In this Issue:

Coming Events

General News on Chinese Economy

Agriculture

Consumer Goods

Environment & Energy

Telecom & IT

Medical & Healthcare

Other Sectors

Stimulus Plans against Economic Crisis

Coming Events

Mar 30 – Apr 1: Israeli Telecom business delegation to Chengdu and Chongqing
The Israeli Trade Mission to China is organizing a delegation of Israeli Telecom Companies to West China’s Chongqing and Chengdu , exploring "Second Tire" which have rapidly developed in the last few years and now offer verity of worthwhile business opportunities for both large and medium-scale companies. The delegation will enable Israeli Telecom companies to meet with local telcos to better understand the current drastic changes and potential opportunities in the Telecom sectors in the area. Companies interested participating in the delegation may contact Ms. Luo Xia, tel: 86-10-85320664.

General news on Chinese economy

China's January Fiscal Revenue Down 17.1 Pct
China's fiscal revenue fell 17.1 percent in January from a year earlier to $89.77 billion, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said. The ministry attributed the decline to slowing economic growth, which affected business profitability, and wide-ranging tax cuts to boost the economy. Another reason for the steep decrease was that the number of working days was 5 less than the same month last year because of the Spring Festival holiday, the MOF said. (Feb 16, Xinhua)

Foreign Investment in China Plunges in January
China's actual use of foreign investment plunged 32.67 percent year on year to 7.54 billion U.S. dollars in January, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) official said in Beijing. Foreign investment use has seen consecutive falls in China since October, when a 2.02-percent annual drop was recorded. (Feb 16, Xinhua)

Property Prices in Chinese Cities Fall at a Faster Rate in Jan.
The property prices in 70 major Chinese cities fell 0.9 percent in January from a year earlier, a faster fall than in December, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said. New home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities dropped 1.4 percent compared with the same period last year, 0.6 percentage points faster than Dec. decline. The grim economic situation and future uncertainties have dampened home buying. The Chinese government has announced a stimulus package for the ailing property industry in December, emphasizing low-income housing and home ownership. However, it would take some time for the stimulus measures to pay off. (Feb 12, Xinhua)

China's Export Value Down 17.5 Pct in Jan.
China's export volume went down 17.5 percent year-on-year to 90.45 billion U.S. dollars in January, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday. The import volume, however, fell by a much larger degree of 43.1 percent to 51.34 billion U.S. dollars. Total foreign trade was 141.8 billion U.S. dollars, with the trade surplus up 102 percent over the same month of last year to 39.1 billion U.S. dollars. (Feb 11, Xinhua)

China's Foreign Trade Tops $ 2.56 Trillion in Value, But Slows in 2008
China's foreign trade topped 2.56 trillion U.S. dollars in value in 2008, but the year-on-year growth rate dropped below 20 percent for the first time in seven years, according to the General Administration of Customs. The total value was up 17.8 percent compared with 2007, but the growth rate was down 5.7 percentage points. Exports were up 17.2 percent to 1.43 trillion U.S. dollars and imports up 18.5 percent to 1.13 trillion U.S. dollars, but the annual export growth rate slowed by 8.5 and imports by 2.3 percentage points. The trade surplus stood at 295.47 billion U.S. dollars, up 12.5 percent, according to the administration.  (Feb 6, Xinhua) 

China's economy grows 9% in 2008 
China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 30.0670 trillion yuan (4.4216 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2008, up 9 percent year on year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Jan 22. (Jan 22, Xinhua)

China's think tank forecasts 8.3% GDP growth in 2009 
China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to drop to 8.3 percent in 2009, the country's major think tank said Monday. The report, issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), predicted China's economy slowdown in the first half year due to the unfavorable international economic environment. The report also said that the unprecedented stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan (586 billion U.S. dollars) will poise China for an early recovery in the third quarter. The government set the goal of 8 percent growth this year at the Central Economic Work Conference held on Dec. 8. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) predicted last week that China's GDP growth would slow to 8.4 percent in 2009. (Jan 19, Xinhua)

Guangdong remains China's No. 1 economic powerhouse in terms of GDP 
Guangdong Province remains China's biggest economic powerhouse with last year's gross domestic product about 521 billion U.S. dollars, or about 5,400 U.S. dollars per capita, according to the provincial bureau of statistics. Guangdong Province has taken the lead in China's economic development for 20 consecutive years since 1989. (Jan 26, Xinhua)

