Economy/Resources - 260. page

Mr. Xi Xiaoming, a senior official of the Chinese Supreme Court, recently said there has been a steady increase in withdrawal of foreign investments. Domestic private enterprises also face challenges due to the global financial crisis. 

A statement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicates that the total foreign investment in January was $7.5 billion, a decrease of 32.6% compared to the same period last year.

Source: EpochTimes, April 18, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/4/18/n2499031.htm

China National Radio reported that China and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on oil cooperation in Beijing on Tuesday. Under the intergovernmental agreement, China will provide a $25 billion loan to Russia, Russia will use oil as collateral. Russia will sell China 15 million metric tons of oil from 2011 to 2030, using the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.

Energy Resources are currently the number one target of China’s overseas investment. Since the beginning of 2009 China has signed several "loan for oil" cooperation agreements with other countries, including a $10 billion loan to Brazil on February 18, a $4 billion loan with Venezuela on February 21, and a $1 billion loan with Angola on March 13. On April 5, President Correa of Ecuador announced a possible deal of exchanging crude oil for a $1 billion loan from China.

On April 16, China National Petroleum Corporation signed a contract to provide a $5 billion loan to Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz National Co. to jointly buy AO Mangistaumunaigas, an oil and gas company in Kazakhstan.

Source: China National Radio, April 21, 2009
http://www.cnr.cn/gundong/200904/t20090421_505310249.html

Outlook Weekly, a magazine by Xinhua News, reported on China’s effort to restructure its international financial strategies. The core strategy is to reduce the dependency on the US dollar. This strategy consists of three aspects: internationalization of RMB, currency and financial cooperation within East Asia and international currency system reform.

The Chinese State Council decided on April 8 that Shanghai and four cities of Guangdong Province will start a trial on international settlement in RMB. Another action taken by the Chinese government was currency exchange with six countries or administrative regions.

Source: Outlook Weekly, April 15, 2009.
http://news.sohu.com/20090415/n263396439.shtml

Outlook Weekly, a magazine by Xinhua News, published an article suggesting that “there is a strongly rising public opinion that the Chinese currency RMB should become an international currency to match China’s world power status.”

The article cautioned that although the world suffered the damage brought by the US Dollar monopoly in recent years, there are still a great deal of risks for RMB internationalization. Risks mentioned in the article are: reduced capability for the central government to control Chinese macro economy, lowered stability of the economy, much heavier international responsibilities.

Source: Outlook Weekly, April 4, 2009.
http://news.sohu.com/20090408/n263256840.shtml

Xinhua reported that China’s steel exports were a mere 1.91 million metric tons in January, a drop of 54.6% from a year earlier. Exports in February went down further to 1.56 million metric tons. China Iron and Steel Association warns that China may soon import more steel than export. Slack domestic demand, reduced international orders, trade barriers in the West and competition from other countries are said to have contributed to the downturn.

On April 8, 2009, seven US steel companies and trade unions filed an anti-dumping petition against Chinese steel products with the US government. On the same day, the European Commission announced its decision to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 15.6% to 24.2% on Chinese seamless steel pipe.

Source: Xinhua, April 14, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-04/14/content_11183107.htm

China’s General Administration of Customs announced on April 10, 2009 that China’s total amount of imports and exports was $162 billion in March, 2009, a decrease of 20.9% from last year. Among that, exports were $90.3 billion, a decrease of 17.1% and imports were $71.7 billion, a of 25.1% decrease. The trade surplus was $18.6 billion, an increase of 41.2% over the previous year.

Source: BBC Chinese, April 10, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7990000/newsid_7993500/7993522.stm

BBC Chinese reported from Australia that according to a recent poll, more than half of Australians are against the Chinese acquisition of Australian mining assets. Yet, nearly an equal amount of people polled are for or against keeping close ties with China.

The media played an important role in bringing the heated debate between the ruling party and the opposition to the general public.

“Communist China” was frequently used in reference to China in the report.
 
Source: BBC Chinese, April 6, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7980000/newsid_7986000/7986049.stm

Bank of China is set to enter the news industry and make it a key sector of the bank’s 2009 operational plan, according to Wang Zhaowen, the spokesperson of Bank of China. Bank of China foresees the news industry as a potential sector with growth opportunities and wishes to provide comprehensive services including banking, security, insurance, investment and financial consulting.

Source: Securities Daily, March 23, 2009
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40606/9007075.html