China Economy Forum

[Brotherhood]

GDP rises 9.7% in Q1, inflation surges too - People's Daily Online April 15, 2011

China's economy kept its rising momentum in the first quarter by growing 9.7 percent year-on-year, although Beijing has faced an increasingly daunt job to put soaring inflation under control.

Boosted by dynamics in manufacturing, drawn by accelerating consumption from affluent Chinese families, rising exports, and resilience in investment into infrastructure and big-item projects, China' gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to 9.6311 trillion yuan (US$1.72 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics announced Friday.

However, inflation has shown no signs of abating, six months after Beijing decided to wind down its fiscal and monetary stimulus, enforced in late 2008 to thwart the impact of the global financial crisis. The consumer price index, a major gauge of inflation, jumped 5.38 percent in March, the highest in more than 3 years. The reading was 4.9 percent for both January and February.

Major components causing the higher levels of inflation are food price rise, which rose more than 11 percent in the first quarter. To make things possibly worse, PPI, or producer price index, tracking price rises at the gate of factories, soared 7.3 percent in March, which, economists believe, will be translated to elevated CPI numbers in the coming months.

Analysts therefore predict that inflation in the world's second largest economy won't peak till late in the year, which is to pose a graver difficulty for Beijing to rein in the annual inflation rate within its target – 4 percent, set by the State Council, China's central government.

Monetary tightening is surely to be continued, economists say. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, is expected to raise interest rates, commercial banks' required reserve ratio of total deposits, and the exchange rates of the yuan with major global currencies.

The central bank has this year hiked the required reserve ratio three times, 50 basic points each, and the deposit and lending interest rate twice, 25 basic points each. Lately, the appreciation of the yuan has regained speed. Rising value of the yuan, though making exports more expensive, encourages imports as products shipped from abroad are sold cheaper in China markets, which drags down CPI.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), earlier this month projected that China's economy will grow 9.6 percent in 2011 and 9.5 percent next year. Together with the World Bank and other international organizations, it has warned that China could face increasing pressure from credit and asset bubbles.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao, discussing the first-quarter statistics with his ministers Wednesday, said that his government will stick to the “prudent monetary policy”, and listed inflation control as Beijing's No 1 job this year.

Chinese economists believe that the outsize excessive lending policy taken by nearly all governments in the aftermath of global financial crisis, and major central banks' “quantitative easing” by injecting tens of billions dollars into the global market through buying government debts, have led to a credit boom and caused price rises across the board.

Some of global credit crest has spilled over to China. Thursday, China's central bank said its foreign exchange reserve has jumped 24.4 percent in the first three months, topping the US$ 3 trillion landmark. Although China's first quarter trade registered $1 billion deficit, the central bank bought in massive foreign currencies on the market. The unplanned injection of RMB credit has been a major factor, causing liquidity over-flow and inflation in China.

The central bank reported Thursday that total national financing rose to 14.27 trillion yuan in 2010. In the first quarter this year, China's total national financing hit 4.19 trillion yuan, 322 billion yuan less than the same period last year, as Beijing intensified its regulation on credit release.

By Li Hong, People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China planning New Silk Road to Europe - People's Daily Online April 15, 2011

Old silk road between China and Europe

China is planning a "New Silk Road" that will run through Central Asia and continue into Europe facilitating improved transport and trade.

The road will complement a planned "Silk Track" railway that will also boost connections with Europe and the countries in between, officials and experts have confirmed.

Sources with the Xinjiang highway administration said construction will soon start on a 213-km expressway between Kashgar and Erkeshtam. The road is expected to be put into use in September 2013.

The project, which is likely to cost 4.3 billion yuan ($660 million), is being described as the first expressway to cross the Pamirs Plateau and offers access to Central Asia.

Ju Chengzhi, director of the international affairs department at the Ministry of Transport, told China Daily the soon-to-be-built Kashgar-Erkeshtam expressway is a section of the proposed new link between Asia and Europe.

