China & the economy
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
Avec notre correspondante à Shanghai, Delphine Sureau
Nouveaux suicides d'ouvriers dans une usine Foxconn en Chine - CHINE
A powerful earthquake struck the city of Ya’an in Sichuan province over the weekend, not too far from the site of the larger and even more catastrophic quake in 2008. Now, with rescue teams already on site, it’s time for donations to flood in to help sustain survivors and rebuild the area. Tech companies are keen to be philanthropic too.
Apple and Samsung Make Donations, Offer Practical Support, in Chinese Quake Aftermath
China Turns Graveyard From Goldmine Hurting Ship Makers: Freight - Bloomberg - Pale Moon
For shipbuilders such as STX Group , China was once a goldmine. Now it’s a graveyard. China’s lower appetite for commodities undermined the group’s plan to sell its shipping line , wiping out a combined $435 million of investor wealth at the South Korea-based conglomerate’s three main companies this week. That also threatens the group’s ability to repay $1.2 billion of debt by the end of the year.U.S. Probes Microsoft, Partners Over Bribery Claims - WSJ.com - Pale Moon
Article Excerpt Federal regulators are investigating Microsoft Corp.'s relationship with business partners that allegedly bribed foreign government officials in return for software contracts, according to people familiar with the matter. Lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining kickback allegations made by a former Microsoft representative in China, as well as the company's relationship with certain resellers and consultants in Romania and Italy, these people said.
Author: Wang Tao, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy China’s current transportation development plans call for huge numbers of new airports, but building them looks to be untenable, both economically and environmentally. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan’s goal of building 82 new airports by 2015 will increase China’s airport network by nearly 50 per cent. The majority of these airports will fly shuttles for passengers located in remote cities of China to hubs that connect to other major destinations. But as Chinese airlines are forced to cut prices to compete with the rapidly growing high-speed railway network, the answer is not more airports, but better-developed transportation networks. With more than three-quarters of China’s existing airports already running a deficit , the focus on airport construction is misguided.
Troubles with airport expansion in China | East Asia Forum - Pale Moon
Sciences et Technologies : En Chine, des bus «volants» pour réduire les bouchons
Pour réduire les embouteillages sur les routes, la Chine vient d'inventer un nouveau type de transport en commun qui pourrait circuler à Pékin dès la fin de l'année. Le nombre d'automobiles en Chine explose chaque année, plus de 10 millions de voitures particulières ont été vendues sur le territoire en 2009, faisant désormais du pays le plus grand marché automobile de la planète. Conséquences: les embouteillages s'accumulent dans les grandes villes qui, malgré le développement du métro, ne réussissent pas à s'adapter assez vite. Pour fluidifier le trafic, l'entreprise Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co a inventé un modèle inédit de transport en commun, le bus « volant », dont les premières images ont été dévoilées à l'International High-Tech expo de Pékin en mai dernier. L'engin, qui ressemble à une sorte de gros tramway, est posé sur des rails encadrant la route.
The World Bank proposes tough medicine for China
Contrary to some recent research reports cited in the press I do not think we have seen any substantial rebalancing of the economy towards consumption in 2011. This is largely an argument being made by economists who did not see why Chinese consumption repression was all along at the heart of the growth model. These economists are now too quick, I think, to hail evidence of a surge in consumption, but I find the evidence very weak and more importantly I am convinced that there cannot be a sustainable surge in consumption as long as the investment-driven growth model is maintained and as long as debt continues to rise unsustainably. And as for debt, it is still rising quickly. As regular readers know I have always argued that the rise in Chinese debt, as bad as it is, was not going to lead to a banking collapse or any other sort of financial collapse because of the way local and specific debt problems would be “resolved”.
Will China Break?
Am I describing Japan at the end of the 1980s? Or am I describing America in 2007? I could be. But right now I’m talking about China, which is emerging as another danger spot in a world economy that really, really doesn’t need this right now. I’ve been reluctant to weigh in on the Chinese situation, in part because it’s so hard to know what’s really happening.
Une expatriée américaine a fait à Kunming une découverte surprenante : trois Apple Store plus vrais que nature... Dont les dirigeants de la marque n'avaient jamais entendu parler! Dans l'un des faux Apple Store - BirdAbroad Les photos sont saisissantes : qui eut cru, en entrant dans l'un de ces magasins, situés à Kunming, dans le Yunnan, qu'il s'agissait de faux?
En Chine, tout se contrefait, même les Apple Store
An American Open Door?
NEW YORK — Chinese direct investment into the United States is more than doubling annually, with over $5 billion in 2010 alone. A Special Report undertaken by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars provides the most comprehensive study to date of Chinese FDI in the United States and outlines its enormous potential to create economic growth.
L'année dernière, Pékin a déposé 12 337 brevets, un chiffre en hausse de 56,2 % sur un an. Il s'agit du plus gros effort dans le monde. La Corée du Sud et le Japon innovent aussi. La Chine, et l'Asie du Nord-Est d'une manière plus générale, ne tirerait pas seulement la croissance mondiale, mais aussi son innovation. C'est ce qui ressort du dernier rapport de l'Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI), rendu public mercredi.
Conjoncture : La Chine moteur de l'innovation mondiale en 2010
L'appel de l'Occident de retirer le titre de pays émergent à la Chine constitue un complot Les nouvelles expressions sont sans cesse lancées depuis le forum Davos qui se tient actuellement en Suisse. Certains dirigeants des milieux commerciaux occidentaux ont suggéré de retirer le titre de « pays émergent » à la Chine. Selon M. Zhou Shijian, membre permanant du conseil de China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, l'exaltation des pays occidentaux à propos de la Chine relève plus en réalité d'un complot. The Associated Press a publié le 26 janvier un article intitulé « Forum Davos : la Chine est-elle encore un pays émergent ?
L'appel de l'Occident de retirer le titre de pays émergent à la Chine constitue un complot
Authors: Geethanjali Nataraj and Anjali Tandon, NCAER While China’s stellar export performance is a well established fact, the issue of export diversification continues to be debated. There are differing opinions on the factor proportions in its exports. Some argue that exports continue to be labour intensive while others have found a reallocation in favour of more skill based and sophisticated exports.
Chinese export diversification post-2000
"Although the skill content of China’s exports has increased, this does not necessarily mean that there has been any skill upgrading in China’s production techniques." by Oct 25
La Chine procède à la plus forte hausse du yuan | www.rfi.fr
Avec notre correspondant à Pékin, Marc Lebeaupin La Banque centrale chinoise tente par tous les moyens d'éviter l'affrontement à l'occasion de cette réunion du G20. Pour cela, elle a fixé un cours pivot de la monnaie chinoise à 6,78 yuan pour un dollar, soit le niveau le plus élevé depuis cinq ans. Un geste d'apaisement, à la veille du rendez-vous de Toronto. Mais en même temps, les autorités monétaires chinoises continuent de privilégier une politique de stabilité des taux de changes et éviter tout mouvement trop brutal de la monnaie.Author: Yiping Huang, Peking University and the ANU A year ago, I made five predictions for the Chinese economy in 2010 in an article prepared for this Forum: 1) the renminbi will probably begin to appreciate against the dollar ; 2) job market pressures may rise again even as the economy recovers; 3) housing prices would probably begin to weaken; 4) structural imbalances were likely to deteriorate further; and 5) the government would likely introduce another stimulus package . Now that the year 2010 has retreated into the rear vision mirror, we can confirm that predictions (1), (3) and (4) actually occurred, but prediction (2) didn’t materialize.