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

10/01/2014

BBC News – China ‘overtakes’ US as world’s largest goods trader

China has claimed that it is \”very likely\” that it overtook the US as the world\’s top trading nation, a title the US has held for decades.

Workers at a factory in China

According to the latest data, China\’s total trade grew at an annual rate of 7.6% to $4.16tn (£2.5tn) last year.

The US is yet to release it full-year figures, but its trade for the first 11 months of 2013 totalled $3.5tn.

China became the world\’s biggest goods exporter in 2009. Its imports have also risen amid an expansion in its economy.

\”It is very likely that China has overtaken the US to become the world\’s largest trading country,\” said Zheng Yuesheng, a spokesman for China\’s customs administration.

The US is scheduled to release its full-year figures next month.

Concerns over data

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The gap between the overall trade of China and the US is likely to be almost $250bn in 2013”

Rajiv Biswas

IHS

However, there have been concerns in recent months over the accuracy of China\’s export data.

There has been speculation that some Chinese exporters may be overstating their shipments in an attempt to bypass restrictions on bringing funds into the country.

For their part, Chinese policymakers have taken measures to counter the problem.

In May last year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China foreign exchange regulator, said it would increase its scrutiny of export invoices and impose tougher penalties on firms providing false data.

Sun Junwei, China economist at HSBC in Beijing, said the \”recent measures could be working to squeeze out these fake trade activities\”.

\”We actually think these activities would be relatively contained this year compared with last year,\” she said.

Some analysts also said that even if the issue of inflated numbers was taken into account, China would still take the top spot from the US.

via BBC News – China ‘overtakes’ US as world’s largest goods trader.

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Chinese language, export, HSBC, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, United States

09/01/2014

* At 97m and growing, China has most outbound tourists – Chinadaily.com.cn

China had the highest number of outbound tourists and amount of overseas spending in the world last year, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Ninety-seven million Chinese traveled abroad in 2013, beating the 2012 mark by roughly 14 million, according to the China National Tourism Administration. The number is expected to surpass 100 million this year.

The report released on Wednesday by the Tourist Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that China\’s tourists have had the world\’s strongest purchasing power since 2012. They overtook German and US tourists as the world\’s biggest-spending travelers in 2012, spending $102 billion overseas, a 40-percent increase from 2011.

Most Chinese tourists traveled to Asian and European countries, the report said, accounting for 75 percent of overseas tourists in those countries.

Song Rui, director of the center, said the 2013 figures for overseas spending have yet to be released, but there will \”definitely\” be a new record by Chinese tourists.

\”Chinese tourists spend so much abroad that some foreigners are calling us the \’walking wallets\’, \” Song said, who added that Chinese travelers who purchased luxury products during the 2012 London Olympics led Britons to coin the term \”Peking Pound\” for Chinese spending power.

The report said Chinese tourists spent on average $7,107 per person during their trips in the US in 2011. The average amount of spending by a tourist in the US that year, according to the US Commerce Department, was $2,440.

With increased spending and traveling by Chinese travelers, more travel service providers in foreign countries are adjusting their business models. Hotel groups, including Hilton Worldwide and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, have designed new services specifically for Chinese customers.

via At 97m and growing, China has most outbound tourists – Chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Tourism | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, China National Tourism Administration, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Tourism, United States

09/01/2014

Japan wants India’s support on disputes with China – The Hindu

Engaged in a territorial dispute with China, Japan on Thursday sought to rope in India’s support over “the recent Chinese provocative actions” saying a message needs to be sent to it collectively that status quo cannot be changed by force.

Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony with his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera in New Delhi. File photo

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said dialogue is the only way to resolve the row created by imposition of restrictions by China in the East China Sea and other areas.

“For both India and Japan, China is an important neighbouring country. Both countries have important economic linkages with China. However, after the recent Chinese provocative actions, entire international community will have to send a message to China,” he told PTI in an interview in New Delhi.

“Both Japan and India should ask for a dialogue with Chinese side and tell China not to change status quo by force. These issues should be solved through dialogue and following international rules,” the Minister said.

He was responding when asked whether India and Japan could come together on issues with China as both the countries have territorial disputes with it.

