Economy

China No. 1 in attracting FDI
According to A.T. Kearney, China has become the most attractive FDI nation, surpassing the United States for the first time. China is not only a recipient of FDI, but also an investor. Last year, the top 12 Chinese state-owned enterprises invested USD 30 billion in foreign countries, an amount equivalent to the entire investment made by Latin America. (China Daily, 24 September)

Demand supports export growth
China's exports could grow 15% this year, well above official forecasts, as the United States and Japan keep buying low-priced Chinese goods. The government has forecast that exports, a key engine of Chinese economic growth, would rise between 8 %and 10% this year amid dim expectations for the world economy, particularly in the US. (Reuters, 24 September)

Professional wages down, survey finds
A recent online survey conducted by www.chinaHR.com in 22 major cities showed that the average annual salary of white-collars plunged to CNY 37'952 in the first half of 2002, a declining rate of more than 4.5%. Over 95% of those interviewed ranged from 20 to 35 years old and more than 80% had college degrees or above. The highest average annual salaries were paid in Shenzhen (CNY 49'038) and Shanghai (CNY 48'757). (China Daily, 25 September)

Ministry pledge more services for jobless people
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has pledged to provide more convenient services to unemployed people so they can receive training or unemployment payments without the hassle. China has a huge workforce, with about 60% in rural areas, and the supply of labour will greatly overtake demand in the coming several years. About 23 million labourers will be seeking jobs in urban areas in the next three or four years, with only about 8 million job opportunities available. The registered unemployment rate in cities and towns was 3.6% last year and a target has been set not to exceed 4.5%. (China Daily, 25 September)

Per-capita GDP expected to hit USD 1000 by year's end
China's GDP in 2002 is expected to exceed USD 1.3 trillion, meaning that the per-capita GDP will reach USD 1000 for the first time ever in history. (People's Daily, 25 September)

Strong State spending, so far
Fixed-asset investment reached CNY 1.65 trillion from January to August, up 24.2% from a year ago. Fixed-asset investment statistics in China include spending by the government and state-owned enterprises, but not expenditure by private companies. China's government has forecast a record CNY 309.8 billion budget deficit for 2002, an increase of CNY 50 billion compared with the 2001 budget shortfall. Some analysts forecast that government concerns about the growing budget deficit could cut spending in the latter half of this year (FEER, 26 September)

Most commodities to be in oversupply in 2nd half
According to SETC, during the second half of this year, 528 of China's 600 major commodities will be oversupplied, while 72 will reach the balance between supply and demand. No product will be in short supply. (ChinaOnline, 26 September)

IMF: Economic growth in China exceeds expectations
The economic increase in China has continued to exceed expectations buoyed by strong public investment and export growth. In its latest "World Economic Outlook", the IMF predicted that China's GDP will grow 7.5% this year, an increase of 0.5 percentage points comparing with the projection in April. However, it forecasted that the increase will slow a bit to 7.2% in 2003. (People's Daily, 26 September)

China presses EU to upgrade its status to market economy
Seeking equal treatment with Russia, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji formally requested full market-economy status at a meeting with EU leaders in Copenhagen. Because China doesn't have market-economy status, EU rivals can argue Chinese exporters benefit unfairly from an artificial cost structure. That means Chinese products such as steel and chemicals face a much greater risk of antidumping duties when exported to the EU and U.S. (WSJ, 26 September)

Finance

China Unicom Group's domestic IPO heavily oversubscribed
China United Telecom's domestic A share offering has been heavily oversubscribed and only 2.75% of ordinary bidders will get shares. Analysts said the result matched their expectations, noting the oversubcription rate was not high by domestic standards due to the large flotation. China's No.2 cellular carrier received bids totalling 99.99 billion shares for a CNY 2.75 billion-share tranche earmarked for retail and institutional investors. China's A share market is now trading at an average P/E ratio of more than 40 times. (Reuters, 23 September)

Opening M&A floodgate to tap foreign-fund pool
MOFTEC is drafting a new regulation controlling foreign firms' mergers with, and acquisitions of, Chinese enterprises should help China better utilize the large pool of international capital. Insiders suggest the rule will likely abolish amount limits on such deals and the requirement that government must ratify the transactions, which contradict international rules. (Business Weekly, 24 September)

