China Economy - News & Updates

[Gin ka Pakistan]

China!, Ask Zardari where the money went! LOL

 

[grey boy 2]

Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway to open in 2012 - People's Daily Online Dec 30 2009

Reporters learned from railway authorities that the Beijing-Shijiazhuang and Shijiazhuang-Wuhan high-speed railways are currently under intense construction and a trip from Beijing to Guangzhou by train will only take 8 hours in 2012.

The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway that went under construction from June 2005 is an important part of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway. It runs through Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong provinces, totaling about 1,068 kilometers. The opening of the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway reduces the travel time between the 2 cities to 3 hours from the original 10 hours.

According to the Wuhan Railway Bureau, the travel time between Beijing and Guangzhou has reduced to 21 hours from over 90 hours in the past, after passenger train speeds were increased several times. Following the opening of the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway and the construction of other high-speed railways in progress, the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway will serve as a main artery running through China from north to south in the future, and the trip from Beijing to Guangzhou will only take 8 hours. An "8-hour transport circle" that China is striving to build will gradually become a reality.

Zhang Shuguang, head of the Transportation Department of the Ministry of Railways, said that China will form a 1-8 hour transport circle, which has Beijing at its center and allows travel between Beijing and most provincial capitals in 1-8 hours. China will also build a transport circle that allows travel between central cities, such as Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Wuhan, and their surrounding cities in half an hour to 1 hour. China's high-speed passenger transport network connects all provincial capitals and large cities with a population of over 500,000, and covers 90 percent of the population nationwide. It will significantly shorten the inter-city distances.

By People's Daily Online

 

[grey boy 2]

A miserable year for corrupt officials in China - People's Daily Online Dec 31 2009

At least 15 governor and ministerial-level officials, a record high in 30 years, have been brought down this year, many for allegedly trading their power for money in the country's economic boom, driven by mammoth investment in infrastructure construction and the real estate industry.

"We must be sober enough to see that the anti-corruption work still faces new problems, and the situation is still serious," an anti-corruption meeting of the Political Bureau, chaired by President Hu Jintao, announced Tuesday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

A stepped-up anti-corruption campaign since the fourth plenary session of the 17th national Communist Party of China Committee in October has spread to the land sector.

Wang Wei, a member of the communist party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said last Thursday that supervision bodies nationwide gave special attention this year to real estate development, land management, engineering construction and the financial sector.

The latest case involves Cai Zhiqiang, former head of the Putuo District of Shanghai, who was officially arrested last Thursday on charges of taking "huge amounts" in bribes, although the exact figure was not disclosed.

While he served as the district head, he was also in charge of land use, bidding, auctions and listings, according to the Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News.

Putuo district is a new hotspot for land development, with "China's most expensive land" in September, when a square meter sold for 22,400 yuan ($3,290).

Kang Huijun, 52, a former senior official of Shanghai's Pudong New Area, was given a life sentence in February for accepting bribes of 5.9 million yuan and for his role in illicit property deals.

In the same month, Jiang Yong, the former director of Chongqing Planning Bureau, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes of 18.7 million yuan over five years from developers, along with his mistress, after he promised to aid them in their application for projects.

A two-year investigation found 10 other officials above the provincial-department-level involved in the same case.

"It often went like this, when a series of construction projects were wrapped up, a number of officials would fall," Lin Zhe, an expert on anti-corruption at the CPC Party School, told the Global Times.

Land has become an increasingly rare resource held by the government. As long as real estate prices kept soaring, some officials failed to resist the lure of huge profits shared with the developers, she said.

Corruption has not just been seen within the real estate industry. Some officials were also found to be colluding with businessmen in other areas.

Sun Shuyi, chairman of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was sacked December 17 for his alleged connection with the illegal fundraising of four billion yuan.

Chen Shaoji, former chairman of the Guangdong provincial committee of the CPPCC, and Wang Yuanhua, former secretary of the Guangdong provincial discipline committee, were detained and interrogated for their role as 'umbrellas' for Huang Guangyu, formerly the country's richest man and chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances.

