china

WB Head: World’s Easy Money Obsession Only Buys Time

April 2, 2012

By Kevin Yao BOAO, China, April 2 (Reuters) – Policymakers in both developing and developed countries must embrace structural reforms to sustain economic recovery and cope with the hangover from loose monetary policy that could fuel new risks, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Monday. In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the 2012 Boao Forum for Asia on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, Zoellick sharpened his warnings that any delays to painful structural shifts could “plant the seeds” for new problems. “While the IMF focuses on macroeconomic stability, I’m trying to say: Keep your eyes on structural reforms for growth, whether it’s India, China, Europe, the United States, Japan or others,” he said, referring to the International Monetary Fund. “If countries don’t undertake the structural reforms for growth, there will be pressures on monetary authorities to continue the abnormal policies even though that’s not really a solution,” he said. The global economy has stabilised as the United States is showing a modest recovery, but the European economy may experience a period of “slower (growth) or no growth”, he said. Zoellick is wary of new economic risks, including asset bubbles, that could crop up after major central banks, especially those of the United States and Europe, have pumped out huge amounts of easy money to stimulate economic growth. “I’m not critical of those steps, but I think it’s important to recognise that the steps simply buy time. They don’t solve the fundamental problems,” he said. “The nature of monetary bubbles is that you never can quite predict where it’s going to develop.” For China, more efforts should be made to boost consumption to wean the economy off its reliance on investment and exports, and economic reforms and opening up are needed, Zoellick said, although he did not foresee any “big bang” raft of changes. China’s growth momentum unleashed by the country’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) a decade ago could be weakening, adding some pressures for Chinese leaders to push through some tough reforms, he said. In February the World Bank said in a report that the world’s second-largest economy is near a turning point and should push through structural changes and move towards free markets. Zoellick is pinning his hopes on the next generation of Chinese leaders, who are due to take office next year. “This is not the year that I would expect the government to take big steps because it’s a political transition year.” President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are due to retire from their party posts late this year and from the presidency and premiership early next year, when Vice President Xi Jinping is likely to be named president and Li Keqiang premier. When they hand over power in late autumn, China could be headed for its slowest full year of growth since Hu and Wen took office a decade ago. The economy ended 2011 with its slackest quarter of growth in 2-1/2-years at 8.9 percent. Turning to the yuan, Zoellick said it may be too early to tell if the Chinese currency has reached its equilibrium level as it’s not fully convertible, which means the yuan’s rate may not reflect real market supply and demand. Both Wen and central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan have recently said the yuan is probably near a balanced level, even as they pledged to let the currency float more freely. (Reporting by Kevin Yao)

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China plans to slash import duties

April 2, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s State Council said that the country would reduce import duties on some energy products and raw materials and consumer goods, reported Xinhua News. The council added that the …

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Mazda recalling thousands of cars in China

April 1, 2012

(MENAFN) Japan’s carmaker Mazda Motor announced it will recall thousands of cars from Chinese market over a problem in anti-lock braking systems, Reuters reported. China’s General Administration …

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China’s Sino-Forest declares bankrupt at Canadian court

April 1, 2012

(MENAFN) Sino-Forest Corp., once China’s largest forestry company by market value, filed for bankruptcy in Canada, nine months after it was accused of fraud by short seller Carson Block, Bloomberg …

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Foxconn Chairman Makes Big Promise

April 1, 2012

(Adds quotes, details) By Lee Chyen Yee and Jeanny Kao BOAO, China April 1 (Reuters) – Foxconn Technology Group will keep on increasing worker salaries in China and cutting the hours of work, Chairman Terry Gou said on Sunday, after it came under fire for poor working conditions for employees making Apple iPhones and iPads. As part of its efforts to relieve the pressure on its existing factories in Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Chengdu, Gou said Foxconn would be building high-tech manufacturing facilities in Hainan, as well as expanding operations in Brazil. “We are a saying now in the company, ‘you work fewer hours, but get more pay’,” Gou told Reuters at the 2012 Boao Forum for Asia in China’s Hainan island province. “We won’t stop here and will continue to increase salaries.” “Salaries in Brazil are even higher but we will continue with our investments there. We’ve just entered a deal with Hainan Airlines and they will eventually be our way of connecting our supply chain (from China to Brazil).” The 61-year-old Taiwanese tycoon said Foxconn would lift workers’ overall salaries as some employees at its sprawling factories in Shenzhen had complained that they would not make enough money if hours were reduced. Apple and Foxconn agreed last week to improve conditions among the 1.2 million workers assembling iPhones and iPads in a landmark decision that could change the way Western companies do business in China. According to the agreement reached with Apple, Foxconn Technology Group, whose subsidiary Hon Hai Precision Industry assembles Apple devices in China, will hire tens of thousands of new workers, eliminate illegal overtime, improve safety protocols and upgrade housing and other amenities. The move is in response to the independent Fair Labor Association’s findings of violations of labour laws by Foxconn, such as letting long work hours and unpaid overtime. Foxconn now supplies 50 percent of the world’s consumer electronics, with its units assembling handsets for the industry’s best known names such as Nokia Oyj and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, apart from Apple. “The result we expect is additional hiring to cover the shortfall in labour hours following the reduction of overtime, as well as increased investment in automation equipment to reduce the future impact of continued wage increases in China,” HSBC analyst Jenny Lai said in a report. Foxconn has also been diversifying into other Asian markets, such as Vietnam, partly to reduce its reliance on China, though the move has been limited so far. “Vietnam’s development hasn’t been as fast as China,” said Gou, who is Taiwan’s third richest man according to Forbes. He added that Foxconn saw Hainan developing as one of its manufacturing bases in the southern part of Asia although some incentives, such as taxes, and the availability of labour still needed to be ironed out. “We’ll be breaking ground in Hainan at the end of this year and the facilities will be making high-tech products – that I can say. But as to what kind of products and other details, I can’t divulge too much now,” Gou said. (Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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China’s PMI up to 53.1 in Mar

April 1, 2012

(MENAFN) The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said that the country’s purchasing manager’s index (PMI) rose last month to 53.1, from 51.0 in February, reported AP. The federation …

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China’s industrial production hits 11-month high

April 1, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s industrial output hit 11-month high in March, driven by strong demand, signaling the economy is stronger than some estimates, and may rule out the need for an urgent easing in …

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The Region in a week

March 31, 2012

The Asian Pacific ended a week full of heavy and significant economic data, as the region’s major economies such Japan and South Korea released optimistic data this week except for China that …

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You’ll Never Believe How Much This Whiskey Costs

March 31, 2012

By John O’Callaghan and Eveline Danubrata SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) – A whisky made to mark the 60th year on the throne of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is on sale in Singapore for a mere S$250,000 ($198,500) a bottle – and it may well find a buyer. No doubt it’s a premium sip. Only 60 bottles of Diamond Jubilee were made by the Johnnie Walker unit of Diageo PLC from a blend of whiskies distilled in 1952. It’s also a premium price for Asian aficionados at the month-long Master of Spirits II event featuring speciality wine and liquor put on by luxury travel retailer DFS Group, part of the LVMH empire of high-end goods and services. Singapore is the first stop this year for a series of DFS events highlighting a wide range of luxury offerings. The city-state, home to the world’s highest concentration of millionaires, has become a playground for the global jet-set with casinos, expensive shops, fine dining, top hotels and showrooms featuring Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other supercars. The same package – the vintage whisky in a crystal decanter with silver trimmings, two crystal glasses and a leather-bound booklet – is priced at 100,000 pounds ($159,100) in Britain. Asia has seen a boom in wealth and a growing appetite for luxury goods, including top-of-the-line cars, jewellery, fashion, beauty products, watches and spirits. The rest of the 84 items on show in Singapore, worth more than $1 million, include Dom Perignon Reserve de L’Abbaye 1978, Chateau Cheval Blanc 1986 Imperial and Luzhoulaojiao National Salute from Chinese liquor maker Luzhou Laojiao. “I want to sell them all. Our plan is really to showcase the brands, our relationships and the uniqueness of our products,” Harold Brooks, president of global merchandising at DFS, told Reuters at Saturday’s invitation-only opening. “Some of them are buying them for investment, some of them are buying them because they can and some people really buy it to enjoy it.” Brooks did not directly address the question of regional pricing but said Asia is a “critical opportunity” for Hong Kong-based DFS, especially China and its brand-conscious consumers. The gold and black invitation for Saturday’s event included RSVP numbers for China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. Singapore is also no stranger to pricey whisky. Last year, a Chinese businessman spent S$250,000 on a bottle of rare 62-year-old Dalmore single malt at Changi Airport during the previous Master of Spirits promotion. Diamond Jubilee is among the dearest whiskies ever sold, although exact comparisons are difficult because of shifting auction prices and differences between blends and single malts. Not surprisingly, free samples of Diamond Jubilee are in short supply. Not even Brooks has had a sip. So what does that much money taste like? “Its different facets weave around each other: velvet texture, the refreshing bitter perfume of spices, pools of soft fruits as it flows down the throat,” the Whisky Advocate blog said in a February review, giving it 93 marks out of 100.

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Wall Street Off To Its Best Start Since K-Ci & JoJo Were Huge

March 30, 2012

— Rising consumer spending boosted stocks on Friday, and Wall Street closed its best first quarter since 1998. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.22 points to close at 13,212.04. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.19 points to close at 1,408.47. The Nasdaq composite barely moved, falling 3.79 points to close at 3,091.57. For the quarter, the Dow posted an 8 percent gain and the S&P a 12 percent gain, the best for those indexes in 14 years. The gain was 19 percent for the Nasdaq, its best since 1991. The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose in February at the fastest rate in seven months. Strong hiring over the past three months has added up to the best jobs growth in two years, putting more people back to work. Americans spent more even though their income has stagnated for two months after taxes and inflation. Some of the increased spending has gone to gasoline, which is the most expensive on record for this time of year. Oil prices rose again on Friday, up 23 cents in New York to $103.02 per barrel. Nine out of 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose. The biggest-gaining category was energy stocks, although refiners fell because of the higher oil prices. Health care stocks rose, too, with two of the biggest gainers being health insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. Technology stocks fell slightly. Some of the buying could be driven by end-of-the-quarter efforts by fund managers to get into stocks now that they have become popular again, said Jim Russell, a regional investment director for US Bank Wealth Management. And individual investors who have been relying on bonds appear to be getting back into the market, too, he said. “We are very heartened to see the retail investor stop playing one key on the piano – that is, all bonds, all the time,” he said. Apple fell 1.7 percent after a company that makes its iPhones and iPads said it would effectively raise per-hour wages at its factories in China, suggesting that manufacturing prices could rise. Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. rose 6.6 percent a day after the Canadian company said it would return to focusing on corporate customers and shake up its management to try to get profits growing again. Corn prices surged 6.6 percent on news that suppliers are tighter than previously thought. Higher corn plus higher oil prices points toward higher food prices. Grocer stocks fell: Supervalu Inc. was down 3.7 percent, and Safeway Inc. fell 1.3 percent. Best Buy closed down 4.4 percent as investors continued to digest its plan to cut stores and staff as it shifts toward smaller stores in an effort to compete with online retailers. Best Buy stock lost almost 7 percent on Thursday. Sports apparel maker Finish Line Inc. fell 16 percent after it predicted a lower-than-expected first-quarter profit. European markets bounced back after a rocky week that included a national strike in Spain. On Friday, the country unveiled a draft 2012 budget that seeks to cut the deficit by $36 billion through spending cuts and a tax hike on large companies. But Spain also plans to cut government ministry spending by an average of nearly 17 percent. Germany’s DAX closed up 1 percent at 6,947, while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.3 percent to 3,424. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent to 5,768. The euro rose half a penny against the dollar, to $1.3334. Asian markets took a hit after some poor factory production numbers from Japan. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.22 percent from 2.16 percent late Thursday. Treasury yields have risen two months in a row as investors feel more comfortable moving out of bonds and into riskier assets like stocks.

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Daniel Wagner: Carbon Taxes and Global Decision-Making

March 30, 2012

Co-written by Joshua Wallace The European Union’s decision to impose a carbon levy on air travel to Europe had the best of intentions but has provoked howls of protest from some of the world’s largest economies, with both China and India having stated they will not comply. The conundrum now facing the EU — whether to double down on the idea, modify it, or withdraw the concept altogether — serves to emphasize the myriad of interdependencies and impacts that today transcend borders. The EU carbon levy on air travel became effective from January 1st, though airlines will only be billed next year after 2012′s carbon emissions have been calculated. The EU insists that the cost of the tax is manageable for airlines and is necessary to help it achieve its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 20% by 2020. China and India consider the tax a unilateral trade levy disguised as an attempt to fight climate change. Fears have surfaced that the deadlock over this issue could spark a trade war resulting in retaliatory measures that would damage all sides. The issue has served to epitomize the brewing battle between the developing and developed worlds over supremacy of the emerging global financial and regulatory structure. The carbon tax has captured the changing dynamics of global decision making. For many years the West has assumed de facto leadership by determining the framework of global standards and norms, as it has been uniquely positioned to do so, given its resources and capacity to drive its vision of the future forward. However, with western countries slipping from the economic and political pedestal they have long held — by virtue of their lacklustre growth rates and failure to adapt to the new realities of the 21st century — the pendulum has been shifting in favor of emerging countries with greater rapidity over the last decade. With the pendulum shifting, the economic, political and financial clout of the developing world has risen in tandem, and the unilateral decisions taken by western nations have begun to prompt emerging countries to coalesce into unified blocs. Brazil made it clear that at this week’s BRICS summit that it will be seeking a united response to the manner in which the EU and US have reacted to the Great Recession, which they believe has damaged medium-term growth prospects for emerging markets. The World Bank has just announced that it plans to partner with a new development bank to be created and jointly funded and sponsored by the BRICS countries. And China is in the process of creating an offshore bond market for the renminbi, to facilitate its internationalization. This may ultimately position the RMB to become a meaningful alternative to the dollar and euro as a global currency in due course. Unilateral and collective actions by emerging countries will undoubtedly afford them greater bargaining power, which will become manifest sooner than many realize. The Bretton Woods institutions (the IMF and World Bank) — historically led by the US and Europe — are also beginning to be impacted by the shifting pendulum, with more and more emerging economies demanding a greater say in how the institutions are run, and by whom. China has demanded a say in the selection of the next World Bank president, and the BRICS nations have all threatened to withhold a portion of the additional financing requested by the IMF to avert a European sovereign debt crisis unless they gain greater voting power. While Christine Lagarde managed to maintain the European monopoly of IMF directorship, Jim Yong Kim — the US candidate to head the World Bank — faces fierce competition from a range of candidates from across the developing world — and rightly so. The rise of the BRICS nations as viable alternative donors to the developing world, and the idea of an alternative development bank being touted by the BRICS nations, underscore the possibility for meaningful change led by the emerging world. If the institutions that have governed the world economy since their post-war inception are unable to adapt to the new realities, then the emerging world will not wait for them. The flip side of that is that those countries which no longer truly possess ‘developing’ country status — such as China, with its immense economy and foreign exchange reserves — should no longer claim that status and continue to receive funds from multilateral development institutions. Doing so takes precious resources away from truly needy countries and takes credibility away from the collective emerging economy argument that the system must change. How the EU will respond to its carbon tax conundrum remains unclear, but what is becoming increasingly obvious is that the days of unilateral attempts to impose developed country will on the developing world are numbered. The world already finds itself at a crossroads. The developed world would be wise to embrace the ‘rise of the rest,’ for it is a force that is unstoppable and has already manifest itself in surprisingly effective ways. If you want a vision of the future, look no further than the important action the BRICS countries have taken this past week. *Daniel Wagner is CEO of Country Risk Solutions, a cross-border risk consulting firm based in Connecticut (USA), Director of Global Strategy with the PRS Group, and author of the new book Managing Country Risk (www.managingcountryrisk.com). Joshua Wallace is a research analyst with CRS. Daniel can be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/countryriskmgmt . Joshua can be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/JLP_Wallace .

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Foxconn Cuts Working Hours, Employees Ask Why

March 30, 2012

LONGHUA, China, March 30 (Reuters) – When Chinese worker Wu Jun heard that her employer, the giant electronics assembly company Foxconn, had given employees landmark concessions her reaction was worry, not elation. Wu, 23, is one of tens of thousands of migrants from the poor countryside who staff the production lines of Foxconn’s plant in Longhua, in southern China, which spits out made-to-order products for Apple Inc and other multinationals. Foxconn’s concessions, including cutting overtime for its 1.2 million mainland Chinese workers while promising compensation that protects them against losing income, we re backed by Apple, which has faced criticism and media scrutiny for worker safety lapses and for using relatively low-paid employees to make high-cost phones, computers and other gadgets. But at the Foxconn factory gates, many workers seemed unconvinced that their pay wouldn’t be cut along with their hours. For some Chinese factory workers – who make much of their income from long hours of overtime – the idea of less work for the same pay could take getting used to. “We are worried we will have less money to spend. Of course, if we work less overtime, it would mean less money,” said Wu, a 23-year-old employee from Hunan province in south China. Foxconn said it will reduce working hours to 49 per week, including overtime. “We are here to work and not to play, so our income is very important,” said Chen Yamei, 25, a Foxconn worker from Hunan who said she had worked at the factory for four years. “We have just been told that we can only work a maximum of 36 hours a month of overtime. I tell you, a lot of us are unhappy with this. We think that 60 hours of overtime a month would be reasonable and that 36 hours would be too little,” she added. Chen said she now earned a bit over 4,000 yuan a month ($634). Foxconn is one the biggest employers of China’s 153 million rural migrants working outside their hometowns. Compared to smaller, mainland-owned factories, workers said, its vast plants are cleaner and safer, and offer more recreation sites. But even so, for most employees at the Foxconn plant in Longhua, a part of Guangdong province’s vast industrial sprawl, life is dominated by the repetitive routine of the production line. Outside the Foxconn plant, off-duty employees crowded a small shopping mall. Their tightly packed apartment blocks are hemmed by hair salons, snack stores, gaming arcades and Internet “bars”, where many while away leisure hours by playing computer games or watching Korean and Hong Kong soap operas. “I don’t go out that much as there is nothing much to do. I do go out for a meal once in a while,” said Huang Hai, a 21-year-old man who said he had worked at Foxconn’s factory for about two years. “This is a good company to work for because the working conditions are better than a lot of other small factories.” Huang was waiting for a friend lined up outside the recruitment centre for prospective Foxconn employees. “I didn’t like my first job at Foxconn because it was very repetitive. It was mainly manual work and I had to hammer nails everyday,” said Huang. “Now it’s better because I work with computers.”

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Apple Products: Now With 10 Percent Less Guilt

