CSG news update -- 2006-10-28

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

China Study Group news update

Airbus to set up China assembly line
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/27/content_718481.htm
Wall Street Journal | 2006-10-27
Daniel Michaels and Bruce Stanley
Airbus's decision to set up an assembly line in China illustrates the potential challenges ahead for Western jet manufacturers as rivals from developing countries seek to enter their thriving industry.  Airbus, a unit of Franco-German European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., said it had finali...

Shenzhen bank keen to resume reform plan
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-10/27/content_718329.htm
China Daily | 2006-10-27
The Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) said it would resume its State shares reform after the first round failed, but could not give a time frame for the plan to be passed.  Shareholders in the Shenzhen-listed medium-sized bank rejected its compensation plan to convert non-tradable State shares into ...

China to help build export processing zone in south Nigeria
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/27/eng20061027_315554.html
Xinhua | 2006-10-27
China is to help Nigeria to set up an export processing zone (EPZ) in Nigeria's southern state of Imo, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported on Thursday.  Neul Chukwukadibia, head of the Imo State Housing, Works and Transport Commission, was quoted as saying that a Chinese firm had sign...

Harmonious society, another vital theoretical innovation
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/27/eng20061027_315718.html
People's Daily | 2006-10-27
A decision reached by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in early October on the issue of social harmony represents the first programmatic document on construction of a harmonious society and a great innovation in the CPC's theory of building socialism with Chinese characterist...

China deplores WTO's auto parts probe decision
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-10/27/content_718779.htm
Reuters | 2006-10-27
China defended its import duties on auto parts on Friday, deploring the World Trade Organization's decision to launch a panel to hear US and European complaints that the duties are unfair protection.  The WTO announced on Thursday that a panel would examine claims that China is improperly shie...

Ford to Nearly Double Purchase of China-Made Parts
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/business/27auto.html
Bloomberg | 2006-10-27
The Ford Motor Company, which this week reported its biggest loss in 14 years, will almost double its purchase of China-made parts this year to cut production costs.  Ford will buy $2.5 billion to $3 billion in auto parts in China, William Ford Jr., the carmaker's chairman, said Thursday in Be...

China's Corruption Inquiry Targets Beijing
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/world/asia/27china.html
New York Times | 2006-10-27
Joseph Kahn
A widening Chinese anticorruption investigation is taking aim at Beijing's party leaders, a sign that President Hu Jintao intends to continue removing officials he considers insufficiently loyal, people told about the leadership's planning said.  Some 300 Communist Party investigators have...

Sanctions Don't Dent North Korea-China Trade
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/world/asia/27border.html
New York Times | 2006-10-27
Jim Yardley
SANHE, China — At the isolated border crossing in this small Chinese town, no one noticed when North Korea conducted its nuclear test in an underground mine about 90 miles away. Nearly three weeks later, no one seems to have noticed the recent United Nations sanctions against North Korea, eith...

China's CITIC buys big Kazakh oilfield for $1.9 bln
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nSP268110&imageid=&cap=&from=business
Reuters | 2006-10-26
Jonathan Leff and Dominic Whiting
China's CITIC Group, a diversified state-owned investment vehicle with few oil interests, furthered Beijing's drive for overseas energy assets on Thursday with the $1.9 billion purchase of a large Kazakh field.  It has agreed to buy the Kazakh oil assets of Canada-based Nations Energy Co L...

Begging for justice in China's capital
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1026/p07s02-woap.html
Christian Science Monitor | 2006-10-26
Simon Montlake
BEIJING – They arrive from distant villages and towns in groups of five or less, eyes downcast as they approach the entrance to the walled compound. Many wear the drab bulky clothes of China's hardscrabble countryside, and their bags are stuffed with dog-eared documents, tattered photos, and p...

Bayer Expands China Presence
http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2006/10/26/bayer-topsun-science-markets-equity-cx_as_1026markets17.html

Forbes | 2006-10-26
Andy Stone
Bayer Healthcare, the pharmaceutical division of German chemical giant Bayer, doubled its presence in China on Wednesday with the acquisition of Topsun Science and Technology Co., Ltd.  Bayer will pay $136 million for the over-the-counter drug business of Topsun Group, one of China's largest p...

Microcredit not working in China, new initiative needed
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/26/content_5254385.htm
Xinhua | 2006-10-26
Without a microcredit of 20,000 yuan, Shan Xinhui, a laid-off woman, would not have been able to start her own business and today boast fixed assets worth more than two million yuan.  At the 2006 China Banking Association-Citigroup Micro-entrepreneurship Awards Ceremony, Shan, from the western cit...

China students clash with police
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6088836.stm
BBC | 2006-10-26
College students in China's southern Jiangxi province have clashed with police during protests about their academic status, reports say.  The action began after students learned that their degrees from two private universities might not be recognised.  Reports say between a few hundred and s...

Media explosion tests China's control
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6066568.stm
BBC | 2006-10-25
Quentin Sommerville
At the editorial meeting at the influential newspaper Beijing Youth Daily, the morning news list is put together without too much discussion.  People reading pinned up newspapers Newspaper walls - how the Chinese have got their news for decades  The editorial team already know the most importan...

China students riot
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-10-25T072507Z_01_PEK147689_RTRUKOC_0_UK-CHINA-UNREST.xml&WTmodLoc=World-C1-Headline-8
Reuters | 2006-10-25
Thousands of university students rioted in eastern China this week, officials and students said on Wednesday, as the police chief called for greater efforts to tame rising unrest.  Students from Jiangxi province's Clothing Vocational College marched through campus on Monday after state media r...

Great pension investment potential
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/47c2f74a-63aa-11db-bc82-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-10-24
Andrew Yeh
The best investment opportunity within China's social security system presently lies in corporate annuities, whereby a portion of salary is volunteered for a pension scheme, according to a new report by KPMG and Reuters.  The findings by the accountancy firm and the news agency suggest several...

China considers move to boost pensions
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/eca24ed6-638d-11db-bc82-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-10-24
Geoff Dyer
The Chinese government is considering transferring shares in state-owned companies to the national pension fund, in what could be the first step in a transformation in the management of the public sector.  The agency that administers state-owned companies has begun consultations with other parts o...