Chen Tonghai, the former chairman of Chinese oil giant Sinopec Corp, is an example. He was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in July for taking bribes of 196 million yuan between 1999 and June 2007. He was found to have helped others "seek interests" in land transfers.

The total number of provincial and ministerial-level officials detained this year is a record high since China abandoned its planned economy and embraced a market-oriented economy 31 years ago, according to Lin.

Statistics in 2008 showed that as many as 41,179 officials were found to be involved in embezzlement and bribery. Among them, 17,594 major cases of embezzlement and bribery were found, an increase of 4.6 percent. 29,836 people were sentenced for abuse of power, a 12.6 percent increase compared with 2007.

Besides disciplinary or legal actions, the government has been trying other means, such as urging leading officials at various levels to report their property and investment activity and the jobs of their spouses and children, a step that many consider a prelude to a much-anticipated official property-declaration system.

Source: Global Times

 

[grey boy 2]

China starts to build petroleum reserve base in its northwest - People's Daily Online Dec 31 2009

China has launched the construction of a national petroleum reserve base in northwest China's Gansu Province.

The reserve base, located in Yongdeng County of Lanzhou City, has a capacity of three million cubic meters, said an official with Lanzhou Petrochemical Company of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Construction of the project, which started Tuesday, is expected to cost around 2.38 billion yuan (about 350 million U.S. dollars), the official said.

The base mainly includes 30 oil tanks each with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters. It is expected to be completed and put into use in the first half of 2011.

Construction of a repository for production and operation has also started in Lanzhou as a complementary part of the base. It is planned to be completed by October 2010.

Source: Xinhua

 

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data source：United Nations Statistics Division
中,美,俄,德,日,印=CHN USA RUS GER JPN IND

 

[grey boy 2]

Beijing to accelerate solar energy development - People's Daily Online Jan 06 2010

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said January 5 that Beijing will implement 6 major "golden sunlight" projects in order to accelerate solar energy development and application, promote the development of the new-energy industry and develop Beijing into a solar energy technological, research and development center, a high-end manufacturing center as well as an application and demonstration center.

The 6 major "golden sunlight" projects are composed of a 20,000 kW rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation project, a 50,000 kW on-grid solar power station demonstration project, a solar campus project, a solar thermal water project, a rural solar power project and a solar energy-powered nightscape lighting project.

In 2012, the coverage area of solar collectors installed in Beijing will reach 70 million square meters. Beijing's solar energy power generation capacity will total 70 MW and the output value of its solar energy industry will exceed 20 billion yuan. By then, solar energy will save energy consumption equivalent to 900,000 tons of standard coal, an increase of 20 percent from 2008. It will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.96 million tons, sulfur dioxide by 59,000 tons, and nitrogen oxide by 32,000 tons.

By People's Daily Online

 

[AnGrz_Z_K_Jailer]

China reacts to credit boom fears

The country's asset watchdog ordered its army of state-owned firms to take greater care, "resisting the temptation" of speculating in property, stocks, and derivatives markets.

The co-ordinated moves across all fronts cooled the buying fever on China's frothy bourses. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.9pc, with sharper corrections among cyclical stocks. Top steel producer Baoshan dropped 4.8pc, and Saic Motor fell 4.4pc.

The central bank nudged up the interest rate on 3-month loans, a symbolic move intended to signal the shift in policy direction. The authorities have quietly been issuing tougher guidelines for lenders over the past few weeks. "This tightening is the start of a long squeeze," said Charles Dumas from Lombard Street Research. The think tank said Beijing is waking up to the danger of over-heating, with the money supply growing at an annual rate of 20pc.

While China's $600bn (£376bn) fiscal stimulus package has been huge, it was more than matched by nearly $1 trillion growth in credit in the first half of the year. The authorities have since tried to rein in credit but it is already leaking in food inflation – as well as into an asset bubble – a dangerous political issue in a country grappling with tens of millions of footloose migrant workers, often quick to protest.

Jiang Weixin, the housing minister, said credit for property would be restricted to slow the runaway rise in prices. "We should scrap or adjust local property policies launched last year that no longer comply with the current macroeconomic goals," he said.