March 30, 2012

The odds of you winning tonight’s $540 million Mega Millions jackpot are 175 million to one , but there are only seven and a half things you need to know today. Here they are: Thing One: There’s a good chance that you are reading these carefully considered (not really) words on an Apple device built by harried, endangered workers in China, a fact for which you might occasionally feel a slight twinge of guilt. Soon, hopefully, you can maybe have a guilt-free iPad experience. A group called the Fair Labor Association has investigated conditions at Foxconn , Apple’s main manufacturer in China, and found lots to make us feel guilty. The probe, which appears to be somewhat more rigorous than Mike Daisey’s make-stuff-up approach, found “excessive overtime and problems with overtime compensation; several health and safety risks; and crucial communication gaps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among workers.” In response, Foxconn has agreed to make life better for the people who make your iStuff, in ways The Huffington Post’s Bianca Bosker helpfully breaks down for you. Apple has said it is on board with the recommendations. We’ll see. It will not be cheap or easy: Foxconn may have to “hire tens of thousands of additional employees, which along with the wage increases could cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually,” The New York Times writes . But this could encourage an improvement of labor conditions throughout China, the NYT suggests. Great news, but, you know, not to be all Debbie Downer about this, that will also encourage us to hurry up and find the world’s next super-cheap pool of exploitable labor. Thing Two: RIM Job: Meanwhile, the Canadian Apple, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, is in the midst of even greater upheaval — and it’s about time. The company, faced with dismal sales and vanishing profits, has jettisoned a handful of top executives, including former co-CEO Jim Balsillie, is giving up on trying to get consumers to buy its devices and is thinking about selling itself, the Wall Street Journal writes . Thing Three: GooglePad: Undeterred by the struggles of RIM, which include the massive floppery of its PlayBook tablet, Google plans to sell its own co-branded tablets to compete with Apple’s iPad soon, the Wall Street Journal reports . Google is also trying to forget its failed effort a couple of years ago to sell its own branded smartphone, the Nexus One. (Anybody remember that? Me neither.) Thing Four: Le Firewall: European finance ministers this morning are close to a deal to add to the giant firewall of money they have constructed around themselves to keep sovereign-debt problems from setting all of our money ablaze, Bloomberg writes . That news has European stocks higher this morning, recovering from a selloff yesterday amid violent protests in Spain . But again, Debbie Downer here, a cash firewall is not all that Europe needs. It doesn’t hurt, though. Thing Five: Pasty-Gate: Here in America we complain about income inequality and the rich getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer, but in the United Kingdom they do the same thing with delicious meat pies . The hot controversy across the pond is the decision by George Osborne, snooty Chancellor of the Exchequer, to impose a 20 percent tax on take-out snacks such as super-cheap meat pies called “pasties,” favored by poorer diners, while cutting income tax rates for wealthy bankers, Chancellors of the Exchequer and the like. The New York Times writes : “The tax controversy, which the British press has called, inevitably, “Pasty-gate,” has come to symbolize the increasingly vitriolic debate in Britain over who should shoulder the burden of the government’s drive to cut debt and spending.” Sounds familiar. Thing Six: Murdoch Strikes Back: Rupert Murdoch has had enough of saying he’s sorry! He’s no longer going to just sit back and take accusations that bribery, hacking and piracy can be found in every sprawling corner of his News Corp. empire, Reuters writes . He yesterday fired off some strangely populist tweets, including jabs at “right wingers,” believe it or not, and promises more substantial fighting-back to come. Thing Seven: The Brothers Kwok: Hong Kong arrested brothers Raymond and Thomas Kwok , the billionaires who run the city’s biggest real-estate empire, and accused them of bribery. “In a city where a small group of powerful organizations control real estate, transportation and communications, the sight of two tycoons walking into law-enforcement offices to answer questions in a corruption case was riveting,” writes The Wall Street Journal . Thing Seven And A Half: Scaramouche! Scaramouche! From now on, if you get arrested and do not sing “Bohemian Rhapsody,” word-for-word, note-for-note, at the top of your lungs, in the back of the police cruiser on the way to the station, then you are doing it wrong .

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Foxconn Factory’s Violations: iPad Factory Workers’ Grievances Detailed In Report

March 29, 2012

The results of an audit of three Foxconn factories that manufacture Apple products has turned up “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws , according to a report by the Fair Labor Association, a non-profit commissioned by Apple to investigate Foxconn’s facilities. A team of five to seven inspectors from the FLA visited three different Foxconn factories — two in Shenzhen, one in Chengdu — and spent up to five days at each conducting hundreds of interviews with workers and managers in an attempt to understand what labor problems existed at the manufacturing facilities of China’s largest employer. According to the FLA’s 13 page report, the non-profit “observed at least 50 issues related to the FLA Code and Chinese labor law, including in the following areas: health and safety, worker integration and communication, and wages and working hours.” ( See the full report below .) Here’s an overview of the violations and discontents the FLA uncovered at the Foxconn factories: Overtime pay policies can shortchange workers. From the FLA report: The assessors discovered that unscheduled overtime was only paid in 30-minute increments. This means, for example, that 29 minutes of overtime work results in no pay and 58 minutes results in only one unit of overtime pay. Workers are being paid on time and more than the legal minimums — but workers say it’s not enough “to cover their basic needs.” The FLA writes: The SCI assessors found that wages are paid on time and are above the applicable legal rates…Sick leave payments are higher than the local law requirement, with workers compensated 70% as opposed to the minimum law requirement of 60%. Overtime hours were also paid at the appropriate premiums…With respect to satisfaction with wages, 64.3% of workers thought that their salary was not sufficient to cover their basic needs. Foxconn interns fall through the cracks. Though Foxconn does provide interns with some forms of health insurance, due to Chinese labor laws, interns “are not defined as employees and legally, no employment relationship exists between the factory and the interns.” The FLA adds, “This means that the general protections of the labor law do not apply to interns, including the social security benefits that normal workers receive. While regulations applying to interns exist in Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Education has issued policy regarding interns, their employment status remains vague and represents a major risk.” Migrant workers, who make up a large share of the workers at Foxconn factories, are often unable to claim benefits, such as social security and insurance. According to the FLA : Social security, medical and unemployment insurance require contributions from both the employer and the employee. However, migrant workers may not be able to claim those benefits in their hometown if they retire or become unemployed. It all depends on whether the two provinces in question (where they work and where they have residence) have established the institutional mechanisms to transfer the relevant funds….At the Shenzhen facilities only 1% of the workforce are local, while the migrant workers are not enrolled in the unemployment and maternity insurance systems. Workers don’t trust safety conditions at the factories and don’t have much of a say in policing (or improving) working conditions. Workers generally felt “insecure regarding their health and safety,” the FLA reports, noting also that Foxconn’s safety and health committees are largely populated by individuals with ties to Foxconn management, as managers choose the people who are eligible for election to those committees. These “reactive” committees often “[fail] to monitor conditions in a robust manner” and “[a]s a result, workers remain generally unaware of committees’ existence or role, while factories’ communications are almost entirely top-down.” The FLA additionally writes: Investigators found that workers were largely alienated, in fact or in perception, from factories’ safety and health committees and had little confidence in the management of health and safety issues. The assessment also suggests that if workers had more involvement with developing and monitoring health and safety procedures, many of the problems with implementation could be avoided. Workers often work more than the legal limit. Foxconn workers reported working an average of 56 hours a week and a maximum average of 61 hours a week. Though their hours often exceed legal limits, a third of workers actually said they’d prefer to work more: “When asked in the survey how they feel about working hours, 48% thought that their working hours were reasonable, and another 33.8% stated that they would like to work more hours and make more money. 17.7% of the respondents felt that they worked too much,” the FLA writes. The report also notes : During peak production, the average number of hours worked per week at Foxconn factories exceeded both the FLA Code standard and Chinese legal limits. This was true in all three factories. Further, there were periods during which some employees worked more than seven days in a row without the required minimum 24-hour break. The root causes include high labor turnover, which undermines efficiency, and gaps in production and capacity planning.

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Apple, Foxconn Vow Wide Revamp Of Factories

March 29, 2012

* FLA discovers violations that Apple, Foxconn addressing * If commitments kept, sets new bar for Western cos in China * Move follows years of criticism of worker abuse By Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO, March 29 (Reuters) – In a landmark development for the way Western companies do business in China, Apple Inc said on Thursday it had agreed to work with partner Foxconn to tackle wage and working condition violations at the factories that produce its popular products. Foxconn – which makes Apple devices from the iPhone to the iPad – will hire tens of thousands of new workers, clamp down on illegal overtime, improve safety protocols and upgrade worker housing and other amenities. The moves come in response to one of the largest investigations ever conducted of a U.S. company’s operations abroad. Apple had agreed to the probe by the independent Fair Labor Association in response to a crescendo of criticism that its products were built on the backs of mistreated Chinese workers. The association, in disclosing its findings from a survey of three Foxconn plants and over 35,000 workers, said it had unearthed multiple violations of labor law, including extreme hours and unpaid overtime. Apple, the world’s most valuable corporation, and Foxconn, China’s biggest private-sector employer and Apple’ main contract manufacturer, are so dominant in the global technology industry that their newly forged accord will likely have a substantial ripple effect across the sector. Working conditions at many Chinese manufacturers that supply Western companies are considerably inferior to those at Foxconn, experts say. “Apple and Foxconn are obviously the two biggest players in this sector and since they’re teaming up to drive this change, I really do think they set the bar for the rest of the sector,” FLA President Auret van Heerden told Reuters in an interview. The Apple-Foxconn agreement may also raise costs for other manufacturers who contract with the Taiwanese company, including Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com Inc , Motorola Mobility Holdings, Nokia Oyj and Sony Corp. The agreement could result in higher prices for consumers, though the impact will be limited because labor costs are only a small fraction of the total cost for most high-tech devices. “If Foxconn’s labor cost goes up … that will be an industry-wide phenomenon and then we have to decide how much do we pass on to our customers versus how much cost do we absorb,” HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman told Reuters in February. Foxconn said it would reduce working hours to 49 hours per week, including overtime, while keeping total compensation for workers at its current level. The FLA audit had found that during peak production times, workers in the three factories put in more than 60 hours per week on average. To compensate for the reduced hours, Foxconn will hire tens of thousands of additional workers. It also said it would build more housing and canteens to accommodate that influx. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who company critics hoped would usher in a more open, transparent era at Apple after he took over from the late Steve Jobs last year, has shown a willingness to tackle the global criticism head-on. “We appreciate the work the FLA has done to assess conditions at Foxconn and we fully support their recommendations,” Apple said in a statement. “We share the FLA’s goal of improving lives and raising the bar for manufacturing companies everywhere.” FIRST PHASE The much-anticipated report marks the first phase of a probe into Apple’s contract manufacturers across the world’s most populous nation. With 1.2 million workers, Foxconn – an affiliate of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry – is by far Apple’s largest and most influential partner. Foreign companies have long grappled with conditions at supplier factories in China, dubbed the world’s factory because of its low wages and high-metabolism transport and shipping infrastructure. While that manufacturing prowess presents an attractive business proposition, consumer concerns about allegedly brutal working conditions in China have caused headaches for foreign brands. Global protests against Apple swelled after reports spread in 2010 of a string or suicides at Foxconn’s plants in southern China, blamed on inhumane working conditions and the alienation that migrant laborers, often from impoverished provinces, face in a bustling metropolis like Shenzhen, where two of the three factories the FLA inspected are based. In months past, protesters have shown up at Apple events – the rollout of the new iPad, the iPhone 4GS and its annual shareholders’ meeting – holding up placards urging the $500 billion corporation to make “ethical” devices. The actor Mike Daisey also did much to raise awareness of the issue through his one man show, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” though his credibility was dented when it emerged that parts of his monologue were fabricated. In recent months, Apple’s CEO has announced the results of an internal audit into more than a 100 of Apple’s suppliers; caved to Wall Street pressure and put in place a dividend and stock buyback program; and addressed labor abuse protests directly. Cook reportedly told Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang he was working to resolve labor issues in the country. Apple joined the FLA in January and requested the group conduct a full-scale audit of its Chinese manufacturing. NEW DORMS The FLA in its report sought measures that will reduce working hours while ensuring that migrant laborers – often willing to pile up the overtime to make ends meet back home – do not forego much-needed income. Foxconn committed to building new housing to alleviate situations where multiple workers were squeezed into dorm rooms that seem inhumane by Western standards. It will also improve accident reporting and help workers enroll in social welfare programs. But it is unclear if there will be independent monitoring of Apple and Foxconn’s progress in adhering to its commitments. The Apple agreement is not the first time a U.S. consumer brand has agreed to address broadly the issue of working conditions at overseas factories. Nike Inc was rocked by reports in the 1990s that its contractors in China and elsewhere forced employees to work in slave-like conditions for a pittance. The sportswear brand eventually implemented wide-ranging reforms that vastly improved safety and working conditions, but the issue continues to rear its head: last year, Nike paid 4,400 workers $1 million to settle claims of non-payment of overtime wages. Yet even Nike stopped short of Apple’s and Foxconn’s hiring and income-boosting spree. Last month, Foxconn said it was raising salaries by 16 to 25 percent, and was advertising a basic monthly wage, not including overtime, of 1,800 yuan ($290) in the southern city of Shenzhen, Guangdong province – where the monthly minimum wage is 1,500 yuan. Besides the two factories in Shenzhen, the other factory covered by the FLA report is in Chengdu, in central China. Future forays by the FLA over coming months will encompass Apple contractors Quanta Computer Inc, Pegatron Corp , Wintek Corp and other suppliers, all notoriously tight-lipped about their operations. Should Chinese manufacturers and their American clients follow Apple’s lead, already severely strained margins might further narrow, experts say. While labor costs are a relatively low percentage of total costs for electronics products, they account for a far higher percentage further down the value chain. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s, or apparel makers like Nike or the Gap , are even more dependent on low-cost labor. Many companies have already relocated some manufacturing either to inland China, where wages are lower, or to countries like Vietnam.

