Category Archives: Green-tech

Norway Ranks first in the Regional Potential Index

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 16(Greenpost)–Norway ranks the first of the top ten cities in nordic region in the Regional Potential Index, according to a new report published on Tuesday.

“Norway has succeeded in keeping these regions’ economy boosting with very high GRP/capita. It is accompanied by important immigration flows, especially in Oslo and Akershus, and low demographic dependency rate”, the report said.

Norway’s most successful regions in the top five are there mostly due to their very high scores in economic potential. Oslo and Akershus have very high scores in demographic potential, whereas the three other Norwegian regions perform pretty well in labour market potential. Demographic potential consist of important immigration flows, high population density, low demographic dependency.

 

 

2015 rank

(2010 rank)

Region Territorial potential (total points) Demographic potential Labour market potential Economic potential
1 (3) Oslo (NO) 758 278 190 290
2 (1) Hovedstaden (DK) 756 286 170 300
3 (4) Stockholm (SE) 753 263 190 300
4 (2) Akershus (NO) 748 248 260 240
5 (5) Helsinki-Uusimaa (FI) 738 278 180 280
6 (6) Rogaland (NO) 728 188 270 270
7 (10) Sør-Trøndelag (NO) 703 173 260 270
8 (7) Hordaland (NO) 685 165 240 280
9 (9) Uppsala (SE) 618 218 180 220
10 (8) Höfuðborgarsvæðið (IS) 598 248 220 130

 

 

Norway’s strengths and weaknesses

The largest population increases for the period 2005-2015 were in the municipalities of Stockholm (+147.000 inhabitants), Oslo (+118.000) and Copenhagen (+78.000). Norway is one of the Nordic countries among Sweden and Denmark where migration has accounted for the majority of population growth over the past twenty-five years. Migration movement between Nordic countries (intra-Nordic migration) in 2014 shows, that Denmark and Norway have net Nordic immigration, whereas Finland, Iceland and Sweden have net emigration. The largest flows are between Norway and Sweden (about 7,5% of the total intra-Nordic migration, in each direction). Norway is the only country with net immigration from all the four other Nordic countries.

 

Norway has the highest share (36%) of international PhD graduates followed by Denmark (33%), Sweden (29%) and Iceland (26%). Surprisingly Norway also stands out together with Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland in the early school leaver rates, above 15%.

 

Nordkapp in Northern Norway received the most passengers in 2014 in the Nordic Arctic. Norrkapp received 122 000 passengers from 109 ports of call. In Northern Norway, cruise ship tourism is centred on a few ports, the largest, in terms of passenger numbers, also include Tromsø (112 000 passengers), followed by Leknes (60 000 passengers).  In Norway a clear trend is that a large share of the international tourists are from other European countries. However, the largest numbers of overnight stays are comprised by visitors from Sweden and Denmark.

 

Since 2011, the increase in air passengers has been highest in Norway and Iceland. The air passenger development is expected to slow down to annual growth by year 2020 for Norway and Finland, with only 1-2%.

 

In all of the Nordic countries Housing price indexes have increased more than the EU average. As an example the housing prices in Norway have increased with 400 percent in the period 1992-2014. During the same period prices overall have increase with only 55%.

 

In sharp contrast with falling emissions in Finland, Denmark and Sweden, Norway’s emissions have actually increased since 1990. After decades of support at levels below its neighbours, Norway has emerged as the largest funder of low-carbon RD&D in recent years due especially to two very large demonstration projects in CCS and aluminium smelting.

 

Nordregio’s State of the Nordic Region 2016 is a unique collection of comparative data and maps on economy, migration, employment, education, energy and accessibility in the Nordic countries – at regional level. The report includes a new Regional Potential Index, highlighting climbers and slow movers among the 74 regions of the Nordic countries. State of the Nordic Region is released biannually by Nordregio – Nordic Centre for Spatial Development.

 

 

图片新闻Photo:Nordic Furniture and Light Exhibition concludes

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--一年一度为期五天的北欧家居灯具展13日在斯德哥尔摩落下帷幕。请欣赏北欧设计的魅力。

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精美的造型

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最欣赏这款。希望能挂在自己家里。

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芬兰公司也来这里参展。他表示,来这里参展见到了20多个国家的同行。

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大理石音响真是让人耳目一新啊!

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Hamsten resigns as chancellor of Karolinska Institute

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 13(Greenpost)–Anders  Hamsten, Vice Chancellor of Karolinska Institute announced on Friday that he would resign due to the Italian visiting professor Macchiarini’s case.

