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

21/10/2014

Schindler Raises Profit Forecast as China, India Grow Faster – Businessweek

Schindler Holding AG (SCHP) raised its full-year profit forecast after the Swiss elevator maker’s nine-month earnings were boosted by rapidly expanding sales in China and India.

Schindler increased its net profit forecast by 15 million francs ($16 million) to as much as 865 million francs, supported also by the consolidation of Chinese subsidiary XJ-Schindler and the sale of land in Switzerland. Ebikon-based Schindler stuck to a prediction of 6 percent to 8 percent sales growth in local currencies.

Silvio Napoli, who became chief executive officer in January after almost six years as head of Schindler’s Asia-Pacific business, was promoted as the Swiss company expands operations in Chinese and Indian markets, where it predicts sales of elevators will grow fastest over the next decades. Schindler is far exceeding market growth in each of these countries, the company said today.

Nine-month net income gained 91 percent to 703 million francs, while sales rose 3.2 percent to 6.7 billion francs.

Earnings at Schindler, a company with a market capitalization of $15 billion, bucked a more subdued outlook among European industrials. Royal Philips NV Chief Executive Officer Frans Van Houten said yesterday that the maker of health-care equipment and light bulbs is facing sustained softness in a number of markets such as China and Russia, after reporting quarterly earnings that missed estimates.

The Schindler and Bonnard families, along with related parties, hold 67.3 percent of the voting rights in the company which dates back to 1874.

via Schindler Raises Profit Forecast as China, India Grow Faster – Businessweek.

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

Tags: chief executive officer, China, Ebikon, Frans Van Houten, India, Royal Philips NV Chief Executive Officer Frans Van Houten, Russia, Schindler, Schindler Holding AG, Switzerland

15/07/2014

Shanghai most likely headquarters for BRICS development bank | Reuters

Shanghai looks set to become the headquarters of a development bank being launched by the BRICS emerging market nations, despite fears by some members of the group that China could hijack the bank to serve its interests.

A man walks past a signage decoration for the BRICS summit outside Sheraton Hotel, the venue for the third BRICS summit in Sanya, Hainan province April 14, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Files

Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa are due to sign off on the new institution on Tuesday, along with an emergency reserves fund, after two years of negotiations, a major step for the diverse group known more for its anti-Western rhetoric than coordinated action.

Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov told Kremlin reporters late last week that bank would be based in Shanghai, mainland China’s financial capital, citing discussion papers prepared by the member countries.

Earlier, Russia’s finance minister said India was vying with China to host the new infrastructure lender.

“The bank’s headquarters will be located in Shanghai. This is fixed in the documents,” Ushakov said.

In a further sign that an agreement had been reached on the headquarters, an Indian government official on Monday played down the debate and said India’s top priority was to make sure members of the institutions all had equal voting rights, unlike Western-run multilaterals they seek to challenge, such as the World Bank.

“Equitable shareholding is the principal goal for India,” the official said. Second on India’s list of concerns was giving the bank a name that would allow non-BRICS nations to join in future, the official said.

The Chinese Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

via Shanghai most likely headquarters for BRICS development bank | Reuters.

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

Tags: BRIC, BRICS, China, development bank, India, Russia, Shanghai, World Bank, Yuri Ushakov

08/07/2014

India to be 3rd largest economy next to China by 2030: PwC – daily.bhaskar.com

India is set to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030, according to latest estimates by a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.

The London-headquartered accountancy giant said the rapid rise of the Indian economy with its young workforce would push it up from being the 10th largest economy in 2013 to the third largest by 2030, pushing the UK back into sixth place.

“In the longer run, other emerging markets may overtake the UK, but only India looks set to do so before 2030 according to our latest projections,” PwC said in its latest economic outlook.

China, the world’s second largest economy, is expected to close the gap with America by 2030, while Mexico is predicted to be the 10th largest economy by 2030, above Canada and Italy, both G7 nations.

Only a couple of years ago there were forecasts that Britain would rapidly become a second-class economic power and would need to defer to the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the near future.

China has ranked above Japan for a decade as the world’s second-biggest economy.

