China Economy Forum

[cirr]

2/15/2015

China Sovereign Fund Buys $1.2B Tokyo Building From Mori

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo may have been tense in recent years, but that didn’t stop a Chinese sovereign fund from teaming up with LaSalle Investment Management of the US to buy a Tokyo mixed-use complex for ¥140 billion ($1.2 billion).

The participation in the real estate deal by China Investment Corporation, one of the funds responsible for managing the country’s estimated $4 trillion in foreign reserves, comes after Chinese buyers have rapidly increased their spending on Japanese property, particularly in the nation’s capital.

Tokyo has regained favor among investors regionally as the country’s currency slides at the same time that pessimism grows regarding the prospects for near term growth in many mainland real estate markets.

Inside Tokyo’s Meguro Gajoen complex. (Image courtesy of Tatsuhiko Miyagawa via Flickr.com)

China’s sovereign funds have made a number of big ticket purchases ofinternational real estate in recent years, as the country begins looking for higher returns on its foreign exchange reserves and seeks to diversify away from its traditional reliance on US Treasury bonds.

Buying Mori’s Mixed-Use Complex

According to a report in Reuters, CIC provided most of the capital for the purchase of the mixed-use Meguro Gajoen complex, which includes two office towers, retail space and a hotel. The sale, which was revealed last week is reported to have occurred in January.

Mori bought the complex from US private equity firm Lone Star just last August for ¥130 billion ($1.09 billion), thus picking up more than $100 million in return for looking after the property for just a few months.

More at：China Sovereign Fund Buys $1.2B Tokyo Building From Mori - Forbes

 

[ahojunk]

China’s Pearl River Delta overtakes Tokyo as world’s largest megacity | Cities | The Guardian

China’s Pearl River Delta overtakes Tokyo as world’s largest megacity
Nick Mead
Wednesday 28 January 2015 17.00 AEST
Last modified on Wednesday 28 January 2015 20.45 AEST

Several hundred million more people are expected to move to cities in East Asia over the next 20 years as economies shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services, according to a World Bank report

Urbanisation in the Pearl River Delta - grey represents areas which were urban in 2000; red shows new urban areas in 2010. Illustration: University of Wisconsin-Madison/World Bank

China’s Pearl River Delta has overtaken Tokyo to become the world’s largest urban area in both size and population, according to a report from the World Bank. The megacity – which covers a significant part of China’s manufacturing heartland and includes the cities of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan and Dongguan – is now home to more people than the countries of Canada, Argentina or Australia.

Urbanisation which took place over a period of several decades in Europe and North America is happening in just a few years in East Asia, which already contains eight megacities (with populations above 10 million) and 123 cities with between one and 10 million people.

With almost two-thirds of the region’s population (64%) still non-urban at present, several hundred million are expected to move to cities over the next 20 years as economies shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services, according to East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a Decade of Spatial Growth.

The report analysed built-up areas in the region in 2000 and 2010 using satellite imagery and geospatial mapping, an attempt to address the lack of internationally comparable data given that each country defines urban areas and populations differently. The Pearl River Delta grew from 4,500 square kilometres in 2000 to nearly 7,000 sq km in 2010, the analysis found. Treating the Pearl River Delta as a single urban area, it is now bigger than Tokyo in terms of geographical size and population.

In the region as a whole, the report highlighted 50 urban areas with growth rates that would double their populations in the two decades to 2020; despite the visibility of megacities, there was more urban land, population and growth in small and medium-sized cities.

Much of the growth of the region’s urban population was driven by China, which had 477 million urban inhabitants in 2010 – partly due to the size of the country and its rapidly developing economy – but also due to Beijing’s focus on urbanisation as a key policy, with the government building cities and moving people into them.

