Posts tagged ‘China’

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07/03/2013

* Lawmaker calls for pollution liability insurance law

Xinhua: “A Chinese lawmaker has urged the government to create laws enforcing a scheme that makes enterprises pay compensation in cases of polluting accidents.

Insurance

Insurance (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Such environmental pollution liability insurance, serving as a safety net, will help enterprises that pose heavy risks to better prevent pollution and ensure compensation for victims when they fail, said Zuo Xuwen, director of the Hubei provincial Insurance Regulatory Bureau.

China is in urgent need of implementing the insurance in the face of intensifying pollution pressure recently, Zuo said on Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of parliament’s annual session.

Pilot environmental pollution liability insurance schemes have already had success in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangsu, according to Zuo.

In September 2008, some 120 households in Zhuzhou City of central China’s Hunan Province received compensation from an insurance company after falling victim to leakage from a local insecticide factory that caused great damage to the environment.

Zuo suggested that local legislation should be set up in accordance with each regional situation to encourage enterprises to participate in the insurance.

Zuo also called for the setting-up of pollution compensation funds when there is confusion in identifying polluters. This move would buffer victims from greater losses, and the fund would be entitled to the right of recourse for those eventually proved responsible, the official said.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued a guideline in January to promote compulsory insurance pilots in heavy industries and other big-polluting enterprises.”

via Lawmaker calls for pollution liability insurance law – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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

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07/03/2013

* China begins underground water safety investigation

Xinhua: “China has conducted investigations and research on the condition of underground water to determine the extent of pollution, a senior official from China’s top economic planning agency said Thursday.

“Based on the results we’ve collected so far, the safety of underground water is generally guaranteed, particularly the safety of drinking water from underground,” Du Ying, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a press conference.

“But we can’t rule out the possibility that the pollution of underground water will worsen,” Du told the press on the sidelines of the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body.

He said the pollution of underground water is a problem not only in cities but also in rural areas, and is spreading from shallow aquifers to deeper aquifers.

Many Chinese were infuriated after some chemical plants in east China’s Shandong Province were exposed to have illegally discharged toxic water underground directly, thus threatening the safety of underground water.

Du said the State Council, or China’s cabinet, together with the local government, has sent out teams to investigate the pollution reports.

“Our investigation into the reported pollution is still under way and no conclusion has been reached,” Du said.”

via China begins underground water safety investigation – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

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07/03/2013

* China faces social, financial risks in urbanization push

See also today’s reblog from China Daily Mail about the property bubble.

Reuters: “China’s urbanization drive could fuel social unrest over land disputes and pose financial risks if money is thrown around recklessly, a senior communist party official and a leading economist said on Thursday.

Wang Baiqiang prepares to go to work at a shoe factory in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province February 18, 2013. REUTERS-Carlos Barria

Shifting people from the countryside to cities is a policy priority for China’s new leaders as they seek to sustain economic growth that last year slowed to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent. The government hopes 60 percent of China’s population of almost 1.4 billion will be urban residents by 2020.

The urban population jumped to above 700 million from less than 200 million in the previous three decades, but that explosion has triggered sometimes violent clashes over expropriation of farmland for development as well as water shortages, pollution and other problems.

“These are severe challenges as we are trying to sustain the urbanization process,” said Chen Xiwen, head of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, the top body which guides China’s farm policy. “Many people have worries and such worries are understandable,” he told a news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament session.

The government must protect farmers from losing their land in the process as local governments have been relying heavily on land sales to finance local investment, Chen said. “If the urbanization process becomes a process of depriving and harming farmers’ interests, it cannot be sustained and society cannot maintain stability.””

via China faces social, financial risks in urbanization push | Reuters.

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07/03/2013

* North Korea warns U.S. of preemptive nuclear strike

Perhaps North Korea has learnt from the lessons of past wars with the US. Losers such as Germany and Japan benefited hugely from American aid, whereas winners such as North Vietnam did not benefit for decades after beating the Americans. Indeed even American allies like the UK had to pay the full Second World War loan for over 50 years.

So, if North Korea fought the US and lost, it reasons, unlimited aid will be forthcoming; perhaps more than China is willing to contribute.

That seems to be the only rational explanation for the continued belligerence of North Korea.

Reuters: “North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the U.N. Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country.

North Korean soldiers attend a military training in this picture released by the North Korea's official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang March 6, 2013. REUTERS-KCNA

North Korea has accused the United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, which has one major ally, neighboring China, threatens the United States and its “puppet”, South Korea, on an almost daily basis.

“Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest,” the North’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.”

via North Korea warns U.S. of preemptive nuclear strike | Reuters.

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05/03/2013

* China Internet Executives Get a Seat at the Table in Beijing

WSJ: “Between questions of censorship, laws that require complicated listings in U.S. markets, and fierce and often public confrontations between companies, China’s Internet industry has always had an uncomfortable relationship with the government.

