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Category Archives: World News
Securitization in China helps global investors to RMB assets: S&P
BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Greenpost) — Global investors are focusing more on renminbi assets in China, primarily to diversify asset allocation and seek higher returns amid the prospering economy, according to a report by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.
Ongoing improvements in self-governance and information transparency in the securitization market are likely to support the development of China’s capital market, according to “China securitization: linking international investors and renminbi assets”, released Tuesday by the leading rating agency.
“China’s securitization market is small compared with its bond market, but its evolution might indicate answers to some questions regarding China’s capital markets,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Vera Chaplin.
Starting in late 2014, a number of infrastructure enhancements in China’s securitization market had raised issuance efficiency and promoted market self-governance, while narrowing information gaps, Chaplin noted.
For instance, the formal information disclosure requirements in China’s asset-backed securities (ABS) and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) securitization, set out by China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors in May, enhanced transparency and enabled investors to better understand the performance of transactions.
The result has been an increase in interest from international investors, he said.
Participation of global investors are believed to benefit China’s capital markets. Apart from providing additional capital, a more international scheme will support funding diversity for issuers and promote market infrastructure construction to meet international standards.
“More than 140 billion yuan (21.9 billion U.S. dollars) in securitization transactions was issued under the two major securitization schemes in China in the first six months of 2015,” Chaplin said.
“The transactions reveal a standardized platform for asset collections and how to allocate assets’ economic value, the disclosure of more information so that risks could be analyzed, and the isolation of asset sellers’ credit risk,” Chaplin said.
“As a result, international investors now have an opportunity to reach economic sectors that in the past they could not because of the smaller scale of the issuers or difficulties involved in finding the value of the assets,” Enditem
Why Chinese currency has two names? Yuan and Renminbi. You can read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/10413076
Wang Jianlin named world’s richest Chinese
HANGZHOU, Aug. 19 (Greenpost) — Wang Jianlin, chairman of China’s property and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group, has overtaken Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing to become the richest Chinese in the world, according to the new Hurun Rich List, reported Xinhua.
Wang’s wealth increased more than 50 percent year on year to 260 billion yuan (40.6 billion U.S. dollars) as of early June, Hurun Research Institute said in a press release on Wednesday.
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, 87, was the second richest with a fortune of 200 billion yuan and Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Internet giant Alibaba, was named third richest with wealth of 165 billion yuan.
The list includes 1,577 tycoons from 18 countries and regions worth a minimum 2 billion yuan. Of those listed, 302 are from Kong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries.
Their combined wealth was 12.7 trillion yuan, equalling the annual gross domestic product of Russia.
Rupert Hoogewerf, chair and chief Hurun Report researcher, said that Hurun had released this first rich for Chinese worldwide in response to global attention given to Chinese business people.
Hurun has released a China Rich List since 1999.
Wang Jianlin started with real estate. In 2001, at a real estate yearly meeting, he was there together with Feng Lun, Alex Xu and Liu Yonghao as keynote speaker. 14 years later, he became the first richest Chinese while the others still very rich, but mostly focusing on real estate.
Wang has been transforming his real estate into cinemas and entertainment site. He also collected a lot of world famous art works.
He thinks internet is just a tool while Jack Ma is using internet to make numerous shops. Let’s see what will happen in the next 14 or 15 years.
Wang was born in Oct. 24, 1954. He joined the Chinese army in 1970 and graduated from Liaoning University in 1986.
Wang’s success benefitted from China’s opening up policy and the support of governments at various levels. It was also his own and his team’s wisdom to understand the leader’s will and transform his group a couple of times according to the trend.
Source Xinhua
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Pressure remains on Chinese economy
BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) — Newly released economic indicators fell short of market expectations, revealing that the Chinese economy still lacks momentum and downward pressure remains.
China’s value-added industrial output, which measures the final value of industrial production, expanded 6 percent year on year in July, down from 6.8 percent for June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.
The decline in output growth ended a steady recovery trend recorded in the second quarter of this year.
NBS statistician Jiang Yuan attributed the drop mainly to flagging external demand, a weak property sector and lowered production of some consumer goods, including automobiles and cigarettes.
