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

28/05/2013

* China Building Beachhead in Europe With $5 Billion Belarus City

Business Week: “China is building an entire city in the forests near the Belarusian capital Minsk to create a manufacturing springboard between the European Union and Russia.

China Building Beachhead in Europe With $5 Billion Belarus City

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko allotted an area 40 percent larger than Manhattan around Minsk’s international airport for the $5 billion development, which will include enough housing to accommodate 155,000 people, according to Chinese and Belarusian officials.

Lukashenko, who’s led his former Soviet state of 9.5 million for two decades, is turning to China to help revive a $60 billion economy that’s needed $6.5 billion of bailouts from the International Monetary Fund and Russia since 2009. The hub will put Chinese exporters within 170 miles of EU members Poland and Lithuania and give them tax-free entry into Russia and Kazakhstan, which share a customs union. It will also let them draw from a workforce that’s 99.6 percent literate and makes $560 a month on average, half the Polish wage.

“This is a unique project,” Gong Jianwei, China’s ambassador to Belarus, said on state television May 17, after the project won regulatory approval. “Nobody will be able to build anything like this industrial park anywhere else in Europe anymore. The infrastructure is so powerful.”

The “modern city on the Eurasian continent,” as it’s called in marketing documents, will be built around the M1 highway that links Moscow and Berlin via Belarus and Poland. A speed-rail network will tie the airport to the center of the city, which will be powered by a $10 billion nuclear plant, Belarus’s first, which Russia agreed to finance and build by 2018. The first stage of the park is scheduled to be completed by 2020, with the second stage taking another 10 years.”

via China Building Beachhead in Europe With $5 Billion Belarus City – Businessweek.

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

Tags: Belarus, China, European Union, International Monetary Fund, Minsk, Russia

25/05/2013

* China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland

Will this be the first of many FTAs? Will the floodgates be opened?

BBC: “China has signed the framework of a free-trade agreement with Switzerland, which could become Beijing’s first such deal with a major Western economy.

Chinese secretary of trade and Swiss economy minister sign memorandum of understanding of free trade on 24 May

The signing ceremony took place during an official visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Switzerland.

Bilateral trade between the two countries is worth $26bn through imports and exports of watches, medicines, textiles and dairy products.

Mr Li said he hoped the deal would be felt beyond Switzerland’s borders.

“This free-trade deal is the first between China and a continental European economy, and the first with one of the 20 leading economies of the globe,” Mr Li told reporters after the two countries signed the preliminary agreement.

“This has huge meaning for global free-trade,” he added.

For his part, Swiss President Ueli Maurer described the agreement as a “real milestone”.

China is Switzerland’s third biggest trading partner after the European Union and America, with exports to China of watches, pharmaceuticals and machinery amounting to over $22bn.

It is no coincidence that China’s premier made Switzerland his first stop on his brief European tour, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes in Berne says.

China has hinted it could also make Switzerland its financial centre of choice, if Beijing allows offshore trading of its currency, the yuan, she adds.”

via BBC News – China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland.

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

Tags: Beijing, China, economy, European Union, Li Keqiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China, Switzerland

16/05/2013

* China in innovation challenge to Europe

FT: “Europe’s business leaders fear its industry will fall behind China in technological innovation within a decade as the economic crisis undermines one of the continent’s competitive advantages.

More than two-thirds of business leaders surveyed by Accenture, the consultancy, on behalf of BusinessEurope, the business lobby group, said China would reach or pull ahead of Europe in innovation by 2023.

Weak demand caused by Europe’s economic crisis has sent industrial production into decline, while corporate reluctance to delve into cash reserves is holding back new investment, training and R&D.

Rising unemployment threatens labour flexibility and Europe’s ability to maintain a highly skilled workforce. Fewer than half of those surveyed said Europe’s workforce remained a competitive advantage for industry.

European policy makers are determined to reverse industry’s decline. The European Commission last year proposed by 2020 to raise industry’s share of EU gross domestic product from 15.6 per cent to 20 per cent.

“We cannot continue to let our industry relocate outside Europe,” said Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the European Commission.

European companies remain leaders in sectors ranging from automotive to aerospace, engineering to pharmaceuticals, and two-thirds of surveyed business leaders said European industry was still competitive internationally.

But some Chinese companies such as Huawei, the telecoms equipment maker, are drawing level in innovation capability and gaining share in Europe. Some 61 per cent of those surveyed said they feared Europe would struggle to recover from its economic crisis for at least three years.

Some 90 per cent of German business leaders said Europe’s industry was competitive compared with only half of business leaders in Spain.

