The Lion Awakes
News at a Glance
今天的中国新闻
A compilation of Headlines + Brief Summary from Chinese & International Publications relating to China.
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China News Archive
From 2008
China Daily
China Daily
There's a lot in a name for Chinese companies
"What's in a name?" muses Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She's pondering the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues in 16th century Verona, but she could just as well be picking a stock on the Chinese market.
In both Shanghai and Shenzhen, companies go to extraordinary lengths to choose names that will lure customers, though not always successfully.
Here's a good example: software developer Ultrapower (300002.SZ). Five months after it was first listed on the ChiNext, Shenzhen's start-up board, the Beijing-based firm has surpassed liquor maker Guizhou Maotai as the highest-priced stock in China, closing at 193 yuan on Monday. Is there any doubt that it takes ultra power to reach the top?
Yunnan-based biotech company Green Land (002200.SZ) was not so lucky. Its price has roughly tracked the Shenzhen Component Index since the market bottomed out at the end of 2008, lagging behind most tech stocks.
The lesson: color matters. Unlike most other markets in the world, Chinese use red to chart upward moves and green for down. In a market where many traders would feel offended to see visitors wearing green ties, this name is enough to scare potential buyers away.
PetroChina plans $60b of overseas expansion
PetroChina Co plans to spend at least $60 billion in the next decade on overseas acquisitions, challenging Exxon Mobil Corp and BP Plc in the race to control oil and gas fields.
"Ten years ago, PetroChina was a State-owned oil company, but now we have a goal of becoming an international, integrated energy company," Jiang Jiemin, chairman of the world's largest company by market value, said in a March 25 interview, where he announced the investment plan.
Domestic firms more cautious on foreign buyouts
BEIJING: Chinese companies are planning to take a more cautious approach to foreign acquisitions, avoiding outright buyouts and seeking more partnerships and alliances, a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit said on Tuesday.
According to the report, among survey respondents who say they are definitely or likely to make an overseas investment, 47 percent would prefer to strike either joint ventures (29 percent) or alliances (18 percent) while only 27 percent say they will do so through acquisitions.
Sino-French ties warm up after big chill, experts say
BEIJING - Sino-French relations have been salvaged from a nearly two-year diplomatic chill, leading diplomats and experts from both sides said during a seminar on Sino-French relations held in Beijing on Tuesday.
Absurd transcendental pretence
Editor's note: It is arrogant and absurd for the West to play the "transcendental pretense" card, believing that there is one universal code that can be implemented by the whole world.
Today, many in the West believe that understanding China, though not easy, is not problematic. The West is perceived to be a bastion of universal rationality. Yet there are voices that "the West does not understand China". Why?
At a press conference in Beijing on March 7, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi addressed this puzzlement metaphorically: "I like Western oil paintings and Chinese ink-and-brush paintings both. If people apply the criteria to appreciate oil paintings to appreciate ink-and-brush paintings then there will be mistakes."
The West understands China mainly through the "oil painting" mode, which is deemed universal and everyone is expected to conform to it. Unfortunately, given the country's cultural uniqueness, the "China" so understood is necessarily mistaken.
Actions based on mistaken views of China beget mistakes. A glaring mistake of the West is the unilateral imposition of the so-called universal values on China for self-serving political, economic, and cultural purposes. The intent of this imposition is clear, because China, in addition to her traditional mode, operates in the Western mode as well.
The author, Chung-Yue Chang, teaches philosophy in the United States.
Blame the property boom on capital
Editor's note: The soaring housing prices stimulated by the overfull investment poses a financial risk to China's economy and measures are needed to release the pressure of capital blowing up the property bubble.
Land-use rights for three plots in Beijing were auctioned off for record prices within two days at the end of the National People's Congress (NPC) annual session, which ironically had decided to rein in the skyrocketing housing prices. The successful bidders, as in many cases, were State-owned enterprises (SOEs).
No doubt, China's property market is overheated. But is there a bubble in the real estate sector?
Irrespective of whether housing prices were high or low, migrant workers or low-income urban families can rarely afford to buy a house in cities. Hence, when we complain about housing prices being very high, we almost exclusively do so in reference to the middle-class. If we are talking about a bubble in the conventional real estate market sense, the housing market has always had one, and it has continued to grow.
Soaring housing prices have for long been a contentious political issue. But the record prices that pieces of land have fetched recently can be attributed to the unbridled investments of large SOEs in the property sector.
The author is professor and director of Urban China Research Center at Cardiff University, UK
Australia urged to remark fairly on Rio trial
BEIJING - China Tuesday urged Australia to "stop making irresponsible remarks" on the Rio Tinto trial.
"We express serious concerns about some comments made by the Australian side on the Rio Tinto case," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular news briefing.
"The Rio Tinto case is an individual criminal case and China's relevant judiciary department has given its verdict after the first instance trial," said Qin.
"The Australian side should respect the verdict and stop making irresponsible remarks," he said.