Year-on-year growth in the first seven months stood at 6.3 percent, the same level as the growth for the first half of the year.
The NBS data only tracks the output of large Chinese companies with annual primary business revenues of more than 20 million yuan (3.16 million U.S. dollars).
Industrial output in China’s western regions increased by 7.9 percent in July, trailed by 7.4 percent in central areas and 6 percent in eastern regions.
Manufacturing output rose 6.6 percent, mining output added 5.6 percent, while that of the electricity, heating, gas and water sectors dropped 0.2 percent, the bureau said.
China’s fixed-asset investment, a major driver of growth, also witnessed slightly slower growth, with no sign of improvement for investment in property and infrastructure.
Retail sales held steady in July, as the growth rate was just 0.1 percentage point lower than a month ago.
Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC, said the data fell below general market expectations.
The declining output and investment growth showed the rebound in June was just temporary and pressure for growth was again on the rise, Qu said.
“With gloomy prospects for external demand, China will still need to rely on domestic demand to maintain steady growth, indicating that future monetary and fiscal policies should continue to be relaxed,” he said.
China’s exports dropped 0.9 percent from a year earlier in the first seven months, according to new customs data.
A research note from Minsheng Securities also said China’s growth is still facing huge pressure and the country needs to make more efforts to realize its goal of annual economic growth of around 7 percent.
China should take more pragmatic measures to stabilize growth, including further cuts in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and more targeted measures to reduce long-term interest rates, Minsheng said.
Qu added that the disappointing figures will also reinforce the market’s expectations for further depreciation of China’s currency, the yuan, posing risks of overcorrection in the exchange rate, which may lead to retaliation from other countries.
On Tuesday, China’s central bank changed the exchange rate formation system to take into consideration the closing rate of the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the previous day, as well as supply and demand in the market and price movements of major currencies.
The central parity rate of the yuan weakened by about 1.6 percent against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, following a 2-percent depreciation on Tuesday.
HSBC forecast an additional 25-basis-point interest rate cut and a 200-basis-point cut to the RRR in the second half to sustain growth.
The central bank has cut both interest rates and the RRR three times since the beginning of this year. Enditem
Source Xinhua
China Focus: Chinese exporters see limited impact from weakening yuan
SHANGHAI, Aug. 12 (Greenpost) — China’s renminbi extended its sharp drop against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday from the previous day, but exporters say a weakened yuan has a limited effect on their business.
The official guidance rate of the Chinese currency shed 1.6 percent, or 1,008 basis points, on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s sharp fall of 1.9 percent.
Such a sharp decline against the greenback is unusual for the Chinese currency, which has been moving within a narrow range this year despite a firming dollar on expectations of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hikes.
Analysts have largely attributed the correction in the exchange rate to China’s response to the IMF’s call for the currency to better reflect market forces, but the yuan’s weakening came on the heels of weak July export data. Yet exporters have shown a mixed response to the yuan’s drop in value.
“The depreciation does benefit Chinese exports, but to a limited effect.” said Liang Hong, chief economist at China International Capital Corporation.
Liang said that the depreciation that came as a result of tweaking the formation of the renminbi’s central parity rate will only marginally relieve the pressure on growth brought by slowing exports.
China’s July exports slid 8.3 percent from a year ago, far below the street consensus of -1.5 percent.
“The depreciation will boost confidence among exporters after the sluggish July export data,” said Lu Dong, deputy manager at the Shanghai branch of China Export & Credit Insurance Corp. “But that is not the purpose for the yuan’s slide and it won’t be the start of massive depreciation against the dollar.”
According to Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, the change in how the reference rate is set is primarily intended as a move toward greater liberalization of the foreign exchange market ahead of the IMF’s decision about whether or not to include the renminbi in the SDR basket.
Though the yuan has depreciated significantly against the dollar, the drop in value is not as pronounced compared to other currencies.
Still, the yuan’s largest single day drop in almost two decades has some exporters cheering.
“Nothing makes me happier than seeing the yuan weaken against the dollar,” said Jiang Zhencheng, general manager of Shanghai Tianmao Stationary Co. Ltd.