More than 2,400 S. China factories close, suspend work amid economic downturn
A local official in Guangdong Province said Friday that 2,452 manufacturing companies had closed or suspended production last year in the southern part of the province because of the world economic and financial downturn. Among the closed companies, 96 percent were small or medium-sized. (Feb 14, People’s Daily Online)

China-Israel Bilateral Economic News

China Telecom Selects Amdocs to Support New CDMA Operations
Amdocs has implemented a new business support system (BSS) for Tianjin Telecom and Jilin Telecom subsidiaries of China Telecom Corporation, and completed the migration of existing CDMA users from China Unicom. Amdocs provides billing, CRM, mediation and partner management capabilities for the CDMA mobile operations, as well as broadband and fixed-line operations. Amdocs delivered solution design, software delivery, systems integration, local project management and IT infrastructure support services, and has migrated all former Unicom CDMA customers to meet China Telecom's deadline of December 2008. (Jan 16, CATR)

Agriculture

China Sets Fertilizer Import Tariff Quota at 13.65 Mln Tones for 2009
China set the import tariff quota for fertilizers this year at 13.65 million tones, said China's Ministry of Commerce. The quota, under which the imported goods could enjoy favorable tariff, included 3.3 million tones for carbamide, 6.9 million tones of diammonium phosphate and 3.45 million tones of compound fertilizer (Jan 30, Xinhua)

Consumer Goods

Suning sets timetable for 3G phone sales in Beijing
Suning Appliance Co Ltd, one of the largest home appliance retailers in China, announced that around 100,000 3G mobile phones will be available at its Beijing outlets by May 17. It is also reported that other domestic retail chains like GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd and Dazhong Electronics Co plan to sell 3G cell phones in the first half year of 2009. However, neither of them has revealed the specific timetable for the sale. (Feb 10, CATR)

Chinese Festive Spending Remains Robust to Over $42 Bln
China's spending enthusiasm over the Lunar New Year holiday seemed undimmed by the global financial crisis, figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed. Retail sales rose 13.8 percent to 290 billion yuan (42.4 billion U.S. dollars), from 255 billion yuan over last year's week-long Lunar New Year holiday, or Spring Festival. The robust spending was helped by sales promotions in major cities as well as government subsidies for farmers to purchase home appliances. (Jan 31, Xinhua)

Home appliance subsidies could mean $234 billion in sales by 2012 
As many as 600 million home appliances worth about 234 billion U.S. dollars could be sold in rural China by 2012 as government subsidies expand to cover more people and more products, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) estimated Feb 11. Starting on Feb. 1, all of China's more than 700 million farmers became eligible for subsidies equal to 13 percent of the price of designated home appliances. The subsidy was originally offered in a pilot program in three provinces in 2007. Subsidies were expanded to 12 provinces in December 2008 and four more items were added to the list: motorcycles, personal computers, water heaters and air conditioners. Originally, the subsidies covered such items as color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and mobile phones. (Feb 12, Xinhua)

China's Haier Made Nearly $18 Billion Revenue In 2008
Chinese electronics maker Haier made revenue of nearly $18 billion in global markets in 2008, a year-on-year increase of 8%. Local Chinese media reports state the company's overseas revenue went up 9.8% compared with the same period in 2007 while its profits increased by 20.6%. Haier says its performance growth in domestic Chinese market in 2008 mainly attributed to China's policy of promoting home appliances in Chinese villages. (Feb 3, ChinaTechNews)

Environment & Energy

China to pump 21.3b yuan into water diversion program
China will invest 21.3 billion yuan ($3.11 billion) in the south-to-north water diversion program this year, according to office in charge of the program under the State Council. The total input will include 6.5 billion yuan from the central government, two billion yuan from the south-to-north water diversion program fund and 12.8 billion yuan in bank loans. The program will take 40 to 50 years to complete.  (2009-2-1Xinhua)

China adds funds to treat salinization of inland fresh water lake 
A government fund of 75 million yuan (11 million USD) will be in place this year to treat salinization of China's largest inland fresh water lake of Bagrax (Bosten) in northwestern Xinjiang.

