This Bystander is taking a break and so CB will be updated only occasionally if at all until the first week of January. Best wishes of the season to you.
Entries from December 2008
December 21, 2008
Latest U.S.-China WTO Trade Dispute Baffles
There is a certain ritual to complaints to the World Trade Organization. And like many rituals its meaning can be opaque to outsiders.
The WTO action the U.S. instigated on Friday against China falls into that class. Washington alleges that Beijing is using export subsidies to promote Chinese-branded exports through cash grant rewards for exporting, preferential [...]
December 20, 2008
China Steps Out Despite All
Amid all the handwringing over the seriousness of the slowdown of the economy, two pieces of the other side of China.
One: Beijing has offered financial assistance to help Taipei cope with the impact of the global economic crisis and has proposed broader financial links, which would be another step in restoring government-level talks.
Two: a pair [...]
December 20, 2008
Tax Cuts And Other Pre-Stimulus Stimuli Coming In New Year?
Does China need a pre-stimulus-package stimulus package? The notion is gaining ground among economists who think that the 4 trillion yuan boost announced in November will take too long to kick in, given the unexpectedly rapid slowdown in the economy. That is focused on infrastructure spending, by definition a longer term boost to the economy, [...]
December 19, 2008
China Deters Foreigners From Selling Bank Stakes
Bloomberg is reporting that Bank of America’s plan to sell $2.8 billion of shares in China Construction Bank that was pulled at the last minute on Dec. 15 was done so because of a securities law provision that would have required it to forfeit the profits on the sale.
China’s securities law bans investors holding more [...]
December 19, 2008
New Fuel Tax Introduced With Offsetting Price Cuts
The long-anticipated fuel tax rise has come into effect, with, as expected, an offsetting cut in gasoline pump prices.
The National Development and Reform Commission has announced that fuel consumption tax will increase from 0.2 yuan a liter to 1 yuan a liter on gasoline and from 0.1 yuan a liter to 0.8 yuan a liter [...]
December 18, 2008
China Confirms It Will Send Anti-Piracy Warships
An update to yesterday’s post about China considering sending warships to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia: Bloomberg is reporting that the Foreign Ministry has confirmed preparations are in hand, without giving details of what vessels will be sent.
Piracy against Chinese ships seems more prevelant than thought. A ministry spokesman said that in the [...]
December 18, 2008
30 Years Of Opening Up To The World
It is 30 years to the day that the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Communist Party of China Central Committee opened, a meeting that would usher in the opening of China under Deng Xiaoping and see the closing of the unhappy chapter of China’s history that was the Cultural Revolution.
It may be difficult for [...]
December 17, 2008
China Considering Sending Warships To Fight Somali Pirates
Beijing is considering joining the international effort to tackle piracy off the coast of Somalia, or at least send warships to the area following an attempted attack on a Chinese ship on Wednesday. Chinese sailors and helicopters from the new EU anti-piracy force beat off the attack on the China Communications Construction Co. vessel, Zhenhua [...]
December 16, 2008
China Loses Its First WTO Case
China’s appeal against the World Trade Organization’s ruling in July that it was imposing discriminatory taxation on imported U.S. auto parts has failed. The WTO Appellate Body upheld the original ruling that China is violating trade rules by requiring automakers operating there to buy most components from local suppliers or face higher duties. This is [...]