“I failed to see the warning signs. Confidence in me as Vice-Chancellor of KI has been impaired both among the public, the research community and KI’s staff and students. It will be difficult for me to continue to act as Vice-Chancellor of Sweden’s most successful university with credibility and effectiveness. For that reason I am resigning my post, “Anders Hamsten writes.

imagesk1Hamsten’s resignation came after SVT series investigation report on Macchiarini’s experiment of plastic windpipe applied in human being causing deaths of the patients.

This was seen as a strong” earthquake “for Karolinska Institute because late last week Urban Lendahl resigned.

Swedish mainstream newspaper Daily News or DN published a series of debate articles criticising him of knowing the facts, but not doing the intervention earlier.  The other article criticised Karolinska Institute of mixing Nobel Prize in Medicine and academic research, saying the control of professorship was not academic. In other words relationship with the leadership played an important role.

The articles also pointed out that the responsibilities of Karolinska Institute and the Karolinska Institute hospital are somewhat confusing.

After these two articles published, Hamsten decided to resign “because KI has received new information which gives a modified picture of the charges of irregularity against Paolo Macchiarini. ”

He has already decided that an external investigation will be conducted and former president of Swedish Administration Court of Appeal was appointed to do the job.

On Feb. 7  genetics professor Urban Lendahl, who sat on two prestigious Nobel groups, announced his resignation from those positions after it became clear he may be involved in an external investigation regarding the once-prominent surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, according to Swedish Radio.

On Saturday, Lendahl decided to step down as secretary general of the Nobel Assembly and the Nobel Committee in Physiology or Medicine at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute.

The Karolinska Institute University Board said it launched an external investigation into the hiring and work of Macchiarini who is a visiting professor at the facility.

Macchiarini had performed experimental transplants involving plastic windpipes coated with the patient’s stem cells and has been accused by several colleagues of overstating his outcomes and the effectiveness of the procedures.

Last  Friday, Macchiarini was notified by the Institute’s vice chancellor that his contract would not be extended.

Lendahl has not be accused of any wrongdoing but thought it best to step aside while the investigation was ongoing.

“As professor Lendahl anticipates that he may be involved in this investigation, he resigns from his position as Secretary General out of respect for the integrity of the Nobel Prize work,” read a news release from the professor Rune Toftgård, chairman of the Nobel Assembly.

The assembly is an independent body of 50 professors from the Karolinska Institute which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Hamsten published his resignation in the DN debate.

The following is the whole text.

The ”Macchiarini affair” or the ”KI scandal” has substantially shaken confidence in medical research in general and in Karolinska Institutet in particular during the last few weeks. I have had reason to scrutinise both my actions and the decisions I have made concerning the investigation into research irregularities that was the starting point for the media storm which has been raging for the last couple of weeks.

Because of the attention in the media, KI has received new information which definitely gives a modified picture of the charges of irregularity against Paolo Macchiarini. My conclusion is that KI’s investigation into Paolo Macchiarini’s scientific misconduct has to be reopened. Against this backdrop it seems very likely that my decision in this case was wrong.

During the last few days it has become obvious that the information possessed by KI when the matter was investigated was not complete. Last Wednesday we were given a new impression of the period following the operation in Iceland on his first patient, whose case is the basis of some of Macchiarini’s articles. During the last few days KI has also received information that implies serious inaccuracies in an article describing trials with artificial tracheae in rats. This information was totally new for KI. We are now endeavouring to investigate this information thoroughly and arrange an independent examination. But there is much to indicate that the judgement reached by KI last summer should be amended to scientific misconduct, which in plain language means research fraud.

In hindsight I can conclude that I should have looked for these probable inaccuracies during the review that led to the decision KI made on the matter of misconduct in August 2015. We should quite simply have been more thorough. As Vice-Chancellor of KI I am ultimately responsible for this.

Bosse Lindquist has made an important documentary series which pinpoints a number of important questions and reveals misjudgements at Karolinska Institutet. Today I can see that I completely misjudged Paolo Macchiarini and that he and KI should have gone their separate ways far earlier. It was in all probability wrong to employ him in 2010, just over two years before I was appointed Vice-Chancellor.

KI failed to see the warning signs early enough and did not pay enough attention to the warnings that came from doctors working close to Paolo Macchiarini. Nor was KI critical enough of the method of using artificial tracheae that Macchiarini adopted. Many have said that I, as Vice Chancellor, together with the management of Karolinska University Hospital should have acted to draw these warnings to the attention of the research project Paolo Macchiarini was conducting in Russia. With the benefit of hindsight I can of course see that we should have done so. At the same time, one has to remember that the clinical study Macchiarini conducted in Krasnodar was undertaken with permission from the Russian authorities and that, according to information available to KI, there was ethical approval for each single patient. What form these approvals took and what the medical status of the patients was before the operations is known only by those who took part in the study. Patient confidentiality, obviously, also exists in Russia.

