Economy/Resources - 229. page

On March 30, 2011, CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp) announced that it had signed an agreement with U.K.’s Tullow Oil to acquire a one third interest in the company’s three drilling areas in Uganda. The transaction is a cash deal amounting to about US$1.467 billion. It is expected to close in the first half of 2011.

Source: China News Service, March 30, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/ny/2011/03-30/2941922.shtml

Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated Beijing’s support for Hong Kong to become the RMB offshore center, suggesting that Hong Kong should lead China’s financial reform. According to Hong Kong’s monetary authority, in 2010, a total of 36 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) in RMB bonds were issued. China Merchants Bank President Ma Weihua said earlier this month that Hong Kong’s RMB deposits totaled 370.6 billion and may hit 2 trillion in five years. 

On March 14, 2011, after the closing of the Fourth Session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao told Chinese and foreign reporters at a press conference that “there is no instance where state-owned enterprises are advancing while private ones are declining.” He supported his statement by enumerating two State Council papers issued in 2005 and 2010 respectively, although he acknowledged that “implementation was inadequate.” At the same time, Wen emphasized “although the percentage of the state-owned economy is lower, it still holds the country’s economic lifeline.” Days earlier, on March 10, 2011, Wu Bangguo, Chair of National People’s Congress, had emphasized in his report that China will never adopt privatization of the economy.

Source: China News Service, March 14, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2011/03-14/2904086.shtml

The Sinopec Group announced on March 16, 2011, that it had signed a partnership MOU with Saudi Aramco to jointly develop a world class deep-processing refinery at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. The Sinopec Group will hold a 37.5% stake, and Saudi Aramco a 62.5% stake in the project. The refinery plans to start operation in 2014. Su Shulin, Sinopec’s general manager, said that the joint venture will deepen the strategic partnership between the two companies and diversify Sinopec’s sources of energy outside China.

Source: Xinhua, March 16, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-03/16/c_13782256.htm

The Minister of Culture Cai Wu, disclosed during the current “Two Sessions” (the National People’s Congress and People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s rubber stamp political advisory body) that, over the next five years, training sessions have been planned for 240,000 full time and 300,000 part time employees in the culture industry so they can become “the leaders in developing the public cultural service system.” “We need to put effort into developing a cultural team at the grassroots level. A cultural public service system … needs to be effective, controllable, and have high-tech equipment in order to meet the public’s demands.” Cai added that it is a most important task during the era of “developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.” 

Source: People’s Daily, March 10, 2011
http://2011lianghui.people.com.cn/GB/215096/14112018.html

According to a report released by the National Development and Reform Commission, a quarter of Chinese residents have no clean drinking water, one third of the urban population breathes polluted air, and less than 20% of garbage goes through proper treatment. The report says that, "Large numbers of people are exposed to polluted air, water, and soil.” It further states, “China’s ecological environment is very fragile; forests cover only 18.21% of China’s land surface, which is less than 67% of the average for the world’s countries. China has 1.74 million square kilometers of desertified land. 90% of its natural grassland suffers from degradation.”

Source: Economic Information, March 9, 2011, reprint by People’s Daily
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/14096289.html

The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) recently revealed that the total amount of farmland in China is approaching the “red line” of 1.8 billion Chinese acres (1 Chinese acre is 667 square meters), which is considered the minimum required acreage to sustain China’s population. Available farmland has been on the decline for the past 15 years. The committee noted that some of the key causes for the decline include real estate development, urban renewal projects, and industrial park construction. The committee called for “the strictest” implementation of farmland protection regulations.

Source: China Review News, February 25, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/0/9/9/101609940.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101609940&mdate=0225083838

China Review News (CRN) recently republished an article by the deputy dean of the School of Economics of Fudan University, on the risks to a volatile economy. The article summarized the external elements that may bring risks: 1) unexpected changes in the international environment, such as the recent Arab Revolution; 2) unexpected economic recovery in the developed countries, of which the United States is the leader; 3) the continued existence of some old problems that caused the global financial crisis.

The article also identified the internal causes of risks: 1) complicated pressures leading to inflation; 2) the pressure of economic structural adjustments; 3) pressure caused by domestic market friction. The article concluded that the current approach to controlling inflation, which is based solely on currency policies, needs to be adjusted, and that effective implementation of policies requires understanding and support from the general public.

Source: China Review News, February 25, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/0/9/8/101609884.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101609884&mdate=0225074409