He said the route within China will start in Lianyungang, in East China's Jiangsu province, and travel through Xi'an, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, before reaching the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The proposed route will continue through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey, before heading into Europe, he added.

"The route will link China with major countries in Central Asia, Western Asia and Europe. It will pass these countries' administrative centers, major cities and resource-producing areas," he said.

According to Ju, China has also proposed two other road connections between China and Europe -- one going via Kazakhstan and Russia and the other going through Kazakhstan and via the Caspian Sea.

Experts said barriers -- including technical ones and issues connected to taxation and customs -- are the reason why almost all of China's exported goods to Europe are transported by sea. Even goods from Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia are currently sent east by rail to China's ports before they are shipped to Europe.

China's trade with Central Asian countries has grown nearly 50 times in the 17 years between 1992 and 2008, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency in 2009.

The report said the trading turnover between China and the five Central Asian countries was $527 million back in 1992 but had increased to $25.2 billion by 2008.

To facilitate communications and trade, China is also advocating a rail link that would start from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in China and pass through Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan before arriving in Iran, according to Iranian former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Nov 15.

The railway would then be divided into two routes -- one of which would lead to Turkey and Europe.

Source: China Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China, Ukraine aim to up trade to USD 10 billion by 2012 - People's Daily Online April 15, 2011

China hopes to increase trade volume with Ukraine to 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2012, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Thursday in Sanya.

Hu made the remarks when meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mikola Azarov in the southern Chinese resort city in Hainan Province.

Bilateral cooperation between China and Ukraine in economy, trade, technology and space technology have deepened remarkably in recent years, Hu said.

He said that China hopes the two countries could well implement major cooperative projects and improve cooperation in science, technology and agriculture.

Hu said China attaches great importance to the relations with Ukraine and bilateral ties have developed steadily since the two nations established diplomatic relations in 1992.

He said the two countries should further expand people-to-people exchanges and strengthen cooperation and coordination in international and regional issues such as reforms on the United Nations, climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.

Azarov said Ukraine would like to maintain high-level exchanges with China and deepen cooperation in such areas as economy, trade, space technology, agriculture and culture.

He said the Ukrainian government welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in the country.

Azarov will attend the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan on Friday.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Sino-Russian mechanical, electrical trade maintains steady growth - People's Daily Online April 14, 2011

The trade between China and Russia is currently showing a good recovery growth momentum and the trade volume of mechanical and electrical products accounts for half of the total China-Russia bilateral trade volume, said Zhang Yujing, president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, during a press conference at the recent 2011 China-Russia (Dongning) Machinery and Electrical Products Exhibition Fair.

Data shows that China exported more than 13.5 billion U.S. dollars of machinery and electrical products to Russia in 2010, an increase of more than 85 percent compared with 2009, accounting for nearly 46 percent of China's total exports to Russia in 2010.

The China-Russia trade volume of mechanical and electrical products reached nearly 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of 2011, an increase of nearly 57 percent compared with the same period of 2010.

Zhang said that China's mechanical and electrical industry features complete industry categories, a high degree of concentration and significant economies of scale. The rapid economic development and the strong complementarity of China and Russia provide a broad space for business cooperation between the two countries. It is expected that by 2015, the China-Russia bilateral trade volume of mechanical and electrical products will reach 30 billion U.S. dollars.

By People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China grids to connect 90 mln kilowatts of wind power by 2015 - People's Daily Online April 16, 2011

China's electrical grids will connect 90 million kilowatts of wind power capacity by 2015, said China's largest power grid company on Friday.

The figure will rise to 150 million kilowatts by 2020, said the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) in a white paper on wind power development.

This is the first white paper issued by a company on wind power development in China.

The market for wind power consumption is found primarily in northern China, eastern China and central China, while wind power farm projects are largely located in northern China, northeastern China and northwestern China, making it necessary to boost grid infrastructure construction, according to the white paper.

The SGCC vowed in the white paper to increase wind power transmission grids in the next five years.