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GOP Lobby Shop Had Ties To Iran Nuclear Program

March 29, 2012

WASHINGTON — GOP power broker Haley Barbour’s lobby shop, BGR Group, represents a Russian bank that has financed a company that helped build Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to corporate documents and lobbying disclosure records. The bank is owned by a secretive oligarch, Mikhail Fridman, who has met at least twice with White House officials in the last few years, according to visitor logs. Barbour, one of the most influential Republicans within the party, considered a bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination and has been speculated about as a possible vice-presidential pick. Last year, he called Iran “the number one threat to peace and stability.” It’s a measure of how much political saber-rattling in Washington is tempered by the lure of lobbying dollars that his firm represents a bank that has apparently helped fund Iran’s nuclear aspirations. Fridman’s Alfa Bank is the largest private bank in Russia and has helped make its owner one of the richest men in the world. The London Sunday Times has called Fridman’s company Alfa Group, which owns Alfa Bank, “one of the most controversial business empires on the planet.” Alfa Bank has been a client of BGR Group since 2002, according to lobbying disclosure records. Barbour was elected governor of Mississippi in November 2003, left the firm, and took office in January 2004. After two gubernatorial terms, he returned to his Washington lobby shop this year. During his time as governor, Barbour continued to receive payments related to his past BGR Group activities through a blind trust — payments of at least $300,000 per year, according to the trust agreement. In the mid-2000s, according to its own public reports, Alfa Bank provided financing to Atomstroyexport, a state-controlled Russian company that was a major player in Iran’s developing nuclear energy program. The relationship between Alfa and Atomstroyexport included “loans” and other client “services,” according to Alfa reports from 2006 and 2007 . When first approached about this story, Jeffrey Birnbaum, the top spokesman for BGR Group, and a former Wall Street Journal reporter who specialized in in-depth coverage of lobbying , dismissed any effort to link BGR, Alfa and Iran as misguided. “Just because Alfa bank had a line of credit with an entity that did business with Iran does not make Alfa a financier of Iran’s nuclear program,” Birnbaum told HuffPost via email. “The last time Alfa had any contact with any part of this was way back in 2008.” He said the bank chose to back away from what he dubbed “even the bank shot connections” after the United Nations Security Council voted to sanction Iran . Birnbaum also cited a denial the company gave to Fox News in 2007 when Fox reported that Fridman was “a key figure in Russia’s dangerous policy of selling nuclear technology to the Islamic Republic of Iran” and that Alfa Bank “serves as the primary financial agent for the nuclear power project.” (The Fox News article did not note the connection between Alfa Bank and BGR Group, focusing mostly on Alfa’s telecommunications ambitions.) Alfa’s 2007 statement denied that it was the “primary” source of financing for Iran’s nuclear program and insisted that Fox had “erroneously suggested that Alfa-Bank, and by extension its Chairman, Mikhail Fridman, and the Alfa Group as a whole, plays a principal and central role in the development of Iran’s nuclear power program and the sale of aircraft to the government of Iran.” Birnbaum forwarded detailed questions from HuffPost to Alfa Bank’s CEO. (He didn’t identify the CEO by name, but the bank’s current chief is Rushan Khvesyuk.) The CEO replied, through Birnbaum, that Alfa Bank no longer has investments inside Iran and that all “indirect contact” ended after the 2008 U.N. sanctions. The CEO otherwise declined to supply specific details about the nature and breadth of the bank’s connection to Atomstroyexport and another state-run nuclear entity, Rosatom, with which Alfa Bank had announced an arrangement . “Alfa has had a relationship only with Atomstroyexport, not the others,” the CEO replied via Birnbaum. “With Rosatom, it was all words, nothing happened. Bank laws prohibit Alfa from answering the question about how much money it’s made available.” Birnbaum also declined several requests to clarify what exactly the funds supplied by Alfa Bank to Atomstroyexport were intended for or what BGR knew about them. Without that information, it is impossible to know whether the funds were specifically applied to the Iran power plant program. Atomstroyexport’s actions during this time, however, are not in dispute: It finished the construction of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant , the centerpiece of Iran’s nuclear program. ‘NUMBER ONE THREAT TO PEACE AND STABILITY’ The Bushehr nuclear facility has not always been a source of controversy. When construction began in 1975, American and Western European companies provided materials and technical expertise to help build the plant. Only after relations between the West and Iran iced over, and Russia stepped in to help complete the project, did the U.S. start to eye it warily . In 1995, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, worried that technology from the Bushehr project could be used to boost Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon, urged Russia to back out of the project . “We are deeply concerned that some nations are prepared to cooperate with Iran in the nuclear field,” Christopher said at the time. “I will not mince words. These efforts risk the security of the entire Middle East.” More recently, American officials have said they are not concerned by the activities at Bushehr. In 2007, around the time Alfa was financing Atomstroyexport, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice endorsed the plant as a proper component of Iran’s civilian nuclear program. In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the U.N. ,”Our problem is not with their reactor at Bushehr. Our problem is with their facilities at places like Natanz and their secret facility at Qom and other places where we believe they are conducting their weapons program.” Still, military and intelligence experts have considered Bushehr enough of a concern that it is thought to have been the target of a cyber warfare virus called Stuxnet, which the U.S. and Israel reportedly deployed to set back Iran’s nuclear program. For Haley Barbour, a co-founder of BGR, the entire nuclear program in Iran is suspect. In a 2011 speech at a security conference in Israel, Barbour warned that Iran’s goal is to destroy “Western civilization.” At the time, the former head of the Republican Governors Association was considering a bid for the GOP presidential nomination. His hawkish stance is in line with GOP orthodoxy on Iran. “For those who care about Israel, or about the Western world for that matter, we must recognize and focus on Iran as the crucial strategic issue: Iranian support of terrorism, its destabilization of governments, its military nuclear program, and its goal of eradicating Israel and, frankly, of destroying Western civilization and its foundational values,” Barbour said. “It’s important to debate the Iranian threat. At a minimum, it should lead to a strategic consensus not just in Israel but in the world: Today, the number one threat to peace and stability is Iran.” Barbour’s specific reference to a “military nuclear program” might seem to raise the possibility that he believes Iran also has, and is entitled to, a peaceful, domestic nuclear industry, of which many consider Bushehr to be a part. A BGR spokesman rejected that notion, however. “I saw Haley Barbour over the weekend, and please know he told me he believes Iran’s nuclear program is a weapons program,” said Loren Monroe, when asked about this interpretation of Barbour’s words. That’s in line with a solidifying consensus among GOP presidential candidates about Iran’s nuclear program. Other than non-interventionist Ron Paul, the three remaining candidates have all criticized President Barack Obama’s handling of the Iranian situation and threatened war over the other country’s nuclear program. “I want to make sure that the people of this nation understand that he failed us not only here at home; he’s failed us in dealing with the greatest threat we face, which comes from Iran,” Mitt Romney said during the current campaign . Like his fellow candidates, Romney has rarely, if ever, distinguished between Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its civilian energy projects. “In a Romney administration, the world will know that the bond between Israel and America is unbreakable — that our opposition to a nuclear Iran is absolute,” Romney said in March . “We must not allow Iran to have the bomb or the capacity to make a bomb.” Rick Santorum, too, has targeted the entire Iranian program. “I would be saying to the Iranians, ‘You either open up those facilities, you begin to dismantle them and, and make them available to inspectors, or we will degrade those facilities through airstrikes and make it very public that we are doing that,’” he told NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “I would say to every foreign scientist that’s going in to Iran to help them with their program, ‘You will be treated as an enemy combatant like an al Qaeda member,’” Santorum added. Alfa Bank has spent some $3 million on BGR’s services since retaining the firm in 2002. In the fourth quarter of 2011, it paid the lobby group $140,000, according to the group’s most recent filing. BGR’s total lobbying revenue topped $15 million last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Not every client gets personal treatment from BGR Chairman Ed Rogers, but he is listed as one of the two lobbyists working on the Alfa account. Rogers is a high-profile Washington establishment figure who regularly appears on National Public Radio as a “Republican strategist.” He and Barbour have a long history. Their firm, founded in 1991, was initially known as Barbour Griffith & Rogers; Rogers named his son Haley. According to court documents related to Rogers’ divorce, Rogers owns a 50 percent stake in BGR Group. According to those same documents, he “has or had an ownership interest” in a BP energy subsidiary, TNK-BP. Alfa is a substantial owner of TNK-BP, making Rogers’ past or current interest yet another measure of the financial links between Alfa and him. Birnbaum said that Rogers does not hold an interest in TNK-BP and that the divorce filing was incorrect. He added that BGR does not comment on its own ownership. Publicly available Alfa financial reports from the last decade often included references to its work in Iran and in nuclear power plant construction. The reports also raised concerns that the “political and economic environment” around Iran might affect the bank’s returns. “Shifts in the foreign policy of the Russian government and changes in its key global relationships could adversely affect the Russian political and economic environment in general and, thus, Alfa-Bank’s business,” states one 2006 document, available online . “Russia’s foreign policy interests have often diverged from the interests and goals of its main trading partners (for example, with the EU in connection with confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions).” A separate statement from 2006 noted that Alfa Bank’s “clients and partners currently include large enterprises in the atomic sector such as Rosenergoatom, TVEL, Atomstroiexport and Techsnabexport (Tenex).” A 2007 Alfa financial document was even more explicit: “In 2005 and 2006, certain corporate customers to which the Alfa Banking Group provided loans were Russian industry leaders such as … Atomstroyexport, a general contractor involved in nuclear power plant construction.” CORPORATE CONTACTS For his part, Alfa’s founder, Mikhail Fridman, has the political access that typically accompanies great wealth. He had meetings at the White House in May 2010 and again in May 2011. Each time, according to White House logs, Richard Burt, a former top diplomat who negotiated the 1991 START I nuclear treaty with the Soviet Union, accompanied Fridman. Burt said that he couldn’t recall precisely, but believes that he was the one who set up the meetings at the White House. Fridman’s goal was to strengthen ties between the United States and Russia and to discuss Russian ascension to the World Trade Organization, Burt said. Burt has longstanding connections with both BGR Group and Alfa. He was previously executive chairman of Diligence LLC, a corporate intelligence operation largely populated by former spies, according to the company’s website. Burt still serves on the company’s advisory board. In 2005, BGR and Diligence became ensnared in scandal after Diligence, working as a BGR contractor, allegedly attempted to obtain corporate records of an Alfa rival from the auditor KPMG. An extensive BusinessWeek investigation detailed the effort . KPMG sued Diligence for fraud and unjust enrichment. According to BusinessWeek , Diligence settled the case by paying KPMG $1.7 million. (Diligence declined to comment.) IPOC Growth Fund, the Alfa rival, also sued Diligence and BGR Group. That case was settled in 2008, according to court documents. Rogers, the BGR chairman now lobbying for Alfa, was an early owner of Diligence. In fact, the company was set up inside BGR’s Pennsylvania Avenue office. “I have been a consultant to the Alfa Group, but not as a lobbyist,” Burt said. Burt also emphasized that whatever Alfa’s connection to Bushehr, it didn’t amount to financing a weapons program there. “Bushehr has no relationship with the Iranian weapons program,” he said. “They’re not doing any enrichment there.” Burt described Fridman, who is Jewish, as a passionate supporter of Israel and said Fridman leads an organization in Russia dedicated to advocating on behalf of Israel. Meanwhile, Birnbaum, the BGR spokesman, warned HuffPost that publishing an article about the connections between Alfa, BGR and Bushehr could warrant legal action. “My client is concerned that you’re preparing an article that is designed to harm the reputations of the people and companies it mentions — despite the facts that I’ve sent you several times. It believes strongly that there is no story here and that none should be published. To do otherwise would be a malicious stretch of the facts. We are therefore consulting with counsel and looking at legal options,” Birnbaum said via email. He also described as “malicious” drawing a link between Barbour and any activities conducted by a company represented by the lobby shop he founded. “The notion of ‘payments’ to Gov. Barbour is sophistry,” Birnbaum wrote in a separate email. “He was due a pre-set payout for his former ownership of the firm, as I understand it, that had nothing to do with any account at the firm at all.” In a follow-up email, Birnbaum noted the remarks of the current secretary of state and her immediate predecessor about Bushehr. “You might want to check the words of support that Secretaries of State Rice and Clinton offered about Russian involvement in the Bushehr power plant. It ought to change your thinking that this is even a story. As you know, my client believes strongly that it is not a story,” Birnbaum said. “For that reason, the client has decided not to discuss the story with you beyond the many responses I have already given.” HuffPost asked if the reference to Rice and Clinton’s support meant he was confirming Alfa’s involvement with Bushehr. “I did not answer yes,” he said.

