China Economy Forum

[gpit]

China builds mega deep-sea oil rig - China.org.cn

China has inaugurated its most advanced deep-sea oil platform capable of operating at up to 3,000 meters under the surface of the ocean.

This move boosts the country's offshore tapping capabilities and enhances its leverage in securing marine resources often contested by other regional players.

The announcement, seen as a major technology breakthrough, will serve a national energy ambition as authorities now look to the high seas for answers to soaring energy demands.

The oil rig, named CNOOC981, was launched Monday in Shanghai, where it was delivered to China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the State-owned oil company with exclusive rights to exploit offshore oil and gas fields.

CNOOC spent 6 billion yuan ($922.37 million) in developing the rig, which was specially designed to drill deep sea oil fields. It was built over the course of three years by China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC).

The rig weighs 31,000 tons with a deck the size of a standard football field. It is able to undertake offshore operations at up to 3,000 meters under the ocean and extract for oil at a depth of 12,000 meters, according to CSSC. This is a massive increase to China whose previous oil extraction capacity was limited to 500-meter-deep seas.

The oil rig will start its voyage from Shanghai on Thursday for a trial cruise before starting drilling in the South China Sea in July, according to a report by the People's Daily.

This will help China establish a more important presence in the largely untapped southern part of the South China Sea.

Energy-thirsty countries around the South China Sea have been tapping its oil resources for years, but this will mark the first instance of China's influence spreading to its southern tides.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly condemned oil drilling in the area by some Southeast Asian nations as Beijing holds it has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters.

Surrounding countries have increased oil drilling from the sea in recent years, resulting in a loss equivalent to 20 million tons of oil annually for China, Song Enlai, chairman of CNOOC's board of supervisors, told Oriental Outlook magazine. The total output of China's offshore oil and natural gas stood at 50 million tons of oil last year, CNOOC reported.

The CNOOC981 oil rig is "undoubtedly a milestone in China's oil drilling industry," Lin Boqiang, director of the Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times. "It is always a first-come-first-served game when vying for non-renewable resources in disputed sea areas, as the resources are not infinite."

The capability to drill so far down is a differentiating factor that countries like Vietnam and the Philippines have not yet acquired, Lin added.

By mid-2010, 180 oil and natural gas fields and more than 200 oil-gas-bearing strata had been detected in the South China Sea, with most located at between 500 and 2,000 meters. Though large oil fields have been found in the area, exploitation by Chinese oil drillers seems to have been slow.

In 2009, China inaugurated a project to drill its biggest and deepest offshore natural gas field, the Liwan 3-1 field, at a cost of 35 billion yuan and which will begin production in 2013.

Zhao Ying, a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the new drilling platform is strategically important.

"The value of the South China Sea natural resources is immense. Now that technologies are available for China to tap resources there, efforts to guard its operations and deter foreign illegal explorations become meaningful and necessary," Zhao said.

China has stepped up efforts to explore and materialize offshore resources. The CNOOC981 oil rig is only part of a 15-billion-yuan project to ramp up the deep sea exploration fleet, the Oriental Outlook reported. Following the giant rig, more oil exploitation facilities will be put to use.

The country is seeking more dependence of the marine industries as a strategic development move. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) advocates more scientific and systematic utilization of marine resources and coastal areas as energy demand soars and inland resources drop.

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China to deploy oil rig to Spratlys in July - Salceda - Interaksyon.com

MANILA, Philippines – Notwithstanding a diplomatic protest filed by the Philippines, China will deploy a giant oil rig and begin drilling in the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea, Albay Governor Joey Salceda said on Tuesday.

Salceda said the platform Marine Oil 981 is owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corp., that country’s s largest offshore oil producer.

According to a Xinhua news report dated May 24, 2011, Marine Oil 981 is a giant deepwater oil drilling platform that carries out oil explorations up to a depth of 3,000 meters and is equipped with a drill that can go as deep as 12,000 meters.

Marine Oil 981 was built at the cost of 6 Billion Yuan or US$923 million, weighs more than 31,000 tons, and can withstand the rough conditions of the South China Sea.

The Xinhua report said it took more than three years for the China State Shipbuilding Corporation to build the giant rig, which was delivered to CNOOC on May 23, 2011 and is currently undergoing sea trials before its July deployment.

While the report did not mention where Marine Oil 981 will be drilling, it is widely believed it will be in the disputed Spratly Islands.

Salceda said he was “disturbed by the drift of news on the West Philippine Sea – especially with the six intrusions and the unusually abrasive, almost intolerant, statements of China.”