By some calculations Brazil leapfrogged the UK in 2012, with Russia and India close behind.

Britain’s fall was partly related to the costs of the banking crisis and the recession that followed, coupled with a sharp decline in the exchange rate, which knocked about a quarter off the country’s value in relation to its main rivals.

But since the beginning of last year the economy has recovered all the lost ground from the recession and banks have begun lending again.

The pound has bounced back from about US$ 1.40 in 2009 to US$ 1.71 today.

Brazil, by contrast, has suffered a rocky couple of years that have slowed GDP growth and pushed down the value of the real.

Russia will close the gap on the top eight, but its reliance on the oil and gas industry for growth and its rapidly ageing population will prevent it jumping up the table as quickly as previously thought.

Only India will move ahead of the UK by 2030, though it will be sharing a projected GDP of US$ 6.1 trillion among more than 1.5 billion people, only half as much again as the UK’s predicted output of US$ 4 trillionn, produced by a population less than a 20th the size.

via India to be 3rd largest economy next to China by 2030: PwC – daily.bhaskar.com.

Posted in Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Brazil, BRIC, China, Economy of India, India, India and China, Lists of countries by GDP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Russia, the Indian economy

13/06/2014

Poland-China train leaves the station on first trip – World – Chinadaily.com.cn

The first “New Silk Road” Yuxinou railway return train from Poland to China kicked off on Thursday, the Chongqing government said.

Starting in Chongqing, the 11,178 km Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe International Railway passes through Xi’an, Lanzhou, Urumqi , Russia, Belarus and Poland, finally ending in Duisburg, Germany.

According to the government, it takes just 16 days on average to transport goods from China to Europe by rail, much less than via the sea.

Xu Qiang, director of the Development and Reform Commission of Chongqing Municipality, said China launched the first train from Poland to Chongqing to enhance cooperation between China and Europe.

“It is an important landmark for our New Silk Road, which will strengthen China’s bilateral economic ties with the regions along the railway,” Xu said.

In recent years, Poland and China have formed closer ties in political and economic perspectives, said Jacek Zuber, chief of the Department of International Cooperation Ministry of Infrastructure and Development of Poland.

“Yuxinou railway is one of the most important cooperation projects to us, especially as the railway will bring great opportunities to our trade with China,” he said.

The first train will bring electronic products, auto parts and steel products to Chongqing.

via Poland-China train leaves the station on first trip – World – Chinadaily.com.cn.

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

Tags: Belarus, China, Chongqing, Eurasian Land Bridge, Germany, Lanzhou, Poland, Russia

25/05/2014

China and Russia: Best frenemies | The Economist

ON MAY 21st, after a nail-biting session of late-night brinkmanship, China and Russia signed an enormous gas deal worth, at a guess, around $400 billion. Their agreement calls for Russia’s government-controlled Gazprom to supply state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation with up to 38 billion cubic metres of gas a year between 2018 and 2048. The deal capped a two-day visit to China by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that included a regional-security summit and joint military exercises off the Chinese coast.

Mr Putin called the deal the biggest in the history of Russia’s gas industry. But it counts, too, for the geopolitics that underpin it. That an agreement should come now, after a decade of haggling, is no accident. The deal will help the Kremlin reduce Russia’s reliance on gas exports to Europe. It is proof that Mr Putin has allies when he seeks to blunt Western sanctions over Ukraine. Both Russia and China want to assert themselves as regional powers. Both have increasingly strained relations with America, which they accuse of holding them back. Just over 40 years ago Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger persuaded China to turn against the Soviet Union and ally with America. Does today’s collaboration between Russia and China amount to a renewal of the alliance against America?

That is surely the impression Mr Putin wants to create. Ahead of his visit he gushed to Chinese media, saying their country was “Russia’s reliable friend”. Co-operation, he said, is at its “highest level in all its centuries-long history”. From the Chinese side, Xi Jinping chose Russia as the first country he visited on becoming president in 2013.

