News » Society » 'Gangnam Style' star's China debut likely

---

• 'Gangnam Style' star's China debut likely
• China leaders reassert control over security portfolio
• China to 'simplify' FDI procedure
• "Gangnam Style" star's China debut on schedule
• Another Daoist Thanksgiving
• China to host Palestinian envoy
• Father's bid to save son's life
• A cleaner China
• Further tests show excess plasticizers in Jiugui liquor
• Education crisis in rural areas
• Woman held as mentally ill at parents' whim sues
• Sex photos land official in middle of investigation
• Mom taken to labor camp after visiting son
• P&G’s market share drops, employees depart in China
• Investors make $100 billion bet on China’s drive up value chain
• Three municipalities get new leaders
• China targets bank executives’ perks in anti-corruption drive
• Have You Heard…
• China Positioned to Avoid U.S. Sanctions
• Protests after China tweet arrest

'Gangnam Style' star's China debut likely Posted: 21 Nov 2012 06:59 PM PST "Gangnam Style" South Korean singer Psy may make his China debut performance during the New Year's countdown celebration show hosted by China's Hunan Satellite TV Station, the provincial local media reported. The show to be held on the last day this year will be part of the New Year's Carnival Week held in Changsha City, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. The TV station reportedly had spent nearly a month persuading Psy to lead their new year's show amid competition from several other mainland counterpart stations who also expressed the same interest. The newspaper reported that Psy's agent had confirmed on his attendance and details of his performance were still in negotiation. Psy's song "Gangnam Style," which mocks the consumerism of a rich Seoul suburb, and his hit horse-riding-style dance went viral on video-sharing website YouTube. The performance has been viewed more than over 780 million times on YouTube since it was released in July.

China leaders reassert control over security portfolio Posted: 21 Nov 2012 07:28 PM PST The BBC's Beijing Bureau looks at what lies behind the apparent downgrading of China's internal security portfolio, now in the hands of Meng Jianzhu.

China to 'simplify' FDI procedure Posted: 21 Nov 2012 06:32 PM PST China says it will "simplify" procedures for foreign direct investments, the latest step in its attempts to attract more investors.

"Gangnam Style" star's China debut on schedule Posted: 21 Nov 2012 06:59 PM PST "GANGNAM Style" South Korean singer Psy may make his China debut performance during the New Year's countdown celebration show hosted by China's Hunan Satellite TV Station, the provincial local media reported. The show to be held on the last day this year will be part of the New Year's Carnival Week held in Changsha City, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. The TV station reportedly had spent nearly a month persuading Psy to lead their new year's show amid competition from several other mainland counterpart stations who also expressed the same interest. The newspaper reported that Psy's agent had confirmed on his attendance and details of his performance were still in negotiation. Psy's song "Gangnam Style," which mocks the consumerism of a rich Seoul suburb, and his hit horse-riding-style dance went viral on video-sharing website YouTube. The performance has been viewed more than 530 million times on YouTube since it was released in July.

