U.S. Commercial Service - American Embassy, Beijing
Vol. 2 No. 163
To subscribe to the China Commercial Brief, please go visit the following webpage http://list.xianzai.net/xz/uscommercialservice/default.htm.
For additional CS China news and events including past issues of the China Commercial Brief, visit our News & Events Archives.
Editor:Matthew Gettman
Contributors: CS Guangzhou, Wan Xiaolei, Sun Shuyu, Xie Pingping, Xi Xianmin, Zhao Peining
News Briefs
In addition to the article summaries provided by CS Beijing, our four China branch offices - Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang - submit summaries of commercial articles from their local press to the CCB on a rotating schedule. This week we are pleased to feature a contribution from our Guangzhou post.
1."9+2"Equals USD 29.12 Billion (RMB 241Billion).
2. New Tariff Policy for Northeast.
3. No Boasting on the Medical Device Specification.
4. Urban Rail Transport Project in Beijing.
5. China's Netizen Number Reached 87 Million.
6. China Worker Safety Market Brief.
1. "9+2"Equals USD 29.12 Billion (RMB 241Billion)
The Pan-Pearl River Delta has been envisaged as China’s largest regional cooperation to date. The so-called þ+2þinitiative covers nine provinces in or near the Pearl River Delta (PRD) plus Hong Kong and Macao. The nine provinces include Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jiangxi, and Yunnan. Initiated by Guangdong, the þ+2þproposal is to promote regional cooperation in southern China.
As part of the þ+2þinitiative, a major economic & trade promotion fair was held in Guangzhou following the signing of the Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation Framework Agreement earlier. All nine provinces and regions sent large delegations to the fair led by their governors and other key officials and joined by businesses from their respective regions. A total of 473 agreements were signed involving USD 29 billion (RMB 241 billion). Among the 473 projects, seven were government initiated with a total investment of USD 14.5 billion (RMB120 billion); the remaining 466 projects were initiated by enterprises with a total investment value of USD 14.5 billion (RMB121 billion).
The seven government-initiated projects cover six areas, namely, railway construction, water transportation, electrical power, science & technology, labor, and grain marketing. (1) The railway construction includes the Pan-PRD railway networks and the light-rail network connecting cities in the Pan-Pearl River Delta area. The new system is expected to shorten the traveling time from Guangzhou to Changsha of Hunan province by train from eight to three hours. The construction of light-rail networks in the PRD will be jointly financed by the Ministry of Railway and Guangdong province. (2) The water transport project refers to the Xijiang River waterway between Guangdong and Guangxi. The project is to take 5-8 years to improve inland river networks between the two provinces so as to reduce container transport costs. By then, the inland river transportation capacity is expected to rise by 30 percent. (3) With regard to electrical power, Nanfang Power Grid Transformation Company, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces have jointly signed a selling & purchasing contract for transmitting electricity from western provinces to the East, amounting to 20.3 billion KW and USD 840 million (RMB 7 billion). (4) As for the science & technology aspect, Guangdong and Macau have signed the S&T cooperation project to train biotech and medical management talents. (5) The nine provinces have also jointly signed a labor cooperation agreement to eliminate barriers to labor flow among provinces, organize cross-province labor exchanges, unify standards of professional skills, and protect labor rights and interests. (6) Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi have also signed a cooperation agreement for joint grain marketing. Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangxi are main grain suppliers to Guangdong province.
The 466 company-initiated projects involve 10 areas. Again, the infrastructure projects are the key part in the cooperation. There are 65 infrastructure projects with an estimated total investment of USD 690 million (RMB5.7 billion). These projects comprise of energy, environmental protection, transportation, electricity, and highways. In addition, there are 230 industrial investment projects. Several projects are of large scale and intended for high-end products.
(Source: Guangzhou Daily & Nanfang Daily, 07/15/2004, -Translated by FCS Guangzhou)
2. New Tariff Policy for Northeast
According to Mr. Zhang Guobao, Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), there will be four tariff related policies issued for the purpose of rejuvenating the old northeast industrial area. The upcoming policy will cover the following areas:
1.To reduce VAT (value added tax) of eight equipment manufacturing industries
2.To reduce resource tax properly for partial mining and oil fields
3.To increase tax threshold on taxable salary
4.To allow commercial banks to deal with non-performing loans or write off hidden interest payable.
(Source: China Business Times, 07/14/2004 - Translated by Wan Xiaolei)
3. No Boasting on the Medical Device Specification
Recently, the SFDA has issued a management regulation on the specification, label and packaging marks for medical devices. Absolute languages and expressions on efficacy are forbidden such as "best effect of treatment", "Full recovery guarantee" , "Immediate effect", "Without toxicity and side- effect" ; and, language of guaranteeing is also forbidden such as "Insured by the insurance company" and "Pay back if not effective". Other forbidden absolute languages include "highest technology" , "most scientific" , "most advanced" and "the best". Meanwhile, on the specification, label and mark of medial devices, no cure rate or efficacy rate is allowed to be stated, or comparison to be made on the efficacy and safety of one manufacturer’s products with another’s. Making use of the name or image of any firm’s or individual’s for the purpose of approval or recommendation is not allowed, nor could contain such expressions that make people feel that they have attracted certain disease, or mislead people to feel that they would attract certain disease, or their disease could be deteriorated if not using this medical device.
According to the newly issued "The management regulations on medical device specification, label and package mark" , the language for specifications, labels, and package marks shown on the medical devices that are sold and used within China must be in Chinese and the registration certificate number, product features, and the scope of usage.
