CSG news update -- 2006-05-07

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

Massive restructuring of coal mining industry
http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Energy&Mining/200605/06/t20060506_6886233.shtml
China Daily | 2006-05-06
China plans a massive restructuring of its coal industry which will see the closure of many smaller mines or their amalgamation into five to seven major conglomerates, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has said.  Each of the conglomerate will have a capacity of producing more t...

'Trade surplus means overcapacity'
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200605/06/t20060506_6886030.shtml
China Daily | 2006-05-06
China's economy was continuing to be out of balance because of its huge trade surplus, a leading institutional authority warned yesterday.  The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) also added that the excessively huge trade surplus indicated that an "overcapacity" had developed in C...

Twin BoP Surplus on Strong Exports and Rmb Optimism
http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20060503-wed.html#anchor3
Morgan Stanley | 2006-05-03
Denise Yam
2005 balance of payments released. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has released China's 2005 balance of payments (BoP) data. In line with the gigantic jump in forex reserves, the overall BoP surplus came in at US$207 billion in 2005, similar to that in 2004. The current account surp...

China's factories hit an unlikely shortage: labor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0501/p01s03-woap.html
Christian Science Monitor | 2006-05-01
Simon Montlake
DONGGUAN, CHINA – One of the defining myths of modern China - that it has a bottomless well of unskilled, low-wage laborers - is coming apart at the seams. And hardest hit are the southern coastal cities that produce much of America's consumer bounty.  What began two years ago as a temporary...

Taiwan Faces Big Challenge in Holding Chip Lead Over China
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-taiwan1may01,1,3136503.story
AP | 2006-05-01
HSINCHU, Taiwan — In a five-story factory nearly the size of three football fields, technicians clad in spacesuit-like attire work around the clock producing silicon chips at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.  The company, the world's largest contract chip maker, is a source of prid...

China pays for boy, 15, killed after 1989 arrest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1765013,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-05-01
Jonathan Watts
The Chinese authorities have compensated the mother of a youth who died after being beaten in police custody during the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in the first known payment of its kind. A human rights activist said yesterday that police in Chengdu had reportedly paid 70,000 yuan (Â...

It Helps to 'Be Rich Silently' in Polarized China
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-richestman29apr29,1,1614644.story
LA Times | 2006-04-29
Don Lee
BEIJING — China's richest man has amassed a fortune of nearly $2 billion but lives like a frugal accountant.  After leaving his 32-story office tower at night, Huang Guangyu returns to a modest apartment he shares with his wife and two daughters in southwest Beijing. He shuns the golfing...

Macro Tightening, Property Bubble and Systemic Financial Risk
http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20060428-fri.html#anchor3
Morgan Stanley | 2006-04-28
Andy Xie
China is tightening to deal with overheating.   The measures include interest rate rises by the central bank and measures to cut industry overcapacity by the NDRC.  Further measures may include restricting land hoarding, limiting property pre-sales, and raising tax costs for short-term property hold...