Chinese Economy/Development thread (updated regularly)

[Brotherhood]

Lenovo unveils latest LePad - People's Daily Online January 06, 2011

Lenovo, China's largest computer technology corporation, Wednesday promoted its LePad tablet on several large IT portals. This came just prior to its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US Thursday where it will be competing with 80 tablet launches including Apple iPad.

According to Computerworld, last year, at the CES Lenovo won praise for its IdeaPad U1 Hybrid tablet laptop. Now Lenovo has announced the IdeaPad U1 hybrid that adds the LePad tablet to form a complete laptop.

LePad's 1.3GHz Qualcoom Snapdragon with Android operating system will be around $399-plus, according to tech. sina.com.

Calls to Lenovo were not returned.

Some well-known brands including HP and Toshiba will be pushing their tablets at the CES, Reuters reported.

"There will be a plethora of tablet launches at CES. I would not be surprised to see 60 to 80 tablet launches," Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that runs the high-voltage trade show, was quoted by CBC News as saying.

Industry watcher said PC tycoons including Lenovo competed to grab the tablet market partly because of the relative lower cost of their operating systems and computer chips.

"The media tablets of various brands have diversified choices of operating systems including Apple's iOS and google's An-droid, and more types of computer chips, that will break Intel Corp and Microsoft's stranglehold on PCs and consequently lead to lower costs," He Lin, an analyst with Gartner Inc, an information technology research consultancy, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Intel makes eight out of 10 microprocessors in the global market.

Microsoft will also unveil a new tablet computer soon, Reuters quoted sources as saying.

Gartner's He said LePad has its advantages in the domestic media tablet market since consumers, especially in tier-two and tier-three cities, are much more familiar with the Lenovo brand.

"The LePad has huge market potential domestically since children and elderly people will like the touch screen experi-ence," He said.

But "Lenovo will face serious competition overseas since consumers are still less familiar with its brand," He said.

The boom of tablets will also bring a raft of business opportunities for more domestic IT companies including display screens makers and tablet-related software designers, said He.

Domestic sales volume for tablet PCs this year is expected to total 4.5 million, according to Analysys International, an Internet based consultancy. And with an estimated 19.5 million units sold worldwide last year and about 54.80 million predicted to be sold in 2011, media tablets will be one of the hottest electronics trends this year, according to a report by Gartner.

Source: Global Times

 

[Brotherhood]

China leads Asia in clean energy, says UN official - People's Daily Online January 07, 2011

China's massive investment in new energy industries in recent years has made it Asia's green economy giant, Ajay Chhibber, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, said Thursday.

China has become the world's second largest market for green power, and it also has taken the lead in electric vehicle, wind power and solar power, Ajay Chhibber told a forum discussing international city development in Beijing.

Data from the Global Wind Energy Council showed China had the largest wind turbine fleet in Asia by 2008, with a total power-generating capacity of 12.21 million kilowatts.

Meanwhile, Ajay said China has demonstrated leadership in coping with global climate change, saving energy, cutting emissions, and developing a green economy.

The government announced in November 2009 that it would reduce its "carbon intensity," or the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.

Source:Xinhua

 

[below_freezing]

Lenovo unveils latest LePad - People's Daily Online January 06, 2011

Lenovo, China's largest computer technology corporation, Wednesday promoted its LePad tablet on several large IT portals. This came just prior to its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US Thursday where it will be competing with 80 tablet launches including Apple iPad.

According to Computerworld, last year, at the CES Lenovo won praise for its IdeaPad U1 Hybrid tablet laptop. Now Lenovo has announced the IdeaPad U1 hybrid that adds the LePad tablet to form a complete laptop.

LePad's 1.3GHz Qualcoom Snapdragon with Android operating system will be around $399-plus, according to tech. sina.com.

Calls to Lenovo were not returned.

Some well-known brands including HP and Toshiba will be pushing their tablets at the CES, Reuters reported.

"There will be a plethora of tablet launches at CES. I would not be surprised to see 60 to 80 tablet launches," Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that runs the high-voltage trade show, was quoted by CBC News as saying.

Industry watcher said PC tycoons including Lenovo competed to grab the tablet market partly because of the relative lower cost of their operating systems and computer chips.

