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30/07/2013

India coalition approves new state of Telangana

There were 14 states and six union territories when reorganised in 1956 after independence, totalling 20.  Now there are 35, with Telangana – if approved by parliament – becoming the 36th. And there are another six or so others lobbying for statehood. The primary reason is ethnic / language differences between different population mixes in the original / existing states. Given that there are 22 officially recognised languages, plus another c6 adopted by some of the new states, it would seem that the pressure for more sub-divisions is in sight.

Apparently, it is said that some Chinese strategist predicts there will be 40 Indian states! (http://wakeap.com/news/political/china-plans-to-split-india-into-40-smaller-states.html)

BBC: “India‘s ruling Congress-led coalition has unanimously agreed to the formation of a new state in the Telangana region of southern Andhra Pradesh state, officials say.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) activists demonstrate as riot police stand behind a barrier during a pro-Telangana protest in Hyderabad on June 14, 2013

With a population of 40 million, the proposed state comprises 10 of Andhra Pradesh’s 23 districts including Hyderabad, India‘s sixth biggest city.

The state has seen protests for and against the proposal in recent years.

Backers of the new state say the area has been neglected by the government.

“It wasn’t an easy decision but now everyone has been heard and a decision has been taken,” senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told Indian media.

Opponents of the move are unhappy that Hyderabad, home to many major information technology and pharmaceutical companies, could become Telangana’s new capital.

Congress party spokesman Ajay Maken said that Hyderabad would remain the common capital for the two states for a period of at least 10 years until Andhra Pradesh develops its own capital.

“A resolution was passed in the meeting where it was resolved to request the central government to take steps to form a separate state of Telangana,” Mr Maken told a news conference in Delhi.

He said that the resolution was cleared “after taking into account the chequered history of the demand for a separate state of Telangana since 1956”.

The final decision on a new state lies with the Indian parliament. The state assembly must also pass a resolution approving the creation of what will be India’s 29th state.”

via BBC News – India coalition approves new state of Telangana.

Posted in Construction, Consumer, debt, India alert | 1 Comment »

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29/07/2013

Capability building in China

Abbreviated from: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/asia-pacific/capability_building_in_china?cid=china-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1307

Article|McKinsey Quarterly

Capability building in China

 

Skill building must be rewards-based, rooted in real work, and tailored to local conditions.

 
July 2013 | byKarel Eloot, Gernot Strube, and Arthur Wang
 

Capability building—leadership, managerial, and team-based skills rather than technical ones—has become an urgent imperative for many companies in China. As the country loses its extreme low-cost-labor advantage, businesses must look for ways to increase productivity and internal collaboration, to better understand consumers, and to develop a more sophisticated appetite for risk.

Companies in China face many of the same challenges—a lack of up-front planning and inadequate resources—that bedevil capability-building exercises everywhere. But certain “China factors” stand out. For starters, the demand for managers with strong leadership skills and international experience is growing significantly faster than the supply of qualified candidates. That imbalance makes it more difficult to pull off successful skill-building efforts, even for multinationals that typically invest more in training than Chinese companies do. (Indeed, one implication of China’s white-hot war for talent is that outside trainers brought in by multinational companies to set up and run new programs often move on before relevant tools and internal processes are in place.) Another perennial challenge for multinationals: the Chinese context and culture, which may require local tailoring of global approaches.

Then, of course, there are China’s state-owned enterprises. Many of them only recently converted from government departments into commercial entities and are still working to adapt to a competitive environment and adopt a true business mind-set. These companies generally lack a systematic approach to nurturing employees moving up the organizational ladder. They misconstrue capability building as a classroom activity, missing the impact of linking it to actual business. And they are too inflexible either to fire underperformers or to reward and promote employees, including managers, who change their behavior and adopt the necessary mind-sets.

While the challenges facing multinationals and state-owned enterprises differ, our experience with leaders at both kinds of organizations (as well as with private-sector Chinese companies) has highlighted the importance of some common, broadly applicable principles. In this article, we describe three that should help companies overcome many of the obstacles that have frustrated capability-building efforts in the past.