The security situation in the region against the backdrop of recent tensions between Japan and China triggered by imposition of ‘Air Defence Identification Zone’ (ADIZ) over East China Sea and other areas by China came up during talks between Mr. Onodera and his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony on Monday.

During the meeting, Mr. Antony is understood to have told Onodera that India stands for freedom of navigation in international waters and application of global conventions.

After the ADIZ started creating tensions in the South East Asian region, India had stated that the issue should be resolved between the concerned parties through dialogue in a peaceful way and it was against use of force to resolve the matters.

Asked about an earlier proposal by Tokyo for forming a trilateral grouping of India, Japan and the U.S. to deal with challenges from China, Mr. Onodera said, “India and Japan have good ties with the U.S. Economically and internationally and in terms of military forces, these are big countries.”

He said that, “If India, Japan and the U.S. are in cooperation and send a common message

via Japan wants India’s support on disputes with China – The Hindu.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Diplomacy, Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Neighbour conflict, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, East China Sea, India, Japan, K Antony, New Delhi, Onodera, Tokyo

09/01/2014

India Plans Offshore Wind Energy Agency as Sites on Land Fill Up – Businessweek

India plans an agency to oversee the development of offshore wind farms as the country’s best sites on land fill up, prompting it to promote projects at sea.

English: Off shore wind turbines bathed in mist and warm autumnal sunshine. The turbines are located on Burbo Bank about 4 miles offshore Français : Petite ferme éolienne offshore, dans la lumière d’un coucher de soleil automnal. Les éoliennes sont ancrées dans un banc (Burbo Bank) à environ 4 miles nautiques du littoral (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will seek cabinet approval soon to set up the agency, the government said today in a statement, citing Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah.

India is already Asia’s biggest wind-turbine market after China in terms of annual installations. The country has built 20 gigawatts of projects onshore, drawing about $16.5 billion a year in investment. Now it’s looking to expand at sea since most of the best sites on land are occupied and poor roads limit the introduction of larger, more productive turbines.

via India Plans Offshore Wind Energy Agency as Sites on Land Fill Up – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, energy | 1 Comment »

Tags: Business, China, energy, India, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, offshore wind farms, Renewable energy, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah., Wind farm, Wind power, Wind turbine

09/01/2014

* Chinese Investment in U.S. Doubles to $14 Billion in 2013 – Businessweek

Chinese companies are on a North American buying spree, investing $14 billion in the U.S. last year, a record high, says a new report by New York’s Rhodium Group.

“Chinese investment in the United States doubled in 2013, driven by large-scale acquisitions in food, energy and real estate,” write analysts Thilo Hanemann and Cassie Gao in “Chinese FDI in the U.S.: 2013 Recap and 2014 Outlook,” released on Jan. 7.

“We expect Chinese interest in U.S. assets to remain strong in 2014 because of aggressive economic reforms in China, a more liberal policy environment for Chinese outbound investors, and a positive outlook for the U.S. economy.”

Whereas state-owned companies have dominated in total deal value in the past, that is no longer true. In 2013, more than 70 percent of investment came from private enterprises, responsible for more than 80 percent of a total of 87 deals (of which 44 were acquisitions and another 38 were greenfield projects).

Where is the money going? Unconventional oil and gas was a top draw, with $3.2 billion invested in deals that include CNOOC’s (CEO) purchase of Calgary, Alberta-based Nexen Energy’s U.S. operations, Sinopec’s (SHI) joint venture with Chesapeake Energy (CHK) of Oklahoma City, and a Sinochem International (600500:CH) stake in West Texas’s Wolfcamp Shale. Commercial real estate was also a big draw, with 18 investments in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit totaling $1.8 billion. And the single biggest deal: Shuanghui’s (000895:CH) $7.1 billion takeover of pork processor Smithfield.

Chinese companies are also becoming big employers of Americans, says Rhodium, providing more than 70,000 full-time jobs as of the end of last year. That’s an eightfold increase since 2007. Huawei Technologies (002502:CH) and Lenovo (992:HK) are big employers, but just one company—Smithfield—accounted for 37,000 of the total workers at Chinese companies.