“Now my fears have found their origin: China will put up its huge oil rig in the disputed waters by July 2001 – the next three weeks,” Salceda pointed out in an email.

Salceda had earlier proposed a boycott of China-made products, which he now believes “is no longer as radical as it first seemed and would even be disproportionately inadequate to address the evolving dynamics.”

“To paraphrase Recto: it is foolish to love your country and ill-advised to fight for its honor and defend its national sovereignty,” Salceda added.

In the Xinhua report, it quoted CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin as saying Marine Oil 981 “will be a good opportunity to strengthen its efforts in deepwater oil exploration and ensure energy security” of China. The Xinhua report also said, quoting CNOOC, that “the rig will be installed in the waters of the South China sea and begin oil and gas prospecting in July.”

Marine Oil 981 was dubbed the “Aircraft Carrier” because of size and was specifically designed to deal with the rough waves of the South China Sea.

A China Central Television (CCTV) report, dated May 22, 2011, said Marine Oil 981 is equipped with modern navigation and an advanced underwater anti-blowout safety system.

Marine Oil 981 is also equipped with dynamic global positioning systems that will enable it to keep its positions even if it is buffeted by a massive typhoon.

The CCTV story featured an interview with Wang Qi, manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company, where he said: “This drilling platform is specially designed for the bad sea conditions of the South Sea, so it can work well under that condition. It is equipped by the most advanced international devices and can drill 12,000 meters under water of 3,000 meters deep.”

Marine Oil 981 is the sixth generation drilling platform which meets China’s need for deepwater drilling equipment. The CCTV report said Marine Oil 981 is a key component of China’s 2020 Deepwater Daqing – referring to the exploration and exploitation of deepwater oil and gas reserves in the West Philippine Sea / South China Sea.

The Xinhua report said CNOOC plans to invest 200 billion yuan and drill 800 deepwater wells – which they expect to have an output of an equivalent 500 million barrels of oil by the year 2020. CNOOC believes the South China Sea holds major oil and gas deposits.

Presently China’s oil and fuel requirements come from imports and Beijing aims to reduce this dependence by exploring and exploiting energy resources on land and deepwater drilling.

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I believe this is very genius movement from China. It peacefully deploys the rig and peacefully sucks the oil, perhaps from other nearby oil field as well, because it has more advanced technologies.

 

[Brotherhood]

New hydropower station begins operation in Tibet - People's Daily Online June 18, 2011

A new hydropower station became operational Friday in southwest Tibet Autonomous Region, as a first step to build a clean energy base in the plateau region.

The Laohuzui -- which translates into "tiger's mouth" -- hydropower station in Gongbo Gyamda County of Nyingchi Prefecture, about 343 km from Tibet's capital Lhasa, is designed to generate 2.5 million to 2.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity daily to supply Lhasa.

Construction began in 2007.

The 1.288 billion yuan (200 million U.S. dollars) project has an installed capacity of 102 megawatts, said Ponwa, a deputy official in Nyingchi.

Several other hydropower stations have been built in Nyingchi Prefecture, including the 722.6-million-yuan, 40,000-kilowatt Xoka hydropower station, and the 25-billion-yuan, 3.78 million-kilowatt Songta hydropower station.

Nyingchi Prefecture has 77,000 hectares of rivers and lakes and at least 60 million kilowatts of hydropower reserves.

Source:Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Geothermal power will bring 70 bln yuan market potential to China - People's Daily Online June 19, 2011

China's efforts to expand the use of clean energy will facilitate the rapid development of the geothermal power industry over the next five years, with a market scale of 70 billion yuan (about 10.8 billion U.S. dollars), experts have said.

Geothermal energy will supply heating and air conditioning for 350 million square meters of indoor areas in China during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), said Li Yuanpu, executive member of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society (CRES).

"As measured by 200 yuan in investments per square meter, the total 350 million square meters will boast a market potential of 70 billion yuan," Li said.

According to the CRES, sales of geothermal power pumps have topped 8 billion yuan in China, with an annual growth rate of 20 percent.

To date, geothermal energy has supplied heating and air conditioning to 2,236 construction projects. Heating provided by geothermal power pumps has totaled 140 million square meters in area.

"The use of geothermal power is expected to reach an equivalent of 68.8 million metric tonnes of coal by 2015, or about 1.7 percent of the nation's total power consumption," said Guan Fengjun, director of the Department of Geological Environment with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).

