Xi leaves for Latin America, the Caribbean

President Xi Jinping‘s official visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico – his second foreign trip abroad since he took office in March – is expected to generate a series of cooperative documents in the areas of the economy and trade, as well as academics and culture, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His first trip abroad was to Russia and three African countries in late March.

On his way back from the visits, Xi will stop at in California of the United States, on June 7 and 8, to have his first face-to-face talk with US President Barack Obama since he became Chinese president in March.

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China Daily via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/GPacRq4tBa8/

China studies possible membership in TPP

CHINA said it’s studying the possibility of joining the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, a move that comes about a month after the existing 11 members allowed Japan to join the negotiations.

“We will analyze the advantages, disadvantages and the possibility of joining the TPP, based on careful research and according to principles of equality and mutual benefit,” Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said in a statement yesterday. “China also hopes to exchange information and materials with TPP members on the negotiations.”

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Parents seek ways to protect children from molesters

CHINESE parents are trying to find ways to protect their children from child molesters and pushing for harsher penalties for such criminals, following recent reports of child molestation cases.

“I teach my child preventive measures, tell her not to wear skimpy clothes and want her to protect herself. But the reality is that these moves are far from enough,” said a mother surnamed Liu in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province.

Liu’s 11-year-old daughter is now in her fifth year of primary school. The mother said she plans to ask her daughter to learn self-protection skills during the coming summer vacation.

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Shanghai Daily.com via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/lMPBLtrA0PE/

Shanghai Disney Resort environmentally friendly energy move

The under-construction Shanghai Disney Resort will adopt a new green technology to supply some of its energy, boosting the resort’s environmentally friendly credentials, the Shanghai Disney Resort Management Company announced on Thursday.

The new technology using natural gas as the primary energy source will supply the resort with heating, power, cooling and compressed air via distributed energy systems, thereby increasing the overall energy efficiency of the resort three-fold, according to sources with the company.

The utilities will be co-generated by a combined cooling and heating plant, to be built and operated on the resort site by the Shanghai International Tourism and Resort Zone New Energy Company Limited, a joint-venture company owned by Huadian Fuxin Energy Corporation Limited; Shanghai Shendi (Group) Co,. Ltd; and Shanghai Yiliu Energy Group Co., Ltd.

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English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/jz7QOrnjBDg/

China rejects Philippines’ illegal seizure of Ren’ai Reef: FM spokesman

China will never accept the Philippines’ illegal seizure of the Ren’ai Reef, an area over which China has indisputable sovereignty, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

“China’s determination and will to safeguard its sovereignty is unswerving, and it will never accept the Philippines’ illegal seizure of the Ren’ai Reef in any form,” spokesman Hong Lei told a daily press briefing.

Hong’s comments came in response to a question regarding Chinese vessels’ recent activities near the Ren’ai Reef.

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English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/GFP5yPDTfyY/

China’s Xi, Obama look to strike up relationship at summit, to better deal with thorny issues

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping face weighty issues when they meet at a private estate in California next week, but their most important task may simply be establishing a strong rapport.

Tucked away at a mansion with a private golf course on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Obama and Xi will search for the kind of personal chemistry that has eluded their predecessors for the past several decades. With the bilateral relationship growing ever more critical and complex, how well the leaders click matters even more now.

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China to Study Joining U.S.-Led Trade Accord After Japan Added

China said it’s studying the possibility of joining the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, a move that comes about a month after the existing 11 members allowed Japan to join the negotiations.

“We will analyze the advantages, disadvantages and the possibility of joining the TPP, based on careful research and according to principles of equality and mutual benefit,” Shen Danyang, a Commerce Ministry spokesman, said in a statement on its website today. “China also hopes to exchange information and materials with TPP members on the negotiations.”

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Daniel Ten Kate, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/bMcPGc-ZDk8/

China says it has no need to steal U.S. military secrets

China’s Defense Ministry dismissed as ridiculous on Thursday a U.S. report that Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, saying the country needed no outside help for its military development.

