China on Thursday announced 15 new policies meant to support its homegrown third generation (3G) mobile technology standard TD-SCDMA. The measures, announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), will benefit the world’s largest mobile network operator, China Mobile, which received a TD-SCDMA license earlier this month. Key among the measures was the [...]
China’s crude steel output was 7% higher in December, the first increase in six months. The rise is attributed to Beijing’s US$586 billion stimulus package, which includes plans for heavy spending on infrastructure. Analysts said that the rise also reflected mills reopening after suspending production due to low steel prices. Other new data showed that [...]
Two men were sentenced to death, and the head of a dairy company was jailed for life for their roles in the tainted milk scandal that killed six infants and made 300,000 ill last year. Two men who made and sold milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine received the death sentence from the Intermediate [...]
The man US President Barack Obama has tapped to be Treasury secretary told senators the Obama administration believes China is manipulating its currency. Timothy Geithner made the comments in writing to the Senate Finance Committee before it voted to recommend that the Senate confirm him. “President Obama backed by the conclusions of a broad range [...]
China’s GDP for the fourth quarter of 2008 plunged, in the latest indication that the impact of the global financial crisis on China has worsened. Economic growth came in at 6.8% compared to a year earlier, according to data released today by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This compares to 9% growth in the [...]
China’s State Council announced Wednesday that it will spend US$124 billion on medical reforms over the next three years. Goals include increasing participation in the basic medical insurance system up to 90% for both urban and rural populations as well as reforming public hospitals which are frequently criticized for high fees, poor access, and inadequate [...]
The outlook for China’s property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry is stable though significant risks remain, according to a report issued Wednesday by Moody’s. However the industry faces challenges from increasing price competition, decreasing capitalization, and catastrophes. The ratings agency remains skeptical that Chinese insurers will be able to raise premium rates significantly and is [...]
A second hearing has rejected Beijing former vice mayor Liu Zhuhua’s appeal and upheld the suspended death sentence against him for corruption. The Provincial Higher People’s Court of Hebei on Wednesday affirmed the original sentence handed down by the Hengshui Intermediate People’s Court in October last year. Liu, 59, was convicted of accepting US$1 million [...]
In a rare outburst, Guangdong Communist Party chief Wang Yang publicly criticized provincial officials for failing to meet the challenges of the current economic crisis, according to an article in the Guangzhou Daily. Wang lambasted officials for corruption, excessive red tape and distancing themselves from the masses. Wang said that only a marked improvement in [...]
Parents of infants sickened by melamine-tainted milk powder threatened to organize protests after two of them were prevented from traveling to Hebei for the announcement of the verdict by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court. Dong Shiliang, a parent from Yunnan, was detained as he tried to board a plane for Beijing. Beijing parent Liu Donglin [...]