So it’s no small thing that this year, for the first time, the government took special steps to ensure more representatives from the industry could join China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

According to two people who were part of the consultation process to choose delegates, the change primarily reflects the government’s recognition that leaders of the relatively new industry can be counted among China’s most important business leaders. In August, the United Front Work Department, the branch of the party in charge of bringing in useful people who are not party members to cooperate with the party, held a meeting attended by representatives from about 20 of China’s most important Internet companies, according to a person who attended. At the meeting, the representatives were asked about issues facing the industry, what leaders they thought should be nominated and also what other people should be consulted, according to the person.”

via China Internet Executives Get a Seat at the Table in Beijing – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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04/03/2013

* Reforms and Restructuring at the Chinese NPC Session: Managing Expectations

China Policy Institute: “This year’s Lianghui, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC), is important in the sense that a new government will be “sworn in”.

npcd

Following last November’s Party Congress, the Premier-in-waiting will be confirmed at the NPC session. He will take up his position together with a whole new cabinet—following the forming of a new Central Committee of the Party, ministers are expected to be reappointed as well, with a five year term ahead.

But the more critical question is what policy initiatives will the new government press ahead in order to show that it is the right government for the country. The new Party leadership emerged out of the last November’s Party Congress carries a strong mandate of “reform”. Now that the honeymoon effect between the new leadership team and the country is starting to fade away, citizens are watching carefully what the leadership indeed has to offer in terms of real actions.

Before the Party’s Congress, there was already indication that the new leadership team would take structural reforms quite seriously. There was indication that Xi Jinping was already commissioning reform proposals throughout the last 1-2 years. Li Keqiang, to be confirmed as Premier at this Lianghui, was also quick to signal that he was a reform guy and his government will take concrete reform measures. But it will be too early to expect the leadership team to roll out a comprehensive reform plan at this Lianghui. Between the conclusion of November’s Party Congress and this Lianghui, there was simply not enough time to forge a consensus among the Party elite.

The main preoccupation of the last three months have been lining up the provincial leaders and working out the political appointments of state agencies, which will be unveiled at the end of the NPC session. In fact, the Party Plenum (the second of this new Central Committee) that closed last night (28 Feb 2013) explicitly said in its communique that it had agreed on the political appointment list for state agencies. It did not give explicit promises of reform policies that are soon to come.”

via China Policy Institute Blog » Reforms and Restructuring at the NPC Session: Managing Expectations.

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04/03/2013

* China: The next phase of growth

China Policy Institute: “As the new Chinese leadership takes over, their biggest economic challenge remains generating growth for another 30 years. In addition to re-balancing the economy and stimulating more productivity, a key aspect will be the re-defining the role of the state. After over 30 years of marketisation and reform, China remains a mixed picture of state-led policies and a growing number of facially neutral laws with some exemptions for state-owned enterprises.

lyuIn addition, the state-owned commercial banks continue to benefit from official “financial repression” policies, such as the preservation of a spread between lending rates and deposit rates. It helps to generate margins for banks and facilitate their recapitalisation. This policy also enables the state-owned commercial banks to continue to support government policies ranging from fiscal stimulus to supporting state-owned enterprises, though not without cost to overall economic growth as financial repression distorts the allocation of capital.

The high levels of capital formation (some 40% of GDP) in the past two decades and the inefficient allocation of capital away from more productive private firms are worrying. The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2011-15) plans to re-balance the economy towards greater domestic demand and less of a reliance on exports. A key part of the plan is to increase consumption and other parts such as more urbanization and services development would support investment in developing larger urban areas where migrants can settle and government services can be dispersed more efficiently.

This plan in actuality has an implicit 30 year time horizon as these policies of migration, urban development and boosting consumption cannot be achieved in a short time period. Unless China can re-orient its growth model including towards more efficient investments by private firms, then it could find it difficult to sustain a strong growth rate. Part of this challenge will include creating a more secure welfare state.”

via China Policy Institute Blog » The next phase of growth.

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04/03/2013

* David Beckham takes up China football ambassador role

BBC: “David Beckham has become a global ambassador for Chinese football to help the image of the country’s game.

David Beckham

The Chinese Super League has recently been hit by the exit of ex-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, while also suffering from a match-fixing scandal.

Beckham, 37, will combine the role with playing for Paris St-Germain.

“I am honoured to have been asked to play such an important role at this special time in Chinese football history,” he said in a statement.

His role will involve attending league matches in China and visiting clubs to help promote the game to children.

“I’m excited by the prospect of promoting the world’s greatest game to Chinese sports fans as I’ve seen first hand the growing interest in football there,” added Beckham.

