End to China's solar edge in EU as tariff kicks in

As the EU begins to impose punitive tariffs on Friday on a number of Chinese solar exports, the world's largest solar market, which once fueled China's wild solar expansion, is now behind the industry's slim-down.

The dust has finally settled on a long-standing spat between China and the EU -- a spat which once put the multi-billion-dollar solar trade at stake. Thanks to a compromise reached in mid-August, 121 Chinese solar makers, which together account for roughly 80 percent of China's solar exports to the EU, will continue to export their products to the bloc, but at prices and volumes that reduce their formerly dominant position in the market.

For Chinese firms not included in the deal, Friday effectively marks their departure from the once lucrative EU market, as a punitive tariff will price their solar products out of favor with European buyers.

"We have decided to give up the EU market," said Wang Yanli, general manager of Jiangxi Wafer New Energy and Technology Company Ltd., a solar maker with a production capacity of 300 megawatts, which has not been exempted from the EU tariff.

"The tariff will push our silicon module to five yuan per watt, much higher than the 4.2 yuan in the domestic market," Wang said.

Wang said the company has yet to lay off any of its 500 employees and is looking to sell in Japan and Australia, among other emerging solar markets.

Yet recovery may prove difficult as demand from these markets, though rising steadily, is far from enough to consume the massive photovoltaic (PV) capacity Chinese companies have accumulated over the years.

Inside an industrial park in east China's Jiangxi Province, two small solar makers cannot hold out any longer to wait for the market to turn around. A staff member with the industrial park's management committee told Xinhua that months of losses have brought production to a halt at these two firms.

In Jiujiang, 145 km away, the city's 20 solar makers are now empty shells of their former glory. Some of the firms' owners told Xinhua they were "too sad to talk about it."

Yet all of these failures pale compared with Suntech's demise. The company was among China's top solar makers until a high-profile bond default earlier this year sent its shares spiraling down and forced it into liquidation.

Analysts say the wave of bankruptcy that has hit Chinese solar firms highlights the increasingly hostile business environment companies face worldwide. Chinese authorities had previously deemed the solar industry an emerging sector and extended cheap credit for its expansion.

But that expansion was met with shrinking solar subsidies from governments in Europe, the largest solar market, and followed by trade sparring with Europe and the United States over the last two years. As a result, Chinese firms have been left with mounting debt and solar products with no place to go.

"Suntech's failure is very symbolic of the casualties caused by overcapacity and trade rows with major solar markets," said Wang Bohua, Secretary General of China Photovoltaic Industry Alliance.

Chinese companies have learned a lesson the hard way, as the sector is in the midst of mergers and restructuring to readjust to a changing market landscape.

Though the process may prove painful, the industry will eventually emerge healthier from the transition, Wang added.

This is the view held by Lux Research, a Boston-based research firm, which in May of this year predicted China would transform from the world's largest manufacturer of solar products to the biggest market in the next five years.

Projections from the research firm also suggest that the size of the global PV market will double in 2018 to nearly 62 gigawatts, driven mostly by demand from the United States, China, Japan and India.

"Manufacturers' nightmare is turning into a long-term boon for the industry. Record low prices pushed gross margins to near zero or below, but they have made solar installations competitive in more markets," said Ed Cahill, lead author of the Lux Research report.

"The solar crisis does not mean 'game over' for the entire industry," said Miao Liansheng, chairman and CEO of Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd., another leading solar maker based in north China's Hebei Province.

Companies that survive the reshuffle will be those with strong market demand, brand and technologies, while small, inefficient players will be weeded out, Miao noted.

As a result, the success of companies trying to break the current conundrum depends on their ability to diversify into other emerging solar markets, including China.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, vowed in July to nearly quadruple solar generating capacity to 35 gigawatts in 2015 in a bid to open the domestic market for excess solar capacity that is now shut out of Europe and the United States.

It also said it would encourage mergers and acquisitions in the sector and promised financing for large and efficient solar makers.

Other markets are catching up as well, albeit slowly. Statistics from the China Chamber of Commerce of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) show Asia has replaced Europe as the largest overseas market for Chinese solar products, accounting for 37.99 percent of total Chinese solar exports in the first half of this year.

Wang Guiqing, vice president of CCCME, said the share of exports to Europe and the United States combined has shrunk from 90 percent to around 40 percent in the first eight months of this year.

Active deployment to emerging markets has rewarded companies' finances. Trina Solar Ltd. in east China's Jiangsu Province swung back to profits after eight consecutive quarters of losses. Others, like LDK Solar, have seen their losses narrowed this year.

"Silicon and wafers have seen a surge in price since the beginning of this year, and this speaks to rising demand for solar products," said Tong Xingxue, president and CEO of LDK Solar.

"The worst days are over, and we are confident about the recovery." Tong said.

Source: Xinhua

S.Korea mulling expansion of air defense zone

South Korea's defense chief says the country is considering expanding its air defense identification zone to include its southern islands and an underwater rock.