Guan said the ministry is actively promoting the development of geothermal energy and will soon launch a national survey on the use of geothermal power.

According to the MLR's preliminary estimate, 12 geothermal basins in China are home to an equivalent of 853 billion metric tonnes of coal.

 

[Brotherhood]

Reporters experience trial run of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway - People's Daily Online June 18, 2011

Photographers take pictures of a train before its trial run on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai, at Beijing South Railway Station, June 17, 2011. Some 70 reporters in Beijing and nearby areas were invited to experience the trial run on Friday. The high speed railway service connecting Beijing, the capital of China to Shanghai, the east China's municipality, will officially begin at the end of June. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei)

Media reporters try the devices of the train on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai during its trial run, June 17, 2011. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei)

An attendant welcomes passengers to board on a train for a trial run on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai, June 17, 2011. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei

 

[Brotherhood]

Sinopec to invest 100 bln yuan in new refinery in east China - People's Daily Online June 18, 2011

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., Asia's largest oil refiner, also known as Sinopec, is planning to invest more than 100 billion yuan (15.43 billion U.S.dollars) for a new refining complex in China's east Jiangsu Province, reported Saturday's China Daily.

The project, with an annual processing capacity of 32 million tonnes, will be located in the Xuwei New Area of the coastal city of Lianyungang, said the report, citing a local government official.

The refining complex will be developed in two phases, with the first plant built with an annual refining capacity of 12 million tonnes and annual production capacity for 1 million tonnes of p-xylene, a Benzine-based hydrocarbon, it said.

The project is waiting regulatory approval from the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC), the country's top economic planner, with construction expected to begin in 2013 and production to start in 2016, according to the report.

Sinopec and the local government will both have a stake in the project, but they have yet to reach agreement on the holdings. Wang Tianpu, Sinopec's president, said that the company intends to invite major foreign petrochemical firms to join the project.

The move will expand China's refining capacity to meet the nation's increasing demand for oil, said the newspaper.

Source:Xinhua

 

[no_name]

Reporters experience trial run of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway - People's Daily Online June 18, 2011

Photographers take pictures of a train before its trial run on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai, at Beijing South Railway Station, June 17, 2011. Some 70 reporters in Beijing and nearby areas were invited to experience the trial run on Friday. The high speed railway service connecting Beijing, the capital of China to Shanghai, the east China's municipality, will officially begin at the end of June. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei)

Media reporters try the devices of the train on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai during its trial run, June 17, 2011. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei)

An attendant welcomes passengers to board on a train for a trial run on the high-speed railway connecting Beijing to Shanghai, June 17, 2011. (Xinhua/Zhou Wei

Looks like first class seats.

 

[Brotherhood]

Lenovo seeks to become the Apple of world's eye - People's Daily Online June 20, 2011

A Lenovo Group Ltd sign on display during a January consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. As it become more competitive globally, the largest Chinese PC maker is facing challenges in innovation and overseas expansion. (China Daily)

Two years ago, Liu Chuanzhi returned to Lenovo, China's largest personal computer manufacturer by market share, as board chairman to sort out a legacy of losses and confused management.

Having revamped the company he now feels confident enough to throw down the gauntlet to Apple Inc.

By vowing to give Steve Jobs' company a run for his money earlier this year, Liu shocked the IT world.

But analysts of the industry are heavily divided on this heroic attempt.

Liu came to the rescue of Lenovo at its worst time - after the outbreak of the US financial crisis had thrown the global personal computer market into turmoil. That year, 2009, Lenovo posted a loss of $97 million. With sales plummeting 78 percent because of sluggish corporate demand, a major overseas business focus, Lenovo's global share slipped to 7 percent, which further distanced itself from HP, Dell and Acer, the top three global PC vendors.

Taking the helm again, Liu steered Lenovo away from its reliance on overseas markets that remained crippled by the economic downturn. Instead, he refocused Lenovo's core business on China and other emerging economies, which were the only bright spots in the global economic gloom. He also refocused the company on the growing consumer market, an arena previously strategically eclipsed by the business customer market.

Thanks to the strategic shift, Lenovo has just witnessed its best year. According to the company's fiscal year 2010 report, Lenovo's global market share reached a record 10.2 percent, closing the ground on third place Acer's 11 percent. The company's year-on-year growth in sales exceeded that of all the four major vendors.

