Roundup - 08/01/2010

• China Mobile's Vice-Chairman, Zhang Chunjiang, has been removed from his post. China Mobile said that the decision was made due to 'alleged serious financial irregularities.' According to Caijing magazine Zhang is suspected of hiding losses when he worked at another state-owned telecommunications company, China Netcom. This led to a merger with China Unicom which left Unicom to deal with the unexpected losses at Zhang's company.
  
  
  
• The family of Yuan Kuansheng have alleged that he was murdered by corrupt colleagues. Yuan Kuansheng, formerly deputy mayor of Wugang, Hunan, was officially said to have committed suicide. However, in Yuan's final phone call to his wife, Liu Yuehong, he warned that their apartment had been bugged and that they may be in danger. Liu, a doctor, found several inconsistencies in her husbands autopsy. She claims that it is simply not feasable that her husband suddenly decided to slash his wrists, electrocute himself and then jump of a balcony. The Guardian(UK) reports that Zhuo Xueqing from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine cited unusual facial injuries, typical of trying to cover somebodies mouth, an unusual distribution of blood stains and a strange pattern of bone fractures. He said that 'we cannot rule out the possibility of murder.'
  
  
  
• Beijing's GDP has now exceeded US$10,000 per capita according to state media. Director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Committee, Zhang Gong, said that incomes for residents of urban areas of the municipality has risen 12% while those of the outskirts has risen by 9%.
  
  While this news is an achievement for Beijing it also highlights the growing divide between rich and poor. National GDP was expected to rise to only US$3,600 last year.
  
  
  
• China has said that it will offer free vaccinations for the (A)H1N1 virus to children aged between six months and three years. The announcement comes as China ramps up its vaccination programme before the Chinese new year. China has so far vaccinated almost 51.4 million people, 659 deaths from the disease had been reported by the end of 2009.
  
  
  
• Three factory officials have been arrested for covering up the true cost of an accident at a steel plant on Monday. The officials, from the Puyang Iron and Steel co., initially reported only seven deaths from a suspected gas leek at the plant. The death toll has now risen to 21.
  
  
  
• Analysts say the a key interest rate rise is a sign of things to come. Interest from the People's Bank of China's weekly sale of three-month central bank bills has risen by less than 0.05% to 1.3684%. However, analysts predict that this is only the first of many interest rate hikes designed to halt speculative investments and restrain the excess of credit for China's businesses. RBS's Ben Simpfendorfer called it a 'turning point.'
  

Roundup - 16/12/2009

• China has repeated its stance against carbon tariffs amid ongoing negotiations in Copenhagen. The tariffs would be placed on carbon intensive products such as steel if they were deemed to come from a country which had fail to make sufficient efforts to control its greenhouse gas emissions. China views this as a threat to the competitiveness of its steel industry. A bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives laid down the legal groundwork for carbon tariffs to be imposed from 2020.
  
  Leading countries at the negotiations have been holding firmly to their positions at the conference. The delays and conflicts so far have destroyed hopes of any major agreement coming before the final days of negotiations. Premier Wen Jiabao is heading a team of high ranking official to Copenhagen this afternoon.
  
  Meanwhile, the number of registered vehicles in Beijing passed the 4 million mark at the weekend. It took Beijing until 1997 to reach its first million cars but only six and a half years to double that and six years to double it again.
  
  
  
• China is speeding up its construction of third-generation nuclear power stations. China's first third-generation nuclear power plant, the Sanmen project, Will have a capacity of 7,500 mW by 2020 from six reactors, two of which are already under construction. Three stations, Sanmen, and Haiyang will use technology from Westinghouse, an American company while the Taishan plant will use French technology from Areva.
  
  China plans to increase its nuclear output to 70 gigawatts by 2020 and 400 gigawatts by 2050. This would mean that almost 10% of China's electricity will come from nuclear power.
  
  While the huge increase in nuclear power will significantly help reduce China's carbon intensity, the pace of growth has raise some fears over safety. While China has a good record on nuclear safety to date there are worries that the growth in power stations is not being met by an increase in inspectors. China has already asked for international help in training inspectors. Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered a quintupling of nuclear safety inspectors by the end of next year but there is some doubt as to how this will be achieved.
  
