Spotlight: China’s growth brings fresh opportunities for world economies

PETERSBURG, Russia, June 19 (Greenpost) — China’s economic growth will bring new development opportunities for the world, especially for cooperation in Euro-Asia regions, a Russian official said here Thursday.

Boris Titov, chairman of the Russian part of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development, said in an interview with Xinhua that “China’s economic momentum is unstoppable and its growth will bring fresh development opportunities for world economies including Russia.”

China has become the world’s second largest economy by nominal total gross domestic product (GDP), Titov noted, adding that the most prominent characteristic of China’s economic “new normal” is the transformation of its economic development mode.

Under the “new normal” status, the export-driven economy will now need to refocus on boosting domestic consumption, which will unleash the full potential of China’s economy.

However, Titov said, a substantial amount of Chinese investment will find its way to markets around the world as the country’s economy keeps growing.

China’s Silk Road Economic Belt initiative is conducive to the infrastructure development of the countries concerned in the Euro-Asia region, he said, adding that benefit-sharing is the most prominent characteristic of this strategy.

“The strategy will do nothing to harm the interests of the countries concerned. Instead, it will help these countries develop their own economies, and that is why the strategy gets very strong support from them,” Titov said.

As for bilateral cooperation, Titov said that energy is a key area of Russia-China economic cooperation, and the two countries’ cooperation in the area of small- and medium-sized businesses is also quite promising.

Titov said that a Russian-Chinese forum on small- and medium-sized businesses was successfully held in Beijing in April, adding that China’s economic growth will give impetus to the development of Russia’s small- and medium-sized businesses and will also help the country exit the recession at an earlier date.

According to official statistics, China’s investment in Russia has been growing steadily over the past few years. Chinese direct investment in Russia, including those via third countries, totaled 33 billion U.S. dollars by 2014.

At the 19th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) which opened on Thursday, a group of Chinese and Russian companies officially signed a contract on jointly conducting the pre-construction survey and design of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway.

The 770-kilometer railway is a key infrastructure development project for Russia. It is estimated to cost more than 20 billion dollars. Upon completion in 2018, the rail link will dramatically reduce the travel time between Moscow and Kazan from 14 hours to three and a half hours. Moreover, it will become part of the planned Beijing-Moscow high-speed transport corridor.

Besides the high-speed railway, China and Russia are also working on such large-scale cooperation projects as cross-border natural gas pipelines, the development of large, wide-body airplanes and a development strategy for the Far East region.

Both China and Russia have injected more and more financial resources into these cooperation projects. The central banks of the two countries signed a currency swap agreement worth 150 billion RMB or 815 billion rubles (24 billion dollars) last October. The amount of RMB currency used in bilateral trade settlement at the Russian branch of Bank of China grew more than six times last year, according to branch chief Zhao Lianjie.

The National Development Bank of China, a state-owned bank for financing overseas investment by Chinese companies, has signed cooperation agreements with three major Russian banks in May to finance large-scale cooperation projects and the development of the Far East region.

China and Russia have also stepped up financial cooperation on such multilateral platforms as the Silk Road Fund and the Asia Infrastructure Development Bank.

Under the direct guidance of top leaders of both countries, investment and financial cooperation have become a new growth point for the China-Russia all-round strategic cooperation partnership. Two-way trade is expected to top 100 billion dollars this year after reaching an all-time high of 95.3 billion dollars in 2014.

Source   Xinhua

Editor   Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China Focus: Key China-U.S. dialogue set for next week

China Focus: Key China-U.S. dialogue set for next week

BEIJING, June 19 (Greenpost) — High-ranking officials from China and the United States will meet next week in Washington D.C. to discuss issues ranging from security to the economy and people-to-people exchanges, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The two countries have decided that the seventh China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) and the sixth China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) will take place on June 23 and 24, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.

The S&ED will be co-chaired by Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who will act as special representatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who will act for U.S. President Barack Obama.

The CPE will be co-chaired by Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Kerry.

“China is ready to work with the United States to implement the consensus reached by their leaders, enhance strategic communication, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, properly handle differences, so as to push for new progress in the building of a new model of major power relationship,” said Lu.

The CPE will discuss cooperation in education, science and technology, culture, health, sports, women and youth, according to the spokesperson.

The S&ED and CPE, among more than 90 dialogue mechanisms between China and the United States, have become the most important regular platforms between the two countries, gathering dozens of influential officials in fields ranging from trade and finance to diplomacy and defense.

