Obama forms new trade body to monitor China
Jan-30-2012 By : agxadmin
U.S. President Barack Obama says he will step up pressure on China and other countries that America accuses of unfairly subsidizing exports. In his state-of-the-union address, Obama announced a push to shore up American manufacturing and create jobs, and said he would establish a new government body dedicated to fighting errant countries. Obama mentioned China four times in his address. “I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China,” he told Congress. “We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference.” Neither the Chinese government nor state-run media reacted to Obama’s charges, as China was still in the middle of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. “The recent escalation of rhetoric is putting pressure on U.S. politicians, and particularly the President, to stand up to China during an economic downturn and a politically sensitive election year,” said Professor Shi Yinhong, Director of Renmin University’s Center of American Studies. Professor Tao Wenzhao, Researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said the Obama administration would get tougher, further stoking bilateral tensions this year. “We can see the escalating rhetoric over China this year, compared with [2008 and 2004],” Tao said, referring to previous U.S. presidential election years. The Republican challengers have criticized Obama for weak handling of China. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has promised a tougher stance, saying he would start by labeling China a currency manipulator, the South China Morning Post reports.
China breaks 30-year tradition with Davos
By : agxadmin
China broke with a 30-year tradition by not sending high-level officials to the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, which falls this year in the middle of Chinese New Year festivities. Beijing approached WEF organizers early in 2011 and suggested they move this year’s gathering to an earlier date, making it possible for senior Chinese officials to attend the event. “Can we imagine that this event takes place in Christmas?” asked Cheng Li, a China specialist at the Brookings Institution in the U.S. “A more telling point is that nowadays an international economic forum without the presence of China is an embarrassment, not for China, but for the forum organizers.” China was still represented by Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and a regular Davos participant. Since 1979, when China formally joined the World Economic Forum at the dawn of Deng Xiaoping’s open-door reform, it has been represented by Vice Premier ranking officials, and even Premiers. In January 2009, Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a keynote speech at Davos. Some observers believe that absence of senior officials this year may reflect Beijing’s focus on internal issues, especially in the run-up to the once-a-decade leadership shuffle this year. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sharply criticized China’s state-led economic system at the Davos meeting. “China does present a really unique challenge to the global trading system, because the structure of its economy, even though it has more of a market economy now, is overwhelmingly dominated by the state,” he said. Chinese policies, including subsidized prices for energy and land and preferential access to capital, have been “very damaging” to trade partners, he said. “That’s why it’s very important that we get China to move comprehensively not just on the exchange rate but on dialing back its subsidies and distortions.” On the issue of the Chinese currency, Geithner argued that though the yuan has appreciated, it remains undervalued and is “still below almost all measures of fundamentals.”
Yum! Brands to complete Little Sheep takeover
By : agxadmin
Yum! Brands will complete its takeover and privatization of Little Sheep Group this week after getting the go-ahead to withdraw the Chinese hotpot chain’s shares from Hong Kong’s main board. The withdrawal of the listing with take effect from 4 p.m. on February 2. The buyout deal was also sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, where Little Sheep is incorporated. Little Sheep had 192 directly owned and 277 franchised restaurants as of June last year.
Mainlanders to account for 25% of money spent on homes in HK
By : agxadmin
The number of mainlanders acquiring homes in Hong Kong will continue to rise this year, when they are expected to account for a quarter of the money spent buying flats. Data compiled by Midland Realty shows individual mainlanders spent HKD62.3 billion on residential properties in Hong Kong last year, or about 20% of the value of all sales excluding those involving corporate buyers. That was almost double the 10.8% in 2010. The agency expects the figure to jump to about 25% this year. “The number of mainlanders coming to Hong Kong to purchase properties has been increasing in recent years, particularly new properties,” said Albert Wong, Deputy Chairman of Midland Realty. The proportion of new homes sold to mainlanders, as measured by transaction value, rose to nearly 40% last year, from 26.3% in 2010. In the secondary market, purchases by mainlanders grew by 5.1 percentage points to 12.9%. The statistics may be conservative, since only buyers with names written in pinyin are identified as mainland buyers. Wong said mainlanders preferred luxury flats and nearly a fifth of mainland buyers paid over HKD20 million for a flat in Hong Kong. Another fifth spent between HKD10 million and HKD20 million, while slightly over half purchased flats priced from HKD5 million to HKD10 million.
Government to set up property database
By : agxadmin
The central government is setting up a national database on individual property ownership, raising hopes that curbs on home buying will be removed, allowing transaction volumes to rebound. The database, covering 40 key cities, will come on stream by June and allow the government to monitor and control speculation more effectively. The Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Jiang Weixin, said the system would enhance transparency in property transactions. “This is an important step towards strengthening and improving real-estate regulation.” Jiang had earlier said the home purchase limits now in place were the last resort to curb runaway property prices and would be phased out after the national database on individual property ownership was established. Forty-six cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, now limit buyers to two flats. Analysts were upbeat at news that the database would be set up by June, saying it would eliminate the need for purchase restrictions and help raise transaction volumes. The central government also plans to finalize plans to roll out new property taxes in other cities after evaluating the impact of pilot programs in Chongqing and Shanghai, with the aim of phasing out the current curbs on property purchases. He Keng, Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said that prices needed to fall another 30% to reach a “reasonable” level, the South China Morning Post reports.
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