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Xinhua: Beidou System Accuracy Will Surpass GPS

Xinhua recently reported on the new developments related to the Chinese global positioning system named Beidou. Based on the comments made by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the accuracy of the Beidou system’s 10-meter services has already reached the same level as the U.S. GPS system. With the enhancements that are planned, the Beidou system will soon offer better accuracy than the GPS system. It is also expected that the price of the Beidou commercial chip will drop sharply in the near future. As of October 25, the Beidou system included a network of sixteen satellites, which cover all of China and the surrounding regions. The era of commercialized Beidou applications has arrived. The domestic market size of the satellite positioning system is expected to reach RMB 200 billion yuan. 
Source: Xinhua, November 18, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2012-11/18/c_123966005.htm
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China News: Number of Half or Fully Shutdown Companies Reached a 3-Year High

China News recently reported on research results that the China Entrepreneurs Survey System (CESS) had released. The CESS is a research institute jointly established by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the National Bureau of Statistics, and four other government agencies. According to the research, 23.1 percent of the company owners surveyed claimed that, at the time of the survey, their companies were either “shutdown” or “semi-shutdown.” This number is the highest in three years. The key reasons cited for the situation were a decline in orders, inventory pressure, and dropping prices. The health of privately owned companies was worse than for those that were state-owned. Most of the troubled companies were small to medium sized ones. Over a quarter of the companies expressed the belief that their inventory level was “higher than usual.” Half of the companies suffered a “lower than usual” order level. Most of the troubled companies were in mining, chemical fiber, non-ferrous metals, general equipment, and automobile and other transportation equipment industries. 
Source: China News, November 17, 2012
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2012/11-17/4336528.shtml
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: China’s Dependence on Foreign Oil Will Reach 60%

People’s Daily recently reported on the First China International Petroleum Trade Conference. According to experts attending the conference, China’s oil consumption is expected to increase to half a billion tons in 2013. Meanwhile, China’s dependence on foreign oil will reach 60 percent next year. China is currently the primary source of demand for global oil market growth. In the year 2002, China became the second largest oil consuming country in the world (after the United States). According to experts, in the next five years, China’s oil imports will maintain a growth rate of eight percent annually, while the average annual growth rate for global oil consumption will remain at 1.2 percent. The decline of oil imports in North America and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East will be the two main factors that will impact the international oil market the most. However, more than half of China’s foreign oil supply comes from the Middle East. This adds a lot of uncertainty to China’s energy safety. 
Source: People’s Daily, November 15, 2012
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2012/1115/c1004-19594376.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: North Korea Reported Result of the U.S. Election for the First Time

Xinhua recently reported that the official newspaper of the North Korean Communist Party delivered the news that U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected. Although the news appeared on the last page of the newspaper and it had only a few lines, this was the first time in history that North Korean media officially reported the U.S. election result. At the same time, the North Korean Citizens Union in Japan published a commentary calling on President Obama for a change in the U.S. attitude toward North Korea. The commentary also suggested that Mr. Obama should “review the entire history of U.S.-North Korea dialog.” Xinhua commented on the news by expressing the belief that North Korea will intensify its lobbying effort for the Obama administration to reach a peace agreement to replace the current truce agreement.
Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-11/12/c_123940582.htm
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

CRN: Keeping RMB Stabilized is a Long Term Strategy

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing the current appreciation of the Chinese currency (the RMB), which has caught some people unprepared. The article expressed the belief that there are four reasons: (1) The U.S. dollar depreciated; (2) More capital flowed into the emerging markets; (3) Short-term domestic demand for RMB increased; (4) The Chinese central bank did not actively interfere with the RMB exchange rate. Since China is moving towards a market based RMB exchange rate management model, the author suggested that it is very important to ensure, as a long term strategy, that the RMB remains stable. It also serves as a foundation for the internationalization of the Chinese currency. All major international currencies such as the U.S. Dollar, the British Pound, the Euro and the Japanese Yen have this foundation. The article concluded that, although the RMB is currently going up, the goal for the long run should be maintaining stability.
Source: China Review News, November 8, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1022/9/5/9/102295964.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102295964&mdate=1108074009
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Qiushi: The U.S. Election Is Not a Good Model for Democracy

Qiushi Journal, a bi-weekly magazine published by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, recently republished an article that called the U.S. presidential election a “money show.” Since the rules now allow Super Pacs, this year’s presidential election “burned” the largest amount of money in history (about $6 billion). The article suggested that the election was a good exposé of the so-called “every vote counts” hypocrisy. The “money election” essentially allowed the rich to control the United States. Meanwhile, 46 percent of the members of the House and the Senate own assets worth over one million dollars. The “capitalization of democracy” actually reflects the fact that Wall Street has hijacked the entire society. The author suggested that the widely established image of the U.S.’s “model democracy” turned out to be a lie. This whole corrupt, money-based “democracy” is the logical result of practicing capitalism. Every candidate tried his best to please the wealthy. "Payback time" is what will follow this election, when important government positions will be awarded to those with special interests. 
Source: Qiushi, November 7, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/gj/gjsdfx/201211/t20121107_192335.htm
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Youth Daily: Research Shows 54 Percent of Doctors Take Rebates

China Youth Daily recently reported that, based on research numbers cited by senior officials from the Chinese Medical Association, 54 percent of doctors have received “rebates” and 39 percent have accepted “conference sponsorship” from drug companies. The Medical Association called for higher moral standards in the medical profession. Statistics showed that, over the past five years, tension between doctors and patients has intensified. In the last five years, the percentage of cases that involve doctors being attacked has increased from 3.7 percent to 4.5 percent. The media has reported a large number of scandals involving doctors. Many doctors blame the government for dictating that the prices they charge for their medical services must remain at a very low level; the pricing does not offer them an opportunity to recover the cost of entering and sustaining their specialty in the medical profession. 
Source: China Youth Daily, November 3, 2012
http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2012-11/03/nw.D110000zgqnb_20121103_5-01.htm
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

HSBC Chinese October PMI Number Released

NetEase recently reported that, on November 1, 2012, HSBC released the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) number for the Chinese manufacturing industry. The October number is 49.5, which is higher than last month’s figure of 47.9. This also indicates that the Chinese manufacturing sector is on the decline for the year. In October, manufacturing production output was still slipping. However total new orders had a slight increase due to more new customers. Meanwhile new export orders declined for the sixth consecutive month. Inventory was also shrinking, while ten percent of the manufacturers surveyed were reducing the size of their workforce. For the first time this year, the average price of manufacturing sector products saw a 9 percent increase. This was widely believed to be caused by the increased cost of material. Qu Hongbin, HSBC Chief Economist for the China Region, commented that the HSBC PMI number demonstrated that the Chinese manufacturing sector is showing signs of stabilization, which is largely the result of the earlier government “easing” measures. PMI is an indicator of financial activity reflecting purchasing managers’ acquisition of goods and services. A PMI number below 50 typically reflects a decline.
Source: NetEase, November 1, 2012
http://money.163.com/12/1101/09/8F7ES76J00252G50.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources