CSG news update -- 2007-05-25

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

China Study Group news update

NGOs have more room to develop
http://english.people.com.cn/200705/25/eng20070525_377883.html
China Daily | 2007-05-25
China will revise laws and policies to encourage the development of foreign and domestic non-governmental organizations (NG0s), a senior official has been quoted as saying.  Among the key changes are a simplified registration procedure for all NGOs and better communication with governments, said S...

Investment banks eye open door with caution
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c2f67cf6-0a0e-11dc-93ae-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-05-25
Sundeep Tucker and Jamil Anderlini
Overseas investment banks have reacted coolly to Chinese promises to further open its financial sector, amid widespread scepticism on the mainland that foreigners will gain speedy access to the country's booming stock market.  Following top-level talks with the US in Washington, China on Wedne...

Race to manage private wealth growing intense
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=22&art_id=45203&sid=13766074&con_type=1&d_str=20070525&sear_year=2007
Reuters | 2007-05-25
Charlie Zhu
Competition to manage money for wealthy Chinese is about to heat up.  China is close to issuing rules that would allow mutual fund firms to launch hedge fund-type accounts for the super-rich or institutions. Mutual funds could set up so-called segregated accounts with a minimum of 50 million yuan ...

Foreign players hopeful on new brokerage plan
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=5&art_id=45240&sid=13769615&con_type=1&d_str=20070525&sear_year=2007
Reuters | 2007-05-25
Chinese plans to resume issuing licenses for securities ventures in the second half of this year could allow a long line of foreign hopefuls to enter a market long tainted by scandals and poor management.  Since a huge, two-year overhaul of the country's brokerage sector, hard lobbying for Bei...

No timetable to raise bank ownership caps
http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Financial-services/200705/25/t20070525_11487365.shtmlRe
Reuters | 2007-05-25
China is moving in the direction of raising its caps on foreign ownership in banks but has no timetable for doing so, Liu Mingkang, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said on Thursday.  "It takes time, but it's the orientation -- we are moving forward," Liu told reporters after m...

Darfur: Forget genocide, there's oil
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IE25Cb04.html
Asia Times | 2007-05-24
F William Engdahl
To paraphrase the famous quip during the 1992 US presidential debates, when an unknown William Jefferson Clinton told then-president George Herbert Walker Bush, "It's the economy, stupid," the present concern of the current Washington administration over Darfur in southern Sudan is not, if we lo...

US-China talks shift to Congress
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6773ab1e-0a28-11dc-93ae-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-05-24
Krishna Guha and Eoin Callan
The focal point of US-China economic relations moved from Hank Paulson's US Treasury to Capitol Hill on Thursday as Chinese officials met senior members of Congress for a second day of talks.  Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said the meetings would mark an enduring shift ...

Beijing blames pollutants for rise in killer cancers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2085213,00.html
The Guardian | 2007-05-22
Jonathan Watts
Foul air, filthy water and contaminated soil have led to a surge of tumours in China, where cancer is the main cause of death, the state media reported yesterday.  Raising fears that breakneck economic growth is having a dire impact on the nation's health, a government survey blamed pollution ...