The Nation Newspaper

Tag: china

  • China to take off six million vehicles on road

    China’s government plans to take six million older, polluting vehicles off the road this year in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.

    The plan also calls for filling stations in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities to switch to selling only the cleanest grades of gasoline and diesel.

    The order comes after China failed to meet official pollution-reduction goals for 2011-2013, the statement said. It said vehicles registered before 2005 that fail to meet cleaner emissions standards will be “phased out,” though it did not say how.

    It called the country’s environmental situation “extremely grim.”

    China has about 240 million vehicles on the road, and half are passenger cars, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

    China is the world’s biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold. Sales rose 15.7 per cent last year to 17.9 million vehicles. Sales growth is slowing but analysts still expect an increase of eight to 10 percent this year.

    China’s major cities are smothered in eye-searing smog. The country has some of the world’s strictest emissions standards, but authorities have refrained from enforcing them until now to avoid forcing older, pollution-belching trucks off the road and hurting small businesses.

    The announcement suggests authorities have settled that conflict in favour of environmental protection following reports on the mounting health and economic costs of pollution.

    Plans call for retiring five million older, polluting vehicles in Beijing, the nearby port of Tianjin and the deltas of the Yangtze River, around Shanghai, and the Pearl River, around the southern business center of Guangzhou, according to the statement. It gave no details on where the remaining 1 million vehicles due to be taken off the road were.

    Taxi fleets and public buses in major cities have been required to switch to cleaner-burning natural gas or battery power. The government is promoting development of an electric car manufacturing industry.

    City governments in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities have imposed curbs on new vehicle restrictions in an attempt to reduce smog and traffic congestion.

  • ‘China’s GDP may fall to five per cent’

    ‘China’s GDP may fall to five per cent’

    A researcher at an influential think-tank linked to China’s state cabinet has predict economic growth could slow to around  five  percent in the next two to three years, a forecast that contrasts with rosier official estimates.

    Ren Zeping, the deputy director of the macroeconomic research department at the Development Research Centre, said the economy was shifting gear from high-speed growth to medium-speed expansion.

    As such, he said growth in the world’s second-biggest economy may slow to about 7.2 per cent this year and then to around six per cent in 2015, and eventually to around five per cent in the next two to three years.

    The government has forecast growth of 7.5 per cent this year, but has said it would be comfortable with a slightly slower rate. Analysts polled by Reuters expect growth to slow to a 24-year low of 7.3 per cent. Ren said inadequate domestic demand had led to a steady deceleration in the economy since 2010, offsetting a recovery in world demand after the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

    The Development Research Centre is one of many institutions that makes policy recommendations to Chinese leaders. Despite its high standing, its advice is not always taken on board.

     

     

    Ren’s predictions are more dire than other forecasts from the government. Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said earlier this month that he was confident of sustaining economic growth of between seven to eight per cent in the next decade.

     

     

    Hurt by slowing domestic investment growth and falling exports, the economy grew an annual 7.4 percent in the first quarter, its weakest rate in 18 months.

  • ‘China gas deal’ll affect prices in Europe’

    ‘China gas deal’ll affect prices in Europe’

    Russia’s landmark deal to supply natural gas to China will affect prices in Europe and have an impact on international liquefied natural gas projects, the chief executive of state-run Gazprom said on Friday.

    Russia and China signed a 30-year gas supply contract on Wednesday worth a total of more than $400-billion (237.5 billion pounds), during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to Shanghai.

    The EU has named 15 politicians and military leaders that will be subject to asset freezes and travel bans. But as Ivor Bennett reports few expect it to have a significant impact in Russia and Gazprom has warned it could be Europe that ends up suffering.

    “Literally a day ago a really historical event took place, an epoch-making event. We, Russia and Gazprom, have discovered the Asian gas market for ourselves,” Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

    “It can be assumed that the signing of the contract will affect gas prices on the European market,” he said without giving any details.

    Miller added that the deal will also have an impact on LNG projects in eastern Africa, Australia and western Canada.

     

     

    Fitch Ratings said on Thursday that the deal “sets a new benchmark for what China is willing to pay for natural gas over longer-term contracts”.

    The deal opens up a huge new market for Gazprom, which generates around 80 per cent of its revenue from Europe, where demand is stagnating and profits are falling.

    “This is the contract, which will influence the whole gas market,” Miller said.

    Neither side disclosed the price in the Russia-China contract, but industry sources said it was between $350 and $380 per 1,000 cubic metres, similar to what most European utilities pay under discounted long-term contracts signed in the last two years.

    Gazprom has yet to build a pipeline to carry 38 billion cubic metres of gas annually to China from 2018. Russia and China have agreed on a $25-billion prepayment under a supply deal, Alexander Medvedev, chief executive of Gazprom Export, said on Friday.

