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

16/02/2015

China to prosecute former top parliament body official for graft | Reuters

China will prosecute a former vice-chairman of China’s top parliamentary advisory body for graft, including taking bribes and selling “ranks and titles”, the government said on Monday, the latest senior figure to fall in a deepening anti-corruption campaign.

Su Rong attends a group discussion during the National People's Congress in Beijing March 6, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

Su Rong had been one of the 23 vice-chairmen of the largely ceremonial but high-profile Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference until authorities began an investigation last year.

Su abused his power over personnel appointments and the operation of unidentified companies and took “an enormous amount of bribes”, said the ruling Communist Party’s graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

He “abused his power and caused great losses to state assets”, it said in a statement, without providing details.

“As a senior party official, Su Rong disregarded the party’s political rules … wantonly sold ranks and titles, led the official ranks astray and damaged the atmosphere in society,” the statement said.

His influence was “abominable” and he had been officially stripped of his title and expelled from the party, it said.

Details of Su’s case have been handed to judicial authorities, it said, and he will face prosecution in court.

Su previously served as Communist Party boss for the poor inland provinces of Jiangxi and Gansu.

Chinese media ha

via China to prosecute former top parliament body official for graft | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: advisory body, Barack Obama, Beijing, China, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Communist Party, communist party of china, Hong Kong, Hu Jintao, Ling Jihua, Su Rong, United Front Work Department, Xi JinPing

16/02/2015

India seals nuclear energy pact with Sri Lanka, hopes to push back Chinese influence | Reuters

India sealed a nuclear energy agreement with Sri Lanka on Monday, its first breakthrough with the new government of the tiny Indian Ocean island where China has been building ports and highways in a diplomatic push in recent years.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) gestures to Sri Lanka's President Mithripala Sirisena's wife Jayanthi Sirisena (2nd L) as India's President Pranab Mukherjee (L) looks on during Sirisena's ceremonial reception at the forecourt of India's Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi February 16, 2015. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Under the deal, India will help Sri Lanka build its nuclear energy infrastructure, including training of personnel, the Indian foreign ministry said.

Later, India could also sell light small-scale nuclear reactors to Sri Lanka which wants to establish 600 MW of nuclear capacity by 2030, a Sri Lankan official and an Indian analyst said.

The deal came as Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena began a visit to India, his first trip abroad since he swept to power in January, which has provided New Delhi with an opening to repair ties that had become tense under his predecessor.

“The bilateral agreement on civil nuclear cooperation is yet another demonstration of our mutual trust,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement.

India had grown increasingly wary of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s pursuit of closer ties with China, which became a key supporter of the island’s economy after its 26-year-civil war ended in 2009.

China has built a seaport in the south of the country and signed a deal to develop a $1.5 billion port next to the commercial port in Colombo, raising fears Beijing is seeking influence in the island state with which New Delhi has had historical ties.

Ties worsened further after the Rajapaksa government allowed Chinese submarines to dock last year.

Modi said the two countries also agreed to expand defense cooperation, but gave no details. “This is my first visit and it has given very fruitful results,” Sirisena said.

Since coming to power last year, Modi has reached out to neighbors, offering to build power stations and ports, in a bid to push back against China.

Next month he plans to travel to Sri Lanka and the Maldives where too Beijing is seen to be expanding its diplomacy as part of a strategy to build a network of ports in the Indian Ocean through which much of its trade and energy supplies transit.

Sirisena has pledged to pursue a more global foreign policy.

via India seals nuclear energy pact with Sri Lanka, hopes to push back Chinese influence | Reuters.

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Tags: Barack Obama, China, Colombo, India, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Narendra Modi, New Delhi, nuclear energy, prime minister of india, South Asia, Sri Lanka

14/02/2015

China surpasses affordable houses targets – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China completed the building of 5.11 million affordable houses in urban areas in 2014, with 2.29 million such projects under way, surpassing the goals set at the beginning of the year, the State Council announced at a press briefing on Friday.



