This is the web version of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top tech news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Ten days ago in Guangzhou, China, I interviewed Stephanie Cohen, the chief strategy officer of Goldman Sachs (who grew up near where I did in the Chicago suburbs and attended the same university). On Monday in Paris, at the Fortune Global Forum, some of the most interesting things I learned were also about China.
Globalism is alive and well, in my experience at least.
Vincent Qiu, CEO of Chinese e-commerce company Baozun, said the fastest-growing category in his country’s Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza was cosmetics. (He attributes the surge to social-media promotion.) Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of chocolatier Godiva, explained how her company created chocolate mooncakes for China’s mid-Autumn festival. Mooncakes are common gifts during the celebration. So Godiva went local by chocolatizing them.
On a more serious note, Huawei’s Ken Hu genially but defiantly suggested his country’s dispute with the United States won’t end any time soon. Huawei is growing in China and other Asian countries, he said, as well as parts of Europe. America’s loss will be Europe’s gain, as Huawei shifts its $11 billion in component purchases from one to the other. (He also showed off the new $2,600 foldable Mate X smartphone.)
Elsewhere, Kay Bailey Hutchison, the former U.S. senator from Texas and current U.S. ambassador to NATO, stretched credulity by saying that the United States had the European alliance’s back. French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire stated the obvious: that France and Europe need to plan for a world where America doesn’t guarantee its safety.
Check Fortune.com for complete coverage of the Fortune Global Forum. And, if the time zone suits you, the entire event is being livestreamed.
Adam Lashinsky
Twitter: @adamlashinsky
Email: adam_lashinsky@fortune.com
By the way, we’re building a new version of Fortune. While you’re here, we’d appreciate your confidential feedback on our products and platforms. You’re invited to join our Global Advisory Panel.
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
