Chindia Alert | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

03/02/2014

China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a major power supplier in China, has accelerated the development of green energy as it recorded higher installed capacity in 2013.

English: Wind power plants in Xinjiang, China (Taken with a Nikon D70.) 中文: 中国新疆的风力发电厂。 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Statistics with the Xinjiang branch of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) showed that by 2013, the combined installed capacity of wind power, hydropower and solar power stations exceeded 1,368 million KW, accounting for about one third of all installed capacity in Xinjiang.

The installed capacity of wind power stations reached 500 million KW, nine times of that in 2009, while the figure of solar power stations increased to 277.1 million KW from zero in 2010, according to a report released by the SGCC Xinjiang branch on Sunday.

Xinjiang is rich in both traditional and new energies.

A project to connect the Xinjiang power grid to the northwest China grid was launched in 2010 to transmit Xinjiang\’s redundant electric power to other parts of the country. The money made from this is used for developing Xinjiang.

The SGCC Xinjiang branch has put an average annual investment of 500 million yuan towards green energy projects.

Total installed capacity is expected to reach 6,048 million KW by the end of 2014, and that of green power will exceed 2,200 million KW.

via China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Electricity, energy, Environment, Good news | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, energy, green energy, State Grid Corporation of China, Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

03/02/2014

China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters

China has unveiled new rules telling officials not to cover up what should be publicly available information using the excuse it is a state secret, in what state media said was a move towards greater government transparency.

China has notoriously vague state secret laws, covering everything from the number of people executed every year to industry databases and even pollution figures, and information can be retroactively labeled a state secret.

The issue received international attention in 2009 when an Australian citizen and three Chinese colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.

But the government has come under pressure from its own people to be more open, especially on sensitive issues like the environment, which have no obvious implications for national security.

The new rules, carried by the official Xinhua news agency late on Sunday, mandate that government departments \”must not define as a state secret information which by law ought to be public\”.

Xinhua said that the move, due to come into force on March 1, was \”an effort to boost government transparency\”.

via China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Good news, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Classified information, Japan, New York City, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Toshihide Maskawa, United States

02/02/2014

India vs. the U.S.: When Central Bankers Collide – Businessweek

Central banking isn’t a contact sport like football, or even cricket. But the head of India’s central bank, who until recently was living and working in the U.S., is throwing some sharp elbows at his counterparts at the Federal Reserve. This is as close to a brawl as you’re likely to see in the genteel world of official monetary policy.

Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan in Mumbai on Jan. 30

In an appearance on Bloomberg TV India yesterday that made headlines around the world, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said “international monetary cooperation has broken down.” Lest there be any confusion about what caused the breakdown, Rajan said, “Industrial countries have to play a part in restoring that, and they can’t at this point wash their hands off and say, ‘We’ll do what we need to and you do the adjustment.’”

Rajan’s reference to “industrial countries” pertains mostly to the U.S., where the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it would further taper its bond-buying. The Fed’s move puts upward pressure on U.S. interest rates. That in turn leads investors to snatch their money out of countries like India and put it in U.S. securities that suddenly offer more attractive yields. The result: downward pressure on India’s currency, the rupee. When the rupee falls, Indian imports get more expensive. That makes Indians poorer and raises the inflation rate, which is already running at around 10 percent a year.

via India vs. the U.S.: When Central Bankers Collide – Businessweek.

Posted in Economics, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Central bank, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve System, India, Raghuram Rajan, Rajan, Reserve Bank of India, the Federal Reserve, U.S., United States

02/02/2014

China: Promise, potential, performance[1]|chinadaily.com.cn

The latest book on China\’s position in the world this century offers a nuanced picture of the country\’s strengths and weaknesses

Will China emerge as the dominant force of the 21st century? The debate on the former Middle Kingdom\’s global position has been opened up again by leading China commentator Jonathan Fenby.

Promise, potential, performance

His new book, Will China Dominate the 21st Century?, which is published in the US this month and worldwide in March, concludes the country\’s domestic challenges such as reliance on state investment and environmental concerns will divert it from being the leading actor on the world stage.

In this special edition, we not only debate the issues raised by Fenby but present again the views and opinions on China of the leading thinkers, authors and academics who have appeared in the China Daily European Weekly over the past year.

Our Cover Story and Last Word profile subjects have included the foremost China commentators from around the world and today we are giving them another opportunity to stake out their latest positions.

Fenby\’s latest book deals with perhaps the biggest question of all as to China\’s future role in the world.

He argues that we are unlikely to move from a world dominated by the United States – as was the case after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 – to one dominated by China.

He believes that by the end of the century, there will be a greater sharing of power with Europe, India, an emergent Russia and new players like Indonesia exerting greater influence.

He makes the case also that China will be held back – at least for the next few decades – by economic issues relating to the weakness of its private sector, underdeveloped banking sector and its inability to innovate as well as management skill gaps.