Another Daoist Thanksgiving Posted: 21 Nov 2012 02:39 PM PST Been very busy of late, with little time to blog.  But here is one from the archives on my favorite holiday: It is a perfect Thanksgiving morning here [2005] in Northwestern Massachusetts: a light snow, about 2 inches on the ground; a chill air; great conditions to be inside and cooking and eating all day.  Aidan and I are here by ourselves, however.  Maureen and Maggie are down in New York City, attending the famous parade.  So, we will do the whole feast thing tomorrow.  Today will be just about pie baking: I have a couple of small pumpkins to bake and make into a pie.  If I feel ambitious, perhaps an apple pie will follow.  That will make the house warm and comfortable.      We are supposed to be thankful today, and I am.  But as I give thanks I can't help wondering: for what am I giving thanks and to whom?  As is my want, I fall back on Taoism to help clarify my thoughts.  And, through that exercise, I come to a somewhat startling realization: I give thanks for Aidan and his profound disability.  I know that sounds a bit bizarre - how could a parent be thankful for a child's disability? - but, as I think through it, I am happy to say that I am.     (For other parents thinking about disability, see this recent piece on disability; hap tip: Laura).     First, let's think more generally about the act of thanksgiving.  In the Christian American context, that means giving thanks to God for all of the good things we have.  (We tend to skip over the bad things today; we focus on the good in order to balance out the bad).   What I like about this idea is the underlying assumption that we do not really control the course of our lives and we need to be humbly grateful for the good things that happen along the way.  I think that sentiment is consonant with Taoism.    Of course, a Taoist (at least a philosophic Taoist) would not invoke a god figure as the ultimate controller of our destinies.  Rather, Way itself (Tao) is the all-inclusive, self-generating, continually unfolding complex reality that surrounds and shapes our lives.   So, a Taoist would recognize one's subordination to Tao.  But would a Taoist give "thanks"?       In a way (pun!), yes.  Although Chuang Tzu tells us that fully apprehending the uncontrollable power of Tao should lead us to let go of virtually all emotions ("joy and sorrow never touch you" 92), there is still room for gratefulness, even if gratefulness assumes a happiness for which to be grateful.  A Taoist can be grateful - and, indeed, can be happily enchanted - to witness or sense some small part of the wondrous richness of Tao.  This is not a function of education or age: even the smallest and weakest infant simultaneously absorbs and expresses a corner of Tao. Indeed, the immaturity and naivety of the infant is presented as the best state from which to experience Tao: Embody Integrity's abundance and you're like the vibrant child...       - Tao Te Ching 55      A Taoist, then, would give thanks, in the sense of recognizing and gratefully subordinating oneself to uncontrollable forces of Tao that shape our lives and produce the good (as well as the bad) around us.      It is in that spirit that I give thanks.  And as I give thanks in that way (Way), with Aidan silently sitting next to me in his wheelchair, air rattling in and out of his tracheostomy tube, I am thankful for him in precisely the way that he is.  I do not regret his disabilities (this is not Regretsgiving Day, after all).  Of course, if I were some omnipotent divinity able to determine the conditions of his life, I would call a do-over and have him fully abled in all the ways he is not now.  But I am not omnipotent.  I am subordinated to Tao, and Tao moves as it will, with no heed to my desires or expectations.      But can I be positively grateful for his disability?  Yes.  I can because I have come to see that his experience of Tao is just as valuable and worthwhile as any other experience of Tao.  He cannot speak or see or stand; but he can hear and touch and feel the warmth and love around him.  He takes in Tao and adds to Tao in his own, unique way.  I may think my own understanding of the world around me is greater or more significant than his, but philosophic Taoists would scoff at such arrogance.  It is, after all, the immature and naive infant who can "embody Integrity's abundance."  It is, after all, our human-created knowledge that can obstruct our view of Tao.      To be perfectly honest (and I have said this elsewhere), if I had a choice, I would not change places with him.  I am too used to and happy with my abilities to experience Tao that I would be loath to give them up.  But that might just be my own lack of understanding.  Yet, whatever my own hesitations, I can be fully grateful for him, in precisely the form he is.  It is he, as he is, who has fundamentally challenged my world view and opened up to me the serenity of philosophic Taoism.  It is he, as he is, who has had myriad good effects on the people around him.  It is he, as he is, who is a perfect expression of the wholeness of Tao in himself.       So, Happy Thanksgiving.  We are happy here.  We are thankful.  And among that many things I am grateful for today is Aidan and his profound disability.

China to host Palestinian envoy Posted: 21 Nov 2012 09:46 AM PST CHINA will host an envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the crisis in Gaza, the foreign ministry said yesterday, adding that the government had been in touch with all sides in the conflict to try to find a solution. The envoy, secretary-general of the Palestinian People's Party, Bassam Al-Salhi, will be in China from today for a three-day trip, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. Hua said: "China has been in close touch with Israel, Palestine and other countries, and has called on all sides, especially Israel, to exercise maximum restraint and cease fire as soon as possible."

Father's bid to save son's life Posted: 21 Nov 2012 09:38 AM PST Wan Jinqiang and his two-year-old son Wan Kefan are pictured at a military hospital in Beijing yesterday after the nation's first case of a liver transplant between a father and son with different blood types. The father is type AB while the son is type B. The boy was diagnosed with biliary atresia in June and doctors said that only a transplant could save his life. The father persuaded the hospital to do the surgery, in the hope of a "surprise success." Experts say the risk of rejection is greater when donor and recipient are of different blood types. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

A cleaner China Posted: 21 Nov 2012 09:08 AM PST CHINA should be able to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 730 million tons a year due to its adoption of more than 4,500 clean development projects, a government report said yesterday. China approved 4,540 clean development mechanism projects between 2004 and August 2012, and estimated annual certified emissions reduction could reach 730 million tons of CO2 equivalent, said the report, "China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change 2012." The report was released as nations gear up for the Doha climate change talks.