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Apple CEO Makes Historic Visit

March 29, 2012

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, on his first trip to China as the chief executive officer, has visited an iPhone production plant run by the Foxconn Technology Group, which is being accused of improper labor practices. China is the world’s largest mobile market and already Apple’s second-biggest market overall, but its growth there is clouded by issues ranging from a contested iPad trademark to treatment of local labor. Picture handouts dated March 28 and e-mailed to Reuters show Cook seen smiling and meeting workers in the newly built Foxconn ZhengzhouTechnology Park in the north central province of Hebei. The facility employs 120,000 people, the handouts said. Foxconn is a major part of Apple’s global supply chain, assembling most of its iPhones and iPads, but has been hit by a string of worker suicides in recent years that activist groups blame on tough working conditions. The group is the Taiwan parent of Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings and Taiwan-listed Hon Hai Precision. Cook took the reins at Apple in August after the death of the firm’s visionary founder, Steve Jobs. His closely guarded itinerary has included talks with Vice Premier Li Keqiang, Beijing’s mayor and a visit to one of Apple’s two stores in the capital. On Wednesday, state media reported that China’s vice premier promised Cook the country would boost intellectual property protection. “To be more open to the outside is a condition for China to transform its economic development, expand domestic demands and conduct technological innovation,” the official Xinhua news agency cited Vice Premier Li Keqiang as saying. Apple has tie-ups with China Telecom and China Unicom to sell its iPhone, with the only other Chinese carrier, China Mobile, the country’s biggest mobile operator, also looking to clinch a deal. Apple is embroiled in a long-running dispute with Proview – a financially weak technology company that claims to have registered the iPad trademark – that is making its way through Chinese courts and threatens to disrupt iPad sales. (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Mark Zuckerberg Makes A New Friend

March 29, 2012

By Chris Gallagher TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda frequently entertains dignitaries from all over the world, but he was a touch star-struck on Thursday when he hosted a young billionaire with a whiff of celebrity: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. As cabinet ministers filed through Noda’s residence for a late afternoon meeting, it was Zuckerberg who drew a fusillade of camera flashes from a hefty media contingent as he strode through the entrance like a movie star. “It’s a funny feeling to see you here because I watched the film,” Noda told Zuckerberg, referring to “The Social Network” – which did not portray the Facebook co-founder in the most flattering aspect. “Very different,” laughed the 27-year-old, dressed smartly for the occasion in a grey suit and blue tie. Noda thanked Zuckerberg for the contribution social media made to communication after last year’s earthquake and tsunami, while Zuckerberg emphasized Facebook’s commitment to Japan, where the company has enjoyed a recent surge in users. “Japan’s the only country in the world outside the U.S. where we have an engineering office because we’re really committed to making a really good product here,” Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg, who was reportedly on vacation in China before swinging by Japan, was set to make an appearance at Mobile Hack Tokyo, an event for mobile developers to meet with Facebook’s developer relations team. Facebook got off to a slow start after it founded its Japanese-language service nearly four years ago, lagging domestic rivals like Mixi where users in privacy-minded Japan log on under an alias, or “handle name.” But it has doubled the number of its users in Japan after last year’s disaster, appealing to people who want to keep in touch with loved ones as well as those seeking a more international reach. “With more than 10 million people on Facebook in Japan, a robust developer community, and a sophisticated mobile market, Japan is an important country for Facebook,” Facebook spokeswoman Debbie Frost told Reuters. In February, Facebook launched a “Disaster Message Board” in Japan that enables people to easily let each other know how they are during emergencies, and to search for friends. Facebook may consider rolling out the service in other countries. Facebook’s Japanese service also allows users to show their blood type, which many people in Japan believe helps determine one’s personality. Facebook, the world’s No.1 social networking service with more than 845 million users, plans to raise $5 billion in an offering in May that could value the company at up to $100 billion. That would make the it the biggest IPO in Silicon Valley history. (Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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China’s SAIC posts 67% surge in Q4 income

March 29, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s SAIC Motor Corp said that net profit for 2011′s fourth quarter surged 67 percent, reported Reuters. The country’s largest carmaker added that the figures exceeded its earlier …

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US exports to China hit record of USD103.9b in 2011

March 29, 2012

(MENAFN) The US-China Business Council (USCBC) said that last year, US exports to China grew to USD103.9 billion, reported Xinhua News. The council added that in terms of export volume to China, …

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China Yuan Retreats to 6.291 USD

March 29, 2012

(MENAFN – Qatar News Agency) The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the Yuan, retreated to 6.291 against the US dollar on Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. In China’s …

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Air China has no plans to cancel Airbus orders

March 29, 2012

(MENAFN) Air China Ltd said that it has no plans to reduce or cancel any orders for Airbus aircraft, reported Reuters. The country’s national flag carrier added that it has orders for a total of …

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China Welcomes EU Reviewing Anti-Dumping Measures against Its Products

March 29, 2012

(MENAFN – Qatar News Agency) China has welcomed the European Commission’s review of 52 anti-dumping measures against Chinese fasteners, saying the European Union should rectify its anti-dumping …

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Chinese CNOOC 2011′s profit rises 29%

March 28, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s CNOOC Ltd said that last year’s net profit jumped 29 percent to USD11.14 billion from USD8.60 billion in 2010, driven by higher crude oil prices, reported Reuters. The country’s …

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Qantas, China Eastern Airlines to establish new budget carrier

March 28, 2012

(MENAFN) Australia’s Qantas’ CEO, Alan Joyce, said that the carrier inked a deal with China Eastern Airlines to form Jetstar Hong Kong, a new budget airline, reported Xinhua News. Joyce added …

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Asian stocks drop driven by Wall Street

March 28, 2012

As the US economic recovery isn’t “assured” while corporate earnings in China are worsening, Asian stocks fell today with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index sliding 0.5% at 13:47 in Tokyo …

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China to boost e-commerce sales to USD2.86tr by 2015

March 28, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that by the end of 2015, the country would increase the value of its sales of e-commerce to USD2.86 trillion, reported Xinhua …

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Air China posts 41% decline in 2011 profit

March 28, 2012

(MENAFN) Air China Ltd. said that its profit last year plunged 41 percent to USD1.4 billion, as fuel prices surged, reported AP. The carrier, one of the country’s 3 major-state owned airlines, …

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Daniel Franklin: Why Now is a Good Time to Be Thinking About 2050