"The media tablets of various brands have diversified choices of operating systems including Apple's iOS and google's An-droid, and more types of computer chips, that will break Intel Corp and Microsoft's stranglehold on PCs and consequently lead to lower costs," He Lin, an analyst with Gartner Inc, an information technology research consultancy, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Intel makes eight out of 10 microprocessors in the global market.

Microsoft will also unveil a new tablet computer soon, Reuters quoted sources as saying.

Gartner's He said LePad has its advantages in the domestic media tablet market since consumers, especially in tier-two and tier-three cities, are much more familiar with the Lenovo brand.

"The LePad has huge market potential domestically since children and elderly people will like the touch screen experi-ence," He said.

But "Lenovo will face serious competition overseas since consumers are still less familiar with its brand," He said.

The boom of tablets will also bring a raft of business opportunities for more domestic IT companies including display screens makers and tablet-related software designers, said He.

Domestic sales volume for tablet PCs this year is expected to total 4.5 million, according to Analysys International, an Internet based consultancy. And with an estimated 19.5 million units sold worldwide last year and about 54.80 million predicted to be sold in 2011, media tablets will be one of the hottest electronics trends this year, according to a report by Gartner.

Source: Global Times

even though the LePad sounds french and sophisticated in English, it came after the iPad so people think it's a ripoff. a terrible marketing move by lenovo, they should fire their marketing staff immediately.

 

[Brotherhood]

China plans for more charging stations for electric cars - People's Daily Online
January 08, 2011

State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) plans to build more electric charging stations in Beijing and several other cities this year to meet rising demand for electric vehicles, a Beijing newspapers reported Saturday.

The country's dominant electric power transmission company will build a network of charging stations in Beijing, Tianjin, Hefei and Nanchang this year, the Beijing News quoted SGCC general manager Liu Zhenya as saying.

The major service of the stations will be providing batteries that are already recharged, Liu said at the company's annual work meeting in Beijing.

"On average, oil-powered car owners spend 70 yuan (10.6 U.S. dollars) on fuel cost for driving 100 kilometers at present. But a user of battery-powered auto just needs to pay 20 yuan for the same journey," Liu said.

He said the batteries will be mostly charged at night, and used batteries will be recycled by SGCC.

SGCC built 6,209 electric vehicle supply equipment at 75 charging stations in 27 Chinese cities last year, the newspaper said.

The company's move is part of the government's effort to promote the development of the electric auto industry, which has been listed as one of the country's seven emerging industries in September 2010.
The government aims to lift annual output of new energy vehicles to 500,000 units over the next three years, and boost sales to account for 5 percent of total passenger car sales.

However, for a long time, the lack of related infrastructures such as charging stations and the absence of a common standard on charging devices hindered the industry's growth.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Shifu]

$2.85 trillion
new record for the world.

 

[Brotherhood]

World Bank: China to drive Asian growth - People's Daily Online January 13, 2011

Although China's economic growth is predicted to moderate at 8.5 percent this year, from 10 percent in 2010, it will remain the focus of Asia's expansion, the World Bank said on Thursday.

In a report on the global outlook, the bank said overall growth for developing Asian economies, should ease to 8 percent from last year's 9.3 percent as exports moderate and governments rein in credit to cool inflation.

China's growth is easing as the country winds down stimulus and tightens credit to cool inflation and housing prices, the bank said. Still, it said continued strong Chinese demand for raw materials and components should buoy exports.

"East Asia is well positioned to enjoy further years of strong — albeit more moderate — growth over the period to 2012," said the bank report. "China will remain the focal point of regional activity."

Indonesia's 2011 growth should accelerate to 6.2 percent from last year's 5.9 percent, and Vietnam's growth should moderate to 6.4 percent from last year's 6.7 percent, the bank said.

Source: Agencies

 

[Brotherhood]

Government's work safety campaign to go high-tech - People's Daily Online January 14, 2011

By the end of this year all vehicles carrying dangerous chemicals, fireworks or explosives for civil uses will be required to install satellite-positioning devices that can record their whereabouts, the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) has announced.

This was part of China's increased efforts in 2011 to use advanced safety technologies to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by workplace accidents, Luo Lin, head of SAWS, said on Thursday at its annual conference.

The new rule for vehicles will also be applied to all tourist charter buses and cross-county long-distance bus services.

Other technologies that help to improve work safety would be applied to the country's mines, smelters, machinery makers and fishing vessels, said Luo.