Further tests show excess plasticizers in Jiugui liquor Posted: 21 Nov 2012 09:07 AM PST QUALITY watchdogs in Hunan Province have detected plasticizers in samples of Jiugui liquor and are urging the Hunan-based producer to determine the source of the toxic substances. The announcement by the Hunan Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision yesterday followed a report by news website 21cbn.com that Jiugui liquor contains excessive and toxic plasticizers which could impair male sexual function and even cause liver cancer. Bureau officials told Xinhua news agency that they tested samples of a Jiugui product and detected plasticizer substance dibutyl phthalate (DBP). According to the officials, the maximum volume of DBP they tested in the samples reached 1.04mg/kg. China doesn't have a national standard for plasticizers in liquor, but according to a standard for additives in food containers and packaging provided by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, DBP volume should be below 0.3mg/kg. The officials have ordered the drink producer, Hunan Jiugui Liquor Co, to find out the source of the substance, Xinhua reported. Meanwhile, the Shanghai company which carried out tests for the news website said its results were accurate though they couldn't confirm whether the samples tested were Jiugui products. In an announcement on its official website, Intertek Co said the company was approved by the government to test liquors and the results showing that the samples contained excessive plasticizers were accurate. The 21cbn.com report on Monday said that samples of Jiugui, selling for 438 yuan (US$70) a bottle, were found to contain excess plasticizers in tests carried out by the company. In its announcement, Intertek said it received samples from a customer on October 25 who required them to test plasticizer levels. "But Intertek didn't participate in the sampling progress and didn't know the source of the samples, the method of the sampling, or how the customer preserved the samples before they were checked," the announcement said. "The customer should be responsible for carrying out those procedures." Standard procedures The company said it had tested the samples according to standard procedures. "The report of our test results didn't list the brand of the samples and didn't comment on the results," the announcement said. As the customer was responsible for the sampling, the company could not confirm whether the samples were Jiugui products. On Monday, Hunan Jiugui Liquor Co, based in the central China province, said the Shanghai testing company was not authoritative and it would be sending products to an official facility for checks. Jiugui Liquor shares listed at the Shenzhen exchange market have been suspended since Monday. The news report also caused a sharp drop in the share price of many other major domestic liquor makers. Jiugui products were still on sale in supermarkets across the country yesterday, although some stores have removed Jiugui liquor from their shelves. According to experts, plasticizers are used to thicken liquids, but alcohol products do not need this. The chemicals can cause damage to male fertility as well as digestive and immune systems. Liu Xuejun, a food science professor of Jilin Agricultural University, told Xinhua there were two possible causes of excessive levels of plasticizers in liquor. They could leak from PVC tubes or vessels used for storage or transportation. Or they could come from flavoring essence. The China Alcoholic Drinks Association said on Monday that large-scale tests on China's liquor products showed almost all alcohol products contain plasticizers. But it said domestic content of plasticizers in liquor was lower than standards overseas. The association said the alcohol industry was discussing the limits for allowed levels of plasticizers in liquor. The scandal of plasticizers in food was first exposed in Taiwan. In May last year, the island's health department detected toxic plasticizers in food additives used in soft drinks, tea drinks and dietary supplements.

Education crisis in rural areas Posted: 21 Nov 2012 09:06 AM PST ONE of the unexpected by-products of China's urbanization is the decline in rural education over the past decade. The number of rural students has dropped to a 10-year low with 63 primary schools and three middle schools closing every day from 2000 to 2010. This is partly a result of the excessive merging of rural schools during the decade, according to a report released by Yang Dongping, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute. The number of rural primary schools decreased by 52 percent from 2000 to 2010 while the number of countryside pupils dropped by 37.8 percent, the report said. The decrease in rural schools began 10 years ago when educational authorities advocated the merger of facilities in light of the shrinking rural population, due to China's urbanization. The policy was meant to improve study conditions for pupils and save educational resources. However, the concentration of schools has made pupils' journeys to school longer and more expensive, especially in remote mountainous areas. The average distance from home to school for rural pupils is 5.4 kilometers and 17.5 kilometers for middle school students, according to Yang's report. Many students choose to live in school but malnutrition is also said to be common among rural students living in boarding schools. The lack of care from their parents has also caused psychological trauma for lonely students living in schools. The difficult access to school due to the merger of rural schools also raised concern about rising illiteracy in some areas. The dropout rate of rural pupils rose to 8.8 out of 1,000 in 2011, almost the same level as in 1997, said Han Qinglin, inspector of the Hebei provincial department of education and director-general of the rural education branch of the Chinese Education Society. The continuous merging of schools has resulted in not only the dropout of lower-grade students but also led to a great number of students unable to enter school, leading to a rise in the number of children unable to read or write. Authorities have realized the shortcomings of the merging policy. The State Council published a directive on managing rural schools in September which called for the policy to end. Keeping necessary rural schools in place and improving the food and accommodation in boarding schools is crucial to prevent education in the countryside from declining, experts say.