China issues new guidelines for sale of investment funds
The China Securities Regulatory Commission issued guidelines governing the sale of investment funds, including banning fee-undercutting practices. Since China launched its first closed-end fund four years ago and domestic mutual funds more than a year ago, the number of funds has mushroomed to 64 with more than CNY 100 billion in assets being managed by 19 fund-management companies. (Dow Jones Newswires, 24 September)

Managers sought for national social welfare fund
China has begun the selection of fund managers for its CNY 80 billion national social welfare fund. The National Council for Social Security Fund has invited domestic fund-management companies to bid for the right to manage its stock investments. The move indicates Beijing has decided to press ahead with a plan to allow the social security fund to invest part of its assets in the USD 540 billion domestic equity markets. Industry sources estimate between CNY 20 billion and 30 billion could flow into mainland stocks. (SCMP, 25 September)

China Telecom plans Aisa's largest listing
The fixed-line telecom carrier China Telecom plans to raise USD 3.2 to 3.5 billion in an IPO on stock markets of Hong Kong and New York, which would make the biggest IPO in Asia and the third largest globally this year. (China Daily, 26 September)

China recovers CNY 15.17 billion from tax dodgers
China recovered under-reported tax payments of CNY 15.17 billion in the first eight months of this year, a tiny figure compared with about CNY 1.12 trillion of overall tax revenue during the period. Economists believe the funds recouped came largely from individual income tax payers and helped fuel a 24% jump in these tax revenues during the period. (SCMP, 28 September)

China's foreign debt stands at USD 169.11 billion
China's foreign debt stood at USD 169.11 billion by the end of June, a drop of 1 billion dollars, or 0.6%, from that at the end of last year. Official statistics, which do not include Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwain, show that medium- and long-term debt accounted for USD 117.31 billion (69.4% of the total), down by 2.22 billion dollars from the end of last year. Short-term foreign debt was USD 51.8 billion dollars, up by USD 1.22 billion. (People's Daily, 29 September)

WTO

China under fire for restricting vehicle imports
Tokyo has urged China to open its car market to imports as a member of the WTO, claiming that Beijing has so far failed to meet its obligations. The US and the European Union have also dispatched letters to the WTO and Beijing seeking better access to the Chinese market. After joining the WTO China lowered its tariff on imported vehicles. But to protect domestic assemblers, Beijing set a limit on the annual value of auto imports. (Auto Asia, 22 September)

Japan urged to lift trade barriers on farm produce
Exporters have urged the Chinese Government to retaliate against the unilaterally imposed barriers Japan put in place to curb vegetable imports from China, since negotiations to eliminate the discriminatory Japanese measures have got nowhere. (Business Weekly, 24 September)

WTO gives foreign retailers a bigger piece of Chinese market
Competition among foreign retailers in China has heated up since China entered the WTO nine months ago. Foreign-funded firms now account for 23% of the large-sized supermarkets. Fierce competition has led to a thinner profit for commodity distributors in China than the rest of the world. (People's Daily, 25 September)

China slaps curbs on foreign express delivery firms
China has barred foreign express delivery companies from carrying personal letters and most government, Communist Party or military documents in a brewing industry dispute. Industry sources said the rules protected the state-run China Post's monopoly and kept foreign competition on a tight leash. Foreign express companies had criticised China for trying to curtail their business during its first year in the WTO. (Reuters, 25 September)

Tariff-rate quotas don't work
Major agricultural exporting nations expected a new system of tariff-rate quotas, or TRQs, to spell an end to China's traditionally protectionist agricultural import polices that effectively froze out foreign exporters. But diplomats and industry observers say Chinese foot-dragging and manipulation of the TRQ process have effectively nullified the perceived gains that China's WTO entry granted agricultural exporters. (FEER, 26 September)

Express firms defy Beijing deadline on parcels
International express courier operators rejected a registration deadline to carry parcels on the mainland in a move which looks set to seriously question China's commitment to the WTO. (SCMP, 27 September)

Business

Luxury brands biding time
Exhibitors at the four-day Luxury China exhibition in Shanghai agreed that a demand for luxury goods has emerged in China and is set to grow considerably in the next three to five years. However, many overseas makers of luxury goods are reluctant to enter the Chinese market, citing high duties and poor distribution. (Shanghai Daily, 21 September)