“A strong yuan has blunted our competitiveness in the international market. The correction is such a relief for us as the United States is our key market,” Jiang said.
“The depreciation will benefit textiles and light industry as the two sectors in China are very export-oriented,” said CITIC analyst Ju Xinghai.
However, the actual positive impact of the depreciation is not as much as in theory because change in the exchange rate will lead to price adjustment, Ju added.
“The devaluation of the renminbi does work to our advantage. However, as a weaker yuan pushes up trade volume, our export price will also have to readjust,” said Li Qi, director of production at Licheng Clothing Group.
“Even if we don’t, our overseas clients will demand it anyway,” Li said. Enditem
Iceland’s Central Bank to raise the interest rates by half percentage points.
Stockholm, Aug. 19(Greenpost)–
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Iceland has decided to raise the Bank’s interest rates by 0.5 percentage points. The Bank’s key interest rate – the rate on seven-day term deposits – will therefore be 5.5%.
According to the Bank’s new forecast, GDP growth will be just over 4% this year and about 3% per year for the two years thereafter. Over the forecast period, growth will be about ½ a percentage point below the Bank’s May forecast per year. It will be robust nevertheless, and a positive output gap will widen in the coming term, with GDP growth driven by domestic demand – especially private consumption – to a greater extent than in recent years. Investment will be weaker than previously forecast, however, and labour demand will grow more slowly.
Inflation has risen in the recent term but is still below the Bank’s inflation target, particularly if the housing component of the CPI is excluded. However, the inflation outlook has deteriorated markedly since the last forecast, owing to the recent wage settlements, and inflation expectations have risen. Inflation is forecast to rise to 4% early in 2016 and to hover in the 4-4½% range over the next two years before easing towards the target, as the forecast implies that the monetary stance will be tightened in the near future.
Changes in the economic outlook since May are attributable primarily to the effects of large pay increases following the wage settlements and the monetary tightening that inevitably accompanies pay hikes of such size. The changes also stem from global factors, which have contributed to a more pronounced decline in import prices than previously expected, and improved terms of trade, which counteract the inflationary effects of the pay rises. Furthermore, the króna has appreciated slightly, in spite of substantial foreign currency purchases by the Central Bank.
If inflation rises in the wake of the wage settlements, as is forecast, the MPC will have to raise interest rates still further in order to bring inflation back to target over the medium term. How much and how quickly will depend on future developments and on how the current uncertainty plays out, including the degree to which large pay increases are passed through to prices, on the one hand, and the degree to which they prompt rationalisation and productivity growth, on the other. Developments in terms of trade, credit growth, and real estate prices are important factors as well. In addition, the interest rate path will depend on whether other policy instruments are used to contain demand-side pressures in the coming term.
Overnight lending: 7.25%
Seven-day collateralised lending: 6.25%
Seven-day term deposits: 5.50%
Current account: 5.25%
China to regulate online equity financing platforms
Stockholm, Aug. 16 (Greenpost) — China’s securities regulator will soon begin inspecting online equity financing platforms to address risks brought by illegal activities and help the platforms better serve the real economy, according to Xinhua.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will oversee several kinds of online platform, including equity-based crowdfunding, which allows investors to receive a stake in a company funded by pooling money from many people via the Internet, said Deng Ge, spokesman for the CSRC, at a press conference Friday.
The inspection aims to discover and correct illegal activities, minimize risks and lead platforms to perform better in serving the real economy, Deng said.
The inspection will focus on several aspects, including whether the online fund raisers have promoted themselves publicly, whether the accumulated number of equity holders has exceeded 200, and whether the raisers have collected private equity funds in the name of equity-based crowdfunding, Deng said.
Some institutions are operating in the name of “equity-based crowdfunding,” which are actually non-public equity financing or private equity funds raising, hence do not fall within the scope of equity-based crowdfunding activities allowed by the guidelines on promoting the healthy development of Internet finance unveiled easier in July, Deng said.
The CSRC has recently told governments at the provincial level to forbid institutions and individuals from illegally issue stocks under the guise of equity-based crowdfunding.