In the recent discussion Karolinska Institutet has also been criticised for a culture of self-sufficiency, unhealthy elitism and prestige thinking. This may be true, I don’t know. What is, however, true is that we have high ambitions in our endeavour to use research and education to improve people’s health and at the same time contribute to medical breakthroughs and innovation in the field of life sciences which will benefit the whole of society in Sweden.

Tens of thousands of extraordinarily capable and dedicated employees who have had nothing at all to do with this unfortunate story work at KI and Karolinska University Hospital. All these loyal and dedicated employees deserve our gratitude, support and encouragement.

It is obvious that the picture many people have of KI as a self-sufficient elite university is alarming. Now we must ransack ourselves and get to the bottom of the question of whether an unhealthy academic culture prevails here. KI is reviewing the routines concerning recruitment and employment as well as our control mechanisms. We must introduce and take care of international researchers in a better way. And we must be more explicit with our employees about the ethical framework that is in place for their actions in Sweden as well as abroad. KI will actively encourage dialogue and discussions about values so that they are always inherent in our work.

The fact that Karolinska Institutet’s reputation has been tarnished by the ”Macchiarini affair” is extremely serious and is something for which I am obviously responsible. KI’s board has initiated an investigation into KI’s handling of Paolo Macchiarini from recruitment onwards and, not least, my actions in the misconduct investigation. A similar external investigation of Karolinska University Hospital’s role is being undertaken. This is excellent, as the two autonomous investigations will provide answers about direct errors that have been committed and what can be learned from them.

I am aware that confidence in me as Vice-Chancellor of KI has been impaired, both in the public, the research community and many of KI’s employees and students. The chorus of voices raised to demand my resignation is so multifarious and strident that I realise it will be difficult for me to continue working as Vice Chancellor of Sweden’s most successful university with credibility and effectiveness. That is why I am resigning my position.

http://www.dn.se/debatt/i-am-resigning-my-position-as-vice-chancellor-of-karolinska-institutet/

http://ki.se/en/news/anders-hamsten-steps-down-as-vice-chancellor-of-karolinska-institutet

Sri Lankan PM announces to go ahead with China-funded Port City project

COLOMBO, Jan. 21 (Greenpost) — Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that his government will go ahead with a multi billion U.S. dollar port city project in the capital funded by China after it was suspended earlier last year.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wickremesinghe said that his government also invited Chinese investors to Sri Lanka.
When asked by the media about China’s role in Sri Lanka’s development, Wickremesinghe noted that China is one of the largest economic powers in the world, and within Sri Lanka, there is a large number of projects in infrastructure development which were funded by the Chinese government.
“So we are going ahead with many of those projects including the Port City, the further development of the Hambantota Harbour. But we’ve also said we would like to see Chinese investments,” the prime minister said.
He further said that infrastructure development alone is not sufficient and that his government is now discussing of bringing in Chinese investments into Sri Lanka.
“I think the Chinese government has also decided that some of its manufacturing industries should move out and Sri Lankan seems to be one of the locations for their industries to move out,” he said.
“We are looking at the Chinese participation in the logistics hub of Sri Lanka as well as further investments in the real-estate sector.”
The 1.4 billion dollar mega port city project is Sri Lanka’s largest foreign investment and is set to attract millions of dollars as investments upon its completion.
The project was suspended by the Sirisena administration in March due to a review on its agreement and some other aspects of the project, but the government has now said that project will resume by February.
The government has already said that it will include the project in its megapolis development plan in order to develop the capital Colombo. Enditem

Source  Xinhua

 

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics plenty of business opportunities for Swedes

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 21(Greenpost)—An event organized by EU-China Winter&Outdoor Sports Alliance  on Thursday focusing on networking and finding opportunities for both Swedish and Chinese upon the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

 

With the presence of many CEOs and Executives of Sports&Outdoor industry guests in Sweden and Taishan Sports Industry Group delegation, delegates exchanged ideas in Winter and Outdoor Sports opportunities.