  • PHOTOS: Latest #bringbackourgirls protests

    PHOTOS: Latest #bringbackourgirls protests

  • Britain, China, France join battle to rescue schoolgirls

    Britain, China, France join battle to rescue schoolgirls

    Britain, Franceand China have joined the battle to rescue the school girls abducted by the fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram.

    They are to deploy their Satellite Imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies to assist Nigeria in rescuing the over 200 girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State.

    The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, broke the news yesterday. He told State House correspondent that the President spoke with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, on the phone yesterday after meeting with Premier Li Keqiang of China at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The United States’ offer to help has also been accepted.

    U.S. President Barack Obama said in a report monitored on television: “Obviously it’s a heartbreaking situation. Outrageous situation. We’ve already sent in a team to Nigeria.  They’ve accepted our help through a combination of military, law enforcement, and other agencies which are going in, trying to identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help.”

    Abati said: “In furtherance of efforts by the Federal Government to locate and rescue the girls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Wednesday requested and received a commitment from Britain to deploy its intelligence gathering resources in support of Nigeria’s security agencies currently engaged in the search and rescue operation.”

    “President Jonathan, who spoke with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron on telephone after meeting with Premier Li Keqiang of China, who is on an official visit to Nigeria, asked and received a promise of the deployment of British Satellite Imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies  in support of the ongoing effort.”

    “The President thanked Mr. Cameron,  the British Government  and people for their concern over the fate of the abducted girls and their willingness to provide concrete assistance to save the girls from the terrorists who  seized them from their school.”

    According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will liaise with the British Government through its High Commission in Nigeria to work out practical details of the promised support and collaboration against terrorism.

    British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I’m the father of two young daughters and my reaction is the same as every father or mother in this land or the world. This is an act of pure evil, it has united people across the planet to stand with Nigeria to help find these children and return them to their parents.”

    For the Chinese support, Abati said: “The Peoples’ Republic of China has also offered to assist in the effort to rescue the abducted girls. In talks with President Jonathan earlier today, Premier Li Keqiang promised that his country will make any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services available to Nigeria’s security agencies.”

    “Mr. Keqiang assured the President that China will support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism in every possible way, including the training of military personnel for anti-insurgency operations.”

    Francejoined yesterday the United States and Britain in offering to send security service agents to Nigeria to help rescue the girls.

    With more than 4,000 troops operating between Mali to the west and Central African Republic to the east, Paris has a major interest in preventing Nigeria’s security situation from deteriorating, having previously voiced concerns that Boko Haram could spread further north into the Sahel.

    Having ousted al Qaeda-linked militants from Mali last year, France is planning to redeploy its forces across West Africa this summer to target Islamist groups taking advantage of porous borders between southern Libya, northern Chad and Niger.

    “The President has instructed … to put the (intelligence) services at the disposal of Nigeria and neighboring countries,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told lawmakers.

    “This morning he asked us to contact the Nigerian president to tell him that a specialised unit with all the means we have in the region was at the disposal of Nigeria to help find and recover these young girls.”

    Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month and has threatened to sell them into slavery, causing global outrage and bringing the Nigerian-based group firmly into the international spotlight.

    “In the face of such ignominy, France must react. This crime cannot be left unpunished,” Fabius said.

    A French diplomatic source said Paris had an existing military and intelligence cooperation with Nigeria, but that it was offering an additional “specialised team” from the external DGSE intelligence service.

    “The Nigerian authorities have to get back to us and tell us exactly what their needs are,” the source said, adding that Fabius was due to speak to his Nigerian counterpart later yesterday.

    President Francois Hollande, during a trip to Abuja in February, promised help to fight Boko Haram, saying Nigeria’s struggle was also that of France.

    “This may be the catalyst the international community needs to fight Boko Haram,” another diplomat said.

    In February 2013, the group kidnapped a French family of seven on holiday in northern Cameroon, releasing them months later.

    Hollande at the time denied a ransom had been paid, but a confidential Nigerian government report seen by Reuters said Boko Haram was given the equivalent of $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators.

    The kidnapping was one of a series of attacks on French targets in West Africa since France launched a military intervention in Mali to oust al Qaeda Islamists who had forged links with Boko Haram.

    Nigeria has complained that the Far North region of Cameroon is being used by Boko Haram militants to transport weapons and hide from a six-month military offensive against them. It has appealed to Cameroon to tighten border security.

    Officials in Niger, where France has based surveillance drones, have also voiced concern about infiltration by Boko Haram across the country’s southern border.

    “We’re already at the forefront of the fight against terrorists in the Sahel and with borders so easy to cross these groups are linked,” one of the diplomats said. “We have knowledge in neighboring countries that can help.”