To support innovation and the healthy development of Internet finance, new policies were rolled out in July in guidelines by ten central government departments and industry regulators, including the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
More regulation is needed to deal with Internet finance crime, and self-discipline is also required if the industry is to build a sound and honest environment for finance players.
“Internet finance could help small and micro enterprises with investment and fund raising, and also upgrade the quality and efficiency of financial services,” an official with the PBOC said during a press conference. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Will China’s Renminbi RMB meet IMF criteria?
Interview: China’s financial reform plans sufficient to support RMB’s inclusion into SDR
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — Experts are cautiously optimistic that China’s plans for further financial reforms would be sufficient to help its currency renminbi (RMB) meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) criteria for joining its benchmark currency basket later this year.
“I don’t think China is going to do anything radically this year, especially after the stock market correction. But I think China’s own plans for reforms are probably sufficient to include the RMB in SDR (special drawing rights) this year,” David Dollar, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution and former official of the World Bank and the U.S. Treasury Department, told Xinhua in an interview.
Last week, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde also expressed confidence in China’s financial reforms, saying the recent market turmoil in China wouldn’t derail the IMF’s discussion on whether to include the RMB in its SDR basket.
“We are very comforted by that determination (of Chinese authorities) to deliver on the reforms, which will be conducive, one day, when the times come, once all the signals are checked positively, to the renminbi being included in the special drawing rights basket,” she said.
Earlier this year, Lagarde said the RMB’s inclusion in the SDR basket was not “a matter of if, but when”, and the IMF would work on this with Chinese authorities.
As part of the review process, the Executive Directors of the IMF held an informal meeting last week to discuss a staff report that laid out the initial considerations for reviewing the RMB’s SDR qualifications.
The report, released Tuesday and paved the way for a final decision on the SDR review later this year, hailed China’s progress on the internationalization of the RMB since the last review of the SDR basket in 2010.
“Other currencies have not experienced substantial changes in their relative prominence, underscoring that the rise of the RMB is the most significant development in international currency use since the last review,” the report said. “This notion is also supported by other contextual information such as the rising global network of RMB swap lines and the rapid growth in RMB payments from offshore clearing centers to the Mainland.”
The international use of the RMB is vital for the IMF to decide whether the RMB is a “freely usable” currency, an important criterion for admission into the SDR. At the last IMF review in 2010, the RMB met the export criterion, but was assessed as not meeting the “freely usable” criterion.
“If the RMB were determined to be a freely usable currency, it would play a more central role in the Fund’s financial operations going forward, and it would qualify for inclusion in the SDR basket,” the report said.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said in April that China will carry out a series of reforms to further increase the capital account convertibility of RMB, and make the currency more “freely usable”.
Some experts believed that the RMB now meets the requirement of being “freely usable”.
“Since the introduction of a series of domestic reforms aimed at increasing the renminbi’s use in international payments, the currency has become the fifth most used for that purpose, accounting for over 2 percent of such transactions,” Harold James, professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University, wrote in an article published on the Project Syndicate website, one of the world’s leading op-ed websites.
“That may not seem like a large share, but it is less than one percentage point below that of the Japanese yen,” James said, adding that the IMF should include the RMB and perhaps other emerging-market currencies in its SDR basket, which currently contains only four currencies, namely the U.S. dollar, the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
The IMF staff report didn’t give any indications as to whether the RMB would be put in the SDR basket later this year, but recommended extending the current SDR basket mandate by nine months until September 2016.
The proposed extension, which will be decided by the IMF’s Executive Board later this month, will not “in any way prejudge the timing of conclusion or outcome of the review,” a senior IMF official said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, nothing that these two things were not related.
“This was mainly in response to feedback from SDR users” because it’s not easy for them to rebalance their reserve holdings on Jan. 1, 2016, he said, adding that SDR users also need more time to rebalance their positions if a new currency is added to the basket.
The IMF’s Executive Board still plans to formally discuss the RMB’s SDR review toward the end of the year, the official said.
“We still think it is highly likely that RMB will be included — though for technical reasons, the actual date of inclusion may be extended to Sept. 30, 2016, to give reserve managers time to adjust,” Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS, said in a research note.