The Washington Post cited a U.S. Defense Science Board report as saying that the compromised U.S. designs included those for combat aircraft and ships, as well as missile defenses vital for Europe, Asia and the Gulf.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng dismissed the report, which the Pentagon and other U.S. defense officials have downplayed as outdated and overstated.

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Ben Blanchard, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/BKOGQkdVlW0/

China’s Food Play Extends Its Reach, Already Mighty

If you dined on tilapia recently, chances are it came from China. And that artificial vanilla you just used to make cookies? It, too, may have made the same long journey to your kitchen in the United States.

A growing amount of food commonly consumed by Americans — ranging from canned tuna and mandarin oranges to fresh mushrooms and apple juice — is now being imported from China. By the end of last year, the United States imported 4.1 billion pounds of food products from

China, according to the Agriculture Department.

American imports of Chinese food products gained more attention on Wednesday, when Smithfield Foods, one of the biggest and oldest pork producers in the United States, agreed to sell itself to Shuanghui International, one of China’s largest meat processors.

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Stephanie Strom, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Fdh7rjfGyCU/

China official PMI to show minimal growth in May

China’s slowing factory sector may have barely grown in May amid lackluster local and foreign demand, a Reuters poll showed, adding to fears that the world’s second-largest economy is losing steam.

The median forecast of 10 economists polled by Reuters showed China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) likely retreated to 50.1 in May from April’s 50.6 to hover a whisker above the 50-point threshold.

A reading above 50 indicates expanding activity while a reading below that level points to a contraction. The report will be released on Saturday morning.

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Koh Gui Qing, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/PVw87RVGKAQ/

Nation expected to be top 3-D printing market

Revenues for the three-dimensional printing industry in China are likely to reach 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) within three years, making the country the biggest market worldwide, industry experts have predicted.

“China is the market with the greatest potential and demand for this new technology,” said Luo Jun, CEO of the Beijing-based Asian Manufacturing Association.

“What we need to do now is to integrate 3-D printing technology with an ongoing industrial transformation and upgrade,” he said.

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Gao Yuan via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/1_kMjncZYRI/

Beijing seeks cooperation with US on cyberattacks

China reiterated on Wednesday that it is against all Internet hacking attacks and hopes to conduct dialogues and cooperate with the United States on this matter under the principle of mutual respect and trust.

The remarks, made by Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang at a news briefing, came ahead of the summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama on June 7 and 8 — the first face-to-face communication between the two leaders since Xi became president in March.

China has repeatedly been accused of being behind hacking activities. The latest accusation came from The Washington Post on Tuesday, which cited a US Defense Science Board report as saying that Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of two dozen US weapon systems.

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IMF lowering its prediction for China’s economy

THE International Monetary Fund expects China’s economy to grow 7.75 percent this year, lowering its earlier forecast of 8 percent due to weaker global demand.

The projection is still above the 7.5 percent target set by the Chinese government and in line with China’s gross domestic product expansion of 7.7 percent in the first quarter of the year.

“Despite weak and uncertain global conditions, the pace of Chinese economy should pick up moderately in the second half of the year, as the recent credit expansion gains traction and in line with a projected mild pick-up in the global economy,” the IMF said in its report yesterday.

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admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/YVZl6zLSPJw/

Obama, China’s Xi to discuss cyber security in June meeting

President Barack Obama will discuss cyber security with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in California next week, as Washington becomes increasingly worried about Chinese hacking of U.S. military networks.

“Cyber security is a key priority of this administration. It is a key concern that we have,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One as Obama flew to New Jersey.

“It is an issue that we raise at every level in our meetings with our Chinese counterparts, and I’m sure it will be a topic of discussion when the president meets with President Xi in California in early June,” he said.

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Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ABmPlMxy_gs/

I.M.F., Predicting Slower Growth for China, Urges Overhauls

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its growth forecast for China on Wednesday, flagged concerns about the rapid expansion in lending in the country’s vast economy and urged a “decisive” push for overhauls that it argues would put the economy on the path toward sustainable growth.

