China Economy Forum

[Brotherhood]

China vows to boost trademark protection - People's Daily Online March 22, 2011

China's top industry and commerce administrator has pledged that every effort will be made to protect trademarks registered by overseas firms amid a growing number of applications.

Zhou Bohua, minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), said the administration will boost its campaign to curb trademark violations in cooperation with judicial departments.

"Overseas firms are encouraged to report violations to us and we will take immediate action upon receiving the report," he told China Daily.

Commerce and industry authorities dealt with 265,000 such cases during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) period, with about 20 percent, or 53,000 cases, concerning overseas firms, according to official statistics.

The number of foreign firms reporting trademark violations rose by 10 percent year-on-year to 11,524 in 2010.

The SAIC handled 56,034 cases of trademark infringement worth 1.4 billion yuan ($210 million) in 2010 and 175 cases were submitted to judicial authorities, almost double the previous year's number.

In 2010, the Walt Disney Co won a lawsuit against a manufacturer of children's clothing in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, for using the world-famous "Mickey Mouse" image, winning 500,000 yuan in compensation.

Overseas companies and organizations have so far registered more than 500,000 trademarks in China, Zhou said.

Foreign firms seeking trademark licenses in China can opt for one of two routes.

They can submit applications through agencies or apply through the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks - the primary system for registration in multiple jurisdictions throughout the world.

China has been a member of the system since 1989.

In 2010, overseas companies submitted 68,000 applications through agencies and 31,000 through the Madrid System.

The biggest number of applications came from the electronic and garment sectors, which accounted for 17 percent.

The United States, Japan and Germany were the top three countries for submissions, making up 50 percent of all applications.

The SAIC also sought international cooperation to prevent Chinese trademarks from being used by overseas companies, especially online through cybersquatting, Zhou said.

Cybersquatting involves using a domain name to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

Domestic companies submitted some 2,100 trademark applications through the Madrid System in 2010, half of which were from owners in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

The SAIC wants to encourage Chinese companies to aim for 8,000 overseas applications in the next five years, Zhou said.

In the last three years the government has slashed the time it takes to get a trademark license from 36 months to 12 months.

Zhou said his administration will reduce this to 10 months in the next two years.

Wang Qian, a professor at the Intellectual Property School of East China University of Political Science and Law, said most Chinese companies have yet to grasp the importance of trademark registration and lag far behind their foreign competitors.

"That's a major reason why Chinese companies applied overseas far less than foreign companies did in China," Wang said.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China to hire R&D staff for jumbo jet engine from abroad - People's Daily Online March 23, 2011

The AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co. (AVIC/ACAE) announced on Tuesday that it will hire research and development staff from abroad for locally-made jumbo jets.

The first career fair will be held in London on Wednesday.

The job fair in the United Kingdom will last until early April and the recruiting team will also travel to the United States in the first half of this year, said Zhang Yujin, deputy general manager of the AVIC/ACAE.

"We expect to have a 500-person engine-research and development team by the end of this year, with about 40 percent of the staff to come from overseas," Zhang said.

The recruiting team will both hire experienced talents as well as campus students. In the UK, campus job fairs will be held at the Imperial College, the University of Nottingham, Cranfield University, the University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester, Zhang said.

As of the end of February, the AVIC/ACAE had more than 300 people on its research and management team. Among the total, 23 percent of the staff have a background of either studying or working abroad, while 70 percent of the staff members hold master degrees or above, according to the company.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Another 10-megawatt solar plant built in Tibet - People's Daily Online March 23, 2011

The construction of a 10-megawatt solar power plant in Sangri County, Tibet funded by Suntech Power Holdings Corporation is now in progress, and it will be completed by the end of June 2011.

This is another major solar power application project after the construction of a 10-megawatt solar power station kicked off in Shigatse last month.

The solar power plant is located in Chikang Village, Sangri County 18 kilometers away from the county town.

Suntech Power said after the completion of the project, the plant will be connected to the central Tibet power grid, and generate more than 20 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, which will greatly ease the local power shortage.

Tibet boasts the richest resource of solar energy in China. With an annual average of 3,000 sunshine hours, it enjoys the second longest sunshine time in the world only after the Sahara Desert.