1. Relate capability building to real activities

…

2. Instill incentives and create opportunities for promotion

…

3. Don’t forget China’s unique culture

…

The solutions may sound obvious: developing Chinese teaching materials to help solve problems, building day-to-day business problems around products that participants would find in the Chinese market, and localizing global training materials through culturally appropriate metaphors and examples. But we know from experience how easy it is to overlook these issues. In our own work, we routinely use a case involving a coffee machine to teach managers about the seven types of waste and how a “lean” perspective can address them. When we recently used this case at a Chinese state-owned enterprise, however, the managers couldn’t make sense of the story, because they had never used a coffee machine. We have now adapted the context to tea making.

About the authors

Karel Eloot is a director in McKinsey’s Shanghai office; Gernot Strube is a director in the Hong Kong office, where Arthur Wang is a principal.

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

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29/07/2013

China opens pipeline to bring gas from Myanmar | South China Morning Post

SCMP: “China has switched on a new pipeline bringing natural gas from Myanmar, a state company said on Monday, in a project that has raised concerns in Myanmar’s nascent civil society about whether its giant neighbour’s resource grabs will benefit local people.

myanmar_china_pipeline.jpg

The 793-kilometre pipeline connects the Bay of Bengal with southwest China’s Yunnan province and is expected to transfer 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China annually, according to a news release on the website of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). A parallel 771-kilometre pipeline that will carry Middle East oil – shipped via the Indian Ocean – is still under construction.

China’s investments, largely in energy and mining, have generated controversy in Myanmar because they have done little to relieve that country’s chronic power shortages. In response, last year the Myanmar government abruptly suspended construction of the China-backed Myitsone dam, which would displace thousands and flood the spiritual heartland of Myanmar’s Kachin ethnic minority.

While the pipelines are only expected to provide a small proportion of China’s oil and gas consumption, they are strategically important to Beijing. The gas pipeline that began operating on Sunday offers a nearby source of gas, and the oil pipeline would eliminate the need for tankers from the Middle East to pass through the crowded Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.

The two joint ventures are between state-owned CNPC and Myanmar’s national petroleum company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. Four other companies from India and South Korea also have stakes in the project, according to CNPC.”

via China opens pipeline to bring gas from Myanmar | South China Morning Post.

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Economics, GeoPolitics, oil & gas, Politics | 3 Comments »

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29/07/2013

China to Launch 24-Hour Live Web Broadcast of Pandas at Chengdu Research Base

WSJ: “To kittens and puppies, now add the latest species for couch potatoes to gush over: giant pandas.

China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has launched a free 24-hour live Internet broadcast of the cuddly critters, state-run Xinhua news agency said Monday.

Viewers can watch the pandas at the base in southwestern Sichuan province, part of their native domicile, via 28 cameras planted in five areas that will feed six channels: “garden for adult pandas,” “kindergarten,” “nursery for twins,” “mother-and-child playground,” “No.1 Villa” and “featured.”

In keeping with the bears’ famously laid-back characteristics, the broadcasts have an addictively soporific feel to them, based on China Real Time Report’s viewing of several clips the base posted as sneak peeks.

In one clip, two giant pandas sprawled motionless amid quivering leaves and small skittish birds on an elevated loft. About two minutes later, the angle shifted to a second camera, with the two pandas now seeking refuge from what appeared to be fairly tepid sunlight. In short order, another giant panda lay prone by a burbling stream, in the thrall of what appeared to be another pleasant nap.

The Chengdu base is home to more than 80 freely roaming giant pandas, so it’s unclear whether the subjects are different bears or the same few viewed from various angles.

A few minutes later, the panda by the stream changed his snoozing posture slightly. It’s a small maneuver, but rendered suddenly dramatic by the enervating lull of the video feed and the sheer celebrity of the monochromatic bear. So it comes as no surprise that the clips have already attracted nearly 15,000 viewers since their launch on June 24, Xinhua said.