China's wind power installation has doubled every year for the past five years. It totaled approximately 40 million kilowatts in 2010, ranking first in the world.

Currently, China's installed wind power capacity connected to national grids is above 30 million kilowatts, according to the white paper.

Shu Yinbiao, deputy general manager of SGCC, said publishing the white paper is a move by SGCC to actively fulfill its public responsibility and promote sound development of wind power in China.

Shu said that by the end of 2010, China had 29.56 GW wind turbines integrated to the grid. The annual growth of wind power grid admission was nearly 100 percent in the country over the past five years.

China Wind Energy Association (CWEA) said China had 44.7 GW wind turbines installed by the end of 2010. It means nearly 34 percent wind turbines were not joined to the grid.

Shu said that in 2010, China' s wind turbines operated for 2,097 hours on average. Wind power was widely applied in many regions. It constituted 21.1 percent of local power consumption in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, 8.7 percent in the western part of Inner Mongolia, 5.6 percent in Jilin Province, and 4.6 percent in Heilongjiang Province.

Shu said that since wind farms are largely based in northern China and electric power users are mainly found in central and eastern regions, China has to transmit construct large wind power bases in the north and send wind power over long distances to the central and east.

Ultra-high-voltage power transmission lines are good options, which are expected to eventually double China's wind power consumption capacity.

State Grid complains that uncontrolled wind farm construction has outpaced the national plan for grid construction, which makes grid access a bottleneck of China' s wind power development.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Hu: Build Hainan into int'l tourism hub - People's Daily Online April 17, 2011

Chinese President Hu Jintao has inspected south China's island province of Hainan, investigating the implementation of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan and the province's reform and development.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited the countryside and local businesses on Friday and Saturday after attending the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Sanya and the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia.

The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The non-governmental and non-profit Boao Forum for Asia, founded by 28 nations in 2001, has become an important platform for discussions on key topics in Asia and the world.

In Hainan, Hu showed his concern for the lives of people hit by serious floods last October. He said that villagers' unswerving spirit in the face of natural disasters was valuable and he hoped that local people could further develop fruit and vegetable production in order to boost incomes.

At Hainan International Port of Creativity, Hu said that the creative industry was "an emerging sector" boasting rosy prospects, and that innovative systems and scientific and technological support were key to the industry's vitality.

"The creative industry needs innovative talents," Hu said, encouraging young people with innovative spirit to pursue greater achievements.

Regarding the island's first high-speed rail line, Hu ordered government departments to "make all efforts to guarantee its safety" and crack down on corruption.

Hu said that the CPC Central Committee has made a strategic decision to build Hainan into an "international tourism island," Hainan should seize the opportunity to "explore tourism resources, improve infrastructure and regulate the tourism market order" under the precondition of protecting the environment so that the island can become a "world-class holiday resort."

 

[Brotherhood]

China to boost integrated circuit sector - People's Daily Online April 17, 2011

China will boost the integrated circuit (IC) sector at a "state strategy" level over the next five years through 2015, Yang Xueshan, vice minister of industry and information technology has said.

China's IC sales will likely top 330 billion yuan ($50.54 billion) in 2015 and meet 27.5 percent of domestic demand, Yang told Xinhua Friday.

Also, the sector will produce a series of chips with independent intellectual property rights. Under the plan, development of about 30 percent of the IC products used by China's major whole-set enterprises would occur domestically, Yang said.

IC production demands intensive capital and technology. For example, designing a 45-nanometer IC requires $40 million and building a 12-inch production line costs $2.5 billion, said Xiao Hua, director of the information department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Yang said that a nation must support the development of the IC sector, and China lags far behind the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries in providing state support to the sector.

China's IC producers are mostly medium-sized or small enterprises with limited funds and technology.

Yang said that China's relevant departments would support and coordinate IC production with linkages including research, manufacturing and marketing during the 12th Five-Year Program (2011-2015) period.