The regulation also required that the consumers should be informed of the related forbidden symptom, tings to be paid attention of, and other needed warnings or noticeable contents. On the consumable products, language or marks of "consumable use" should be put and product that to be used within certain period, validity should be marked.
(Source: Health News, 07/16/2004, - Translated by Sun Shuyu)
4. Urban Rail Transport Project in Beijing
Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Beijing Municipal Traffic Commission and Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau jointly organized a Promotion Meeting on the Investment & Financing of Beijing’s Subway Projects on June 29, 2004.
The organizing committee invited investors, operators, equipment suppliers, intermediary organizations and relevant experts in the field of city rail traffic to attend the meeting.
Beijing has made new plans for the construction of city rail traffic. No.4, No.5, No.9 and No.10 subway lines have been built since 2003. Up to the year of 2008, the length of city rail lines will increase by a margin of 143km, the total mileage will be 256km and the proportion of subway travel will be over 10% of the total city passenger travels.
The total construction mileage of No.4, No.5, No.9 and No.10 Beijing subway lines is 103.54km, and the estimated total investment is USD 604 million (RMB 4.92 billion). Beijing Municipal Government intends to select global investors for the operation part of the four lines through public bidding on basis of 7:3 fundamental proportions between government and social investments. The government will provide 70% of the total investment of the four lines, which mainly covers the tunnel body and railway.
Beijing Infrastructure Investment Limited Company was nominated as the government investment party, and shall be in charge of investment and construction of the projects. The ownership of assets in this part belongs to the government, but the government investment party will not participate in sharing the income. 30% of the total investment, which mainly covers the procurement and installation of such facilities as vehicles and auto ticket-booking and ticket-checking system, will be provided by social investors. Within the period of concessionary operation, social investors will obtain the right to use the tunnel body and railway through paying rent to the government investment party, will be responsible for operation management as well as maintenance and renovation of the tunnel body, stations and equipments, and will gain profits through fares, advertisement, telecommunication and commercial facilities.
(Source: Promotion Meeting on the Investment & Financing of Beijing’s Subway Projects, 06 /29/2004 – Edited by Pingping Xie)
5. China's Netizen Number Reached 87 Million
According to the "14th Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on July 20, 2004, the number of China's Internet users reached 87 million by June 30, 2004, up 27.9% over the last year. The number of computers connected to the Internet reached 36.30 million units. The bandwidth of international gateway increased to 53.9 Giga bytes, representing a 190.3% increase over the last year. The number of domain names and web sites under ".cn" reached 380,000 and 620,000 respectively. Broadband users grew to 31.10 million by the end of June.
The Report also indicated that the percentage of users using on-line payment methods increased to 37.9%, 13% higher than the percentage of users paying upon delivery. 58% of people surveyed had plans to shop on-line in the next year.
The Report also indicated that many Internet services developed rapidly over the last several years. These services include: search engines, on-line education, on-line banking, e-commerce, Internet advertising, on-line news services, on-line video service, paid e-mail service, short messaging, on-line recruitment, on-line information services, on-line gaming, etc.
(Source: China Information World No.1334, 07/28/2004 - Translated by Xi Xianmin)
6.China Worker Safety Market Brief
China currently has more than 200 million workers using safety wear, due to this demand the supply of safety wear has reached over 80 million sets a year, with value of more than USD 73 million (RMB 6 billion). The annual demand fire-resistant and heat-proof protective clothing for people working under conditions involving extensive high temperatures, strong heat radiation and intense lighting, is over 2 million. In addition, 5 million sets of anti-static protective clothing for the coal mining sector, 1 million sets for the petroleum and natural gas sector, as well as 1 million sets for the nuclear industry and other sectors are now required annually. The petroleum industry alone needs more than 1 million sets of oil-and water-resistant clothes annually. More than 5-6 million sets of waterproof clothes are needed annually mainly for use in water sprinkling, spraying, drainage and aquiculture, mining, and underwater operations on submerged tunnel. Over 2-3 million sets of protective anti-chemical clothing are required annually for the petroleum, chemical, metallurgical and mining sectors. Chemical industry workers have the greatest demand for protective wear, followed by petroleum sector workers. In addition, a great deal of radiation-proof clothing is needed each year.
(Source: State Administration of Work Safety, 06/2004- Edited by Zhao Peining)
Consulate News: Guangzhou
In keeping with our goal of making the CCB a more integrated publication, our four China branch offices - Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang - submit consulate news to the CCB on a rotating schedule. This week, we are pleased to feature a contribution from CS Guangzhou.
CS Guangzhou Successfully Hosts Plastics Trade Mission
Commercial Service (CS) Guangzhou successfully hosted a 22-member plastic trade mission to Guangzhou during June 23-27, 2004. The Society of Plastics Industry (SPI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce jointly organized the mission. With the assistance from CS Guangzhou, the US members met with 47 Chinese plastics and mold companies and organizations for potential business opportunities. They also visited six Chinese companies in plastic pipe and bag processing, mold making, and JV film manufacturing. In addition, President of AmCham Guangdong briefed the mission on current economic performance in China and local business environment. The 3-day mission helped the US companies understand the plastics market in China, acquire first-hand market information, learn about potential business opportunities, and have a better idea about how to take advantage of the China market.
For more information on CS Guangzhou and the Guangzhou consular region, visit our website at http://www.buyusa.gov/china/en/Guangzhou.html
DISCLAIMER: CS China does not guarantee the veracity of the original sources of our news summaries. While we do our best to report accurate and timely articles and news sources, you should always check the source for further information.
The China Commercial Brief is a free newsletter published by the U.S. Embassy- Beijing.
****************************************************
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2004. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.