Commercial ties are growing. China is Russia’s largest single trading partner, with bilateral flows of $90 billion in 2013. Even before the gas deal, the two sides hoped to double that by 2020. If Western banks become more reluctant to extend new loans, financing from China could help Russia fill the gap. China badly needs the natural resources which Russia has in abundance. The gas deal will ease China’s concerns that most of its fuel supplies come through the strategic chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca, and will also enable China to move away from burning so much of the coal that pollutes the air in Chinese cities.

The two have also made common cause in geopolitics. China abstained from a UN security council vote in March that would have rejected a referendum that Russia backed in Crimea before it annexed it. China has also joined Russia in vetoing UN attempts to sanction the regime of Bashar Assad fighting a civil war in Syria. The two have taken similar stances over issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.

China and Russia share a strong sense of their own historical greatness, now thwarted, as they see it, by American bullying. Both want the freedom to do as they please in their own back yards. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its manoeuvring in eastern Ukraine have vexed America and Europe and left Mr Putin with even fewer friends than before. China’s push into the East and South China Seas is causing similar concerns in Asia, as smaller neighbours worry about its expansionism.

But the West should not panic. Despite all this, Russia and China will struggle to overcome some fundamental differences. Start with the evidence of the gas deal itself: the fact that it took ten years to do, and that the deal was announced at the last minute, suggests how hard it was to reach agreement. The Chinese were rumoured to have driven a hard bargain, knowing that Mr Putin was desperate to have something to show from his trip.

More a grimace than a smile

In this deal, as elsewhere in the relationship, China has the upper hand. Other supplies of gas are coming online in Australia and Central Asia. And whereas China’s global power is growing, Russia is in decline—corroded by corruption and unable to diversify its economy away from natural resources. The Chinese government will expect the Kremlin to recognise this historic shift—a recipe for Chinese impatience and Russian resentment. Although the two countries are united against America, they also need it for its market and as a stabilising influence. And they are tussling for influence in Central Asia. Their vast common border is a constant source of mistrust—the Russian side sparsely populated and stuffed with commodities, the Chinese side full of people. That is why many of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons are pointed at China (see article). In the long run, Russia and China are just as likely to fall out as to form a firm alliance. That is an even more alarming prospect.

via China and Russia: Best frenemies | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, oil & gas, Politics | 2 Comments »

Tags: America, Bashar Assad, China, China National Petroleum Corporation, Henry Kissinger, Mr Putin, Putin, Richard Nixon, Russia, south china seas, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Xi JinPing

24/05/2014

‘Four Dishes, One Soup’ Not Enough For Sino-Russian Gas Deal Celebration – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Say you’re the leader of the world’s No. 2 economy. You just signed a massive energy deal with your Russian counterpart that has major political and economic implications – and that, under international protocol, calls for a big-time state wingding. At the same time, you’re pushing a government austerity platform to convince your people that their leaders aren’t corrupt fat cats living large off the people.

What to do?

That’s the dilemma Chinese President Xi Jinping faced this week after he reached a 30-year, potentially $400 billion gas supply deal with Vladimir Putin. His answer, it seems, was to split the difference. The state dinner that followed the high-profile deal-signing had enough fancy dishes, tipple and desserts to fail the sort of austerity test Mr. Xi might apply to, say, a banquet thrown by county-level officials in a tier-three burg.

Still, experts said, the wines steered more to the local than to the Bordeaux, and the whole affair fell short of what you might get at a fancy wedding.

After 10 years of difficult negotiation, China and Russia signed a landmark natural-gas contract on Wednesday. The night before, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a dinner in Shanghai welcoming more than 300 guests from 46 countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What dishes were served during the 90-minute dinner?

The dinner was definitely more elaborate than the “four dishes and one soup” set promoted by Xi Jinping as a form of domestic cost-cutting. There were four plates of desserts alone—implying that the anti-corruption rules don’t always apply when it comes to state events, as China doesn’t want to lose face on diplomatic occasions. The six appetizers included mashed green beans, spicy cabbage, sliced whitebait, a pea dish and bamboo shoots with green onions. The five dishes and one soup served included shrimp balls, fried and braised beef, macadamia nuts with greens, flatfish with bean curd sauce, luffa with green beans and mushroom with fish maw. Other dishes included moulded pudding, vegetable dumplings and plates of fruit.