The lowered forecast — the I.M.F. shaved a quarter of a percentage point off its previous projection for 8 percent growth in China, to 7.75 percent — was the latest in a string of similar reductions by analysts in recent weeks. And although the new projection remains higher than the Chinese government’s target of 7.5 percent growth, the I.M.F.’s revision and comments underlined the challenges facing policy makers as they try to revamp the Chinese economy, the world’s second-largest, after that of the United States.

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South China Sea tension mounts near Filipino shipwreck

A wrecked navy transport ship perched on a remote coral reef could be the next flashpoint in the South China Sea, where China and five other claimants bitterly dispute territory.

The Philippines is accusing China of encroachment after three Chinese ships, including a naval frigate, converged just 5 nautical miles from an old transport ship that Manila ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory.

Philippine officials say they fear the Chinese ships will block supplies to about a dozen Filipino marines stationed in abject conditions on the rusting ship, raising tensions over one of Asia’s biggest security issues.

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Manuel Mogato, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/XYn5naTSI74/

China’s top paper says EU solar probe “bean counting”

China’s top newspaper condemned a plan by the European Union to levy hefty duties on its solar panel exports on Wednesday as “bean counting” being driven by EU bodies as a selfish way of pushing their own agendas.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, accuses China of flooding Europe with cheap solar panels sold at below the cost of production, and it intends to impose duties.

That has prompted energetic lobbying from Beijing against the move and divisions have emerged in Europe on the issue, foreshadowing a bruising internal battle over how to respond to China’s trade practices.

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Megha Rajagopalan, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/rIh5nRIEJ2U/

China’s Central Bank Has Its Own Worries

While developed economies have worried whether international investors will keep showing up at their bond auctions if their central banks keep printing money, China has had a different worry.

So many speculators want to move money into China that its biggest problem has been how to keep them out.

In the United States, the European Union and Japan, central banks have struggled with hangovers from past housing bubbles, anemic or no economic growth and even deflation, in the case of Japan. In China, a possible housing bubble is still going strong.

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Keith Bradsher, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/XJ5DrI310-M/

Alibaba, Partners Announce Huge Logistics Project

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group has partnered with financial institutions Yintai Holdings, Fosun Group, Forchn Holdings and five major delivery companies to develop a massive logistics network.

The partners invested a total of 5 billion yuan to set up the Rookie Network, which will lead the ambitious China Smart Logistics Network project.

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma was named chairman of Rookie Network, while Shen Guojun, chairman and president of Yintai, will be the CEO.

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Wang Shanshan via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/K-r-9T1ULco/

Imports to shore up shipping

China’s growing imports are expected to lift global trade volume, shoring up a shipping industry that has been struggling with difficult market conditions in recent years, a senior official from the world’s largest container operator said on Tuesday.

But the industry’s troubles are likely to persist due to overall weak demand, depressed freight rates and exacerbating price wars, said Tim Smith, North Asia region CEO of Maersk Line, the container arm of the Danish shipping conglomerate AP-Moeller Maersk Group.

China has displayed “optimistic signs” in terms of global trade demand, as disposable income of the nation’s emerging middle class has significantly increased in recent decades, Smith said.

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China’s economic growth to remain stable: Moody’s

China’s economy will see stable yearly growth of 7 to 8 percent through 2017 without any collapse, Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday.

The renowned US bond credit rating agency said at an annual credit risk conference that China’s new leadership is advancing the country’s reform and rebalancing at a measured pace, which can tamp down asset bubbles and prevent a boom-bust cycle.

China’s consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, will also remain low to moderate, and asset inflation in land and housing prices are contained, according to Moody’s.

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China vows to repel EU’s harsh penalties

CHINA has reiterated its resolve to protect its solar panel and telecommunications equipment makers from being hit by the European Union’s hefty tariffs, warning an escalation in trade disputes would cause harm to firms on both sides.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, plans to impose duties averaging 47 percent on Chinese solar panels from next month, accusing Chinese firms of selling products at below cost – a practice known as dumping. About 21 billion euros (US$27 billion) of Chinese solar exports are at stake.