“I’ve watched an entire morning of pandas eating bamboo, my appetite has improved!” a blogger called Janice Yi wrote on China’s Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo. “They eat, then they fight, and when they’re tired of fighting, they eat again, then they sleep, and a whole day passes.””

via China to Launch 24-Hour Live Web Broadcast of Pandas at Chengdu Research Base – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in Economics, History, income-wealth gap, India alert | Leave a Comment »

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29/07/2013

Japan’s top diplomat heads for China seeking better ties | Reuters

Reuters: “Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki will visit China on Monday and Tuesday for talks with senior officials, the latest in a series of efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to improve relations soured by a bitter territorial row.

Japan's chief envoy to the six-party talks Akitaka Saiki arrives at Beijing airport November 30, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Lee

The hawkish Abe, who cemented his grip on power in an upper house election last week, called on Friday for an unconditional meeting between Japanese and Chinese leaders.

On Sunday, Isao Iijima, an adviser to the premier, told reporters that Abe could soon hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Often fragile Sino-Japanese ties have been seriously strained since September, when a territorial row over tiny islands in the East China Sea flared following Japan’s nationalization of the uninhabited isles.

Concern that the conservative Japanese leader wants to recast Japan’s wartime history with a less apologetic tone has added to the tension.

“Vice Minister Saiki will visit China on July 29-30 and exchange views with Chinese officials,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said. He did not give further details.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded to Abe’s overture on Friday by saying its door was always open for talks but that the problem lay in Japan’s attitude.”

via Japan’s top diplomat heads for China seeking better ties | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Economics, Foreign invasion, GeoPolitics, Good news, History, Neighbour conflict, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

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28/07/2013

Lok Sabha elections will repeat 1977 verdict: BJP

Times of India: “The BJP on Sunday said that next year’s Lok Sabha elections will be a watershed for the party and claimed that a 1977-like mood will dislodge the UPA dispensation.

Flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a na...

Flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a national political party in India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ananth Kumar, national general secretary of the BJP, also claimed that his party will get an absolute majority in the elections.

“The mood in India is like that of 1977 when the country faced the elections after the imposition of emergency… Voters wanted Indira Gandhi to go and did not give a fractured mandate but a clear majority to Janata Party that was unprecedented in many ways since Independence,” he said.

“We will get an absolute majority,” he said, adding that the BJP’s slogan in the ensuing election will be Congress Muktha Bharat (Free India from Congress).”

via Lok Sabha elections will repeat 1977 verdict: BJP – The Times of India.

Posted in Chindia Alert, Social & cultural | 4 Comments »

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28/07/2013

U.S. – China Five Initiative Plan Will Foster Future Climate Actions

Climate Law Blog: “The United States and China agreed upon a multi-faceted climate plan to curb GHG emission at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) on July 10, 2013. The plan was designed by the U.S.-China Working Group on Climate Change, which was established pursuant to a Joint Statement from both governments in April 2013. It is led by the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, Todd Stern, and the Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Xie Zhenhua.

The first Strategic and Economic Dialogue was ...

The first Strategic and Economic Dialogue was held in Washington, DC on July 27th and 28th. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The U.S. and China together account for around 45% of the world’s annual GHG emissions; the two countries thus bear much of the global responsibility for the changing climate. The Working Group’s Report first took stock of existing cooperative efforts between the two countries and found a breadth of joint programs and projects. Recognizing the enormous potential to deepen those collaborative actions, the Working Group recommended five key initiatives, which will be implemented to facilitate large-scale cooperative efforts and domestic actions beginning in October 2013. These new initiatives include:

* Reducing emissions from heavy-duty and other vehicles

* Increasing carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)

* Increasing energy efficiency in buildings, industry, and transport

* Improving greenhouse gas data collection and management

* Promoting smart grids

Both sides will gain sustainable economic growth from these low carbon developments on the basis of existing domestic policy and bilateral collaboration. Moreover, China will particularly benefit from reducing its air pollution and thereby improving public health through reducing emissions from heavy-duty and other vehicles.

The five-initiative plan directly followed a recent bilateral meeting in June 2013 in which presidents Obama and Xi agreed that the two countries will work together to phase down the production and consumption of HFC on both sides of the Pacific.