The upward momentum has continued. Lenovo's fourth quarter report for the year ending March 31, 2011, showed a net profit of $42.13 million, up from $12.8 million a year earlier. China remained the star performer, accounting for 46.4 percent of the company's sales. Moreover, sales in emerging markets such as Russia, India, East Europe and Latin America also increased sharply.

Determined to fend off competitors in the domestic market, Lenovo has been beefing up its expansion in small cities and rural areas. It has strengthened its distribution network in the countryside. The company has made it a commitment to ensuring that a potential buyer can find an outlet selling Lenovo computers within 50 kilometers of where he or she lives.

After putting its own house in order, Liu is casting his gaze on bigger things. In the PC business, nothing can seem more ambitious than taking on the undisputed leader in verve and style: Apple Inc, which has the biggest market capitalization among all competitors. To that end, Liu is leading his company into the realm of design excellence and popular appeal.

Trusted design

For years, the company's line of high-profit margin PC laptops was based mainly on the trusted design it inherited from the purchase of IBM's PC business in 2005. In recent months, Lenovo has broken the mold with some creations that are widely considered to be worthy of consideration by devoted Apple fans.

It is considered wise of Lenovo to stay with its ThinkPad and seek to accrue a greater share in the high-end domestic PC market, because "the market is narrowed down from a handful of players (including Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, HP and Dell) to the only pair left: Lenovo and Apple", said Wang Jiping, research manager at IT research company International Data Corporation China.

Wang said Lenovo has made a series of cutting-edge breakthroughs with the ThinkPad, including the introduction of a wide screen and a wider range of colors.

Among the company's landmark products is the ultra-thin laptop U-260 ThinkPad, which has won acclaim from international PC journals for its multifaceted factors, including a satin finish and svelte frame, a first for Lenovo. It is not a Macbook Air killer yet, but it's close, critics said.

"It skillfully merged all features of its major competitors. It is designed for more rational users who crave fashion. To that extent, it is no exaggeration to say it makes a worthy rival to Macbook Air," Wang said.

Weighing 1.3 kilograms, the U260 is less than an inch in thickness and is carved out of a one-piece magnesium-aluminum alloy frame, very much like the Macbook Air, Wang said.

With a splendid keyboard that resembles that of Sony's Vaio series, he added, the U260 has become the world's first 12.5-inch "envelope-friendly" consumer laptop giving users a 16:9 wide screen dimension.

Other sophisticated features include a glass multi-gesture track pad and a leather-textured palm-rest. It is available in mocha brown and Clementine orange colors with a matte finish. "You would never have imagined ThinkPad being this colorful, and it is Lenovo that brought about this change," Wang added.

But a senior PC industry researcher who would only give his surname Jiang, and who works for a leading securities firm in China, was less complimentary.

Jiang argued that the U260 is placed at a disadvantage, because, for example, it operates using the old-fashioned hard disk drive, rather than the flash storage that gives the MacBook Air instant appeal.

Jiang insisted this was because Lenovo still relies on the Yamato Lab in Japan, ThinkPad's major research center, which was in existence before Lenovo inked the acquisition deal.

"These so-called indigenous innovations are, in essence, tweaked foreign technologies. But as far as critical indicators go, Lenovo always fails to stand out," Jiang said.

Huang Shaoqi, an engineer at China Telecom Shanghai branch, touted Lenovo's marketing strategy. Unlike Apple betting solely on one product in the hottest contested marketplace, Lenovo is configured to provide a diversified portfolio to meet the varying demands posed by students, game players, white-collar workers and government officials.

For instance, Huang pointed out, Lenovo launched the Zhaoyang series, which is tailor-made for corporate clients but at a price that is on average only 70 percent of the ThinkPad.


A Lenovo user himself, Huang believes the high cost-efficiency of the Zhaoyang series has helped it win a competitive edge. "Many public procurement projects would favor such products," he said.

Mediocre phones

Lenovo's latest effort to take on Apple was the launch of the PC tablet LePad in March in China.


"LePad, closer to the heart of Chinese consumers" was the advertising slogan. Yang Yuanqing, chief executive officer of Lenovo, said he was confident LePad would have grasped 20 percent of the domestic tablet market by 2012 because Lenovo knew the China market better.


Likewise, after years of producing various mediocre phones, Lenovo last year launched its first smartphone in China, LePhone with the aim of seizing back market share eroded by competitors, notably Apple's iPhone.

Running on the Android system, Lenovo adopted elements it considered would be popular in the Chinese market, such as a camera, a USB interface and applications that support multimedia.

