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General News / US Chamber China Trade & Investment News
April 14, 2008
Trade
April 14: OECD calls for open investment policies for sovereign funds. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this week created five principles to ensure fair treatment of sovereign wealth fund investment along the lines of treatment of non-government investors and to ensure that countries do not discriminate against these funds and assess potential national security concerns evenhandedly.
China Trade Extra
April 14: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met to reopen dialogue on a free trade agreement between the two countries. Trade Minister Simon Crean will follow up with discussion in Beijing next week. During the talk, Rudd raised his concerns about human rights issues in Tibet. Crean said this showed that Australia could talk Tibet without affecting their trade relationship. "We can proceed down the path of unfreezing what was stalled negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement."
Dynamic Business
April 14: China and Chile have signed an agreement to allow investment between their countries in services in such areas as the computing, mining and environmental industries. The deal will open up 23 service industries in China's booming economy to investment by Chile, China's Ministry of Commerce said. The agreement also gives Chinese companies access to the Chilean market in 37 industries including law, real estate and engineering.
Houston Chronicle
April 14: According to the China Import and Export website, registration regulations for foreigners to attend the 103rd session of the annual Canton Fair have been revised. In order for foreigners to register, a new five step process has been implemented in the attempt to make the Canton Fair a safe trading environment for all attendees according to information provided by the event’s organizers.
China Briefing
April 14: Chinese-Russian relations were shaped by the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation formalized in 2001. The treaty outlined plans in the next twenty years that would cover peaceful relations, economic cooperation, geopolitical reliance and more telling include a defense pact set to increase military cooperation. The treaty allowed for a cooperative approach to environmental technology regulations, energy conservation and international finance and trade with Russia agreeing that Taiwan was “an inalienable part of China.” Since then, Chinese-Russian relations have engaged on such areas as energy development, spaceflight and aviation, nuclear power, mechanics, high-tech industry.
China Briefing
April 13: G-7 welcomes faster appreciation of the RMB but urges even more appreciation of China's real effective exchange rate, in view of rising current account and surplus and domestic inflation, made no comments on other currencies. China and the US are close to having reached a consensus on CNY. China has delivered on most US demands as these demands have increasingly been consistent with the Chinese leaderships increased focus on domestic price stability. As a result chance o a trade war is receding.
RGE Monitor
April 13: Pakistan and China have made substantial progress in their talks to work out a transit trade agreement and expand the scope of a free trade agreement, besides identifying new areas of cooperation to strengthen their multi-faceted ties. The talks, held between President Pervez Musharraf and the Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, have made a significant headway on a host of issues.
Dawn
April 12: China's quarterly trade surplus shrank for the first time in three years in the beginning of 2008, as its export shipments slowed and its import bill was boosted by higher commodity prices. Combined with slower bank lending as authorities imposed credit curbs, the latest figures reinforce the perception that the country's rapid economic growth is moderating. The trade surplus in goods, the amount by which exports exceed imports, was $41.42 billion for the first three months of 2008, China's Customs agency said.
The Wall Street Journal
April 11: The growing current account surpluses of Asian countries (especially China) are the counterpart to the US current account deficit. In exchange their holdings of US assets have risen to great heights. Trade surplus with the United States and the EU continues to grow, its trade deficit with the rest of Asia, traditionally an offset, has shrunk over the past two years. China’s huge trade surplus with the United States and the accompanying accumulation of dollar-denominated fixed income reserve assets.
RGE Monitor
Congressional Issues
April 14: ITC releases first of three Rangel-requested studies on China
China Trade Extra
April 14: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will propose a series of steps to strengthen US trade enforcement and crack down on Chinese trade policies that she says are unfair. Clinton planned to tell an Alliance for American Manufacturing forum in Pittsburgh that President George W. Bush had failed to use US trade laws to protect US workers and companies, aides said.
Washington Post
Political and International News
April 14: China's Olympic torch relay could find its final flashpoint later this month when it arrives in Hong Kong for its first stop in China, after leaving a trail of turmoil overseas. Already, local and overseas groups looking to pressure China on a host of issues are drawing up their own plans after demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco earlier this month grabbed global attention.
The Wall Street Journal
April 14: Chinese citizens, angry over foreign criticism of their country's policies in Tibet, are calling for boycotts of at least two European retailers for purportedly supporting the Dalai Lama, the latest sign of growing tension between China and the West ahead of the Olympics. China's government has insisted that its actions against the Tibetans are lawful, and that the ethnic unrest has been a political ploy masterminded by the Dalai Lama. China's foreign-ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu stressed the Chinese government's right to handle its own public-security concerns, saying that "any country upholding justice will understand that."
The Wall Street Journal
April 14: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, mayor of Tanzania's main city received the Olympic torch from a Chinese official and assured him its run through the East African nation would be smooth. In Tanzania, Secretary-General Filbert Bayi of the country's Olympic Committee said no street demonstrations or attempts to snatch the torch are expected during procession through the country's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
The Wall Street Journal; Washington Post; The New York Times
April 14: The Dalai Lama said that “some efforts” at diplomacy were under way between his representatives and those of the Chinese government even as officials in Beijing continue to portray him as having orchestrated protests in Tibet that have led to a crackdown and violence there. Dalai Lama rejected the suggestion that Tibetan leaders might make concessions to engage in more extensive dialogue with China. “We’ve become refugees,” he said, adding that Tibetans had little left to concede.
The New York Times; Washington Post; Washington Times
April 14: The strategic cooperation between China and Pakistan has developed rapidly, which is safeguarding the common interests of the two sides, promote regional peace and stability, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said. During a meeting with visiting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Wen said China will actively participate in the infrastructure construction in Pakistan and encourage Chinese business to invest in the country in order to realize the sustainable development of cooperation.
