07/13/2009 Source: People’s Daily

A merchant from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province has confirmed the buyout of Propeller TV, a UK digital satellite television channel, according to 66wz.com, a Wenzhou-based website.

The deal, reached last month, was made under the name of Xiking Group, said Ye Maoxi, CEO of the group and head of Wenzhou chamber of commerce’s Beijing branch. He didn’t disclose how much the group paid for the takeover.

The Leeds-based Propeller TV is a free-to-air and non-profit television channel run by the Image Channel Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the Grimsby Institute in the UK.

Launched in February 2006 on British Sky Broadcasting’s satellite platform, it is the first digital satellite television channel in Europe to screen 100 percent new and original programming.

Ye said he got in touch with the channel when visiting as a member of a Chinese trade delegation during Premier Wenjiabao’s visit the UK earlier this year, after learning it was being shunned from the government’s fund and in need of a strategic investor due to the financial crisis.

After the purchase, Ye said he would adjust the developing route of the TV station and use the platform to promote Chinese culture.

“There will be specific programs to introduce China and Wenzhou, with some to be broadcast in Chinese”, said Ye. “It will be a venue for the Europeans to know more about China, and for overseas Chinese to get immediate information of their homeland.”

Prior to the deal, another Wenzhou merchant named Wang Weisheng bought a state-owned TV station in United Arab Emirates, which went into broadcast in August 2006.

Meanwhile, a Chinese-language radio station initiated by Chinese in France has been approved by the French authority and is set to hit the airwaves during the Chinese Spring Festival next year.

07/10/2009 Source: www.chinaview.cn

China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Friday that it will launch two more batches of electronic savings bonds of up to 50 billion yuan (7.32 billion U.S. dollars) since next week.

According to the ministry, one batch of the e-savings bonds of 40 billion yuan has a term of three years, with a fixed annual interest rate of 3.73 percent.

The other, the five-year e-savings bonds, is worth 10 billion yuan at a fixed annual interest rate of four percent.

The two bonds will be issued from July 15 to 31, with interests to be calculated from July 15 and paid annually, said the ministry in a statement on its website.

These bonds are open to only individual investors, the MOF said.

Compared with other types of bonds, the e-savings bond is seen as more convenient for investors. For example, the interest can bepaid through direct deposit into the investor’s account.

This is the second time the ministry launches this kind of bond this year, with the first issuance of two batches of e-savings bonds in April.

The ministry also said it would issue two batches of book-entry treasury bonds next week with a face value of 12.48 billion yuan and 12.65 billion yuan each.

One with the face value of 12.48 billion yuan has a term of 91 days, and the issue price, set by competitive bidding, was 99.72 yuan for a face value of 100 yuan. In this sense, the annual yield will be 1.15 percent, the ministry said.
The other has a term of 273 days, and the issue price was set at 99.077 yuan for 100 yuan, with an annual yield of 1.25 percent.

The ministry said the book-entry T-bonds will be sold from July 13 to July 15. Trading of the bonds will begin July 17.

06/24/2009  Source: Xinhua

Two Chinese companies made initial public offerings on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 24, signaling a pickup in the return of foreign IPOs.

Chemspec International Ltd., a Shanghai-based maker of specialty chemicals, hopes to raise about 64.8 million U.S. dollars at nine dollars per share in its deal.

The ticker symbol for Chemspec is CPC. Chemspec’s deal is being underwritten by Credit Suisse and Citi.

Meanwhile, Duoyuan Global Water Inc, the Chinese water treatment equipment supplier, priced its initial public offering at 16 dollars per American depositary receipt.

The ticker symbol for Duoyuan is DGW and the company sold more shares than initially announced, according to Piper Jaffray, the IPO’s underwriter.

The offerings mark the first IPOs by Chinese companies on the NYSE so far this year, said Sam Van, manager of Asia & Middle East/North Africa global listings of the NYSE.

Chinese video-game maker Changyou.com Ltd (CYOU), an offshoot of Chinese Internet portal Sohu, kicked off IPOs by Chinese companies on a U.S. exchange in 2009, after going public on the Nasdaq in April. The deal followed a six-month spell with no IPOs in the U.S. by foreign companies.

