During the economic downturn in China, stores for sporting goods with brand names faced their second round of closures in two years. In 2013, six well-known brand name sporting goods closed over 3,000 of their stores; inventories reached 3.1 billion yuan in 2013.
Two Constraints to Investment in Foreign Countries: Money and Insurance
On April 4, 2014, www.cnstock.com published an article on China’s overseas investments. According to the article, the amount of China’s overseas investments accounted for only 6.3 percent of global cross-border investment, while China’s principal assets accounted for only 2.3 percent of the world’s investments. Although both state-owned or private enterprises all have a strong desire to invest in foreign countries, two major constraints prevent these Chinese enterprises from increasing their investments: the difficulty in obtaining financing and in obtaining insurance to cover their overseas investments.
Source: www.cnstock.com, April 4, 2014
http://news.cnstock.com/news/sns_jd/201404/2974836.htm
People’s Daily Overseas Edition: Xi Jinping Explained Why Western-Style Democracy Is Wrong for China
On April 3, 2014, People’s Daily Overseas Edition published an article acclaiming Xi Jinping’s "Socialism Is the Only Way’ speech given in Belgium on April 1, 2014. In his speech, Xi explained that the Chinese people had “experimented with constitutional monarchy, imperial restoration, parliamentarianism, a multi-party system, and presidential government, yet nothing really worked.” “Finally, China took the path of socialism.”
The article further elaborated on Xi’s statement and explained why the Chinese Communist Party must be the only state power in China. According to the article, there is no democracy that is not class bound. Multi-party competition and free elections are games for wealthy people. The article concluded, “We should cherish our existing political system. We cannot irresponsibly conduct "political reform through trial and error."
Source: People’s Daily Overseas Edition, April 3, 2014
http://opinion.haiwainet.cn/n/2014/0403/c353596-20489564.html
Global Times: Chinese Bank Loan Write-Downs Increased Significantly
Xinhua: Peruvian Government Called Temporary Halt to CHINALCO Copper Project
HSBC’s March Chinese Manufacturing PMI Reached Eight-Month Low
Xinhua: Experts Say China’s New Buildings Last Only 25 to 30 Years
On April 4, a 20-year old residential building in a city in Zhejiang Province suddenly collapsed. The incident draws attention to the many buildings that were built en masse
in the 1980’s in China. Now that these buildings are reaching the age of 20 to 30 years, there have been quite a few accidents:
On August 4, 2009, a two-story building in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, that had been built in the 1980s, collapsed in a rainstorm. On September 5, a five-story residential building in Ningbo, Zhejiang suddenly collapsed. Several other incidents took place in 2012 and 2013, resulting in deaths or injuries.
In 2010, a Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development expert said at a conference, "Our country is the country with the largest number of new buildings constructed each year, but the buildings last only 25 to 30 years." In contrast, the average life expectancy of U.K. construction is 132 years and in the U.S. it is 74 years.
Source: Xinhua, reprinted on People’s Daily Online, April 7, 2014
http://society.people.com.cn/n/2014/0407/c1008-24838390.html
Foreign Ministry Tells U.S. to “Watch Your Step and Mind Your Words” on Hong Kong
Recently the spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) answered a question from a journalist regarding U.S. Vice President Biden’s meeting with two heavyweight pan-democrats from Hong Kong and the New York Times’ Editorial "Protecting Hong Kong’s Autonomy."
"Since Hong Kong SAR’s reunification 17 years ago, the system of ‘one country two systems’ has been successfully implemented. The economic, social, and democratic developments in Hong Kong have exceeded expectations. The Hong Kong people enjoy unprecedented democratic rights and freedoms, which has won widespread international acclaim."
The spokesperson continued that Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs. They firmly oppose any country intervening in any way and interfering with its internal affairs. The current political reform in Hong Kong is at a sensitive time. It is hoped that the United States will "watch your steps and mind your words" and not let the issue of Hong Kong interfere with Sino-US relations.
Source: China News, April 6, 2014
http://www.chinanews.com/ga/2014/04-06/6035011.shtml