Though the agreement is non-binding, collaboration in climate strategy between U.S. and China is likely to spur a global response to come up with new efforts to combat climate change through enhancing domestic actions. Through October 2013, specific implementation plans regarding each of the five initiatives will be worked out. The Working Group will ensure that these are implemented with the involvement of large companies and non-governmental organizations.

Domestically, both countries have adopted laws or regulations addressing climate change. President Obama’s new climate policy announced in late June signaled the Administration’s commitment to regulating power plants, further promoting renewable energy, and increasing energy efficiency. China has enacted a renewable energy act and an energy conservation law which provide mid-to-long-term targets for shifting to clean energy and sustainable development. The five-initiative plan is another important step in furthering these domestic agendas, and, hopefully, greater world action.

via Climate Law Blog » Blog Archive » U.S. – China Five Initiative Plan Will Foster Future Climate Actions.

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

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26/07/2013

India, China trying to develop mechanism to prevent face-off: AK Antony

Daulat Beg Oldi is in northernmost Ladakh.

Daulat Beg Oldi is in northernmost Ladakh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Times of India: “NEW DELHI: India and China are trying to develop effective mechanisms to prevent the “embarrassing” face-offs between their troops along the “disputed” points of the Line of Actual Control, defence minister AK Antony said here on Friday.

 

Terming the 21-day stand-off between the two sides in Depsang valley in Daulat Beg Oldi area as an “unusual” incident, the defence minister said the two countries will meet soon in Beijing to discuss issues and try to find a solution for such “unpleasant incidents”.

“Till the final settlement of the border issue, we are trying to find out more effective mechanisms to prevent occasional incidents. There are many points in the LAC that are disputed and they are patrolled by both sides. So, sometimes it leads to some face-off,” he told reporters on the 14th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas.”

via India, China trying to develop mechanism to prevent face-off: AK Antony – The Times of India.

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26/07/2013

The search for civic virtues: The unkindness of strangers

The Economist: “EIGHTY years ago Lu Xun, now enshrined as the father of modern Chinese literature, observed that when others needed help his countrymen seemed to be stricken by apathy. “In China,” he wrote, “especially in the cities, if someone collapses from sudden illness, or if someone is hit by a car, lots of people will gather around, some will even take delight, but very few will be willing to extend a helping hand.”

Today such concerns lie at the heart of an agitated national debate spurred by a number of tragedies over the past few years. In 2011 a toddler known as Yue Yue was knocked down by two different vehicles on a busy street in Foshan, a boom city in Guangdong province in southern China. The vehicles did not stop. Eighteen people walked by before a humble scrap-collector picked her up. She later died in hospital. The episode was caught on surveillance camera and published online. It led to a public outpouring, with millions posting their outrage on microblogs.

Similar incidents crop up every so often. Also in 2011, an 88-year-old man collapsed in Hubei province in central China. Passers-by left him on the street for 90 minutes before some relatives arrived; he, too, later died. And last year a five-year-old boy was run over by a bus in Zhejiang province in east-central China. Videos posted online show bystanders ignoring his mother’s pleas for help.

Such grisly incidents are in fact rare. It is in the nature of things that good deeds go less remarked—including, for instance, a tendency for some Chinese couples to take in babies abandoned on their doorstep and, bureaucracy permitting, bring them up. Yet the incidents have stirred up press coverage and an anguished debate about contemporary Chinese values. Commentators blame the perceived callousness on China’s growth-at-all-costs mentality which, they claim, has created a moral vacuum. The China Daily said the case of Yue Yue symbolised “our moral decline”.

Worse, some say, those who come to the aid of others lack legal protection from a grasping and increasingly litigious society. Good Samaritans have often been shaken down by the very people they tried to help. In 2007 a student called Peng Yu was ordered to pay more than 45,000 yuan ($7,300) when an elderly woman whom he had taken to hospital after a fall accused him of causing the accident. The judge sided with the woman, reasoning that Mr Peng would not have bothered to help her unless he was at fault. Mr Peng got nationwide sympathy—though fresh evidence last year seemed to contradict his version of events.