Van said a handful of Chinese companies are filing for IPOs on the NYSE and a new offering may be seen as early as August.

06/18/2009  Source: www.chinaview.cn

Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday that energy-saving, environmentally-friendly industries should be made a new growth engine for China’s economy.

At a meeting in Luoyang, in central Henan Province, Li urged companies to step up innovation to cut energy use and emissions.

Green development was a global trend in industrial restructuring, he said, and also the long-term strategy for China, which is hampered by inadequate natural resources.

Energy saving and emission reduction is also part of the government’s measures of boosting domestic consumption and maintaining growth, he said.

Green development should be moved forward in such key areas as the industrial, transportation and construction sectors, he said.

He asked enterprises to step up research on new energy products, environmental protection facilities, and recycling economy.

Innovation should also be made in environmental protection policies to facilitate green industrial restructuring, he said.

Li also visited residents community in the Luoyang city and called on people to enhance green awareness.

China is marking an energy-saving awareness week from June 14-21.

6/12/09  Source:  Thestandard.com

Investors turned cautious about China plays yesterday, as fears mounted that a renewal of initial public offerings in the mainland would soak up the liquidity in the market.

Hong Kong stocks bounced up and down in weak trading, ending slightly up as declines in local property plays were countered by gains in some financial stocks.

“The market still lacks a clear direction,” said Redford Securities head of research Kenny Tang Sing-hing. “The Hang Seng Index still needs more consolidation.”

The Hong Kong market spent much of the day in negative territory but racked up gains in the last hour of trading. The Hang Seng Index closed at 18,791.03 points, up 5.37 points or 0.03 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 18.92 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 2,797.320 after the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued new guidelines on initial public offerings.

The new rules indicated the approval process would be revived after an unofficial freeze on flotations since September.

“In the short term, it will be an excuse for a correction,” said Sun Hung Kai Financial strategist Castor Pang Wai-sun.

In Hong Kong, shares worth HK$78.4 billion changed hands on the main board, down from HK$83.5 billion on Wednesday.

Hang Lung Properties (0101) plunged 4.8 percent to close at HK$25.55 on fears US interest rates will soon rise.

Henderson Land (0012) shed 2.7 percent to HK$45.55, while Cheung Kong (Holdings) (0001) fell 2.7 percent to HK$91.45.

“The turnover has not improved a lot, which indicates the momentum is not strong enough to break above the 19,000 level yet,” said Tang of Redford Securities.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of H shares rose 47.29 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 11,080.84.

China Construction Bank (0939), the day’s most active stock, rose 2.4 percent to HK$5.46 as shares worth HK$6.6 billion changed hands. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398) rose 1.4 percent to HK$5.10.

6/04/09  Source: Business Week

Beijing – As a journalist in China for nearly 15 years, I’ve had to play a second role as something of a guide to American culture. In the small talk that inevitably follows interviews with government or industry bigwigs, I’m sometimes asked: “How is this done in the States?” That’s because China has often sought to emulate the American economic system. A planned stock exchange was pitched as a “Chinese Nasdaq.” A central bank reform was modeled on the U.S. Federal Reserve system. And officials and executives alike boast that their staffers have spent time in the U.S., a badge of honor in China.

As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner motorcaded his way through Beijing this week, though, it became clear that mainlanders have far less respect for the American Way these days. While there’s scant evidence that Chinese youth are avoiding McDonald’s (MCD), KFC (YUM), or the myriad other beacons of U.S. culture that dot the landscape, American management has fallen out of favor. “I used to think the U.S. was a very good country,” says Li Mo, a 26-year-old wearing a red LeBron James T-shirt and sipping an iced mocha in a Beijing Starbucks (SBUX). “But after the financial crisis, I began to think China is the best place in the world.”

That’s not to say people here are happy about Beijing’s management of the economy. In fact, plenty of Chinese feel their country has too closely followed the lead of Washington-or Wall Street. China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp., has been roundly criticized for losses (on paper, at least) of $4 billion on investments in New York financial houses Blackstone Group (BX) and Morgan Stanley (MS). And many fear Beijing may ultimately take a far bigger bath on the $1.4 trillion-plus in U.S. securities it holds.