The government is concerned that huge tracts of office blocks and housing bought by investors are sitting empty. Mortgages are mostly limited to 65pc of equity – and many flats are purchased with cash – so arguably there is little danger of repeating America's subprime debacle. However, excesses are now obvious in dozens of cities.

Banking practices have been opaque, leaving it far from clear whether or not lenders are sitting on a vast underbelly of bad loans. China appears to be opting for a credit squeeze rather than allowing the yuan to rise against the dollar, euro, and yen – an alternative way to cool the economy.

This mercantilist strategy lowers the risk of job losses among toy, textile, shoe and furniture exporters but raises the risk of a trade showdown with the West, where protectionist voices are growing louder.

Tightening by China may have knock-on effects for the global commodities markets, which have been feeding the insatiable Dragon for the last year.

Andy Xie from Caijing says a significant chunk of government stimulus has been used to speculate on metals and crude. Even pig farmers have been borrowing from banks to hoard copper, hoping to flip a profit.

Mr Dumas said the policy shift in Beijing may mark the moment when China joins the US, Europe and Japan in smothering broad money growth. “This means global deflation – initially of risk-asset markets, later of economies and consumer prices. Grief will ripple out from the Pacific Rim.”

Source : China reacts to credit boom fears - Telegraph

 

[grey boy 2]

China's nuclear power capacity over 21 million kW - People's Daily Online Jan 08 2010

According to statistics released by the National Energy Administration Jan. 6, 20 nuclear power plants were under construction at the end of 2009, with a total capacity of 21.92 million kW.

China speeded up the construction of nuclear power plants last year. The data showed that construction of two 1.25 million kW nuclear power units in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, two 1.25 million kW nuclear power units in Haiyang, Shandong province and two 1.75 million kW nuclear power units in Taishan, Guangdong province were started in 2009.

China continued to construct large-capacity and environmentally friendly thermal power plants in 2009. By the end of last year, thermal plants with a capacity above 300,000 kW accounted for 64.46 percent of the nation's total.

China also attached great importance to the development of wind power last year. The capacity of wind power units in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reached 5 million kW. China's first pilot wind power project, Jiuquan wind power base, was launched. And the PV solar power station in Dunhuang, Gansu province, the first of this kind in China, was started.

The year 2009 also witnessed the shutdown of small thermal power stations of 26.17 million kW. During the 11th Five Year period, small thermal power stations with total capacity of 60.06 million kW have been shut down, which helped save 69 million tons of coal, reduce emission of sulfur dioxide by 1.2 million tons and carbon dioxide by 139 million tons annually.

By People's Daily Online

 

[grey boy 2]

China, Turkey to boost trade ties, mutual investment - People's Daily Online January 08, 2010

Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming (L) meets with Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan in Ankara, capital of Turkey, on Jan. 7, 2010. (Xinhua/Zheng Jinfa)

China and Turkey look to trade growth and a larger scale of mutual investment in a bid to forge closer economic ties, the two countries' top trade officials said in Ankara Thursday.

"For China, Turkey is an extremely significant strategic trade partner with its location between Europe and Asia," China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming said after a meeting with Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan, noting that Sino-Turkish trade has a good prospect despite the impact of the global financial crisis.

China will work with Turkey to improve transportation between the two countries to facilitate economic ties and wants to see the revitalization of the ancient Silk Road, a 2000-year-old ancient trade route linking Asia and Europe, Chen told reporters.

The minister said China will take measures to encourage Turkish companies to expand sales network in China, adding that he had discussed with Caglayan on boosting cooperation in such sectors as finance, food, energy, tourism and processing industry.

Both sides should continue to solve trade disputes properly through friendly negotiations and fight against trade protectionism, he said.

More than 100 Chinese entrepreneurs came along with Chen to seek purchase and investment opportunities during the minister's four-day visit to Turkey.

China and Turkey saw their trade surge from more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to 12.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. Turkey's exports stood at only 1.98 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.

 

[grey boy 2]

Lenovo enters mobile Internet area - People's Daily Online Jan 08 2010

Lenovo Group officially announced its strategy for entering the mobile Internet area at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, U.S. January 7. It also unveiled its first generation of mobile Internet terminals. Given the rapid advancement in information technology and growing competition from giant foreign companies, Lenovo Group expressed its firm voice, "Building up the made-in-China image in the mobile Internet area."