The administration will make it compulsory for mining companies nationwide to install six safety and refuge systems in the shafts for monitoring production, positioning miners, ventilation, supplying water and communication, and providing underground refuge space, he added.

Of the systems introduced in the past few years, the monitoring, ventilation, water-supply and communication systems are now working in full at all of the country's coal mines, said Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of SAWS.

Zhao is also head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Zhao said coal-mining companies must act more quickly to install the six safety and refuge systems in 2011.

"Production permits will be revoked temporarily if (the companies) fail to complete the installation by deadlines," he added.

The administration took this approach because 2010 saw a rise in the number of workplace accidents that claimed at least 10 lives. This increase ended a period of declining severe accidents in the workplace.

The deaths from these accidents increased by 27.6 percent to 1,438 in 2010 from a year ago, according to figures provided by SAWS. The number of accidents that claimed 10 or more lives rose by 27 percent year-on-year to 85.

Luo blamed the rebound in such accidents in 2010 on frequent natural disasters, lack of attention to safety rules and shortcomings in accident prevention measures on the part of some local governments and companies.

"There are still many problems and deficiencies in workplace safety," he said. "The situation is still serious."

Meanwhile, the total death toll from all workplace accidents in China fell by 4.4 percent in 2010 from the previous year to 79,552. During the same period the number of accidents also dropped by 4.2 percent to 363,383.

Luo said the administration will introduce harsher measures this year to further ensure the implementation of safety rules.

The results of investigations into all workplace accidents that killed at least three people will be made public, he said. Punishment details for those held responsible for the accidents will also be released to the public.

Warnings will be issued to any province if three or more accidents, each with at least three deaths, are reported there in seven straight days, Luo added.

He also vowed to crack down on dereliction and corruption involved in serious man-made accidents.

By Yan Jie, China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China offers helping hand to crisis-hit Europe: Norwegian scholar - People's Daily Online January 14, 2011

Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, on Thursday spoke highly of China's timely assistance to a Europe struggling in deep financial crisis.

In an article published on the Thursday issue of the Norwegian- language newspaper Aftenposten, Egeland said that 150 years after Britain and other Western countries forced China to accept the opium trade in Chinese cities, crisis-hit European countries are now hoping to have investment and assistance from China.

Three years ago nobody would have thought that China would emerge as a contributor to the euro's survival and to save the European countries from financial bankruptcy, he said in the article.

"We live in a world of radical change -- 2011 is the year when we will definitely see that the economic and political center of gravity is moving eastward," the author said.

Large parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa as well as the Middle East are marked by optimism, growth and investment. But in the forefront is China, which is making investments in Europe and America, the article said.

It is equally sobering to click on costofwar.com to see how quickly the U.S. government spends billions in Afghanistan and Iraq as 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars have been spent on the two wars there, Egeland said.

Beijing, already a major investor in Greece and in talks with Ireland, has bought nearly 50 billion of Spain's government debt, said the article. Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang has just concluded a visit to Spain, Germany and Britain with over 100 prominent Chinese businessmen. During this visit, he said that China will contribute to help Europe get out of the crisis, the article added.

"There is every reason to believe that China does not want revenge on earlier humiliation, but actually want to contribute to both the U.S. and Europe to avoid economic chaos. Lenders earn little when the borrowers go bankrupt," said Egeland.

Source:Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Boeing's reach is woven into China's aviation industry - People's Daily Online January 14, 2011

<center class="t091105">Employees work on the wings of a Boeing 737 in Kansas. Li Xing / China Daily

David Langridge believes his job is taking him "around the world" without getting on board an airplane.

A driver with Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Langridge takes guests of the world's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer between their hotels and Boeing's sites in the suburban cities of Everett or Renton.

There, the guests - pilots, mechanics, engineers and airline managers - work with Boeing staff members to get their new aircraft inspected, receive training, improve their skills in aircraft maintenance or develop expertise in airport management.

Many of his guests from around the world are Chinese.

"I feel like going around the world (with them)," Langridge said.

China is a frequent destination for Boeing's top commercial executives.

James F. Albaugh, executive vice-president of the Boeing Company, has visited China three times since he became president &CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in September 2009.

"I'd like to think we (Boeing and China) are partners," Albaugh said in a recent exclusive interview with China Daily. "We worked with China to develop its aviation industry, aviation infrastructure, and we continue to depend on them as they, I hope, depend on us."

