All posts by TGS - 77. page

According to an article in Securities Times, companies are facing possible noncollectable accounts as their customers are not making their payments on time or are not paying at all. As of March 2012, industrial enterprises’ accounts receivable had increased by 17.74% compared to the same period last year. As of August 23, 2012, the total accounts receivable of the 1,437 listed companies that had already published their interim reports had risen drastically – by 45% – compared to the previous year.

According to Li Yang, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank, China’s corporate debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 107 percent in 2011, the highest in the world. A ratio that exceeds 90 per cent is considered “dangerous.” Li cited the standard set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Source: Securities Times, August 28, 2012
http://news.stcn.com/content/2012-08/28/content_6755013.htm

On August 27, 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released statistics for China’s industries. According to the statistics, the profit for China’s national enterprises dropped 2.7% for the period of January through July, as compared to the same period in 2011. In July alone, the number dropped by 5.4 percent. This was the sixth consecutive month of cumulative negative growth. Falling iron and steel prices have led to losses for many listed companies that have published their interim reports for the first half of 2012. Maanshan Iron and Steel lost 1.9 billion yuan, Shandong Iron and Steel lost 996 million, and the Hangzhou Iron & Steel Group Company lost 107 million. Others, including the Shagang Group, saw their profits cut in half. The same occurred in coal and electricity companies where their profits went down between 10 and 14 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

Source: Caijing.com, August 29, 2012
http://comments.caijing.com.cn/2012-08-29/112089425.html

Li Zuojun, an economist at the Development Research Center of the State Council, recently delivered a speech on China’s economy, apparently at an internal meeting. According to reports, he stated that an economic crisis in China is on the way, and will possibly commence in July or August of 2013. A key feature of the crisis will be that small to medium sized businesses, banks, and local governments will declare bankruptcy, causing social conflicts to intensify even further. Li based his prediction on four reasons: the first is economic: the burst of the bubble in the housing market and local financial crisis; the second is international: the withdrawal of foreign investment from China; the third is political: the change in the control of the Communist Party; the fourth is the “triple witching”: the short, intermediate, and long term economic cycles all bottoming out at the same time.

Source: ifeng.com, August 24, 2012
http://house.ifeng.com/rollnews/detail_2012_08/24/17068910_0.shtml

Epoch Times reported that, many years ago, People’s Daily wrote two articles that show that China acknowledged that it does not owner the Ryukyu Islands. The images of the two People’s Daily articles have been posted on the Chinese Internet and have been spreading rapidly. They are dated January 8, 1953, and March 26, 1958, respectively. The March 26, 1958, People’s Daily editorial quoted Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai as saying, “These islands have never been determined to be separate from Japan in any international agreement.” In the earlier January 8, 1953, commentary, People’s Daily stated that the United States falsified a Beijing Radio news report that said China would not give up its sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands. People’s Daily commented, “This is clearly a vicious attempt at instigation; it is aimed at exciting the Okinawan people’s strong emotions, as they seek the return of Okinawa to Japan … "

China claims that the Ryukyu Islands do not include the Pinnacle Islands (which are also called the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Senkaku Islands in Japan, and which China now claims). Japan also claims ownership of the Pinnacle Islands. Ownership of the Pinnacle Islands would allow for exclusive oil, mineral, and fishing rights in the surrounding waters.

Source: Epoch Times, August 19, 2012.
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/12/8/19/n3662869.htm