The book is the latest of a new genre of China\’s books that presents a more nuanced picture of China\’s strength. It follows on the heels of US Sinologist David Shambaugh\’s China Goes Global: The Partial Power and Timothy Beardson\’s Stumbling Giant: The Threats to China\’s Future.

This contrasts with perhaps more heady titles that appeared just after the Beijing Olympics, including Martin Jacques\’s highly acclaimed When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World, which has now sold more than 350,000 copies worldwide.

Rana Mitter, director-designate of Oxford University\’s new China Centre, believes Fenby reflects a more realistic perspective of China that is now emerging.

\”We are now in an era in which people are writing forward projections about China based on the reality that the supercharged economic growth of the last decade is behind us.

\”China will continue to grow but at a moderate pace and I think people have adjusted their geopolitical lenses to take account of that fact.\”

via Promise, potential, performance[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, David Shambaugh, Jonathan Fenby, Martin Jacques, United States, Western world

01/02/2014

* India, Japan to cooperate in energy, telecoms – Businessweek

India and Japan have signed agreements on cooperation in the energy and telecom sectors during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\’s visit to New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with Abe on Saturday and said India was taking steps to facilitate Japan\’s links with India\’s growing economy.

Singh said that India also was discussing with Japan the possibility of buying an amphibian aircraft called the US-2 and its co-production in India. \”More broadly, we are working toward increasing our cooperation in the area of advanced technologies.\”

The two agreed to hold regular consultations between their national security councils on security issues. India invited Japan\’s Maritime Self-Defense Force to participate in this year\’s India-U.S. naval exercises off India\’s western coast, according to a joint statement issued after the official talks.

The Indo-U.S. exercises, launched in 2006, include air operations and sea control missions aimed at preventing piracy and countering terrorism at sea.

Abe arrived in New Delhi on Saturday for a three-day visit. He was the chief guest at India\’s Republic Day celebrations on Sunday.

via India, Japan to cooperate in energy, telecoms – Businessweek.

Posted in Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: India, Japan, manmohan singh, New Delhi, Prime Minister of Japan, Republic Day, Shinzō Abe, United States

01/02/2014

UPDATE 5-U.S. FAA downgrades India aviation rating; Air India, Jet hit | Reuters

U.S. authorities have downgraded India\’s aviation safety rating, citing a lack of safety oversight, meaning the country\’s carriers cannot increase flights to the world\’s biggest aviation market and face extra checks for existing ones.

India said it expected to resolve by March all concerns raised by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, including appointing an adequate number of flight operation inspectors, and would ask the U.S. regulator to review its decision.

\”The FAA has determined that India at this time is not in compliance with the international standards for aviation safety oversight,\” the U.S. regulator said in extracts from a communication released by the Indian government on Friday.

via UPDATE 5-U.S. FAA downgrades India aviation rating; Air India, Jet hit | Reuters.

Posted in Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: aviation, Aviation safety, Federal Aviation Administration, Government of India, India, Jet Airways, United States

01/02/2014

BBC News – Why Mahatma Gandhi is becoming popular in China

For the first time, Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi\’s own story of his life is to be available in China.

The Story of My Experiments With Truth, which has sold more than 200,000 copies in India alone and has been translated in to some 35 languages, will now be translated in Mandarin to cater to what Chinese scholars say is the \”growing interest\” in the leader in their country.

Five volumes of Gandhi\’s selected works containing his writings on satyagraha [people\’s movement], religion, politics and speeches, will also be translated into Mandarin.

\”Gandhi\’s works have largely not been available in Russia and China so far. We are really excited with the growing interest about his writings in China,\” said Vivek Desai of the Ahmadabad-based Navajivan Trust, the 84-year-old publishing house founded by Gandhi which has published more than 300 volumes of the leader\’s works.

Surge of interest

Dr Huang Yinghong of Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-Sen University said he and a team of academics would translate and publish Gandhi\’s works in China. Over 80 of the leader\’s speeches will also be translated.

\”A lot of people, especially the young, in China are interested about Gandhi\’s work but unable to find anything in the local language,\” he said, adding that he planned to launch the five volumes of translated works by the end of the year.

What is driving the surge of interest in the works of the independence hero in China?

\”Gandhi\’s non-co-operation movement [against British rule] in 1920 and his ability to mobilise people had caught the attention of Chinese rulers,\” says Prof Shang Quanyu, who teaches at the foreign studies department of South China Normal University in Guangzhou and has been researching Gandhi.

\”Until 1950, 27 books and hundreds of articles on Gandhi and his ideas where published here. He was described as the Rousseau and Tolstoy of India.\”

via BBC News – Why Mahatma Gandhi is becoming popular in China.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, India alert, Politics, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Gandhi, India, mahatma gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Navajivan Trust, South China Normal University, Sun Yat-Sen University

31/01/2014

Chinese man used first-class airline ticket to get free meals in airport’s VIP lounge for almost a year

Man should get a prize for enterprize!

“Man used first-class airline ticket to get free meals in airport’s VIP lounge for almost a year

A man bought a first-class ticket and used it to have free meals and drinks at an airport’s VIP lounge almost every day for nearly a year.

The itinerary for the ticket was found to have been changed more than 300 times within a year, and the owner of the ticket used it to enjoy the facilities at the airport’s VIP lounge in Xi’an in Shaanxi, China.

The case was discovered by a China Eastern Airlines staff member, who then decided to investigate.

When the ticket’s validity was almost up, the passenger cancelled it for a refund. An airline spokesman said there were no means to stop this act, even if it was done on purpose.”

via Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man used first-class airline ticket to get free meals in airport’s VIP lounge for almost a year.

Posted in China alert, Economics, enterprize, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Airline ticket, Airport, Airport lounge, China, China Eastern Airlines, First-class cricket, free meals, Kwong Wah Yit Poh, Shaanxi, VIP lounge, Xi'an

31/01/2014

The motorcycle migration: The Chinese shunning public transport in quest to get home for Lunar New Year | South China Morning Post

The thrum of motorcycles echoes over a Chinese mountain road, where hundreds of thousands are shunning public transport to take the highway home during the world\’s largest annual human migration.

China\’s 245 million migrant workers – twice the entire population of Japan – generally have to travel on jam-packed trains or buses to get to their hometown to see their families for the Lunar New Year.

But this year more than 600,000 are expected to ride by motorcycle, according to state-run media, making gruelling journeys of several hundred kilometres for the country\’s biggest festival, while a hardened few are even cycling.

\”I\’m excited, I want to get back home as soon as possible,\” said Mo Renshuang, a shoe factory worker who stopped to stretch his legs at a rest stop several hours into his 700 kilometre (430 mile) trip.He was heading from Guangdong, one of China\’s richest provinces, to Guangxi – one of its poorest regions.

via The motorcycle migration: The Chinese shunning public transport in quest to get home for Lunar New Year | South China Morning Post.

Posted in China alert, Economics, motor cycle | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Chinese language, Chinese mountain road, chinese new year, Guangdong, Guangxi, Human migration, migrant worker, Motorcycle, public transport

31/01/2014

Environment: Browner, but greener | The Economist

China stands out for its greenness in a new environmental ranking

CHINA is the world’s biggest polluter, so it is no surprise that it fares poorly on some measures of pollution in a new global index of environmental performance. The shock is that it also stands out for its world-beating greenness in other areas on the same index.

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a joint product of America’s Yale and Columbia universities, is the latest volume in a long-running biennial ranking of 178 countries on a variety of measures of environmental performance. New this year are assessments of performance in waste-water treatment and combating climate change, as well as the clever use of satellite data (to track trends in forestry and air pollution) in order to top up traditional computer modelling and official data.

The report’s conclusions are more cheerful than most green report cards. The experts believe countries are doing well in improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and in bringing down child mortality. However, the global trends are worrying in other areas like fisheries, wastewater treatment and air quality. Overall, Switzerland came out top. Somalia came last. China was 118th, a middling ranking that beats India (155th) but falls well below South Africa (72nd), Russia (73rd) and Brazil (77th).

However, that average masks a huge divergence in China’s performance in two areas. Using satellite data, the boffins worked out, for the first time, what global exposures were to fine particulate matter (known as PM2.5) from 2000 to 2012. China ranked at the bottom on air pollution, with nearly all of its population exposed to levels of PM2.5 pollution deemed unhealthy by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Though less frequently criticised than Beijing, Delhi’s air is also terrible—but China as a whole fares worse. In 2012 the average human exposure to PM2.5 for all of China was 48 micrograms per cubic metre, but the national figure for India was only 32 units (the WHO says anything above 10 units is unhealthy).

The surprise is that China has done very well on carbon. The experts calculate that, unusually among big emerging economies, it slowed the rate at which its greenhouse-gas emissions have grown in the past decade. That is partly a natural result of its development, which has led to investment in better technology and cleaner industries, but it is also thanks to policies to improve efficiency and boost renewable energy.

Environmentalists the world over can breathe a little easier knowing that the biggest global polluter has started to slow the rise in its greenhouse-gas emissions and may one day even reduce them. If only China’s urban residents could breathe a little easier, too.

via Environment: Browner, but greener | The Economist.

Posted in carbon emission, China alert, coal, Ecology, Economics, Environment, Green, greenhouse gas, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: air pollution, Beijing, China, Environmental Performance Index, Particulates, pollution, South Africa, World Health Organization

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters

India vs. the U.S.: When Central Bankers Collide – Businessweek

China: Promise, potential, performance[1]|chinadaily.com.cn

* India, Japan to cooperate in energy, telecoms – Businessweek

UPDATE 5-U.S. FAA downgrades India aviation rating; Air India, Jet hit | Reuters

The motorcycle migration: The Chinese shunning public transport in quest to get home for Lunar New Year | South China Morning Post

Environment: Browner, but greener | The Economist

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