China's IC sales reached 144.02 billion yuan in 2010, making up about 8.6 percent of the global market, according to the MIIT. As the world's largest IC market, China can only meet 20 percent of its domestic demand with independently designed IC products.

China has faced challenges in boosting the IC sector because of outdated equipment, said Xu Xiaotian, executive deputy director general of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA).

The MIIT expects China's IC market to top 1.2 trillion yuan in 2015.

IC products add significant value to products. A 3G mobile phone chip, for example, is responsible for about half of the phone's total cost.

China's chips rely heavily on imports. The country's imports of IC products topped $156.99 billion in 2010, according to the MIIT.

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as IC, chip, and microchip) is an electronic circuit manufactured by diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material.

Computers, cellular phones and other digital appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the low cost of production of integrated circuits.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Chinese Century]

china has some good private chip designers. rockchip is one of the more famous ones i have heard. their 2919 chip is pretty advanced. its already in the low and medium level tablets. nufront also made a really advanced chip.

as china becomes more technologically advanced, its private companies will move to higher end devices.

china also needs to develop chip makers, designing is one thing but to manufacture it is another game. u need advanced equipment, better knowledge, etc.
china has a chip maker but it can only produce 60nm chips.

 

[below_freezing]

china has some good private chip designers. rockchip is one of the more famous ones i have heard. their 2919 chip is pretty advanced. its already in the low and medium level tablets. nufront also made a really advanced chip.

as china becomes more technologically advanced, its private companies will move to higher end devices.

china also needs to develop chip makers, designing is one thing but to manufacture it is another game. u need advanced equipment, better knowledge, etc.
china has a chip maker but it can only produce 60nm chips.

No, the best way to become a good fab is to buy Applied Materials equipment the way TSMC does and follow the book. Being sanctioned, we not only have to get the processes down like SMIC has, but also need our own equipment companies.

 

[中国万岁-ProsperThroughCo-]

China Daily
CHUNG-YUE CHANG

The ills of blind
pursuit of pleasure

A recent news report on outdoor
advertising in Beijing made
interesting reading. The Beijing
municipal administration
for industry and commerce
recently posted an announcement
on its website, asking outdoor advertisers
to self-evaluate and rectify by April 15
advertisements that are against regulations.
It also asked advertisers to avoid ads that are
in “poor taste”, refer to “imperial-aristocratic
elitism” and promote “hedonism and worship
of things foreign”.

The administration’s goal is to create a
“fair and harmonious” environment and
beautify Beijing. Though it is a routine
municipal measure, the reference to “hedonism”
points to a larger issue: The status,
nature and meaning of luxury goods in
China.

Let us talk about the status fi rst. Many billboards
in Beijing and other major Chinese
cities advertise foreign luxury goods. The
Chinese luxury market is growing at an average
annual rate of 20 percent. By 2015, China
is expected to surpass Japan as the world’s
largest luxury market.

The issue of “hedonism” has been widely
reported in Western business and trade
media. Interestingly, the general tone of
some of these reports conveys a hidden hostility
toward China.

A Bloomberg News report on March 23
(Beijing Bans Outdoor Advertising Promoting
‘Hedonism’ as Wealth Gap Widens)
is a case in point. It says Louis Vuitton,
Hermes and Prada are expanding in China
in a major way. The news was preceded by
a negative subliminal portrayal of China,
suggesting dysfunction and trouble. One
is puzzled by the incongruity between this
negative portrayal and the energized commercial
activity of foreign luxury goods
makers in China.

This subtle portrayal, like most advertisements,
works subliminally. Factually true
but otherwise unfl attering “statements”
about China are spread strategically in
news reports. Yet collectively these statements
elicit, by sublimation, negative overall
impressions. The separate “statements” in
the Bloomberg report are rearranged below
to show the negative impressions.

The article made a fuss about the campaign,
assuming that the announcement’s
hidden intention was to maintain stability in
China by minimizing the causes for general
dissatisfaction which could lead to a situation
similar to that in the Middle East and
North Africa.