People's Daily Online
April 14: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete pledged to make concerted effort to promote the traditional friendship and practical cooperation between the two countries. China and Tanzania respected and supported each other since establishment of diplomatic ties, and China treats Tanzania as its all-weather cooperative partner, said Wen. The Chinese government will continue to provide aid for Tanzania's economic development within its capacity, and hopes to cooperate with Tanzania in extending cooperation and enhance friendly partnership.
People's Daily Online
April 14: The sacred flame of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games arrived in the Omani capital of Muscat, the ninth leg of a global torch relay. Upon arrival at the airport, Liu and the flame received a warm welcome by senior Omani officials including Omani Minister of Sports Affairs and Chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy and Habib Macki, vice chairman of the OOC.
Xinhua
April 13: President Hu Jintao defended China’s crackdown against the recent Tibetan protests as a necessary response to protect national sovereignty and described the demonstrations as violent crimes orchestrated by the Dalai Lama. Hu also sought to counter critics who have blamed repressive government policies against Tibetan culture and religion for the turmoil.
The New York Times
April 13: Chinese President Hu Jintao took a hard line in his first remarks on the recent unrest in Tibet, saying the matter is an internal affair that directly threatens Chinese sovereignty. Mr. Hu's comments to visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd were made at a meeting on the sidelines of a regional economic forum in the southern province of Hainan. "China does not interfere in other countries' internal affairs, nor does it try to impose its own will on others," he said.
Washington Times
April 13: President Bush's national security adviser said, it would be a "cop-out" for countries to skip the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics as a way of protesting China's crackdown in Tibet. President Bush has given no indication he will skip the event. Critics of China say that were Bush to avoid the opening ceremony, it would send a powerful signal of international anger over China's violent response to demonstrating Buddhist monks in Tibet.
The Wall Street Journal; Washington Post; The New York Times; The New York Times
April 12: The International Olympic Committee hoped the Beijing Games might also spark political change, says Dick Pound, an IOC member from Canada. Some Chinese officials encouraged the notion, hinting that the Games would bring improvements to China. "China is going in the right direction with human rights," said Yuan Weimin, Beijing's sports minister at the time, in a toast celebrating Beijing's selection. Mr. Yuan had allowed stadiums to be used for public executions in the 1990s.
The Wall Street Journal
April 12: Chinese President Hu Jintao says Tibetan issues are for China to deal with alone. Hu says China's conflict with the followers of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama is not a problem of ethics, religion or human rights. He says it's a problem "either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland."
Washington Post
National People's Congress
April 14: The Foreign Affairs Committee under the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, strongly criticized the European Parliament's recent resolution on Tibet. The committee said in a statement that EP's unfounded accusation of China is an arrogant interference in China's domestic affairs and will damage Sino-Europe relations. It urged the EP to respect the truth on the Tibet riots and never again do things that will hurt the emotions of the Chinese people and go against the spirit of the Olympics. The committee said China was strongly indignant and firmly opposed to the resolution obstinately passed by the European Parliament, regardless of objective facts and China's opposition.
National People's Congress; National Peoples' Congress
Economy
April 14: China's dramatic economic growth is now presenting a new challenge -- urban policy. Mass migration to cities is leading to the loss of arable land and urban sprawl; spiraling demand for energy and natural resources; and the rising challenge of providing social services like education and health care, particularly to migrants. It's time for policy makers to rethink their approaches to all these problems. The bigger underlying challenge is how to increase urban productivity to enable both economic growth and more livable cities. By urban productivity, an agenda for both the public and private sectors that would improve the quality and efficiency of urbanization, while moving away from the current focus on maximizing GDP growth of China's cities at any cost.
The Wall Street Journal
April 14: China's economy has weathered the US financial crisis better than expected but many external concerns remain, the country's central bank chief said in comments reported. "The negative impact of the US subprime crisis on the domestic economy seems so far smaller than originally expected," Zhou Xiaochuan said, according to the Shanghai Securities News. Restructuring in the financial system has made China's financial institutions more healthy and losses caused by the US credit crunch were "controllable and digestible", Zhou said.
AFP
April 14: China's March consumer price index may rise as much as 8.3 percent and the figure for the first quarter was about 8.0 percent, Liu Shiyu, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said in Shanghai over the weekend. The figures were based on a preliminary internal research of the central bank. However, the official data are due to be released by the National Statistics Bureau.The CPI, the main measurement of inflation, hit 8.7 percent in February, the highest in 11 years. The slight fall in the March CPI resulted from seasonal reasons, according to Liu. He also stressed that the high inflation will be a main challenge to macro-economic agenda in the year 2008.
China Knowledge
April 12: Rising food prices should be good for farmers and so should help address China’s income inequalities, it is unclear the extent to which the authorities here are willing to allow food price increases to pass through to consumers, given their attempts to rein inflationary expectations in. However if World Bank do try to hold prices down, rising prices for food world-wide, especially in neighboring countries, will pose a problem to China even if it is largely food self-sufficient.
Sampa; Washington Times
April 12: PBoC reserve growth of $154 billion in the first quarter of 2008 is an astonishing number by any standard and suggests that the PBoC’s ability to manage monetary policy must be under ferocious strain, but it turns out that net foreign currency inflows purchased either by the PBoC or by its proxies may have been much, much higher. In January, the PBoC hiked minimum required reserves by 0.5 percent, and they did so again in March. This necessarily resulted in an increase in the amount banks had to deposit at the PBoC, which we can reasonably reliably estimate to be the RMB equivalent of $22 billion and $24 billion respectively.