Economy

First Deal Sealed on Purchase of new Zealand Farmland

The New Zealand government has approved the sale of 16 dairy farms to a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shanghai Pengxin Group. The deal marks the first purchase by Chinese investors of New Zealand farms. Pengxin says that its total investment will exceed NZ $200 million (US$164 million). New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has defended the sale, pointing out that less than one percent of the countrys farmland has been sold to foreign investors. The free-trade agreement that the two countries signed in 2008 was Chinas first with a developed nation. China has since overtaken the U.S. to become New Zealands second-largest export market, second only to neighboring Australia. China is by far its largest buyer of dairy products – a commodity that makes up a fifth of New Zealands export earnings. There has also been rapid growth in Chinese tourism to New Zealand. Shanghai Pengxin is a private conglomerate with a diversified business scope covering real estate, urban infrastructure, high-tech and investment in industry & commerce. It now has more than 40 subsidiary companies with the total assets over RMB 10 billion.

Textile industry Trials and Tribulations

The textile industry experienced hard times in 2011. Growth in output value, exports, investment, and profit went into tailspin, and there is no sign of a turnabout in 2012, China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) Chairman Wang Tiankai said at the textile industrys seventh roundtable conference. In the first 11 months of last year, Chinas textile and garment exports reached US $231.84 billion – up 21 percent over the corresponding period in 2010. But after allowing for inflation, actual growth was a paltry 0.5 percent, and that for garments amounted to 0.1 percent. Chinas textile industry was under pressure on several fronts, most prominently from price hikes on all production elements, according to Wang. Labor costs alone climbed more than 15 percent, and rises in loan interest, RMB appreciation and the complexities of the macroecomic environment further exacerbated the financial woes of Chinas generally small and medium-sized textile/garment manufacturers. The global economys halting recovery and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe dampened international demand. The price edges of developing countries like Pakistan and Vietnam, meanwhile, pose a serious challenge to China in attracting foreign clothing importers.

Settlement Reached on Bohai oil Spill

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) announced that it has reached agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and ConocoPhillips China over compensation for oil spills at the Penglai 19-3 Oilfield in the Bohai Bay, where CNOOC and ConocoPhillips are partners in a project to develop an oil and gas production base. According to the compensation agreement, ConocoPhillips China will pay out RMB one billion(US $160 million) to cover losses sustained by aquatic farms and fishing operations in the Bohai Sea. It will also designate RMB 100 million(US $16 million) from the companys previously announced environmental and eco-system protection fund towards rehabilitation of fishing resources, environmental monitoring and evaluation and scientific research in the area. CNOOC has similarly agreed to allocate RMB 250 million (US $39.7 million) from its marine environment fund. The oil spills were first detected in June 2011. An estimated 3,354 barrels of oil and mud have since polluted more than 8,400 sq km of Bohai Bay, causing huge losses in the tourism and aquatic farming industries of Liaoning and Hebei provinces. Although, experts point out, the spill is just one-10th that of the 2010 incident in the Gulf of Mexico, Bohai Bay covers just one-20th of that area and has a semienclosed marine system. It has consequently suffered far more serious pollution.

China Honors Foreign Experts for Boosting International Scientific Cooperation

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) gave out its 2011 Awards for International Scientific Cooperation to Flemming Besenbacher from Denmarks Aarhus University, Lonnie Thompson from Ohio State University, and Shin-ichi Kurokawa from Japans High Energy Accelerator Research Organization. This brought the total number of winners of the award, launched in 2007 to honor foreign scientists for their contributions to Sino-foreign research cooperation, to 14.

Besenbacher, a worldfamous scientist in the fields of physics and nanotechnology, has made great contributions to boosting China-Denmark cooperation in postgraduate cultivation and nano technological research. Thompson, a distinguished scientist in glacial environmental research, has conducted nearly 30 years of research cooperation with the CAS. Kurokawa, a famed expert in accelerator physics, has helped to promote Sino-Japan cooperation in accelerator research and made great contributions to the construction of the CASs large science facilities.

new Programs Envisioned to import Foreign Experts

In the 2011-2015 period China will carry out several programs to lure foreign experts to selected key industries, according to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA). The four fields chosen are agriculture, manufacturing, the service industry and software and integrated circuits. The SAFEA said that China plans to attract 2,000 highly skilled foreign experts to boost newly emerged industries such as energy conservation, high-end equipment production, new energy and new materials. One thousand international professionals with managerial expertise will also be hired in the finance, insurance, securities and transportation industries. In the field of software and integrated circuits, China will launch five international training bases to draw top researchers and teams and advance global cooperation.

Beidou Covers the AsiaPacific Region in 2012

Chinas homegrown Beidou Navigation Satellite System has begun providing initial positioning, navigation and timing services to China and its surrounding areas. By the end of 2011, ten satellites had been launched, forming the basic system. Six more will be launched in 2012 to improve the Beidou system and expand its service area to cover most parts of the Asia-Pacific Region. The system has been widely used in transportation, marine fisheries, hydrological monitoring, weather forecasting, and disaster mitigation. Beidou is expected to cover the globe by 2020. It is one of the worlds four satellite navigation systems. The other three are Americas GPS, Russias GLONASS, and Europes Galileo.

China Develops largest Rocket-Propellant Tank

China has successfully developed its largest rocket-propellant tank, which will be used to contain hydrogen fuel for the countrys Long March-5 carrier rocket. According to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the homegrown rocket tank, measuring five meters in diameter and 20-plus meters in length, consists of bottom parts and eight welded tubular sections. The development and manufacture of a propellant tank are among the most difficult tasks in building a rocket. The academy has hence made a major technological breakthrough in welding such a massive fuel tank. According to a government white paper on Chinas space programs, the nation will develop a number of next-generation launch vehicles, including the Long March-5, Long March-6 and Long March-7, in the 2011-2015 period. The Long March-5 will use a non-toxic, pollution-free propellant, and be capable of placing a 25-ton payload into near-Earth orbit or a 14-ton payload into geostationary orbit.