    Pentagon: no military operations planned yet for Nigeria

    The U.S. will not launch any military operations in Nigeria, it was learnt yesterday.

    The Pentagon is sending fewer than 10 military troops as part of the U.S. effort to help find the girls.

    A Pentagon spokesman said officials have no plans now to launch any military operations.

    Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the troops would be arriving in a few days as part of the larger U.S. assistance team to include State Department and Justice Department personnel. The military members will help with communications, logistics and intelligence planning.

    Warren said the U.S. was talking with Nigeria about information and intelligence sharing, but nothing had been decided.

    There are already about 70 military personnel in Nigeria, including 50 regularly assigned to the embassy, and 20 Marines have been there for training.

  • China to assist Nigeria

    China to assist Nigeria

    Nigeria has accepted China’s offer to deploy security personnel and assets to help Nigerian troops in the search and rescue operation for the girls.

    Speaking at a joint news conference after bilateral talks with the Premier of the State Council of China, Li Keqiang at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Jonathan said that the two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation on fighting piracy and organised crimes.

    He said: “The Premier promised that China will assist Nigeria in our fight against terror, especially our commitment and efforts to rescue the girls that were taken away from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.”

    “We agreed to deepen cooperation in the field of defence and security and strenghten cooperation in counter terrorism, anti-piracy and combating organised crimes.

    “The Premier expressed firm support to efforts at safeguarding our sovereignty and secure our territorial integrity as well as promoting economic development,” Jonathan said.

    He went on: “We examined issues of common interest to our countries. We reviewed, in particular, our economic, trade, political and cultural relations.

    “We are satisfied with the achievements recorded in those fields. We also agreed that the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership between our two countries coming up in 2015 should be marked to further deepen our relations.”

    The two countries also sought to maintain visits at all levels, including between governments, political parties and legislatures towards promoting mutual understanding and trust.

    Continuing, Jonathan said: “I reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to the one-China policy while the Premier expressed firm support for  our efforts to safeguard our national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity as well as promoting economic development.”

    “We agreed to encourage our bastions, companies to further deepen cooperation in infrastructure development especially the railways, power plants and airports.”

    “We also agreed that the economic cooperation zones established by the Chinese enterprise in Nigeria have achieved tangible progress and that those enterprises should be encouraged to invest in various fields of the Nigerian economy.”

    According to him, they also expressed support for the financial institutions of the two countries for cooperation in on-lending to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

    “We also undertook that the central Banks of the two countries should promote local currency settlements to facilitate bilateral trade and investment.”

    “At the end of our discussions, our ministers signed a number of bilateral cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding, among them is the bilateral air services agreement which will definitely promote greater people to people contact and also enhance bilateral trade and commerce.” He added

    The Chinese Premier, who spoke through an interpreter, disclosed that the two countries agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, financial services, trade and investment, agriculture, air services, aerospace and people to people exchange.

    He said that China also wanted to work with Nigeria to ensure a quality and safety of mutual exchange and export.

    According to him, Nigeria is one of China’s trading partners in Africa and in 2013, trade between both countries reached about 30.6 billion US dollars (about N4.9 trillion).

    He said: “I wish to emphasise that we know that the government and people of Nigeria pay high attention to coastal rail project in Nigeria.”

    “The project is quite significant to the national security and economic development of the country.

    “Chinese companies have already shown a key interest in this project and the chinese government will give support to the cooperations between the two sides on the project in terms of financing and experts.”

    “We want to work with Nigeria to the conclusion of the project so that it will bring benefits to the people of Nigeria,” he said

    “Nigeria has become the largest economy in the Africa continent. Moreover the Nigerian economy has sustained the upward momentum,” he said.

    He hoped to see more trade between both countries and stronger cooperation in the development of agriculture in Nigeria.

  • Diaspora remittances to hit $436b

    About $436billion is expected to be remitted by international migrant workers to their home countries this year, the World Bank has said, adding that the remittances represent a 7.8 per cent increase over last year’s figures.

    In its latest issue of Migration and Development Brief released at the bank’s headquarters in Washington DC, at the weekend, it said this year’s remittance flows to developing countries are equivalent of 7.8 per cent increase over the $404billion remitted last year.

    It added that over the next two years, these remittamces are expected to jump to $516billion.

    The bank noted that Nigeria remained the largest recipient of diaspora receipts in sub-Sahara Africa, with migrants remitting about $21billion last year to the country. The report added that the country is ramping up a diaspora bond issue to mobilise savings and boost financing for development.

    According to the global lender, remittances to sub-Sahara Africa grew by 3.5 per cent last year to reach $32billion, stating that flows are forecast to rise to $41billion in 2016.