The Wall Street Journal China RealTime Report
Off to China: Sweden Sees Volvo Roll Away Again
While China takes pride in Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.’s purchase of the Volvo car brand from Ford Motor Co. as the latest emblem of the country’s economic rise, the deal stirs emotions also in Sweden, which is seeing its icon of industry sold to a foreign owner for the second time.
Li Ka-shing Cautions on Hong Kong Property
Li Ka-shing’s message to prospective Hong Kong property buyers: “Be careful.”
When Hong Kong’s most powerful billionaire tycoon speaks, the city listens – especially when he speaks about that perennial Hong Kong hot topic, real estate.
The New York Times
Ford Shifts and Gains Ground in Asia
CHONGQING, China — The sprawling Ford assembly plant here runs two shifts a day every day except Sunday, with workers putting in as many as 10 hours a day. Employees take turns having lunch so production almost never stops at potential bottlenecks, like the building where cars are painted.
Ford has long been an also-ran in Asia, far behind General Motors and Asian and European competitors, But now Ford is moving to change that. In addition to running its Chinese operations flat-out, it is
The Australian
Stern Hu criticism earns China rebuke
CHINA last night expressed serious concern about Australia's "irresponsible" criticism of the jail sentences handed out to Stern Hu and his three colleagues for bribery and stealing commercial secrets.
21 dead babies found in river in eastern China
THE bodies of 21 babies who apparently died in hospital have been found in a river in eastern China.
Kaixin – This is of course deplorable. I leave it to a Chinese commentator to express the appropriate outrage:
A local television presenter attacked those responsible. He said: "Where do these babies come from? From which damned hospital? Why do I say hospital? Because they were thrown out as hospital waste."
The Age
Billionaire who bribed Rio exec unlikely to be charged JOHN GARNAUT, SHANGHAI THE well-connected billionaire who testified to giving $US9 million in bribes to a Rio Tinto executive is unlikely to be prosecuted, according to a Chinese news report.
The National Business Daily, which is partly owned by the Shanghai municipal government, reported yesterday that small private steel mills that paid bribes to Australian Stern Hu and three other Rio Tinto employees would be processed through the Chinese justice system, citing an inside source.
But the billionaire steel magnate who paid by far the biggest bribe would escape.
Kaixin – The legal system in China has come a long way since Mao’s time, yet it still has a long way to go. For expert analysis of this, see the Wall Street Journal’s China RealTime Report:
Stanley Lubman: Uncertainty in China’s Legal Development, Part I: Intimidation of Activists and Lawyers
Stanley Lubman: Uncertainty in China’s Legal Development, Part 2: Reforming the Courts
Stanley Lubman, a long-time specialist on Chinese law, looks at limitations on judicial reform in China. Mr. Lubman teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and is the author of “Bird in a Cage: Legal Reform in China After Mao,” (Stanford University Press, 1999).
Stanley Lubman: Rio Tinto Trial Shines Harsh Spotlight on Chinese Criminal Justice
While the facts of the alleged conduct of four employees of the British-Australian company Rio Tinto Ltd. who were on trial this week for taking bribes and infringing trade secrets are obscure, the trial starkly exhibits some key characteristics of Chinese criminal justice. It demonstrates the usual limits on the ability of defense lawyers to fully represent their clients, a disturbing lack of transparency, and the impact of political influences on the proceedings and the outcome. Criminal justice has moved only partially and irregularly toward a level of legality that it lacked under Mao, and is an object of concern to Chinese law reformers as well as to foreign observers. This particular case also raises serious concerns about China’s interpretation of its international obligations given its disregard for the Sino-Australian consular agreement.
Rio four verdict based on shaky legal grounds
Dr Ann Kent is a Visiting Fellow in the ANU College of Law. She is the author of numerous books and articles on China and international law and China and the rule of law, including Beyond Compliance: China, International Organizations and Global Security (Stanford University Press, 2007).
The sentences meted out to the ''Rio four'' in Shanghai’s Intermediate Court this week were, by any criterion, extremely harsh. In Australian citizen Stern Hu's case, he was sentenced for bribery and stealing commercial secrets to 10 years' prison and substantial fines as well as the acquisition of his assets. Of the four, he received the second longest sentence.
Moreover, this verdict, announced to a waiting world, is based on extremely shaky legal foundations.
Kaixin – The thing that concerns me is the all the commentary is based on supposition. No-one knows for sure why Stern Hu pleaded guilty. No-one knows for sure whether the trial was indeed fair. Also, should the trial of Stern Hu be judged fair by Chinese standards or some other countries standards?
What is has done is shine the spot light on the Chinese legal system. A system that is indeed subject to political and other influence. China must expect criticism when such matters are common knowledge.
Reform of the legal system was discussed at the National People Congress. It was noted that progress would be slow.
Finally, perhaps it is best to wait for the final outcome after the appeal and representation by Dr Kissinger on RIO's behalf.
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