According to Rory Read, chief operations officer with Lenovo, the company has designed a range of software for the LePad in cooperation with Chinese portals and social networking sites such as qq.com, sina.com and renren.com, to better cater to the needs of domestic users.

Wang made an upbeat assessment of LePad, given its proximity to the Chinese market.

"Based on our own internal survey, Apple's iPads only took up some 50 percent of tablet market share in the fourth quarter of 2010 in China, owing to its limited sales channels. This has left a vast space for other brands to grow in. Lenovo, as the biggest domestic vendor, has an edge straightaway."

LePad can make forays into different industries, such as the catering business where tablets are replacing traditional paper menus, Wang said.

Just before LePad's entry into the tablet fray, its main rival Apple introduced iPad2. At 3,688 yuan ($570) in China, it was a price hard to match.

"Chinese PC makers are used to counting on a low-price strategy to compete with foreign brands, but Apple has turned the tables around this time, putting Lenovo in an awkward position," Huang said.

Apple has always been savvy in creating brand loyalty, targeting middle-class and fashion-minded consumers rather than the mass market, which gives the company the leeway to charge more.

The branding strategy of LePad, however, was flawed from the very beginning, said product positioning and marketing guru Al Ries, who is the co-founder of Ries & Ries consulting firm in the US.

In an interview with Economic Observer, Ries said by naming the products LePhone and LePad, Lenovo had locked them into well-known brand names, and that could create a wrong impression on consumers, who may regard them as bootleg and inferior versions of Apple's products.

While the global version of LePad was expected to hit the overseas market this month, Lenovo may find it hard to prove itself as desirable to Chinese consumers as their international peers, Jiang said, "because they have nothing unique to offer".

Overseas expansion

On June 2, Lenovo announced it was buying a major stake of Medion, a German consumer electronics maker, for up to 456 million ($645 million), the biggest acquisition since it bought IBM's PC business in 2005. This deal would boost Lenovo's PC market share in Germany to 14 percent and in western Europe to 7.5 percent, taking Apple's fourth place in the market share of the region.

The acquisition was in line with Lenovo's global expansion ambition in developed overseas markets. Just five months ago, Lenovo announced it was forming a joint venture with NEC, with Lenovo taking a 51 percent ownership in the new venture, a move that enabled it to establish a firm foothold in the Japanese market.

The deal was an apparent challenge to Acer, which currently accounts for the lion's share of the European PC market. But other than a trophy to stroke the corporate ego, Jiang did not foresee much benefits.

"Lenovo is likely to witness a rise in revenue and market share in the short term, but it does not necessarily lead to a high profit margin and may even face deficits. While the previous bid for ThinkPad was about access to the US market, ample evidence shows the Asia-Pacific region remains the ultimate driving force," Jiang said.

The flurry of overseas acquisitions and joint ventures has brought back memories of the company's earlier problems of integration after its purchase of IBM's PC business.


After Lenovo took over IBM, Yang Yuanqing was appointed chairman of the board and William Amelio, who previously worked for Dell, was invited to be Lenovo's CEO. The move aimed to combine Yang's expertise in the domestic market with Amelio's overseas experience.

However, a corporate cultural conflict brought about by a foreign management style and local staff distracted Lenovo from making bold innovations and strategic shifts in the fast changing global economy.

The management reshuffle that followed Lenovo's worst performance in 2009 not only welcomed Liu back to the top job, but also led to the replacement of Amelio with Yang. The dream team of Liu and Yang brought an end to Lenovo's falling sales and boosted corporate morale that had suffered under the previous regime.

Lenovo also restored company confidence by developing a consistent corporate strategy.

"The company is now configured to be internationalized, from its employees, to its management style," Wang said.

Lenovo has overcome the traditional dichotomy of domestic and overseas markets, and is eyeing a new form of divide: developed markets and emerging markets.

"As for advanced economies, Lenovo has and will continue to proceed with mergers and acquisitions, especially in areas where market share remains limited. For emerging economies, all that matters is to tap into the market and make a strong presence," Wang said.

Challenges ahead

Experts agree a lack of technological breakthroughs is Lenovo's Achilles' heel.


For Lenovo, software development has lagged behind rivals. Wang predicts a merger or acquisition to address this is on its way.

Apple has dwarfed Lenovo with its intangible, yet crucial, customer experience, both before and after the purchase. Jiang said Apple's applications are markedly more user-friendly than most of its competitors, including that of Lenovo.

"LeOS, Lenovo's operating system, lacks genuine innovation, and has yet to achieve software compatibility. Compared with iOS, its business-oriented applications are still in their infancy," said Jiang.

