Economy/Resources - 251. page

Xinhua reported that the US Treasury Department published a report acknowledging that China did not manipulate its RMB currency. Obama took a strong position at the beginning of his presidency, claiming China did manipulate the RMB. The new report indicated that his administration is loosening its position. However, the United States is still maintaining a double-standard on currency policy. Compared to the RMB’s over 21% appreciation over the US Dollar in the past several years, the US Dollar’s rapid devaluation is more alarming, but the US government is keeping quiet about it. The newly published report still believes the RMB is undervalued, an indication that the United States is still playing the currency card to apply pressure on China.

Source: Xinhua, October 16, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-10/16/content_12246002.htm

The Qiushi Journal, publication of the Communist Party of the China Central Committee organs, reported that China has a large government workforce that is paid through fiscal appropriations. It is estimated that over 40 million people are either direct government staff or members of party organizations. The aforementioned number increases by 20% annually.

Let’s take a look at Xupu County, Hunan Province. In 2007, its local tax and income was 170 million Yuan, while salary-related spending was 280 million Yuan.

Source: Qiushi Journal, September 24, 2009
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/wz/200909/t20090924_12215.htm

College students watched the online broadcast of the October 1 parade while exchanging instant messages with friends. The online broadcast recorded 500 million visits that day and the simultaneous viewers reached 2.62 million. This reflects the boom of new Internet based media. Another major branch of new media is the cell phone. China currently has 680 million cell phone users which include 155 million users who go online with their phones. Additionally, digital cable is widely spreading in cities. It’s becoming a new interactive way of communication. New Media are significantly impacting people’s lives and are becoming an important channel for citizens to speak their voices.

Source: Xinhua, October 9, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-10/09/content_12200850.htm

On October 11, Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan held the fifth of the energy talks with Vice Prime Minister Sechin of Russia. The talk was set up ahead of the upcoming fourteenth meeting between the two Prime Ministers of both countries. According to Wang, China and Russia have entered a new era of long term strategic energy cooperation with regard to oil and gas, nuclear and electric power. He hopes to increase cooperation further. 

Source: Xinhua, October 11, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-10/11/content_12212267.htm

Li Wuwei, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, stated that the effort in cultural creative industry development will become an effective way to assist China’s economic transition in the midst of the current international economic crisis. Li was speaking on September 9 at the International Cultural Industry Forum held in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, during the 13th China International Fair for Trade and Investment.

Li also introduced the following four initiatives: include the creative product industry in the national development plan; form a relaxed and tolerant cultural atmosphere to allow NGOs in the creative industry to grow; establish a nationwide cultural creative policy; use a few “testing sites” in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shengzhen to showcase the end results during the Shanghai Expo in 2010.

Source: Xinhua, September 9, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-09/09/content_12023506.htm

On August 12, 2009, Liu Binjie, Secretary of the Party Committee of the General Administration of Press and Publications, signed The Memorandum of Supporting the Development Strategy of the Press and Publication Industry with Bank of China Chairman Xiao Gang. Under the “Go Out” strategy, the purpose of the memo was to enlarge the coverage of the Chinese news and publication industry in the international community and to enhance China’s influence. This is one of the major industries that the Bank of China has planned to focus on. Li Lihui, Governor of Bank of China, suggested that, as a large stated-owned bank, the Bank of China has a worldwide network and can provide strong support to the “Go Out” strategy.

Source: Xinhua Net, August 12, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune//2009-08/12/content_11871283.htm

Caijing.com published selections from a video about remarks by Fu Ziying, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Commerce. On August 12, said Minister remarked that China’s economy has reached bottom, but exports were still trending downhill. Fu acknowledged that China’s exports reversed the fast growth and have not halted their 9-month downward trend. There is no immediate fix for this problem and a turn around is difficult to achieve. The Ministry of Commerce and other government agencies will cooperate to stabilize the downslide and hang on to the current export markets and market shares, while trying to stabilize foreign investments into China. At present, the intention is to speed up the implementation of the “Going Out” strategy (for Chinese companies to invest overseas).

                                                                                                                                              Source: Caijing.com, August 12, 2009
http://multimedia.caijing.com.cn/2009-08-12/110223330.html

Companies in Guangdong dumped twelve billion tons of untreated wastewater in 2008. According to the Nanfang Metropolitan Daily, 9.1 billion tons, or 75.8% of the total wastewater spilled into rivers. The above information was based on the recently released “2008 Guangdong Province Water Resources Public Report” published by the Bureau of Water Resources of Guangdong Province. Guangzhou City was ranked first regarding wastewater discharged into the surrounding areas and rivers. The four worst polluters in Guangdong Province, besides Guangdong were companies in Dongguan, Shenzhen, and Foshan.

Source: Nanfang Metropolitan Daily, August 12, 2009
http://epaper.nddaily.com/A/html/2009-08/12/content_868183.htm