DSC_6463Investment adviser and Executive Director of the Alliance Vanessa Folkesson made a presentation about the vision and mission of the alliance and the 300 billion RMB cross-border business opportunities to engage 300 million Chinese people to participate in winter sports and outdoor travel in EU and mainland China prior to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“How can we bring in the brands and products the Chinese have never seen and never know, how do we bring those products to China and how can we help, those are our ambition and goals to achieve, and we see a lot of opportunities in winter&outdoor sports activities, ” said Folkesson.

DSC_6467Executive Chairman of EU-China Culture & Economy Commission William Zhang Yi also said that there is great opportunity in bilateral cooperation in economic, cultural fields.

DSC_6479Four time Olympics official equipment provider Taishan Sports Industry Group’s vice Chairman Bian Qingfeng gave an introduction about his group.

“Established in 1978, Taishan is one of the largest sport products producer and supplier,” said Bian. “We are very proud that we provide equipment and products for 40 percent of the Beijing Summer Olympics Gold medals. We are very good in producing summer sport equipment , but we are still new in producing winter sport equipment, so the main purpose for us to come is to learn from you and find cooperation partners,” said Bian.

Bian said Taishan sincerely look for working partners in developing winter Olympics products.

DSC_6488Per-Erik Holmström made a presentation about Nordic Viking, Ice Hockey and Bandy playing team.

“Nordic Viking is still the best players I believe China’s lady Bandy team will win the 2022 Winter Olympics, but there will be a lot to do. I have great confidence in them,”

During the event, many Swedish sports & outdoor industries CEOs presented their products.

DSC_6562DSC_6558Ingemar Holmberg, Director of International Sales for CRAFT presented various kinds of clothes for the skier or skaters.

World famous Swedish telecommunication giant Ericsson also presented how they can cooperate with Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

With the past experience, Ericsson can provide the network for people all over the world to choose to see whatever part of the Olympic Games just by clicking on the internet.

Folkesson said this was a kicking off event and they will organise another event in Beijing next month for similar purposes.

About 50 CEO and Chairpersons of Winter&Outdoor Sports related industries attended the meeting.

Bolife takes part in Stockholm Formex Exhibition

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 21(Greenpost)—Bolife, a newly established 100 percent natural dyeing technology user and brand has shown up at the Nordic largest interior design exhibition Formex Spring 2016 in Stockholm.

Bolife is the only brand developed by a Chinese company to display its product and present its technology here at the Formex exhibition.

DSC_6214As a new immigrant to Sweden, CEO Zhang Yu told Green Post that his purpose to take part in the exhibition is to let Swedish and the Europeans to recognise this brand and the Chinese green technology.

”We know that Swedish people pay great attention to sustainability and green technology. Since we now live in Sweden, we like to find a product or a technology that can fit for the Swedes. We have looked for it in Japan and South Korea, but in the end we found it in China,” said Zhang.

 

”This technology has 13 patents protected in China and no one has really made any products out of it. So we talked with the owner and developed this product for the first time within six months, and now we made it here to the last minute,” said Zhang.

Zhang explained that the technology they used is to use dyeing material from herbs and plants without adding any chemicals. Plus supersonic vibrations. There will be no need to use chemicals to make the form or soften the clothes.

DSC_6205”The natural dyeing method makes the fabric look a bit rough, but if you see the fabric is shining or too soft, it must contain some chemicals to make it like that,” said Zhang.

The natural dyeing method is very traditional Chinese method plus supersonic technology so that people can mass produce the fabric.

This will avoid the problems of being irritated in the skin or allergic for the chemicals in certain material.  So it is pure organic and natural material.

Zhang Yu stressed that they like to develop this in Sweden and Europe first and once it is recognised with the European quality standards for green product, then they can consider to have more sales in China too. They will use the Chinese dyeing technology with Swedish design and European suppliers to make 100 percent natural product for the customers.

DSC_6230Hans Krylander, consultant of  Bolife explained the uniqueness of the Bolife technology.

”This is a new method to use supersonic viberation, they only dye for 30 degrees and before they use 60 degrees, so you save a lot of energy. But the main purpose and the best thing is that you don’t need to have chemical fixation material, you can use tree material. The supersonic technology has existed for many years, but it is the first time to use it this way.  This is the first time in the world history that you can have an ecological dyeing in organic cotton, and it stays with organic fixation material as well, so it is a unique Chinese product,” Krylander said.

DSC_6362During the exhibition, they also cooperate with Swedish Handcraft Friends to present the dyeing method. The presentation also attracted a lot of attention from the visitors. They even practice dyeing themselves during the presentation.

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Janne Liang and Lotta Ahlvar, President of Handcraft Friends presents the natural dyeing method.  Photo by Xuefei Chen Axelsson.