The Accenture study identified two areas to support growth: rebuilding Europe’s skills base and reinvigorating industry’s access to finance, including better access to capital markets and venture capital funding for start-ups.

Although Europe is mired in recession, there remain opportunities in areas ranging from low-carbon technology and smart grid networks to biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.

“The China machine is definitely going to invest a lot of money in technology innovation over the next 10 years . . . [But] there’s a sense that if we get our act together Europe can remain successful in manufacturing,” said Mark Spelman, strategy chief at Accenture.

“Just because there is zero growth across Europe doesn’t mean there are not segments of good growth within that . . . So it’s about how you place bets in an intelligent way.

To address the innovation deficit, business leaders want to see more public funding for R&D, reduced tax for R&D and capital investment and improved financing conditions.

European executives raised a variety of other worries ranging from the cost of energy to labour costs.

A majority of respondents were pessimistic that European industry would be cost-competitive in energy compared with markets such as the US, Russia and China in three years’ time.

US industry is enjoying cheap energy courtesy of discoveries of shale gas that permit new investment in gas-intensive industry, such as petrochemicals.

In contrast, Europe remains dependent on more expensive Russian gas, and costly regulation and investments in renewable energy are adding to the burden.”

via China in innovation challenge to Europe – FT.com.

Posted in China alert, Economics, innovation, patents | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Business, China, economy, European Commission, European Union, science

27/04/2013

* China agrees $8bn Airbus plane deal

BBC: “China has agreed to buy 60 planes from European firm Airbus, in a deal worth $8bn (£5.2bn) at list prices.

French President Francois Hollande and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands

It is the first such deal since the European Union suspended the inclusion of foreign airlines in its controversial Emissions Trading Scheme.

China had voiced its opposition to the scheme, which charges airlines for the carbon they emit.

Last year, Airbus had alleged that China blocked firms from purchasing its planes amid the row over the scheme.

The deal was signed as part of a series of agreements during French President Francois Hollande’s two-day visit to China.

It includes an order for 42 Airbus A320 aircraft and 18 A330 planes.”

via BBC News – China agrees $8bn Airbus plane deal.

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

Tags: Airbus, Airbus A320 family, Airline, China, Emissions trading, European Union, Francois Hollande, President of France

16/01/2013

* China trade surplus with U.S. may be a quarter smaller

“Lies, lies and statistics”!

Or as in Through the Looking Glass:

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

Reuters: “The new estimate is one of the key findings of an ambitious project by the OECD think-tank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to present a truer picture of underlying trade flows in an age of global supply chains when intermediate inputs can cross borders several times during the manufacturing process.

A man walks in a shipping container area at the Port of Shanghai April 10, 2012. REUTERS/Aly Song

The political purpose of the exercise is to reduce protectionist pressure by demonstrating that governments are shooting themselves in the foot if they raise barriers to imports because, in doing so, they are also hurting their own exporters and competitiveness.

Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said the value-added approach challenged the conventional wisdom regarding trade.

“Today, we have to think about goods and services as ‘made in the world’, Gurria said.”

via China trade surplus with U.S. may be a quarter smaller | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, exports, free trade, WTO | 1 Comment »

Tags: European Union, global supply chains, OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, trade balance, world trade organisation, World Trade Organization, WTO

04/01/2013

* China’s investment in UK will be ‘explosive’

United Kingdom (Photo credit: stumayhew)

China Daily: “China’s investment in the United Kingdom will continue its “explosive” growth, with high-end manufacturing and infrastructure leading the way, a senior diplomat predicted.

“The UK is the most open economy, and also the most market-oriented,” in Europe, said Zhou Xiaoming, minister counselor of the Chinese embassy in the UK.

Chinese companies have been answering the call from some members of the European Union for capital.

In 2011, the UK was the third-largest EU destination for Chinese investment, following Luxembourg and France, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China’s overseas direct investment in the UK in 2011 was $2.5 billion, it said.

But Zhou said the real figure was far more as Chinese overall investment in the UK experienced “explosive” growth.

“It is estimated that the Chinese capital that flew into the country in 2011 reached $6.5 billion,” said Zhou.”

via China’s investment in UK will be ‘explosive’ |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

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

Tags: China, China Investment Promotion Agency, European Union, Luxembourg

14/10/2012

* China’s trade climbs in Sept amid bottoming-out

“One swallow does not a summer make” But it sure is reassuring after all the bad news in recent months. There are also signs in the US that the 2008 recession is finally bottoming out. Let’s hope it’s for real. And even more importantly, let’s hope both nations and individuals don’t get carried away with getting into deep depth, again.

