Economy/Resources - 218. page

According to Zhong Shan, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, China’s international trade is facing a “complicated and grim” situation due to a lack of demand and intensified competition in the international market.

Zhong said that, on the one hand, China’s exports face competition from traditional exporting countries. On the other hand, with regard to labor intensive products, there is growing competition from developing countries due to rising labor costs in China. Statistics show that, since the third quarter of last year, the market share of Chinese exports to the United States, the European Union, and Japan decreased by 1.3%, 1% and 0.6%, respectively. Seven categories of labor-intensive exports, including textiles, clothing, footwear, luggage, furniture, toys, and plastic products saw a rapid decline.

Source: Xinhua, January 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-01/09/c_111401927.htm

China Review News (CRN) commented on Wen Jiabao’s recent speech on financial reform given at the National Conference on Financial Worik held in Beijng. Wen “suggested breaking the (state-owned banks’) monopoly and encouraging private money to enter the financial service field.” The speech also highlighted that the government’s work would be to “improve confidence in the stock market” in 2012.

A few points that Wen’s made in his speech:

1. “China has steadily advanced the international status of the Renminbi (RMB). China has signed a total of 1.3 trillion yuan (U.S. $200 billion) in bilateral currency swap agreements. The amount of cross-border trade in RMB has reached 2.6 trillion yuan (U.S. $400 billion).”

2. “We must acknowledge that the global financial crisis is not over yet. We must improve our sense of crisis and sense of responsibility, and prepare for adversity during times of prosperity."

3. Wen stressed that financial services should move to the real economy and stop “using money for speculation.” For the real economy, Wen wants to “effectively solve the hard-to-obtain-financing problem and the too-expensive-to-obtain-financing problem…”

4. Wen listed “guard against and mitigate the local government’s debt risk” as one of eight measures for China’s financial reform.

Sources
1. Xinhua, January 7, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2012-01/07/c_122551507.htm
2. China Review News, January 8, 2012 http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/7/0/2/101970247.html?coluid=10&kindid=253&docid=101970247&mdate=0108105700

Wen Jiabao attended the National Conference on Financial Work China held in Beijing on January 6 and 7, 2012, and gave a speech, which listed eight measures for China’s financial reform:

1. Provide more good-quality financial services for society’s economic development.
2. Deepen the reform of financial organizations.
3. Strengthen and improve financial oversight and prevent systematic financial risks.
4. Guard against and mitigate the local government’s debt risks.
5. Improve the development of the capital market and the insurance market.
6. Improve the financial macro-control system.
7. Expand the opening of the financial industry (to the world) and improve the capabilities to allocate financial resources and safeguard the level of protection for financial security.
8. Strengthen the development of the financial infrastructure and improve the environment for financial development.

Source: Xinhua, January 7, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2012-01/07/c_122551507.htm

China Review News published an article on January 2, 2012, about Poyang Lake titled “China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Has Shrunk to Less Than 200 Square Kilometers.” Poyang Lake is China’s largest freshwater lake. According to the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrographic bureau there are five rivers in Jiangxi Province that feed the lake and water shortages in those rivers have resulted in the water-surface area of the lake decreasing to less than 200 square km, which is just 5% of its peak level.

Source: China Review News, January 2, 2012
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/6/3/0/101963026.html?coluid=61&kindid=1290&docid=101963026&mdate=0102154410

Zhou Xiaochuan, the Director of the People’s Bank of China, spoke at China’s 3rd Economic Outlook Forum, which was held in Beijing on December 25, 2011. Zhou criticized the world’s three major credit rating agencies, Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, because they lack the capability of making predictions. According to Zhou, these credit rating agencies tend to exaggerate problems or achievements. If a company has a problem, these agencies make it look worse; if a company does well, they flatter it, making it into more than it is. Therefore, Zhou urged that China reduce its dependence on overseas credit rating agencies and support the development of China’s own, home-grown rating agencies.

Source: China National Radio, December 26, 2011
http://www.cnr.cn/jlfw/cj/201112/t20111226_508978096.shtml

Xinhua recently reported that the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released the Social Bluebook it had recently compiled. According to the Bluebook, in the year 2011, the level of urbanization in China reached 50%. The 2010 national census indicated that, last year, the urban population reached 49.68%. This was the first time in a few thousand years that urban citizens outnumbered those classified as “farmers.” The Bluebook considered the moment a historic turning point and suggested that this may have a major impact in several social areas, such as the patterns of consumption, life styles, and value systems. The Bluebook also suggested that urbanization is becoming the second major economic engine after industrialization. However, urbanization is also believed to raise a number of social issues, such as the lack of labor protection and social security.

Source: Xinhua, December 19, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-12/19/c_111256953.htm

China Review News (CRN) recently reported on the central government’s new real estate development policies. The primary message on housing policies that came out of the recently held Central Government Economic Conference was to speed up the construction of affordable stock housing projects. The Conference confirmed that the current strategy on controlling the housing market will remain unchanged and that the government is sticking to the goal of restraining housing costs so they are kept down to a reasonably low level. All members of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau attended the Conference.

Source: China Review News, December 14, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/3/9/3/101939365.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101939365&mdate=1214160743

Xinhua quoted Japan Kyodo News and reported that 923,000 Chinese tourists visited Japan in November. The figure represented an increase of 35% compared to last November. November was the first month to show an increase since Japan’s earthquake. The main reason was believed to be that the Japanese government loosened the requirements for visa applications. Another factor was that the boat crash incident at Diaoyu island in November 2010 caused a decline in the number of tourists from China in that month.

Source: Xinhua, December 17, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2011-12/17/c_122438951.htm