There is the confidence in the growth of China's market for Boeing's airplanes, despite competition from Airbus in Europe and China's efforts to expand its high-speed railways and build its own regional and large aircraft.

Albaugh was told during his first visit that China needed to buy 200 airplanes a year. But he disagreed. "In my view, there is going to be a lot more than that, close to 300," he said.

Having gone through the economic cycles and business challenges over nearly six decades, Randy Tinseth, vice-president of marketing of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said air travel still managed to grow about 5 percent a year due not only to the strong link between air travel and the economy but also to people's curiosity and their need to travel.

Since he visited China for the first time in the early 1990s, Tinseth has made more than 30 trips, seeing the dramatic changes in Shanghai skyline and experiencing "more complicated" driving on the road in Beijing.

Today, Boeing has 31 customers in China flying about 870 Boeing airplanes. Moreover, Tinseth reckoned that about 190 million Chinese fly in Boeing airplanes.

Two months ago, he announced in Beijing that his company forecasted that China would need 4,330 new commercial airplanes valued at $480 billion over the next 20 years.

In short, 20 years from now, more than 40 percent of all travel will begin and end within the Asia-Pacific market, Tinseth said, and China is about 40 percent of that demand. "This is our idea of the important role that Asia as well as China will play," he said.

"We cannot underestimate the power of tourism, both domestic and outside China. I know in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), tourism will be raised in terms of importance," he said.

Tinseth said he and his team are aware of China's ambitious plan to develop a high-speed rail system. Boeing sees it as both competition and complementing.

His research team examined the high-speed rail development plan. They concluded that high-speed rail would attract a lot more passenger flow between two cities within 800 kilometers.

Travelers are likely to debate whether to ride or to fly when cities are 800 to 1,200 km apart.

But they believe that most passengers would favor air travel if the distance goes beyond 1,200 km, as personal wealth grows and time becomes more important, Tinseth said.

"There are challenges in all types of transportation," he said, noting that some high-speed rail terminals are located outside downtown areas. "Airlines have to work together with railroads."

But Boeing's footprints in China go far beyond selling airplanes.

"There is not a plane we built that doesn't have parts from China in it," Albaugh said.

China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China's leading military industrial company aims high on new energy development - People's Daily Online January 16, 2011

The China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC), the nation's leading military industrial company, said on Saturday that it would make more efforts focused on new energy development during the next 5 years.

The company also announced that its 2010 profits increased 37.5 percent year on year to 7.65 billion yuan (1.16 billion U.S. dollars). Sales revenues reached 253.3 billion yuan, up 37.1 percent from one year ago, the company said in a statement.

Li Shouwu, vice general manager of CSGC, said the company aimed to double its profits from the level of 2009 to more than 20 billion yuan by the end of 2015. Sales revenues would reach at least 380 billion yuan.

Also, the company would make more efforts to develop new energy automobiles and high-end manufacturing equipment in the next five years after it had created breakthroughs in manufacturing silicon solar cells and wind power generators, Li said.

Source: Xinhua

 

[xixi]

Excuse me, but what exactly is the Chinese definition of a "migrant worker"?

huge amount of ppl, main source of GDP.

 

[Brotherhood]

Figures tell Tibet's development in five years - People's Daily Online January 17, 2011

Tibet's regional government leader Padma Choling has said, at the local parliamentary session, that Tibet is at its best period, citing figures to review the plateau region's development over the past five years.

NEW HOMES FOR 1.43 MILLION HERDERS

Tibet launched an ambitious "new countryside" program in 2006 to improve housing conditions for farmers, herders and other low-income groups.

With a 17-billion yuan investment from the state treasury, Tibet has provided new homes for about 300,000 families with a combined population of 1.43 million.

Another 185,500 families are expected to move into new homes by 2013, with access to safe drinking water, electricity, road, telecommunication, natural gas, radio and television as well as postal services.

10.1 BILLION YUAN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Between 2006 and 2010, Tibet earmarked a total of 10.1 billion yuan to preserve the plateau ecology and environment, three times as much as in the 2001-2005 period.

Tibet established eight new nature reserves to preserve its wetlands, natural forests and pasturelands and contain desertification and soil erosion.

137.8 BILLION YUAN ON KEY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

The central government earmarked 137.8 billion yuan for 188 key infrastructure construction projects in Tibet in the 2006-2010 period. By the end of last year, 109 of these projects had been completed and the other 79 were underway.