While the UK, German and several other European countries have expressed support for adding the RMB into SDR basket this year, the United States, which holds the largest voting share of the IMF, remains cautious.
“The U.S. would like to see more financial reforms in China. Some of these are very basic, like reporting reserves according to IMF standards…I think the U.S. and China should be able to agree on that,” Dollar said, adding that China’s plans for financial reforms “may very well be satisfactory” to the IMF, the U.S. and other shareholders.
“I’m pretty sure the U.S. doesn’t want to be isolated on this. I think the U.S. would work closely with European allies,” Dollar said. “I’m cautiously optimistic we would get good outcome on this.” Enditem
China Exim Bank sees strong demand for 2-tranch bond sales Thu
BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Greenpost) –The Export-Import Bank of China sold 2-tranche financial bonds on Thursday, with the yields for the 1-year product and the 10-year product at 2.5815 percent and 3.9169 percent, respectively.
Statistics from China Government Securities Depository Trust & Clearing Co. showed that yields on the 1-year and 10-year fixed interest rate policy bank bonds traded on the domestic interbank market stood at 2.7363 percent and 3.9725 percent respectively.
The two batches of bonds drew strong demand from institutional investors with the bid-to-cover ratio reaching 7.38 and 5.33, respectively.
Analysts attributed the rosy auction result to the country’s weak economy and the relaxed liquidity condition in the financial market. (Edited by Yang Yifan, yangyifan@xinhua.org)
Source Xinhua
News Analysis: China’s economy stabilizing against headwinds
BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) — With industrial profits sliding, factory activity retreating and the stock market on wild swings, China’s economic future seems blurry.
However, positive changes in the fundamentals can not be ignored and are helping the economy embark on a path of stabilizing, analysts say.
China’s economy expanded 7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, the same as in the first quarter.
Recent statistics show profits at major Chinese industrial firms dropped in June and an indicator on manufacturing activities fell in July to the lowest level since last April.
Wild ups and downs in the country’s stock market add to uncertainties. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index recorded the sharpest daily drop since Feb. 27, 2007, an 8.48 percent plunge, on Monday. It snapped back with a 3.44 percent rebound on Wednesday.
Despite those unnerving figures, an official with the country’s top economic planner said the fundamentals of China’s economy are stabilizing and improving.
Industrial output has continued to recover, new types of businesses have flourished, and the service sector has become an increasing contributor to the national growth, said Li Yunqing, an official at economic operation department of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Surpassing market anticipation, China’s industrial output climbed by 6.8 percent from a year ago for a third straight month of increases in June.
“If we look at the structure of the economy and the quality of growth, the results are more encouraging,” Li said.
For example, six major energy-intensive industries, such as steel and building materials, slowed down significantly in the first half, actually mitigating some growth of emerging industries, he said.
High-tech industries’ output rose 10.5 percent year on year in the first half, with industrial robots surging 130 percent and railway locomotives jumping 91 percent.
While fixed-asset investment continued to soften, its structure is shifting to consumption-linked and emerging industries.
Six major energy-intensive industries recorded a total investment growth of 7.5 percent year on year in the first half, 2.2 percentage points below the overall investment in manufacturing.
Meanwhile, industries like computer and telecommunications equipment, information and software, transport, postal service, cultural and sports goods all posted an investment growth above 20 percent year on year.
Property investment, the old pillar of investment and growth, is also expected to recover in the second half, with house sales warming up. Fewer cities saw new home prices drop for the fourth consecutive month in June.
The pressure on home prices will continue to ease gradually through 2015, global rating agency Moody’s said in a research note.
RECOVERY EXPECTED, PRESSURE REMAINS
The trend that China’s economy is stabilizing has become more obvious, Jia Kang, a renowned fiscal science researcher at the Ministry of Finance, and his fellow researchers wrote in an article published Wednesday.
As interest rates come down and monetary supply increases, Chinese companies will see the cost of investment brought down effectively and the nation’s fixed-asset investment growth will hopefully rebound in the fourth quarter, according to the article.
Retail growth has basically touched the bottom and will keep stable throughout the year, Jia predicted.
