Professor Bottelier

This may not appear to be about zone immediately but this article gets there an is worth reading in full.

The transfer in China of responsibility for the approval of medium- and long-term corporate bond issues by listed companies from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC ) may turn out to be a watershed decision in China’s transition to a more market-oriented economy.

There are indicators that suggest the government has selected the Tianjin Binhai New Area, southeast of Beijing, as the next hub for concentrated development and for trying out new ideas for financial reform that could, if successful, be replicated elsewhere in the country.

The Tianjin Binhai New Area, which consists of three administrative districts (Tanggu, Hangu and Dagang) and eight industrial zones currently under construction, offers an excellent opportunity to accelerate capital market development in China.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang, while inspecting the port city recently, stated that local officials should accelerate efforts to develop the Binhai New Area into ‘a northern portal of the country’s reform and opening up drive, a base of modern manufacturing and scientific research and application, and an international shipping and logistics center’.

Cui Jindu, vice mayor of Tianjin for financial affairs, stated that the city would concentrate on the development of venture capital and private equity investments and position the city as a center for non-securities funding. He also wants to promote corporate bonds as an alternative funding source for enterprises established in the Tianjin Binhai New Area.

This article — there is much, much more of it for this is the briefest summary — is by Pieter Bottelier is a senior adjunct professor at The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Prior to this, he served at the World Bank from 1970-1998 and was the chief of the World Bank’s resident mission in Beijing from 1993-1997. For the whole, facinating and persuasive article click HERE.
Source: Asia Times

Xi'an Software Park

To talk about Xi’an Park being comparable to American’s Silicon Valley is to understate the case for the Chinese version.

Xi’an Software Park is a national software industrial and software export base, and is one of the first the Service Outsourcing Base Cities designated by the Central Government.

It is within Xi’an High-tech Industries Development Zone, a special economic development area. To date, Xi’an Software Park has attracted more than 630 software and outsourcing enterprises both from within China and abroad, with more than 50,000 employees.

The city is located in the weight center of China and is about two hours air from the Capital Beijing or the coast city Shanghai.

It has one of the four biggest international airports in China, with 29 international routes connecting major Southeast Asian cities in Japan and Singapore, as well as European and North American cities such as Frankfurt, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Vancouver.

Xi'an Software Park

The base has equipped with 1000 MB optical fiber and communication devices from national providers China Telecom, CNC, and Unicom have been built in the Software Park.

Over 450 software enterprises gained national certificate; More than 1,300 software products and 1,200-plus software copyright have been registered; 180-plus enterprises gained the CMMI, ISO27001 certificates and other industrial related certificates.

This is not the time to argue whether Xi’an Software Park has made more efficient use of its concentration of software houses than others. But it does show a government that organizes a national software industrial & software export base can expect significant results.
Source: OffshoreOutsourcing2China

Taihu Lake, Wuxi

Siemens will help Wuxi City in East China’s Jiangsu Province recover the water quality of the Taihu Lake.

Siemens plans to supply a Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) system to the sewage treatment plants at Wuxi New Zone, an industrial development area, to expand its waste treatment capacity.

The MBR system is scheduled for trial run by the end of 2008. By then, 30,000 cubic meters of sewage will be disposed every day, thus helping Wuxi heighten urban centralized sewage treatment ratio to 90% by 2010.

As an important water source for a population of 30 million, Taihu Lake was once fouled by industrial wastewater. To clean Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province is now upgrading the sewage treatment plants.
Source: Trading Markets

China keeps on growing

Many people see it as an “upcoming” market, and often group it with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) theme, but the growth in China is so fast, this group actually poses a risk to the economy there.

Foreign investment in China rose almost 50% for the first half of 2008 in comparison to the same period in 2007 (up to $52.4 billion), which was beyond all expectations and projections.

Over 14,000 businesses in China were financed by foreign investors in the first half of 2008, and this includes an increasing number of start-ups and small businesses.

The market in China is still in its early stages, and that is perhaps the most intimidating part. Foreign investment has only been allowed in recent years.

Only recently has China allowed foreign investors to form companies owned by foreign capital.

These new changes have helped increase business flow within the country, and more tax friendly incentives for start-up businesses have been formed via Special Economic Zones and Development Zones. More information on this unusual approach to China’s Expansion HERE.
Source: PR Log

Industrial waste before treatment

CIWT, a processor of industrial wastes and provider of environmental protection, pollution treatment and waste management design services, has completed a  construction for Dalian Zhuorui Resource Recycling a subsidiary company which recycles waste catalyst for the oil industry. CIWT has a major presence in in the Economic and Technology Development Zone, Dalian.