Profits growth of major textile enterprises slow down
China's 45 key textile enterprises generated CNY 1.01 billion in profits in the first half, dropping 21.8% over the same period of last year. Of the 45 enterprises, 35 were profit making and 10 suffered losses. (Xinhua, 25 September)

China approves first joint venture life insurance company
CIGNA Corporation of the United States has been given permission to establish a joint venture life insurance company in China. CIGNA is the first foreign insurance company to do this since China's entry into the WTO. So far, over 20 foreign insurance companies have been granted permission to conduct business on the Chinese mainland. (People's Daily, 28 September)

Energy

Report: China's dependence on oil, gas imports to soar
Oil imports to fuel China's booming economy could nearly quintuple by 2030, turning the country into a major buyer on world markets. Projections suggest China will depend on imports for 82% of its oil by then, up from just one-third now, said the International Energy Agency. An official from Sinopec objected strongly to the agency's forecast. (AP, 26 September)

Indonesia, China sign USD 8.5 billion gas deal
Indonesian state-owned oil giant Pertamina and China's National Offshore Oil Corp signed a 25-year USD 8.5 billion deal to supply liquefied natural gas. Under the deal, oil major BP will supply 2.6 million tonnes of LNG a year for 25 years to CNOOC. (CNN, 27 September)

Beijing

New urban railway to ease Beijing's traffic woes
The west line of the city's new urban railway went into operation. 30 electric trains are set to carry thousands of people every day, from Huoying in the north to Xizhimen in the city proper. The east line is scheduled to begin operation in late January. The entire urban railway system runs a distance of 40.85 kilometres and has 16 stations. (China Daily, 28 September)

Shanghai

Foreign funds to join reform of State-owned trade firms
Foreign capital is expected to join the restructuring of the Shanghai's State-owned foreign trade companies as soon as the central government gives the green light. Shanghai took the initiative in the mainland to set up three JV trade firms in 1997. Since then, no joint venture trade firms have been approved by the central government in Shanghai. (China Daily, 24 September)

NASDAQ setting up office in Sshanghai
The NASDAQ Stock Market Inc. is launching its first mainland Chinese office in Shanghai, in a bid to attract and help more Chinese venture capital seekers to go to the market. (Shanghai Daily, 26 September)

Various

Chinese Tycoon to head North Korean economic zone
Yang Bin one of the richest tycoons in China has been selected to lead a special administrative region in North Korea's Sinuiji City bordering China with the intention of allowing capitalism to entice international investors. The region will have its own legislative, judicial and executive powers without interference from the DPRK government. (www.cbiz.cn, 24 September)

Beijing gaining ground in battle to control internet
A recent report by the Rand Corporation found that "the government's crackdown on dissidents is succeeding in cyberspace." Human rights activists argue that China would not be able to carry out its crackdown on the Web without the help of US firms and their technology. Yahoo, for example, has been criticized for agreeing to the terms set by the Chinese government for self-censorship. (AFP, 19 September)

China's Shaolin Temple Monks fight to protect trademark
The monks of Shaolin Temple, whose name was made famous by dozens of kung fu movies, are fighting to protect the Shaolin trademark. In recent months, the temple in central China has been making efforts to register "Shaolin" and "Shaolin Temple" as trademarks. It has also set up a firm, Henan Shaolin Temple Industrial Development, to safeguard the temple's name and ban its "abusive use" in commercial activities, the agency said. (Dow Jones Newswires, 25 September)

BOC wins huge damages
Bank of China said it was awarded USD 110 million in damages and lawyers' fees by a judge in New York, where a jury upheld the state-run lender's claim it had been cheated out of USD 35 million by a U.S. couple. (Shanghai Daily, 26 September)

China sending back tons of unclaimed equipment from US
Bristling at being used as a dump for scrap electronics, China moved to send back more than 360 metric tons of computers and office equipment that it said arrived from the U.S. and went unclaimed for more than two weeks. (Dow Jones Newswires, 26 September)

Spoiled soy milk sickens 400 Chinese school children
A spoiled batch of soy milk has sickened some 400 school children in Lingyuan, 300 kilometers northeast of Beijing. Students at a dozen schools started vomiting and reported other symptoms, none died and most have recovered. The incident came less than two weeks after at least 38 people, many of them schoolchildren, were killed in Nanjing after a man put rat poison into breakfast food at a snack shop. (AP, 27 September)