Among the most important projects were a new railway from Lhasa to Xigaze, Gunsa Airport in the northern Ngari Prefecture, Bangda Airport of Qamdo, and a 100,000-kilowatt photovoltaic plant in Ngari.

58,000 KM OF ROAD

By the end of 2010, Tibet had finished renovating 80 percent of its state highways and built blacktop roads to 54 counties, bringing the total road mileage to 58,000 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the ongoing construction of a highway to the isolated Metok county and Tibet's first ever expressway linking Lhasa and the Gongkar Airport will shorten travel time for the Tibetans.

3,990 YUAN IN PER CAPITA NET INCOME FOR FARMERS, HERDERS

The per capita net annual income of Tibetan farmers and herders reached 3,990 yuan in 2010, nearly twice the 2005 figure.

The increase was attributed to output growth in the farming and herding industries, as well as additional earnings from tourism and other service industries.

1.7 BILLION YUAN OF FREE MEDICARE

The central and regional government spent 1.7 billion yuan to finance free medical services for Tibetan farmers and herders in the 2006-2010 period.

Over the five years, the government renovated 20 Tibetan county hospitals and sent mobile hospitals to patrol 602 villages in 74 counties.

107,800 BUSINESSES

Tibet had 107,800 firms with a combined registered capital of 50 billion yuan at the end of 2010, up 9.3 percent and 15.7 percent respectively from the previous year.

Most business owners, drawn by the sound investment environment and rosy market prospects, are optimistic in trading Tibetan specific products and services.

21.25 MILLION TOURISTS

Tibet received 21.25 million domestic and international tourists in the past five years, a 30.6 percent increase annually.

Meanwhile, the regions' tourism revenue reached 22.62 billion yuan, averaging a 30 percent rise a year.

As more sightseers are pouring in each year, the local tourism administration estimate tourist arrivals will hit 15 million in 2015.

12.6 BILLION YUAN IN FISCAL REVENUE

Tibet's local fiscal revenue reached 12.6 billion yuan in the past five years, up 188 percent from the 2001-2005 period.

7.57 BILLION YUAN OF AID

Over the past five years, Tibet received 7.57 billion yuan of aid from inland provinces and municipalities as well as government organizations, state firms and other institutions that are ready to help foster Tibet's development.

A total of 2,661 officials and professionals from the inland areas worked in Tibet for one to three years, bringing technological and management expertise.

Source:Xinhua

 

[pulsar220]

Beijing plans tunnels to ease traffic gridlock

BEIJING: Huge underground roads are to be built in the Chinese capital, state media said Monday, in the latest effort to relieve the chronic gridlock paralysing Beijing.

Mayor Guo Jinlong told local lawmakers at their annual legislative session that building tunnels in the city centre was a priority for 2011, the China Daily reported.

"The traffic jams result from the growth in the number of automobiles. The situation demands immediate attention," Guo was quoted as saying.

Officials in Beijing are battling dire traffic and air pollution -- both of which are among the world's worst -- and the problems are only getting worse as the city's increasingly wealthy citizens buy more cars.

Last month, the city government announced new restrictions that will only allow 240,000 new passenger cars to hit the road in Beijing next year -- a third of the number registered in 2010.

China has also scrapped a tax cut on small passenger cars put in place as part of a massive stimulus package introduced to fight the global financial crisis.

According to the report, the tunnels will be located on the east and west sides of a ring road around the city centre that is often severely congested.

Zhou Nansen, vice head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, said these would be "the world's most difficult tunnels to dig" due to a complex underground sewage system and the presence of archeological relics.

The commission was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.

Another two-kilometre (1.2-mile) long tunnel will be built under Wangfujing Avenue, a popular commercial pedestrian street in the city centre, the report said.

Lawmakers also discussed the possibility of doubling the 336-kilometre-long subway network by 2015, and nearly tripling it in length by 2020, as other ways to relieve congestion, it added.

Read more: Beijing plans tunnels to ease traffic gridlock - The Times of India Beijing plans tunnels to ease traffic gridlock - The Times of India

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

There is no need for posting Indian, Chinese or Western economic news in this forum. Those subjects are covered extensively by the global media and various other foras.

Stick to Chinese defence, strategic and security related topics in this section.

Any global economic news has to be globally relevant, such as the global recession and its impact on the world, not just on China or India, and that can go in World Affairs section.