East Asia’s rapid growth often leads to the merging of multiple cities into single urban areas, with spillovers from original boundaries into neighbouring administrations. The urban area of Jakarta in Indonesia, for example, is home to more than 23 million people over an area of 1,600 sq km – and encompassing 12 different administrative areas – fragmenting government management and revenue sources. About 350 urban areas in East Asia spill over local administrative boundaries, the report found, and in 135 of these urban areas, no single jurisdiction covers even half the total urban area.

The report warned that although the growth of urban areas provides opportunities for the poorest citizens, unplanned urban expansion can also exacerbate inequality: large cities without affordable housing and efficient public transport can push the poor to live far from work, schools and markets, forcing them to choose between long and expensive commutes, and slum areas which are closer to the centre but lack land rights and services.

“While this transformation is going on, there is still an opportunity to set the course of urbanisation on a more sustainable and equitable path,” warned the report’s authors. “Within a few decades, this window of opportunity will close, and future generations will be left to deal with the consequences of how we urbanise today.”
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[haidian]

China Can Become the World’s Most Entrepreneurial Economy
ANDREW ATHERTON
FEBRUARY 18, 2015

After decades of the fastest economic growth in the world, China’s economy has started to slow down. This is perhaps inevitable, given an average annual growth rate of around 10% was sustained for almost 30 years following the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.

But one area where China continues to develop is in the number of private enterprises being started. China simplified the process for registering businesses in February 2014, and since then there has been a huge leap in the number of new registrations. According to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, there were nearly 3.7 million new registrations in 2014, an increase of 46% on 2013.

These private businesses have driven China’s economic growth in recent decades, and their future prospects play an important role in the country’s continued transition to becomingthe world’s largest economy.

China Can Become the World’s Most Entrepreneurial Economy - Fair Observer

 

[TaiShang]

RPT-China's $40 bln Silk Road fund starts work along PE lines - PBOC's Zhou

(Reuters) - China's $40 billion Silk Road infrastructure fund has started work along the lines of a long-term private equity (PE) venture to boost businesses in countries and regions along the road, China's central bank governor was quoted saying on Monday.

"The fund has already started operations, with registration on Dec. 29 and the first board meeting on Jan. 6," Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, told the semi-official China Business News.

China has dangled financial and trade incentives, mostly to Central Asia but also to countries in South Asia, backing efforts to resurrect the old Silk Road trading route that once carried treasures between China and the Mediterranean.

Zhou said that the fund is not a state-owned sovereign fund, but was similar to a PE fund, although it planned longer-term investment than other PE funds.

"As for how it will be similar to global funds, it is somewhat like the World Bank's IFC (International Finance Corp), the African Development Bank's mutual development fund and the China Africa Development Fund," Zhou said.

"What is different is that those funds are financed by a handful of investors instead of raising funds from the public."

China has said that the Silk Road Fund will be "open" and welcome investors from Asia and beyond, focusing on China's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, which aim to build roads, railways, ports and airports across Central Asia and South Asia.

Zhou said that China would not aim to develop the fund into a multi-party development organisation, although it would consider setting up subsidiaries and branches in various industries and regions.

He added that the fund would be mainly denominated in foreign currencies, instead of Chinese yuan, and rejected the speculation that the fund is the Chinese-style Marshall Plan.

In its essence, the Silk Road fund is not similar to the Marshall Plan," Zhou said, referring to the U.S. programme to help reconstruct Europe after the World War II.

 

[yahoocom1984]

Zhejiang province's electricity consumption is around 380,000 Gwh,

while United kingdom is around 356,800 Gwh

Zhejiang's population is about 54 million, United Kingdom's population is about 64 million

GDP:

Zhejiang about: 650 billion USD (2014)

UK is about 2.4 trillion USD (2014)

still a long way to go for Zhejiang's ecnomy

recent goal, Surpass South Korea in terms of GDP in 5 years

To reach Japan's GDP per capita level may take 10 years for Zhejiang

 

[cnleio]

No doubt, next 10 years China will get another great change !

 

[yahoocom1984]

No doubt, next 10 years China will get another great change !