Foreign trade, another growth engine, is likely to return to growth in the second half as global demand improves and de-stocking by companies winds down, he wrote.
China’s economy grew 7 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year, the same as in the first quarter.
Zhu Haibin, chief economist of J.P. Morgan China, attributed growth in the second quarter to the service sector’s performance. Consumption accounted for 60 percent of economic growth in the first half, 5.7 percentage points higher than a year ago and almost double the contribution from investment.
“The economic re-balancing from investment to consumption is really happening,” Zhu said in a research note, predicting the economy will continue to pick up in the third quarter.
However, the degree and duration of recovery is challenged by several factors, including hovering industrial overcapacity, long-standing fiscal restraints, and the latest stock market turmoil, according to Zhu.
Stock price corrections may drag down growth in the financial sector and affect some rapidly expanding industries that have benefited from previous bullish runs, Zhu said. Enditem
Silk Road economic belt－focus of 2015 Euro-Asia Economic Forum
BEIJING, July 29 (Greenpost) — The 2015 Euro-Asia Economic Forum, scheduled on September 23-26, will be held in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, with the Silk Road Economic Belt high on the agenda, the organizer said Wednesday.
The forum aims to explore the innovation model of Asian and European countries in building the Silk Road Economic Belt and promote in-depth regional cooperation, said Li Jing, deputy secretary-general of the forum and deputy mayor of Xi’an.
The forum features several main seminars on cultural heritage, ecological safety, economic growth, education, energy development, financial cooperation and tourism development, offering a platform for exchanges between officials, businessman and experts from countries along the ancient Silk Road.
The Silk Road refers to the land trade route opened when Zhang Qian was sent west on a diplomatic mission more than 2,000 years ago. Starting from the city known today as Xi’an, the ancient Silk Road ran through northwest China’s Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Central and Western Asia, before reaching the Mediterranean. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Congratulations to Beijing for winning the right to hold 2022 Winter Olympics
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Stockholm, Aug. 4(Greenpost)-Chinese people all over the world are happy for Beijing and Zhangjiakou to win the right to host 2022 Winter Olympics.
Vice Premier Liu Yandong, head of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics bidding delegation returned to Beijing on August 2 and welcomed by various circles of the people in Beijing. Photo by Xinhua, Yao Dawei.
The news came out on July 31st. Immediately after that I saw my Wechat friends circle spread out this news.
I sat in front of my computer and watched Swedish SVT finding out that they got an one hour and 22 minutes live broadcasting program to specially live cover the voting site in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
I felt very excited when I heard the news and tears almost came out of my eyes. It was as if I won the world championship or in other words that I could feel the happiness of a winner in sport.
Liu Yandong with delegates in Lausanne for Beijing’s bidding briefing for 2022 Winter Olympics Games.
It was such a short notice type of happiness. I heard the news last month that my former colleague Yang Binyuan who was a project leader during 2008 Oympic Games in Beijing were in Lausanne to participate in the bidding process with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, famous TV host Yang Lan, Sport star Yao Ming, Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan and many others.
The tallest in the middle is Yao Ming and the third from left Yang Binyuan. Photo from Yang Binyuan’s facebook.
According to SVT, Sweden also bid for 2022 Winter Olympics, but when it heard China also bid for it, it withdrew hoping for 2026. In fact, many countries withdrew at the news that China wanted to bid.
This time China seemed to prepare for the bidding not that long time ago, however many work has been done long time before thinking of bidding for Olympics. For example the skiing site was built many years ago just for people’s sports recreation so that people around Beijing can enjoy the pleasure similar to that in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces.
But I think this bid has great to do with the support of President Xi Jinping’s idea of cleaning the environment in Beijing, developing the surrounding areas. So he said if Beijing and Zhangjiakou can hold 2022 Olympic Games, it will drive a consumption population of 300 million. That is a great business opportunity.
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/6v6h1NnzgBY/
His words moved many people.
“Beijing is like a vampire absorbing all the talented people and various resources while the surrounding province was deprived of these resources. It is time to help the surrounding city to develop. I believe the 2022 Winter Olympics will help Zhangjiakou to develop for the better, congratulations,” said Huang Nan, an independent English language professor in his Wechat circle.