“The coming S&ED and CPE will help enhance mutual understanding and build trust, promote cooperation and make preparations for President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States in September,” Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday.

Xi accepted U.S. President Barack Obama’s invitation for a state visit during a phone conversation in February.

It will be Xi’s first state visit to the United States since he became president in 2013.

“This year’s strategic dialogue will cover a wide range of topics,including bilateral, regional and global issues of common concern,” Zheng said.

Hot topics include climate change, China-U.S. interaction in the Asia-Pacific region, management of differences and sensitive issues, United Nations and multilateral issues, science and innovation, green ports and ships and the illegal trade in animals and plants.

Ahead of the strategic dialogue, Chinese and U.S. representatives of the military and related departments will meet to discuss security, Zheng said.

“The major task for the economic dialogue is to reach agreement on economic issues and create a good environment for the presidential summit in September,” China’s vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao said.

At the economic dialogue, officials will have in-depth discussions on macro-economic policy and restructuring, promoting trade and investment and stabilizing and reforming the financial market, according to Zhu.

As the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China are increasingly economically interdependent, with their trade volume hitting 550 billion U.S. dollars last year.

U.S. investment in China has amounted to nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars, while Chinese investment in the United States has also grown, official data indicates.

“Increasing China-U.S. economic cooperation is not only in tune with the requirements of the two peoples, but also a reflection of two countries’ efforts to shoulder their responsibilities as world powers,” Zhu said.

The fact that the CPE and S&ED are being jointly held in the United States for the first time this year shows the seriousness in which the two sides are aiming to build their new-model relationship, according to Chinese Vice Minister of Education Liu Limin.

He said people-to-people exchanges are irreplaceable and he is looking forward to the upcoming consultation.

A range of China-U.S. events will take place in America during the Chinese leaders’ time there.

Liu Yandong will address a forum for university presidents of the two countries. Twenty-six Chinese university chiefs and 23 from the United States are scheduled to attend.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and also victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Chinese Embassy to the United States will hold a joint exhibition to commemorate cooperation between China and the United States in World War II, Liu Limin said.

Liu Yandong will deliver a speech at a dialogue with female leaders from the two countries.

She will attend a seminar aiming to help African countries improve their healthcare systems and the opening ceremony of a competition for young technology enthusiasts.

According to Liu Limin, one of the achievements of the CPE is expected to be a plan for China to invite 100 American youth leaders to visit China for a study tour in the coming five years.

The coming activity will follow a U.S. visit by Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, earlier this month. Fan said during the trip that the the two nations “should take the higher ground to look into the future and gain perspective on regional and international issues”.

His U.S. meetings saw discussion of a “mutual trust mechanism” covering encounters in the air, building on such mechanisms for land-based and maritime encounters, Zheng said.

The main goal of Fan’s visit was to create “a positive atmosphere” for Xi’s September U.S. visit, according to Guan Youfei, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the National Defense Ministry. Enditem

Source   Xinhua

Editor    Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

China relaxes e-commerce investor rules for foreigners

China relaxes e-commerce investor rules for foreigners

BEIJING, June 19 (Greenpost) — China has decided to give foreign investors greater freedom in the booming e-commerce industry by allowing them to fully own e-commerce companies in the country, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced Friday.

The MIIT said in a brief statement that it would open up the online data processing and transaction processing businesses to foreign investors.

The new policy will enable more foreign companies to compete with local firms, thereby driving the sector to higher standards, the MIIT said.

The move is an expansion of a pilot scheme launched in January in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Currently, China’s lucrative e-commerce business is dominated by big homegrown firms. The e-commerce market hit 13.4 trillion yuan (2.2 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2014, and China is aiming to almost double the value of the sector in two years. Enditem

Source Xinhua

Editor    Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China allows foreign equities to have 100pct stake in online data processing and transaction processing biz

China allows foreign equities to have 100pct stake in online data processing and transaction processing biz

BEIJING, June 19 (Greenpost) — China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released a circular on Friday that foreign equities could have 100 percent stake in the country’s online data processing and transaction processing business (operating e-commerce).

The move signals that the Chinese government has gradually lifted its restrictions on foreign equities’ access to the e-commerce sector, which can help create a competitive environment for the business and promote its development.

Online data processing and transaction processing business is one of the value-added telecom businesses, which need a business license granted by the government.

In January 2015, MIIT decided to allow foreign equities to have 100 percent stake in the online data processing and transaction processing business in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). (Edited by Zhang Yuan, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org)

 

Source  Xinhua

Editor   Xuefei Chen Axelsson