Zhang Yu created a home product brand Day & Me and had opened more than 40 shops in China within a year. He felt this was not challenging enough. So now he likes to develop a completely green brand. The brand has been recognised by American SGS certification, the next step is to get the European eco product certification.

Formex is the largest interior design exhibition in Nordic region. It opens twice a year in Stockholm in January and August. Almost all the interior design companies come to participate in the exhibition.

During the exhibition, designer Lotta said the Nordic style is not just simple, it is a combination of both beautiful and useful.

Traditional Chinese medicine hospitals on the increase

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — The number of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals in China has increased by 500 in five years, a rise of 15.5 percent, a TCM official said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of TCM outpatient departments and clinics increased by 531 and 5,890, said Wang Guoqiang, director of the State Administration of TCM at the 2016 national TCM meeting.

In 2014, there were 530 million visits to TCM hospitals, accounting for 17.9 percent of total hospital visits across the country, Wang said.

In addition, the TCM industry became a 730 billion yuan (110.8 million U.S. dollars) industry in 2014, representing one third of the total industrial output of China’s medical industry.

The import and export revenues for the TCM industry amounted to 4.63 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, according to Wang.

China has been promoting the modernization of TCM and has been pushing for TCM to be accepted and popular worldwide. Tu Youyou’s winning the Nobel Prize with a TCM-based anti-malarial drug served as a boon to the industry.  Enditem

 

China begins environmental inspection in northern province

SHIJIAZHUANG, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — A one-month environmental protection inspection of north China’s Hebei Province began on Monday, at the behest of central authorities.

The inspection will continue till Feb. 4, examining implementation of Party and state environment policy by the provincial Communist Party of China (CPC) committee and local government, including their handling of environmental problems and what they are doing to improve the situation.
The inspection team has set up a hotline and a mail box for public consultation.
Inspectors nationwide are focused on how provincial-level Party committees and governments carry out their environmental duties, according to the Ministry of Environment. Teams report major problems to the central authority and inspection results are passed to the organization department of the CPC Central Committee as part of official appraisals.
Central authorities plan to inspect each of the provincial regions in China every two years, “China Environment News” reported last month.  Enditem

 

China-Europe fast rail brings mutual benefit

CHENGDU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) — Trains made nearly 180 round trips between Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province and Lodz, Poland, in the last two and a half years.

Since 2013, three trains a week have made the 9,826 kilometer trip on the Chengdu-Europe fast rail, reaching Poland via Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.
“Commodities are transported to Europe within 15 days,” said Xu Pingfu, vice director of the Chengdu logistics office. “It is the fastest freight railway between China and Europe.”
Around 300 trains will ply the route in 2016, which will extend to Hamburg in Germany and Tilburg in the Netherlands. Commodities from coastal cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen are transported to Chengdu and from there to Europe because of the line’s low cost and high reliability.
“The price of transporting commodities on the Chengdu-Europe line is one fifth of the air freight cost, and it is three times faster than shipping,” said Xu.
Chengdu will spend a total of 1.9 billion yuan (300 million US dollars) in the next three years building China’s largest international railway port, said Chen Zhongwei, director of Chengdu logistics office.
Many leading exporters are considering moving to Chengdu for these reasons, according to Chen.
“We aim to be the pivot between Europe and Pan-Asia by building international railways and establishing a European commodity distribution center in the next three years,” Chen said.   Enditem

Editor: Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

First nuclear plant in ethnic minority region begins operations

NANNING, Jan. 1 (Greenpost) — The first nuclear power plant located in one of China’s ethnic autonomous regions began commercial operation of its first reactor on Friday.

The No. 1 reactor of the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region can supply 24 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a day, catering to the needs of a medium-sized city, said Gong Guangchen, the plant’s spokesperson.

Based on the domestically developed CPR-1000, the No.1 reactor began generating power in October 2015. The plant’s No. 2 reactor is expected to begin operating in the second half of 2016, Gong said.

The two reactors are expected to contribute 8 billion yuan (1.2 bln U.S. dollars) to the local GDP and create 64,000 new jobs annually. They will also cut coal burning by 4.82 million tonnes and CO2 emissions by about 11.9 million tonnes every year.

China has seen rapid nuclear power growth in recent years, but it suspended approval of new programs after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Construction projects did not resume until 2014.

China currently has operating capacity of 25.5 million kilowatts and aims to raise installed nuclear power to 58 million kilowatts by 2020 in order to reduce pollution from coal-burning generators and deliver on its promise to reduce carbon emissions.  Enditem

Source Xinhua      Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

China’s foreign debt at RMB9.7318 trln by end Sept., SAFE

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — China’s foreign debt totaled 9.7318 trillion yuan or 1.5298 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of September, 2015, according to statistics released by State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Wednesday.

