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China’s GDP
growth to top 9% in 2005
HONG KONG—China’s economic growth is on track to surpass 9 percent in
2005, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said on Monday.
“This year’s GDP will certainly be over 9 percent,” Bo told reporters
following World Trade Organisation meetings in Hong Kong.
The National Development and Reform Commission said last month that
gross domestic product (GDP) would grow about 9.3 percent for all 2005,
compared with 9.4 percent growth in the first three quarters of the
year.
Although China’s economy continued to grow, the country remained “a
through-and-through developing country” and deserved to be treated the
same as other poor countries in the contentious trade talks, Bo said.
On Sunday, the 149 member countries and territories of the WTO saved the
long-running talks from collapse with an interim deal to end farm export
subsidies by 2013 and open rich nation markets a bit wider to the
poorest nations.
Bo said that under the deal, “China’s weak agricultural products can win
protection”, referring to a formula in the agreement that allows
developing countries to nominate three percent of agricultural product
lines for “special protection”.
While China’s economy is growing rapidly, it continues to have a
relatively low per-capita GDP and millions of Chinese live on a dollar a
day.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics is expected to announce on Tuesday
a revised figure for its 2004 GDP, based on a comprehensive economic
census it has just completed.
A government source told Reuters on Friday the change was expected to
show the Chinese economy in 2004 was actually 16.8 percent larger than
previously recorded.
China’s GDP totalled $1.65 trillion in 2004, current data shows, meaning
the revision could bring its size for that year to about $1.93 trillion,
while per capita GDP would increase to about $1,500 from the current
$1,268.
(The
Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item)
Controversial shrine visits worsen
Sino-Japan ties
From Max Lee
The Daily Mail’s Special Correspondent in Beijing
BEIJING—Due to controversial shrine visits, history textbook distortion
and unilateral oil field exploration, Japan has experienced chilly
relations with China this year.
The relationship of the two countries in 2005 has reached the lowest
level since bilateral ties were normalized in 1972.
The string of actions taken by Japanese prime minister and his
government have severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and
aggravated China-Japan relations, Chinese scholars said.
“China-Japan relationship deteriorated rather than improved over the
year, and the deterioration trend will move on,” said Liu Jiangyong, a
professor with China’s prestigious Qinghua University.
In fact, Sino-Japanese high-level contacts have been postponed or
canceled. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura’s October
China trip was called off by the Chinese side, saying it was
“inconvenient” for China to receive the guest given the “current gloomy
situation.” The scheduled meeting of leaders from China, Japan and the
Republic of Korea (ROK) in early December was also postponed for the
lack of “sound atmosphere and foundation”.
Such cold political ties have caused a negative impact on the two Asian
powers’ trade cooperation. Japan, which used to be China’s largest trade
partner for 11 years, has been replaced by the European Union. The
proportion of China-Japan trade in China’s overall foreign trade
decreased from 17.5 percent in 2000 to 14.5 percent in 2004.
“Some large economic cooperation projects between the two sides failed
to be carried out due to cold political ties,” said Yao Wenli, a
researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “Reciprocal
cooperation is restricted and the further development of bilateral trade
is harmed”.
It is believed that Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’s repeated
pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war
dead, including a dozen major World War II criminals, is the main reason
for the deterioration of China-Japan ties.
Chinese leaders have repeatedly stated the country’s protest against
Japanese leaders’ visits to the shrine. During the meeting with Koizumi
in April this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao made a five-point
proposal on improving bilateral ties and reiterated China’s stand on the
historical issue.
“Despite China’s request, Koizumi insisted on his visit to the shrine,
which not only resulted in suspended high-level contacts but also
brought new difficulties to the meeting between the two countries’
leaders on multilateral occasions,” Liu Jiangyong said. Liu said
Koizumi’s wrongdoing has demolished the political foundation of
China-Japan relations, run counter to the three Sino-Japanese political
documents, and diverted bilateral ties away from the healthy development
track.
China promotes Panchen
Lama as new Tibetan leader
BEIJING—China is raising the profile of a teenage boy it selected as the
11th Panchen Lama, allowing him to perform a ceremony attended by
thousands of worshippers, state media reports revealed.
Beijing chose Gyaincain Norbu when he was six years old to be the 11th
Panchen Lama, the second highest spiritual leader in Tibet, after
rejecting another boy picked by the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai
Lama.
Now 15, Gyaincain Norbu, who was rarely seen in public before, was shown
on China’s state television earlier this month blessing worshippers in a
ceremony marking his enthronement at the Panchen Lama’s residence.
On Sunday, just 10 days after the enthronement ceremony, Gyaincain Norbu
held another “head-touching” ritual to bless lamas and other Buddhists
in the residence, the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse city, the Xinhua
news agency said.