This dinner was intended to be a creative combination of Chinese and western-style cooking, one that highlighted fresh ingredients from southern regions of the Yangtze River. The executive chef behind it, Su Dexing, was also the chief cook for the state banquet during the APEC meeting in 2001, according to Shanghai International Convention Center staff.

As at many state events, China’s ubiquitous luxury liquor Maotai was also served, along with a dry red and dry white wine produced by Cofco Wines & Spirits. According to prices advertised on e-commerce websites, such red and white wine would likely cost between 400-600 yuan ($64-96) per bottle and 300 yuan per bottle, respectively.

Although abundant, the dinner was still simple compared to other options available in Shanghai, where wedding banquets can easily cost a minimum of 500 yuan per person, excluding liquor. In 5-star hotels, such meals might cost more than double that amount.

via ‘Four Dishes, One Soup’ Not Enough For Sino-Russian Gas Deal Celebration – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, energy, GeoPolitics, oil & gas | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Maotai, Peng Liyuan, Russia, Shanghai, Vladimir Putin, Xi JinPing, Yangtze River

11/05/2014

China Says It Wants To Build Massive Railway To America

China has announced an ambitious engineering plan to build a bullet train railway to America, state media reported Thursday.

Possible route of a bridge or tunnel across the Bering Strait. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The massive railway network, nicknamed “China-Russia-Canada-America,” would run north from China, through Siberia and Russia, under the Pacific Ocean to Alaska, then down through Canada to the contiguous United States, The Guardian reports.

The trip from China to the contiguous U.S. would take less than two days, with trains traveling about 217 mph, according to The Beijing Times. China will reportedly fund the construction of the 8,079 miles of railway track, including a 125-mile underwater tunnel across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska.

But this may not be the best time for China to embark on such an epic undertaking, considering the country’s railway industry is in the red, as The Economic Times points out.

“China’s railway sector is still being haunted by deep debts. Therefore, even with the government’s support, it must persuade banks to lend a colossal amount of money,” an unnamed expert from Beijing Jiaotong University told The Economic Times.

Aside from financial challenges, many are skeptical of whether the engineering required to build such a massive network is feasible.

According to The Guardian, “The Bering Strait tunnel alone would require an unprecedented feat of engineering – it would be the world’s longest undersea tunnel – four times the length of the Channel Tunnel” connecting the United Kingdom and France.

China Daily claims that the technology needed to construct the undersea tunnel is already available. But even if it is, The Economist’s Gulliver business travel blog says the railway plan is simply not a realistic or necessary project.

“Languorous tourists might love it, just as they do the Orient Express or the Ghan train through the Australian Outback, and I suppose it might also carry some freight. But still, there is no practical case for it,” the blog post’s author writes. “Nonetheless, such ambition is to be admired in an abstract way.”

The Guardian notes that it is unclear whether China has consulted Russia, the U.S. or Canada about the project.

via China Says It Wants To Build Massive Railway To America.

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

Tags: America, Beijing Jiaotong University, Bering Strait, Channel Tunnel, China, Economic Times, Pacific Ocean, Russia

19/04/2014

In His First Year, China’s Xi Puts Unprecedented Focus on Africa – Businessweek

A little over a year ago, Xi Jinping embarked on his first foreign trip as China’s president, making stops in Russia and Africa. Over the past 13 months, his administration has focused unprecedented attention on strengthening economic and political ties in Africa, according to a new policy briefing by Brookings Institution scholar Yun Sun.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob on April 8 in Beijing

While China’s People’s Liberation Army has long maintained what Sun calls a “tacit operating principle of ‘no troops on foreign soil,’” last spring Beijing sent 170 combat troops from the PLA Special Force to accompany the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. In the past, only Chinese engineers and medical personnel had ever been dispatched to foreign soils under a UN mandate.