  In addition to this worry are the fears raised by building nuclear reactors in an environment in which high returns, personal contacts and outright corruption often come before safety concerns. These fears have been increased by the detention of the president of the China National Nuclear Corporation in a $260 million corruption case involving bid-rigging on nuclear construction projects.
  
  China's nuclear community are well aware of the dangers of a rush to nuclear power as they must study the American case. The US' own rushed nuclear projects led to the Three Mile Island incident in 1979.
  
  
  
• Shanghai has announced a three step plan to become mainland China's first free port by 2020. The port is aimed at increasing shipping through Shanghai as well as promoting domestic consumerism by providing cheap goods. An area with preferential tax rates will be in place by the end of next year. The move is a challenge to Hong Kong which is currently the only Chinese free port.
  
  
  
• China's H1N1 death toll has leapt to 442. 116 new deaths were reported last week. China has pledged to step up its vaccination progamme which has so far seen 34 million people vaccinated. The crucial time will come in February when hundreds of millions will flood China's trains and roads for the Spring Festival.
  
  
  
• The United States Census Bureau projects that China will no longer be the most populated country in the world by 2025. China's population is expected to peak at 1.4 billion, lower than previously expected. India's fertility rate of 2.7 births per woman is far higher than China's 1.6 births per woman.
  
  The report also predicts that China's workforce will peak at 831 million in 2016.
  

Roundup - 09/12/2009

• China's chief negotiator at the Copenhagen summit has condemned the US, EU and Japanese commitments to cuts in emissions. Su Wei said that the US target was 'not notable,' the EU target 'not enough,' and that the Japanese had 'actually made no commitment because they have set an impossible precondition.'
  
  The comments, made at a news conference on the sidelines of the summit, come as hopes for a climate deal are being dampened by a north-south rift. While developed countries are trying to get developing countries to shoulder more of the burden of combating climate change, developing countries favour an extension of the Kyoto Protocol which would protect their economic growth and place more responsibility on the West to cut emissions.
  
  The conflict was further exacerbated by the leak yesterday of a draft Danish proposal for an agreement which would abandon Kyoto, sideline the US and force major emissions cuts on the developing world. The Sudanese head of the G77, Lumumba Stanislas Dia Ping, noted that the global south would only compensated with $10 billion. Divided among the worlds population he pointed out that this was not enough to cover the price of a coffee in the West or the price of a coffin in the developing world.
  
  
  
• Liu Xiabo's lawyer has said that police have formally recommended that he be charged with inciting subversion. Mr Liu spent time in prison after the Tiananmen Square protests and has been detained since 2008 for his participation in Charter '08. His wife says that if the charges a re brought they will try to give him a sentence of '10 years or more.'
  
  

Roundup - 05/12/2009

• Taiwanese voters in 17 cities and counties are heading to the polls in local government elections. Analysts say that the vote will be a crucial mid-term test for President Ma Yingjiu. Allegations have already begun to fly over voteybgef cxz`a-buying in many areas and some reports say that prosecutors have sued 76 people and detained 150 over voting irregularities.
  
  
  
• Another three people have been sentenced to death for their roles in riots in Xinjiang in July. Eight people have now been sentenced to death since Thursday in addition to the nine who have already been executed. Of the three new sentences two were given to ethnic Uighurs and one to a man with a Chinese name. One other person was sentenced to life in jail and three others received prison sentences.
  
  
  
• China's official death toll from the H1N1 virus has risen to 200. 194 of the deaths were recorded in November. The figure jumped recently after the central government warned local governments not to doctor figures in order not to improve their image.
  
  
  
• General Motors has announced that it is planning an new venture with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. to build cars in India. It also announced that it is reducing its stake in the Chinese company to 49%, thereby giving SAIC a controlling stake. The move comes after Chicago-based GM was was forced to go to a bankruptcy court during the economic crisis. SAIC will be the first major Chinese company to produce cars in India for the Indian market.
  
