China Archives - Page 30 of 54

Will Slowing Investment Drag China’s Reform Efforts?: Michael Pettis

China wants to raise its disproportionately small share of consumption as the cornerstone effort to close one of the world’s widest income gaps and quell rising discontent among those who feel they have missed out on the country’s blistering expansion of the last three decades. Consumption growth is itself dependent on investment growth, and this is more true in the inland provinces than the urbanised coastal regions. But will China be able to maintain consumption growth once investment growth is sharply reduced?

Chinese Director Faces $27m Fine For Breaching One-Child Policy

Acclaimed director Zhang Yimou is under investigation and could face a multi-million dollar fine after it was claimed that he had violated China’s strict one-child policy to father seven children. The policy was introduced more than 30 years ago as a temporary measure to curb a surging population but continues today, despite increasing calls for change.

China Pushes For Fresh Israel-Palestine Peace Talks

Following separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for both parties to make “joint efforts” towards peace, promising the “necessary assistance” to restart peace talks as soon as possible.

Rich Chinese Seek Emigration to Preserve Wealth: Study

Most of China’s high net worth individuals have used their wealth to obtain residency rights abroad and are increasingly looking to move their assets overseas to diversify risk, according to a joint report by U.S. consulting firm Bain & Co. and China Merchants Bank.

Mainland China had more than 700,000 high net worth individuals (HNWI) with at least 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in investable assets at the end of last year, more than double the number in 2008.

China Pressuring World Bank Into Watering Down Key Report: FT

China is leading an international effort to eliminate the ranking of countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, claimed the Financial Times on Monday, after officials last year criticised the Bank for utilising “wrong methodologies” to rate China, leading to a poor score for the world’s second largest economy.

China Leading World In Fight Against Climate Change: Study

China is fast becoming a global leader on climate change thanks to “ambitious strides to add renewable energy to its mix,” claimed a report by an independent climate watchdog on Monday, highlighting the nation’s recent investments in clean energy, which was unmatched by any other country over the past two years.

According to the Australian-based Climate Commission (CC), China invested close to $65.1 billion in clean energy last year, 20 percent more than in 2011 and representing 30 percent of the total investment made by the entire G-20.

China Sets 10% Profit Target For State Firms After Weaker-Than-Expected Q1 Results

China’s centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been given a 10 percent profit target for the rest of the year after growth figures in Q-1 fell short of an 8 percent estimate set by the State Council, reported Caixin Online on Wednesday.

Though the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) acknowledged the difficulties SOEs faced in the current economic climate, they urged companies to tighten their cash flow and speed up the disposal of non-performing assets.

China’s Local Government Debt Is “Out Of Control”, Warns Auditor

Local governments from provinces, cities, counties and villages across China could owe somewhere between $1.6-$3.2 trillion to banks and other debtors, said a senior Chinese auditor on Tuesday, warning that the debt problem was “out of control” and could spark a bigger financial crisis than the US housing market crash.

Will China Succeed In Its Self-Imposed Revolution?: Michael Pettis

In a system in which almost all the growth is driven by increases in investment, and in which an increasing share of investment is being wasted on factories, bridges, real estate, airports, and other projects that have little or no economic value, rising debt can be a very worrying problem since the ability to service that debt is rising much more slowly than the debt. But if Beijing wants an economic revolution without soaring debt, what exactly are they going to do?

China Economy Expands 7.7% in Q1

China’s economy grew just 7.7 percent in the first three months of the year, a surprise figure that came in below analyst expectations and raises concerns that the nation’s recovery is faltering.

The growth rate, announced by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, was weaker than the 8.0 percent that most economists were expecting.

Gross domestic product had rebounded to 7.9 percent growth in the final quarter of last year, ending a nearly two-year slowdown. China’s full-year annual growth of 7.8 percent in 2012, however, was the weakest since 1999.