“This is a wonderful sport that inspires people across the world and brings families together, so I’m relishing the opportunity of introducing more fans to the game.”

Drogba, 34, joined Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua in June 2012 on a two-and-half-year deal after helping Chelsea to win last season’s Champions League.

But the Ivory Coast international left the Chinese club in January 2013 for Turkish side Galatasaray, in a controversial loan move.

Drogba’s former Chelsea team-mate and ex-France striker Nicolas Anelka also left Shanghai in a short-term loan move to Italian side Juventus.

The departures have been a blow to the Chinese game ahead of the 2013 Chinese Super League season starting on 8 March.

There have also been problems with corruption, which resulted in the country’s former top referee being jailed and 58 officials being banned for match-fixing by Fifa and the Chinese Football Association.”

via BBC Sport – David Beckham takes up China football ambassador role.

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03/03/2013

* Spill in China Lays Bare Environmental Concerns

NY Times: “The first warning came in the form of dead fish floating in a river.

 

Then officials in this city got confirmation that a chemical spill had taken place at a fertilizer factory upstream. They shut off the tap water, which sent residents into a scramble for bottled water. In the countryside, officials also told farmers not to graze their livestock near the river.

The spill, which occurred on Dec. 31, affected at least 28 villages and a handful of cities of more than one million people, including Handan. Officials here were irate that their counterparts in Changzhi, where the polluting factory was located, had delayed reporting the spill for five days. For the past two months, Changzhi officials and executives at the company running the factory, Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group, have generally stayed silent, exacerbating anxiety over water quality.

The conflict over the Changzhi spill has drawn attention to the growing problems with water use and pollution in northern China. The region, which has suffered from a drought for decades, is grappling with how industrial companies should operate along rivers. Local officials are shielding polluting companies and covering up environmental degradation, say environmentalists.

“Problems with water weren’t so serious before, but they have become much worse with industrial consumption,” said Yin Qingli, a lawyer in Handan who filed a lawsuit in January against Tianji, which uses water to convert coal to fertilizer at the factory in Changzhi.

Environmental degradation has led many Chinese to question the Communist Party’s management of the country’s economic growth. Addressing the problem is one the greatest challenges for the administration of Xi Jinping, the new chief of the Communist Party. Environmental issues will most likely be on the agenda at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, scheduled to begin on Tuesday.”

via Spill in China Lays Bare Environmental Concerns – NYTimes.com.

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03/03/2013

* A push for change in China as new leaders take the helm

Reuters: “For Chen Qiuyang, the new Chinese leadership that formally takes over this month can radically improve her life by doing just one thing: providing running water in her village in a remote corner of the northwestern province of Gansu.

Chief of China's Communist Party Xi Jinping is seen in a picture during a visit in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS-Carlos Barria

“We have to carry water from the well on our shoulders several times day. It’s exhausting,” Chen, who looked older than her 28 years, said in Yuangudui village, resting on a stool outside her home after completing another trip to the well.

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping takes over as China’s new president during the annual meeting of parliament beginning on Tuesday and bridging the widening income gap in the vast nation is one of his foremost challenges.

Xi has effectively been running China since assuming leadership of the party and military – where real power lies – in November, and has already projected a more relaxed, softer image than his stern predecessor Hu Jintao.

But there will be pressure on him to tackle problems accumulated during Hu’s era like inequality and pervasive corruption, which have given rise to often violent outbursts in the world’s second-biggest economy, sending shivers through the party.

Outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao will likely address these issues in his last “state of the nation” report at the National People’s Congress to nearly 3,000 delegates, whose ranks include CEOs, generals, political leaders and Tibetan monks – as well as some of China’s richest businessmen.

China now has 317 billionaires, a fifth of the total number in the world, and is on track to overtake the United States as the largest luxury car market by 2016.

Yet the United Nations says 13 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population, or about 170 million people, still live on less than $1.25 a day.

While parliament is a regimented show of unity that affirms rather than criticizes policies, income redistribution is likely to be a hot topic, along with other issues like ministry restructuring, corruption and the environment.

In January, the State Council, or cabinet, issued a new fiscal framework designed to make rich individuals and state corporations contribute more to government coffers and strengthen a social security net for those at the bottom.

But tackling China’s wealth gap will need more than just taxes. Analysts say state-owned enterprises will have to be privatized and the household registration, or hukou, system that prevents migrants from enjoying the benefits of urban citizens, will have to be dismantled.

“Fiscal reforms and changes to let private firms advance and the state retreat will decide whether this round of reforms can succeed,” said Xia Bin, an economist at the cabinet think-tank Development Research Centre and a former central bank adviser.

“There is definitely no way out,” he wrote in the latest edition of China Finance, a magazine published by the central bank.

via A push for change in China as new leaders take the helm | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, income-wealth gap, Low income | Leave a Comment »

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