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News from China

China outlines roadmap to build better cities

22nd February 2016

Chinese central authorities on Sunday issued guidelines on urban development, two months after leaders met for the Central Urban Work Conference and promised to make China's sprawling cities more livable, efficient and green.

The document, from the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, set the basic principles, key tasks and targets for future urban development and management, aiming to ensure that cities are "orderly constructed, properly developed, and efficiently operated".

The last time China held a meeting like the Central Urban Work Conference was in 1978, when only 18 percent of the population lived in cities. That had increased to 56.1 percent by the end of 2015.

Urbanization in the past few decades has brought about significant social and economic changes in China, spawning problems including traffic jams, pollution and compromised public safety.

Such urban ills have provoked public ire, putting pressure on city planners to find solutions.

Chen Zhenggao, minister of housing and urban-rural development, said Sunday's document was drafted based on careful research by its ministry and 29 other related departments.

The guidelines said China will limit cities from growing beyond the means of their natural resources and environment.

Currently, Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities all have populations exceeding 20 million. Cities like Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen each have more than 10 million.

Priority will be given to the protection of farmland, while land for construction use will be "properly allocated". The country plans to take around five years to inspect and clear up illegal construction.

It also called for city planners to differentiate cities with urban landscape based on local characteristics.

Aside from the exterior of buildings, factors including resource and energy conservation as well as environmental protection should also be taken into account in the process of designing and constructing, the guidelines said.

As part of efforts to provide low-income urban residents with affordable housing, China aims to complete renovation of rundown urban areas and dilapidated housing by 2020.

China will also improve urban planning and construction of infrastructure, both underground and overground. Construction standards and project quality will be raised, the guidelines said.

To ease traffic jams in the cities, China looks to expand public transport network such as buses and railways. By 2020, China aims to raise the penetration of public transport to 40 percent in megacities, 30 percent in big cities and 20 percent in medium- and small cities.

Efforts will be intensified to cut pollutant emission in the cities with increasing supply of clean fuel to improve energy structure, the document said.

It also called for developing smart cities through various Internet technologies, such as big data and cloud computing, aiming to upgrade urban management and services.

Source: Xinhua

China Voice: Can China continue medium-high growth?

21st February 2016

With ample development room, solid growth foundations and abundant policy tools, China is believed to be able to continue to deliver above-6.5 percent GDP expansion in the next five years.

China is and will be a developing country for some time, yet its development gap with Western countries will gradually narrow, a process that will continuously create new demand and supply.

For instance, car ownership in China was 106 to every 1,000 people in 2014, compared with 800 in the United States, 620 in Germany and 340 in the Republic of Korea.

Lavish Chinese shoppers spend big on high-end products during overseas trips, indicating that domestic enterprises could earn big if meet such demand.

China's urbanization rate in terms of registered urbanites is lower than 40 percent, compared with an average of 70 percent in developed countries and 60 percent in developing countries with similar per capita income.

Rapid urbanization will last for many years, and can bring about a broad range of investment opportunities from homes and underground pipelines to railways and roads.

While China is phasing out energy-intensive and non-competitive factories, it is fostering the growth of new sectors including advanced equipment manufacturing, new materials, new energy, information technology and biotechnology.

These emerging business will continuously supply new products and services, thus, resulting in new demand. Increasingly well-off Chinese are willing and financially able to consume.

People born after 1980 spend 40 percent more than earlier generations, according to research by the Alibaba Group and the Boston Consulting Group.

Robust e-commerce and convenient delivery services have connected nearly every part of China, meaning there is ample room to further tap in to consumption potential.

China's consumers are feeling confident and upbeat despite the economic slowdown, beating the global average and most regional peers, according to a survey by market research firm Nielsen.

In an epitome of exploding online transaction, sales revenue for Alibaba's Tmall marketplace totalled 91.2 billion yuan (14 billion U.S. dollars) during the "Single's Day" shopping spree last November, surging 60 percent year on year.

Although ailing global demand has substantially dragged down China's foreign trade, the government-pushed exports of advanced industrial production capacity and cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road will open new frontier of overseas-driven growth.

Every year over 7 million college graduates -- more than the population of some countries -- enter the workforce, which may be shrinking in quantity in an aging China but increasing in quality.

Although young people are now more willing to spend, the Chinese are much more inclined than Westerners to save, which ensures abundant capital in the banking system to fund economic expansion.

China's interest rates are at relatively high levels compared with near-zero rates in many developed countries.

In the next five years, policy makers can further lower interest rates and reduce the amount banks must hold as reserve to boost investment and consumption.

Despite recent drops, China still holds the world's largest foreign exchange reserve, which is a powerful weapon and can be used to cushion financial volatility.

The government could also continue to loosen its grip on the market and open up more sectors to private investors.

To accomplish the target of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China needs to maintain its growth momentum. And the country is able to do that.

Source: Xinhua

Xi underscores CPC's leadership in news reporting

20th February 2016

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday ordered news media run by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government to strictly follow the Party's leadership and focus on "positive reporting."

Speaking in a symposium Friday afternoon after touring China's three leading news providers, the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television, Xi, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called Party- and government-run news outlets the "publicity fronts" of the party and the government.

All news media run by the Party must work to speak for the Party's will and its propositions and protect the Party's authority and unity, Xi said.