    The International Development and Reconstruction Bank (IDRB) said “global remittances, including those to high-income countries, are estimated at $581billion this year, from $542billion in 2013, rising to $681billion in 2016.”

    The bank noted that remittances have assumed a key source of external resource flows to developing countries, far above the receipts from official development assistance. It identified India, China and the Phillipines as countries among the greatest beneficiaries.

    It said for many developing countries, remittances are an important source of foreign exchange, surpassing earnings from major exports, and in a sense standing as foreign reserves covering a substantial portion of imports.

    Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, Kaushik Basu, said: “Remittances have become a major component of the balance of payments of nations. India led the chart of remittance flows, receiving $70billion last year, followed by China with $60billion and the Phillipines with $25billion. There’s no doubt that these flows act as an antidote to poverty and promote prosperity.”

    The bank noted that while the medium-term outlook for remittances is strong, it feared that associated risks arising mainly from conflicts, or migrants return to their home countries as a result of deportation, cannot be overlooked.

    According to the report, last year witnessed a steep rise in deportation, with more than 370,000 migrants sent back to their home countries from Saudi Arabia, another 368,000 from the US and over 484,560 from Europe.

  • BoE to sign agreement with China on Yuan clearing

    The Bank of England and People’s Bank of China plan to sign an agreement next week to enable the clearing and settlement of yuan transactions in London as the United Kingdom(UK) seeks to become an offshore hub for trading the currency.

    An initial agreement stipulating cooperation between the central banks will be signed March 31, the U.K. Treasury said in an e-mailed statement today. The accord will be the first of its kind outside Asia, according to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who said he is looking forward to the appointment of a clearing bank soon.

    “Other Western countries will follow, but London now has the critical mass of infrastructure, helping to put Britain at the front of the global race,” Osborne said in the statement.

    London is competing with European cities, including Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Luxembourg, to lure Chinese investment by becoming centers for yuan trading. The BOE in June became the first central bank in Europe to establish a currency-swap facility with the PBOC, supporting yuan traders by providing liquidity when needed.

    More than 60 percent of yuan payments outside China are made in London, the Treasury said, citing SWIFT data. London asset managers can invest directly in Chinese stocks in the currency, unlike fund managers in other Western nations.

    Prime Minister David Cameron and Osborne sought to boost trade with emerging-market economies, with both leading business delegations to China in 2013.

    Cameron and President Xi Jinping discussed cooperation between the two central banks at a meeting of the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands.

     

  • Dog sold for $2m in China

    In what has been described as the most expensive dog sale ever, a Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold in China for almost 2 million dollars, a report said on Wednesday.

    A property developer paid 12 million yuan (1.9 million dollars) for the one-year-old golden-haired mastiff at a “luxury pet” fair on Tuesday, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.

    “They have lion’s blood and are top-of-the-range mastiff studs,” the dog’s breeder Zhang Gengyun was quoted as saying adding that another red-haired canine had sold for six million yuan (about a million dollars).

    Enormous and sometimes ferocious, with round manes lending them a passing resemblance to lions, Tibetan mastiffs have become a prized status symbol among China’s wealthy, sending prices skyrocketing.

    The golden-haired animal is 80 centimetres (31 inches) tall, and weighed 90 kilogrammes (nearly 200 pounds), Zhang said, adding that he was sad to sell the animals.

    “Pure Tibetan mastiffs are very rare, just like our nationally treasured pandas, so the prices are so high,” he said.

    One red mastiff named “Big Splash” reportedly sold for 10 million yuan (1.5 million dollars) in 2011, in the most expensive dog sale then recorded.

    The buyer at the Zhejiang expo was said to be a 56-year-old property developer from Qingdao who hopes to breed dogs himself, according to the report.

    The report quoted the owner of a mastiff breeding Website as saying that last year one animal sold for 27 million yuan at a fair in Beijing.

    But an industry insider surnamed Xu said that the high prices may be the result of insider agreements among breeders to boost their dogs’ worth.

    “A lot of the sky-high priced deals are just breeders hyping each other up, and no money actually changes hands,” Xu said.

    Owners say the mastiffs, descendants of dogs used for hunting by nomadic tribes in central Asia and Tibet, are fiercely loyal and protective.

  • Missing Jet: Malaysia to send high-level team to China

    Malaysia will soon send a “high-level team’’ to China to meet the relatives of passengers of the missing Malaysian jet and update them on the multinational effort to find the aircraft.

    The team will include officials from the office of Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Foreign Ministry and Malaysian Airlines.

    The team is to be led by Akbar bin Haji Abdul Samad, an operations commander of the air force, Hishamuddin Hussein, said at a news conference.

    There were scuffles as relatives of passengers on flight MH370 were stopped from entering the room by Malaysian police, according to the report.