China Economy Forum

[Alpha_Fox]

if you buy 300 million new cars at 10000 dollars each, You'd need 3 trillion.

And not to mention the oil you need to power them.
That would mean even more money.

 

[Brotherhood]

China becomes biggest investor in Myanmar - People's Daily Online February 22, 2011

China, building on its warm relations with Myanmar, has become the Southwest Asia country's largest foreign investor, a report said Monday.

The Myanmar-language Weekly Eleven says that China poured more than $3 billion into Myanmar from November last year through January this year.

The increased investment has brought China's cumulative investment in Myanmar since 1988 to $9.6 billion, as compared to Thailand's $9.56 billion, the Weekly Eleven said.

The news report, citing an unnamed official from the Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said China's major new investments were in hydropower, natural gas and infrastructure projects to lay a solid foundation for an economic take-off in one of the least developed ASEAN countries.

There have been no major new Western investments in recent years in Myanmar because of tough economic sanctions imposed by the United States, reports said.

People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China and Russia to build joint natural reserve at border region - People's Daily Online February 22, 2011

A border city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Russia's Province of Amur will jointly build a cross-border nature reserve.

The new reserve, with a total area of 130,000 hectares, will be built to protect wild animals such as bears, roedeers and boars, and promote the area's biodiversity, said Jiang Kun, chief of the environment protection bureau of Heihe City.

Expected to be completed by the end of this year, it will become the first reserve situates across the China-Russia border, covering land, river and islands.

Ofitserov Vasily, deputy chief of Amur's natural resources department, said the same system should be adopted to manage the reserve.

"Heihe City and the Amur's capital city Blagoveshchensk are separated by the Amur River (Heilong River in Chinese). We share the same river, and now we will make joint efforts to protect the resources in the reserve," said Ofitserov.

The reserve will be composed of 70,000 hectares in Russia, which is an expanded version of the current Simonovsky natural reserve in Amur, and 60,000 hectares in China.

Source:Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

China-Kazakhstan high-speed railway contract sealed - People's Daily Online February 23, 2011

China and Kazakhstan will jointly build a high-speed railway connecting the central Asian nation's cities of Astana and Almaty, with the project to be completed in 2015, Askar Mamin, the president of Kazakhstan Railways, said yesterday in Beijing.

Trains on the 1,050-kilometer-long double-track planned line connecting Kazakhstan's capital Astana with its biggest city Almaty will run at a maximum speed of 350km per hour, serving 5 million passengers annually, said Mamin, adding that a memorandum of understanding has been signed with China's railways. The line will use the most advanced Chinese technology and new-generation locomotives and cars.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Beijing on Monday for a three-day state visit.

The two nations also signed a contract worth several billion dollars for long-term Kazakhstan supplies of uranium to China, part of a cooperation program with Guangdong Nuclear Power Co, Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund Chairman Kairat Kelimbetov told the Kazinform news agency.

Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies

The two sides also agreed on a US$1 billion plan for the Export-Import Bank of China to finance construction of an oil refinery in the Kazakh city of Atyrau, Kelimbetov said.

Source: Shanghai Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China's Africa investment to hit $50 billion by 2015 - People's Daily Online February 24, 2011

A fast-growing China is shipping more of its investments to the less-developed African continent, and the Standard Bank Group Ltd has predicted the country's gross investments in Africa will rise to $50 billion by 2015.

The bank also estimates bilateral trade between the two is expected to hit $300 billion by 2015, double the 2010 figure, The Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

Thanks to China's huge capital inflows, Africa's gross domestic product will rise by around 6 percent annually through 2015, the bank said.

"Trade and investment routes in Africa are being recalibrated as economic momentum shifts to the East," The Bloomberg News quoted George Fang, China head of mining and metals, as saying in a research report. "This has been further intensified by the turmoil in advanced economies."