Woman held as mentally ill at parents' whim sues Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:05 AM PST A woman is suing a mental health hospital in Beijing for keeping her in involuntary custody and treatment for three days in June at request of her parents, Legal Daily reported yesterday. The plaintiff, Chen Dan, is demanding 200,000 yuan (US$32,090) in compensation. She said her angry parents showed up in Beijing in June to force her to break up with her boyfriend. Chen was taken to Beijing Huilongguan Hospital on June 5 by four people hired by her parents after she refused. The case is the first of its kind brought after adoption of China's new Mental Health Law on October 26, which does not allow mental health facilities to keep patients against their will unless proven dangerous. Chen said she was forced to remain because her parents told the doctors she was mentally ill, the court heard. The next day, a doctor asked Chen about her childhood and how she came to the hospital. Chen said she answered calmly and rationally. On June 8, the doctor's diagnosis said Chen was depressed but it was "unnecessary that she stay in the hospital." Chen posted her experience on the Internet and sued. In a hearing, Chen's lawyer said the hospital had no right to keep Chen for three days. The hospital argued it obeyed regulations at the time, saying Chen was in an "extremely excited" state in the hospital. "We decided to keep her because her parents told us she had tried to commit suicide and had depression since 2009. We made the diagnosis within 72 hours and freed her immediately, which fits within the rules," the hospital said. Huang Xuetao, a lawyer specializing in mental health cases, said the new law might not help Chen since it will not take effect until May 1.

Sex photos land official in middle of investigation Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST DISCIPLINE watchdogs in Chongqing City are investigating a senior city government official after he was reported to be seen having sex with his mistress in a set of pornographic pictures and videos widely spread online. Lei Zhengfu, secretary of Beibei District Committee of the Communist Party in Chongqing, was accused by an investigative reporter with Southern Metropolis Daily of keeping an 18-year-old mistress and ordering police to detain her for over a month after the sexual images were leaked onto the Internet. Lei denied the accusations, telling a reporter with China News Agency yesterday that the images are not real. "Do not believe it. They are all fake," Lei told the reporter, "Just leave it (the case) alone." Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Ji Xuguang said on his microblog yesterday that his information, from an unnamed source, indicated that Lei's mistress, Zhao Xiaoxue, secretly filmed sex videos and pictures after they quarreled. "Lei then ordered police to catch his mistress and detain her for over one month," Ji alleged on his microblog. Ji said on his microblog that in a telephone interview, Lei denied that he was the man in the pictures and said he never ordered police to detain a woman called Zhao Xiaoxue. Discipline watchdogs said they are looking into whether Lei is the man in the sex pictures and videos. Investigation results are expected soon.

