08/05/2012
Xinhua: “A new regulation, made public Monday, provides employed Chinese women with better welfare policies, including extended maternity leave and higher workplace protection.
A pregnant woman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to the regulation adopted by the State Council in April, maternity leave has been extended from 90 days to 98 days, which is in line with the 14-week minimum standard set by the International Labour Organization. The regulation more clearly specifies leave granted to women who have miscarriages. According to it, a female employee will get 15 days of leave if their miscarriage occurs within the first four months of pregnancy and 42 days of leave if it happens later. Under the regulation, female employees should be paid either by the maternity insurance programs they have joined or by employers during their maternity leave.
The regulation also expands the categories of jobs that pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers are banned from working for, while removing restrictions on what jobs married women at the childbearing age should take.It also imposes clear penalties on the offenders, ranging from 1,000 to 300,000 yuan 159 to 47,619 U.S. dollars. And it stipulates that those employers who seriously violate the rules should be suspended from operation.
According to the government, China is estimated to currently have 102 million women in full-time employment.”
via China issues policies to raise wellbeing of working women – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
Posted in China alert, Good news, Health, Reform, Women's rights |
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07/05/2012
Xinhua: “China and five Central Asian nations held a cooperation forum on Monday in Tongxiang of east China’s Zhejiang province. The forum, themed around mutual trust, cooperation and harmonious development, focused on pragmatic, social and cultural cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
It also saw the signing of a declaration on further promoting their cooperation. Bai Lichen, vice chairman of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, Chinas top advisory body, attended the opening ceremony and met with representatives from the five Central Asian countries.”
via China, Central Asian countries hold cooperation forum – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
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07/05/2012
China Daily: “Germany looking more to China than Europe for overseas investment
Germany has always been the cornerstone of the European economy but Europe is not as important to Germany as it used to be.
For the first time China has become German companies top foreign investment destination, totaling $1.36 billion by the end of last year, according to a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce. The amount was more than the combined German investment in France, Spain and Italy.
The profound shift is visible in the case of Knauf Gips KG, a German-headquartered plasterboard manufacturer.When asked what helped turn the family-owned workshop into the world’s second-largest gypsum board maker, Mark Norris, the company’s China chief executive officer, said one particular factor stands out – China. After its entry into the Chinese market in the 1990s, Knauf built three plants in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The initial investment soon gave Knauf a solid foothold in the country’s dry-wall market. Norris said he was quite bullish about the future and remained committed to continuing investment, despite decelerating economic growth in China, compounded by the European crisis and stagnation in the United States. “In relative terms, China remains a dynamic growth engine compared with places like Spain and Greece, where there is absolutely no growth,” he said. “And people seem to forget that the market is so big, the demand for good quality is there.” As we noticed over the past five years, a mid-to-upper class has emerged and the quality of life is increasing. People are prepared to pay for green building materials. Even though its not comparable to the European or US standard, it is catching up quick.””
via Foreign firms bullish about economy[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.
Posted in Affluence, China alert, Consumer, Economics, Green, Manufacturing |
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04/05/2012
Xinhua: “The State Council, or China’s Cabinet, announced on Thursday a slew of measures to enhance the fiscal, financial and taxation support for small and micro-sized enterprises in a bid to ensure their sound development.
China’s small and micro-sized firms are facing increasing operational pressures and rising production costs amid a complicated and uncertain economic situation, and financing difficulties and heavy taxation are adding more pains. Therefore, the State Council issued a document to boost the healthy development of small and micro-sized firms as they play an irreplaceable role in creating jobs and promoting the real economy. The document, including 29 measures in eight aspects, required local authorities to enhance fiscal and tax support for the small and micro-sized firms, relieve their financing difficulties and create a favorable environment for their development.”
via China pledges more support for small, micro-sized firms – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
Posted in China alert, Economics |
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03/05/2012
Reuters: “China’s Bright Food will take control of breakfast cereal maker Weetabix, beloved by generations of British children, in the biggest foreign acquisition by a Chinese food group.
State-owned Bright Food has agreed to buy a 60 percent stake in a deal which puts a value of 1.2 billion pounds $1.94 billion, including debt, on the private-equity owned company that coined the slogan “Have you had your Weetabix today?”
The Shanghai-based group has been on the acquisition trail, seeking to raise its profile and cater for its rapidly growing home market. Weetabix is its second foreign purchase in a year and its first in Europe after other deals fell through. Eighty-year-old Weetabix is Britain’s second biggest maker of breakfast cereals and cereal bars after Kellogg. Its brands include Alpen muesli and Ready Break as well as Weetabix, which lays claim to being Britain’s No. 1 breakfast cereal for under-5s and is made from wheat grown within 50 miles 80 km of its base in southern England.
“As China’s leading food group, we are pleased to become the controlling shareholder of Weetabix,” Bright Food chairman Wang Zhongnan said in a statement on Thursday. “Weetabix has an excellent product portfolio, including leading British cereal brand Weetabix and other category-leading brands. “Private equity owners Lion Capital and Weetabix management will keep a 40 percent stake. The quintessentially British breakfast cereal group was founded in 1932 by the secretive George family and soon producing its iconic bricks of wheat. It was bought by a private equity firm in 2004.
Bright Food now sees a big opportunity for Weetabix in China, where breakfast is a very important meal and there is a trend towards healthy eating.The group, which makes “White Rabbit” candy, bought majority stakes in Australias Manassen Foods and New Zealands Synlait Milk over the past two years.”
via UPDATE 2-Chinas Bright Food buys Weetabix | Reuters.