The EU also said this month it will investigate whether Chinese telecom gear makers receive improper subsidies.

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admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/O7ux_kshygo/

Trading Companies and the Business of Illusion

Last year, the owner of an export processing company who we will call Lin Minyao learned of an easy way to make money in Shenzhen, the port city next to Hong Kong.

Like his fellow traders, Lin said he could set up two shell companies, one in Hong Kong and the other in special areas set up to encourage trade in Shenzhen, to fake trades and profit from the two city’s differing yuan exchange rates.

It was quite a tempting opportunity, he said. “The return rate could reach up to 20 percent, much higher than the 3 to 5 percent from real trades.”

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jason via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Se8eBZ4vbxs/

White House security adviser calls for deeper China military ties

The United States called for deeper military ties with China on Tuesday, including working closer together in areas like peacekeeping, fighting piracy and disaster relief, despite growing tensions between the two on a range of security issues.

White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon made the remarks at a meeting with senior Chinese military leader Fan Changlong, two weeks ahead of a summit between the U.S. and Chinese presidents in California.

“An essential part of building a new model for relations between great powers is ensuring we have a healthy, stable and reliable military to military relationship,” Donilon told Fan at the Chinese Defence Ministry, in brief comments before reporters.

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Megha Rajagopalan, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ePWHWGd3afk/

China Divides Europe in Fight Against Tariffs

Adroitly alternating between threats of a trade war and promises of increased purchases of imports, China’s leaders appear to have succeeded in driving a deep wedge between Germany and the rest of the European Union.

For half a century, Germany has been one of the most loyal and enthusiastic supporters of making the European Union ever larger in geographic terms and ever more ambitious in the scope of issues that it handles. But with Chinese and European Union trade officials trying to stare each other down in the world’s largest anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case ever, Germany has weighed in on China’s side.

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Keith Bradsher, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/1lpB7EOT6EM/

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies

Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

Experts warn that the electronic intrusions gave China access to advanced technology that could accelerate the development of its weapons systems and weaken the U.S. military advantage in a future conflict.

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Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/EUQRlC-C9B4/

Vietnam Says Chinese Vessel Rammed Fishing Boat Off its Coast

Vietnam said a Chinese ship rammed a fishing boat off its coast and demanded compensation, marking the first incident between the neighboring countries since China announced a unilateral fishing ban earlier this month.

The May 20 clash involved a Vietnamese vessel from the central province of Quang Ngai carrying 15 fisherman, according to a statement posted yesterday on the website of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It took place within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, according to the statement, which didn’t specify an exact location.

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Daniel Ten Kate and Jason Folkmanis, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ZuBjdbWeh0s/

Champagne Gets Recognition in China

The world’s most famous bubbles have gained new recognition in China.

Chinese authorities have registered Champagne as an official label, according to the Champagne trade organization representing the French brands and grape growers. The move limits the use of the name to sparkling wine made in France’s Champagne region.

The new recognition could boost protection of the celebratory drink in a country that is essential to its growth. The Champagne industry sells half of its annual production to French consumers, but the bottles attract higher prices—and sales growth—abroad. Yet Chinese consumers have been slow to order the drink, preferring spirits such as whiskey, Cognac and red wine.

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Nadya Masidlover and Jason Chow, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/DxC6rw8y09o/

Chinese premier’s German tour promotes strategic partnership, cooperation

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s first official visit to Germany, which was wrapped up Monday, will consolidate bilateral strategic partnership and boost the cooperation between China and Europe at large.

During the tight schedule of the 3-day visit, the premier made extensive contacts with German political and business leaders, launched “the Year of Languages” program with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and signed a series of documents regarding cooperation in the manufacturing sector, investment, urbanization and finance.

Analysts said China-Germany relations, which are at the forefront of China’s relations with Western powers and play a leading role in China-EU ties, have been further cemented during Li’s trip.