China is investing in African infrastructure projects that will lay a foundation for economic take-offs in African countries. The move "will make investment viable while leaving a future economic legacy" for African nations, Fang said.

People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China develops third generation of automotive steel - People's Daily Online February 24, 2011

The China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group announced in Beijing on Feb. 21 that it took the lead in successfully developing the third generation of automotive steel and applied this technology into the industrial products trial stage.

According to the group, the newly-developed material is expected to be applied commercially in 2014 in China by some automakers, including Beijing Hyundai and FAW-Volkswagen, a major passenger sedan manufacturer jointly ventured by First Automobile Works Group Corporation of China and Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen Automobile (China) Investment Co., Ltd.

As the largest auto producer in the world, China manufactured around 18.3 million cars in 2010, which has meant an increasing number of traffic accidents. According to data from the Traffic Management Bureau, there were 99,000 traffic accidents in the first six months of 2010, which killed 27,000 and caused 117,000 injured as well as 410 million yuan of direct property loss.

"After the application of the third generation of automotive steel, it is more likely for drivers to survive in the accident," said Weng Yuqing, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Weng said at present, basically all cars in the world were made of the first generation of automotive steel. The third generation steel possesses high strength and high ductility, which he said was two times better than the first generation in terms of tensile strength and extensibility.

By Li Mu, People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

Survey: Index of China's innovative cities reaches 50 percent - People's Daily Online February 24, 2011

Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai have the highest innovation level among all Chinese cities, and the innovation level index for all Chinese cities has reached more than 50 percent, according to statistical data released by the Science and Technology Daily.

The evaluation methods of Chinese innovative cities borrowed ideas from the evaluation system and methods of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). It selected 20 cities to participate in the evaluation, including sub-provincial cities, municipalities and so on.

It is reported that the research group leader said the evaluation criteria adopted the advanced methods of developed countries to measure and calculate the innovation index. After calculation, the overall innovation index, which was 38 percent, surpassed the previous year and increased 3.68 percentage points.

Among Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai were the highest level of innovative cities in China, especially Beijing ranked the first in innovation resources, innovation input and innovative output area, and was followed by Guangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Ningbo. The cities of Xi'an, Shenyang, Wuhan, Jinan, Dalian, Harbin, Qingdao were ranked in the middle of the whole country. The cities of Chengdu, Changchun and Chongqing were in the lower level in the whole country.

The report shows that under the premise of improving the level of innovation, the level of innovative output has increased 6.13 percentage points.

By Zhang Qian, People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China ranks 21st on its own global innovation list - People's Daily Online February 25, 2011

China ranked 21st in terms of innovative abilities among the world's 40 most innovative countries, according to a report issued by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED) on Thursday.

In the report, China's innovative ability garnered 57.9 points based on a scale of 100 with the United States getting 100 points at the top.

The report, China's first on national innovation ability, was mainly based on data from the World Bank, the National Science Foundation of the United States and China's National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the report, China ranked first in terms of the number of research personnel and the export of high-tech products. It ranked fourth in total research and development (R&D) investment and third in terms of the number of authorized patents.

To better supervise and assess China's drive to transform itself into an innovative country, CASTED executive vice president Wang Yuan said that the report relied on an assessment system consisting of five major indices and 31 secondary indices.

Among the five major indices, China's innovation resource and knowledge creation both ranked 33rd in spite of climbing five and six places, respectively, from its 2000 rankings.

The rank in innovation performance saw a jump to the ninth spot, up 23 places from 2000 rankings. The country managed to rank 23rd in innovation environment.

"Although China has a scale advantage in innovation resource and knowledge creation, it still has a big gap in innovation efficiency, intensity and quality compared to developed countries," Wang said.

China is expected to become an innovative country by 2020, a time when scientific progress is predicted to contribute 60 percent of the nation's economic development and R&D investment would jump to 2.5 percent of the GDP, according to the country's scientific and technological development blueprint.