Thanks to heavy investments and progress in solar energy technologies, the electricity from solar energy has been widely used in the thinly populated farming and pastoral areas in Ngari and Nagqu since the 1990s.

Currently, various countries in the world are taking the development and utilization of solar energy as an important trend of energy development. The European Union, Japan and the United States have put stress on the use of renewable energy, such as solar energy, when discussing energy supply security after 2030.

It is expected that solar power will account for more than 10 percent of the world electricity supply in 2030 and will account for more than 20 percent in 2050. The vigorous exploration and development of solar energy will become the mainstream of the future energy utilization.

By People's Daily Online

 

[below_freezing]

Another 10-megawatt solar plant built in Tibet - People's Daily Online March 23, 2011

The construction of a 10-megawatt solar power plant in Sangri County, Tibet funded by Suntech Power Holdings Corporation is now in progress, and it will be completed by the end of June 2011.

This is another major solar power application project after the construction of a 10-megawatt solar power station kicked off in Shigatse last month.

The solar power plant is located in Chikang Village, Sangri County 18 kilometers away from the county town.

Suntech Power said after the completion of the project, the plant will be connected to the central Tibet power grid, and generate more than 20 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, which will greatly ease the local power shortage.

Tibet boasts the richest resource of solar energy in China. With an annual average of 3,000 sunshine hours, it enjoys the second longest sunshine time in the world only after the Sahara Desert.

Thanks to heavy investments and progress in solar energy technologies, the electricity from solar energy has been widely used in the thinly populated farming and pastoral areas in Ngari and Nagqu since the 1990s.

Currently, various countries in the world are taking the development and utilization of solar energy as an important trend of energy development. The European Union, Japan and the United States have put stress on the use of renewable energy, such as solar energy, when discussing energy supply security after 2030.

It is expected that solar power will account for more than 10 percent of the world electricity supply in 2030 and will account for more than 20 percent in 2050. The vigorous exploration and development of solar energy will become the mainstream of the future energy utilization.

By People's Daily Online

Suntech is not a Chinese company. It is an Australian company sponsored by the Chinese government. Real Chinese solar companies are Yingli Solar, Trina Solar and Anwell Technologies.

 

[no_name]

Solar power plant may be ideal for supplying electricity on site to low demand, sparcely populated places like tibet that are hard to supply fuel by road (or not economical).

10 megawatt could power a decent sized town.

 

[Brotherhood]

WB: China economy to be biggest by 2030 - People's Daily Online March 24, 2011

The World Bank's chief economist said on Wednesday that China's economy will probably become the world's biggest by 2030, when it will be twice the size of the United States, if measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).

"China could maintain GDP growth of 8 percent over the next 20 years, which will make it the world's biggest economy," said Justin Lin, senior vice-president and chief economist at the bank. He added that by 2030 the Chinese economy may be approximately the same size as that of the US at market exchange rates in terms of nominal GDP.

Lin made the remarks at the China Economic Development Forum in Hong Kong.

In 2010, China overtook Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. It has set a target of 8 percent for GDP growth for this year. The country is also aiming to record average annual GDP growth of 7 percent in each of the next five years.

Lin said that by 2030, the country's per capita income, measured in terms of PPP, may reach 50 percent of the per capita income in the US.

"It is imperative for China to address structural imbalances, by removing the remaining distortions in the financial, natural resources and service sectors to complete the transition to a well-functioning market economy," Lin said.

The concentration of income in the corporate sector and the wealthier section of society is contributing to the rising disparity in incomes and other imbalances in the economy, he said.

"China still has huge potential to maintain strong growth, as the country's urbanization rate is likely to reach 70 percent by 2030 from the current 47 percent," said Zheng Xinli, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Zheng said that the total GDP of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will account for 47 percent, or possibly more than 50 percent, of the global economy 20 years from now.

"But rising inflation and accelerating capital inflows are prominent problems facing these countries in the short and medium terms, especially China," said Zheng.

Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in Hong Kong on Wednesday that he was confident the government will be able to keep consumer price inflation at, or below, 4 percent this year.