Much of the discontent is showing up on China’s freewheeling Internet forums. On these Web sites, countless postings attack U.S. banks and politicians for reckless behavior. The U.S. economy “is like a dump truck just starting to tip,” reads one comment on the Web site of broadcaster CCTV. On a hyper-patriotic online forum called Revival, another post declares that “anyone who sends money to the U.S. is betraying the Chinese people!”

STOP TRYING TO PLEASE
Wang Xiaodong may be one of the most vociferous proponents of this view. I first met him more than a decade ago, when he was running Strategy & Management, a Chinese journal that advocated a turn away from Western values. He recently co-authored China Is Not Happy, a book that has sold more than half a million legal copies, with an untold number of pirated versions in circulation. In it, Wang criticizes the U.S., saying it has damaged itself by focusing too much on its financial sector while sending manufacturing offshore. China, he says, needs to adopt a more assertive economic, diplomatic, and military stance. “China’s policies are always based on trying to please the West. We don’t think this is necessary,” Wang tells me as he sips a Coke, a beverage he allows is “pretty good.”

The anger has found its way into official rhetoric. Premier Wen Jiabao on Mar. 13 urged Washington to “maintain its good credit, to honor its promises, and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets.” During his visit to Beijing, Geithner heard plenty of concern about such matters, with students at Peking University questioning him on the financial crisis and how Washington might put things right. And those worries about China’s U.S. investment holdings? They’re “very safe,” he told the students. “We have the deepest, most liquid financial markets in the world.” Good luck convincing the Chinese of that.

06/10/2009 Source: People’s Daily

Survey reveals that over 80 percent of netizens believe the pre-installation of filtering software on PCs violates privacy

Survey

Do you think it violates the privacy of users?

Yes: 10,504 votes or 83.95 percent; No: 1,465 votes or 11.71 percent; Do not care: 544 votes or 4.34 percent

Do you think this software can be effective?

Yes: 1,445 votes or 11.55 percent; No: 9,312 votes or 74.42 percent; Hard to say: 1,756 votes or 14.03 percent

Are you willing to pay to use it after one year?

Yes: 310 votes or 2.48 percent; No: 11,754 votes or 93.93 percent; Cannot decide before using it: 449 votes or 3.59 percent

The data comes from a survey by Sohu.com

Expert: “Uniform installation of software should go through public hearings first”

The announcement by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has led to heated discussions online. One netizen noted that, “Personal computers should also have the right of privacy.”

Ma Guangyuan, a doctor at the government policy department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said “It is my freedom to decide whether to lock my home or not.” The implementation of a uniform requirement should have legal ground.

Lv Jingjian, a member of the China Computer Federation, also noted that to popularize a type of PC software across society should go through public hearings first.

Ma said that PCs should be considered private and that although the software provider stresses that users can uninstall the software by themselves, this should not serve as the basis for requiring that the software be installed on all PCs. He further added, “There is nothing wrong with parents’ worrying that children may browse pornographic websites, but I can install necessary software all by myself. It is unnecessary to have some kind of software pre-installed on PCs uniformly, as stipulated by the state.” If adults use PCs on their own (with the filtering software preinstalled uniformly), it is likely that they feel as if they are being monitored all the time.

As to the big sum of money spent on this government purchase, which is as high as 41.7 million yuan, Ma thought that if most individual users uninstall the software upon purchase of a computer, “it will amount to a huge waste of public finances.”

Net filtering software provider: It is just a commercial behavior and has nothing to do with the government

“This is completely a commercial activity and has nothing to do with the government,” said Zhang Chenmin, General Manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company based in Zhengzhou, when interviewed by reporters.

He elaborated that the “Green Dam-Youth Escort” Net filtering software was developed by his company to protect minors from indecent content on the Internet. “This software initially does not run automatically on computers upon purchase. It is just a software application package and users can choose to install or uninstall it.”

Zhang emphasized that, “This software shares the same principle as many of the software applications in the US that protect young people’s Net-surfing activities. It is designed to filter pornographic and violent information on the Internet and create a healthy Internet environment for young people. Many foreign websites and online games developed by foreign companies are awash with pornographic and violent content, wielding harmful influence on the physical and psychological development of young people. Western media politicize this kind of simple commercial behavior and even claim we have military background, which is by no means true.”