A separate report released in early December by private equity fund A Capital found that Chinese investors put $24.7 billion into mergers and acquisitions in all of North America in the just first three-quarters of last year.

via Chinese Investment in U.S. Doubles to $14 Billion in 2013 – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Foreign acquisition, foreign investments | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Calgary, Chesapeake Energy, China, China Investment Promotion Agency, Chinese companies, chinese investment, Huawei, Los Angeles, New York City, Sinochem International, U.S., United States

09/01/2014

Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Fined $1.2 Million for Violating One-Child Policy – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Chinese Internet users often bemoan the fact that China’s wealthy are able to easily skirt the country’s one-child policy by simply paying the fines. But local officials appear to be making a point when it comes to one high-profile offender.

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and his wife , Chen Ting, were fined 7.48 million yuan ($1.2 million) by the family planning bureau of Binhu district in the eastern city of Wuxi for having three children, the district government said on its verified account on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

The district government said the fine was based on Ms. Chen and Mr. Zhang’s personal income in each of the three years before their children were born (2000, 2003 and 2005)—a total of 3.58 million yuan ($591,000). Aside from exceeding family planning limits, the couple wasn’t married at the time of the births, according to the family-planning bureau.

via Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Fined $1.2 Million for Violating One-Child Policy – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, One-child policy, Politics, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Binhu District, Chen Ting, China, Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, Chinese Internet users, Director Zhang Yimou, district government, family planning bureau, one-child policy, Sina Weibo, Wuxi, Zhang Yimou

09/01/2014

* India to seek foreign investment in giant, creaking rail network | Reuters

English: A speed board to show train speed limits on the QR rail network in Queensland, Australia. The square/boxed limit is for Tilt Trains; the higher limit is because the Tilt Trains are capable of traveling through curved sections of track at faster speeds while maintaining passenger comfort. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

India will soon invite foreign businesses to help expand its once-mighty but now outdated railways, government sources said, in a move that would mark the opening up of one of the country\’s last great state-controlled industries.

Foreign investors will be allowed to fully own new services in suburban areas, high speed tracks, and connections to ports, mines and power installations, said two senior officials involved in the deliberations.

Existing passenger and freight network operations will not be open to foreign investors under the initiative, which seeks to ease bottlenecks that slow travel on the world\’s fourth-largest rail system.

\”The plan is to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment in suburban corridors, high-speed train systems, freight line projects implemented through public-private partnership,\” said an official at the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

via CORRECTED-India to seek foreign investment in giant, creaking rail network | Reuters.

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

Tags: China, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Foreign direct investment, High-speed rail, India, Investment, Rail transport, Tilt Train, United States

09/01/2014

China energy safety probe exposes 20,000 potential risks | Reuters

China has uncovered nearly 20,000 disaster risks in its oil and gas sector during a nationwide safety probe following a pipeline blast that killed 62 people last year, the country\’s safety watchdog said on Thursday.

A man wears a mask while walking past a debris-covered basketball court of a school a day after an explosion at a Sinopec Corp oil pipeline in Huangdao, Qingdao, Shandong Province November 23, 2013. REUTERS/Aly Song

Checks on some 3,000 petrochemical firms and oil storage sites found nearly 20,000 potential hazards, Wang Haoshui, an inspector with the safety agency, told reporters.

\”Oil and gas pipelines are buried underground… It is hard to inspect (them) and find the hidden dangers,\” said Wang, adding that the agency had already urged the parties involved to fix the problems.

China has 655 trunk oil and gas pipelines with a total length of 102,000 km. Some of them have been operating for as long as 40 years, making them vulnerable to corrosion, Huang Yi, a spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, told a news briefing.

\”What worried us is that some oil pipelines overlap with urban infrastructure pipes, causing many hidden dangers.\”

The government launched the probe in December.

The November explosion at the Dongying-Huangdao II pipeline owned by top Asian refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) was attributed to pipeline corrosion, irregular work practices and a tangled network of underground pipes, Huang said.

The blast in the eastern city of Qingdao that killed 62 people resulted from pipeline corrosion that led to a leak, which was ignited in turn by sparks from a hydraulic hammer used on the day of the accident, he said.

The probe team has submitted its findings to China\’s cabinet, the State Council, and the results will be released to the public after they have been approved, he added.

