Monthly Archives: February 2012
Chinese Firm To Build World’s Third Largest Mosque
Chinese construction companies’ work in Libya may have dried up for now. And Beijing may be wrestling with its restive Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang. But, regardless, China State Construction Engineering Corp. (CSCEC), has signed a contract with Algeria to … Continue reading
Filed under China-Africa
More Emergency Relief For Drought-Stricken Yunnan
Emergency funds of 500 million yuan ($80 million) are being allocated for drought-relief in Yunnan, the finance ministry says. This follows the announcement earlier this month of 120 million yuan in relief assistance from central government on top of the … Continue reading
Filed under Environment
More Mass Vaccinations Planned Against Polio Outbreak In Xinjiang
China is extending it campaign of mass vaccinations against polio, state media has announced. Two more rounds of vaccinations will be conducted in March and April in Xinjiang. These will be the fourth and fifth rounds following a fatal outbreak … Continue reading
Filed under Politics & Society
China, Russia Settle East Siberian Oil Pricing Dispute.
The long-troubled negotiations over China’s purchases of Russian oil have reportedly taken a step forward. Russian press reports say a new deal ensures a below-market price for China’s oil imports from East Siberia. Russia’s largest state-controlled oil company, Rosneft, and … Continue reading
Filed under China-Russia, energy
China’s Reform, The World Bank And Vested Interests
The World Bank’s report on China in 2030 is a political manifesto disguised as an economic blueprint. Even the title, Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society, hits political not economic buttons. Not that the Bank casts it in … Continue reading
Filed under Economy, Politics & Society
The One Question That Matters About China’s Model Of State Capitalism
Monday’s publication will push the World Bank’s report, China in 2030, to center stage in the emerging, if ultimately pointless debate about whether China’s state-directed capitalism is better than the U.S.’s free-market capitalism. The later has undeniably damaged its case … Continue reading
Shanghai Becomes More Like Venice, In A Bad Way
So serious has the depletion of China’s groundwater become as a result of industrialization and urbanization that the country’s large cities are sinking, as, potentially, are the high-speed rail corridors between them. So concerning is that to authorities that the State Council … Continue reading
Filed under Environment
China’s Central Bank Plays A Long Game Over Financial Reform
The long-term vision to ease China’s capital controls laid out by Sheng Songcheng, head of the statistics department at the People’s Bank of China dangles some juicy carrots, most immediately before the conservative forces that have brought financial reform to … Continue reading
Filed under Economy
China Said Set For Big Boost To Muni-Bond Market
China looks set to give a big boost to its nascent muni-bond market this year. The Finance Ministry is to quintuple the quota for local government bond issuance to 250 billion yuan ($40 billion) this year, Caixin reports. In addition, more provinces … Continue reading
Nanjing And Nagoya: History And Denial
There is nothing that history does better than to throw a spanner in the works of modern policy. Forgive the rhetorical flourish but Beijing’s attempts to warm its oft-recently cool relations with its frenemy, Tokyo, in this 40th anniversary year … Continue reading
Filed under China-Japan
