Google controls too much of China’s smartphone sector: ministry

Google Inc has too much control over China’s smartphone industry via its Android mobile operating system and has discriminated against some local firms, the technology ministry said in a white paper.

The white paper, authored by the research arm of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also said China had the ability to create its own mobile operating system. (here)

“Our country’s mobile operating system research and development is too dependent on Android,” the paper, posted online on Friday but carried by local media on Tuesday, said.

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Melanie Lee, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/PQbsTYGlk4M/

China Said to Back New Sanctions Against North Korea

China has agreed to support a new round of United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea to punish it for the nuclear test it conducted in February, diplomats said late Monday, paving the way for an American-drafted sanctions resolution to be distributed to council members for a possible vote this week.

Word that a resolution was moving forward apparently infuriated North Korea, which vowed to cut off the hot line with the United States military in South Korea, said it considered the 1953 truce that halted the Korean War null and void, and threatened to strike the United States with “light and miniaturized nuclear bombs.”

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Gerry Mullany, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/jDOhoB4PMMo/

China’s next leaders aim to launch new economic era

China’s parliament opened its annual meeting here on Tuesday amid high hopes that the new government it will choose will tackle long-awaited economic reforms and rampant official corruption.

But Xi Jinping, the ruling Communist Party’s leader who is due to be elected as China’s president next week, and Li Keqiang, who will become prime minister, will face daunting obstacles as they seek to launch a new economic era at home and meet their citizens’ increasingly vocal demands for improved livelihood.

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Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/LfFyFwyt7oc/

China pledges to tackle pollution crisis

China’s political elite pledged Tuesday to tackle the country’s environmental crisis in the face of a public outcry over pollution.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Communist Party-dominated national congress, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said health safeguards would be improved and efforts would be made to control air pollution and make water supplies safer.

“We should adopt effective measures to prevent and control pollution and change the way we work and live,” Wen said.

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Charles Riley, CNN Money via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/fzFt18PbeOg/

Glencore Shrugs Off China Delay

Commodities company Glencore International PLC said Tuesday that China is reviewing its proposed merger with Xstrata PLC with a particular focus on whether the combined company would exert influence on China’s copper market.

The Baar, Switzerland-based miner however doesn’t expect the Chinese regulatory review process to present any major problems since Glencore has already marketed most of Xstrata’s products into China and there are between 20 to 30 different companies that supply copper to China, the company’s Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said in an interview. Glencore and Xstrata together account for less than 10% of China’s total copper supply, Mr. Glasenberg said.

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Alex MacDonald, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/NTTBxCOMaJE/

In Leadership Shift, China to Hint at Depth of Reform

China begins a Parliament meeting this week that will unveil the final personnel changes of a once-a-decade leadership transition and provide some clues about the new administration’s commitment to address mounting social, economic and environmental problems that many Communist Party insiders fear are eroding its grip on power.

Xi Jinping, who succeeded Hu Jintao as Communist Party leader and military chief at the start of the succession process in November, will assume his third, largely ceremonial post as state president during the meeting of the National People’s Congress, or NPC, which begins on Tuesday and is seen lasting about 10 days.

Li Keqiang, who ranks No. 2 in the new Party hierarchy, is due to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier and chief steward of the world’s second-largest economy, and will face questions from local and foreign reporters for the first time in that role during a news conference at the end of the Parliament meeting.

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Jeremy Page, Bob Davis and Lingling Wei; Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/GHIOteWovco/