Related post: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/02/13/pattern-of-chinese-overseas-investments/
Posted in Affluence, China alert, Consumer, Health, Investment in tangibles |
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03/05/2012
Xinhua: “A shipyard operated by Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co., Ltd. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian billionaire Clive Palmer to build a replica of the Titanic, the shipyard confirmed Wednesday.
Titanic II (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“The agreement to build the Titanic II was signed on April 20, but details about its budget and design have yet to be decided. A construction contract has not been signed, either,” said Li Wenbao, an official with the state-owned Jinling shipyard. The news was first announced by Palmer on Monday. It has been reported that the ships maiden voyage is scheduled for late 2016, taking the ship from England to New York in accordance with the original ship’s planned route. More than 1,500 people perished after the Titanic went down on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg on its first voyage, from Southampton to New York.
Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province, has about 3,000 employees and has built ships for clients in the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, Japan and Singapore.”
via MOU signed for building Titanic replica: Chinese shipmaker – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
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03/05/2012
NY Times: “Limited military talks between China and the United States — an arena in which the two sides view each other with mounting unease — open here on Wednesday as a prelude to a wider-ranging economic and strategic dialogue between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and their Chinese counterparts.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner listen as President Barack Obama addresses the opening session of the first U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington on July 27, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Military talks are a prelude to an economic and strategic dialogue. China is increasingly suspicious of what it views as stepped-up spying by American planes and ships along its coast, and the United States is disquieted by China’s growing array of weaponry, analysts on both sides say. The two nations have been unable to agree on a serious agenda for military talks despite an escalation of tensions as China presses territorial claims in the East and South China Seas and the United States fortifies longstanding alliances from Australia to the Philippines.
The meetings, known as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, will be limited to a one-day session on Wednesday that will cover two subjects, cyberwarfare and maritime issues, Obama administration officials said.”
via Unease Mounting, China and U.S. to Open Military Talks – NYTimes.com.
Posted in China alert, Defence, Diplomacy, GeoPolitics, Military |
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03/05/2012
WSJ: “For General Electric Co., Australia is the new China.
The original version of General Electric’s circular logo and trademark. The trademark application was filed on July 24, 1899, and registered on September 18, 1900 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The continent of 22 million people is set to generate more revenue for the industrial conglomerate this year than will the Middle Kingdom, with 1.3 billion. The shift stems in part from Chief Executive Jeff Immelts shuffling of the company’s business lines to emphasize energy. But it also reflects a significant rethinking of China’s value for GE, which, after years of missed targets and slow growth in the country, has turned its attention to resource-rich locations that have friendlier rules for investing and fewer national champions as rivals.
GE isn’t giving up on China, where its annual sales have hovered at around $5 billion for much of the past half-decade. But the company is betting that the price of energy and minerals will remain strong—and that GE will have an easier time breaking into other markets to sell compressors, locomotives and power generators in countries that produce oil, gas and iron ore. The new approach elevates Canada, Peru, Mongolia and Australia into the circle of growth prospects once dominated by Brazil, Russia, India and China.”
via Frustrated With China, General Electric Turns Its Eye to Australia – WSJ.com.
- General Electric (graphicdesign1aust.wordpress.com)
Posted in China alert, Economics |
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01/05/2012
China Daily: “As foreign luxury brands compete to carve out portions of China’s fast-growing market, experts are predicting that Chinese companies will soon develop luxury brands of their own.
It is time for domestic enterprises to establish luxury brands, since China has already become the dominant driver of growth in the luxury sector, said Zhou Ting, executive director of the research center for luxury goods and services at the University of International Business and Economics. The sales volume of Chinas luxury market was 11.5 billion euros $15 billion in 2011, a year-on-year growth of 25 percent, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd.
Potential domestic luxury brands could come from some traditional Chinese industries, including liquor, tea, porcelain and silk, said Yang Qingshan, a guest researcher of luxury goods and services at UIBE. The research center listed 10 domestic brands with the potential to become luxury brands in its luxury report in November. Three liquor brands – Moutai, Wuliangye and Langjiu – are among the 10 brands. Zhuyeqing tea and some clothing brands, such as NE-Tiger and Shanghai Tang, are also on the list.”Many traditional Chinese products already have a feature of luxury because of their heritage,” Yang said.”
via High-end Chinese brands coming soon|Economy|chinadaily.com.cn.
Posted in Affluence, China alert, Consumer, Economics |
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30/04/2012
New York Times: “… The (joint US-Philippines military) exercises included mock beach invasions along coastlines facing China, whose military buildup and territorial claims in the South China Sea have alarmed some of its neighbors and jumpstarted the United States’ military “pivot” to the region.
That American policy, which will include sending more troops and ships to the region, appears to have picked up speed in recent weeks. On Thursday, Japan and the United States announced what was effectively a compromise on Okinawa that calls for thousands of Marines to leave for Guam and Hawaii in an attempt to allow others to remain on the strategic Japanese island despite local objections. And on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta will meet their Philippine counterparts in Washington, the highest level meeting after months of talks to expand the American military presence in the Philippines.
Ramping up the number of troops in the Philippines — even if they are rotating in and out from temporary bases — would still be something of a reversal for the nation after Philippine lawmakers years ago forced the closing of American bases, including the shuttering in 1992 of the Subic Bay Naval Station. The base, which had been a cornerstone of the United States’ military presence in Asia, was a casualty of some Filipinos’ sense that the facility served as a painful reminder of decades of American rule.
via Philippines Role May Grow as U.S. Adjusts Asia Strategy – NYTimes.com.
America continues with its strategy to encircle China in the Pacific, with military alliances not only with its traditional allies, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea; but also with Australia, India and the Philippines.
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