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New Chinese Leadership Elected
(March 15, 2003) Hu Jintao was elected president of the People's Republic of
China at the fifth plenary meeting of the first session of the 10th National
People's Congress here Saturday morning.
Showing up at the plenary meeting were 2,951 NPC deputies.
The plenary session also elected Zeng Qinghong vice-president of the People's
Republic of China, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, and Jiang
Zemin chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of
China.
Elected to the posts of vice-chairmanship of the NPC Standing Committee were
Wang Zhaoguo, Li Tieying, Ismail Amat, He Luli (female), Ding Shisun, Cheng
Siwei, Xu Jialu, Jiang Zhenghua, Gu Xiulian (female), Raidi, Sheng Huaren, Lu
Yongxiang, Uyunqimg (female), Han Qide and Fu Tieshan. The post of
secretary-general ofthe NPC Standing Committee went to Sheng Huaren
(concurrent).
Also elected were 159 members of the 10th NPC Standing Committee.
Executive Chairman Wang Zhaoguo of the presidium of the NPC session declared the
meeting open at nine o'clock.
The meeting began with a vote for a list of 36 scrutineers with Zhang Pingying
and Hu Yougui as the scrutineers-general before theelection began.
According to the rules of election and appointment adopted at the NPC session,
the election of chairman and vice-chairmen of theNPC Standing Committee,
president and vice-president of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and
chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC followed the
single-candidate system, that is, they were elected from the equal number of
candidates; the election of NPC Standing Committee members followed the
differential voting system, with 159 members to be voted in from 167 candidates.
Sources: People's Daily
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China Becomes Growth Driver for Asia: Economist
(March 13, 2003) China now buys 2.5 times more from Northeast Asia than 10 years
ago, especially from South Korea, up to five times, said a Hong Kong-based
regional economist of the Economist Corporate Network (ECN) on Wednesday.
Connie Bolland, the economist, made the remarks at the ECN's Regional Strategic
Forecast conference here to bring to participants the first quarter update for
the economic situation in the Asian region.
She said China is now a major export market for a number of Asian economies.
"You can see that South Korea is actually benefiting from the China trade
because it has a net trade surplus with China," Bolland said, adding that it is
increasingly integrated with China in the hope of making China its market,
rather than its competitor.
"Japan has benefited and will continue to benefit enormously from the growth in
China. Trade with China and Asia is now as important for the Japanese as trade
with the US. Given the moderate growth forecast for the US and confident growth
of China,we are quite comfortable in predicting that exports will be a good
growth driver for Japan," said David Satterwhite, Japan-based managing director
of the ECN, said when presenting the forecast for Japan, which is forecast to
grow a mere 0.2 percent in 2003 and 0.7 percent in 2004.
Increasingly, China's mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
combined have become more and more important markets to South Korea and China's
Taiwan province, Bolland said.
"You can see obviously that China is the favorite of every body in the foreign
investors' mind. Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan are (ranked) the 4th, 6th and 8th
most favored economy (respectively). So basically Taiwan is very low in the
rank. Korea is in the middle, and Hong Kong has moved up," she said.
Japan is investing a lot less in the rest of the Northeast Asian countries
except China, Satterwhite added.
As for the HKSAR, Bolland said, "Hong Kong is still the largest foreign investor
to China's mainland. Hong Kong is having benefits and challenges in integrating
with the Chinese mainland. We see that exports are benefiting from the mainland,
tourism has benefited from China. Last year, you see over 6 million people from
China's mainland coming to the HKSAR," she said. The ECN has forecast Hong Kong
will grow 2.5 percent in 2003 and 4 percent 2004.
Source: People's Daily
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China's Surging Food Processing Industry Lures World Companies
(March 11, 2003) WTO entry has drawn these companies to China, which is becoming
the world's largest importer of food and ingredients, as evidenced by the
appearance of as many as 500 food companies from 22 countries and regions at the
Food Ingredients Asia-China 2003 fair in Shanghai.
In addition, some 15,000 buyers from 45 countries and regions paid a visit to
the fair, with national procurement teams seen from Japan, Thailand, Singapore
and Vietnam.
This fourth food ingredients fair is one of many such international fairs,
according to Eliane Van Doorn, a senior officer with CMP Information, the fair's
sponsor.
