CSG news update -- 2007-06-14

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

China Study Group news update

China Set to Take the Lead in Global Manufacturing
http://www.globalinsight.com/Perspective/PerspectiveDetail9537.htm
Global Insight | 2007-06-14
China's manufacturing sector has been growing so quickly in recent years that the size of its output is set to exceed output in the U.S. manufacturing sector in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the exact time frame for this change in ranking depends on how we measure the size of output.  ...

Myanmar best bad buddies with Beijing
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF13Ae01.html
Asia Times | 2007-06-14
Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - Beijing's support for the junta in Myanmar has strengthened immeasurably over the past six months as China's leaders now see the country as the cornerstone of their strategy toward Southeast Asia. The internationally shunned military regime has become a crucial part of Beijing'...

China's poisonous exports
http://www.jamestown.org/china_brief/article.php?articleid=2373436
Jamestown Foundation | 2007-06-13
Drew Thompson
The April upsurge in the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States alerted authorities to an emerging health situation that was ultimately determined to have been caused by pet food contaminated by imported wheat and rice gluten intentionally spiked with chemicals from China.  Aside from causin...

U.S. senators move to punish China because of the strength of the yuan
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/13/business/yuan.php
International Herald Tribune | 2007-06-13
Steven R. Weisman
WASHINGTON: A group of leading Republican and Democratic senators, signaling growing Congressional impatience with Chinese trade practices, proposed legislation Wednesday aimed at requiring penalties on China over what they contended is a policy of suppressing the value of its currency to promote ex...

China loosens grip on corporate bonds
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e0bb174e-19d4-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-13
Jamil Anderlini
China's anaemic corporate bond market is set to expand exponentially after the government loosened its grip on the sector on Wednesday by introducing a new regulatory regime.  Corporate bonds are virtually non-existent in China, mostly because they are regulated by the state's conservative...

Darfur adds to US doubts over China
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7490a264-19d9-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-13
Guy Dinmore
Actress Mia Farrow on Wednesday launched a campaign to turn the spotlight on Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics as a way of exerting pressure on China to use its leverage to stop Sudan fuelling the conflict in Darfur.  Although the "Dream for Darfur” campaign is not specifically calling ...

China under increased pressure over currency
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/38787b24-196d-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621,_i_rssPage=ff3cbaf6-3024-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-13
Eoin Callan and Krishna Guha and Richard McGregor
China came under increased pressure to revalue its currency on Wednesday as a bipartisan group of US senators introduced legislation designed to push the Bush administration towards a full-blown trade dispute with Beijing.  The bill would send exchange rate disputes to the World Trade Organisation...

800,000 evacuated in China floods
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0613/breaking2.htm
Reuters | 2007-06-13
Floods which killed at least 76 people across southern China and destroyed homes and crops have thrown the lives of hundreds of thousands of villagers into turmoil, and more heavy rains are forecast in the coming days.  Torrential downpours, mudslides and floods hit the provinces of Hunan, Guangdo...

Survey shows most Chinese respect America
http://www.phoenixtv.com/phoenixtv/77417713223335936/20050303/513019.shtml
China Daily | 2007-06-13
Hu Cong
America may have suffered a PR nightmare in other parts of the world but many Chinese give Uncle Sam a cautious thumbs up.  A recent poll showed about two thirds of Chinese have a favourable opinion of Americans although 56.7 per cent believe Washington is attempting to limit China's influence...

3,500 Japanese wartime bombs found buried in NE China
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0613/breaking2.htm
Xinhua | 2007-06-13
  CHANGCHUN, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Three thousand five hundred bombs abandoned by Japanese troops during World War II have been unearthed from the base of a hill in Dunhua City in northeast China's Jilin Province, police said on Tuesday.      The bombs, weighing more than 40 tons, were found bur...

US senators to unveil bill targeting China
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/38787b24-196d-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621,_i_rssPage=ff3cbaf6-3024-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-13
Reuters
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said on Tuesday they would introduce legislation giving the U.S. Treasury Department stronger tools to confront China's currency practices.  ”A change in our currency manipulation policy is long overdue,” Senate Banking Commit...

China Retail Sales Growth Hits Three-Year High in May
http://www.cnbc.com/id/19195755
CNBC | 2007-06-13
Reuters
Rising prices, fast-growing incomes and wealth created by a record stock market rally propelled Chinese retail sales growth to a three-year high in May.  The National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday that the value of retail sales in May was 715.8 billion yuan (US$93.87 billion), 15.9% more ...

Dalai Lama warns against containing China
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C13%5Cstory_13-6-2007_pg4_15
Daily Times | 2007-06-13
Reuters
CANBERRA: The Dalai Lama warned major nations on Tuesday not to try to contain China's economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.  The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, speaking in Canberra, said he shared conce...

Chinese mainland official slams "referendum" promoted by Taiwan separatists
http://english.people.com.cn/200706/13/eng20070613_383743.html
People's Daily | 2007-06-13
Xinhua
 The "referendum" promoted by Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian about whether the island should join the United Nations under the name "Taiwan" will have a strong impact on cross-Strait relations, said a mainland official in Beijing on Wednesday.  Yang Yi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the...

Surplus fuels EU-China war of words
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4d5d30a2-191d-11dc-a961-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-13
Andrew Bounds
China said it could do little to curb its fast-growing trade surplus with the European Union as the two sides traded accusations after "frank” talks in Brussels on Tuesday.  Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, and Bo Xilai, the Chinese commerce minister, held an annual meeting in Brussel...

Communist capitalists
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/12/opinion/edbowring.php
International Herald Tribune | 2007-06-12
Philip Bowring
HONG KONG: Some of the reasons why the Chinese stock market continues to defy both gravity and the half-hearted efforts of the government to cool it are normal and obvious. But there is another reason that says a lot about a particularly Chinese situation: the relationship between Communist party po...

China-US: A long, hot summer
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IF12Cb02.html
Asia Times | 2007-06-12
Benjamin A Shobert
WASHINGTON - In what promises to be a long, hot summer, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's recent defense of the second Beijing-Washington Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) seems to suggest how profound the disconnect is between the Bush administration and the mood of the US public and Congre...

ICBC sets its sights on US and Russia
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3b314b7a-1913-11dc-a961-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2007-06-12
Jamil Anderlini
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest lender, has applied for banking licences in the US and Russia as it seeks to expand outside its home market, the bank's chairman said on Tuesday.  "We have applied to regulatory authorities in the US, Russia and other places to...