The United States ranks first in the report, followed by Switzerland, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

Source:Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

China to invest 1.5 trillion yuan on aviation - People's Daily Online February 25, 2011

Beijing will invest a mammoth 1.5 trillion yuan ($229 billion) to uplift its aviation sector, including buying 700 new planes and building 45 airports to better serve people's travel demand and aid economic growth.

Li Jiaxiang, commissioner of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the government's air transport regulator, told a news conference in Bejiing Thursday that the 1.5 trillion yuan will be spent in the 12th Five-Year Plan period spanning from 2011 to 2015.

Demand for air traffic is booming as the world's second-largest economy roars ahead on near double-digit annual economic growth and increasingly affluent Chinese people travel more frequently.

It is estimated that 800 million people will travel by air by 2014 by IAEA, and over a quarter of them from China, raising the need for more efficient traffic management and airports.

In the previous five years, China spent about 950 billion yuan on air travel facilities.

Li said that by 2015, China will have 220 civilian airports and the fleet of commercial planes will rise to 4,500. Now China has 175 civilian airports in operation and about 2,600 aircraft in its fleet.

Despite concerns over economic losses reported by some small regional airports, the construction process will be sped over the next five years, Li said.

Li admitted that 130 out of the 175 airports reported "a rather small amount" in losses last year, totaling 1.68 billion yuan. But "regional airports are public infrastructures, and their construction should not be profit-driven", he said.

Li Lei, a civil aviation analyst at CITIC China Securities, said the increase in the number of airports will also benefit the entire industry, according to a China Daily report Friday.

"With more airports built, it will drive market demand for civil aviation."

A total of 267 million air passenger trips were recorded in China in 2010, up 15.8 percent from the previous year, official figures showed.

Domestic airlines reaped profits totaling 35.1 billion yuan in 2010, accounting for 60 percent of the world's total, CAAC statistics showed.

The rapid development has benefited foreign aviation industry players as well, amid a huge demand for aircraft and airport facilities, according to Li.

Of the 200 billion yuan in commercial deals China made in November when President Hu Jintao visited France, 104.1 billion yuan was spent on civil aviation-related goods. Also, when President Hu visited the United States in January, $19 billion out of the total $45 billion in commercial deals was spent in the aviation sector, said the report.

People's Daily Online

 

[CardSharp]

It seems that there may be something to Below_freezing's idea that some Chinese researchers are better off working in China than in the west. A friend of my mom's who is working as a post-doc recently complained after a trip back to China that her old research unit is now is so well funded that everyone there makes comparable wages to what she makes here in absolute dollar terms. They have received grants in the hundreds of millions of Yuan with a mandate to spend the money on research before a certain date.

 

[no_name]

I hope they do spend it on research. In the sydney conference I went to it seems nowadays it is getting easier and easier to show some work by contriving up some problem and simulate/ fit a solution using computers and softwares.

 

[CardSharp]

I hope they do spend it on research. In the sydney conference I went to it seems nowadays it is getting easier and easier to show some work by contriving up some problem and simulate/ fit a solution using computers and softwares.

Can't really do that in genomics research.

 

[below_freezing]

I hope they do spend it on research. In the sydney conference I went to it seems nowadays it is getting easier and easier to show some work by contriving up some problem and simulate/ fit a solution using computers and softwares.

This is a horrendous problem in astrophysics, geophysics and analytical chemistry I think. Basically, anything that depends on computer calculations has this problem. You can just simulate bullshit and the computer will give an output.

Not so much in materials science where you need a working device, an actual piece of the material or micrographs. EM physics should be pretty good too, especially experimental research. My friend at Beijing University of Posts and Telecom just did some experimental research on Dynamic Spectrum Access in Cognitive Radio Based on Massive Data Mining Via Spectrum and my social practice in Asialnfo-Linkage Technologies (China) Inc..