The new air defense zone would overlap those of Japan and China.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin explained the plan at a parliamentary defense committee meeting on Thursday.

Kim said the government is considering incorporating areas around the southern islands of Marado and Hongdo into the zone. South Korea's airspace over those islands overlaps Japan's air defense identification zone.

Source: NHK

Tesco to unveil second-generation Hudl tablet in 2014

Tesco has said that an updated version of its surprise hit tablet computer, the Hudl, will be launched in 2014.

“The new model will be an enhanced version,” said Tesco’s chief executive, Philip Clarke.

He also announced that Tesco had sold more than 35,000 Hudl tablets within the first few days of the launch, and has sold more than 300,000 to date, “more than we had originally planned in total in the run-up to Christmas” according to Clarke.

“With the UK being the hottest European market for tablets it comes as little surprise that Tesco is looking to build on the success of its first foray into this segment,” said Ben Wood, mobile analyst with research firm CCS Insight talking to the Guardian.

Chief digital officer at Tesco, Michael Comish, admitted that Tesco had struggled to maintain stock of the tablets saying, “they are flying off the shelves so quickly, it has run out of stock twice”.

The Tesco Hudl, priced at £119 or less, has taken the budget tablet market by storm, prompting moves by other British high street names such as Argos and Aldi to do the same.

“Our expectation is that the Hudl tablet could be a beachhead for a wider expansion into own-branded consumer electronics given the strong sales it has already recorded,” said Wood.

The Hudl, based on perfectly usable Android without significant modification, impressed critics for its solid build,good screen,and excellent val.

But the Hudl represents more than just a single product to Tesco, it is an entry into consumer homes, something other retailers like Amazon are using to great effect.

“Tesco will be acutely aware that Amazon is using its Kindle Fire tablets as a direct means to deepen its relationship with its customers,” said Wood. “Tesco must address this quickly and develop Hudl into a direct channel that links into its numerous other assets such as the Clubcard and Blinkbox.”

The Hudl tablet has taken on the gap in the retail giant’s consumer electronics sales, after the retailer's chief executive Philip Clark esaid that it would be scaling back on sales of products such as flat-screen TVs, which "take up a lot of space and [don't] take a lot of money".

In the UK in 2012, 8.3m tablets were sold according to data from CCS Insight, with more than half of those sales coming in the last quarter of the year alone. Expanding upon 2012’s market, almost 6m tablets were sold in the first half of 2013, and demand is expected to accelerate into Christmas.

Source: theguardian

Spotify Backer Northzone Raising New $272M Fund For Startups With “Nordic DNA”

Northzone the Scandinavian VC that was an early backer of music streaming service Spotify and other notable startups  out of the region, today announced that it is raising a new, €200 million ($272 million) fund, which it will use to invest in more startups with “Nordic DNA”. It says that €150 million ($204 million) has been secured so far.

Northzone VII is the VC’s biggest yet. That is a measure not just of Northzone’s own track record, but also of the growing interest among investors to tap into more startups outside of their traditional heartland of Silicon Valley, which is overcrowded not just with companies but also sharp-elbowed VCs jockeying for pole position to fund them.

In many cases, that will mean Northzone will be focusing on founders building companies in countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark; but it can also mean startups in cities like London that have been established by people who cut their teeth working with Nordic-influenced startups. (For example, one of the Northzone’s recent investments is London-based SpaceApe Games, co-founded by the ex-head of product for Playfish, and former head of monetization for Skype in its more formative years).

The unifying themes of these companies also extend into a distinct set of characteristics, Northzone says. “Three key components stick out when it comes to companies from this region: they think global from day one, they’re lean, and they put a user-friendly design at the forefront of their agenda. This makes the products and businesses scalable from very early on,” the VC writes.

“Over the past eighteen years, we have been fortunate to be involved in the growth of companies such as Spotify, Avito, Tobii, Pricerunner, iZettle and many more,” said partner Pär-Jörgen Pärson in a statement. “We see many attractive investment opportunities driven by an increasing rate of innovation and a large and growing pool of dedicated and talented entrepreneurs coming out of the Nordic region. Thanks to the commitment of new and longstanding limited partners, we will continue to play a key role in this development.”

Northzone says that existing investors have participated in the fund, alongside a few notable new additions, SEB Pension Fund and AP6.

Source: techcrunch

US Closing market Report

"A solid upward revision to domestic 3Q GDP paired with an unexpected decline in jobless claims helped create downward pressure for the U.S. equity markets as investors continued to grapple with concerns that the Federal Reserve may begin to reduce the pace of its current stimulus sooner than expected. Treasuries were modestly lower following the economic data, which included a smaller-than-expected decline in factory orders. On the equity front, Dollar General Corp reported better-than-expected 3Q profits and announced an additional $1 billion to its share repurchase program, while Costco Wholesale Corp posted softer-than-expected November same-store sales. The Wall Street Journal reported that China Mobile Ltd reached a deal with Apple Inc to offer iPhones on its network. Gold and the U.S. dollar were lower, while crude oil prices were mixed".