I predict 10 years later, the whole China will reach Taiwan 's level in terms of average income, GDP per capita


but for these Eastern coastal provinces, they surely can reach Japan's level

 

[Edison Chen]

I predict 10 years later, the whole China will reach Taiwan 's level in terms of average income, GDP per capita


but for these Eastern coastal provinces, they surely can reach Japan's level

I agree. Japan‘s nominal GDP growth rate is 1.7%, the real GDP growth rate is 0.0% in 2014.

国民経済計算（GDP統計） - 内閣府

 

[TaiShang]

Amazing!

Tourism revenues of E China's Zhejiang total 630 bln RMB in 2014
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-2-8 15:49:51
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Tourists enjoy themselves at the Wushidu agricultural ecological park in the Kecheng District of Quzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 8, 2014. Zhejiang received 488 million tourists in 2014, according to the Zhejiang Provincial Tourism Bureau. The tourism revenues in 2014 totalled 630.06 billion yuan ($100.81 billion), up 13.81 percent year on year. (Xinhua/Tan Jin)

 

[TaiShang]

The rise of China’s entrepreneurial spirit
Della Bradshaw

In the cold basement of an office block in northwest Beijing, a group of would-be entrepreneurs huddle around a computer screen, poring over their latest prototype. A few miles away, in a well-heated and distinctly more luxurious underground lecture room, a group of 30 managers and entrepreneurs also debate ideas for new products and ventures.

Both groups are testament to the growing appetite for start-ups in China. Just as business schools in the US and Europe have reported a surge in student interest in running their own companies, business schools operating in China are also reporting a thirst for all things entrepreneurial.

“Start-ups are the new sexy thing,” says Yi Wang, co-founder and chief executive of Liu Li Shuo, which developed an English language app for Chinese smartphone users, the only education app selected by Apple in the 2013 App of the year award in China.

“Definitely you’re seeing an increasing trend in entrepreneurship in China. Top-tier venture capital firms are looking for young entrepreneurs — there’s a whole ecosystem coming up,” Mr Wang enthuses. “In recent years companies that have been making the biggest impact on people’s lives have been internet companies and behind them encouraging stories about ordinary people making it big.”

Mr Wang is one of the participants on the 10-week Stanford Ignite programme, which the Silicon Valley business school ran in Beijing for the first time in October and November. There, in the Stanford building in the heart of the Peking University campus, a select group of 30 entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs devise business plans that may one day prove to be highly successful companies.

Mr Wang’s own history is typical of many of China’s new breed of entrepreneurs, he says. He went to the US to study for his PhD, worked for Google for two years and then returned to Shanghai to work for an internet marketing company. His two co-founders report a similar history. As more and more Chinese students study overseas, behaviour at home is changing rapidly, with young people eschewing the traditional large corporation he says.

The sentiment is echoed in the spartan basement that is Tsinghua University’s x-lab, where angel investors rub shoulders with students and alumni from across the university, arguably China’s most prestigious. Between them they are developing everything from the latest electrically powered scooter to moderately priced 3D printers and wearable health monitors.

Since the x-lab launched 18 months ago, some 400 start-ups have used the facilities, says Pearl Mao, executive director. Close to 300 of them continue to flourish and more than 30 of them already have substantial funding.

What is more, every Thursday the x-lab’s team holds project meetings and each week 10 new ventures pitch to become part of x-lab. Those that succeed can use the facilities free of charge

Michael Ma, who graduated from Tsinghua SEM in 2006 with an Executive MBA, fits the bill. He believes there is much to be done in creating English language teaching technology. “China is the biggest market for foreign language learning in the world,” he points out.

His company, Beijing Peapad Education and Technology, targets parents of young children with its small, green, talking pea character, which is controlled through a parent’s smartphone and uses songs and games to teach English.

“There was no such product in the market. We think it is important for Chinese kids to learn English,” he says. “Also we believe there is a lot of money to be made in the industry.”