The total comprised 33 percent or 3.2207 trillion yuan (506.3 billion U.S. dollars) of mid- and long-term debt and 67 percent or 6.5111 trillion yuan (1.0235 trillion US dollars) of short term debt, of which 49 percent was trade-related lending.

Categorized by debtors, seven percent of the total foreign debt or 666.5 billion yuan, equal to 104.8 billion U.S. dollars, was borrowed by the public sector; three percent or 259.9 billion yuan was borrowed by the central bank; 46 percent or 4.4758 trillion yuan was borrowed by banks; 31 percent or 3.0239 trillion yuan was borrowed by other departments; the remaining 13 percent or 1.3057 trillion yuan was direct investment or inter-company loans.

By debt forms, the total foreign debt consisted of 25 percent or 2.4367 trillion yuan in loans, 19 percent or 1.8111 trillion yuan in trade credits and advance balances, 25 percent or 2.4687 trillion yuan in currency and deposits, 16 percent or 1.5474 trillion yuan in debt securities, 1 percent or 62.4 billion yuan in SDR, 13 percent or 1.3057 trillion yuan in direct investment or inter-company loans and 1 percent or 99.8 billion yuan in other debts.

By currencies, 47 percent or 4.6161 trillion yuan of the debt was Renminbi-denominated and 53 percent or 5.1157 trillion yuan was foreign-currency-denominated, of which 80 percent was U.S. dollar-denominated, four percent Japanese yen-denominated, and seven percent Euro-denominated. (Edited by Duan Jing, duanjing@xinhua.org)

Source Xinhua,  Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China to set up third-generation nuclear power company

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — Two Chinese nuclear power giants on Wednesday concluded a deal on a joint venture to promote China’s third-generation nuclear reactor design, Hualong One, in overseas markets technologies.

The Hualong international nuclear power technology company in Chinese, has a registered capital of 500 million yuan (77 million U.S. dollars), with  China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) each holding 50 percent of shares.

The Hualong One design is the country’s third generation of nuclear reactor design for safer and more efficient operations that will be widely adopted in domestic nuclear power projects.

The two companies began R&D for Hualong One in 2013. In May 2015, construction on a pilot project using Hualong One started in Fuqing, southeast China’s Fujian Province.

An agreement with Argentina was reached in November, guaranteeing the use of it in the fifth nuclear plant in Argentina, a key emerging market for Chinese companies.

In October, CGN and Electricite de France (EDF) signed a strategic investment agreement to build a nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in the southwestern part of Britain.  Enditem

Source   Xinhua   Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

China witnesses rural e-commerce boom: AliResearch report

HANGZHOU, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — China has witnessed a boom of rural e-commerce with 780 villages each having online shopping transactions exceeding 10 million yuan (1.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, according to a report released by Alibaba.

AliResearch, the research arm of the Alibaba Group, issued the report on Tuesday saying that this was a surge of 268 percent year on year.

E-commerce prosperous villages are called “Taobao villages,” as business is mainly conducted via Alibaba’s trading platform Taobao. In addition to the transaction volume, a Taobao village should have more than 100 businesses, or at least 10 percent of households involved in e-commerce, according to AliResearch.

The 780 Taobao villages are located in 17 Chinese provinces and regions with Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces having the most.

AliResearch found that rural e-commerce business clusters are taking shape in these coastal regions, where Taobao villages are modernizing thanks to encouragement from their local governments.

This year also saw the emergence of rural e-commerce in the northeastern, mid- and western provinces and regions of Hunan, Yunnan, Jilin, Liaoning and Ningxia, where Taobao villages appeared for the first time. Among them, 176 Taobao villages are in impoverished regions. Enditem

Editor    Xuefei Chen Axelsson

President Xi’s greetings in the New Year 2016

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Dec. 31(Greenpost)–As a tradition since 2001, Chinese President sends New Year’s  greetings to Chinese people home and abroad and friends all over the world  through China Radio International, China National Radio and China Central Television Station.

The following is the whole text translated by Xuefei Chen Axelsson, Chief editor of Green Post:

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After a couple of hours, the New Year’s bell will toll. We shall say goodbye to 2015 and welcome the first ray of sunshine of 2016.  At this moment, I would like to say New Year blessings to you, people of all ethnic groups in the whole nation, to compatriots in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao SAR, to Taiwan compatriots and compatriots overseas, to all friends from all countries and regions in the world! Happy New Year!