Sadly, this kind of hostile positioning of
China, by sophisticated subliminal means, is
a common media practice in the West. It is
not healthy, nor does it serve anyone well.

Next, let us see what is the nature of luxury
goods and what do they mean for China.
Luxury goods are not necessities, people
enjoy them to smoothen the roughness of
life. But excess use of luxury goods can bring
ruin to many. China has produced, exported,
imported and consumed luxury goods
throughout its long history, except for maybe
three decades. Historians have long debated
whether the love for Chinese silk contributed
to the fall of the Roman Empire. In short,
luxury goods are not new to China.

But apart from the revival of traditional
domestic goods, there is now a strong
demand for foreign goods — fast cars, jewelry,
expensive watches, designer clothes,
vintage wines, and even luxury yachts and
private jets.

If luxury goods do smoothen the harshness
of life, why should the Beijing administration
even talk about “hedonism”? One possible
answer is: Hedonism leads to excessive consumption
of luxury goods, and, worst, it leads
to the glorifi cation of such excess.

Today, many from among the Chinese nouveau
riche indulge in excesses. To give one
example, a rich Chinese in Qingdao, Shandong
province, hired some people on March
15 to destroy his Lamborghini Gallardo L140
luxury sports car in public to mark the World
Consumer Rights Day. The destruction of the
luxury car, worth about $260,000 (179,374
euros), was apparently an “act of protest for
shoddy Lamborghini repair services”. Or was
it an act of self-promotion? This mindless
destruction is an apt example of the glorifi
cation of excessive consumption of luxury
goods.

Such a glorifi cation has two drawbacks.
First, it could create an unhealthy overconfi
dent mentality among the rich and an
unhealthy under-confi dent mindset among
the poor. This polarization was not part of
China’s economic reform. Over the past 30
years, some people have indeed, according
to plan, become rich fi rst. The next 30 years,
again according to plan, should be the time
for the rest of the population to catch up. In
fact, this is the goal of China’s 12th Five-Year
Plan (2011-2015), too.

The second drawback is that glorifi cation
of excess is contrary to every aspect of
Chinese culture. Citing one such aspect here
would suffi ce. Excessive consumption leads
to waste of resources, which is contrary to
the laws of nature. And anything that goes
against nature is contrary to Chinese values,
which are thoroughly ecological. It is in this
sense that the recent wanton destruction of
the Lamborghini is an extreme act of waste.
This should more than help one to see the
true meaning of the Beijing administration’s
move against “hedonism”.

The Beijing administration’s announcement
refl ects the key functions of Chinese
governance, which include dissemination
and promotion of values. China is not merely
a socio-politico-economic entity. It is fi rst a
distinct cultural entity. In this respect, one
only wishes that the Western media can stay
away from its own myopic perspective about
China and develops its capacity to know
China on its own terms.

The author teaches philosophy in the United
States.

 

[Brotherhood]

Domestic demand to drive China's auto market forward - People's Daily Online April 19, 2011

CHINA'S auto market will continue to drive forward as firm domestic demand is set to continue over the coming years, with car makers also investing more in new energy vehicles and becoming more environment conscious.

While the global automotive industry is struggling to recover from a glut after the economic crisis, the vast market potential and business opportunities in China have helped the 14th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition to bask in the spotlight compared to auto shows in Detroit and Geneva earlier this year.

Su Bo, vice minister of industry and information technology, estimated China's vehicle sales to rise from last year's 18 million to 23 million units by 2015, based on the slowest annual growth scenario of 5 percent.

Speaking at a forum ahead of the Shanghai auto show yesterday, Su said the auto market is, however, not likely to repeat the explosive growth seen in the past during which the domestic industry ignored innovation and the development of China's own brands.

"The fundamentals and positive long-term prospects of our auto industry haven't changed," Su said. "However, while we are fast expanding the scale, competition in product quality is getting more intense. It's imperative for the auto industry to boost innovation capacity, transform growth model and upgrade technology."