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English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/yftn1kUsbGI/

Industrial profits rise but recovery remains weak

INDUSTRIAL profits growth quickened in China last month, led by the power generation and auto manufacturing sectors, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Combined profits posted by major industrial companies rose 9.3 percent from a year earlier to 436.7 billion yuan (US$71.2 billion), after gaining 5.3 percent in March.

Yu Jianxun, of the bureau’s industrial department, said the figures were skewed by those in the same two months last year. Industrial profits in April 2012 fell 2.2 percent year on year after March’s 4.5 percent gain.

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Shanghai Daily.com via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/eW7O6EnFkJs/

Death sentence for baby-killer thief

A CAR thief who killed a two-month-old baby after he found him in the vehicle he was stealing was sentenced to death by a court in northeast China yesterday.

Zhou Xijun, 49, drove off with the SUV after the boy’s parents had left the key in the ignition and the baby on the back seat while they went into their grocery store in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, on March 4, the court heard.

Zhou stopped at Yongfa Township, halfway to his destination in Shuangliao City, killed the baby and buried his body. He later discarded the baby’s clothes and abandoned the car.

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Leeann Li via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/0gqo5tkA7Bg/

HSBC: RMB to be one top 3 trade currencies

LONDON – The RMB, or Chinese yuan, would be able to become one of the top three global traded currencies in volumn term by the end of 2015, said Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, in London Friday.

“The RMB is increasingly the part of nomal day-to-day business for anyone trading or investing in China,” said Flint at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

“Every international business with an eye on China should be considering potential benefits for using the RMB, and the RMB investment opportunity has been created around the world, supported by the thriving offshore markets, particularly offshore bond markets,” he said.

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Xinhua News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/T-O-VEsZ4ho/

China, Germany issue joint statement, vow to deepen cooperation

China and Germany have agreed to deepen cooperation and coordination in various fields, according to a joint statement issued Sunday during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Germany.

China and Germany are willing to join hands with other countries — in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results — to deepen coordination and cooperation so as to contribute to world peace and prosperity, the statement said.

Both sides reiterated they will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other, devote themselves to settling regional and international disputes and conflicts through peaceful means, continue to deepen Europe-Asia integration and help better build an international order based on the principles of justice and rationality, said the statement.

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admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/IZ0AzVPE5Go/

Slow going on dialect broadcasts for buses

SHANGHAI’S top transport official said yesterday it will take time to add Shanghai dialect broadcasts to more bus routes.

Sun Jianping, director of the Shanghai Transport and Port Administration, was responding to complaints from local people that such broadcasts are being added too slowly because he doesn’t support the idea.

“I’m a Shanghai local myself and have deep affection for the dialect,” Sun said. “How can I oppose broadcasts in Shanghainese?”

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Zha Minjie via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/jcsKsmJVh9k/

Huawei rejects EU dumping, subsidy charges

A company advisor to Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei denied accusations that the company has received government subsidies or dumped products in EU countries.

“Huawei’s products may have a price advantage, but it was gained via technological innovation, rather than through subsidies or dumping,” company advisor Tian Tao was quoted as saying in Thursday’s 21st Century Economic Report.

Huawei’s rejection of EU charges came after the EU proposed opening an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into mobile telecommunications equipment from China last week.

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English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/cez_ZulU9pA/

Fears grow over recovery as China factory activity shrinks

CHINA’S manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in seven months in May as demand both at home and abroad fell, a survey showed yesterday.

It reinforced fears that recovery in the world’s second-largest economy has been weaker than expected, and may prompt policy changes.

The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, the earliest available indicator of China’s industrial sector’s vitality, retreated to 49.6 in May from April’s final reading of 50.4.

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Wang Yanlin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/1uBBa-g6pOU/

Companies Line Up to Offer Public Funds

Several securities firms and private funds have lined up for regulatory approval to launch public funds after June 1, when a policy that permits them into the business came into effect.