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The central government granted 198 billion yuan (32.35 billion U.S. dollars) to fund urban affordable housing projects in 2014, an increase of 25.1 billion yuan from the previous year, according to Qi Ji, deputy head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development.

Throughout the past four years, more than 20 million affordable houses were completed, with 12 million under construction, and the assistance fund for building the houses has reached 710 billion yuan, according to Qi.

China has set goals to construct 36 million affordable houses, also called state-subsidized housing, public housing, or social housing, between the start of 2011 and the end of 2015.

“This year is the final year of the Twelfth Five-Year plan (2011-2015), and the government will accelerate the affordable housing project with a focus on transforming the shanty towns,” Qi said.

The Chinese government has been rolling out an affordable housing scheme since 2007, in an effort to provide homes to people unable to buy them at market prices. The efforts are also aimed at helping counter the slowdown in the property market in recent years.

via China surpasses affordable houses targets – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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

Tags: affordable housing, affordable housing project, Automobile, Automotive industry, Automotive News, Central government, Chevy Volt, China, Elon Musk, General Motors, List of cities in the People's Republic of China, Nissan Motor Company, Qi Ji, State Council, Tesla Motors

14/02/2015

Military corruption: Rank and vile | The Economist

SO EXTENSIVE was the stash of jade, gold and cash found in the basement of General Xu Caihou’s mansion in Beijing that at least ten lorries were needed to haul it away, according to the Chinese press last October. Given General Xu’s recent retirement as the highest ranking uniformed officer in the armed forces, this was astonishing news. General Xu, the media said, had accepted “extremely large” bribes, for which he now faces trial. It will be the first of such an exalted military figure since the Communist Party came to power in 1949.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—as the Chinese army, navy and air force are collectively known—has not fought a war for 35 years. But the world’s largest fighting force is now engaged in a fierce battle at home against corrosion within its ranks.

Xi Jinping, China’s president (pictured, pointing), has taken his sweeping anti-corruption campaign into the heart of the PLA, seemingly unafraid to show that a hallowed institution is also deeply flawed. In January the PLA took the unprecedented step of revealing that 15 generals and another senior officer were under investigation or awaiting trial. It said it would launch a stringent review of recruitment, promotions, procurements and all of its financial dealings in order to root out corruption.

One reason Mr Xi is keen to clean up the army is to ensure that it remains a bulwark of party rule. The PLA is the party’s armed wing—its soldiers swear allegiance to it rather than the people or the country. All officers are party members and each company is commanded jointly by an officer in charge of military affairs and another whose job it is to ensure troops toe the party line. Mr Xi has repeatedly stressed the party’s “absolute leadership” over the PLA. His definition of a “strong army” puts “obedience to the party’s commands” before “capability of winning wars”.

via Military corruption: Rank and vile | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Military, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: 1972 Nixon visit to China, Barack Obama, Beijing, China, Chinese language, Communist Party, General Xu, President of the People's Republic of China, State visit, The People’s Liberation Army, United States, White House, Xi JinPing

14/02/2015

China a Top Source of Ocean Trash: Report – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Marine biologists and ocean activists have grown alarmed about the seaborne plastic that fouls shorelines and clogs currents from the Arctic to the South Pacific. But the actual amount and source of it hasn’t been known because consumer habits and pollution-control practices vary so widely world-wide.



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In a new accounting of global garbage, researchers in the U.S. and Australia led by Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineer at the University of Georgia, calculated the share that each of 192 countries could have contributed to plastic waste in the oceans. Their study is based on consumer data and waste-management information covering coastal populations around the world. The U.S. ranked 20th by the researchers’ estimates, deemed responsible for just under 1% of the mismanaged plastic waste.

Unchecked, the amount of plastic waste fouling the seas may double by 2025, reaching levels “equal to 10 bags full of plastic per foot of coastline,” Dr. Jambeck said.

