Archive for September, 2012

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06/09/2012

* China to spend massively on farmland improvement

Xinhua: “The government will spend 37.36 billion yuan(about 5.93 billion U.S. dollars) to improve the quality of farmland this year, the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.

The fund, which is a part of the country’s comprehensive agricultural development plan, includes 21.92 billion yuan from the central budget and 12.05 billion yuan from local budgets, the ministry said.

The government plans to improve the quality of 15.47 million mu (1.03 million hectares) of medium- and low-yield land and build 13.31 million mu of high-quality farmland by the end of 2012, said the ministry.

The government will also support improvements for 45 water-saving projects in medium-sized irrigation districts, said the ministry.

The projects will add or improve irrigation on 25.82 million mu of land, aiming to increase agricultural production capacity, it said.”

via China to spend massively on farmland improvement – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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06/09/2012

* China Approves 25 Subway Projects

WSJ: “China has recently approved 25 subway projects by local governments, data from the country’s top economic planning agency show, as part of the central government’s efforts to boost sluggish growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The National Development and Reform Commission has approved a total of 710.8 billion yuan ($112.1 billion) worth of investments by 18 local governments to build city subways, according to statements posted on its website Wednesday.

Most of the approvals came between June and August, according to the NDRC. The projects are expected to have an average construction time of 4.6 years, with local governments providing 40% of the funding.

Beijing has significantly accelerated approvals for new infrastructure projects by local governments as it seeks a range of avenues to jump-start growth, which slowed to a more-than-three-year-low of 7.6% in the second quarter. Recently-released key economic data from the manufacturing, trade and industrial sectors added to the gloom.

Nomura economist Zhang Zhiwei said the recent number of city subways approved was comparable with the 23 approved in early 2009, when the government unleashed a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package.

“This news suggests that the pace of fiscal policy easing has picked up,” Mr. Zhang said.”

via China Approves 25 Subway Projects – WSJ.com.

China is at it again, using infrastructure spend to boost the economy. At least this time its aimed a specific need, easing urban traffic and speeding urban travellers.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/chinas-infrastructure/

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06/09/2012

* Beijing Updates Parables, ‘The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety’

NY Times: “Reading it now, six centuries after Guo Jujing wrote this paean to parental devotion, “The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety” comes off as a collection of scary bedtime stories. There is the woman who cut out her own liver to feed her sick mother, the boy who sat awake shirtless all night to draw mosquitoes away from his slumbering parents and the man who sold himself into servitude to pay for a father’s funeral.

While the parables are even more familiar to most Chinese than Grimms’ Fairy Tales are to Americans — the text remains a mainstay of educational curriculum here — they have understandably lost much of their motivational punch.

But when the government, in an effort to address the book’s glaring obsolescence, issued an updated version last month in the hope that the book would encourage more Chinese to turn away from their increasingly self-centered ways and perhaps phone home once in a while, it wasn’t quite prepared for the backlash.

Compared with its predecessor, the new book brims with down-to-earth suggestions for keeping parents happy in their golden years. Readers are urged to teach them how to surf the Internet, take Mom to a classic film and buy health insurance for retired parents.

“Family is the nucleus of society,” intoned Cui Shuhui, the director of the All-China Women’s Federation, which, along with the China National Committee on Aging, published the new guidelines after two years of interviews with older Chinese. “We need family in order to advance Chinese society and improve our economic situation.”

So far, those good intentions appear to have prompted mostly ridicule. But they have also unintentionally kicked up a debate on whether the government, not overextended children, should be looking after China’s ballooning population of retirees.

In a fast-aging nation where hundreds of millions of people have left their former homes in the countryside in search of jobs, “The New 24 Paragons of Filial Piety” strikes many as nearly as out of touch with the problems of modern China as the old parables.”

via Beijing Updates Parables, ‘The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety’ – NYTimes.com.

See also: China’s aging population

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Migrant workers, One-child policy, Population | 1 Comment »

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05/09/2012

* Guangzhou Moves to Limit New Cars

NY Times: “It is as startling as if Detroit or Los Angeles restricted car ownership.

The municipal government of Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis that is one of China’s biggest auto manufacturing centers, introduced license plate auctions and lotteries last week that will roughly halve the number of new cars on the streets.

The crackdown by China’s third-largest city is the most restrictive in a series of moves by big Chinese cities that are putting quality-of-life issues ahead of short-term economic growth, something the central government has struggled to do on a national scale.

The measures have the potential to help clean up China’s notoriously dirty air and water, reduce long-term health care costs and improve the long-term quality of Chinese growth. But they are also imposing short-term costs, economists say, at a time when policy makers in Beijing and around the world are already concerned about a sharp economic slowdown in China.

“Of course from the government’s point of view, we give up some growth, but to achieve better health for all citizens, it is definitely worth it,” said Chen Haotian, the vice director of Guangzhou’s top planning agency.