The most promising candidates to receive the first batch of clearance from the regulator include Guotai Junan Securities, Orient Securities, CITIC Securities, First Capital Securities and Galaxy Securities, analysts say.

Public funds are offered for sale to the public with a relatively low investment threshold, as opposed to private funds, which are restricted to investors with higher risk tolerance and are strictly barred from seeking out clients in public.

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Fan Jun li and Zhang Bing via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/I02seL5D_is/

The Powerful People Arguing for U.S.-China Free Trade

Recommending that the U.S. and China work toward a free trade deal is a bit like stepping into a prize fight and asking the boxers to settle their differences peacefully.

But some powerful people on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are doing exactly that. A report by a blue-ribbon, binational panel assembled by the China-United States Exchange Foundation this week said the countries “should begin early stage discussions of the opportunities and challenges of an eventual bilateral free trade agreement.”

The foundation, although little known to the general public, carries enough weight that Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State who was present at China’s opening to the world in the 1970s, showed up to launch the report at a packed event on May 21 at the Asia Society on New York’s Upper East Side.

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Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/IMHxU6oOI5M/

North Korea says willing to take China’s advice to start talks

North Korea is willing to take China’s advice and enter into talks, Chinese state television cited an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying, following weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula after the North’s latest nuclear test.

However, that prospect seems unlikely as North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons while the United States insists North Korea must take meaningful steps on denuclearization before there can be talks.

The visit to Beijing by Choe Ryong-hae, a top North Korean military officer, is the most high-level contact between North Korea and China in about six months.

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Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/m9ID4FeSK7E/

Hackers Find China Is Land of Opportunity

Name a target anywhere in China, an official at a state-owned company boasted recently, and his crack staff will break into that person’s computer, download the contents of the hard drive, record the keystrokes and monitor cellphone communications, too.

Pitches like that, from a salesman for Nanjing Xhunter Software, were not uncommon at a crowded trade show this month that brought together Chinese law enforcement officials and entrepreneurs eager to win government contracts for police equipment and services.

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Edward Wong, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/p50cVAyR_Zs/

EU trade chief to seek investment pact with China

The European Commission will seek the support of EU governments to launch talks with China on an investment pact that could be a precursor to a free-trade deal if Brussels and Beijing can overcome growing tensions.

EU trade chief Karel De Gucht said on Thursday he would ask the European Union’s 27 countries to agree a negotiating mandate for a deal with China that would reduce barriers to each other’s markets and encourage new capital flows.

Documents seen by Reuters this week show that a much more ambitious trade agreement could be considered after an investment pact – but only if China and the European Union can work out their differences.

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Robin Emmott, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Bey3f3pDYv0/

Markets Rattled Amid Fears of Slowdown in Asia

A 7 percent stock market sell-off in Tokyo led to moderate declines in equity markets across Europe and Asia on Thursday, and Wall Street opened weakly, amid concerns about global growth and uneasiness about central bank actions.

Shares came under pressure in Asian trading after news that the manufacturing sector in China, one of the main engines of global growth in recent years, was faltering. That, along with concerns about daring shock therapy Japan is employing to restart its economy after two decades of stagnation, further combined with leftover confusion in financial markets about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s intentions following testimony Wednesday by its chairman, helped to further rattle investors.

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Bettina Wassener and David Jolly, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/HNvND9NdCR0/

ICBC vice president promoted to president

China’s biggest commercial lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), announced Wednesday that its vice president, Yi Huiman, will replace Yang Kaisheng as president.

Yi, 49, joined the bank in 1985 and worked at branches in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Beijing before being nominated as vice president in 2008.

Yi has impressed his colleagues being “down-to-earth and low-key,” an anonymous source told Xinhua.

A date has not yet been announced when Yi will take up his new role.

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admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/2Kti2yIWwc0/

China, Pakistan to bolster ties

China and Pakistan said on Wednesday they will set up an economic corridor to further connect their two economies.

The announcement came as Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Islamabad less than two weeks after the Pakistani general election.