According to the researchers, the coastal population of China generated 8.82 million metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste in 2010, about 27.7% of the world total. Of that, between 1.32 million and 3.53 million metric tons ended up as marine debris.

via China a Top Source of Ocean Trash: Report – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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

Tags: American Chemistry Council, Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Bengal, China, Copenhagen Business School, Jenna Jambeck, Marine debris, Ocean, Ocean Conservancy, Pacific Ocean, plastic waste, PLOS ONE, population of China, United States, University of Georgia

14/02/2015

Jack Ma Tells Alibaba Staffers: No Red Packets This Year – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Instead of handing out envelopes of cash to Alibaba’s employees this Lunar New Year, Jack Ma is distributing a huge reality check.

Chinese companies typically hand out red envelopes – known as hongbao – stuffed with money to employees on the eve of the big Lunar New Year holiday, which begins Wednesday. Alibaba Group would seem to be good for a similar reward, given its $25 billion initial public offering bonanza in September.

But in a post on his personal microblog site Friday, Mr. Ma said such rewards are reserved only for exceptional results.

“The reason for not distributing red envelopes is that in the past year, Alibaba Group has not had exceptional results and not had any special surprises,” said Mr. Ma, the company’s founder and executive chairman. “The success of becoming listed should not be a surprise as it was the result of all of Alibaba’s employees’ work over 15 years. But aside from going public, objectively speaking, we haven’t been that satisfied with our results in 2014 that we should distribute red envelopes.

“We must objectively and calmly see our own results, rationally regard external views and not let ourselves be lost in illusory fame,” he said.

Ouch.

via Jack Ma Tells Alibaba Staffers: No Red Packets This Year – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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

Tags: Alibaba, Alibaba Group, Chairman, China, Chinese language, Counterfeit consumer goods, Hong Kong, Initial public offering, Jack Ma, Ma, red envelopes, Wang Jianlin

14/02/2015

China must cut pollution by half before environment improves: official | Reuters

China needs to slash emission levels by as much as half before any obvious improvements are made to its environment, a senior government official said on Friday, underscoring the challenges facing the country after three decades of breakneck growth.

A man wearing a mask walks on a street on a hazy day in Beijing in this file photo taken on October 24, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Zhai Qing, China’s deputy minister of environmental protection, told a briefing that pollutants had been cut by just “a few percentage points” since 2006 and had to drop much further if any progress is to be made.

“According to expert assessments, emissions will have to fall another 30-50 percent below current levels if we are to see noticeable changes in environmental quality,” he said.

China has vowed to close vast swathes of ageing heavy industrial capacity and slash coal consumption in heavily populated eastern coastal regions as part of its war on pollution.

Last November, it imposed draconian restrictions on industry throughout northern China in order to guarantee air quality during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in Beijing. Zhai said emissions in the region fell by more than 50 percent during the meeting.

He said China’s ability to control pollution was still “limited” and its policies still needed to be improved.

Only eight of the 74 cities monitored by the ministry met national pollution standards last year, according to official data published earlier this month.

via China must cut pollution by half before environment improves: official | Reuters.

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

Tags: air pollution, Baoding, Beijing, China, environment, government official, Haikou, Hainan, Hebei, List of cities in the People's Republic of China, List of environmental ministries, northern China, Particulates

12/02/2015

High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese high-speed train companies are eyeing more contracts in overseas markets.

High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations

“The US will be the next strategic focus for us, after successfully winning the Boston contract,” Yu Weiping, vice-president of China CNR Corp, told China Daily on Wednesday.

CNR won a 4.12 billion yuan ($659 million) contract last year to supply metro cars to Boston’s subway system, the first US rolling stock order with a Chinese company.

“At least part of the metro cars will be assembled locally,” said Yu, who is in charge of the company’s overseas business. The company is exploring more opportunities in cities such as New York and Washington.

CNR also won a contract last year to supply 232 diesel locomotives to South Africa. Yu said the company will establish local manufacturing companies and create jobs for local employees.

Li Wen, deputy general manager of the corporate business department at the Export-Import Bank of China, said on Wednesday that the bank is involved in promoting a group of important railway projects, including a high-speed train project in California. Li said at the end of January that the bank had provided $13 billion in loans to 35 overseas railway equipment export and rail construction projects.