Supported by China's expanding food market, the fair attracted such
multinationals as CJ Corporation from the Republic of Korea, Corman S.A. from
Belgium, leading essence makers Givaudan and Frutarom Flavor, the world's
largest fruit jelly supplier Herbstreith & FOXKG, the world's largest crude
dairy producer NZMP and the world's largest vitamin and carotin producer Roche.
Source: People's Daily.
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China's Industry Shows Overall Growth in 2002
(January 21, 2003) China's industrial sector, which witnessed a record
performance last year, is entering 2003 with ever-rosier prospects and a few
hidden snags, the State Economic and Trade Commission said Monday.
The sector last year chalked up profits of 560 billion yuan (US$67.5 billion) --
a year-on-year rise of 18 per cent. It is expected to achieve even better
results this year, said Ma Liqiang, director of the commission's Economic
Operations Bureau.
The projection is largely based on the new central leadership's insistence that
China will continue to expand domestic demand, pursue a proactive financial
policy and maintain consistency in other macro-economic policies, Ma told a
press conference in Beijing.
"Given that China has set a goal of about 7 per cent for its gross domestic
product growth in 2003, the commission will see to it that the industrial output
will increase by around 10 per cent this year, with enterprises' economic
results better than last year,'' said Ma.
Fuelled by domestic demand and export growth, China last year saw its industrial
output grow by 12.6 per cent to reach 3.148 trillion yuan (US$379.3 billion),
the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.
In 2003, almost all key industries -- such as electronics and light industry --
will sustain robust and rapid growth, in part due to the gradual recovery of the
global economy, he said.
In particular, the machine industry will churn out profits no lower than last
year's figure, which stood at 82.3 billion yuan (US$9.92 billion) between
January and November -- a jump of 47.5 per cent over the same period the
previous year.
Automobile manufacturing is also set to do well, given the increasing number of
people eager to take to the road.
At least 3.6 million vehicles are expected to roll off production lines this
year, with 1.3 million of the vehicles being cars, the commission estimated.
But an uncertain world situation and intensified competition in the global
market will force Chinese industry to move with caution, said Zhao Ying, a
researcher with the Industrial Economy Research Institute under the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
The volatile situation in the Middle East and Venezuela, for example, will
continue to exert pressure on Chinese petrochemical firms, he said.
With the country's increasing dependence on crude oil imports, the fluctuation
of oil prices on the global market will affect Chinese industries dependent on
oil, said Zhao.
But Ma said that there should be no problem with oil supplies in China in the
short term, given that the country has "adequate oil reserves.'' He did not,
however, elaborate on the amounts.
The textile industry, whose exports reached US$61.8 billion in 2002, will be
challenged by cotton price rises this year, because production is estimated to
shrink worldwide in the 2002/03 season, warned Ma.
Also, textile producers in countries neighboring China -- such as India,
Thailand and Viet Nam -- have begun to take a bigger share in the markets of
Canada, Mexico and the United States, according to some industry insiders.
Sources: People's Daily
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Top Ten Overseas Investors for 2002 Announced
(February 25, 2003) Hong Kong remained the largest overseas investor in the
Chinese mainland in 2002 with a total investment of 19.1 billion US dollars,
according to the Investment Institute under the State Development Planning
Commission.
The British Virgin Islands ranked second with 6.1 billion US dollars, according
to the "Worker's Daily".
The top two investors were followed by the United States, Taiwan, Japan, the
Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Germany and Great Britain.
Some Chinese economists predicted that investment from Europe and the United
States will continue to rise while Asia will remaina major source of funding for
China.
Sources: People's Daily
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Largest Silicon Plant Under Construction in Sichuan
(January 9, 2003) China began Wednesday to build a 1000-ton polysilicon plant
in Leshan City in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The plant, expected to be completed in 2005, will be China's largest polysilicon
producing base, costing a total of 1.1 billion yuan (133 million US dollars),
the largest single investment in a high-technology program in the Western
Development strategy, according to Sichuan Xinguang Silicon Technology Co. Ltd..
Polysilicon is used in manufacturing 95 percent of the world's semiconductors.
Most large polysilicon plants with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons or more have
been built in only a few developed countries like the United States, Japan and
Germany.
China's production is 0.4 percent of the world's total and 93 percent of its
supply has to be imported.
China is aiming to become a world leading information products maker and a major
market in five to 10 years, making the plant of strategic significance to
China's ambition.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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