“China’s choosing Africa to dispatch combat troops for the first time does suggest Beijing’s rising interests,” writes Sun, as well “enhanced commitment and [a] direct role in maintaining [the] peace and security of Africa.” China has also “dispatched a total of 16 fleets and escorted more than 5,300 ships and vessels” around the Gulf of Aden, in effect taking responsibility for maintaining the security of key shipping lanes.

via In His First Year, China’s Xi Puts Unprecedented Focus on Africa – Businessweek.

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

Tags: africa, Beijing, Brookings Institution, China, gulf of aden, Mali, Russia, Xi JinPing

26/03/2014

Putin’s Shame: Russia Is Becoming China’s Junior Partner – Businessweek

Russian President Vladimir Putin professes not to care about being ejected—temporarily, at least—from the Group of Eight community over his country’s seizure of Crimea. He says Russia has plenty of other friends in the world. One of them is China, the world’s emerging Communist superpower. Diplomatic and trade relations between Russia and China have strengthened notably over the last couple of decades. Bloomberg News reports today that the “Crimean crisis is poised to reshape the politics of oil by accelerating Russia’s drive to send more barrels to China, leaving Europe with pricier imports and boosting U.S. dependence on fuel from the Middle East.”

From left: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and South African President Jacob Zuma at the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 5, 2013

Notice, though, that what Russia is selling to China is oil—not, say, high-tech machinery. In what must be a source of great embarrassment to Putin, Russia has gone from being China’s tutor and guide to being a junior partner whose main value is as a source for raw materials. Look at these two charts, which I put together today using data from the United Nations’ Comtrade database.

The first shows Russian exports to China in 2000. Exports of what the UN calls mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, etc.—mainly oil—constituted 7 percent of total Chinese exports to Russia.

via Putin’s Shame: Russia Is Becoming China’s Junior Partner – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, Politics | 3 Comments »

Tags: China, Crimea, G8, middle-east, Putin, Russia, russian president vladimir putin, United Nations, Vladimir Putin

26/03/2014

China says supports international financial aid for Ukraine | Reuters

Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak says he is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a loan package of $15 billion to $20 billion because the economy had been severely weakened by months of political turmoil and mismanagement.

Civilians entering Ukraine (L) have their passports checked as Ukrainian border guards (R) stand at a Russian-Ukrainian border crossing near the village of Uspenka, in eastern Ukraine March 25, 2014. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged the IMF to reach agreement swiftly on a financial support package for Kiev, which would unlock additional aid from the European Union and Washington.

Asked about aid for Ukraine, China, whose President Xi Jinping discussed Ukraine with Obama on Monday, said that the government “upholds the maintaining of Ukraine’s financial stability”.

“International financial organizations ought to get down to dealing with this, to ensure Ukraine’s financial and economic stability,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

He did not elaborate, instead repeating that China had proposed setting up an international coordination mechanism to look for a political solution to the crisis over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

China, he said, hoped all parties in the international community would take no actions to worsen the situation.

China has adopted a cautious, low-key response to the crisis, not wanting either to alienate key ally Russia or comment directly on the referendum in which Crimea voted overwhelmingly to join Russia, lest it set a precedent for its own restive regions, like Tibet.

via China says supports international financial aid for Ukraine | Reuters.

Buying Ukraine hemp seed may be part of aid from U.S.

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

Tags: Barack Obama, China, Crimea, European Union, International Monetary Fund, Kiev, Russia, Ukraine, Xi JinPing

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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Schindler Raises Profit Forecast as China, India Grow Faster – Businessweek

Shanghai most likely headquarters for BRICS development bank | Reuters

India to be 3rd largest economy next to China by 2030: PwC – daily.bhaskar.com

Poland-China train leaves the station on first trip – World – Chinadaily.com.cn

China and Russia: Best frenemies | The Economist

‘Four Dishes, One Soup’ Not Enough For Sino-Russian Gas Deal Celebration – China Real Time Report – WSJ

China Says It Wants To Build Massive Railway To America

In His First Year, China’s Xi Puts Unprecedented Focus on Africa – Businessweek

Putin’s Shame: Russia Is Becoming China’s Junior Partner – Businessweek

China says supports international financial aid for Ukraine | Reuters

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