Cases of extortion, though also rare, are widely reported. Yunxiang Yan, an anthropologist at the University of California, wrote in an essay on the subject that they constitute “a heavy blow to social trust, compassion, and the principle of moral reciprocity”. The health ministry has done its bit to discourage good deeds. Last year it advised people in a booklet on aiding others: “Do not rush to help, but manage according to the situation.”

A culture of compensation—the expectation that financial settlements will be paid to families of accident victims—has fuelled the debate. This month two teenage boys who tried to rescue two girls from drowning were pressured to pay 50,000 yuan each to the girls’ families for failing to save them. Mr Yan calls it “the Samaritan’s dilemma”: pitting a good act against the potential risk of anything going wrong.

Responding to this conundrum, this month the southern city of Shenzhen, often China’s most progressive, announced that it will implement the country’s first “Good Samaritan” law. The law aims both to encourage public acts of kindness and, crucially, to protect do-gooders should things go awry. It stipulates that Good Samaritans will face no repercussions if their efforts to help others are unsuccessful. Those framed for causing an accident now have the codified right to sue their accuser and claim—what else?—compensation.”

via The search for civic virtues: The unkindness of strangers | The Economist.

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26/07/2013

Why China’s Debt Bubble Won’t Burst

BusinessWeek: “Is China facing the prospect of a financial meltdown? That’s a question gaining new urgency as its economy decelerates: Growth in the second quarter came in at 7.5 percent, its second consecutive decline. Total debt now amounts to more than $17 trillion, or an astonishing 210 percent of gross domestic product, up 50 percentage points from four years ago, estimates Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Securities (UBS).

Bicycle commuters ride past high-rises in Beijing in 2011

The scale of the problem suggests the worries are well founded. Take China’s highly leveraged corporate sector. Company debt reached 113 percent of GDP at the end of 2012, up from 86 percent in 2008, when the country’s leadership directed banks to open their lending spigots during the financial crisis, estimates Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Hong Kong. Making matters worse, the biggest company borrowers—state-owned enterprises in heavy industries like steel, aluminum, solar, and ship-building—are now saddled with overcapacity funded by the easy credit.

A significant portion of new lending is going towards paying interest on old loans, according to UBS’s Wang. “Manufacturers facing oversupply issues will be the most likely source of new non-performing loans for banks this year,” says Liao Qiang, director of ratings for financial institutions at Standard & Poor’s. “And next year banks will see growing pressure, from [stressed] property developers, construction companies, and local government borrowers.”

While the officially reported level of bad loans is still very low—just under 1 percent for commercial banks as of the end of last year—that is likely understated. Local government borrowing—in part through China’s largely unregulated shadow banking system—has surged in recent years and now amounts to about one-third of gross domestic product, according to UBS. Much of that money has been pumped into infrastructure projects and property developments that will not provide returns for years. If China’s property markets cool, local governments—heavily reliant on land sales—may start to default on their loans.

While many analysts are becoming gloomier about China’s economy, they acknowledge that there’s very little risk of a systemic crisis. Capital controls protect China from the outflows that triggered financial meltdowns in countries including Thailand and Malaysia in the late 1990s. Also, China’s external debt is very small, only 7.2 percent of GDP, points out Royal Bank’s Kuijs, so a change in sentiment by foreigners would not have much impact.

With its high personal savings and $1.7 trillion in net foreign assets, China has ample resources to bail out banks and ailing industries. Kuijs figures that even under a “severe stress” scenario, where one-third of loans went bad, the cost of a rescue would push up government debt by only seven percentage points, to a still-manageable 60 percent. “It would certainly be messy. But China has the fiscal wherewithal to absorb problems like this,” he says. UBS’s Wang is also sanguine. “The level of debt is not a good judgment of whether a country has a serious problem,” she says. “The issue is whether it can afford the debt, and so far China can.””

via Why China’s Debt Bubble Won’t Burst – Businessweek.

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