Mom taken to labor camp after visiting son Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST A WOMAN who had often gone to Beijing to appeal to higher authorities for help was taken by police back to her hometown for one year of reeducation at a labor camp after she visited her son in the capital earlier this month. Zhao Meifu went to visit her son, Guo Dajun, who is doing postgraduate studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. The woman left her home in a village in Lanzhou City in western Gansu Province on November 5. In Beijing, she stayed in a hotel near her son's school. Zhao left Beijing for home on November 8. But on November 12, Zhao's family received a notice from the local police of Zhao's labor reeducation term. Police claimed yesterday that the year was related to a punishment filed in 2010. "Zhao was punished with one year of labor reeducation on May 14, 2010, after she had been punished several times for violating public order since 2007," local police said on Weibo. "But when we sent her to reeducation, she was diagnosed with hypertension, hysteromyoma (a benign uterine tumor) and gallstones and the reeducation was suspended. Zhao was asked to have medical treatment at home and the reeducation was postponed until she could recover," police said. "According to our investigation this month, Zhao was found traveling to Beijing several times. After applying for permission to law enforcement department, we took Zhao back on November 12 and sent her to the labor camp," police said. Guo, however, appealed on Weibo on Tuesday for help for his mother. The blog became a hit on the website. Guo said his mother did nothing "out of line" in Beijing. He believed his mother was taken by police by mistake. "My mother was waiting for the train at the Beijing West Railway Station and was asked to show her ID by the police officers because she was raggedly dressed," Guo said. "After checking the ID, they found my mom's record and assumed she was going to appeal to authorities again and took her back to Lanzhou." Guo said his father tried to visit Zhao at the labor camp but was turned away. Guo has applied for a reexamination of his mother's case. "I'll try everything I can to get mom out of the labor camp. In the future, we will never appeal again," Guo told the paper. "Their wounds will heal and our family can start over." Police records say Guo's family had a land dispute with a neighbor that escalated to fights. The case was closed in 2005, but Zhao refused to accept it.

P&G’s market share drops, employees depart in China Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST Source: Want China Times Procter & Gamble (P&G) is losing its dominance in the Chinese market, after experiencing a declining market share and the departure of its employees in China, including a top sales executive, the Chinese-language First Financial Daily reported. On Oct. 29, Thomas Zhai, who had been with P&G Greater China for 21 years, announced his departure from the position of sales director in the region. The announcement came after the global company selling consumer goods reported quarterly results for the period between July and September on Oct. 25, which showed that its sales had slipped 3.7% to US$20.74 billion. In an internal letter to all employees in China, a P&G executive said that despite an improvement in sales, the company had seen a 0.4% drop in its market share in the country in the fiscal year ending June. While the company has been cutting costs through layoffs and reducing spending on advertising, the newspaper said, a large number of P&G China employees have resigned from the company. Over 200 of the nearly 600 new recruits under the company management training program, who began working in August last year, have left the company, the newspaper said. In addition, none of the new employees, who were recruited in Beijing last year and assigned to the marketing department under the program, are still working for the company. Such departures, a P&G employee said, are a result of the freeze imposed on personnel promotion at the company since November. It now requires the company's entry-level employees to work for two years before being promoted. Another reason behind the resignations, the newspaper said, is the routine transfer of employees to different positions after they have stayed in one position for two to three years. If someone is transferred to less desired posts in remote regions, he or she might choose to leave the company, the newspaper said. Hu Pengling, a director with CIIC HR Management Consulting, said the departures might have a short-term impact on P&G, but the company's comprehensive corporate structure and contingency plan for organizational changes would help it minimize the medium to long-term effects. Meanwhile, P&G's pulling out as a sponsor of the popular singing contest "The Voice of China" as part of its plan to cut advertising costs has given its rivals a good opportunity for publicity, the newspaper said. P&G CEO Robert McDonald had previously said the company spent 9 to 11% of its budget on advertising, the newspaper noted.

