Economy/Resources - 234. page

China News Service (CNS) reported that Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang, who is also a member of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee, recently spoke at the opening ceremony of the World High Speed Railway Conference, saying that China considers the high speed railway industry a strategic emerging industry. The government is giving this industry a high priority. In his speech, Zhang positioned safety as the top focus. He also emphasized “independent innovation” and developing China-owned intellectual property. Zhang called for action on the “Go Out” strategy in this industry as well. This is the first time that the three-day World High Speed Railway Conference was held outside of Europe. The Conference was hosted jointly by the Chinese Ministry of Railways and the International Union of Railways (UIC, Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer).

Source: China News Service, December 8, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/2010/12-08/2706780.shtml

China News Service (CNS) reported that Xu Shaoshi, China’s Minister of Land and Resources, commented that there is a 50% shortage in the supply of land used annually for construction. Xu expected the situation to worsen over the next five years. He suggested that, although China is a large country, only 20% of the land resources are livable. Land suitable for agriculture is very limited as well. This requires the farmland protection system to be very restrictive. Industrialization and urbanization are the primary driving forces behind the ever increasing demand for the land used in construction. Meanwhile effective utilization of land is minimal. Xu believes that establishing more restrictive land-use standards and belt-tightening on the use of land for construction are a must for the future.

Source: China News Service, December 7, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/estate/2010/12-07/2706715.shtml

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released its 2011 “Economic Blue Book.” The Blue Book discusses real estate in 2010 and 2011. It reports that over 85% of households cannot afford to buy their own home. The market price of housing is growing much faster than personal income. An urban family would have to save their entire income for over eight years in order to buy a house. The Blue Book observed that another feature of China’s real estate is the government monopoly of the supply. Such a monopoly is an important force that drives up the price of real estate.

Source: Xinhua, December 8, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2009-12/08/content_12608338.htm

Study Times, a weekly Chinese Communist Party School newspaper, published an article pointing out problems with State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially those with monopoly positions in China. It argued that many of these SOEs lack core competitiveness in the international market and damage fair competition in China. “With the government’s subsidies, their employees receive large salaries even though the company loses money.” “After recent reforms and reorganizations, the SOEs have become larger and their market dominance stronger, making it impossible for privately owned companies to compete with them.” This is the result of the SOEs misusing the government’s public power. Some large SOEs have financial power and economic influence as significant as that of a provincial government. The article didn’t offer any solutions.

Source: Study Times, December 6, 2010
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2010/12/06/12/12_47.htm

From November 22 to 26, 2010, the People’s Daily published five commentaries, one per day, on stabilizing prices in China. These commentaries echoed the State Council’s “Notice on the Protection of the General Price Level and the Stability of the Basic Livelihood of the Masses” that was issued on November 20. These articles stressed that China is able to control prices and that “the reason for rising farm product prices is that some bad people stockpiled farm products to increase prices."

Source: People’s Daily Online, November 28, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/13334957.html

Tsang Chun-wah, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong S.A.R. government, recently commented that 75% of the cross-border RMB settlements are made through Hong Kong. In the first half of this year, cross-border RMB settlements reached a total of RMB 67 billion. Tsang believes that Hong Kong will play a more and more important role in the process of internationalizing the RMB. He suggested that the Chinese economy is bringing Hong Kong new potential as a global growth leader. Hong Kong is becoming a very good place to raise capital. In the future, Tsang believes, one of the areas Hong Kong plans to focus on is RMB offshore transactions.

Source: Xinhua, November 16, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-11/16/c_12779545.htm

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, announced that, starting November 16, 2010, the RMB Deposit-Reserve Ratio increased by 0.5% to 17.5%. This is the fourth time this ratio was adjusted this year. Analysts believe it is very likely the central bank will raise interest rates in a few months. Based on some estimates, every 0.5% increase freezes RMB 350 billion. Since the ratio adjustment does not ease the high inflation situation, this move is recognized as a sign of a new round of interest rate increases. China’s central bank blames the recent issuance of U.S. Dollars for China’s inflation, calling it “imported inflation.” It was also promised that “hot money” would be strictly controlled.

Source: China Review News, November 11, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1015/0/0/7/101500716.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101500716&mdate=1111080113

Xinhua reported on the 2010 China Mining Congress and Expo that was held in Tianjin from November 16-18. More than 4,000 government officials, experts, and top administrative leaders of financial institutions from over 50 countries gathered at the conference. Senior government officials from the world’s big mining countries in Canada, South Africa, and Australia spoke at the opening ceremony and said that (their countries) welcome China’s investment. At the same time, they expect that their mining industries will increase communication and exchanges with China.

Source: Xinhua, November 17, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-11/17/c_12786880.htm