"The inflation figure will rise to as high as 5 percent in May or June this year, but because of the higher base figure of the second half of 2010, inflation in the second half of this year will cool," Yi said. "So throughout the whole year, we will be able to meet the government's 4 percent target."

Yi said he is "comfortable" with the current level of interest rates, and that raising them excessively would attract "hot money" inflows.

China's consumer price inflation rose to 4.9 percent in January and February from 4.6 percent in December. It hit 5.1 percent in November, a 28-month high. A drought in some major grain-producing areas, together with increases in international grain and oil prices, has led to growing concerns about rising inflation.

To mop up excessive liquidity and help curb increasing inflation and asset bubbles, the central bank has raised reserve requirements for banks nine times since the beginning of 2010, and hiked interest rates in February for the third time since October.

Stephen Green, senior economist with Standard Chartered Bank, said in a research note that the central bank will raise interest rates twice more in the first half, increasing them by 25 basis points each time, and economic growth will slow as a result of tightening measures.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

CNNC begins trials at uranium mine in Niger - People's Daily Online March 24, 2011

The logo of China National Nuclear Corporation at an exhibition in Beijing. The group is searching for more uranium overseas. (Photo by China Daily)

China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), the country's largest nuclear plant operator, has started trial production at its first overseas uranium mine. The move comes as China increases efforts to secure more of the metal used in nuclear power production, from overseas acquisitions.

The Azelik mine in Niger, 37.2 percent owned by CNNC, will be capable of producing 700 tons of uranium annually when it begins full operations.

The operator said earlier that it would increase annual overseas uranium capacity to 5,000 tons within 10 years to secure supplies.

Apart from Niger, CNNC is also looking for uranium mining resources in Russia, Zimbabwe, Australia, Kazakhstan, Tanzania and Zambia.

China imported 17,136 tons of uranium in 2010, more than three times the total in 2009, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Two reactors will come online in 2011, adding about 120 tons in uranium demand, said Xiao Xinjian, an expert at China's Energy Research Institute. Demand for uranium will continue to rise this year, said Xiao. Nuclear capacity may total 11.7 gigawatts (gW) by the end of 2011, according to the National Energy Administration.

China has put on hold new approvals for nuclear power projects in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. Even with that brake, the country's nuclear capacity is still likely to reach 40 gW by 2015 as 28 reactors are currently under construction, the largest number in the world, and indicates that demand for uranium will continue to rise.

"We must guarantee our domestic production capacity, which will constitute the major part of our supply," Sun Qin, president of CNNC, said earlier in an interview with the People's Daily Online.

China could be self-sufficient in uranium supplies by 2020 when the country's nuclear capacity is scheduled to reach 40 gW, according to estimates by industry experts. "Domestic reserves and capacity, in addition to international purchases will assure the short-term supply (by 2020)," Sun said.

China Uranium Corp, a unit of CNNC, plans to increase output to between 4,000 and 5,000 tons by 2020, the company said last year.

Chinese nuclear power operators are sticking to the "Three One-Third" formula - one third from domestic supply, one third from overseas acquisitions and another third from direct international purchases - to ensure a stable supply in the long term.

Another leading nuclear power developer, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corp, made a $1.2 billion bid for Kalahari Minerals Plc earlier this month, which could give the company access to one of the largest uranium deposits in Namibia.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

US to introduce China's high-speed rail - People's Daily Online March 24, 2011

Chicago is on track to become the first American city to introduce China's high-speed railway system. Chinese companies are also expected to fund this billion-dollar project.

That's the word from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. He's on a two-week visit in China at the invitation of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Daley boarded the bullet train for a ride from the Chinese capital Beijing to neighboring Tianjin municipality. The 100-kilometer trip takes only about 20 minutes. Chicago wants to build a similar high-speed railway to link its O'Hare International Airport with its downtown areas. And the mayor is looking to Chinese companies for funding.

Source: Xinhua

 

[mil-avia]

Map of Chinese energy demand and supply situation :

 

[Brotherhood]

China introduces homegrown Feiteng CPU server - People's Daily Online March 25, 2011

The China-made Feiteng CPU general server was officially introduced by Inspur Group on March 25. The server is part of the first batch of important achievements in a major high-end nuclear project.

