china

Obama steps into China’s African shadow

"Obama's trip comes a little over two months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Africa. Chinese investments in Africa have grown steadily over the years that the United States has been engaged in Asia and the Middle East. Several private Chinese firms have also invested heavily in Africa. For example, Huawei, a leading global telecom services provider, has invested US$1.5 billion and employs 4,000 workers in Africa alone. The past decade's trade figures also attest to China's growing ties with Africa, having grown from just $9 billion in 2000 to $200 billion in 2012. That is more than double the US trade for last year, which stood at $95 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama steps into China’s African shadow

Spyware claims emerge in spat over Chinese dissident at NYU

"When Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States in May last year he was given a fellowship at New York University, use of a Greenwich Village apartment, and a pile of gifts from supporters, including smartphones and an iPad. But at least two of the gadgets presented to Chen as gifts may not have been quite what they seemed: They included software intended to spy on the blind dissident, according to Jerome Cohen, an NYU professor who has been Chen’s mentor, and another source familiar with the episode." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpyware claims emerge in spat over Chinese dissident at NYU

China’s state newspaper praises Edward Snowden for ‘tearing off Washington’s sanctimonious mask’

"The strongly worded front-page commentary responded to harsh criticism of China from the US for allowing Snowden to flee. 'Not only did the US authorities not give us an explanation and apology, it instead expressed dissatisfaction at the Hong Kong special administrative region for handling things in accordance with law,' wrote Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Academy of Military Science. 'In a sense, the United States has gone from a 'model of human rights' to 'an eavesdropper on personal privacy', the 'manipulator' of the centralised power over the international internet, and the mad 'invader' of other countries' networks,' the People's Daily said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina’s state newspaper praises Edward Snowden for ‘tearing off Washington’s sanctimonious mask’

Envoy says U.S. loses trust in Hong Kong after Snowden

"The top U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong warned on Thursday of a 'big struggle' ahead to repair Washington’s trust in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Speaking publicly for the first time since Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday despite a U.S. request to hold him to face charges of espionage, Consul General Stephen Young told Reuters that Washington’s confidence was 'shaken'. Young did not specify how any deterioration in ties would play out but added: 'I’ll say specifically in law enforcement co-operation – where we have a whole series of agreements, and protocols and practices – our confidence has been shaken.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEnvoy says U.S. loses trust in Hong Kong after Snowden

U.S. boss held captive by angry Chinese employees, released

"Chinese factory workers on Thursday released their U.S. boss, held captive for a week, after a compensation dispute was resolved. Chip Starnes, president of Specialty Medical Supplies, in the Beijing suburb of Huairou, was allowed to leave the factory and was resting in a hotel, the company official said. The workers had demanded severance packages identical to those offered to 30 employees who were recently laid off, even though the firm planned no further layoffs. The workers’ demands followed rumors that the entire plant was being closed after the company’s plastic injection molding division began a move to India to lower production costs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. boss held captive by angry Chinese employees, released

The Secret to Picking Winners in ‘Submerging Markets’

"With investors already on edge as global markets came unglued last week, China picked a fine time to engineer a credit crunch. Drowned out in the noise about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s tapering talk last week was the fact that half a world away, China’s banking system was caught up in a cash squeeze. Short-term lending rates tripled as the financial system essentially froze. It was frighteningly reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis in the U.S. Hedge fund managers and economists have long warned of a potential bursting of China’s debt-fueled real estate bubble, a replay of our own subprime crisis. Could this be the beginning?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Secret to Picking Winners in ‘Submerging Markets’

Ghana arrests 124 Chinese citizens for illegal Gold mining

"Local police arrested the suspected illegal miners in the country's capital, Accra. Many of them are likely to face deportation. Ghana, the continent's second-largest gold producer, has forbidden foreigners from working in its small-scale mines since the 1980s. Locals have criticised Chinese miners for taking local jobs, polluting lakes and rivers, and wielding weapons such as AK-47 rifles to ward off robbers. More than 50,000 Chinese gold miners have been to Ghana since 2005. Two-thirds of them come from Shanglin, an impoverished county in southern Guangxi province where news of the gold rush spread by word of mouth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGhana arrests 124 Chinese citizens for illegal Gold mining

China Central Bank Warns Banks on Liquidity

"China's central bank, breaking its long silence on a liquidity squeeze that has strained funding at many of the nation's banks, suggested they shouldn't look to authorities to solve their cash shortage. The surge in the cost of short-term funds, which banks use to lend to each other, stemmed from an overstretched financial sector—as inflows of funds from abroad slowed—and a mismatch between banks' short-term funding needs and long-term loans. On Monday, concerns over the funding problems led to a wave of selling in shares of midsize banks, many of them heavily reliant on the interbank market for their funds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina Central Bank Warns Banks on Liquidity

Snowden spy squabble deepens as U.S. is accused of hacking China

"Within hours of news breaking that the US had filed charges against Snowden, the South China Morning Post reported that the whistleblower had handed over a series of documents to the paper detailing how the US had targeted Chinese phone companies as part of a widespread attempt to get its hands on a mass of data. Text messaging is the most popular form of communication in mainland China where more than 900bn SMS messages were exchanged in 2012. As Snowden made his latest disclosures, he appeared to be gaining support from politicians in Hong Kong who said China should support him against any extradition application from the US." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden spy squabble deepens as U.S. is accused of hacking China

Central Bank Injects Cash After China Money Rates Jump to Records

"The People’s Bank of China added 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) to the financial system today after a cash squeeze drove money-market rates to record highs. The sum was supplied to a single lender through 'targeted liquidity operations' and more banks were in talks to obtain financing. A PBOC press official said he was unaware of the matter. Bank of China Ltd. announced on its microblog that it made all payments on time today and has never had a capital default. A spokesman for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. declined to comment on whether the lender received any financing from the central bank." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCentral Bank Injects Cash After China Money Rates Jump to Records