Mr Ma has ambitions for the Peapad to be on the market in the first half of 2015, and will offer the Peapad hardware for free, with parents buying software, services and access to the community.

“Our ambition is a bit more than language learning,” he says. “There is no smart device [like this] in the market for kids. We believe in the next 10 years this will be a real trend.

“Currently early childhood education is offline all over China, but we believe over the next few years it will all go online. Hardware is a channel and we are providing the channel.”

In developing his product Mr Ma has taken advantage of other start-up ventures in the x-lab — a computer graphics company helped design the website and Peapad games and a 3D printing firm helped develop a scale model. The x-lab offers legal advice on patents and access to Tsinghua’s industrial design centre as well as advice from angel investors and venture capitalists.

It has also performed a more specific educational role, acting as the intersection between Tsinghua’s academic departments, says Ms Mao. So far between 10 and 20 per cent of all Tsinghua students are involved in some way.

Stanford Ignite faculty director Yossi Feinberg says that while New York is the home of media start-ups and Silicon Valley of biomedical and technology companies, there is demand across the board in China. “China is everything. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit.”

The growing middle class in China means high demand, but this can in turn create issues, says Prof Feinberg. “The biggest problem to any venture in China to me is the [low] barriers to entry. The only barrier is, can you create something big enough so others can’t enter the market.”

Now the entrepreneurial genie is out of the bottle, Mr Wang says it is unlikely the process can be reversed. His company resembles a US internet start-up, with free meals and company-funded holidays. Why would people who have operated in this environment all their working lives want to work for a state-owned enterprise, he asks.

 

[Yizhi]

Grabbing "red envelopes" online a new trend
Grabbing "red envelopes" online a new trend - Xinhua | English.news.cn

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese people used to be focused on eating dumplings and watching the CCTV Spring Festival Gala on Lunar New Year's eve. But a new trend occupied their time Wednesday evening.



Hundreds of millions of people were busy shaking their cell phones, trying to grab as many digital red envelopes as they could. Red envelopes, or hongbao, filled with cash are usually given during holidays like Lunar New Year. The internet giants Tencent and Alibaba got in on the tradition this year giving cell phone users a way to send digital hongbao.



The companies also offered opportunities for users to grab the envelopes by shaking their phones. On New Year's eve, there were 1.7 billion hongbao exchanges through Tencent's WeChat and Alibaba's Alipay.



And the virtual red-envelopes were even part of the Gala show. Once the game was announced during the live broadcast, TV viewers got busy shaking their phones. During the five-hour show, WeChat users shook their phones 11 billion times. At one point 13.5 million people were shaking their cell phones.



Alipay data shows that 4 billion yuan, about 640 million US dollars, was exchanged Wednesday. Due to the popularity of digital hongbao exchanged, many Chinese now joke that Alipay and Tencent workers have never had New Year's eve off.

(Source: CNTV.cn)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
yeah, this is fun.
we spent a whole night grabbing digital hongbao on cell phone....

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese Investment Important to Greece: PM

2015-02-20 09:14:10 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Xie Cheng

Greece's Tsipras administration led by anti-austerity Syriza Party halted privatization projects launched by previous Greek governments on January 26, 2015. [Photo: ifeng.com]


Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says his administration welcomes Chinese investment into the country.

"We place special emphasis on the existing Chinese investments in Greece, including the important activities of COSCO at the port of Piraeus. We pay special attention to Chinese investments which we want to support and strengthen as a common interest and benefit for both our peoples."

Tipras has made the comments during visiting the Chinese naval fleet at the local port of Piraeus.

The Tsipras administration has halted privatization projects launched by previous Greek governments.

This includes a previous plan to privatize two-thirds of the Piraeus port, where Chinese group COSCO maintains a strong presence.

It's been suggested the move could make COSCO's investments into the port more difficult.

However, an official with COSCO in Greece says its operation of a pair of container terminals at Piraeus are not affected.