Nanjing and Hangzhou in east-central China are moving to require cleaner gas and diesel. Cities near the coast, from Dongguan and Shenzhen in southeastern China to Wuxi and Suzhou in the middle and Beijing in the north, are pushing out polluting factories. And Xi’an and Urumqi in northwestern China are banning and scrapping cars built before 2005, when automotive emissions rules were less stringent.

“There’s a recognition finally that growth at all costs is not sustainable,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, the managing director of Silk Road Associates, a Hong Kong consulting firm.

Facing public pressure to address traffic jams and pollution, municipal governments from across China have been sending delegations to Guangzhou. But the national government in Beijing is pushing back against further car restrictions because of worries about the huge auto industry, said An Feng, a senior adviser in Beijing to transportation policy makers.

“This has really become a battle,” Mr. An said.”

via Guangzhou Moves to Limit New Cars – NYTimes.com.

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05/09/2012

* Who will be next Indian Prime Minister?

Reuters: “With the Congress-led coalition government more than halfway through its five-year term, the political temperature is heating up in the world’s largest democracy. The question on everyone’s minds is — who’s going to be the next prime minister?

Photo

A recent Nielsen survey had showed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was the top choice for the post, ahead of Congress party scion Rahul Gandhi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

But last week’s conviction of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker in the Gujarat riots is a blow to Modi, and the political fallout from the case may have dented his hopes of sitting in the prime minister’s chair.

Senior party leader Lal Krishna Advani had earlier stoked controversy by blogging about the possibility of a “non-Congress, non-BJP prime minister” after the 2014 elections.

It’s not just internal party dynamics, the BJP’s allies are also giving Modi sleepless nights. Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar has made it clear he won’t be happy if Modi is projected as the BJP candidate.

And what about the Congress? Incumbent Manmohan Singh seems to be out of the reckoning and several senior Congress leaders have hinted at the elevation of Rahul Gandhi.

But that’s easier said than done. A political crisis over suspected corruption in the allocation of coal blocks has put the government on the back foot. Its performance in this year’s Uttar Pradesh state elections, often a barometer of success at the national level, wasn’t good enough to stave off regional rivals. What was more painful — its main campaigner was Rahul Gandhi and his ‘magic’ did not work.

With the Congress-led coalition government more than halfway through its five-year term, the political temperature is heating up in the world’s largest democracy. The question on everyone’s minds is — who’s going to be the next prime minister.”

via India Insight.

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04/09/2012

* Healthcare system to get 400b yuan injection

Chronic Disease

Chronic Disease (Photo credit: tamahaji)

China Daily: “Increase in cases of chronic diseases can mean opportunities for medical firms

Deng Jianping currently spends around 500 yuan ($79) a month on medicine for blood pressure, diabetes and coronary heart disease.

The 68-year-old Beijinger said his wife has more chronic diseases and her medication costs even more, while his two sons, 42 and 38, also need to take medicine every day for hypertension and heart illness.

Wang and his family are among the more than 260 million Chinese people, around a quarter of the nation’s population, who have been diagnosed with chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

The Ministry of Health said that around 10 million people in China have contracted chronic diseases every year since 2002.

“Prevention and control of chronic diseases will be one of the seven top tasks of China’s medical care reform by 2020,” said Health Minister Chen Zhu.

The central government will invest a total of 400 billion yuan by 2020 in the seven key projects, which also involve improvements to the grassroots healthcare system, psychological disease prevention, the construction of a digital public health information network, medical device innovation, the development of traditional Chinese medicine, and the training of general practitioners.

According to the ministry, 85 percent of deaths in China are caused by chronic diseases, with expenditure on the treatment of these accounting for 69 percent of China’s total healthcare costs last year.

Foreign pharmaceutical companies have an advantage in this sector, according to Song Yingtong, a senior analyst at Beijing Chnmed Consulting Co Ltd, a domestic pharmaceutical consulting firm.

“They have accumulated rich experience in chronic disease treatment in developed markets,” he said.”

via Healthcare system to get 400b yuan injection |Hot Issues |chinadaily.com.cn.

Hot on the announcement of expanded care is news of cash injection to make it real.  President Obama “eat your heart out.”

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04/09/2012

* China’s next leader buoyed by fresh setback for Hu

Reuters: “China’s next leader, Xi Jinping, looks to have emerged politically stronger after ruling Communist Party elders foiled a second attempt by outgoing President Hu Jintao to stack the top echelon of the new administration with his own allies.

China's Vice President Xi Jinping speaks with Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (not pictured) during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing August 29, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool

Hu had been maneuvering to promote his star protege, Hu Chunhua, to the party’s supreme decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, as part of the current leadership transition, but other senior party figures have opposed the idea, two independent sources said.

Hu Chunhua, who is not related to Hu Jintao, is instead likely to be given one of China’s biggest but also most testing political assignments as new party chief of southwestern Chongqing, the job from which disgraced politician Bo Xilai was ousted, said the sources with ties to the top party leadership.

The sideways move for Hu Chunhua, currently party boss for Inner Mongolia, follows the demotion of another of Hu Jintao’s closest allies at the weekend – both taken as signs that Xi may have a relatively freer hand to forge consensus among peers.