The show, with its theme of "Innovation for Tomorrow," will see a record 86 new energy-efficient cars on display.

With increased attention trained on China, the world's largest auto market, car makers have quickened their product launches and unveiled aggressive strategies to propel their ambitions even before Auto Shanghai 2011 opens a two-day media preview today.

Shanghai Volkswagen introduced its new Passat mid-to-high range sedan, which is tailor-made for the Chinese and United States markets. The model will compete with Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord.

Volkswagen also debuted the world premiere of its new Beetle yesterday and Guangzhou Honda expanded into the rapidly-growing compact MPV market with its EV Yizhi.

General Motors intends to introduce more than 60 new or upgraded models and aims to double sales to around 5 million units under its five-year plan to 2015, unveiled yesterday, for the Chinese market.

Ford plans to aggressively introduce its electric vehicles in China for the first time as it launched the Asian debut of three green models yesterday, including the Focus Electric car. The US car maker aims to unveil over 15 models in China over the next four years.

Joe Hinrichs, president of Asia Pacific and Africa at Ford, said the car maker estimated growth of China's auto market to slow to 5-10 percent this year. He said the slower figure is still growth and "very sustainable for the industry."

Auto Shanghai 2011 will be held at Shanghai New International Expo Center from Thursday to April 28.

Source: Shanghai Daily

 

[Brotherhood]

China signs currency swap deal with New Zealand - People's Daily Online April 19, 2011

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, said Monday that it has signed a 25-billion-yuan ($3.83 billion) currency swap agreement with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

The agreement will last for three years and is extendable by mutual consent, according to the statement posted on the PBOC website.

The swap is aimed at promoting bilateral trade, investment and financial cooperation, it said.

Since the onset of the world financial crisis in late 2008, China has signed currency swap agreements with the Republic of Korea (ROK), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Belarus, Indonesia, Argentina, Iceland and Singapore.

Analysts said the move would encourage traders to invest in the local currency as part of China's efforts to promote cross-border trade settlements in yuan, China's national currency.

Source: Xinhua

 

[Brotherhood]

Huawei-Huawei Reports FY10 Revenues of CNY185.2 Billion, Up 24.2%; Net Profit of CNY23.8 Billion, Up 30.0%

A key focus on the expansion of enterprise and device businesses

[Shenzhen, China, 18 April, 2011] Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. ("Huawei"), a world-leading telecom solutions provider, today released its audited full-year 2010 financial results highlighted by sales revenues of CNY 185.2 billion, a 24.2% growth over the previous year. Huawei also reported an increased net profit of CNY 23.8 billion, up 30.0% from 2009, and net profit margin of 12.3%. The financial results were independently audited by international accounting firm KPMG.

Huawei maintained steady growth in 2010 on the back of notable expansion in overseas markets as well as continued development in its three core business divisions – Telecom Networks, Global Services, and Devices. By the end of 2010, Huawei had deployed over 80 SingleRAN networks for operators, among which 28 LTE networks were commercially launched or ready to be launched. Huawei also shipped 120 million devices around the world.

"Operators continue to choose Huawei for our unique ability to transform their needs into customized, innovative, and flexible solutions that create maximum value for their business," said Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman of Huawei Technologies. "As part of Huawei's future growth strategy, we leveraged our deep experience in the telecoms industry to expand into new areas, including the enterprise and device businesses, and will continue to capitalize on opportunities provided by the industry's digital transformation to support our global business in 2011."

The company also launched its enterprise business in 2010 and intends to dedicate extensive resources to further develop this offering, which provides network infrastructure, fixed and wireless communication, data center, and cloud computing solutions for global industry and enterprise customers.