 

[TaiShang]

Greece supports Chinese investment at Piraeus Port
Xinhua, February 20, 2015

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday praised bilateral cooperation between his country and China and sent best wishes to Chinese people for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

"We will seek new ways of cooperation between the Greek state and the Chinese side," Tsipras said in a speech delivered at a reception hosted by the 18th escort fleet of the Chinese navy at Piraeus port.

Tsipras said his government will support China's shipping conglomerate COSCO's investment at Piraeus port, as well as Chinese investments in other sectors across Greece.

He expressed confidence that Piraeus port, as a key gateway for the delivery of Chinese products to Europe, can become a leading trade hub on a European and international level.

Tsipras added that there was great potential for bilateral cooperation in transports, railways, as well as in the tourism and culture fields.

The Prime Minister hailed the historical strong Sino-Greek ties, noting that cooperation, in particular in the maritime sector, was a solid basis for strengthening collaboration in other sectors in recent years.

Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli, Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Zhang Chuanshu and other Chinese officials welcomed the Greek leader and other dignitaries in the reception to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Thursday.

Thursday's event was attended among others by Alternate Greek Shipping Minister Theodoris Dritsas, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and Piraeus Port Authority chief Yorgos Anomeritis.

Addressing the ceremony, Rear Admiral Zhang referred to Greece's help in the evacuation operation of thousands of Chinese nationals from war-torn Libya by Greek ships in recent years.

"Greece will always stand by the side of Chinese people when needed," Tsipras said, underlining the significance of bilateral collaboration in such operations in Libya and in Albania in the past.

Speaking to Xinhua, Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos highlighted the significance of the cooperation of the two countries in the defensive sector.

"The visit of the 18th escort fleet of the Chinese navy is a great honor. It proves that good cooperation between the two nations can continue, and apart from the business sector, it can be extended in the defense industry," he told Xinhua.

Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli remarked that both Greece and China have contributed greatly to the ancient oceanic civilization and the blue ocean brings the two countries closer today. Zou said China wishes to enhance cooperation with Greece and achieve prosperity together.

"I am confident that the traditional friendly Sino-Greek relationship will be further developed based on the principle of mutual respect, mutual trust and win-win cooperation, benefiting the two peoples and making greater contribution to regional peace and cooperation, " said Zou.

Three ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) of the 18th escort fleet sailed in the port of Piraeus on Monday, after taking part in international operations against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia's coasts.

The 18th Chinese naval escort fleet concludes the visit to Greece on Friday, ending a tour across Europe which also included Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France.

 

[TaiShang]

Sri Lanka to continue with FTA with China
Sri Lanka, Free Trade Agreement, China

Sri Lanka has agreed to proceed with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China as it will strengthen the country's economic and trade sectors, a local media report said Friday.

Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Harsha De Silva said that a private research agency had done a very interesting study on all FTAs that China had entered into and carried out a comparison exercise. "The government is not pushing it back; we will proceed with it, but there are multiple views. We won't rush it but we are moving in that direction," de Silva said while speaking at a CEOs forum organized by the island country's Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) on Thursday.

The CEOs forum was told that the government would reassure China of its relationship with Sri Lanka and President Maithripala Sirisena is planning to make an official visit to Beijing next month. "This government will not fight with anybody, instead we will be friendly with everybody. We have to be a responsible government. Don't forget that it was the United National Party that signed the first agreement with the Chinese, not the Bandaranaikes or the Rajapaksas. We have a strong relationship with China and we are immensely grateful for all it has done for us. Therefore, those relationships will continue," the deputy minister said.

In order to strengthen its bilateral relations with China, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera will leave for Beijing on Feb. 27 in the highest-level trip to hold discussions with key Chinese officials and make preparations for a visit by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in March.

 

[Huaren]

All those sweet talks put aside, right now I am quite worried about chinese investment in Greece, as their reputation and commitment for foreign "inputs" are "shaking"