Investors make $100 billion bet on China’s drive up value chain Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:42 AM PST Source: Reuters By Kevin Yao (Reuters) – China's soaring wages and strengthening currency might blunt the competitive edge of exporters that have seen average pay double since 2007, but it won't stop firms worldwide making a collective $100 billion bet on setting up shop here this year. Although foreign direct investment inflows in 2012 have seen the longest monthly run of year-on-year declines since 2009, hurt by a weak outlook for corporate investment and sagging global trade, FDI should still top $100 billion for the third year running. That would bring China's total since 2007 to about $625 billion, based on data from United Nations agency, UNCTAD, during which time a rally in the yuan currency has sliced 25 percent from exporters' margins. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand combined managed to snag only $141.6 billion in FDI between them from 2007 to 2011, despite being repeatedly touted as the places to which manufacturers fleeing China flock. What keeps the money coming to China is a steady shift away from cheap assembly lines to high value-added production and from volatile external demand to the spending power of a new mainstream consumer class that analysts at McKinsey reckon will rise 10-fold between 2010 and 2020. Indeed the decline of low-end manufacturing fits with Beijing's ambition to drive firms up the global value chain to help sustain the wage rises vital to attaining developed economy status and avoiding a "middle income trap" of low wages and stagnating growth. "It's so far not threatening to the competitiveness position of China because it's the very low-end of manufacturing sectors that are affected," Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, told Reuters. "In that sense, it's quite consistent with the government's strategy to move up the value chain and improve the industrial structure," said Kuijs, a former World Bank economist in China. Under government guidance on foreign investment issued in December 2011, China aims to lure more FDI in advanced manufacturing, as well as services including logistics, research and development, higher education and vocational training. "The government policy no longer encourages FDI in the low-end manufacturing, only firms that are up in the global value chain can make profits," said Li Yushi, senior economist at the Commerce Ministry's think-tank – the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. WAGE COSTS BITE That fact is recognized by the likes of Marjorie Yang, chairman of Hong Kong-based Esquel – the world's biggest maker of premium cotton shirts for the likes of Ralph Lauren (RL.N), Tommy Hilfiger, Nike (NKE.N), J.Crew, Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss (BOSSn.DE), Lacoste, Bestseller and Muji – which has extensive operations in China. "There is pressure on enterprises in China to transform from being cheap labor-driven to innovation-driven," Yang told a forum in Beijing at the weekend, adding that rising wage costs had forced cost-cutting elsewhere in the business in response. Some factories in the clothing and footwear industries have closed. German sportswear maker Adidas AG (ADSGn.DE) has shut its only directly-owned factory in China, but it still sources goods from local suppliers. Supply chains and relatively sound infrastructure make China a stand-out destination for many foreign investors. "A lot of our suppliers are in the immediate neighborhood, which cuts logistics and other costs," said Park Jong Ho, management director at LG Innotek in Yantai in the eastern Shandong province. "If it were just a question of labor costs we should go to Southeast Asia. The reason to be here is not labor costs." Currently, minimum wages in China range from 870 yuan ($139) per month to 1,500 yuan, according to government data. In Vietnam the minimum wage is around 1.05 million dong ($50). China's foreign direct investment inflows fell 3.45 percent in the first 10 months of 2012 from a year ago, compared with an annual average 9.2 percent rise between 2002 and 2011 that saw investors plough in a cumulative $1.2 trillion. That cash has now got to work smarter, economists say. "China's manufacturing sector is suffering from overcapacity and investment opportunities will be limited," said Minggao Shen, China economist at Citigroup in Hong Kong. "If we assume China's economy can continue to grow around 6-8 percent in the next decade, China's market is still attractive. But we will see a structural change – more on services sector, consumption, more on industrial upgrading." STRUCTURAL SHIFT That shift is already happening, according to official data that shows foreign investment accounted for just over 50 percent of China's total exports in the first nine months of 2012, down from 57 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, the proportion of FDI inflows into China's services sector were $43.7 billion in the first 10 months of 2012 versus the $40.4 billion that went into manufacturing. FDI into services beat manufacturing FDI for the first time in 2011. China's services sector makes up far less than the 60-70 percent of GDP typical in major developed economies, but its 43.3 percent share in 2011 is not far behind the manufacturing sector's 46.6 percent share, according to World Bank data. Beijing aims to boost the services sector's relative share of GDP to 47 percent by 2015. Under the banner of "industrial transfers" endorsed by Beijing, provincial officials in the interior have rolled out the red carpet for foreign firms trying to escape higher costs in the more developed coastal areas. Zhang Xiaodong, the communist party chief of Anyang city in central Henan province, said the industrial city was luring more outside investment, including that from big state-owned firms and private firms, due to its lower wages and land costs. "But the cost for industrial transfers is rising as labor resources, land and capital become key constraints," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Communist Party congress. Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics maker, has moved its main operations to such inland provinces as Henan and Shanxi. Its factory in Shanxi alone employs nearly 80,000 people. In the first 10 months of 2012, FDI into China's six central provinces – Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Auhui, Jiangxi and Shanxi – jumped 19.4 percent from a year ago to $7.8 billion, or 8.5 percent of the total, according to official data. FDI into eastern provinces, including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong, fell 6.1 percent to $76.8 billion. But they got the lion's share 84 percent of FDI, suggesting foreign firms still favor established locations. "Both trends are happening at the same time," said Yao Wei, chief China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. "It does seem that companies are weighing the pros and cons. But if everyone does look at China as a potential consumer market, it does make sense to first move the inland."