Aside from the hybrid computer Ideapad U1, a transition product between PCs and mobile Internet terminals, Lenovo's first generation of mobile Internet terminals also defines 2 types of fresh new products, the smart mobile phone LePhone and smart-book Skylight. As the extension from traditional PCs to mobile Internet terminals, they are specially designed for mobile Internet content and application.

By People's Daily Online

 

[sirius]

SHANGHAI: James Chanos built one of the largest fortunes on Wall Street by foreseeing the collapse of Enron and other highflying companies whose
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stories were too good to be true.

Now Chanos, a wealthy hedge fund investor, is working to bust the myth of the biggest conglomerate of all: China Inc.

As most of the world bets on China to help lift the global economy out of recession, Chanos is warning that China's hyperstimulated economy is headed for a crash, rather than the sustained boom that most economists predict. Its surging real estate sector, buoyed by a flood of speculative capital, looks like "Dubai times 1,000 — or worse", he frets. He even suspects that Beijing is cooking its books, faking, among other things, its eye-popping growth rates of more than 8%.

"Bubbles are best identified by credit excesses, not valuation excesses," he said in a recent appearance on CNBC. "And there's no bigger credit excess than in China." He is planning a speech later this month at the University of Oxford to drive home his point.

As America's pre-eminent short-seller — he bets big money that companies' strategies will fail — Chanos's narrative runs counter to the prevailing wisdom on China. Economists and governments expect Chinese growth momentum to continue this year, buoyed by what remains of a $586 billion government stimulus program that began last year, meant to lift exports and consumption among Chinese consumers.

Still, betting against China will not be easy. Because foreigners are restricted from investing in stocks listed inside China, Chanos has said he is searching for other ways to make his bets, including focusing on construction- and infrastructure-related companies that sell cement, coal and steel.

Chanos, whose hedge fund, Kynikos Associates, has $6 billion under management, is hardly the only skeptic on China. But he is certainly the most prominent and vocal. He has been spreading the view that the China miracle is blinding investors to the risk that the country is producing far too much.
Is China's economy headed for a crash? - China - World - The Times of India

 

[grey boy 2]

Beijing's per capita GDP estimated to exceed $10,000 in 2009 - People's Daily Online
Jan 08 2010
The annual per capita GDP in Beijing was expected to top 10,000 U.S. dollars in 2009 as the national capital expected an over 9.5 percent economic growth for the same year, said an official with the municipal economic planning agency Thursday.

Beijing expected to rake in financial revenue totaling 202.7 billion yuan (about 29.8 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.3 percent year on year, said Zhang Gong, head of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Committee.

The income of urban and rural residents were estimated to rise by 9 percent and 12 percent respectively in 2009 compared to 2008 figures, said Zhang.

Government policies and investment had helped boost local industries amid the global downturn, Zhang said. The city's industrial added value was expected to grow by about 8 percent and the service sector by more than 10.5 percent in 2009, accounting for 73.5 percent of Beijing overall economic strength.

Beijing also strengthened infrastructure construction in 2009 to raise its capability for sustained development, Zhang said. The length of highways and track traffic lines in operation reached 884 kilometers and 228 kilometers respectively currently. The city still has 276.7 kilometers of track traffic line under construction, he said.

The annual per capita GDP in Beijing was more than 9,075 U.S. dollars in 2008 and the figure was 7,370 U.S. dollars in 2007.

Source: Xinhua

 

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Beijing's per capita GDP estimated to exceed $10,000 in 2009 - People's Daily Online
Jan 08 2010
The annual per capita GDP in Beijing was expected to top 10,000 U.S. dollars in 2009 as the national capital expected an over 9.5 percent economic growth for the same year, said an official with the municipal economic planning agency Thursday.

Source: Xinhua

And the gdp of 3 provinces of Yangtze Delta (Shanghai Jiangsu & Zhejiang) is bigger than that of India or Korea.

 

[grey boy 2]

Chinese auto market takes over US as world's largest - People's Daily Online
Jan 09 2010


China's passenger vehicle market ended last year with a 59 percent year-on-year sales increase to surpass the United States as the world's largest auto market for the first year, thanks to the central government's stimulus package.

