Economy/Resources - 199. page

According to Zhang Wentai, Deputy Director of the Committee on the Environment and Resources of the National People’s Congress, over 300 million of China’s rural population and 50 million urban residents have no clean drinking water. Four factors have contributed to the problem: China’s wetlands are shrinking; its water sources are drying up; forests are being destroyed; and the “three highs” (high pollution, the high consumption of power, and the high consumption of water) are affecting water resources. In 2002 and 2003, official surveys of the water supply networks in several hundred cities found the quality of the water pipes to be inferior. For example, 50.80% of iron pipes, 13% of cement pipes, and 6% of galvanized pipes were below the national safety standard.

Source: China Youth Daily, May 31, 2012
http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2012-05/31/nw.D110000zgqnb_20120531_3-05.htm

Beijing News recently reported that the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SAC) issued a document on an executive regulation detailing the guidelines for implementing the State Council’s orders that had first been released in 2010, encouraging private sector investment. One important guideline is to allow the private sector to invest in state-owned companies not only through a cash investment, but also a transfer of intellectual property, land, or other physical assets. The new guidelines also allow buying stock shares, company bonds or debts, and renting as means of participating in the re-organization process of state-owned companies. One of the primary goals of the new guidelines is to eliminate “discrimination against private investors.”

Source: Beijing News, May 26, 2012
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2012-05/26/content_341239.htm?div=-1

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2012, the total national GDP in China was 10,800 billion RMB, while the total of all local GDP amounts was 11,280 billion RMB for the same period. The difference is 480 Billion RMB (US $75.65 billion). China Economy reporters calculated the total through a summation of the local numbers. Every year since 1985, when local and national governments started to calculate GDP separately, the two numbers have been inconsistent. While different methodologies may have contributed to the inconsistency, the authorities believe that data fraud has been a cause. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, despite government efforts to curb fraud, local governments frequently use their administrative power to arbitrarily adjust the GDP number upward to demonstrate their achievements and competence.

Source: China Economy reprinted by Xinhua, May 24, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-05/24/c_123184185.htm

On May 9, 2012, days after high-level US-China economic talks took place in Beijing, the Federal Reserve approved an application from the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to buy a majority stake in the U.S. subsidiary of the Bank of East Asia. The transaction will make ICBC the first Chinese state-controlled bank to acquire retail bank branches in the United States.

ICBC has total assets of roughly $2.5 trillion. It will buy up to 80 percent of the U.S. branch of the Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia, which operates 13 branches in New York and California.

In other Fed board decisions, the Bank of China, the country’s third-largest bank, won approval for a branch in Chicago. The Agricultural Bank of China, the fourth-largest bank, is set to establish a branch in New York City, where it already operates a representative office.

Source: International Herald Leader under Xinhua, May 21, 2012
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2012/0521/40050.shtml

On May 15, 2012, China Daily published a report titled “Market Sells Fake Pig Ears.”  According to the article, the pig ears purchased in a market in Ganzhou, the second largest city in Jiangxi Province, were made from gelatin and sodium oleate. “According to food safety regulations, sodium oleate cannot be used as a food additive.” The pig ears pose a potential health hazard.

Source: China Daily, May 15, 2012
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-05/15/content_15301283.htm

According to the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), the net profits for central government enterprises amounted to 253 billion yuan (US$40 billion) for the period from January to April 2012, down 13.2 percent from the same period last year. The previous report, which was for the first quarter of 2012, suggested that the central enterprises showed an end to the growth that had occurred over the last two years and showed a decline for the first time since November of 2009.

The decline was due to a number of external factors such as an increase in the prices of energy, raw materials, and agricultural products. Other external contributors included an excess of administrative layers, poor management skills, and harsh internal competition. Some experts also indicated that the “good old days” of central enterprises were due to the 4 trillion yuan (US$633 billion) from the economic stimulus plan that followed the 2008 economic crisis. It is expected that the net profits will continue to decline in the near future.

Source: China Economy, May 19, 2012
http://economy.gmw.cn/2012-05/19/content_4177619_2.htm

On May 14, 2012, Study Times, the publication of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, reprinted an article originally published on March 25, 2012, in Southern Metropolis Daily. The article questioned the whereabouts of the huge profits that the enterprises that China’s central government owns have earned.

According to the article, at the start of 2012, the central government owned 963 enterprises, a few more than last year. In 2011, the net profit from these enterprises was 852.27 billion yuan (US$134.9 billion). However, they only submitted 75.736 billion yuan of their profits to the government and project they will only submit 82.3 billion yuan in 2012. That means that each central government owned enterprise submits less than 100 million yuan per year to the government. Yet even the Agricultural Bank, one of the least profitable central government owned enterprises in China, made 300 million yuan per day. The article concluded with a question: “We would like to ask these central government owned enterprises: ‘Where do your profits go?’”

Source: Study Times, May 14, 2012
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2012/05/14/12/12_39.htm

Qiu Shi, a magazine of the CCP Central Committee, published an article that accused the West of giving Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE’s) a bad name. The article claimed that there has been a recent wave of propaganda in the West suggesting that the Chinese government subsidizes SOE’s. This practice introduces unfair competition into international trade and hurts China’s trading partners. However, the author attempted to justify the dominance of SOE’s in the key industries by referring to existence of SOE’s in the history of Western capitalism. The author expressed that the West just does not feel happy about the fact that some Chinese state-owned companies are too large and too successful for them to be able to compete. The article concluded that China should keep backing these companies.

Source: Qiu Shi, May 10, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/gj/gjsspl/201205/t20120510_156891.htm