The basic frequency of the Feiteng-1000 microprocessor is one gigahertz. It adopts the 65nm technology and integrates a total of 350 million transistors.

Its performance is equivalent to the Intel/AMD multi-core processors introduced in 2006 and its computational efficiency is higher than that of the latest Intel six-core processors.

By People's Daily Online

Made in China processors power world's fastest supercomputer 2011-03-25

The world's fastest supercomputer Tianhe-1 (TH-1) is no longer solely reliant on China US Intel technology. Picture: Engineers inspect TH-1. (Photo/CFP)

China achieved a major breakthrough in the development of supercomputing technology after it created a core processor for the world's fastest supercomputer.

China already has the title for creating the world's fastest supercomputer -- the Tianhe-1A system. However, the central processing units (CPUs) of the system, until recently, had been manufactured by American chip giant Intel Corp.

After the National University of Defense Technology's (NUDT) success in developing the FeiTeng-1000 (FT-1000) CPU, Li Nan, director of the university's Tianhe project office, said that China has overcome the challenge of manufacturing a high-end processor.

The Tianhe-1A system took the top spot in the Top 500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers last November, a biannual ranking compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim in Germany, Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee.

One-seventh of the Tianhe-1A system's CPUs are FT-1000 -- the first time that China-made processors are being used in the supercomputer, Li said.

NUDT began China's research on building supercomputers in 1976, and the country has seen the global ranking of its computer systems climb steadily in the past decade. Previously, the US topped the list with its Cray XT5 "Jaguar" system created by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee.

Li said that the ongoing project of creating the next generation of Chinese CPUs will attempt to incorporate the highest technological standards in the world, adding that the current product still lags behind leading processors.

Hu Weiwu, chief designer at Longson Technology Co. and a member of the National People's Congress, said that the achievement indicates that China's information technology industries no longer have to depend on foreign companies, such as Intel and Microsoft.

References:

 

[Brotherhood]

China to speed up shale gas development: official - People's Daily Online March 25, 2011

China aims to make major technological breakthroughs in developing shale gas to optimize the nation' s energy structure, the nation's top energy official said on Thursday.

The National Energy Administration (NEA) is studying a policy of setting up pilot exploration areas and striving to industrialize shale gas as early as possible, NEA's director Liu Tienan said in talks with Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in Beijing.

Shale gas is an important unconventional source of natural gas. China has exploitable reserves of 26 trillion cubic meters, as much as that found in the United States. The massive stockpiles, however, are largely undeveloped.

Due to shale being difficult to permeate, the exploration process is highly technology-dependent.

According to a national energy strategy studied by NEA and the National Development and Reform Commission, China will select 50 to 80 potential shale gas areas and 20 to 30 exploration areas by 2020. The exploration capacity would hit 1 trillion cubic meters.

Source: Xinhua

 

[no_name]

China's leading science organ announces decade goals

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's leading science research body has worked out a ten-year program that is aimed at achieving breakthroughs in key areas including space science, information technology, energy and health.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced, following a three-day working conference this week, that the program, "Innovation 2020", seeks to provide stronger scientific support for China's development by making breakthroughs in key fields and fostering a mass of top-notch scientific talents.

According to the CAS secretary general, Deng Maicun, under the initial projects of the program, the academy would set up a series of research centers, including a space science center, a center for clean and efficient use of coal, and a research center for geoscience devices.

By 2020, more than 5,000 top scientists will work under the CAS, according to the plan.

The CAS also planned to set up three major science parks respectively in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, aiming to accelerate the conversion of scientific and technological research achievements into products available on the market.

The CAS deputy president, Bai Chunli, said 2011 would serve as a pilot and start up period for the program, while breakthroughs in strategically important scientific fields, such as energy, health, environment and advanced materials, were expected in the following years.

The CAS launched "Knowledge Innovation Program" in 1998 and the new program is regarded as the extension of the KIP.