March 27, 2012

“Never prophesy, especially about the future.” That nicely captures the perils of predictions – so nicely, indeed, that the saying or a version of it has been credited to numerous people, from the movie mogul Sam Goldwyn to baseball’s Yogi Berra. But in practice, we do have to prophesy, however imperfectly. Take climate change, an issue that involves assessing what could happen decades ahead, and how to respond to it. Or take defence planning: despite the difficulty of forecasting the nature of future conflicts, decisions have to be taken today that will affect how wars are fought for years to come (the F-13 Joint Strike Fighter, for example, the most expensive defence-industrial project ever, is planned to be a mainstay of American and Western air forces until at least 2060). Similarly long horizons are involved in planning for our energy needs and our pensions. So we need to look at the long term. Where to begin? A good place to start is with population trends – which is why this is the subject of the first of the 20 essays brought together in Megachange: The World in 2050 , a book published by The Economist this month. The world’s population is changing very fast. It took 250,000 years for it to reach 1 billion, around 1800. The latest billion, taking the number of people on the planet to 7 billion, took just a dozen years (a landmark the United Nations said was reached last October). By 2050 the global population will have risen to a little over 9 billion, according to the UN’s central projections. And by then the global population will be older (the median age will rise from 29 to 38) and more urban, with nearly 70% living in cities and towns, compared with just over 50% today. It will also be more African: about half the extra 2.3 billion people on the planet by 2050 will be in Africa. In 1950 Europe accounted for over a fifth of the world’s population, and Africa for a tenth; those proportions are on their way to being reversed. By 2050, there will probably be nearly as many Nigerians (close to 400 million) as Americans. Very broadly, from the point of view of population patterns, the world will fall into three groups between now and 2050. The first consists of younger-than-average countries where the share of the economically active population relative to that of dependent children and elderly will be very favourable. These countries will potentially enjoy a ‘demographic dividend’, if there is enough productive work for their large numbers of working-age people (or they could face instability if jobs are scarce). In this group are India, the Middle East and Africa. In the second category of countries are those where the average age is rising, but not by much, and where the share of the working-age population relative to the young and old is deteriorating, but only modestly. The United States is in this group, as are Latin America and South-East Asia. The third group – and the big losers from the demographic changes in the next four years – includes Europe, Japan and China. Japan will be the oldest society ever known, with as many dependents as people of working age. And China, thanks not least to the legacy of its one-child population, will start to age rapidly. By 2050 its population will be older not only that America’s, but even than Europe’s. China really is in a race to grow rich before it grows old. All this has big consequences: for the economy, business, security, migration, health and the demands on resources, not to mention for culture and social change. It should inform many of the policy decisions taken today. The sooner we start preparing for the coming demographic changes and all that flows from them, the better our long-term prospects will be. Megachange: The World in 2050 is available now.

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Timothy A. Ridout: Satellite Security Requires More Rules, Not Fewer

March 27, 2012

Satellites are crucial to modern life. We rely on them for civilian uses such as TV, Internet, ATM banking, GPS, agriculture, and weather forecasting. On the military side, we use satellites to guide munitions, operate drones, gather intelligence, and monitor enemy movements. Unfortunately, satellites are increasingly threatened. Earth orbits in which satellites operate are becoming cluttered with debris. As the number of operational satellites increases, competition for orbital “slots” is intensifying. The military uses of outer space also mean that space-faring nations are eying each other warily as they work to “harden” their own space assets while simultaneously developing new ways to destroy or incapacitate those of potential adversaries. This intensified competition has led to a debate about how to ensure that outer space remains viable for productive use. Russia and China have proposed a treaty that would ban the deployment of space weapons and prohibit the threat or use of force against space assets. The Bush administration pursued a policy of U.S. space dominance , but the Obama administration has since reversed this in favor of a cooperative multilateral approach. In January, Secretary Clinton indicated that the United States would work with the European Union in developing an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities . In their recent op-ed in the New York Times , John Bolton and John Yoo advocate a return to Bush-era unilateralism, supporting near-absolute freedom of U.S. action in space. They begin their argument with the false claim that “The Obama administration recently declared that America would follow, though not sign, a European Union code of conduct for outer space.” In reality, the administration has agreed to work with the EU on creating a code of conduct, but it has explicitly refused to follow the EU code of conduct as it stands, saying that it is too restrictive. Aside from this inaccuracy in their argument, Bolton and Yoo’s opposition to greater cooperation in outer space is worrisome. The kind of muscular, unilateral policy that Bolton and Yoo advocate would encourage unrestrained anarchy in a fragile environment. If the U.S. acts as it pleases, other countries will do the same. Without efforts to coordinate traffic or restrain dangerous behavior, outer space will remain in the kind of anarchic limbo that led the Chinese to conduct an anti-satellite test against their own weather satellite in 2007, destroying it and creating a lot of debris in the process. Russia and the United States have had the capacity to destroy satellites this way since the 1980s. The Chinese test could have been avoided if there were a clear norm discouraging such behavior. Additionally, a more cooperative atmosphere would have reduced the security concerns that created a perceived need for a show of force in the first place. A non-binding code of conduct of the sort proposed by the European Union in 2010 is currently the best way to improve outer space security. A treaty banning space weapons is not realistic both because defining a “space weapon” is infinitely difficult given the dual-use nature of space assets, and because there is little political will for a new outer space treaty. Broad principles are already outlined in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty , which ensures the universal right to peaceful use and extends international law to outer space. What a code of conduct would do is clarify specific norms and best practices. Article I of the Outer Space Treaty — to which the United States and 100 other states are party — establishes space as “the province of all mankind,” adding that it “shall be free for exploration and use by all States.” In this sense, outer space is roughly analogous to the high seas: free for all to use for peaceful transit. In the maritime case, a broad set of rules and standard practices have developed over centuries, providing guidance on issues as mundane as which ship has the right of way in given situations. Without these international norms governing maritime operations that enable the safe transit of ships all over the world, global commerce could grind to a halt. Of course, the physics in outer space are quite different. In the event of hostilities or accidental collisions at sea, destroyed ships and debris will sink to the bottom of the ocean. In outer space, debris in lower orbits could be pulled into Earth’s atmosphere in maybe 25 years. However, debris in higher orbits can last for centuries, endangering any space assets seeking to use those orbits. The speed at which objects in orbit travel means that even a marble-sized piece of debris could destroy a satellite. As of yet, there is no cost-effective way to eliminate space debris, although some are trying . Aside from the threat of hostile acts foreshadowed by the Chinese anti-satellite test, mere negligence and lack of coordination pose a serious danger to the outer space environment. For example, if an operator does not maneuver a satellite into a useless “graveyard” orbit before it runs out of fuel, that satellite becomes a hunk of debris at risk of colliding with other objects (as occurred in 2009 with an Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian spy satellite). Clear rules and accepted best practices can help mitigate such threats. An outer space code of conduct would codify and strengthen emerging norms such as those outlined in the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines , a set of best practices formulated by the world’s major space agencies. Whatever the specifics of a code of conduct or other agreements may be, developing norms and promoting a cooperative framework are in the U.S. interest. With nearly half of the roughly 1,000 operating satellites , the United States has the most to lose. We must emphasize collective traffic management and condemn the initiation of hostilities in outer space rather than supporting unrestrained freedom of action.

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China Life reports USD2.9b profit in 2011

March 27, 2012

(MENAFN) China Life Insurance Co. reported 45.5 percent decline in profit in 2011 from a year earlier as investment returns weakened, AP reported. China’s largest life insurer said it made USD2.9 …

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US companies expect slower growth in China in 2012

March 27, 2012

(MENAFN) The American Chamber of Commerce in China said that US firms in China expect to record slower growth in 2012 compared to 2011, reported Xinhua News. The chamber added that macroeconomic …

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Profits of Chinese industrial firms down 5.2% in Jan-Feb

March 27, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s National Bureau of Statistics said that in the January-February period, profits of the country’s major industrial firms dropped 5.2 percent from 2011′s same period, reported Xinhua …

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EPA To Reduce New Power Plants’ Pollution

March 27, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will press ahead on Tuesday with the first-ever limits on heat-trapping pollution from new power plants, ignoring protests from Republicans who have said the regulation will raise electricity prices and kill off coal, a dominant U.S. energy source. But the proposal, which was outlined to The Associated Press by administration officials, also will fall short of environmentalists’ hopes because it goes easier than it could have on coal-fired power — one of the largest sources of the gases blamed for global warming. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt the official announcement. Older coal-fired power plants have already been shutting down across the country, thanks to low natural gas prices, demand from China and weaker demand for electricity. But regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency on controlling pollution downwind and toxic emissions have helped push some into retirement, causing Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail to claim the agency will cause blackouts. Numerous studies and an AP survey of power plant operators have shown that is not the case. The proposed rule will not apply to existing power plants or new ones built in the next year. It will also give future coal-fired power plants years to meet the standard, because it will eventually require that carbon pollution be captured and stored underground. That technology is not yet commercially available. A new natural gas-fired power plant would meet the new standard without installing additional controls. The regulation, which was due to be released last July, stemmed from a settlement with environmental groups and states. The government already controls global warming pollution at the largest industrial sources, has proposed standards for new vehicles and is working on regulations to reduce greenhouse gases at existing power plants and refineries. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, an advocacy group fighting coal-fired power, said in an interview that the regulation shows that President Barack Obama is moving to a cleaner energy future. “It’s a strong move,” Brune said. “It means there will never be another coal plant built without new technology and it probably means even those won’t be built because they can’t compete.” But Republicans said the new rule could not come at a worse time, with concern about high gasoline prices and energy taking center stage in the presidential election. “At a time when the Obama administration should be working to lower the price of gas at the pump, it is alarming that they have put forward more global warming regulations,” said Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate environment panel. “Republicans are committed to ensuring that the Obama-EPA is finally reined in.” ___ Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter (at)dinacappiello

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Patrick Sharma: Fixing the World Bank