Three municipalities get new leaders Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:50 AM PST Source: china.org.cn The reshuffling of key positions within the Communist Party of China continued on Tuesday with the announcement of three new Party chiefs in three municipalities. Sun Zhengcai, the youngest of the 25 newly elected members of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Party chief of Northeast China's Jilin province, was appointed Party secretary of Chongqing in Southwest China, according to a decision by the CPC Central Committee announced on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Han Zheng, another new member of the Political Bureau, was named Party chief of Shanghai after being mayor of the eastern metropolis for nine years. Sun Chunlan has been appointed secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tianjin Municipal Committee, replacing Zhang Gaoli. Tuesday's appointments followed two on Monday. Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu was named chief of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, and Party chief of Northwest China's Shaanxi province Zhao Leji took over as head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. Analysts said more reshuffling of personnel in key Party positions is expected, as the 18th Party Congress, which ended on Wednesday, had elected a new 205-member CPC Central Committee. The new CPC Central Committee elected its Political Bureau at its first plenary meeting on Thursday. Sun Zhengcai, born in September 1963, was one of the only two newly elected Political Bureau members younger than 50. The other, Party chief of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Hu Chunhua, is five months older than him. Sun Zhengcai took over the post of Party chief of Chongqing from Zhang Dejiang, currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and vice-premier of the State Council. As the top official of sprawling Chongqing, Sun will have to deal with the aftermath of the city's former Party chief, Bo Xilai, who was sacked in March for severe disciplinary violations. Vice-Premier Zhang ran the city in the interim. Bo was accused of taking advantage of his position to seek profit for others and receiving huge bribes. Investigations also revealed that he bore responsibility in an international homicide case involving his wife, Bogu Kailai. While responding to a question from media about anti-corruption during a group discussion at the 18th Party Congress last week, Sun Zhengcai said the Party is faced with a "severe" problem of corruption, and the fight against it would be an enduring task. A native of East China's Shandong province and a PhD graduate of China Agricultural University, Sun is an expert in agriculture and spent much of his early professional life in agricultural academies and a suburban district of Beijing. He served as agriculture minister between 2006 and 2009, before being named Party chief of Jilin. The second major personnel announcement was Han, who took over the post of Shanghai Party chief from Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the newly elected Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Han, a native from East China's Zhejiang province, has spent his entire professional life in Shanghai. Han, now 58, was the youngest mayor of Shanghai in half a century when he took office in 2003. During his term, he witnessed the downfall of Chen Liangyu, former Party chief of Shanghai and then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Chen was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to 18 years in jail for taking bribes and for abuse of power in 2008. The third announcement was Sun Chunlan, who has been appointed Party secretary of Tianjin, replacingZhang Gaoli. Zhang, born in November 1946, has been elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Sun Chunlan, born in May 1950, has been elected a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

China targets bank executives’ perks in anti-corruption drive Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:45 AM PST Source: Reuters (Reuters) – China will ban executives from state-owned banks and financial companies from spending extravagantly on cars and houses, state news agency Xinhua said, in Beijing's latest effort to clamp down on corruption and official waste. The 12 regulations, issued jointly by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Supervision and the National Audit Office, come after Communist Party chief Xi Jinping warned that the party risks major unrest and the collapse of its rule if corruption is allowed to run wild in China. They also come amid growing public anger over widespread graft. China is sensitive to anything that raises suspicions of corruption, especially after the scandal involving former high-flying politician Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai overshadowed the run-up to last week's once-a-decade leadership transition. Bo was expelled from the party this year and faces possible charges of corruption and abuse of power, while his wife was jailed for involvement in the murder of a British businessman. The new rules, which will take effect in December, stipulate that the representatives from state-owned banks or financial institutes belonging to the central government must stay within the guidelines of spending allowed on cars, Xinhua said. Many Chinese banking executives often use luxury cars for official and private use. The rules also prohibit these executives from "using public funds to pay for the individual's residential purchases, residential renovations, property management fees and so on", according to Xinhua. The government also said executives from these companies were not allowed to violate guidelines for using public funds to accumulate "high expenses for entertainment activities", Xinhua said. China earlier imposed a "frugal working style" rule on its civil servants, which went into effect on October 1, barring them from spending public money on lavish banquets or fancy cars, and from accepting expensive gifts. A string of high-profile incidents, including a high-speed Ferrari crash reportedly involving the son of a senior public official and a local government official photographed flaunting luxury watches beyond the reach of his salary, have enraged many Chinese who have taken to the Internet to vent their anger.