In addition, "many consumers simply don't really care whether they are iPhones or LePhones, iPads or LePads. What they care about are Internet surfing, music, e-mail and the associated services that go with them. Therefore, what matters is the experience they go through in buying these products and the service they receive after the purchase."

Along with an attractive style, an appealing global branding image is also a must for Lenovo, which, unlike Apple, is not yet a household name.

The New York Times reported that Lenovo partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi, part of the French multinational advertising and communications Publicis Groupe, in January, to spend $100 million on a new advertising campaign that began in May.

Wang said Lenovo has veered away from a product-driven strategy to pursue an ideal-oriented notion in order to make Lenovo a household name.

But according to Jiang, Lenovo appears hesitant on the trade-off between business expansion and technology breakthrough, and this has been a consistent strategic divergence that has long crippled its development.

"Lenovo started from trade and assembling, and excelled at them. It is no easy task to throw off this sheer inertia," Jiang said.

The critic added: "Despite churning out a full range of products within a limited time frame, Lenovo has been emulating Apple's approach all the time."

Lenovo could also be in trouble on its home turf. Analyst Brian White of Ticonderoga believes China is in the early stages of catching "Apple fever".

"What we need is Apple's global brand loyalty and the strong team of applications suppliers behind it," Liu Jun, the company's mobile Internet and digital group president, once said.

But Rome was not built in a day. "To win the hearts of Apple evangelists, who do not bother to haggle over prices and who worship Steve Jobs, is not within Lenovo's reach right now," Jiang said.

Li Luxiang in Shanghai and Wang Xing in Beijing contributed to this story.

 

[casual]

i swear, apple is becoming a cult now. an evil cult at that.

i like lenovo for their quality but their laptop is just too expensive. prefer cheap HPs and Gateways.

 

[Brotherhood]

VIP service standard of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway introduced - People's Daily Online June 20 2011

Attendants of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed train prepare meals for test passengers on June 16, 2011. (Chen Fei/ Xinhua)


The VIP service standard of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway was introduced, according to news released by railway interests on June 18. The VIP passengers of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway can enjoy free meals whenever they are waiting for a train or on a train. Those passengers who take a G-train of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway with a business seat, a sightseeing seat or a first-class seat can enjoy the VIP services.

An attendaPhoto, taken on June 16, 2011, shows the cafeteria of a Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed train. (Chen Fei/ Xinhua)nt displays the multifunctional seats in the business carriage of a Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed train on June 16, 2011. (Chen Fei//Xinhua)

Photo, taken on June 16, 2011, shows the sightseeing carriage of a Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed train. (Chen Fei/ Xinhua)

Photo, taken on June 16, 2011, shows the cafeteria of a Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed train. (Chen Fei/ Xinhua)

Photo, taken on June 16, 2011, shows attendants of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. (Chen Fei/ Xinhua)

 

[Brotherhood]

Power plants will double output of Three Gorges Dam - People's Daily Online June 21, 2011

The China Three Gorges Corporation says four planned hydroelectric power stations being built on the Jinsha River will be capable of producing twice as much power as the Three Gorges Dam, which is currently the world's largest-capacity hydroelectric power plant.

The company says the four new plants on the river, which is part of the boundary between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, will be able to pump out 43 million kilowatts.

The four stations together will generate about 190 billion kilowatts of electricity a year after they come online during the next few years, according to a report released by the China Three Gorges Corporation on Sunday.

The corporation received approval to build the massive plants in 2002 on the river that is one of the major headwaters feeding the Yangtze River.

The power stations will be named Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Wudongde and Baihetan.

Construction of the Xiluodu hydropower station started in 2005 and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. It will have an installed capacity of 13.86 million kilowatts, making it the second-largest hydropower station in China. Work on the Xiangjiaba station started in 2006 and it will be put into operation in 2012. The other two facilities are still in the design stage, the report said.

The report also explained the rationale behind the construction of the Three Gorges Dam itself.

Chen Fei, general manager of the China Three Gorges Corporation, said its main task is to help with drought relief and flood control and that the production of electricity is one of its other roles.

"We closely monitor weather conditions and hydrological changes on the Yangtze River and are prepared to control larger floods," Chen said. "Flood control is the most important task of our project now."

Zhu Guangming, director of the corporation's publicity department, told China Daily the Three Gorges Dam has helped China deal with the recent severe drought.