China Daily: “China’s exports significantly expanded in September while imports resumed growth after a decline in August, suggesting a recovery in overseas markets and a moderate improvement of domestic demand amid a bottoming-out in the world’s second largest economy.

Economists and analysts are still cautious about China’s foreign trade outlook owing to the medium and long-term pressure from the festering EU debt crisis and worrisome fiscal outlook in the US despite improvement in overseas demand.

China’s exports increased by 9.9 percent in September from a year earlier, a record monthly high and much higher than the 2.7-percent growth in August. Imports, meanwhile, stepped out of the 2.6-percent fall in August, registering a gain of 2.4 percent in September, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Saturday.

Total foreign trade in September grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year while the trade surplus widened to $27.67 billion from $26.7 billion in August.

Foreign trade from January to September went up by 6.2 percent from a year earlier with exports rising 7.4 percent and imports gaining 4.8 percent, yielding a trade surplus of $148.31 billion.

“The full year is likely to see a trade surplus of over $200 billion,” said Wang Jun, a senior economist with China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

“Trade figures of September are relatively satisfactory. China’s exports in the coming two or three months will keep up the momentum as the manufacturing index [also known as the purchasing managers index, or PMI] improves in the US and EU, in addition to Christmas demand and the central government’s measures to boost China’s foreign trade,” Wang said.

The State Council introduced a raft of measures in September to stabilize trade growth, including speeding up export tax rebates, reducing administrative costs for companies, lowering financing costs for small and micro-sized enterprises and increasing credit to exporters.”

via China’s trade climbs in Sept amid bottoming-out |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, economic inter-dependence, Economics, exports, Good news, Import, Manufacturing, Trade | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, European Union, export, General Administration of Customs, International trade, United States

17/09/2012

* China, EU face dumping claim

China Daily: “Beijing said Brussels has agreed to begin dialogue and cooperation to resolve the multi-billion-dollar anti-dumping investigation towards China’s solar panel manufacturers.

But Brussels refused to go into details of such a stance, revealed by Chong Quan, China’s deputy representative for international trade talks, after three-hour intensive talks with senior officials of European Commission on Friday afternoon.

“They (Brussels) agreed (to hold dialogues) – and I found they are very candid and pragmatic,” Chong told China Daily. “I respect my negotiation partner.”

But when asked how strong Brussels’ intention is, Chong said: “I don’t know.”

Brussels was part of Chong’s three-stop mission to send a clear message from Beijing, which wants to solve this dispute through “consultation, dialogues and cooperation.” Before holding talking with Jean-Luc Demarty, the European Commission’s director general for trade, he was negotiating in Germany and has now moved on to talks in France.

EU trade spokesperson John Clancy refused to elaborate about the three-hour discussion in Brussels. Clancy said the European Commission has begun an “open” anti-dumping investigation on China’s solar panel exports, as it is required to do under the WTO framework and EU law.

He said input “from all stakeholders” is now welcome.

Clancy also confirmed that EU and Chinese trade officials discussed preparations for next week’s EU-China summit in Brussels.

Chong confirmed that China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming will be in Premier Wen Jiabao’s delegation that will attend the summit during a one-day visit to Belgium.

Wen and Chen are expected to urge Brussels to negotiate. Chong said both sides are eager to resolve this dispute through dialogue and both sides need to make every effort to avoid a trade war.

In the face of a severe economic slowdown and the magnitude of this dispute, Chong said: “Both of us will become losers if a trade war occurs and the situation is out of control.””

via China, EU face dumping claim |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in Anti-dumping, China alert, Economics, WTO | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Brussels, China, Dumping (pricing policy), environment, European Commission, European Union

30/08/2012

* China to buy 50 Airbus planes for $3.5bn

BBC News: “China has signed a deal to buy 50 planes worth $3.5bn (£2.2bn) from Europe’s Airbus.

The agreement is part of a slew of trade deals signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a two-day visit to China.

An agreement on Airbus plane assembly in China was also signed, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday his country would continue to invest in the EU.

Emissions row

This is the first significant deal in China for Airbus, whose parent company is EADS, since a dispute between the country and the European Union over the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Effective from 1 January this year, the ETS charges airlines for the carbon they emit.

China and other countries say the system is not fair, as it charges airlines for the full journey, not just over European airspace.

Following this in March, EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said Airbus was facing “retaliation measures” by China.

According to him, China had blocked firms from buying planes made by Airbus. Beijing did not comment on the allegation.”

via BBC News – China to buy 50 Airbus planes for $3.5bn.

Although $3.5bn sounds big, it is only half that being ordered by the Philippines: Airbus wins $7 bln Philippine Air order (vancouverdesi.com)