CSG news update -- 2006-11-17

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

China Study Group news update

Foreign banks plan local incorporation
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/17/content_735532.htm
China Daily | 2006-11-17
Zhang Ran
China's announcement Thursday that foreign banks can soon deal in renminbi retail business has prompted a flurry of international lenders to announce their plans to incorporate in China.  In order to better protect the interests of domestic depositors, the Chinese Government is encouraging for...

Growing Chinese trade with Africa a threat
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/16/news/letter.php
International Herald Tribune | 2006-11-16
Howard W. French
The traffic has returned to its normal sluggish pace in Beijing after a week of absolute gridlock, and the banners touting China's eternal friendship with Africa - including an unfortunate one that showed Papua New Guineans in festive attire - have come down.  Outsiders should resist the urge ...

Plastic surgery reality show sparks debate　 　
http://en.ce.cn/Life/social/200611/16/t20061116_9449095.shtml
Xinhua | 2006-11-16
After the barnstorming success of Super Girls, the Chinese version of the popular U.S. TV show "American Idol", another U.S. reality show -- "I Want a Famous Face" -- has arrived in living rooms across the land and is generating even more controversy.  Screened by MTV China at 10 p.m. every evenin...

China to open renminbi business to foreign banks
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/16/content_734524.htm
Bloomberg | 2006-11-16
A woman walks past an HSBC outlet in Shanghai in this July 1, 2006 photo. A new banking regulation says Foreign banks operating in China will have to incorporate within the country to offer bank cards and mass-market banking services in yuan from December 11. [newsphoto]  Foreign banks operating i...

Citigroup wins battle for China bank
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/16/content_735413.htm
AFP | 2006-11-16
BEIJING - A consortium led by US banking giant Citigroup has signed a deal to buy a controlling stake in China's Guangdong Development Bank after a lengthy battle, banking sources said.  "I can confirm that we signed an agreement this afternoon with Guangdong Development Bank along with our co...

Rare Look at China's Burdened Banks
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/business/worldbusiness/15bank.html
New York Times | 2006-11-16
David Barboza
BEIJING — Two years ago, one of China's largest state-owned banks hired a senior risk adviser who had previously worked for major banks in the United States. His mission was to advise the Chinese bank on how to clean up its books, by helping assess loans that were going bad.  The banker&...

Chinese economy shows signs of cooling
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5ae72832-7561-11db-aea1-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-11-16
Richard McGregor
China's efforts to cool breakneck economic growth appear to be having an effect, with both investment and industrial production slowing, according to official statistics.  However, economists remain cautious about over-interpreting figures released this week because of the unreliability of mon...

China Lifts Wikipedia Ban, but Some Topics Remain Blocked
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/technology/16wiki.html
New York Times | 2006-11-16
Noam Cohen
Less than a month after the Chinese government let its citizens access the English version of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, it has taken the more significant step of permitting access to most of the Chinese-language version, administrators of the site said yesterday.  The decision opens up t...

In China, a Western-style education has appeal
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/15/news/schools.php
Boston Globe | 2006-11-15
Jehangir S. Pocha
Winston Churchill might have cringed at the thought: His alma mater, the elite British school Harrow, has opened a branch in Beijing.  So far, more than 100 Western schools and universities have set up in China, and the number is expected to grow.  A team from Harvard University headed by Willia...

Wartime Chinese Laborers Sue Japan
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/world/asia/15japan.html
New York Times | 2006-11-15
Norimitsu Onishi
FUKUOKA, Japan — Graying but walking with ramrod-straight backs, Chinese men in their 70s and 80s quietly toured a coal-mining museum here recently. But in a moment of recognition reaching back to their youth, the sight of a shovel, a rake and a vise made them call out the Japanese names for t...

China paves way for foreign banks
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4b16fe5c-74e7-11db-bc76-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-11-15
Mure Dickie and Sundeep Tucker
China on Wednesday issued landmark rules allowing foreign banks to offer a full range of services to local customers – a liberalisation promised as part of its 2001 entry to the World Trade Organisation.  The regulations were broadly in line with recent drafts that some foreign bankers saw as un...

WB urges China to boost consumption
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d787cea6-7402-11db-8dd7-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-11-14
Mure Dickie
World Bank economists have called on China to focus policy efforts on raising consumption rather than new measures to restrain investment, saying the country's most pressing economic problem is its soaring trade surplus.  The bank, in its quarterly report on China, said moves such as shifting ...

"Neo-colonialism" fallacy aims to sow discord in Sino-Africa cooperation
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/30/eng20061030_316577.html
People's Daily | 2006-10-30
The fallacy that China is exercising "neo-colonialism" in Africa is apparently aimed at sowing discord between China and Africa and blocking the establishment and development of a new Sino-African strategic partnership.  The forces that are circulating the fallacy are fearful of China's fast g...