The ceremony lasted four hours and was attended by more than 10,000
Tibetans and other Buddhists from neighboring provinces, it said.
“This was the first time the 16-year-old Panchen Lama has blessed such a
large number of people at one time at his residence over the past
decade,” Xinhua said.
“The past decade witnessed Gyaincain Norbu grow up from a child to the
leader of Tibetan Buddhism”.
In further indication Beijing is trying to strengthen the legitimacy of
the youngster, Xinhua said the ceremony was attended by devoted
Tibetans, including mothers with babies and young men carrying their
elderly fathers or mothers on their backs, who viewed Gyaincain Norbu as
their new spiritual leader.
Xinhua quoted Dianzin, an 84-year-old man who once was blessed by the
ninth and the 10th Panchen Lamas, as recognizing Gyaincain Norbu as the
legitimate Panchen Lama.
“It is my great honor to receive the blessing from a third Panchen Lama
today,” said Dianzin, according to Xinhua.
China appears to consider the boy, who has been under Beijing’s
tutelage, as ready to play a more high-profile role.
The Dalai Lama, exiled in India, is considered by Tibetans as the
highest spiritual leader.
Beijing however considers him a dangerous separatist and views him with
deep suspicion.
The Dalai Lama has frequently angered Beijing by meeting with other
countries’ leaders in his efforts to fight for more autonomy for
Tibetans, who have been ruled by the Chinese for about half a
century.—Agencies
WB, Chinese firms
sign $930m deal
BEIJING—A World Bank fund signed deals Monday to buy pollution credits
from two Chinese chemical companies for $930 million under a plan that
lets richer countries meet commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions
by paying for reductions in poorer economies.
The agreements were the biggest yet for the fund, set up as part of the
Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the bank said. Richer countries can
meet their treaty commitments by buying credits from the fund.
The two Chinese companies, Jiangsu Meilan Chemical Co. Ltd. and Changshu
3F Zhonghao New Chemicals Material Co. Ltd., agreed to cut their
greenhouse gas emissions by 19 million tons a year for an unspecified
period, the bank said.
“With this project China will move to the forefront of countries making
contributions to mitigate the effects of climate change,” Teresa Serra,
the World Bank’s East Asia director for the environment and social
development, said in a written statement.
The Kyoto Protocol commits industrialized countries that sign it to
reducing emissions of gases that contribute to global warming.
Poorer countries such as China and India are exempt from such
commitments, but the treaty created the credits to encourage them to cut
their own emissions and to provide a way to finance the reduction.
The Chinese companies earned the credits by installing technology to
reduce emissions of HFC-23, or trifluromethane, a chemical blamed for
global warming, the bank said.
HFC-23, created during the production of refrigerants, is one of six
gases targeted by the Kyoto Protocol.
The World Bank said it also signed an agreement with China’s Ministry of
Finance to spend revenues from sales of pollution credits on projects to
encourage sustainable economic development.
Neeraj Prasad, the bank’s carbon fund coordinator for East Asia and the
Pacific, said the contracts with the Chinese companies last through at
least 2012 but wouldn’t specify their end date.
(The Daily
Mail-China Daily news exchange item)
Iran, China oil deal
likely next year
BEIJING—Iran hopes to sign a major oilfield deal with China’s Sinopec by
the end of January, Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian
told the oil ministry Web site. If China does sign a deal, it could
revive Iran’s moribund oil industry that has been stagnant for nearly
four months while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tussled with
parliamentarians over his choices for oil minister.
But the deal could draw fire from the United States. Washington has
already penalized Chinese firms for working in Iran, which it accuses of
seeking nuclear arms and funding anti-Israeli militia. Tehran denies the
charges. Iran is looking to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China
for some 30 years when its exports of the supercooled fuel hit world
markets in 2009. The overall value of such a contract is estimated at
more than $70 billion.
In return, China would take a large upstream stake in the giant
Yadavaran oilfield in southern Iran. Iran signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on such a deal in October 2004, but Nejad-Hosseinian said
he hoped all the details of a proper contract could be finalized by
January.
“Experts will present a report on Tuesday to high-level
decision-makers,” Nejad-Hosseinian said. “A final contract could be
finalized by the end of January 2006”. He said one of the main
negotiating areas would be the output expected from Yadavaran.
“Iran estimated the production capacity at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd)
but the Chinese have pledged their readiness to extract 180,000 bpd,” he
said. “Sinopec has said it could produce 300,000 bpd if well tests show
that is possible after 180,000 bpd is reached”.
Other complications included the length of the concession of the
oilfield and pricing. Signing big upstream investment deals is crucial
for the world’s fourth biggest crude producer as output capacity is
dropping at an alarming rate. Previous oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said
in July Iran’s oilfields were depleting by up to 400,000 bpd each
year.—Agencies |