Officials and experts said the huge plan will greatly support Pakistan’s efforts to revive its economy, while the timing of the visit reflects the deep mutual trust between the two nations.

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Ding Qingfen via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/roMPZXB5x0s/

Foreign investors sending more money to Shanghai

FOREIGN direct investment in Shanghai grew 14.9 percent from a year earlier to US$1.6 billion in April, a four-month high in terms of value due to the rapid growth of investment in the city’s manufacturing sector, the Shanghai Statistics Bureau said yesterday.

The pace picked up from the increase of 10.4 percent in March with a total of 259 foreign-invested projects signed last month.

Contracted investment in the city’s manufacturing sector, which accounted for almost 20 percent of the total value, surged 29.9 percent year on year last month. Investment in the service sector contracted 16.6 percent, but was still around 80 percent of the total.

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Wang Yanlin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/iW6PMUnqM5w/

Honeymoon’s Over for Sweethearts of SOE Reform

Corporate wedding bells were ringing in 2011 when a trust controlled by insurer Ping An Insurance Group forged a partnership with a Shanghai-based cosmetics maker called Jahwa Group and its listed subsidiary Jahwa United.

The tie-up was duly praised for diversifying Jahwa’s ownership in line with a Chinese government push to reform the shareholder structures at state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

China Ping An Trust Co. paid the Shanghai government’s Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission some 5.1 billion yuan for 100 percent of Jahwa Group. It also got a 27.8 percent stake in Jahwa United.

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Shen Hu, Zheng Fei and Wang Xiaoqing via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Yn7lpV8LJ2I/

North Korean Leader Sends Envoy to China

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, sent his first special envoy to China on Wednesday amid signs that Mr. Kim’s government was trying to mend strained ties with Beijing and seeking breaches in the tightening ring of economic and diplomatic pressure over its nuclear weapons development.

The envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, who serves as director of the general political bureau of the North Korean People’s Army, met in Beijing with Wang Jiarui, the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, said Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, in a report that gave no details of the talks.

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Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/f2awhaNiuH0/

China’s Li offers to help end Pakistan energy crisis

China and Pakistan should make cooperation on power generation a priority, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said, as Islamabad seeks to end an energy crisis that triggers power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, bringing the economy to a near standstill.

Li arrived in the Pakistan capital under extra-tight security on Wednesday on the second leg of his first official trip since taking office in March after a visit to Pakistan’s and China’s arch rival, India.

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Nick Macfie, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/elx95BlBKG0/

China’s Cadmium Problem May Be Boost for Rice Exporters

Asian rice exporters are poised to boost sales to China if further testing finds cadmium contamination of Chinese rice continues as a problem, analysts and traders said.

“Unlike costlier meat products, where contamination and disease can drag down consumption, in the case of staple crops like rice, generally such problems can lead to more imports,” said Concepcion Calpe, head of the intergovernmental group on rice at the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The situation represents an opportunity especially for Vietnam and Thailand, the world’s second- and third-largest exporters of the grain. Pakistan may benefit as well, analysts said, while India, the world’s largest rice exporter, isn’t likely in a position to boost sales significantly because China limits purchases from there due to quality concerns.

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Sameer C. Mohindru and Zhoudong Shangguan, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ysb862qeqIk/

As Chinese Leader’s Visit Nears, U.S. Is Urged to Allow Counterattacks on Hackers

With President Obama preparing for a first meeting with China’s new president, a commission led by two former senior officials in his administration will recommend a series of steps that could significantly raise the cost to China of the theft of American industrial secrets. If milder measures failed, the commission said, the United States should consider giving companies the right to retaliate against cyberattackers with counterstrikes of their own.

The recommendations are from the private Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, which is led by two figures who parted company with the White House on strained terms: Dennis C. Blair, Mr. Obama’s first director of national intelligence, and Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former ambassador to China who left his post to run, unsuccessfully, for the Republican nomination for president.

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David E. Sanger, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/aQsyziqjLNk/