They should enhance their awareness to align their ideology, political thinking and deeds to those of the CPC Central Committee and help fashion the Party's theories and policies into conscious action by the general public while providing spiritual enrichment to the people, he said.

Marxist journalistic education must be promoted among journalists, Xi added, to make them "disseminators of the Party's policies and propositions, recorders of the time, promoters of social advancement and watchers of equality and justice."

According to Xi, the mission of the Party's media work is to provide guidance for the public, serve the country's overall interests, unite the general public, instill confidence and pool strength, tell right from wrong and connect China to the world.

To do so, Xi continued, they should also stick to guiding public opinion on the correct path in every aspect and stage of their work.

According to Xi, managing journalism and publicity is "crucial for the Party's path, the implementation of Party theories and policies, the development of various Party and state causes, the unity of the Party, the country and people of all ethnic groups, as well as the future and fate of the Party and the country."

"Truthfulness is the life of journalism, and the facts must be reported based on the truth," Xi said. "While accurately reporting individual facts, journalists must also grasp and reflect the overall situation of an event from a broad view."

The president noted that public supervision and positive publicity are two compatible functions of media. He urged media outlets to confront problems emerging from their work and social ills head-on, spreading the good and condemning the bad while practicing critical journalism based on accurate facts and objective analysis.

Calling for innovative concepts, content and methods, Xi told media groups to make use of new media's edge in publicity, amplify their voices on the international stage, tell stories about China well and build flagship media groups with strong global influence.

According to Xi, the journalism industry should accelerate its progress in fostering workers with firm political beliefs, outstanding professional skills, moral excellence and whom the Party and people can trust.

"Officials should improve their ability to interact with the media and make good use of it to publicize their policies and ideas, understand grassroots opinions, uncover conflicts and problems, guide public feelings, mobilize the people and push forward work in real life," Xi said.

Friday's symposium was attended by about 180 central media officials, Beijing municipal officials and representatives of central media groups.

Source: Xinhua

Economic Watch: Outlook bright and stable as China spends big

19th February 2016

China's slowdown may have spawned pessimism around the world, with predictions of a new round of "China doom and gloom," but the real picture in China's shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants and job market is anything but downbeat. There are few at home who foresee anything but sound, stable growth in 2016.

STEADY AS SHE GOES

Creating jobs and keeping the job market healthy is a top government priority.

The National Development and Reform Commission's Zhao Chenxin told reporters Wednesday that the economy will maintain a medium-to-high growth this year, a solid base for a steady job market.

He said large-scale unemployment is not an expected byproduct of economic restructuring, thanks to sound economic fundamentals and new growth engines. The registered unemployment rate in China's cities was 4.05 percent at the end of 2015, and China created 13.12 million new jobs for urban residents last year, both bettering official targets.

Meanwhile, consumer and producer price indices released Thursday also showed encouraging signs of stability in the economy.

China's consumer prices rose for a third consecutive month in January thanks to rising food prices, signaling easing of deflationary pressure.

SPEND, SPEND, SPEND

During the recent Lunar New Year holiday, a mini-boom demonstrated how little pessimism is evident in the real economy, with plenty of spending on presents, entertainment, tourism and travel. Statistics by the Ministry of Commerce showed that from Feb. 7 to 13, revenue of retailers and restaurants in China hit 754 billion yuan (116 billion U.S. dollars), up 11.2 percent on the comparable period last year.

From Feb. 8 to 13, Chinese cinemas took 3 billion yuan, up 67 percent. The first day of the Lunar New Year was China's best day ever at the box-office, with cinemas raking in a record 660 million yuan from 19 million moviegoers.

According to China UnionPay, source of almost all bank card transactions on the Chinese mainland, the number of people buying dinner with cards rose by six percent, with each dinner costing around 585 yuan.

According to the National Tourism Administration, tourism revenue during the Lunar New Year holiday was 13.8 billion yuan, up 14.2 percent from last year. Around 6 million people travelled abroad.

"Consumption in China... has shown remarkable resilience despite cyclical weakness and asset price volatility," said China International Capital Corporation (CICC) in a report.

In 2015, consumption generated roughly two thirds of GDP, up from just over a half in 2014.

CICC expects the growth of consumption to be relatively resilient with household incomes continuing to expand in the near term.

ON WITH REFORM!

Reform and innovation remain the anointed choices of the government to lead the economy down a sustainable, long-term path. Companies can expect government support as they upgrade their technology, products and business models and reduce their debt. A wide range of measures for emerging businesses include financial support, business parks and less red-tape.

These efforts have already paid off. An undeniable wave of innovation and entrepreneurship has swept the nation. The number of newly-registered enterprises hit 4.4 million in 2015, up 21.6 percent.

Of course, the picture is not entirely rosy. There is certainly no shortage of difficulties and challenges ahead, most notably severe structural overcapacity.

"For the government, how to manage a soft landing and find new sources of growth via structural reform and counter-cyclical economic policy is a challenging task," said Zhu Haibin, J.P. Morgan China chief economist, in a note.

Zhu expects growth to come from technological innovation, industrial upgrades, economic openness and expanded urbanization that will inevitably result from land and household registration reform.

Source: Xinhua

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