"The Three Gorges Dam didn't cause the drought, which lingered in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River for months, but instead supplied those stricken areas with large quantities of water and relieved the drought greatly," Zhu said.

"While floods following the drought hit some areas after the start of June, they were limited."

The report also explained that the Three Gorges project is capable of protecting the Jianghan Plain from floods in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The dam is capable of dealing with a peak flow rate up to 113,000 cubic meters per second.

It was the first time the China Three Gorges Corporation had released such a "responsibility report", but "the release of the document was not in response to criticism from the public", Zhu said.

"We began to prepare this report in the second half of 2010," he explained.

After a severe drought hit the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and persisted until May and when it was followed by floods this month, some critics questioned whether the Three Gorges Dam had caused or aggravated the situation and asked whether it was capable of controlling floods.

The 121 large State-owned enterprises are expected to release reports on corporate social responsibility during 2012, in line with a requirement from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China's Huawei storms into tablet PC market - People's Daily Online June 21, 2011

The Huawei Technologies, headquartered in China's southern Shenzhen city, unveiled a 7-inch Android-based tablet computer in Singapore yesterday, throwing itself into a market competition with Apple and Samsung.

The Chinese top technology company said it is developing a larger 10-inch tablet PC, too.

And, Victor Xu, the chief market officer of Huawei Device, said that his company plans to be among the top global five handset producers within three years, a market that is now dominated by Nokia, Apple and Samsung.


"We are also developing a 10-inch tablet...We hope to launch it this year," Xu told Reuters in an interview. However, he declined to reveal the price of the newly introduced 7-inch tablet, the MediaPad.

The company, the world's second-biggest supplier of telecommunications equipment behind Ericsson, has not specified any sales target for the MediaPad which will be put on sale in the third quarter this year.

It said the MediaPad will run on the Android operating system from Google Inc and use a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm. It will also come with pre-installed applications such as Facebook and Twitter, according to a Reuter report on Monday.

The firm had said earlier it expects revenue to reach the $100 billion mark in a decade, driven by sales of telecom devices and mobile smart-phones.

By People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

Full pension coverage before 2013 - Premier - People's Daily Online June 21, 2011

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has vowed to accelerate the implementation of two trial pension programs for urban and rural residents in order to achieve full coverage before 2013.

Wen made the remarks Monday at a meeting related to the implementation of the trial programs. One program will cover urban residents, while the other will cover rural residents.

The pension program for urban residents is set to be launched from July 1, and will be implemented in 60 percent of China's cities and townships by the end of this year before being introduced nationwide next year.

The pension program for rural residents was implemented on a trial basis in 2009, but has yet to be fully implemented.

Under both programs, insured residents can receive a monthly pension of at least 55 yuan (8.46 U.S. dollars). These same residents can receive more pension payments, drawn from their tax contributions, when they reach 60 years of age.

Hailing the two programs as "a groundbreaking step" for the Chinese government as it strives to achieve full insurance coverage for all citizens, Wen said "the Chinese people's wish for better care for elderly people will finally come true in the foreseeable future."

According to Wen, the two programs, whose beneficiaries are mostly low-income groups, will help to narrow the income gap, promote social justice and aid in the country's ongoing urbanization process.

"The important thing for now is to ensure full coverage. After that is achieved, we can continue to improve these programs and raise insurance standards in line with the country's social and economic development," Wen said.

Wen urged local governments to use financial subsidies to attract more people to the programs.

"Expenditures for these programs must be ensured, even at the cost of other projects," Wen said.

Wen also called for more research on the coordinated implementation of other pension programs in order to ensure that public resources are more efficiently used.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Beijing's second airport to be ready by 2017 - People's Daily Online

A new airport in the capital city, which will handle soaring passenger traffic in and out of the booming metropolis, is expected to be completed by October 2017, an airline source told the Beijing News.

The new airport, which is likely to be approved within the year, will probably have eight runways for civilian use and a ninth for military use, Yao Weihui, general manager of China United Airlines, said at a ceremony marking the delivery of the airline's 10th Boeing plane on Monday.

Once the airport in southern Beijing's Daxing district is put into use, the Beijing Nanyuan Airport in the southern Fengtai district, which is used for both military and civilian purposes, will be closed, said Yao, whose airline now uses Nanyuan airport.

Sources with the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Tuesday that the project is yet to be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, so any detail in the previous plan is subject to change.

But Wang Jian, secretary-general of China Civil Airport Association, said on Tuesday that the new airport will have at least four runways for civilian use.