This project has now entered the equipment-testing stage and is ready for commercialization.

In 1996, China Industrial Waste Management began developing a technology to process waste catalyst generated from the oil refinery industry, which contains valuable metals. These efforts successfully led to the development of a plasma technology in 2006 which enables waste catalyst to be completely reused.

Already the Company provides waste disposal solutions to its more than 600 customers from facilities located in the Economic and Technology Development Zone, Dalian.
Source: Market Watch

Oxean logo

Oxea and the Chinese listed Chengxing Group have signed an agreement with the Changzhou Municipal Government. This is for the approval of a land grant in the Changzhou Yangtze River Chemical Industrial Park on which will be built a plant for the production of amines and other chemicals.

Chenxing Group

Oxea and Chengxing are planning to form a new joint venture company with Oxea as the majority shareholder.

This is the first major investment for Oxea in China. Amines are mainly used for the production of pharmaceuticals, dyes, agrochemicals and polymer additives.
Source: Chemie.de

Beihai under the red pointer

An industry shift from the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas has brought an enormous development opportunity to Beihai, a coastal city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Beihai lured 35 projects from the eastern region in the first half this year, with total investment of RMB17.667 billion ($2.59 billion). Actual capital used in that period was RMB2.61 billion.

The Pan-Beibu Gulf Sub-regional Economic Region was launched in 2006.

With a population of 12.55 million and a land area of 42,500 sq km, the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economy Area is the biggest multi-regional cooperation area in the country, covering the administrative areas of four major cities — Nanning, capital of Guangxi, Beihai, Qinzhou and Fangchenggang — which together are known as “NanBeiQinFang”.

The area’s development plan is already bringing industry and investment to NanBeiQinFang with Beihai leading the way.

Much, much more on this HERE.
Source: China Daily

Roewe 550 looking very desirable

SAIC Motor Corp has opened a 150,000-unit production facility in Shanghai as part of an effort to lead China’s self-branded vehicle market.

Chen Zhixin, executive vice president of SAIC Motor said the 1.2 million-square-meter factory is located in Lingang Industrial Zone, 75 kilometers south of downtown Shanghai, and cost RMB2.9 billion ($424.2 million). The first phase will cover around 670,000 square meters.

It will be the nation’s largest auto maker’s third passenger car plant, enabling SAIC to have a total capacity of 300,000 self-branded cars a year in full operation.
Source: China Trade Information

Xinbei Industrial Park

This month a ground breaking ceremony for Changzhou Xinri Chemicals was held in Xinbei Industrial Park.  It is said to be a new important measure to implement the strategy of ‘chemical industry development with priorities based on environment protection’ by Changzhou National Hi-tech District.

Changzhou Xinri Chemicals was set up by the Macau Xinyang Group, which is a world-famous manufacturer of unsaturated polyester resin.  The new plant covers a land area of 266 thousand square meters, and has a registered capital of $49.98 million and a total investment of $99.98 million.

Zhang Wenjun, chairman of the board of Changzhou Xinri Chemicals said, ”This company will treat environment protection seriously, invest a large sum of money to set up perfect facilities for environment protection and ensure that they operate properly to reach the set standard of emissions.’

After the establishment of the management committee of Xinbei Industrial Park, the management members believe that the park can only be saved through development of green chemicals and substitution of small chemicals with large chemicals. The results are seen in the illustration.
More on this HERE.
Source: The Earth Times

Scene from a TAL promotional video

TAL Apparel’s new $70 million factory in  Dongguan, a manufacturing zone two hours’ drive from Hong Kong, shows how manufacturing is changing in  China.

The factory’s pristine white floors and brightly lit aisles look more like a modern office suite than a clothing factory. In one corner, automated cutting machines slice out fabric for men’s trousers, a process that wastes less material and requires only about half the staff needed to cut patterns by hand. In another section of the plant, a computerized system of ceiling tracks ferries the pants on hangers. At the end of the assembly line, the high-quality garments emerge sporting brand names like L.L. Bean and Dockers.

S.N. Yip, a director at TAL, says that only the most modern, efficient factories can thrive in today’s China. He said, ‘If you want to run a sweatshop, this isn’t the place.’

The average monthly pay of China’s factory workers increased 66% between 2004 and 2007 to $234, an amount that is well above the wages earned in other Asian countries.

However businessmen say that clusters of factories in similar industries in the zones that have formed along the mainland’s coast create a ready supply chain for important raw materials and components, while China’s superior infrastructure makes shipping products overseas extremely efficient. These factors have convinced many industrialists to stay put.

Much more HERE.
Source: Time