Professor Wu Wenzhong from Beihang University also congratulated Beijing.
“Talking about Olympics, I was the English judge for 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics judges. I will be 68 years old by 2022, I like to be a volunteer for the 2022 Winter Olympics if possible,” said Professor Wu in his Wechat friends circle.
Swedish Olympic Committee President Stefen Lindberg said in a telephone interview that Beijing’s winning is not unexpected.
“It’s not unexpected. Beijing has the basis from 2008 Olympic Games and Zhangjiakou can be a good place for skiiing. Sweden will be preparing for 2026,” said Lindberg.
In Beijing, Lin Mei sent me a photo saying that she and Swedish Ice Hocky Coach were invited to celebrate the victory of bidding.
Geely Group P.R. chief Michael Ning said Volvo made a good decision to choose Zhangjiakou as one of its production bases. The 2022 Winter Olympics will definitely be beneficial for them.
Of course the greatest benefit for Beijing will be the blue sky. It is a dream for many to have the blue sky and white cloud. Beijing has created Olympics blue and Apec blue. Unfortunately it is very difficult to keep it for the long term.
According to British Stern report, China’s greenhouse gas emission is expected to decrease by 2025. With the efforts to hold 2022 Winter Olympics, the blue sky is expected to be able to continue by then.
Beijing to host 2022 winter Olympics
Stockholm, July 31(Greenpost)–Beijing, Zhangjiakou and Yanqing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, this was announced in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
China welcomes the decision by the Olympic Committee. Many Chinese are happy for Beijing because with such an opportunity, it is hopeful that the air pollution problem will be solved.
The event will improve the infrastructure in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, to help them develop further.
Beijing became the first city in the world to gain the right to host both summer olympics and winter olympics.
News Analysis: Information Silk Road brings regional enterprises closer
BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) — When Damir Karcas, who markets drinks from Serbia, came to southeastern China to promote his products a month ago, he knew little about selling on Chinese e-commerce sites, an increasingly popular venue for food and beverage sales.
“I paid little attention to market information in this field before, but it seems necessary to keep yourself tuned in to changing market conditions in China,” said Karcas.
As infrastructure development progresses steadily along the China-proposed Belt and Road, a trade and infrastructure network that connects Asian, European and African countries, breaking invisible barriers of information asymmetry stands out as a key task.
Failures haunt many firms that venture overseas due to misunderstandings with local stakeholders and ignorance of the local regulatory and cultural environment.
Information asymmetry has become the top issue facing overseas investment by businesses as many firms are ignorant of possible risks, according to Jia Huai, deputy head of the economic information department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
“It is reality that information and communication gaps create differences among individuals, groups and countries and misunderstandings about specific issues or projects when there is little or incorrect information,” said Aman Ullah Khan, Chairman of the Pak-China Business and Investment Promotion Council.
Jia suggested that enterprises at home and abroad establish an information exchange platform to develop trade and investment strategies according to the target country’s political, economic, cultural and social conditions.
An open and sound information-sharing mechanism should be based on big data and include databases, business connection platforms, consulting services as well as information collection, publication, screening and other customized services to help investors gain insight and expand their influence in their targeted markets.
Chinese government organizations and media groups are working to bridge the information gap and build an Information Silk Road. The State Information Center is constructing databases of countries involved in the initiative, and Xinhua News Agency rolled out a new line of information products to help global investors form better partnerships under the Belt and Road Initiative.
China’s bilateral trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative remained robust amid downward economic pressure and reached close to three trillion yuan (490.2 billion yuan) in the first half of 2015, about one-fourth of total trade volume.
“To avoid misconceptions and misunderstandings and to increase trust among stakeholders, partners, and investors, there should be fair and accurate flow of information. With the passage of time, economic and financial information will be as important as investment and other projects,” Khan added. Enditem
Xinhua Insight: A wave of startups raises tide of entrepreneurship
Xinhua Insight: A wave of startups raises tide of entrepreneurship
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) — Guo Xin, 23, an undergraduate at Nankai University, feels no pressure from China’s economic slowdown. Instead, he sees positive changes encouraging startups.