 

[Brotherhood]

China hopes to take lead in int'l hi-tech standards - People's Daily Online February 25, 2011

China has announced its ambition at the National Standardization Conference held on Feb.24 to take the lead in high-tech international standards. China's Standardization Administration (SAC) will launch the promotion and applications of some national technologies standards within key countries and regions.

The technologies standards to be marketed cover the domains of electronic information, communications, high-speed rail, advanced equipment manufacture, international economy and technology cooperation, international engineering and construction and so forth.

"Currently, the developed countries and regions, such as the European Union, the United States and Japan are dominating the international standards," said Zhi Shuping, the chief of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine(AQSIQ). He pointed out the fact that China is still not competitive enough in substantially taking part in the international standardization activities.

The counterstrategies would focus on the organizational communication within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), such as undertaking callers and the secretariats of the technological committees and holding the corresponding posts of chief.

"Meanwhile, we will fully use the huge market of our country in order to add up to the competitive advantages on the global stage," said Ji Zhengkun, the SAC Administrator.

He also introduced the latest global promotion development of our national standards.

In 2010 China began to undertake another 13 secretariats of the international standardization technology departments, such as Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences. And China also submitted 57 proposals, ranking high of the ISO members list.

He stressed that the central government will intervene in the process to make a positive impact.

By Li Yancheng, People's Daily Online

 

[中国万岁-ProsperThroughCo-]

Huawei calls US' bluff on security threat claims

Bien Perez
Feb 26, 2011

Huawei Technologies, the mainland's biggest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, challenged the United States government to conduct a sweeping investigation of the company in an unusual bid to prove it is not a national security risk.
The unprecedented proposal, which was made public through an open letter released yesterday by Huawei deputy chairman Ken Hu, "could be a turning point in Chinese investment in the US information-technology sector", according to Gary Li, a specialist at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Shenzhen-based Huawei's action followed its recent decision to cancel its US$2 million purchase of part of insolvent IT company 3Leaf Systems after initially refusing a US government commission's request to withdraw from the acquisition on national security grounds.

"We sincerely hope that the United States government will carry out a formal investigation on any concerns it may have about Huawei," Hu, also the chairman of Huawei's US operations, said. "We believe the results of any thorough government investigation will prove that Huawei is a normal commercial institution and nothing more."

Founded in 1987, privately held Huawei is the world's second-biggest telecommunications equipment provider and has more than 1,000 employees in the US. Last year, it bought some US$6.1 billion in products and services from US companies.

Despite Huawei's commitment as a long-term investor in the US, Hu said the company "has encountered a number of misperceptions" about its origin, source of funds, and intentions in the country.

"These falsehoods have had a significant and negative impact on our business activity," Hu said. "The allegation that Huawei somehow poses a threat to the national security of the United States has centred on a mistaken belief that our company can use our technology to steal confidential information in the United States or launch network attacks on entities in the US at a specific time.

"There is no evidence that Huawei has violated any security rules."

Craig Skinner, from market research firm Ovum, described Hu's offer to allow the US government to inspect and audit the company in terms of its security risk as "essentially calling its bluff". "The US has a number of agencies with the capability to conduct this type of assessment, with the most obvious being the National Security Agency," Skinner said. "If this strategy is successful for Huawei then other Chinese vendors would consider the same approach."

Hong Kong-listed ZTE (SEHK: 0763), the mainland's No 2 telecommunications equipment manufacturer, could be next. It has said the US telecommunications equipment market is "politicised" and less open than many other countries. "Compared with the Chinese market, which is open to all vendors, the US is totally different because of so many regulations," Xu Ming, vice-president for ZTE's wireless product business, said in September.

While some US politicians may have genuine concerns about national security, they also seem to have the added effect of keeping out low-cost and increasingly high-value Chinese competitors in the world's biggest telecommunications market. "The best way for Chinese companies to grow in the US market is to invest more, but at the same time Americans are absolutely paranoid about Chinese incursions into their economy," Li said.