March 26, 2012

With the economy still struggling and campaign season heating up, it is not surprising that the World Bank is far from most people’s minds. But President Obama’s surprising choice to tap Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim as the Bank’s next president is an important one, for it has the potential to determine the fate of an institution that is running out of time. Founded in the waning days of World War II, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank for short, stands at a crossroads. Although not without serious flaws , the organization has long worked to promote international development by providing loans, grants and advice to governments in the global South. The Bank and its affiliate bodies, the International Development Association and International Finance Corporation, have also served as a clearinghouse for information on development, publishing reports, convening conferences, and running programs on everything from business regulation to HIV prevention. Yet, partially as a result of its own success, the Bank teeters on the brink of irrelevance. Last year the organization lent $26 billion dollars to developing countries — a paltry sum compared to $1 trillion in loans and investment those nations received from other sources during the time. The Bank’s largest borrowers, countries like India, Brazil, and China, are increasingly important players on the world stage and will have little need for the organization’s capital in the years ahead. Moreover, in an era of globalized financial markets many poorer nations are likely to be more interested in tapping private funding and other forms of foreign aid, such as that provided by China, than relying on the Bank’s assistance, which often comes with strings attached. The fact that so many countries are graduating from Bank lending is something to celebrate. So should the organization declare victory and close up shop? The answer, unfortunately, is no. Today’s major development challenges — whether climate change, migration, or access to energy — are increasingly global in scope, and the Bank is one of the only organizations that can address them in a meaningful way. This is because the Bank has the unique ability to provide both intellectual and financial assistance on a global scale. Unlike foreign aid programs, think tanks, or private foundations, the Bank combines knowledge creation and dissemination with significant on the ground development experience. As a result, the organization continues to have considerable influence in the developing world. Additionally, because of its unique governance (the Bank’s president has significant latitude in running the organization) and funding system (the Bank gets most of its money from selling its bonds on the private market), the organization is less beset by the inertia that plagues most other multilateral institutions. Kim — or whomever is ultimately selected as the Bank’s next president — will need to take advantage of these powers to remake the organization. Although each of the World Bank’s previous eleven presidents has left their distinct mark on the institution, none has faced a development landscape quite as unsettled as today’s. With the vast majority of the world’s poor residing in a handful of fast-growing middle-income countries, low-income nations facing unprecedented environmental and resource challenges, and industrialized countries preoccupied with their own economic difficulties, the Bank’s next president must move quickly to put the organization on a sound footing. This will require many things, but the major need is to turn the Bank into a more global institution. The success that many developing countries have had in increasing their economic growth over the previous years should force the Bank to question its intellectual foundations. Staffed mainly by American-trained economists, the Bank has long advanced a development model that calls for reducing the government’s role in the economy. While this might have made sense during the Cold War, in the aftermath of the financial crisis the Bank should move faster than it already has in embracing a development philosophy that recognizes that government can be a positive force in the economy. By bringing the organization back to a more balanced vision of development, the Bank’s next president can take an important first step in preparing it for the future.

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Apple CEO Surprises Shoppers In Chinese Apple Store

March 26, 2012

Well, look who’s turned up in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook surprised shoppers on Monday when he made an appearance at the Apple Store in Beijing’s Joy City shopping mall, reports China-based internet and tech blog TechNode . The blog spotted a post by @STwing on Sina Weibo (China’s version of Twitter), explaining that the tech titan dropped in at the store around 11 a.m. The user even included a photos of Cook smiling with Apple store employees and posing with customers. ( Visit TechNode to view the photos .) The Wall Street Journal heard word from Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu confirming Cook’s presence in China. Wu also said Cook had met with Chinese government officials, in addition to visiting the Beijing Apple store. Apple Insider writes that this is Cook’s first time on Chinese soil since he assumed the role of Apple CEO last August. His trip comes just days after the company published data collected by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) updating the public on reportedly exploitative working conditions in factories owned by Chinese companies where popular devices like iPads are assembled. Apple’s report, published last week, noted that the FLA probe turned up no instances of underage workers employed at supplier factories; Apple also said that instances of excessive working hours were relatively low, with most employees in supplier factories averaging about 48 hours per week, though 11 percent of employees were found working in excess of 60 hours per week in February. Cook’s visit to China also comes during strikes at a Taiyuan plant owned by manufacturing giant Foxconn, one of Apple’s suppliers that received perhaps the most scrutiny over working conditions. According to CNET , Foxconn is planning to recruit 20,000 workers to help pick up the slack left by those currently on strike in Taiyuan and to prepare for production of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 . ZDNet speculates that Cook may be visiting the country to meet with certain mobile carriers that could help strengthen the iPhone’s market share there. Indeed, China’s mobile market is crucial for Apple, especially since the country recently surpassed the U.S. in activations of Apple and Android devices . “Apple has done a great job with the relatively small number of retail stores they have got here,” David Wolf, CEO of Beijing-based marketing strategy consulting firm Wolf Group Asia, told Bloomberg . “The challenge now is to extend the successful retail model they have in the U.S. to China. Now they are really still in a test phase. It’s time to take it broader.” Check out the slideshow (below) to see photos of Tim Cook through the years.

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Michelle Chen: Even With Daisey’s Lies Peeled Away, Apple’s Rotten Core Exposed

March 26, 2012

Apple’s brand glared in the media spotlight this past week, after the public learned that performance artist Mike Daisey’s theatrical rendering of the struggles of Apple factory workers contained false claims — painfully exposed on an episode of the radio program This American Life . But if one fundamental truth has emerged from the scandal surrounding Daisey’s dramatic fudging, it’s that the lived reality of many Chinese workers is undoubtedly bleak — no embellishment needed. Daisey’s personal account is gratuitously peppered with fabrications, but the story of systematic exploitation is essentially true. For years various watchdog groups have tried to hold Apple accountable for harsh working conditions in China, which have been linked to workplace-related suicides and health hazards. Since a number of young workers killed themselves in 2010, the consumer advocacy campaign Make IT Fair, , together with the Hong Kong-based Students Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), has documented systematic abuses: exhausting hours, an oppressive, militaristic workplace culture and, despite conciliatory pay hikes , extremely low wages in comparison to the tremendous corporate profits and brutal working conditions. It should be noted, however, that Daisey’s ” dramatic license ” was debunked largely through the real findings of intrepid investigations by advocates and professional reporters, which some commentators have highlighted amid the media fallout. As part of its “Retraction” episode, in fact, TAL interviewed New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg about the real story behind Daisey’s fictions. On the reported widespread violations of a 60-hour weekly cap on working hours, Duhigg tells host Ira Glass , Apple claims workers volunteer for this excess work: Duhigg: They say, “Look, one of the reasons why there is so much overtime that’s inappropriate and, in some places, is illegal, is because the workers themselves are demanding that overtime.” Now, workers don’t always say that. What workers often say is that they feel coerced into doing overtime, that if they didn’t do overtime when it’s asked of them, that they wouldn’t get any overtime at all, and that financially they would suffer as a result. This is the kind of more nuanced, day-to-day exploitation that Foxconn workers face — not so sensational, but nonetheless driven by global economic forces. Li Qiang, head of the New York-based China Labor Watch , told In These Times that in terms of the situations Daisey described, basically, “What he said about working conditions is true.” He added, “Through this kind of media reporting, maybe more artists or journalists, or others will go to China to investigate the real circumstances in Chinese factories…. This way, this issue can generate more public debate.” While Apple has touted a new partnership with the third-party monitoring organization Fair Labor Association, many critics remain wary that Apple will continue to fail the workers at the dregs of the supply chain. Even worse, Apple might turn the scandal into a marketing opportunity, polishing its reputation with a dab of “corporate social responsibility” measures. Make IT Fair recently denounced the FLA partnership as “a mere PR stunt,” citing comments by FLA president Auret van Heerden praising Apple facilities as “way, way above the average of the norm.” Activists call on Apple and other industry leaders to adopt more stringent ethical codes, which protect the environment from damaging extraction of raw materials, honor collective bargaining rights, and protect workers and their communities from discrimination and rights abuses. Apple’s real attitude toward its workers has been far from charitable. In a statement responding to TAL ‘s retraction, SACOM (whose campaigns have informed both Daisey’s and TAL ‘s reporting) pointed to the ongoing ramificiations of an incident that inspired Daisey’s narrative — a mass poisoning at a facility where workers were exposed to the chemical n-hexane while polishing gleaming touchscreens: In contrast to Apple’s statement that they have all been treated successfully, many workers still suffer from weak limbs and other health problems after nine-month hospitalizations. The victims sent three letters to Apple last year, but the company did not answer them at all. Likewise, after the explosion at the iPad case manufacturer Riteng in Shanghai in last December, which injured 59 workers, Apple has not sent anyone to visit the victims. The young workers are in despair because their faces were disfigured due to the fire from the blast. Some of them suffer from bones so severely shattered that they may be permanently disabled. Three months have passed, but the victims have not received any compensation…. While Apple hypocritically expressed that the company was deeply saddened by the tragedy, it has never apologized or offered compensation to the workers for its negligence in complying with work safety rules. For all his professed empathy for Foxconn workers, Daisey’s exaggerations were stupefyingly self-serving . Even as he awkwardly attempted to express contrition in the follow-up dialogue with Ira Glass, he insisted that within the realm of theater, he had legitimately blended fiction and nonfiction to create a more emotive experience for a Western audience. The claim reveals that Daisey lied to elevate his role in the story. He basically decided that the ugly truth wasn’t quite dramatic enough for him — a sideways insult to the workers whose cause he claimed to champion. In a correspondence with In These Times , SACOM project officer Chan Sze Wan said, “we worry that the public will misunderstand [and think] Foxconn is innocent after the Mike Daisey’s case.” As a research-based group, she added, SACOM “will continue to provide accurate information to consumers to solicit their supports,” but ultimately, voices of workers themselves will need to be heard: Nowadays, Foxconn workers do not have real worker representative system in the factory. So, SACOM has to channel their grievances to Apple. However, we always emphasize that workers should be the ones to monitor the working conditions at their workplace and fight for the rights. Following the string of suicides, a quote from a Chinese blog captured the workers’ story more eloquently than an American performer ever could: Perhaps for the Foxconn employees and employees like us — we who are called nongmingong, rural migrant workers, in China — the use of death is simply to testify that we were ever alive at all, and that while we lived, we had only despair. In the context of that hushed plea, the media hooplah over the fudged Foxconn narrative simply distracts us from the real masterwork of fiction that Apple and other tech giants continue to peddle: the imaginary world of our gadgets, a cosmopolitan universe that pretends to connect everyone while in fact sharpening the lines between consumers and the invisible workers that enable that carefree lifestyle. And we’re all buying it. Cross-posted from In These Times.