  
  
• Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, has said that China is interested in exporting some of its manufacturing to Africa. China's focus in Africa has so far been on acquiring natural resources. This has led to accusations that it is merely mirroring the colonialist economic system. However, Mr. Zoellick says that after meetings with Chen Deming, China's Minister of Commerce, he believes there may be opportunities for the World Bank and China to cooperate on developing Africa's industrial base.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Roundup - 02/12/2009

• China's official death toll from the A(H1N1) virus has tripled after the government ordered more accurate counting amid suspicions of a cover up. The figure jumped from 53 to 178 at the weekend.
  
  No official reason was given for the rise. Last month Zhong Nanshan, who helped to reveal the true extent of the SARS outbreak, wrote that he believed that some officials were under-reporting figures in order to convince their superiors that they had the situation under control. On November 19^th the Ministry of Health ordered more transparent reporting.
  
  Meanwhile, four have died after being vaccinated for A(H1N1). Of 26.18 million people vaccinated 2,867 had adverse reactions.
  
  
  
• An officially sponsored gay bar in Dali has had to delay its opening due to lack of customers. The bar was supposed to help break the taboo on homosexuality and to provide a location for education on AIDS and safe sex. However, it appears that Dali's homosexuals are shunning the limelight and sticking to the hang-outs where they feel safe. Health Minister Chen Zhu recently claimed that homosexual transmission of AIDS was now a major factor in the spread of the disease.
  
  Gao Yaojie, a respected campaigner on AIDS, has hinted that she may not return to China at the end of her current visit to the USA.
  
  
  
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is beginning a five day visit to China. The visit comes amid a thawing of relations. Canada's stance on China's human rights record, high tariffs on Chinese steel imports and Stephen Harpers audience with the Dalai Lama had led to tensions. However, the recession has force Canada to find new countries to invest in to end a reliance on the American markets. Stephen Harper called this his 'most important foreign visit.'
  
  
  
• Cross-strait talks between the People's Republic and the Republic on Taiwan will be held in mid or late December. The Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Assiciation will meet in Taizhong, Taiwan.
  
  
  
• An official in Guangdong has admitted to taking 650,000 RMB in bribes. Shen Zhiqiang, a former head of the salt administration, claimed that he was blackmailed into taking the bribes by his mistress. Shen's lawyer claims that the mistress was also the mistress of the briber.
  
  Six other officials are also to be tried for their involvement.
  

Roundup - 26/11/2009

• China has announced that it intends to cut its carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 40-45% by 2020 ahead of the climate summit in Copenhagen. While the Chinese media has hailed the announcement as further proof of China's commitment to secure a binding deal on climate change, many were disappointed by the announcement. The targets mean that, due to China's rapid economic growth, carbon emissions would grow significantly over the next decade before leveling off. This is certainly a far lower target than President Obama's aim to cut overall emissions by almost 20% by 2020. Many hoped that China would make a bolder commitment and take a leading role in encouraging other developing countries to commit to carbon emission reductions.
  
  China also announced that Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the summit. This has drawn some criticism from those who hoped that President Hu Jintao would attend as he is in a more powerful position to make decisions in the later stages of the summit. However, some China-watchers have pointed out that, as Chairman of the Leading Small Group on Climate Change, Wen is the obvious choice and has considerable power to initiate policy decisions in the field. Some have commented that this may be a response to President Obama's decision to attend early in the summit instead of during the final decision-making stages.
  
  
  
• Xinhua reports that Beijing has criticised the USA's imposition of anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese-made oil pipes. The USA imposed the tariffs in response to allegations that China is unfairly subsidising the producers. The oil pipes are already subject to a 99% anti-dumping tarrif imposed earlier this month.
  
  
  
• China has aired it's first 'Made in China' advert on CNN. It is part of a global campaign to associate the 'Made in China' label with French fashion, European deasign and American technology. It's tagline is 'Made in China. Made with the World.'
  
  
  
• 8 cases of mutated H1N1 virus have been found in mainland China. Officials say that the new strain is not resistant to current treatments.