“The economy is facing great downward pressure, but for entrepreneurs, the business environment has never been better,” Guo told Xinhua.
Guo is CEO of a an Internet finance company and has established a start-up each year for the past three years.
Like Guo, hundreds of thousands of young Chinese have started their own companies or projects in the past year or two as a startup frenzy grips the nation. Partly thanks to serious reforms, especially business registration reform, it is easier than ever to start a business.
China is entering a new stage of slower but more resilient growth, which President Xi Jinping has called the “new normal.” The essence of the “new normal” is an improved economic structure that relies on services, consumption and innovation.
STARTUPS SHOOT UP
China’s GDP growth held steady at 7 percent in the first half this year, but another figure — the number of newly registered enterprises — is even more impressive. New registrations jumped 19.4 percent from a year ago to 2.1 million in H1.
“Creative, entrepreneurial spirit has been stoked by business reform,” said Yu Fachang with the state administration for industry and commerce (SAIC).
By the end of June, there were around 74.2 million businesses in China, including agricultural concerns and individual traders, up 7 percent from the end of 2014, SAIC data showed.
The number of new firms registered in the service sector accounted for 80.3 percent of the increase, or 1.6 million during the first six months, 22.6 percent more than in the same period last year.
This, Yu said, reflects a better economic structure, with the service sector playing its prescribed “bigger role” in growth and job creation. The sector has become the biggest driver of growth, expanding 8.4 percent in H1 and accounting for 49.5 percent of GDP.
Wang Bao’an, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, believes that a new wave of mass entrepreneurship and innovation is in the offing, given the huge success of many startups. The drive for mass entrepreneurship and innovation along with repeated cuts to red tape are feeding creativity and market vitality, Wang told the People’s Daily last week.
CONTINUOUS REVOLUTION
Premier Li Keqiang has repeatedly promised that the government will revolutionize itself to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation.
In streamlining business registration since 2014, China has removed minimum capital requirements, replaced annual company inspections with a reporting system and loosened site requirements for businesses. Last month, the government announced that those wishing to start their own business would only need to apply to one office for the three essential business certificates, rather than the current regime of visits to three different offices. Business licenses, tax registration certificates and organization code certificates will all now be issued by the SAIC.
Guo Xin already feels the better business environment. “Entrepreneurship and innovation are state policies and there are many new government business incubators to assist new firms or projects,” he said, adding that other changes included easier financing, clearer procedures for starting a business, a much larger number of new entrepreneurs and an easier get-out processes for those who fail.
“Encouraging mass entrepreneurship and innovation has activated hundreds of thousands of cells in the market, which helped macroeconomic stabilization,” Premier Li told a conference earlier this month.
THE FOURTH WAVE
Economist Gu Shengzu believes that lowering the threshold for starting businesses, removing restrictions and the rise of the Internet economy may have created a “perfect storm” of entrepreneurship in China.
“Entrepreneurship and innovation are twins. To the Chinese economy, they mean not only a better today, but a better tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Gu told Xinhua.
The innovative power of the Chinese people is an important engine for stable growth and a smooth transition to the new normal, he said, calling this “the fourth wave” of mass entrepreneurship in nearly 40 years.
The first wave began in 1978 when reform and opening-up began, with farmers setting up township enterprises and urban dwellers starting small businesses. The second wave swept China after 1992, with about 100,000 public servants resigning from their “jobs for life” to go into business for themselves. The third came when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
The past three waves gave rise to numerous top Chinese entrepreneurs who rose from nobodies to tycoons, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent’s Pony Ma and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun.
Gu said the difference between the first three waves and this fourth wave is that the government has actively worked to bring about the arrival of the fourth through aggressive policies.
Wang Bao’an, the statistics chief, wants future reform to focus on four areas: price controls, market entry, R&D and invigorating State-owned firms. He maintains that only more reforms will guarantee future growth. “The policy goals of stabilizing growth, restructuring the economy and achieving innovation-driven growth can be reached only through more reform… The key is to leave the market to allocate resources,” he said. Enditem