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China’s Sinopec reports 2% increase in 2011 profits

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN) State-run China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) reported 2 percent increase in profits in 2011, as government price controls limited its ability to pass on surging crude costs, AP …

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GM plans to concentrate production in low-cost countries

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN) General Motors Co. (GM) plans concentrate its production in low-cost countries including Poland, Russia, China, India, Mexico and Brazil, Der Spiegel reported. The giant automaker also …

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China- BYD’s profits dip 45% in 2011

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN) China-based BYD Co stated that profits dipped 45 percent last year hitting USD223 million, reported Xinhua News. The auto and battery maker also said that revenues went down hitting …

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Australian govt bans Huawei from bidding for internet project

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN) Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that China’s Huawei is not allowed to bid for a project that will develop a high-speed Internet network in Australia, reported AP. Gillard …

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The cracks in the BRICS

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN – Jordan Times) As it prepares to hold its latest annual summit in New Delhi on March 28-29, the BRICS grouping – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – remains a concept in search …

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China Eastern, Qantas establish low-cost carrier

March 26, 2012

(MENAFN) China Eastern Airlines and Australia’s Qantas stated thay they established a joint venture for a low cost carrier called Jetstar Hong Kong Limited, reported Xinhua News. The airlines’ …

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Honda recalls 2000 vehicles in China

March 25, 2012

(MENAFN) The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said that Dongfeng Honda will recall 2,000 CR-V multi-purpose passenger vehicles in China, reported Xinhua …

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Gold And Silver Bars For Every Chinese Villager

March 24, 2012

3,000 villagers hit a windfall last week after a locally-owned business in eastern China gave each resident 100-gram bars of gold and silver in honor of the company’s 40th anniversary, the China Money Report writes. The gold and silver giveaway was chosen by the Changjiang village residents who are the collective owners of Jiangsu Xinchangjiang Group , the electric, metals and chemicals company, explains Chinasmack.com. Before the gold arrived, villagers received a secretive message and a safe–hinting that the bars were on the way. A couple of days later residents found themselves collecting their bountiful gold and silver bars. The China Daily reports this is the second time the villagers have received gold and silver giveaways . The village picked a good time to invest in gold. The current market rate is now priced around 400 yuan per gram ($63.50) , notes Asia One. Moreover, the price of the commodity has risen more than fivefold in the last 10 years , outperforming almost every other investment available.

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China Shenhua reports USD7b profit in 2011

March 24, 2012

(MENAFN) China’s coal miner Shenhua Energy Co Ltd reported 18 percent increase in profits in 2011 on higher domestic coal prices and increased production volume, Reuters reported. Shenhua said it …

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Chinatown Walmart Ducks Los Angeles Chain Store Ban

March 23, 2012

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved Councilman Ed Reyes’s motion to ban chain retail stores from Chinatown on Friday. The ban appears too late to stop the recently announced Walmart Neighborhood Mart coming to Chinatown. The 13-0 vote came after a city building and safety department representative told the council that Walmart had obtained building permits to begin construction. Reyes, who represents the historic Chinatown neighborhood, said on the floor that he learned about the permits Thursday evening. Reyes spokesman Tony Perez told the Huffington Post he doesn’t think the ban will apply to the Walmart. Councilman Paul Krikorian’s spokesman expressed the same thought. “Now that our Walmart Neighborhood Market has received all necessary approvals, we look forward to serving downtown customers soon,” Walmart spokesperson Steven Restivo told HuffPost. “We appreciate all the community support to date and will continue to engage with residents and businesses in the area to talk about the jobs, economic development opportunities and new grocery options our store will deliver.” Aiha Nguyen, senior policy analyst for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which has led the effort to block Walmart from Chinatown, said, “It is an outrage that they managed to pull a number of permits at 5 p.m. last night. It just demonstrates how Walmart works, with a number of resources behind them. This demonstrates their lack of respect for the community. What’s worse, if they open this store, they can open others across LA.” Nguyen said the fight isn’t over. “As evident from the unanimous City Council vote, we have their support,” she said. “There will absolutely be appeals coming.” The final motion included an amendment from Krikorian requesting further public comment and economic analysis. The vote instructs City Attorney Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance banning retail chains. The ordinance will face further economic analysis and public input and will then return to council for a final vote. Krikorian said there would be “abundant additional opportunity” to mold the final ordinance. The motion, without the newly added amendment, can be seen below. Perez told HuffPost that the ordinance has value, even if it doesn’t stop Walmart. “It brought up issues that we needed to deal with. One, that the CRA [Community Redevelopment Agency], which used to assist with this, is gone. And two, that Chinatown’s heritage needs to be protected.” Perez said Reyes still has concerns about traffic that Walmart will bring, particularly for the school across the street. Proponents and opponents of the chain store ban made impassioned comments before the vote. They included Chinatown community leaders, Chinese business owners, residents and others. Walmart opponents said the retailer will hurt local busineses, lower wages and compromise Chinatown’s cultural character. A man who said he represented the Business Improvement District and the Historic & Cultural Neighborhood Council warned that if the historic character of Chinatown is not restored, the neighborhood will fall by the wayside as did the city’s first Chinatown in the 1910s. Krikorian called Chinatown a “special treasure” and shared how much it meant to him to take his son to the same Chinatown attractions he remembers visiting as a child. He also expressed his concern that LA does not attract enough retailers. Opponents of Reyes’ motion argued that the Chinatown area is a “food desert” that needs more grocers and that the local economy will benefit from Walmart and other retailers’ investment in the community. A man who said he was the chair of the senior center in the proposed Walmart location said he spoke on behalf of the center’s residents in saying that they support the proposed Walmart. A representative from the Chamber of Commerce vehemently opposed the ban for rejecting all “formula retail” stores, not just Walmart. Council members Jan Perry and Tony Cardenas were absent for the vote. City Council Chinatown Formula Retail Motion 3-16-12

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Electric Cars’ Green Reputation On The Line In Japan

March 23, 2012

TOKYO (AP) — Electric car owners who prided themselves on being green now find themselves in a bind as Japan’s government maneuvers to restart dozens of nuclear power plants idled after last year’s meltdowns. For decades, nuclear generation has been a crucial source of power here, but the tsunami-triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have spurred a national debate over how to supply Japan’s electricity in the future. Long touted as a clean, zero-emission alternative to vehicles powered by dirty fossil fuels, electric cars are now at risk of being tainted by their association with nuclear. If, as is possible, nuclear remains a key source of power, “then the green image of the electric car will get bashed to bits, maybe to the extent it will be irreparable,” said Ryuichi Kino, who has written books on nuclear power and hybrid technology. “I have the feeling it’s quite possible that might happen.” Not long after the tsunami swept through the plant on March 11 last year, the government backed away from plans to lift nuclear power from supplying a third of Japan’s electricity needs to half. But Japan isn’t abandoning nuclear power altogether. Despite the Fukushima crisis underscoring its risks, the government wants to restart some of the nation’s 54 reactors after safety checks are completed. Critics say the checks aren’t good enough, and the damage from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl looms large, with the 20-kilometer (12-mile) no-go zone around Fukushima, as well as surrounding areas, likely to be contaminated by radiation for decades. Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, a longtime opponent of nuclear power, acknowledged he gets bashed as hypocritical by people on Twitter about appearing in advertising for Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric car. Many are not aware that, because he lives in New York, he can get his electricity from a company that relies solely on wind power — a kind of business that doesn’t exist yet in Japan, where utility regulations remain rigid and closed. “How we make electricity is going to diversify, with fossil fuel and nuclear power declining,” said Sakamoto. People should be able to choose the kind of electricity they want to use, he said. Electric cars were proving a hard sell even before the Fukushima disaster. And their green image has a weakness since generating electricity, unless it’s from solar, wind or other clean forms, emits polluting gases. Nissan, an electric-car leader, has sold just 25,000 Leaf cars around the world since late 2010, including 12,000 in Japan. It is targeting global sales of 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2015 in conjunction with alliance partner Renault SA of France. Corporate Vice President Hideaki Watanabe, who oversees Nissan’s zero-emission business, insists sales are on target and haven’t dropped after the March disaster. The nuclear crisis has highlighted that the Leaf can be a backup storage for electricity in emergency blackouts, he said. What’s holding Leaf sales back instead are the lack of charging stations on roads and its relatively high price. The Leaf starts at about 3 million yen ($36,000) in Japan, after the 780,000 yen ($9,400) green subsidy. In the U.S., the Leaf sells for about $25,000 after applying a $7,500 federal tax credit. Nissan says prices will come down with sales volume but infrastructure changes are slow in coming: “There is no magic formula,” Watanabe said of boosting sales. Although the Leaf is now a front-runner among electric vehicles, Nissan faces competition from rivals that already offer them such as U.S. luxury maker Tesla Motors Inc. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan with the i-MiEV mini car. Others have them in the works. Some electric car owners remain undaunted. They don’t equate their nifty green cars with atomic energy at all despite widespread jitters in Japan about spewing radiation and the safety of what had once delivered a third of the country’s electricity. The deficit is currently made up by expensive oil and gas imports. “Concerns about global warming are growing,” Internet retailing entrepreneur Norishige Namba said while attending a recent gathering for 140 Leaf owners in Tokyo. “We need to preserve nature.” Namba, who is against nuclear power, is placing solar panels on his condominiums in southwestern Japan, a new branch of his growing business. He plans to set up Leaf recharging stations on its grounds. Kino, the author, believes that if electric cars are to become mainstream it’s more likely to happen in countries that haven’t suffered a nuclear disaster including the emerging markets of India and China. He also thinks they will be embraced more quickly by car buffs in the U.S. and Europe, in contrast to the more practical Japanese consumers who look for good deals in a car. Electric vehicles still do have one strong selling point — soaring gasoline prices. Crude oil has shot up above $100 a barrel lately from $75 in October. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters this week. “Every time oil prices go up, it’s free advertising for electric cars.” Yoko Usukura, a clerical worker who bought a Leaf a half-year ago, was depressed by the explosions at Fukushima nuclear plants. She hopes Japan will phase out nuclear power but meanwhile is happy electricity for her Leaf, even with daily recharging, is costing a tenth of what she would be paying at gas stations. “It is so quiet. It is so different,” she said. But some of the cost advantage may evaporate in Japan. Electricity bills are almost certain to jump as the operator of Fukushima hikes fees to help cover the massive costs of tackling the meltdowns at the plant. ___ Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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US’ ITC launches new anti-dumping investigations on China

March 23, 2012

(MENAFN) The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said it started an anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on stainless steel sinks from China, reported Xinhua News. …

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China, Australia ink USD3.174b currency swap deal

March 23, 2012

(MENAFN) The Peopl’e Bank of China stated that it signed an agreement with Australia’s Center Bank for a currency swap worth USD31.74 billion, reported Xinhua News. The agreement is for an …

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