No pains, no gains. In 2015, Chinese people made great efforts and harvested a lot. China’s economic growth continutes to rank the first in the world, reforms have begun in almost all fields,  reform in  judicial system continues to be deepened, the “three stricts and three solids” thematic education has improved the political ecology, the anti-corruption struggle continues to deepen.  Through the joint efforts of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, the 12th five-year plan has successfully ended with a sense of fulfillment in some sense for the vast masses.

This year we held a grand celebration on the 70th anniversary of victory in Chinese people’s anti-Janpanese War and the World’s anti-Fascist war. We held a grand military parade showing the truth that justice shall win, peace shall win and the people will win. We have implemented a comprehensive reform strategy to consolidate our military strength and announced that we shall cut our military personnel by 300 thousand. I have met Mr. Ma Yingjiu in Singapore and shaken hands with him after 66 years, showing that the peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait is the common will of our compatriots on both sides of the strait.

This year Beijing won the rights of hosting the 24th Winter Olympics and the RMB was included in the SDR basket of IMF. The assembling line of C919 airplane developed by  Chinese has been in operation. China’s super computer broke the world record and won its sixth consecutive championship. Dark matter exploring Satellite developed by the Chinese scientists has been launched into the universe. Tu Youou became the first Chinese scientist who won the Nobel Prize…these all prove that as long as we are persistent, our dreams will be realised sooner or later.

This year we had joy, but we also had sorrow. The accidents such as the capsized Oriental Star passenger ship in the Yangtze River, the most serious explosion at the Tianjin Port and the landslide in Shenzhen have deprived many compatriots’ lives, let alone the dreadful incident that quite a few compatriots were cruelly killed by terrorists. We missed them, may them rest in peace and may the alive healthy.There are still some difficulties and irritations in the lives of the masses. The party and government are determined to continue to make efforts to guarantee the safety of people’s lives and property, improve people’s living standards and health.

2016 is the first year of the decisive period China enters to build comprehensive wealthy and healthy society. The 5th session of the 18th plenary session of the Communist Party of China has set up clear directions for the development in the following five years. The prospect is encouraging and inspiring, but the happiness doesn’t come from the sky. We should be confident and continue to make efforts in implementing the development concept of being innovative, harmonious, green, open and sharing, pushing forward the structural reform, pushing forward reform and opening up, and doing our best to promote equity and justice and create clean and transparent political environment to make a good start for the decisive period of building comprehensive wealthy healthy society.

To build comprehensive wealth and healthy society, it needs the joint efforts of the 1.3 billion people. It is my great concern to improve the living standards of the hundreds of thousands of poor people in the rural areas.

We have blown up the trumpet to win the campaign of poverty alleviation. All the party members and the people of all ethnic groups should join hands in the battle to ensure that all the poor people should alleviate their poverty as scheduled. We should take care of all the people who have difficulties so that they can feel the warmth from their inner heart.

We only have one earth, and it is the common home of all the people in all nations. This year, Chinese leaders participated in many international conferences, conducted many diplomatic activities, pushed forward some tangible progress in the construction of “one belt and one road”, participated in the United Nations 2030 sustainable development agenda and the Paris Climate Change Conference. The world is large and problems are many. The international community anticipated to hear China’s voice, see China’s solutions and China cannot be absent. We should not only have empathy and be sympathised with those who are suffering from difficulties and war fires, but also take responsibility and action. China will forever open its heart to the world and stretch her hands to those who are in difficulty so that our “friends circle” will be larger and larger.

We sincerely hope that the international community will make joint efforts to have more peace and cooperation, change the antagonism into cooperation, replace the spears with the silk, jointly build a human community jointly owned and shared by the people of all nations.

Thank you all.

