Economy/Resources - 231. page

According to People’s Daily, on June 10, 2010, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a report with statistics showing that, by the end of 2009, there were 113.09 million Chinese who were 65 years old or older in China. This represented an increase of 3.22% over the previous year. Those 65 and older accounted for 8.5% of the total population, and this represented an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. The population of 60 years old and over accounted for 12.5% of the total population with a total of 167.14 million aged people in China.

Source: People’s Daily, June 11, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11845158.html

A Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs report shows that, during 2009 in China, in as many as 479 million times, people were victimized by all sorts of natural catastrophes; 1,528 people died or disappeared; 47.2 million hectares (116.7 million acres) of crops were damaged; and 0.84 million buildings collapsed. The direct economic loss amounted to 252.3 billion yuan (US$36.9 billion). 

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing U.S. agro-based products invading Chinese markets en masse. In fact, China is the largest market for U.S. produce, amounting $10.6 billion for the first half of 2010. China now buys more than half of the total U.S. soybean export volume. U.S. soybean companies control 40% of the Chinese soybean processing capabilities and 90% of the imports. Chinese external dependency on vegetable oil has risen to 60%. After the soybean monopoly, U.S. corn is attacking China too – the Chinese import of U.S. corn has been growing rapidly since last year. The article called for 100% or 101% food self-sufficiency as a “strategic weapon.” The author quoted Henry Kissinger in its conclusion, “If you control oil, then you control all nations; if you control food, then you control everyone.”

Source: China Review News, June 3, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/4/1/8/101341854.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101341854&mdate=0603000947

Xinhua republished a report by China Business Times on worries about the rapid increase in local debts. The report referred to government sources on the fact that local debts have risen from RMB 4 trillion to 7 trillion in only a few months. The State Council met on May 26 to arrange regulations on local financing platforms and debts. Experts believe that the actual amount of local debts is very hard to find out. Local governments utilize various platforms to borrow money that are not included in the official budget. The transparency of these loans is typically poor. One of the causes of this situation is the irrational distribution of funds between the central government and local governments. Current Chinese law prohibits local governments from issuing bonds.

Source: Xinhua, June 3, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-06/03/c_12174046_2.htm

"People’s Forum" Magazine, which is under People’s Daily, published an article on June 1, 2010, titled “High Apartment Prices Make the Middle-class Fall – China may have become an “M-Type” society." Here is a partial translation from the article:

1. "Recently, ‘the ant race’ has become one of the most frequently used terms on the Internet and in society. “The ant race” refers to the college graduates who have no jobs or low-income jobs after graduation and have to live together in a crowded place at the outskirts of a big city, near the countryside. These people were born in the 1980s. The growth of the “ant race” is primarily caused by high apartment prices."
2. "China’s social structure may have turned into an ‘M-type’ differentiation one due to the growth of the ‘ant race.’"

Source: "People’s Forum" Magazine, June 1, 2010
http://house.people.com.cn/GB/11753145.html

A report by the Chinese Alumni Association website showed that 30% of the Chinese whose assets are 100 million Yuan ($17 million) or more are involved in the real estate industry. The report analyzed China’s magnates based on Hurun’s China’s top 100 richest people and Forbes’s China’s billionaire club from 1999 to 2009. The report also showed that over 50% of these richest people concentrated in three industries: real estate, energy, and IT. The number of elite without overseas experiences is significantly more than those with overseas experiences.

Source: Xinhua, May 26, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-05/26/c_12144157.htm

In a very rare meeting attended by all of the nine members of Standing Committee of the Politburo, Hu Jintao gave a lengthy speech about the importance of talent to the country. The National Talent Working Conference held in Beijing on May 25 and 26 was also televised to Party and government agencies at the provincial level. While stating that talent is the “paramount resource,” and “the talent issue is the key issue that matters for the development of the cause of the Party and the country,” Hu emphasized to “adhere to the principle that the Party controls the talent.” 

In December 2008, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) issued the Suggestions on the Implementation of Introducing High-Level Overseas Talent. A “1000-Talent Project,” implemented by the Organization Department of the CCCCP has since been underway to bring experts from other countries into China. At present, as many as 662 high-level overseas experts have been recruited. Among them, there are 448 overseas Chinese that already acquired foreign citizenship and 20 non Chinese. The 662 experts include 293 full professors, 9 associate professors, 72 research fellows in top research institutes such as Harvard, MIT, and Bell Lab; 75 high-level research personnel, and 43 senior management staff from multinational corporations, such as Boeing, GM, and Morgan Stanley.