Have You Heard… Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:33 AM PST Have You Heard…

China Positioned to Avoid U.S. Sanctions Posted: 21 Nov 2012 08:55 AM PST Source: Wall Street Journal By Wayne Ma and Colum Murphy China's imports of Iranian crude oil are down by about one-fifth so far this year, a drop that puts the country in good position to avoid U.S. sanctions and head off a diplomatic row with Washington. China has repeatedly defended its crude purchases from Iran, telling the U.S. it complies with existing U.N. resolutions. But October data released Wednesday showed Iran crude-oil imports off 23% from a year earlier, to 458,000 barrels a day, continuing a year-long trend. China's third-largest supplier of crude as recently as last year, after Saudi Arabia and Angola, Iran this year has slipped to No. 4—surpassed by Russia—shipping about 426,000 barrels a day in the first 10 months of the year. October's import numbers will be the last used by the U.S. State Department in deciding whether Beijing qualifies for a renewal of its waiver from sanctions, which expires Dec. 25. China won the exemption in late June, after the State Department determined that it had "significantly reduced" crude imports from Iran in the first half of the year. Renewal requires continued significant reductions. The State Department says no decision has yet been made. The U.S. sanctions are designed to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran to guarantee its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, as Tehran contends. The sanctions ban companies that deal with Iran's central bank from doing business in the U.S. "China will get the waiver again as imports do indeed seem to be down," said Michal Meidan, an analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. "The Obama administration will probably prefer not to challenge the new leadership in China if it has sufficient ground for a waiver." China's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it purchases Iranian crude through "normal channels" and based on economic requirements. It reiterated that crude imports from Iran don't harm third parties and that China won't accept unilateral sanctions. Oil-industry insiders say the decline in Chinese imports appears to be partly an effect of the increased difficulty Iran has in shipping oil because of the global sanctions. Still, a top Chinese oil industry official nodded to the U.S. pressure in a recent interview. In the first four months of 2012, China's crude imports from Iran were down about 24% from a year earlier due to a commercial dispute between state-controlled China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec Corp., and National Iranian Oil Co., known as NIOC. Although imports recovered in May and June after the dispute was resolved, a European ban on insuring tankers carrying Iranian oil caused China's imports to drop again from July. In a rare admission of the problems Iran faces, Maziar Hojjati, managing director of the China office of NIOC, said in an interview last week that shipping difficulties related to sanctions contributed to lower crude exports to China earlier this year. Still, the company received indications from Chinese authorities that they had no problem keeping imports at current levels, Mr. Hojjati said. He added that NIOC expects to make up for the earlier reduced shipments to China in the coming months now that some of the company's shipping issues have been resolved. "We are here to keep our market share in China," Mr. Hojjati said. It isn't clear whether China's imports will drop further. The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that Iran's crude exports to China were higher in October than September, at 565,000 barrels a day. The shipments are likely to appear in China's November import figures. By contrast, South Korea's January-October imports were down 40% from a year earlier, and Japan's January-September imports were down 38%. Indian refineries plan to cut imports in the fiscal year that began on April 1 by 14% from a year earlier. Still, U.S. officials seem aware of the technical challenges Chinese refineries face in replacing heavy, sour Iranian crude with imports of different grades from elsewhere. Carlos Pascual, head of the State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources, said in an interview last month that China appeared to be maintaining the reduced levels of Iranian imports that marked the first half of the year, which would most likely signal another exemption. Chinese companies acknowledge the balancing act required over Iranian crude imports. They are keen not to upset Washington, which could throw up regulatory roadblocks to their investing in the U.S., where oil production is booming. Sinopec, which earlier this year struck a $2.5 billion deal with Devon Energy to help develop shale fields in Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere, has an agreement with the U.S. to curtail crude imports from Iran, Chairman Fu Chengyu said in a recent interview. He did not elaborate. Mark Dubowitz, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that has pushed for more sanctions against Iran, said China will likely receive a second exemption. The State Department's focus, he said, is shifting to other elements of Iran's balance of payments. "The next area of attention will be on blanket bans of all trade with Iran's energy, shipbuilding, shipping and ports sectors," he said.

Protests after China tweet arrest Posted: 21 Nov 2012 04:55 AM PST Hundreds of Chinese web users are protesting against the arrest of a Beijing man detained after criticising the ruling Communist Party on Twitter.

You are subscribed to email updates from Update » News » Society To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610