CSG news update -- 2007-07-04

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

China Study Group news update

China's environment close to 'breakdown': govt official
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070704/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentwaterpollution;_ylt=A0WTcUfQH4tGe0QBPAJpl88F
AFP | 2007-07-04
BEIJING (AFP) - China's environment is close to breaking point and the situation is endangering people's lives, one of the nation's top anti-pollution officials said in comments published Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT  Pan Yue, an outspoken vice minister at the State Environmental Protecti...

China's private car ownership jumps 16 pct in six months
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/04/content_6327170.htm
Xinhua | 2007-07-04
 BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- More than 13 million cars in China were privately owned by the end of June, up 16 percent over the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.      "The growth rate of private car ownership decreased 0.96 percent from the same period last year," acc...

Made in China, Driven in USA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/03/AR2007070302177.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Washington Post | 2007-07-04
 Sholnn Freeman
Chery Automobile, a feisty newcomer to global carmaking, is on the verge of becoming the first Chinese company to crack the U.S. auto market.  Yesterday, DaimlerChrysler said it finalized a deal with Chery and the Chinese government to export small cars made by Chery to United States and Western E...

Seven dead, 93 injured in E. China tornado
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/04/content_909793.htm
Xinhua | 2007-07-04
HEFEI -- Seven people were confirmed dead and 93 others were injured in a tornado that hit an east China city on Tuesday, say disaster relief authorities.  Officials are still calculating the damage to Tianchang City, in east China's Anhui Province, where a tornado packing winds of 100 kilomet...

China Urges Diplomacy on Iran Standoff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6755813,00.html
Guardian | 2007-07-04
EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - China called Tuesday for stepped up diplomacy rather than new sanctions to try to persuade Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and rein in its nuclear program.  U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya spoke after the United States started discussions on a third round of tougher sanctions...

China Signs New Oil Deal, Deepening Ties to Sudan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118349324126456971.html?mod=rss_whats_news_asia
Wall Street Journal | 2007-07-03
David Winning
BEIJING -- China's biggest state oil company has deepened its involvement in Sudan by signing a deal to help develop offshore oil, despite international efforts to isolate the African nation because of the humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region.  China National Petroleum Corp. and Indonesia&...

 Human rights lawyer prevented from leaving China
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565045386630529212
Santa Barbara News-Press | 2007-07-03
Tim Johnson
BEIJING - For most Chinese, the borders of the nation are open. Using their savings, they can get a passport and head to the airport. Some 100 million Chinese may travel outside their homeland each year by 2020, triple the number of today.  For a few, though, it's impossible to slip away. One ...

China: 4 arrested in migrant attacks
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8Q588L80.htm
Business Week | 2007-07-03
AP
Police have arrested four of the hundreds of men who allegedly attacked migrant workers to break a strike in southern China, reports said Tuesday.  The local government in Guangdong province's Dongyuan County meanwhile denied an organized assault had taken place, saying the striking workers sp...

China to Import 260Mt of Oil and 20Bcm of Natural Gas by 2010
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=33529
Interfax-China | 2007-07-03
SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) -- China's net energy imports may reach as much as 260 million tonnes of oil and 20 billion cubic metres of natural gas by 2010, a senior researcher with National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, said over the weekend. ...

Floods kill 30 in China
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2007-07-03-china-flood_N.htm
USA Today | 2007-07-03
AP
BEIJING (AP) — Floods and landslides killed 30 people in a central China province, with the rain-swollen Yangtze River that cuts through the province at dangerously high levels, a government website and state media said Tuesday.  The flooding in Hubei province also left nine people missing, ...

China issues flood warning for Huaihe River
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/04/content_6324979.htm
Xinhua | 2007-07-03
  BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China issued a flood warning on Tuesday as the water level in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, one of China's major rivers, is expected to surpass the critical mark within two days.      Recent rainstorms in the upper reaches have raised the water level from...

China to soon overtake India in offshoring?
http://news.com.com/China+to+soon+overtake+India+in+offshoring/2100-1022_3-6194718.html?tag=nefd.top
CNET | 2007-07-03
Farihan Bahrin  
ffordable rent, low-cost labor and population literacy are the main reasons why companies still prefer to set up their delivery centers in Indian cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore. But this offshoring trend is likely to change in the near future, according to an IDC study.  The analyst group for...

'Snappy' makeover for China's army
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/32D31914-FCE4-4A80-A786-D0FCB83BA242.htm
Al Jazeera | 2007-07-03
China's 2.3 million member military is getting a makeover, rolling out a range of new uniforms and battle fatigues that, designers say, will give troops a snappier fit and female soldiers a "sassier" appearance.     "The new outfits fuse global trends with Chinese characteristics"  General...

Closer economic ties with China helps HK tide over Asian Financial Crisis
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/eastasia/view/286003/1/.html
 | 2007-07-03
Roland Lim 
HONG KONG : The Hong Kong people have been on an economic roller coaster ride this past decade, weathering boom and bust.  Now, it's good times again, as the region commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Asian Financial Crisis.  Back in 1995, international business and financial magazine F...

China punishes cities for polluting rivers
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/July/theworld_July78.xml&section=theworld&col=
Khaleej Times | 2007-07-03
Reuters
BEIJING - China's top environmental watchdog has punished several cities and over 30 factories for chronic river pollution, accusing growth-obsessed local governments of worsening degradation to an 'unbearable' extent.  Six cities, two counties and five industrial parks were named and ...

China Finds Pyramid in Ancient Tomb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6752059,00.html
Guardian | 2007-07-02
AP
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese researchers say they have found a strange pyramid-shaped chamber while surveying the massive underground tomb of China's first emperor and theorize it was built as a passageway for his soul.  Remote sensing equipment has revealed what appears to be a 100-foot-high room a...

750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8f40e248-28c7-11dc-af78-000b5df10621.html
Financial Times | 2007-07-02
Richard McGregor
Beijing engineered the removal of nearly a third of a World Bank report on pollution in China because of concerns that findings on premature deaths could provoke "social unrest”.  The report, produced in co-operation with Chinese government ministries over several years, found about 750,000 peop...