新华社12月31日电:国家主席习近平通过中国国际广播电台、中央人民广播电台、中央电视台,发表了二○一六年新年贺词。全文如下:
再过几个小时,新年的钟声就要敲响了。我们即将告别2015年,迎来2016年的第一缕阳光。在这辞旧迎新的时刻,我向全国各族人民,向香港特别行政区同胞和澳门特别行政区同胞,向台湾同胞和海外侨胞,向世界各国和各地区的朋友们,致以新年的祝福!
有付出,就会有收获。2015年,中国人民付出了很多,也收获了很多。我国经济增长继续居于世界前列,改革全面发力,司法体制改革继续深化,“三严三实”专题教育推动了政治生态改善,反腐败斗争深入进行。经过全国各族人民共同努力,“十二五”规划圆满收官,广大人民群众有了更多获得感。
这一年,我们隆重纪念了中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利70周年,举行了盛大阅兵,昭示了正义必胜、和平必胜、人民必胜的真理。我们全面实施改革强军战略,宣布裁军30万。我和马英九先生在新加坡会面,实现了跨越66年时空的握手,表明两岸关系和平发展是两岸同胞的共同心愿。
这一年,北京获得第24届冬奥会举办权,人民币纳入国际货币基金组织特别提款权货币篮子,我国自主研制的C919大型客机总装下线,中国超级计算机破世界纪录蝉联“六连冠”,我国科学家研制的暗物质探测卫星发射升空,屠呦呦成为我国首位获得诺贝尔奖的科学家……这说明,只要坚持,梦想总是可以实现的。
这一年,我们有欣喜,也有悲伤。“东方之星”号客轮翻沉、天津港特别重大火灾爆炸、深圳滑坡等事故造成不少同胞失去了生命,还有我们的同胞被恐怖分子残忍杀害,令人深感痛心。我们怀念他们,愿逝者安息、生者安康!群众的生活中还有一些困难和烦恼。党和政府一定会继续努力,切实保障人民生命财产安全、保障人民生活改善、保障人民身体健康。

↑新年前夕,国家主席习近平通过中国国际广播电台、中央人民广播电台、中央电视台发表二〇一六年新年贺词。新华社记者兰红光摄

2016年是我国进入全面建成小康社会决胜阶段的开局之年。中共十八届五中全会明确了未来5年我国发展的方向。前景令人鼓舞、催人奋进,但幸福不会从天降。我们要树立必胜信念、继续埋头苦干,贯彻创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念,着力推进结构性改革,着力推进改革开放,着力促进社会公平正义,着力营造政治上的绿水青山,为全面建成小康社会决胜阶段开好局、起好步。
全面建成小康社会,13亿人要携手前进。让几千万农村贫困人口生活好起来,是我心中的牵挂。我们吹响了打赢扶贫攻坚战的号角,全党全国要勠力同心,着力补齐这块短板,确保农村所有贫困人口如期摆脱贫困。对所有困难群众,我们都要关爱,让他们从内心感受到温暖。
我们只有一个地球,这是各国人民共同的家园。这一年,我国领导人参加了不少国际会议,开展了不少外交活动,推动“一带一路”建设取得实质性进展,参与了联合国2030年可持续发展议程、应对全球气候变化等国际事务。世界那么大,问题那么多,国际社会期待听到中国声音、看到中国方案,中国不能缺席。面对身陷苦难和战火的人们,我们要有悲悯和同情,更要有责任和行动。中国将永远向世界敞开怀抱,也将尽己所能向面临困境的人们伸出援手,让我们的“朋友圈”越来越大。
我衷心希望,国际社会共同努力,多一份平和,多一份合作,变对抗为合作,化干戈为玉帛,共同构建各国人民共有共享的人类命运共同体。
谢谢大家。

China Focus: China likely to introduce new coal-power link regime after cutting thermal power price

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — China will cut the on-grid price of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants and sold to the country’s power grid operators in a bid to cut emissions and reduce the burden on industrial enterprises.

In addition, the country is mulling over a new mechanism that will better link the fluctuation of coal prices with power prices. The new mechanism is expected to be rolled out soon, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China will lower the on-grid thermal power price by an average of 0.03 yuan per kilowatt-hour (kWh) starting from Jan. 1, 2016, according to a statement released on Thursday after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

The government will continue to impose punitive power prices on sectors that consume a lot of energy on a tier basis, the statement said.

The price cut is expected to hurt performance of coal-fired power companies in 2016, said Deng Shun, a coal industry analyst with ICIS.

Prior to the announcement, the government has pledged to lower electricity prices, push forward the marketization reform of the power industry, and improve the mechanism that links prices of coal and thermal power.

The move is hailed by industry experts as a step forward in a reform that aims to let the market play a bigger role in deciding power prices.

The cut in the on-grid price of coal-fired power signals that there will be big changes in the coal-electricity link regime, according to Lin Xiaotao, a coal industry analyst with market research firm ICIS.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, launched a coal price index in September, which reflects the prices of coal with a fuel value of 5,000 kilocalories per kilogram.

The index, seen by many as preparation for the new coal-power link mechanism, will enable the market to see the direction of future power price adjustments, according to Lin.

Coal prices in China are largely decided by the market after years of reform. The market will play an increasingly bigger role in power prices, according to Deng. (Edited by Huang Xiaolan, huangxiaolan@xinhua.org)

Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson