News
Chinese companies 'rent' white foreigners
For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners. For the full story, click here
China meat giant signs deal with NZ firms
China's second-largest meat processor Kerchin Cattle has signed a multi-million dollar deal with two New Zealand companies. For the full story, click here
Immelt blasts China
THIS week's plain-speaking prize goes to Jeff Immelt, the boss of General Electric. He argued that China is increasingly hostile to foreign multinationals; he also gave warning that his company, the world's biggest manufacturer, is actively looking for better prospects in other emerging markets. "They don't all want...
China's foreign debt exceeds $443 billion
BEIJING -- China's foreign debt stood well over US$443.2 billion at the end of March, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement on its website Friday. The figure excluded the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Macao SAR and Taiwan. For the full story, click here
Exchange rate hits a 5-year record
Beijing - China's central bank set the yuan's reference central parity rate on Friday to its highest level against the dollar since 2005's revaluation, despite growing concerns about the economic slow-down in China and the rest of the world. For the full story, click here
No cheap labor? China increases minimum wages
At least 18 provinces, including big cities like Beijing and Shenzhen, have increased the minimum wage by an average of 20 percent from Thursday as officials hint cheap labor may no longer be considered China’s sole competitive edge. For the full story, click here
China 2009 GDP growth revised up to 9.1%
China's economic growth accelerated to 8.7 percent year-on-year in 2009, achieving the full-year growth target of 8 percent and totaling 33.54 trillion yuan ($4.91 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday. For the full story, click here
China increases the flexibility of the renminbi
For approximately two years, China has effectively pegged the value of its currency, the renminbi, to the value of the U.S. dollar. In 2005, it briefly allowed a controlled appreciation of the currency, but it ended that policy with the emergence of the global economic crisis. On Saturday, 19 June 2010, China’s...
China, Taiwan Complete Historic Trade Agreement
Jun. 29 – Negotiators from China and Taiwan completed a landmark trade agreement in Chongqing today that plans to increase bilateral trade by an estimated US$100 billion, slash tariffs on over 800 goods, and may prove to be the first step in a long and drawn out reunification process. China, at least, hopes that the...
Worries in Taiwan that economic interdependence will ...
CHANTING opposition to unification with China, tens of thousands of protesters massed on June 26th outside the office in Taipei of Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist party, or Kuomintang (KMT). Their target was the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA), one of the most significant agreements...
A different kind of free-trade protest
CHANTING their opposition to unification with China and blasting air horns, tens of thousands of Taiwanese massed outside Taipei’s Presidential Office on Saturday, June 26th, to protest an outline free-trade pact. The Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA) will comprise the most significant cross-strait...
Asians to make up 15pc of workforce by 2026
The Asian workforce in New Zealand is growing at a rate where it will make up 15 per cent of the country's total workforce by 2026, new research shows. Employment Minister Paula Bennett said the new Department of Labour report described the Asian population as highly qualified, youthful and entrepreneurial, and showed its...