“Hu’s (Jintao) loss is Xi’s gain,” one of the sources with ties to the leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. “Xi is in a less difficult situation.”

China, currently mired in an economic downturn, faces growing calls for it to step up the pace of economic and social reforms, a task that could prove trickier for Xi if the Standing Committee were to include politicians reluctant to make changes to the cautious direction set by Hu over the past decade.

But the situation remains fluid, with the make-up of the new Standing Committee, currently comprising nine members, still to be finalized in a once-in-a-decade transition to be unveiled at the party’s 18th congress, expected next month at the earliest.”

via China’s next leader buoyed by fresh setback for Hu: sources | Reuters.

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03/09/2012

* India’s top court allows some iron ore mining to resume

BBC News: “India’s Supreme Court has partially lifted its 16-month-old ban on iron ore mining, allowing some mines to resume work in southern Karnataka state.

Iron ore mining in Goa

Companies which had “not violated their lease conditions” could resume mining, the court ruled on Monday.

The ban was imposed last year in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts over environmental concerns.

The order will open up about 5 million tonnes a year of production again, reports say.

India is the third largest producer of iron ore in the world and Karnataka, which produces about 45 million tonnes of iron ore per year, is India’s second largest supplier.

But mining in the state has been under the spotlight for some time with reports of illegal mining and has become a hot political issue.

The Supreme Court order follows recommendations of the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

In a report in February, the CEC recommended that licences of as many as 49 iron ore miners in Karnataka should be cancelled.

It said 72 other miners should be fined for operating mining pits and burden dumps outside sanctioned areas.

“The extent and level of unauthorised, unregulated, environmentally unsustainable and illegal mining in its various facets has no other parallel in the country,” the CEC said it is report.

Last year, BS Yeddyurappa, the then chief minister of Karnataka, resigned after an anti-corruption panel indicted him in a mining scandal. Mr Yeddyurappa denies the allegation.”

via BBC News – India’s top court allows some iron ore mining to resume.

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03/09/2012

* China’s steel traders expose banks’ bad debts

Reuters: “China’s banks are coming after the country’s steel traders, hauling executives into court to chase down loans that some traders said they didn’t initially need and can’t now repay.

An employee checks on a steel product at a steel production factory in Wuhan, Hubei province in this August 2, 2012 file photo. China's banks are coming after the country's steel traders, hauling executives into court to chase down loans that some traders said they didn't initially need and can't now repay. The heavy push to recover the loans is another sign of strain on China's financial system at a time when the country's leaders are contemplating another round of stimulus to boost the economy, and when banks are worried about bad debts piling up. REUTERS-Stringer-Files

The heavy push to recover the loans is another sign of strain on China’s financial system at a time when the country’s leaders are contemplating another round of stimulus to boost the economy, and when banks are worried about bad debts piling up.

The battle between the banks and steel traders also exposes flaws in the 4 trillion ($629 billion) stimulus round in 2008, and offers a warning to those calling for pumping more money into the system. At that time, Chinese banks threw money at the steel trade – a crucial cog in supplying the country’s massive construction and infrastructure growth.

But those steel loans, after offering a quick fix, became excessive, poorly managed, or a combination of the two. Government officials insisted more money was needed to prop up the industry. Steel executives said the money flow was too heavy, and they had to put the money to work in real estate and the stock market.

“After the financial crisis, when the government released its stimulus, banks begged us to borrow money we didn’t need,” Li Huanhan, the owner of Shanghai Shunze Steel Trading, told a judge at a recent hearing. “We had nothing to do with the money, so we turned to other investments, like real estate.””

via Insight: China’s steel traders expose banks’ bad debts | Reuters.

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03/09/2012

* China probes ‘gutter oil in medicine’ claims

BBC News: “Chinese officials have told pharmaceutical firms to check their suppliers after claims that some have used “gutter oil” to make antibiotics, state-run media report.

File photo: Police inspecting illegal cooking oil seized in 2010

Officials are looking into firms that reportedly use the cheaper gutter oil rather than the more expensive soy bean oil in the production process.

Gutter oil is reprocessed kitchen waste dredged from restaurant drains.

It has been part of a series of recent food safety scandals in China.

The government said it would release its findings soon, without giving further details.

It is not clear whether these antibiotics pose a risk to public health, but the incident highlights how some firms cut corners to pursue profits, says the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.

Scandals over contaminated food – most recently gutter oil – have caused considerable public alarm in China in recent years.

In April, state-run media reported on how officials cracked down on underground workshops that used decomposing animal fat and organs to produce gutter oil.

Police said that most of the oil was sold to oil manufacturers for food production and making hotpot soup in restaurants.

In September last year, police arrested 32 people in an operation to prevent the sale of gutter oil as cooking oil.”

via BBC News – China probes ‘gutter oil in medicine’ claims.

There seem to be no limits to the unethical behaviour of some Chinese business people. Central government is trying to do its best, in pharmaceuticals,and  food production, but the miscreants carry on.

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