Industry officials expected stiff punishment for Sinopec over the blast, which also injured 136 and caused direct economic loss of 750 million yuan ($123.9 million).

via China energy safety probe exposes 20,000 potential risks | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Politics, public safety | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Huang Yi, Pipeline transport, Qingdao, Sinopec, State Administration of Work Safety, State Council of the People's Republic of China

09/01/2014

* China sets targets for curbing air pollution | Reuters

China has set new targets for its provinces to reduce air pollution by 5 to 25 percent, state media said late on Tuesday, underscoring the government\’s concern about a source of public anger.

English: Air pollution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

China regularly issues directives to try to tackle air pollution in major cities, but these have had limited effect.

Former health minister Chen Zhu said air pollution in the country causes premature deaths of 350,000 to 500,000 people yearly, state media reported on Tuesday. Chen wrote the article in a December issue of the Lancet medical journal.

Air quality in large parts of northern and southern China reached unhealthy levels on Tuesday.

Under the new regulations, Beijing, its neighboring city of Tianjin and northern Hebei province will have to cut the amount of PM 2.5 particles, which are especially bad for health, by 25 percent annually, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the ministry of environmental protection.

China\’s commercial capital, Shanghai, the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and northern Shanxi will have to impose cuts of 20 percent. Reductions of 15 percent were set for Guangdong and Chongqing and 10 percent for the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinhua said.

The State Council, or cabinet, is mulling a system to evaluate each local government\’s progress and those who fail to reach goals will be \”named and shamed\”, said the China Daily newspaper.

Air quality in cities is of increasing concern to China\’s stability-obsessed leaders, anxious to douse potential unrest as a more affluent urban population turns against a growth-at-all-costs economic model that has poisoned much of the country\’s air, water and soil.

Authorities have invested in various projects to fight pollution and empowered courts to mete out the death penalty in serious cases.

via China sets targets for curbing air pollution | Reuters.

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

Tags: air pollution, Chen Zhu, China, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Particulates, pollution, State Council of the People's Republic of China, Tianjin

08/01/2014

China aims to ban smoking in public places by end of the year | Reuters

China aims to impose a nationwide ban on smoking in public places this year, as authorities move to stamp out a widespread practice that has taken a severe toll on citizens\’ health.

China, home to some 300 million smokers, is the world\’s largest consumer of tobacco, and smoking is a ubiquitous part of social life, particularly for men.

Tougher regulation of smoking is a priority this year, officials from the National Health and Family Planning Commission said this week, adding that the agency was pushing lawmakers to toughen laws on tobacco use.

\”Compared to the damage to health that smoking causes, tobacco\’s economic benefits are trivial,\” Mao Qun\’an, a spokesman for the commission, told a news conference on Tuesday.

The drumbeat to reduce tobacco use has grown steadily louder in the past few years, but experts say China\’s powerful tobacco industry, which has resisted raising cigarette prices and use of health warnings on cigarette packs, has been a tough opponent.

The nationwide smoking ban has long been in the works. Several cities have banned smoking in public places, but enforcement has been lax.

Beijing pledged in 2008 to prohibit smoking in most public venues, including government offices, but no-smoking signs are frequently ignored.

Steps recommended by the commission range from beefing up education on the dangers of tobacco to banning smoking in schools and hospitals.

An official in the tobacco control office of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in December that lawmakers would consider the nationwide ban on smoking in public places this year.

The commission\’s statement follows a government circular urging Communist Party cadres and government officials not to light up in schools, workplaces, stadiums, and on public transport, among other places, so as to set a positive example.

via China aims to ban smoking in public places by end of the year | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, Health, smoking, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, communist party of china, Family planning, No Smoking, Public space, Tobacco, Tobacco smoking

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

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BBC News – China ‘overtakes’ US as world’s largest goods trader

Japan wants India’s support on disputes with China – The Hindu

India Plans Offshore Wind Energy Agency as Sites on Land Fill Up – Businessweek

* Chinese Investment in U.S. Doubles to $14 Billion in 2013 – Businessweek

* India to seek foreign investment in giant, creaking rail network | Reuters

China energy safety probe exposes 20,000 potential risks | Reuters

* China sets targets for curbing air pollution | Reuters

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