Economy/Resources - 243. page

On May 22, 2010, China Review News published a commentary giving ideas on how China can overcome its shortage of energy resources. It suggests China spend part of its huge foreign exchange reserves on investing in energy resources in foreign countries.   

“China must expand the development and reserves of energy resources in foreign countries. It must be involved in the production chains of the international energy resources from beginning to the end through shares, investment, acquisition, M & A and other methods so as to integrate one with the other and so they cannot survive without one another.”  

Source: China Review News, May 22, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/1/0/8/101310849.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=101310849&mdate=0522002541

Since late April, repeated heavy rainfall has caused flooding in southern provinces including Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, and Yunnan. So far 15.179 million people have been affected and 101 have died, with direct economic losses of over 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion). 

According to the Business Blue Book issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on May 19, China has a luxury consumption of US$ 9.4 billion. With 27.5% of the world’s total in this market, China has surpassed the U.S. to become the largest luxury goods consumer second to Japan. Within five years, it will top the world luxury goods market with US$ 14.6 billion spent on luxury goods. 

Inflation in China has become a very serious problem despite the moderate official numbers, according to an article by Shanghai Business Daily. The official CPI released in April was at 2.8%, showing a mild upward trajectory. However, the paper reports, "the true inflation level has by far exceeded what the CPI reflects. If one takes into consideration various economic inflationary indicators or listens to the experiences of everyday people, the real inflation level has reached serious proportions.” If the government applies macro controls this year, the economy will come to a standstill, but without such control there could be chaos, says the article.

Source: Shanghai Business Daily reprinted by Nanfang Daily, May 13, 2010
http://gcontent.nddaily.com/d/2a/d2ac71782272659e/Blog/ac5/9e958b.html

According to Yunan Provincial Forestry Department, Yunan Province is suffering from an outbreak of pests in its forests. 610,000 acres of forests have a pest problem and the economic loss is nearly 400 million Yuan. The forest pest problem was caused by both the continuing drought and last year’s frost disaster.

Source: China News Service, May 17, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/cj-gncj/news/2010/05-17/2286854.shtml

Xinhua recently republished a report by the Yangtze Evening Post, which is part of the Xinhua Network, on the news that the Development and Reform Commission is drafting “tougher” policies governing the housing market that will have a wider scope than the recent “National Ten Stipulations.” The timing of the announcement will be based on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the current round of housing market regulations. Sources say the new policies will attempt to define the role of the government in the market. It is believed that the “National Ten” is still fresh and the new policies should hold – though having a backup plan is necessary.

Source: Xinhua, May 15, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2010-05/15/c_12104508.htm

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) recently published the Culture Blue Book, which discusses tasks in the structural adjustments to the culture industry. The Blue Book suggests: (1) Adjust product structure, which should serve the need of both consumers and producers; (2) adjust enterprise organizational structure, which should encourage competition; (3) adjust ownership structure, which should introduce more diversity; (4) adjust technical structure, which pushes multi-layer technologies such as integrating networks of 3G mobile multimedia, the Internet, and traditional broadcasting networks; (5) adjust the regional distribution structure, which balances resources on a national level.

Source: Renmin, May 7, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11539196.html

Cai Wu, China’s Minister of Culture, recently delivered a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the development of the culture industry. He admitted that there are several fronts where the industry is facing challenges: (1) the culture industry is does not have a large enough scale and the development level is not high; (2) the industry lacks leading enterprises and well-known brands; (3) the culture trade deficit remains high; (4) blind investments do exist. He believes that, to improve the situation, increased government investment and support from the financial industry are necessary.

Source: Renmin, April 29, 2010
http://culture.people.com.cn/GB/87423/11482720.html