The domestic sales of cars, sports-utility vehicles (SUV), minivans and multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) hit 10.26 million units last year, surging from 6.4 million units in 2008, said Rao Da, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association on Friday.

The growth is also the highest in the country's auto history, with total automobile sales expected to surge 44 percent year-on-year to 13.5 million units in 2009.

Statistics from the US consulting institution Center for Automotive Research showed that new car sales in the US last year plunged 21 percent year-on-year to a 27-year low of 10.43 million units, more than 3 million behind China.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) is expected to release detailed market figures of the country's automobile industry on Monday.

The spike in vehicle sales was largely boosted by the government's stimulus policies for lifting market demand, which included tax cuts on small-displacement automobiles, subsidies for trade-ins and subsidies for farmers to buy vehicles.

A low comparative base in 2008, when car sales growth slowed to 6.7 percent with 9.38 million vehicles sold, also helped boost 2009 figures.

To further support the world's fastest growing auto market, the Chinese government said last month it will extend stimulus measures in the automobile industry for one more year.

The purchase tax for smaller cars will be lifted from the current 5 percent to 7.5 percent of the total vehicle price. The government also decided to raise the subsidy for trade-in cars from between 3,000 and 6,000 yuan ($440 to $880) to between 5,000 yuan and 18,000 yuan per vehicle.

The government's continued support for the industry promises to fuel its rise for the coming years.

Automobile industry consulting firm Sinotrust predicted that vehicle sales will reach 15.13 million units this year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 15.2 percent.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, until the end of last year, almost 200 million Chinese people are able to drive a vehicle, making up about 15 percent of the country's 1.3 billion population.

"Natural demand will continue to expand in the next few years," said Lang Xuehong, chief auto industry analyst at Sinotrust.

Chinese automakers launched a record 221 new passenger vehicle models last year, with a majority of them upgraded models and less than half being new ones, according to the latest statistics from the CAAM.

Chinese automakers are expected to launch about 100 new models this year.

The brisk sales have also brought challenges to China's appeal for a green society.

However, a number of analysts said the sales may also speed up automakers' efforts to develop next-generation energy-efficient and emission-free vehicles.

Moreover, "the revised policy for this year, with tripled subsidies to encourage the replacement of outdated vehicles with high emissions and unstable driving performance, will contribute to an environmentally friendly society in which the automobile industry has a heavy responsibility," said Yale Zhang, director of the Greater China Vehicle Forecasts for US auto industry consultancy CSM Worldwide.

Still, Chinese cities may face worsening traffic as the car boom puts an increasing number of people behind the wheel, with a number of local governments already expressing concern about the rising number of cars.

Zhang Gong, director of Beijing's municipal commission of development, said the capital will enter the "automobile age" when every 100 families own 66.1 cars.

The capital is rated in a Sohu.com survey of more than 5,000 Web users as the most crowded Chinese city in November.

Source: China Daily

 

[grey boy 2]

China signs $1 bln contracts with Turkey - People's Daily Online
Jan 09 2010

China and Turkey signed 38 contracts worth of 1.05 billion U.S. dollars at the end of the forum on economic cooperation and investment here on Friday.

The deals cover Chinese imports of minerals, marble and other products from Turkey as well as contracting power plant projects in Turkey.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and his Turkish host State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan in Istanbul.

More than 100 Chinese entrepreneurs came along with Chen to seek purchase and investment opportunities during the minister's four-day visit to Turkey.

Addressing the forum with more than 400 people from the two countries, the two ministers pledged their efforts to forge close economic and trade relations by expanding trade and increasing mutual investment.

China and Turkey saw their trade surge from more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2000 to 12.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. Turkey's exports stood at only 1.98 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.

Chinese enterprises' direct investment in Turkey reached 313 million U.S. dollars as of the end of September 2009, with the amount in the first three quarters accounting for more than 90 percent of the total, figures from China's Commerce Ministry show. Meanwhile, actual investment by Turkish companies in China exceeded 100 million U.S. dollars as of the end of October.

Source: Xinhua