The regional government said the biological restoration plan for the lake will take years of efforts
Xinjiang started to treat the salinization of the 972-sq km lake in 2006. Four waste water processing works were built by the lake with a loan of 4.95 million euros from the Austrian government and the local government funding from 2006 to 2008.   (2009-1-28 Xinhua)

China invests US$139m for safe drinking water in Tibet
Ministry of Water Resources spent 953 million yuan (US$139.3 million), from 2000 to September 2008, to provide safe drinking water for 1.44 million farmers and herdsmen in southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The Ministry said under the safe drinking water program, nearly 10,000 drinking water facilities were built in 73 cities and counties Tibet. Approximately 8.86 million livestock had also benefited from the program.  The program will cover all rural people in Tibet by 2010.  (2009-2-1 China Daily)

Chinese leader calls for closer cooperation in environmental protection with Germany
Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday at a forum on China-Germany economic and technological cooperation that China is ready to enhance cooperation with Germany in resource conservation and environmental protection. The Chinese government, which gives high priority to resource conservation and environmental protection, has laid down a national program on fighting climate change. (2009-2-1Xinhua News Agency)

A 1000KW solar power plant to be built in Ningxia China
The 1000KW solar thermal airflow power plant was formally built in Ningwu City, Ningxia Autonomous Region. Ningxia is rich in solar energy resources. Yinchuan, capital city of Ningxia ranks 3rd in solar energy utilization status among 31 provincial cities around the country, second only to Lhasa, and Hohhot. Solar energy in Ningxia is mostly distributed in the northern part. And the largest share is concentrated in Ningwu and Tongxin, where there is much direct radiation and little diffuse radiation, which is favorable for solar energy utilization. (Energy Net 2009-02-12)

Beijing to build Asia`s first MW-class solar power plant China
The Asia’s first MW-class tower solar thermal power generation technology application project will be settled in Badaling, Beijing. By the year end, a 100m-high solar heat collecting tower will stand in Badaling Town, Beijing Evening News reports. The MW-class tower solar thermal power generation technology and system demonstration project is the key part of the ”National 863 Hi-tech Project” launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology during the “11th Five-Year Plan" period. It’s planned a solar energy lab and a solar heat absorbing tower will be built early this year. The construction plan is expected to go into operation by the year end. (Energy Net 2009-02-12)

China`s largest wind power facility R&D center to be established in Xi`an
China Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation would invest another 6 billion yuan (882.4 million U.S. dollars) in western China`s Xi`an city to build the largest wind power facility research center, said the company. According to the agreement between the company and the Xi’an municipal government, 4 billion yuan will be invested first in six wind power product manufacturing projects, which are scheduled to be completed in 2011. The second phase involves an investment of 2 billion yuan to build railway transportation and develop wind power system by 2015. (Xinhua 2009-02-09)

China to double efforts in promoting new energy construction
China will accelerate steps to shut down small, technologically out-dated and high energy-consuming thermal power plants, coal mines and oil refineries, and accelerate the construction of large-scale energy infrastructures and major energy projects, according to the National Energy Bureau. This year, China`s total investment in power generation will reach 580 billion yuan, and the construction of nuclear and wind power plants will be significantly put forward.  Starting this year, several 10 million-kilowatt-plus capacity wind power bases will be built in places including Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Jiangsu over the course of the next 10 or so years. (People`s Daily Online 2009-02-05)

Dalian Petrochemical builds China's largest wastewater utilization project
Dalian Petrochemical Corporation recently built China's largest wastewater utilization project, turning saline seawater and urban sewage into high-quality processed water with its advanced equipment. This project has a daily capacity of 30,000 tons of boiler replenishing water and circulation water. Dalian Petrochemical has also made investments to build a seawater desalinization project to make up for the large amount of freshwater its refining and petrochemical enterprises consume daily. The desalinization project uses world-class reverse osmosis technology and can produce 5,500 tons of freshwater each day. (Feb 13, People’s Daily Online)

Telecom & IT

Telecom

Chinese handset chip market down in '08
According to CCID Consulting, after a period of rapid growth over the past few years, the China mobile handset chip market experienced a steep decline in 2008. The market research firm predicts that the scale of China's mobile phone chips market is expected to reach Rs.80,147.98 crore (RMB 110 billion), up by 6 per cent, down to single-digit growth for the first time. In the coming years, the mobile phone chip market will rarely regain its explosive growth, as the mobile phone chip sector has entered the stage of flat growth from that of a rapid one. (Feb 19, CATR)

China's Wireless Service Xiaolingtong Ordered to Be Closed in 3 Years
Chinese telecom regulators have ordered China Telecom and China Unicom to close their wireless telephone service Xiaolingtong in the next three years to clear the way for the development of the country's home-grown 3G standard TD-SCDMA. China Telecom and China Unicom confirmed that they were told to shut down the low-cost wireless telephone service Xiaolingtong, technically known as the personal access system (PAS), by the end of 2011. The Chinese government worries that Xiaolingtong will interfere with signals of the country's upcoming TD-SCDMA service, which has recently been granted an expanded frequency band close to that currently used by Xiaolingtong.  (Feb 4, China Daily)

Carriers

China Mobile to Invest Another 500 Mln USD in Pakistan
China Mobile will invest another 500 million U.S. dollars in Pakistan during the year 2009, the company's subsidiary in Pakistan disclosed on Feb 13. The money will be earmarked for building new network capacity and other infrastructure, the CM Pak Ltd. (CM Pak), China Mobile's wholly-owned subsidiary in Pakistan said in a statement. (Feb 13, Xinhua)

China Telecom Expects 100 Mln CDMA Users by 2011
China Telecom expects the number of CDMA users will increase to 100 million in the next three years, said Shang Bing, president of China Telecom, in a company close-door forum. He said China Telecom aimed to sign up 35 million CDMA users in 2009. Since the Chinese government issued the long-awaited license for the third generation (3G) mobile phone telephony in January, China Telecom has been accelerating the development pace of the CDMA network and services to challenge market leader China Mobile. (Feb 13, ChinaDaily)

China's Telecom's " Cell Phones to Countryside" Campaign 
China’s rural areas are proving fertile ground for China Mobile as half of the company’s new users every year are springing up from rural markets. Both China Telecom and China Unicom are also looking to the nation’s vast countryside for growth opportunities in highly competitive telecoms market.  China Telecom has been declared the sole nationwide telecoms supply for the “home appliances to rural areas” project, part of the central government’s economic stimulus package, and is promoting its cell phones on rural markets. (Feb 10, CATR)

China Telecom to Buy 20m 3G Phones for Service Launch
China Telecom will purchase 20 million 3G handsets from manufacturers in 2009 and plans to launch its second round of handset procurement shortly. China Telecom is scheduled to launch 3G wireless broadband services in 324 cities within the first six months of 2009 and pour 80 billion yuan ($11.70 billion) into CDMA network upgrade and expansion in the coming three years, when the company expects to increase the number of its CDMA users to 100 million from 28 million. China Telecom launched its first round of 3G handsets bidding last year and, more recently, began its 3G data card procurement process. (Feb 9, ChinaDaily)

China Unicom: GPRS Promotions Coupled with Expansion of WCDMA Net
Even though China Unicom is scheduled to kick off WCDMD 3G services in 282 cities this year, it will still put the priority on 2G businesses for some time, because the 3G services are nowhere near profitability. The Chinese telecom carrier kicked off much-hyped promotional activities to market its GPRS 2G services on January 15 through April 15. During the promotions, China Unicom would team up with Internet companies such as Souhu.com and Kongzhong.com, independent WAP websites, and mobile phone Web browser developer UCWeb to market its value added services. It has set a goal of making CNY 495 million in WAP sales and CNY 105 million from multimedia messaging services. (Feb 17, CATR)

Unicom in Talks with Apple for Launch of the iPhone 3G
China Unicom, expected to start 3G services in May, is negotiating with Apple Inc to launch the iPhone 3G in China's mainland, and if an agreement is sealed it will probably be the first legal iPhone sold in the domestic market. Though the iPhone hasn't been introduced in the mainland officially, several million smuggled iPhones are sold in the mainland. (Feb 12, Shanghai Daily)

Equipment Manufacturers

Ericsson wins 30 pct of China Unicom order
Telecom equipment maker Ericsson won 30 percent of a deal to build China Unicom's 3G mobile network in a recent tender, a spokesman for the Swedish firm said. China Unicom and China Telecom will spend around 30 billion yuan ($4.39 billion) each this year on building 3G networks, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last month. China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier and Ericsson's biggest customer, will spend 58.8 billion yuan in 2009 to build out its 3G network. (Feb 19, CATR)

Huawei shows off Unified LTE Solution at Mobile World Congress
Huawei Technologies showed off frequency-division duplex and time-division duplex (FDD/TDD) long term evolution (LTE) solution at the Mobile World Congress fair in Barcelona. The latest solution from the company allows operators to utilize spectrum resources more efficiently and thereby help them deploy superior quality mobile broadband networks at a considerably lower cost, said the company. (Feb 19, CATR)

Huawei, Intel To Jointly Build WiMAX Test Lab In Beijing
Huawei Technologies has announced that it is cooperating with Intel to build a WiMAX interoperability testing laboratory in Beijing. Zhao Ming, president for Huawei's CDMA and WiMAX product line, says that the company is glad to play an active role in this cooperation. With the cooperation with Intel in the development of this advanced test laboratory in Beijing, Huawei will be able to further promote research of WiMAX technologies. At the same time, the systematic and rigorous testing in the new Beijing laboratory will accelerate the development of WiMAX operators across the world. Sriram Viswanathan, vice president for Intel Capital and general manager for Intel's WiMAX program office, says Intel is dedicated to providing market-ready and interoperable WiMAX-enabled devices.  (Feb 16, ChinaTechNews)

Huawei Deploys First 4G Commercial Network In Norway
Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies has announced that the company has won a contract from TeliaSonera, one of the largest telecommunications operators in the Nordic and Baltic regions, to deploy the world's first LTE commercial network in Oslo, the capital of Norway. According to the contract, Huawei will provide end-to-end LTE solutions to TeliaSonera, including base stations, core network, operating support system and network planning and implementation. (Jan 20, ChinaTechNews)

Intel To Relocate Shanghai Manufacturing Plant
The global financial crisis has hit Intel, as the company announced it will shift some assembly and test facilities from Shanghai to Chengdu, a move that will affect about 2,000 Intel employees in Shanghai. The public relations department of Intel told local media that because both of Intel's Shanghai and Chengdu plants are assembly and test plants, the company will move the one in Pudong, Shanghai, to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, over the next 12 months. After the adjustment, the production capacity of the Chengdu plant will be increased and the Shanghai plant will be closed. (Feb 9, ChinaTechNews)

Motorola China Slashes 1000 Employees
Motorola China laid off almost 1000 employees on Tuesday from its mobile research and development department, the Beijing Evening News reports. An executive in Motorola China's electronics department confirmed the layoff on Wednesday, without giving a specific number.  But a Motorola financial report for the last quarter of 2008 indicated that the international company sacked some 4000 employees globe wide during the period, with three fourth of them from Motorola's mobile-related sectors. However, the officer neither confirmed whether Motorola's global layoffs include the current slashes in China. (Feb 11, CRI)

Samsung Wins Big In China Telecom's First 3G Mobile Phone Tender
China Telecom has signed contracts with seven mobile phone makers to purchase 3G CDMA2000 EVDO mobile phones from these companies, and Samsung has come out on top. China Telecom's Vice President Yang Xiaowei and its two vice general managers for the terminal management center, Mao Daojie and Ma Wu, attended the signing ceremony for the winning bids. Samsung is the largest winner in this tender, and its four mobile phone products account for 35% of the total 1.2 million mobile phones purchased in this round. The seven mobile phone makers are Samsung, LG, ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, Tianyu and Hisense. These companies will provide the total 1.2 million mobile phones to China Telecom. (Feb 17, ChinaTechNews)

China Techfaith and aigo launch nine new mobile phones
The new models include dual mode GSM phones, modem card phones and DVDO phones. China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology and Aigo, a brand in consumer digital products, have launched nine new mobile phones designed specifically for the 3G network recently rolled out in China. (Feb 19, CATR)

Mobile World Congress: ZTE Intros Solar-Powered Phone
ZTE debuted its solar-powered phone developed with the help of Digicel at the GSM Conference. The phone will only cost $40 and targets the world’s poor. After charging for one hour in full sunlight, the phone provides 15 minutes of talk time, according to ZTE and Digicel. The phone also can be charged with electricity. (Feb 19, CATR)

ZTE Delivers China Telecom's CDMA Networks In 100 Cities
As one of the providers that had gained the largest share in China Telecom's first CDMA tender, the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE has announced that it has delivered the CDMA base stations in 100 Chinese cities of 24 provinces to China Telecom, including those in Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Shijiazhuang and Sanya. The company says it totally delivered over 11,000 base stations to China Telecom and the delivery rate reached 91.3%. (Jan 22, ChinaTechNews)

Software

China's Software Industry Posts 29 Pct Revenue Growth to $111 Bln for 2008
China's software industry reported a 29-percent revenue growth to around 111 billion U.S. dollars for 2008 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Specifically, sales of software technology services and embedded software products rose by 40 percent and 17 percent respectively. (Jan 29, Xinhua)

Kingsoft Confirms Split Into Three Companies In China
Chinese software provider Kingsoft has confirmed its plan to split into three subsidiaries, and Qiu Bojun, chairman and CEO of Kingsoft Group, says the group will still stick to the unified brand of Kingsoft. According to the company’s restructuring and partition plan, Kingsoft will become one group, three subsidiaries and two business departments. The three subsidiaries will focus on the businesses of computer games, office software and security software, respectively, while the group will maintain two business departments, which are its Ci Ba business, a translation product, and the overseas business department. Zhang Wenbing, vice president for Kingsoft Group, will be in charge of the overseas business department while Li Wanqiang, general manager for Kingsoft's Ci Ba, will be in charge of the Ci Ba business department. (Feb 2, ChinaTechNews)

Internet

Chinese People Spend over $17.5 Bln Online up 128 Pct in 2008
The trade volume of China's online shopping last year increased by 128.5 percent to $17.56 billion. The number of online shopping registers increased by 185 percent from a year earlier to 120 million, according to the report, jointly released by research firm iResearch and China's largest C2C platform Taobao.com. More than 70 percent of the online shoppers are from secondary and tertiary cities, which will become the major boost to the online shopping industry in 2009. (Feb 10, ChinaDaily)

Online Games Play Active Role in Sohu's Profit
Benefiting from its online gaming and advertising incomes, Sohu's fourth-quarter profit for 2008 has more than tripled from the same period a year earlier. Sohu.com announced that its total revenue for the last quarter of 2008 reached over 121 million US dollars, marking an 86 percent year-on-year rise. With that sharp increase, its net income stood at about 57 million US dollars, a better-than-expected figure. According to the company, its own online role-playing game 'Tian Long Ba Bu' bagged about 54 million dollars for the last quarter of 2008, a rise of 2.4 times over the same period of the previous year. To date, Sohu's online gaming sector accounts for 48 percent of the company's total revenue. (Feb 10, CRI)

Chinese SNS Website UUZone.com To Close In March 2009
UUZone.com, one of the first social networking service websites in China, has published a notice stating it will close all services in March 2009. As one of the first batch of Chinese SNS websites, UUZone.com once gained over USD1 million investment from the venture capital firm Morningside Ventures. In 2005, the peak time for UUZone.com, its comprehensive power ranked first among the top nine Chinese SNS websites with three million registered users. Apparently it could not adequately maneuver a user base of three million into making decent revenue, so the website must now close.  (Feb 5, ChinaTechNews)

Other

MIIT drafts program to revitalize electronic information industry 
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently finished drafting a revitalization program for China's electronic information industry. Under the program, the Chinese government will facilitate the development of six sectors by offering financial and policy support. The six sectors are integrated circuit (IC) production, flat-panel television manufacturing, TD-SCDMA development, digital TV technology and product development, PC manufacturing and next-generation Internet. In addition, the Chinese government will also fund key projects such as 12-inch IC production lines, sixth-generation-and-above thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) production lines, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) production lines and TD-SCDMA-related projects. (Feb 16, CATR)

Free Wi-Fi Service Will Be Available In Beijing
According to Liu Chuncheng, executive deputy director general of the Central Business District Management Committee of Beijing, the CBD area's application for overall wireless network coverage in public areas has gained support from Beijing's Development and Reform Commission. Upon completion of this regional network, the CBD area of Beijing will become the first public region that can provide free Wi-Fi service in the city. Liu says the work is progressing well and the construction will be completed in the first half of 2009 if everything goes smoothly. (Feb 13, ChinaTechNews)

Medical & Healthcare

Bayer to build 100 mln euro R&D centre in China
A unit of Bayer AG will spend about 100 million euros ($129 million) over five years to build a research and development centre in Beijing, the company said. Bayer Schering Pharma, a division of Bayer HealthCare, will build the centre, becoming only the third country besides Germany and the U.S. to host a global R&D centre for Bayer Schering. The new centre aims to include Asian patients earlier in global drug development. (15 Feb 2009 BioNews.com.cn)

China Huahai Pharmaceutical OKed to Build Solid Preparation Base
Chinese pharmaceutical producer Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. says that it gains approval from the shareholders to build an export-oriented solid preparation production base with annual capacity of 10 billion tablets in Linhai City, Zhejiang Province. The new production base will need a total investment of CNY 646.3596 million, including CNY 568.3596 million for the construction and CNY 78 million as working capital. The company plans to borrow CNY 300 million from banks to finance the project. The construction is scheduled to need four years and will be finished in three phases. (7 Feb 2009 BioNews.com.cn)

BioPartnering China Launched, Enables Foreign Lifescience Companies to Expand into China
Technology Vision Group LLC (TVG) announced at the BioPartnering North America Conference its collaboration with strategic partners to enable foreign lifescience companies to expand into China. This new initiative is called BioPartnering China and is aimed at making it easy for lifescience companies to meet their Chinese counterparts in a professional and organized atmosphere. TVG is creating an environment in which the world’s best lifescience companies can meet their Chinese counterparts to do business together. TVG will collaborate with the China National Center for Biotechnology Development in Beijing, which is a Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the European Federation of Biotechnology, and BayHelix Group, an elite organization of Chinese lifescience business leaders. (9 Feb 2009 BioNews.com.cn)

China's Anti-Cancer Drug Market Forecast Exceeded $3.5 Billion in 2007
According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, there are approximately 2.13 million patients with newly diagnosed tumors each year. Cancer has become the leading cause of mortality in both urban and rural China.  In the Chinese hospital drug market, sales of anti-cancer drugs have risen steadily in recent years. The growth of the anti-cancer drug market reached an annual growth rate of approximately 22.2% in 2007. The total market size for anti-cancer drugs in 2007 was 25.5 billion RMB (3.6 billion USD). (Jan 28, 2009 BUSINESS WIRE)

Other Sectors

Universal Studios to Build Theme Park in BJ
The Universal Studios is awaiting an approval from the Chinese government to build a theme park in Beijing, reports the Shanghai Securities News. To be located in Liyuan Town of Tongzhou District, twelve miles from downtown Beijing, the Universal Studios theme park will involve a total investment of up to $1.5 billion, by both the Universal Studios and Beijing Tourism Group. (Feb 13, CRI)

4 Chinese Banks in Top 10 of World Banking List
Four Chinese banks have been ranked amongst the top ten biggest banks in the world as the current economic crisis reshuffles the global ranking in terms of market values.  This is the first time that all four Chinese state commercial banks rose together onto the global top ten list, with the first three seats occupied by China's ICBC, CCB and BOC. (Feb 10, CRI)

Beijing Approves New Subway Line Plan
The Beijing municipal government has approved the construction of subway Line 15, which is expected to start within the year. According to the plan, Line 15 will take a west-east orientation and runs 45.7 kilometers, of which 32 km will be beneath the ground. Line 15 will be finished in 2015. Other details about Line 15, such as the cost, are not available at the moment. (Feb 5, China Daily/Xinhua)

Railways Pull Through Holiday Season, Passenger Total Hits 133 mln in Jan.
China's railway sector witnessed it's busiest season in January, as millions of people returned to their families for the traditional Spring Festival holiday season reunion. The railway passenger total hit 133 million for the month, representing an increase of 11.8 percent over the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Railways (MOR). (Feb 3, Xinhua)

China's Bank Card Spending Up in Spring Festival Holiday
China's bank card transactions rose 32 percent in the Spring Festival holiday from the same period a year ago, buoyed by robust consumption despite the global financial crisis, China Unionpay, a national bank card association announced. Consumers spent 38.84 billion yuan with their cards domestically in the most important Chinese traditional festival. (Feb 1, Xinhua)

Airbus to Set up Joint Venture for A350 in NE China
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has sealed a deal with European aircraft maker Airbus to build a factory in northeast China to jointly produce composite material parts and components for the new wide-body A350 aircraft. The agreement was signed in Madrid on Friday between Airbus China and Harbin Aircraft Industry (Group) Co. (HAIG), a company under AVIC, in the presence of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The Chinese side would have an 80-percent stake in the new plant in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, and the other 20 percent would be held by Airbus, said Beijing-based AVIC. (Jan 31, Xinhua)

China Tourism Revenue Hits 170 Bln USD in 2008
China's tourism revenue totaled 1.16 trillion yuan (169.5 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 5.8 percent year-on-year, according to the National Tourism Administration. The revenue includes 874.9 billion yuan earned from local travelers and 283.9 billion yuan from overseas tourists. The two figures for 2007 were 777.1 billion yuan and 312.9 billion yuan, respectively. The data showed that domestic tourism still held up while inbound tourism declined as the global economic slowdown cut travel demand. (Jan 29, Xinhua)

China's New Development Zone to Takes Shape Near Beijing
China's port construction, steel and power giants will pour 192.9 billion yuan (28 billion U.S. dollars) for infrastructure construction in Caofeidian, an island-turned development zone in the Bohai Bay in north China, according to the city government of Tangshan, which administrates the zone. Xinhua's source with the government said on Wednesday that 65 billion yuan of the investment will be used for 105 infrastructure projects this year. The 50-sq km development zone in Hebei Province is 220 km to the east of Beijing. It has been designated as a model of China's environment-friendly industrial base.  (Jan 28, Xinhua)

Spring Festival to see outbound flood of tourists 
Though financial woes have left Wall Street gloomy, it has not hindered Chinese tourists' enthusiasm to see the Wall Street Bull, the New York City's symbolic statue of financial optimism and prosperity. The U.S. is not the only hot destination for Chinese travelers. Other overseas markets, such as Europe, Australia and Japan will also feel the power of Chinese consumers during the Lunar New Year. Last year, Chinese travelers spent an average of 1,359 U.S. dollars apiece on luxury goods in Europe, the highest amount across all destinations, according a survey conducted by Nielson Company and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). Compared with an expected inbound travel slowdown, analysts said outbound tours are not only expected to be strong during the Spring Festival holiday but also for the whole year. The latest statistics from National Tourism Administration of China said that about 46 million mainland tourists traveled overseas last year, up 12 percent from 2007 figures. The administration also predicted that outbound travel would grow by 9 percent to 50 million tourists this year, despite the global recession. (Jan 19, China Daily)

Nearly 1,000 toy exporters shut down in South China in 2008 
Product recalls, rising production costs and the global financial crisis caused almost 1,000 Chinese toy exporters in just one province to shut down last year. According to data released Saturday by Huangpu Customs, 922 toy exporters in Guangdong Province closed operations in 2008. That leaves the area with 2,167 toy exporters compared with the 3,089 that were operating in late 2007. (Jan 17, Xinhua)

Chinese companies to go on a European shopping trip
The Chinese government will send a business delegation to purchase goods from Europe at the end of this month to strengthen bilateral trade ties amid the global economic downturn, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The delegation's trip would take in Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Premier Wen Jiabao first announced the plan to send "procurement teams" to buy goods and services from Europe during his visit to the UK early this month. The value of the purchases would be decided by companies and industry associations, and products to be bought would include technology, equipment and key goods and services. (Feb 17, People’s Daily Online)

China's bank loans see striking rise in Jan  
Chinese banks issued $237 billion in new loans in January, up 101 percent year-on-year, prompting some economists to say the government might not cut interest rates for the time being to boost the economy. The massive jump in lending is equal to about one-third of the loans issued in the whole of 2008, a year that began on a generally tight credit line. (Feb 13, Xinhua)

China Approves Stimulus Plan to Spur Ship Building Industry
China's State Council has approved a stimulus package for the country's shipbuilding industry in a bid to help the emerging sector better weather the global economic downturn. The government says it will encourage financial institutions to lend more to ship buyers and also offer incentives for purchasers of ocean-going ships. The newly-unveiled plan encourages discarding old ships and suspending the construction of new docks and the expansion of slipways for three years. By doing this, the supply and demand will balance out in the marketplace. The plan will also offer incentives for purchasers of ocean-going ships until 2012. (Feb 13, CRI)

China Speeds up Expansion of Rural Retail Network
China will develop a retail network of 510,000 express stores in its vast rural hinterland by the end of 2010 as part of its efforts to help jobless rural workers get back to work.  Ministry of Commerce launched a plan in 2005 to develop a network of supermarkets and express stores in rural areas by offering subsidies to retailers. The network is expected to cover 75 percent of the rural townships and counties. By the end of last year, 260,000 stores were built. About 20 million migrant workers were left jobless as the global economic crisis takes its toll on the Chinese economy, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Agriculture. (Feb 9, ChinaDaily)

China Adopt Stimulus Plan in Textile Sector
China's State Council has adopted a national plan to invigorate the domestic textile industry, a traditional pillar industry in China. The plan, the second of its kind following a package to re-invigorate the country's steel sector, is part of a large stimulus scheme aimed to boost the national economy amid a global slowdown. When the government released its stimulus plan, it announced plans to increase the tax rebate rate for textile and garment exports from 14 percent to 15 percent, which would reduce exporter's costs and support the textile industry. It is believed that the 1 percentage point increase in tax rebate rate will be the most prominent benefit to the whole industry. (Feb 6, CRI)

China mulls on stimulus package for petrochemical industry 
China is expected to announce a 500-billion-yuan stimulus package for the struggling petrochemical industry. The stimulus package includes 100-billion-yuan investment in 2009 and 2010 for oil products upgrade, and investment of 400 billion yuan for construction of 20 new large-scale petrochemical projects, China Business News reported, citing unnamed sources. (Jan 22, ChinaDaily)

China to offer 10 bln yuan in subsidies for power sector 
China is to provide as much as 10 billion yuan in subsidies to big power companies, the latest effort on the part of the government to help the country's struggling industries. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) will give the subsidies to the five leading power generating companies and the two grid companies to cover their losses caused by last year's snowstorms, the Sichuan earthquake, soaring coal costs and capped power tariffs, reported China Business Journal, citing an unnamed source with State Grid Corp of China. The five power producers are China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp, China Guodian Corp, China Huadian Corp and China Power Investment Corp, and the two grid companies are State Grid and China Southern Power Grid Co. (Jan 20, China Daily)