CSG news update -- 2006-06-14

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

China Study Group news update

 Survey: 80% Chinese satisfied with direction of China
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-06/14/content_616595.htm
AP | 2006-06-14
Eight out of 10 Chinese say they are satisfied with the way things are going in China, according to survey results, in a sign that robust economic growth is outweighing social tensions over the income gap between rich and poor.  The 81 percent satisfaction rate is an increase from the 72 percent r...

China's Industrial Output Growth Accelerates in May
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aRMpZ_F7.ABk&refer=home
Bloomberg | 2006-06-14
China's industrial production expanded at the fastest pace in two years in May, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will add to April's lending rate increase.  Output climbed 17.9 percent to 706 billion yuan ($88.2 billion) after rising 16.6 percent in April, the Beijing-based N...

Foreign miners presses for law reform
http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Energy&Mining/200606/14/t20060614_7336452.shtml
China Daily | 2006-06-14
Rio Tinto Group, together with other multinationals led by an industry consortium, is advising the Chinese Government on a mineral resources law amendment, aiming to gain more access to mining activities in China.  The Ministry of Land and Resources(MLR), which wants to renew the current mineral r...

Retail sales leap 14pc as incomes rise
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=5&art_id=20730&sid=8390482&con_type=1&d_str=20060614&sear_year=2006
Bloomberg | 2006-06-14
Nipa Piboontanasawat
China's retail sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 months in May as increasing incomes spurred spending on cars, furniture and electronics.  Sales jumped 14.2 percent to 617.6 billion yuan (HK$598 billion) after climbing 13.6 percent in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. T...

In Africa, China Trade Brings Growth, Unease
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201506.html
Washington Post | 2006-06-13
Craig Timberg
JOHANNESBURG -- Every time newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube visits his native Zimbabwe, he said, there seem to be more Chinese. He sees them shopping at boutiques, driving fancy cars, picking up their children from elite private schools.  And as in much of Africa, Ncube said, China's reach int...

Wage inflation in China hits hiring
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/08309130-fa3e-11da-b7ff-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-06-13
Doug Cameron
Wage inflation in China's financial and professional services sector has climbed to 17 per cent and pushed local employers to cut their hiring plans, according to Manpower, the temporary employment group.  Jeff Joerres, Manpower's chairman and chief executive, said sought-after staff in th...

China protester 'paralysed by beating'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1796616,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-06-13
Jonathan Watts
One of the most vocal opponents of the Three Gorges dam has been left reportedly paralysed by a savage beating after he ignored police warnings not to speak to foreign journalists.  Fu Xiancai, a land-rights activist, was attacked by unknown assailants on his way home from the Zigui public securit...

Poll dispute threatens fight against Aids in China
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c2478e16-fa6b-11da-b7ff-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-06-13
Mure Dickie
The United Nations agency for Aids is to review disputed elections for non-governmental and patients' delegates to an NGO that oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in health grants to China.  The dispute over the April elections to the local board of the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tubercul...

Inside Apple's iPod factories
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=14915
Macworld | 2006-06-12
Apple's iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as £27 per month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday yesterday.  The report, 'iPod City', isn't available online. It offers photographs taken from inside the factories that make Apple music players, situat...

Pollution From Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11chinacoal.html
New York Times | 2006-06-11
Keith Bradsher and David Barboza
HANJING, China — One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.  In early April, a dense cloud of pollutants over Northern China sailed to nearby Seoul, sweeping along dust and...

Clubbing after curfew
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=20485&sid=8296261&con_type=1&d_str=20060610&sear_year=2006
The Standard | 2006-06-10
Steven Ribet
An attempt to put an end to all-night partying in China by imposing closing times on clubs is failing. Steven Ribet looks at why  Well after dawn, the Workers' Stadium in Beijing is stage to a scene that would set the Old Guards of China's revolution squirming in their graves.  The five-...

Airbus to Build Plant in China
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airbus9jun09,1,6020111.story
AP | 2006-06-09
BEIJING — European aircraft maker Airbus will build a plant for assembling its A320 series of jetliners in the northern Chinese coastal city of Tianjin, the government said Thursday.  The decision could result in increased sales in China amid fierce competition from Boeing Co.  The Nationa...

Unions Urge Probe of Worker Rights in China
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chinalabor9jun09,1,2692871.story
Reuters | 2006-06-09
WASHINGTON — U.S. labor groups urged the Bush administration Thursday to increase pressure on China to stop widespread labor abuses they said have cost millions of Americans their jobs in addition to harming Chinese workers.  The 9-million-member AFL-CIO labor federation filed a petition, fo...

Pollution Getting Worse, China Admits
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china6jun06,1,3904928.story
LA Times | 2006-06-06
Ching-Ching Ni
BEIJING — Despite steady efforts to protect the environment in recent years, China's pollution continues to worsen in the face of relentless industrial growth, the Chinese government acknowledged Monday.  The report issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, is the latest in a str...