 

[Brotherhood]

Africans welcome China's growing economic power - People's Daily Online March 28, 2011

The prospect of growing Chinese economic clout is welcomed in all African countries, in contrast to other parts of the world where attitudes are either negative or divided, a poll showed on Sunday.

Asked how they view the possibility of an economically far stronger China, around four in five Nigerians and Kenyans said they looked forward to such an outcome, according to the survey of more than 28,000 people in 27 countries commissioned by the BBC World Service.

"All African countries view China's increasing economic power positively," the survey report said.

Sub-Saharan Africa was also home to the very few countries worldwide where most people would be happy about China boosting its military might.

Globally, half of all respondents favoured the prospect of a wealthier China and only a third believed it would be unwelcome. The split was little changed from the previous poll in 2005..

Overall, people expected China will be a more important economic partner to their respective countries than the United States or the European Union in 10 years.

Interviews were conducted between December and February.

Source:chinadaily.com.cn/agencies

 

[Brotherhood]

Chinese industrial firms' profits up 34.3% in first two months - People's Daily Online March 28, 2011

Profits for China's biggest industrial companies rose 34.3 percent year to year to reach 645.5 billion yuan (about 97.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Sunday.

The combined revenues of these industrial companies climbed 31 percent from last year to reach 10.7 trillion yuan in the January-February period, the NBS said in a report on its website.

The report was based on a survey of industrial companies with annual sales exceeding 20 million yuan each. The threshold used before 2011 was five million yuan.

Combined profits for state-owned and state-controlled companies increased 25 percent year to year to 224 billion yuan while those of collectively-owned companies jumped 39.3 percent to 9.9 billion yuan.

In the first two months, foreign-funded enterprises and those funded by investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan registered an annual profit increase of 26 percent, totaling 181.3 billion yuan, the NBS said.

Out of the 39 industries surveyed, 38 reported profit growth in the January-February period, while one industry reported a decline in losses.

The ferrous metal mining and smelting industry reported a 110-percent increase in year-to-year profits while the petroleum and natural gas exploration industry's profits rose 18.7 percent.

China's chemical fiber sector increased by 1.3 times compared to the same period from last year, the NBS said.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Chinese Beidou system to challenge U.S. dominancy - People's Daily Online March 28, 2011

Beidou, the China's second generation of satellite system features services of locating, navigation, timing and even text message communication covering the Asia Pacific region by 2012, said the system chief designer Sun Jiadong.

Such upgrades are perceived by experts as potential great power to break current U.S –Russian dominant structure.

The Beidou system is estimated to be able to perform regional navigation and locating on the successful launch of the third inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellite in April 2011.

The GPS is characterized by its distinguished communication function which previous GPS do not have, said Liu Jingnan an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, "The Satellites can help us navigate and can send our location to the headquarters or relatives."

It is expected that the Beidou system will cover the Asia Pacific region around 2012 and that the Beidou navigation system will be installed into every household. Liu also said that actually, the system is just a navigation chip installed in a car or mobile phone.

Liu has also introduced the transportation usage of the Beidou navigation chips. With the same price as their GPS counterparts, the Beidou system can be used to ease traffic jams through its communication functions. Assuming a car is equipped with the Beidou navigation chip, satellites will be able to collect real-time traffic data by locating the vehicle via the Beidou system over the entire road network, and then tell the driver which roads are less congested.

Li Zuhong, deputy chief designer of the Beidou system, said that China aims to build a navigation satellite system uniquely differently from but also compatible with GPS and other similar systems. At present, only the United States, Russia, the European Union and China have developed their own navigation satellite systems. "The construction time of the Beidou system has a direct bearing on the collaborative deployment of the four global navigation satellite systems. The sooner it is completed, the better," he said.

At the same time, China is accelerating the construction of its Beidou system to move ahead of the three other global navigation satellite systems. The Beidou system is expected to cover the entire world by 2020.

The BeiDou Navigation System is China's efforts of developing an independent satellite navigation system, it may generally refers to either one or both generations of the Chinese navigation system.

The first generation consists of 3 satellites and has limited coverage and applications. It has been offering navigation services mainly for customers in China and from neighboring regions since 2000.

By Li Yancheng, People's Daily Online