted the photo with a mixture of fury and amusement. "Blatant racism at Beijing Restaurant," journalist Veronica Pedrosa wrote in one widely shared tweet.

China and Japan have a separate acrimonious dispute over islands in the East China Sea, and ongoing disagreements about Japan's colonial past.

The cramped establishment's specialty is soup made with pork offal and gravy-soaked biscuits.

"This is what old Beijingers like to eat," a white-hatted chef said.

source: interaksyon.com

Tory Burch mixes good design with good fortune

MANILA, Philippines - Tory Burch is launching a special capsule collection in bright red, the traditional color of the holiday, symbolizing good fortune. It includes handbags, wallets, cosmetic cases and iPhone covers. These limited edition designs are now available at Tory Burch freestanding stores in Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong–IFC, Hong Kong–Harbour City, Hong Kong–Times Square, Makati City and Singapore. They will also be offered at 14 select locations in North America, including New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Honolulu and Toronto boutiques.

The Tory Blog will highlight Chinese New Year as well with a special feature. Visit blog.toryburch.com for more information.

This is the brand’s second year designing custom product for Chinese New Year, marking the important role of China in the company’s global expansion plan — it opened its Hong Kong office when the brand launched in 2004 and there are now eight stores in Greater China.

In the Philippines, Tory Burch is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc. (SSI) and is located at Greenbelt 5 and Rustan’s Makati.

source: philstar.com

26 die in China bridge collapse

BEIJING -- At least 26 people were killed as a bridge collapsed in central China on Friday after a truck carrying fireworks exploded, state-run media reported.

The lorry "suddenly exploded" as it crossed the expressway bridge in the central province of Henan, China National Radio said, causing sections of it to collapse and sending other vehicles plunging to the ground.

source: interaksyon.com

Victoria Beckham Turns Designer Hand To Cars

(Reuters) - British fashion designer Victoria Beckham had her soccer-superstar husband "David in mind" when helping create a new special edition of Range Rover's off-road vehicle, the "Evoque".

"I've stayed very true to myself. I've designed a car that I want to drive, a car that I think David wants to drive," the former Spice Girl told Reuters in an interview in Beijing, where she was promoting the vehicle, late on Sunday.

"I think that though women will drive this car, it has a masculine edge. I think it's very cool," she added.

Beckham, who admitted she had never done a project like this before, said she had learned "an enormous amount."

"And the bottom line is, would I drive this car, like when I'm designing a dress, would I wear this dress? I love what I do. I consider myself so blessed to do a job that I love and this has been a great experience for me," said Beckham, wearing a sleeveless striped dress from her own collection.

The special edition "Evoque" features exclusive, hand-finished matt paint, the first for a Land Rover-type vehicle.

The vehicle also has rose gold accents on the grille and gloss black forged alloy wheels. Inside, the four-seat coupe includes vintage-inspired leather seats, rose gold-plated accents and features trimmings of black lacquer, textured aluminum and mohair.

In addition, the vehicle has bespoke luxury accessories, such as a four-piece leather luggage set and a hand-sewn leather wallet for the owner's manual signed by (Victoria) Beckham.

The special edition "Evoque" costs 80,000 pounds, twice the cost of a regular model. Only 200 will be made, the first of which will be rolled out in China as early as October.

source: mb.com.ph