With more runways, the new airport will have more capacity to handle the large amount of traffic in and out of Beijing, he said.

"The suggested location (for the new airport) in Daxing district is a place with few residents and buildings, so many runways can be built," Wang said, adding the Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeast cannot have a fourth runway because of its location.

There has been a plan to build a second airport in the city for years. The new airport will shoulder part of the traffic pressure faced by Beijing Capital International Airport, which is now the world's second largest in terms of passenger traffic.

Last year, the Beijing Capital International Airport handled 73.9 million passengers, close to its planned capacity of 76 million passengers by 2015.

The planned capacity for the second capital airport is at least 60 million passengers a year, according to earlier media reports.

Yao was quoted as saying that the first stage of the second airport will be built to handle 40 million passengers a year.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China to boost offshore wind power to 30 gigawatts by 2020 - People's Daily Online June 22, 2011

In the next five years, China will boost its offshore wind power installed capacity to 5 gigawatts and form a complete technology and industrial chain. Afterward, China's offshore wind power will enter into a phase of large-scale development and is estimated to reach 30 gigawatts in 2020, according to the energy plan and renewable energy plan during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

The National Energy Bureau (NEB) will launch preparation work for the second public bidding on offshore wind power concession projects in the second half year of 2011 and is scheduled to complete the bidding in the first half year of 2012. The total construction scale will be between 1.5 gigawatts and 2 gigawatts, according to news from a symposium on offshore wind power held in Nantong City of east China's Jiangsu Province on June 22.

Offshore wind power is the frontier of the development of global wind power. China's enterprises must reach the international advanced level in offshore wind power, said Liu Qi, deputy director of the NEB.

In June 2010, the first stage project of East Sea Bridge Offshore Wind Farm went into operation in Shanghai. Totaling 102 megawatts, it is China's first large-scale offshore wind farm and is located on the east side of the Shanghai East Sea Bridge. It comprises 34 units of 3-megawatt Sinovel turbines.

In addition, China Longyuan Electic Power Group Corp. built the world's first experimental offshore wind farm in 2010 and the follow-up project started on June 21, 2011.

By Ye Xin, People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

Chinese-made C919 jumbo jet to fly worldwide - People's Daily Online June 22, 2011

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China will actively expand into overseas markets on the basis of indigenous innovation and international cooperation, the company's President Jin Zhuanglong said at the International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget on June 20.

"China's large passenger planes will fly worldwide someday," he added.

Jin said that the development of the homegrown C919 jumbo jet is "well underway." Solid groundwork has been laid, and the master plans for technology development, production and customer service have been formulated. The research and development for the digital mock-up of the C919 and seven main sections of a sample C919 has also completed. The company will complete contract signings with all C919 project suppliers and start manufacturing the parts for C919 this year.

Jin said that the C919 jumbo jets are single-aisle planes with 168 to 190 seats, and they are independently designed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. The flying range of the aircraft stands between 4,075 kilometers and 5,555 kilometers. The design of the C919 jumbo jet is divided into five phases: project study and approval, feasibility study, pre-development, engineering development and batch production and industrialization.

Jin said that thanks to China's 30 years of rapid economic development and brisk economic and business activities, the country's aviation market has boomed and shows rosy future prospects, with strong demand for this size of aircraft. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China has followed the trend.

“We aim to provide clients with safer, more economical, more environmentally-friendly, and more comfortable civil aircraft. We are confident to realize the maiden flight of C919 in 2014 and put them on the market in 2016 in order to meet domestic market demand,” Jin said.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China was established in May 2008 and headquartered in Shanghai. In addition to the C919 program, it is now also developing the ARJ21-700 regional aircraft. Jin said that the company was established in accordance with the "main manufacturers-suppliers" mode and will adhere to the development strategy of marketization, industrialization and internationalization.

The company received an order of 100 C919 aircraft in the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai in 2010. It established a European office in Paris in 2011 and participated in the Paris Air Show with the C919 jumbo jet display prototype. The C919 prototype was first shown in the Zhuhai Air Show, and it was the first time that a full-scale prototype was displayed to foreign audiences abroad.

"We want to show the C919 program in the international arena. We hope to actively launch international cooperation to display the C919 aircraft to the public through participating in influential international air shows and take 'aggressive' marketing strategies. We will also launch high-level visits and exchanges with international airlines and leading suppliers," Jin said.

"We believe the C919 aircraft will one day fly all over the world while satisfying the domestic aviation market," Jin confidently said.

By People’s Daily Online