The China Imported Products Expo, hosted by the China Chamber of International Commerce, is taking place on March 29-31, 2012 in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. It is the first specialized import exhibition in China. More information is available at the website www.importexpo.org

The Flanders-Cleantech Association, the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), Flanders Investment and Trade, Power-Link and Flanders Smart Hub organized an interesting seminar on how to grab practical opportunities as a Flemish entrepreneur in China. Since the next Five Year Plan is focussing on cleantech, China offers Flemish entrepreneurs many opportunities. This seminar gave us an insight in what opportunities there are, how to finance them and how to adequately protect your technology and know-how. This seminar was organized on 14 September 2011 in Ostend and on 16 September 2011 in Vilvoorde.

More information can be obtained at the FCA or the FCCC.

As Hong Kong is one of Asia’s world cities, Hainan Airlines now offers an attractive promotion to this destination. Not only the special fare, but also a convenient transfer at Beijing Airport, has made this your best connection from Belgium to Hong Kong. For Hainan Airlines’ Brussels-Beijing-Hong Kong connecting flight, the transfer time in Beijing is only two hours, with arrival and departure at the same terminal at Beijing airport. When departing in Brussels, the luggage will be through-checked to Hong Kong and the boarding pass to Hong Kong will be obtained. There is no need to check-in again at Beijing Airport and our kind ground staff in Beijing will be available to assist in the transfer procedure. For passengers transferring via Shanghai to Hong Kong, no visa is required for a stopover of 24h in Shanghai. This year is the 5th anniversary of Hainan Airlines to launch the direct fight from Beijing to Brussels. Currently Hainan Airlines has direct flights from Brussels to Beijing four times per week, and direct flights from Brussels to Shanghai two times per week. Hainan Airlines has been awarded as World 5 star Airlines in January 2011.

Banks can now reclassify as much as CNY2.8 trillion in loans to local government financing vehicles (LGFV) into a lower-risk “general corporate loan” category if those loans can be completely repaid, the China Banking Association said. Roughly 70% of the more than CNY9 trillion that banks have lent to LGFVs is unlikely to be completely repaid by the projects they have funded. LGFVs are entities that borrow on behalf of local governments, which are banned from borrowing. Most of these loans funded infrastructure projects such as roads and railways. An Association survey in June last year found that about 24% of CNY7.66 trillion in outstanding LGFV loans were sufficiently covered by cash flow. Another 50% of the loans would not be recoverable from the projects they funded but could be covered by secondary sources, such as through government revenue. The remaining 26% faced serious risk of default. “The 30% of LGFV loans that are considered safe is not a big advance from a year ago, suggesting there’s been no substantial improvement in the quality of the debts,” said an analyst at a brokerage in Beijing. How Beijing handles the 70% of LGFV loans in doubt of repayment will be crucial to the financial system. The Ministry of Finance said the LGFVs must honor their promises to repay. But, economists say local governments have weak financial resources. Beijing’s moves to cool local property markets has cut land transfer revenue, a major source of income for local governments, the South China Morning Post reports.

PICC Property and Casualty, one of the biggest Chinese insurers, reported record interim profit for the first half, largely due to greater turnover, high investment income and a large jump in underwriting profit. The company, which sells non-life insurance products – from car to cargo insurance – reported a net profit of CNY5.29 billion in the six months to June 30, up 96.9% from a year earlier. Key areas of insurance growth were a 9.3% increase in motor insurance, 10% gain in commercial property, 14.8% uptick in liability, 36% jump in accident and health, and 13.3% rise in cargo insurance. Total turnover increased 12% year-on-year to CNY91.44 billion during the first half. The company has a 37.3% share of the general insurance market in China. Underwriting profit was up 157% to CNY4.94 billion in the first half, as PICC said it needed to pay less compensation in liability insurance, health and accident insurance, as well cargo insurance during the first half. Another factor that drove profit growth was a gain in investment income, up 41.3% year-on-year to CNY2.66 billion in the first half, resulting from a growth in the size of investment assets and an adjustment of the portfolio towards better-returning deposits and bonds, the South China Morning Post reports.