Sat 29 Dec 2007
Euronews reports:
Italy’s Fiat says it has pulled out of a money-losing Chinese joint venture with Nanjing Automobile after the firm merged with bigger Chinese group Shanghai Motors SAIC. Fiat will keep working with Nanjing in making vans and parts, but analysts say the break-up casts doubt on Fiat’s ability to meet its target of selling 300,000 units in China by 2010.
Mon 24 Dec 2007
AFP reports:
BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Union is bracing for the expiry of import quotas on Chinese textiles at the end of the year amid fears of a new wave of T-shirts and trousers bearing “Made in China” labels flooding in.
The quotas, which the EU and China agreed to put in place in 2005, are to be replaced with a joint monitoring system that will be on the lookout for new signs of an upsurge in Chinese imports over the ensuing year.
Fri 21 Dec 2007
BBC reports:
Morgan Stanley has revealed a bigger-than-expected write-down of assets and sold a $5bn (£2.5bn) stake to a Chinese sovereign wealth fund.
The US investment bank said that it had been forced to write down $9.4bn for the three months to 30 November.
The bank said last month that it would be taking a charge of $3.7bn.
Morgan Stanley said that the injection from China Investment Corp - which equates to 9.9% of the bank - would help it to replenish its capital.
China’s willingness to invest in Morgan Stanley was seen as a vote of confidence on Wall Street and the firm’s shares rose 4% in Wednesday trading.
Wed 19 Dec 2007
AFP reports that Royal Bank of Scotland’s plan to the futher investment in China.
BEIJING (AFP) — British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland is in talks to buy 19.9 percent of Suzhou Trust in China, its latest attempt to ramp up its position in the Chinese market, state media said Wednesday.
“The two parties have got initial results in negotiations over key issues such as the selling price and the size of the stake,” the 21st Century Business Herald cited an unnamed source close to the deal as saying.
The value of the deal was not disclosed, the newspaper said.
The potential deal would be the Royal Bank of Scotland’s second purchase of Chinese financial assets. It currently holds 8.25 percent of Bank of China, one of the nation’s big four state-owned lenders.
Mon 17 Dec 2007
New measures are being introduced to tighten the visa system. Proposals to cut the time tourists from outside the EU can stay in the UK from six months to three are expected to be announced by ministers this week.
The BBC reports:
The move is among measures aimed at further tightening the visa system.
A deposit of at least £1,000 to be paid by families who want relatives to visit Britain will also be introduced.
Meanwhile, the Home Office has defended the payment of thousands of pounds to failed asylum seekers to persuade them to return to their home countries.
Thu 13 Dec 2007
Birmingham will host its first International Dance Festival from April to May next year, which the organisers promise will bring outstanding dance from across the globe, including Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, who will open the Festival, and a National Ballet of China production, choreographed by Akram Khan.
A joint venture between DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome, the month-long Festival will take place across the city between 28 April and 24 May 2008.
International Dance Festival Birmingham will capture the imagination with a world-class programme that encompasses all styles of dance and expresses the youthful, diverse and energetic spirit of Birmingham.
It will bring outstanding dance from across the globe, showcasing the work of world-renowned dance companies including Kirov Ballet and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, alongside specially choreographed commissions and large-scale participatory and site-specific performances. Akram Khan MBE presents his new collaboration with National Ballet of China, bahok, as one of the Festival highlights.
Featuring some of the world’s greatest choreographers, International Dance Festival Birmingham promises to engage established audiences and newcomers alike through the sheer diversity of its programme.
Major new Festival for Birmingham gets City dancing!
Wed 12 Dec 2007
VOA News reports the case of Yuan Hongwei, a Chinese businessman arrested at Heathrow Airport when traveling from China to the UK for a business meeting. Yuan’s arrest was requested by the U.S., for violating intellectual property of an American company, ABRO. Yuan’s now fighting a U.S. extradtion request.
Chinese Businessman Fights US Extradition
The owner of a Chinese chemical company accused of product counterfeiting is in a London prison fighting a U.S. extradition request. Yuan Hongwei appeared in court Monday to ask to be freed on bail. If he loses his legal battle, he would be the first Chinese national suspected of an intellectual property offense to be extradited to the United States. More from VOA’s Bill Rodgers.
Tue 11 Dec 2007
Education Guardian accompanied five UK secondary headteachers on a British Council trip to Beijing and Xi’an - their prize for winning the regional finals of the Teaching Awards 2006. The aim: to partner up with a Chinese school, see the rapid changes being made to the Chinese education system, and drool. Jessica Shepherd reports the revolution in Chinese education system:
Neon Chinese characters shine through the early morning smog covering Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province. A long way below, cyclists chance their luck cutting the paths of the taxis stacked on the city’s third ring road.
To the right of the traffic, on land the size of two football pitches, 3,000 pupils from Xi’an middle school stand in neat rows waving their arms in tandem for zao cao - morning exercises.
At exactly 9am, the loudspeaker system is switched off. And without fuss, the 15- to 17-year-olds walk to their first lessons.
It has long been assumed in the west that Chinese schools encourage a collectivist mentality, are obsessed by exams, spoon-feed their students and are closed to links abroad.
But several of China’s top schools - including this one - can now do much more than challenge these assumptions.
Thu 6 Dec 2007
Independent’s David McNeill wrote the background stories of the tension between China and Japan over the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the massacre.
Why are we asking this now?
Next week is the 70th anniversary of the infamous Rape of Nanjing, when Japanese soldiers went on an orgy of rape and murder in the then Chinese capital. Dubbed the “forgotten holocaust” by its most famous contemporary chronicler, Iris Chang, the massacre is the subject of no fewer than a dozen new American, German and Chinese movies, including the $53m (£26m) Purple Mountain, helmed by Con Air director Simon West. Nanking, released in China earlier this year, is reportedly already the most watched documentary in Chinese history.
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