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

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

GM's new Cadillac which is built in China.

US car maker General Motors has announced the start of the construction  of its Chinese industrial park in Shanghai.

The park, located at Jinqiao Export Processing Zone of the Pudong New Area, covers a land area of 120,00 square meters and will be completed in two phases with a total investment of $250 million.

The first phase of the project, including buildings and facilities for the car giant’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, Chinese headquarters and other local operational institutions, is expected to be completed in October 2009.

The second phase will house one of its scientific research centers.

The park will accommodate 2,500 employees including 300 researchers.
Source: Trading Markets

Chengdu Chongqing

The two cities involved are hoping the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone will become an engine of economic growth for the country’s vast western region.

Centered on both cities, the zone incorporates 14 cities of Sichuan and 23 districts and counties of Chongqing.

The zone, with an area of 155,000 sq km, about a quarter of the total area of Sichuan and Chongqing, has a population of 80 million and contribute more than half of the combined GDP of the two regions.

The two cities have decided to join forces.

The economic zone will become the biggest city cluster in western China and its aim is to become another regional economic powerhouse like the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Bay Region.

Yang Qingyu, director of the development and reform commission of Chongqing, said a rapid rail link between Chongqing and Chengdu, which is expected to be finished by 2010, will cut travel time to one and half hours between the two cities.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, has approved the establishment of new experimental zones for urban-rural comprehensive reform in Sichuan and Chongqing.
Much more HERE.
Source: China Daily

Zhengzhou, Henan province

The 10th Asian Art Festival will open on September 26 in Zhengzhou. It is one of China’s most famed historic cities and a well-known tourism destination due to its ancient civilization and Songshan Mountain World Geopark.

The city was a cradle of Chinese civilization, with unearthed relics indicating it was the center of human activity some 8,000 years ago. Local authorities expect the Art Festival will also show the city’s recent advancements in culture and other social and economic fields.

Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province in the center of the country, covers 7,446 sq km and has a population of 7.36 million people.

It may be a historical gem but it is also modern and expanding in that it has six districts, five cities, one county, two State-level development zones and one State-level export processing zone under its administration.

Zhengdong new district will be the central business district of Zhengzhou. In 2007, the city’s gross domestic product reached RMB242.12 billion, ranking 17th among China’s large and medium-sized cities and ninth among the provincial capitals.

A recent move is the construction of the Zhengdong new district. With a planned area of 50 sq km and population of 220,000, this will be the central business district of Zhengzhou. To date, about 600 new enterprises have been registered there.
Source: China View

Kaesong Industrial Park

The Kaesong Industrial Park is, as it were, a capitalist foothold of the South Korean government in North Korea. And it is openly states that it is the North Korean equivalent of Shenzhen, the special investment zone that helped begin China’s free-market miracle nearly 20 years ago.

Kaesong Industrial Park is booming. The park’s operator, South Korean developer Hyundai Asan, hopes to expand it into a mini-city in the next 12 years, with high-rise flats and hotels, a lake and three golf courses.

By that time, the company hopes there will be about 2,000 factories employing 350,000 North Koreans and producing $20 billion worth of goods a year. That compares with an output of only $366 million in the first half of this year. In the six months to June, the flow of goods in and out of the industrial park accounted for 42% of the $881m in trade between the two Koreas.

Supporters of engagement in Seoul say their long-term aim is to prepare the North for unification with the wealthier South. For the North, the economic links mean hard currency.

Whether this successful model will be extended will depend to a large extent to the relationships between North and South Korea. But it is a good start and has taken the Chinese zones, perhaps the greatest success story in Asia’s commercial history, as its model.
Source: Business.Scotsman.com

Pudong New Area

Shanghai’s Pudong New Area plans to offer tax incentives to overseas bankers, brokers and insurers to help it become a global financial center. Possibly a secondary reaon is to head off challenges from Tianjin Municipality and Shenzhen.

Pudong will offer rental subsidies, tax rebates, free annual health checks and ease the process for foreigners to become Shanghai residents.

The incentives, which are expected to last until the end of 2010, are being discussed with China’s tax authority.

The district’s deputy chief, Yan Xu, said in an interview, ‘To create a financial hub like the City of London or Wall Street, we need financial experts and overseas talent. ‘We need financial industry workers with technical expertise that can come up with creative ideas, innovative products.’

Employees of overseas financial companies will get a RMB200,000 ($29,000) one-time rental subsidy and a 20% tax rebate, while their chief representatives will get tax subsidies of as much as 40%, according to the plan.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Shanghai partner Stacy Kwok said, ‘This is very welcome news.’

Pudong is home to 73 banks, 202 brokerages, 145 insurers and the larger of the mainland’s two equity bourses.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Impression of an ecocity

Construction of the transport infrastructure within the 4-sq-km Sino-Singaporean Eco-city start-up area of Tianjin has begun and full construction of the 30 sq. km. city will start next month.

In April, the Chinese and Singaporean governments approved a development plan for the eco-city. It will be the second flagship Sino-Singaporean cooperation project, the first being the Suzhou Industrial Park.

Tianjin eco-city

The green development will help Tianjin, a city of limited resources, in having sustainable development nearby.

The key performance index includes air, water, transport, forestation, energy efficiency and waste management.

It will not, like certain other cities, pursue a ‘zero CO2 emission’.

More than 90% of the traffic in the eco-city will be low-pollution public transport.

The eco-city, which is located 40 km from Tianjin city and 150 km from Beijing, will cover 10 sq km of salt pan, 10 sq km of desert and 10 sq km of watered, but low quality, land.

Located along the Jiyun River in Tianjin’s Hangu district it will have residences, commercial space and factories, all of which will comply with international standards of energy use and environmental protection.
Source: China Daily and Green Leap Forward

One does not normally think of zones when looking at maritime development.

In the Economic Region of Pan-Bohai Sea the ocean industry GDP reached RMB473.360 billion, accounting for 35.7% of China’s ocean industry GDP.

In the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone the ocean industry’s GDP is RMB457.174 billion.

in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone it is RMB 252.986 billion.

The total GDP from China’s ocean industry reached RMB1.324 trillion yuan in the first half of 2008, growing by 14.4% over the same period last year. This accounts for 10.14% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP).
Source: English People’s Daily Online