Moving forward, Huawei will adopt a market-oriented corporate governance structure as part of its growth strategy to evolve into a provider of integrated, end-to-end ICT solutions and services and to better serve our customers. In this new structure, each of Huawei's main business units will be overseen by its own executive management teams that are in turn managed by the company's CEO alongside an active Board of Directors that provide direction and ensure synergies across the lines of business. The current Board was elected in at the beginning of 2011 and their biographies are included in Huawei's 2010 annual report.

Huawei's audited full-year results are outlined in the company's 2010 annual report, which was published today and can be found at http://www.huawei.com/ar2010.

6.6070 RMB=1 USD (as of December 31, 2010; see page 71 of annual report)

 

[Brotherhood]

Beijing to launch clean air action plan - People's Daily Online April 19, 2011

Beijing will release the "Beijing Municipal Clean Air Action Plan" in the near future in an attempt to increase the percentage of annual blue-sky days to 80 percent by 2015, said Chen Tian, head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (BMEPB), on April 18.

Chen said that under the "Beijing Municipal Clean Air Action Plan," coal will no longer be used in Beijing’s six urban districts by 2015. Beijing will first control coal-smoke pollution by transforming the equipment of large coal-fired power plants in the six urban districts as well as 520 coal-fired boilers and coal stoves of local households.

Beijing has four large coal-fired power plants in Chaoyang and Shijingshan districts. Chen said that these power plants, except for the Guohua Power phase I project, should complete clean energy transformations over the next five years.

Furthermore, a total of 520 coal-fired boilers will be replaced by pollution-free boilers, including all boilers with a steam flow of more than 20 tons and some with a steam flow below 20 tons

Chen said that more than 90,000 households in new the Dongcheng and Xicheng districts, including those living in economy buildings, will all use clean energy instead of coal by 2014.

Households near the Fifth Ring Road that currently use coal stoves for heating will first have access to the central urban heating supply and gradually have gas-fired or other clean energy-fired urban central heating. Furthermore, Beijing will introduce a stricter urban access system for enterprises, no longer permitting high-pollution chemical and metallurgical enterprises to build plants in Beijing.

Chen said that according to the clean air action plan, Beijing will ban 400,000 old vehicles that cannot meet emissions standards from the city roads by 2015. Meanwhile, the municipal environmental protection authorities will conduct regular inspections and impose stricter emissions restrictions on new vehicles.

Furthermore, environmental protection agencies at all levels will make greater efforts to reduce the level of dust, smoke and soot in the air. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is drawing up plans to carry out joint prevention and control of air pollution in key areas of northern China including Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province.

Chen predicted that in the next five years, the concentrations of six pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide will meet Beijing's air quality standards, and the annual average concentration of the total suspended particulates and breathable particles in the air will both drop by around 10 percent. Ozone pollution will be gradually reduced, and the percentage of days meeting class 1 and class 2 air quality standards will reach 80 percent by 2015.

By People's Daily Online

 

[Brotherhood]

China vows to double workers' pay in 5 years - People's Daily Online April 19, 2011

China is striving to increase the average Chinese wages by 15 percent annually in a bid to achieve a two-fold increase in pay by the end of 2015, the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security (MHRSS) said according to a report in the Beijing Times Tuesday.

Yang Zhiming, vice-minister of human resources and social security, speaking during a national labor relation conference Monday, said 13 provinces have raised their minimum wage by an average of 22.8 percent, with more cities likely to see a pay raise within the year.

Addressing the widening income gap between the wealthy and the poor, Yang said the income of officials should be transparent and payment regulations should be re-examined for people with a high income.

The report says heads in 90 percent of major Central State-Owned Enterprises can earn in excess of a million yuan a year. Yang said the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) is therefore set to narrow the income gap and re-distribute human resources and money among the high wage earners.

The problem of migrant workers failing to get paid on time will also be addressed by the newly-revised Criminal Law, which added "malicious arrears of wage crime" into its articles thanks to the ministry's lobbying the Standing Committee of National People's Congress earlier this March during China's "two sessions."

"We'd spare no effort step by step to ensure there's no wage-arrears in China by the end of 2013," Yang said.

Source: China Daily