CNR and CSR, China’s major high-speed train manufacturer, have announced a plan to merge to become the world’s largest train manufacturer. Shareholders will vote on the move on March 9.

via High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, exports, Manufacturing, railway | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, China CNR Corp, China COSCO, chinese company, Chinese language, Container ship, Cosco, Exim Bank of China, Export-Import Bank of China, Export-Import Bank of the United States, High-speed rail, Yu Weiping

12/02/2015

Racing the elephant against the dragon | The Economist

IN 1991 India’s finance minister presented a budget to India’s parliament that would change the economic history of his country. His reforms dispensed with mounds of the red tape that reined in Indian growth, and opened up many industries to foreign capital. But India was a late-comer to the liberalisation game; China had been opening its economy since the 1970s and accelerated its efforts in the 1990s. China’s reforms have been the more successful; except for a brief period in 1999, the Chinese economy has consistently outperformed its smaller neighbour. But that picture may soon reverse.

Official statistics published on February 9th revealed that India’s GDP rose by 7.5% in 2014, a shade faster than China’s over the same period. Later this month Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, is likely to push new reforms. India also enjoys a demographic advantage. Whereas China’s workforce began to shrink in 2012, more than half of India’s current population is younger than 25. India, rather than China, may henceforth be the symbol of rapid emerging-market growth.

via Daily chart: Racing the elephant against the dragon | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, GDP, growth, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arun Jaitley, Barack Obama, Beijing, China, Economic growth, Economy of the People's Republic of China, Gross domestic product, India, International Monetary Fund, Narendra Modi

12/02/2015

India Passes China to Become World’s Fastest-Growing Economy – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Everyone from the World Bank to Goldman Sachs had predicted it wouldn’t happen for another two years but recent recalculations indicate that India has already dethroned China as the world’s fastest-growing big economy.

Late Monday, India’s statistics ministry surprised economists when it unveiled the new numbers for the growth of India’s gross domestic product. It ratcheted up India’s GDP growth figures using a new methodology that pegs expansion in Asia’s third-largest economy at 7.5% last quarter and 8.2% the quarter before that. Economists and the ministry, using the old methodology, had originally said growth was closer to 5.5% during those quarters.

While economists, investors and executives are still wondering how growth could have been so high during those quarters when other indicators suggested times were tough, the new official numbers mean that India outpaced China, taking the pole position as the fastest-growing major economy in the world.

India has been able to catch up because China’s growth has been slowing. The Middle Kingdom’s GDP expansion was 7.3% in both the third and fourth quarters of 2014. While there are smaller economies which may have had stronger growth, this puts India on top after decades driving in China’s slipstream.

Of course, China’s economy is still four times the size of India’s.

“There’s no comparison between these growth rates because of the size of the economy of China,” said Ashish Kumar, director general of the Central Statistics Office as he announced the new GDP growth numbers. “If this kind of growth continues and China continues to perform at a lower level, then still it will take 20 to 30 years to catch up.”

Still, if it can keep up this pace at least India will be gaining some ground. More importantly, a return to high growth might mean India is following in China’s footsteps and entering a take-off phase.

The South Asian nation needs to revamp its economy to help create more manufacturing jobs and savings if it wants to become the next China, said Frederic Neumann, an economist at HSBC in a recent report.

“That’s a challenging transformation,” he said. “India may never quite match the rapid ascent of China, but even at a slightly slower speed it will start to make waves.”

via India Passes China to Become World’s Fastest-Growing Economy – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, GDP, growth, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Arun Jaitley, Capital Economics, China, Economic growth, Europe, finance minister, Gross domestic product, India, International Monetary Fund, World Bank

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 to prosecute former top parliament body official for graft | Reuters

India seals nuclear energy pact with Sri Lanka, hopes to push back Chinese influence | Reuters

Military corruption: Rank and vile | The Economist

China a Top Source of Ocean Trash: Report – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Jack Ma Tells Alibaba Staffers: No Red Packets This Year – China Real Time Report – WSJ

High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

Racing the elephant against the dragon | The Economist

India Passes China to Become World’s Fastest-Growing Economy – China Real Time Report – WSJ

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