Source: Schwab

The Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu,statement on the death of Nelson Mandela

The Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who headed up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the fall of apartheid, has released a statement on the death of Mandela. The statement contains eight numbered sub-statments. Here are the first four: 

1. Condolences: To uTata Mandela’s beloved wife, Graca Machel, his former wife, Winnie Madikizela, the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – and to all the Madibas – we express our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy on the loss of your paterfamilias, your patriarch. Although we collectively claim him as the father of our nation, and the pain we feel is similar to that of losing a close relative, he was your husband, your father and your grandfather. We pray that God will dry your tears and renew your strength. We thank you for sharing uTata with us. And we thank God for him. We are relieved that his suffering is over, but our relief is drowned by our grief. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

 2. People cared about Nelson Mandela, loved him, because of his courage, convictions and care of others’. He set aside the bitterness of enduring 27 years in apartheid prisons – and the weight of centuries of colonial division, subjugation and repression – to personify the spirit and practice of Ubuntu. He perfectly understood that people are dependent on other people in order for individuals and society to prosper.

3. He transcended race and class in his personal actions, through his warmth and through his willingness to listen and to emphasise with others. And he restored others’ faith in Africa and Africans.

 4. Was Nelson Mandela an anomaly, an exception that proves the rule?

 I would say, no. Certainly, he was exceptional. But the spirit of greatness that he personified resides in all of us. Human beings are made for greatness. Nelson Mandela embodied and reflected our collective greatness. He embodied our hopes and our dreams. He symbolised our enormous potential, potential that has not always been fulfilled.

 Nelson Mandela was not a lone wolf, and he did not fall from the sky. He learned about leadership and culture growing up in the care of AbaThembu Regent Jongintaba after the death of his father. He learned from the experience of developing a voice for young people in anti-apartheid politics, and from physically prosecuting the struggle. He learned from the comrades who surrounded him, an extraordinary generation of leaders. To all of this, the crucible of prison seemed to add a deep understanding of the human condition and a profound ability to empathise with others.

 Like a most precious diamond honed deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Madiba who emerged from prison in January 1990 was virtually flawless.

Nelson Mandela, from apartheid fighter to president and unifier

Nelson Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world.

Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, Mandela emerged determined to use his prestige and charisma to bring down apartheid while avoiding a civil war.

"The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come," Mandela said in his acceptance speech on becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.

"We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation."

In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour he shared with F.W. de Klerk, the white Afrikaner leader who freed him from prison three years earlier and negotiated the end of apartheid.

Mandela went on to play a prominent role on the world stage as an advocate of human dignity in the face of challenges ranging from political repression to AIDS.

He formally left public life in June 2004 before his 86th birthday, telling his adoring countrymen: "Don't call me. I'll call you". But he remained one of the world's most revered public figures, combining celebrity sparkle with an unwavering message of freedom, respect and human rights.

Whether defending himself at his own treason trial in 1963 or addressing world leaders years later as a greying elder statesman, he radiated an image of moral rectitude expressed in measured tones, often leavened by a mischievous humour.

Charged with capital offences in the 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony.

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.

"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities," he told the court.

"It is an ideal I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918.

He chose to devote his life to the fight against white domination. He studied at Fort Hare University, an elite black college, but left in 1940 short of completing his studies and became involved with the African National Congress (ANC), founding its Youth League in 1944 with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.

Mandela worked as a law clerk then became a lawyer who ran one of the few practices that served blacks.

In 1952 he and others were charged for violating the Suppression of Communism Act but their nine-month sentence was suspended for two years.

Mandela was among the first to advocate armed resistance to apartheid, going underground in 1961 to form the ANC's armed wing.

After his return in 1962, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to five years for incitement and illegally leaving the country. While serving that sentence, he was charged with sabotage and plotting to overthrow the government along with other anti-apartheid leaders in the Rivonia Trial.

Branded a terrorist by his enemies, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.

He was behind bars when an uprising broke out in the huge township of Soweto in 1976 and when others erupted in violence in the 1980s. But when the regime realised it was time to negotiate, it was Mandela to whom it turned.

In his later years in prison, he met President P.W. Botha and his successor de Klerk.

When he was released on February 11, 1990, walking away from the Victor Verster prison hand-in-hand with his wife Winnie, the event was watched live by television viewers across the world.

"As I finally walked through those gates ... I felt even at the age of 71 that my life was beginning anew. My 10,000 days of imprisonment were at last over," Mandela wrote of that day.

In the next four years, thousands of people died in political violence. Most were blacks killed in fighting between ANC supporters and Zulus loyal to Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party, although right-wing whites also staged violent actions to upset the moves towards democracy.

Mandela prevented a racial explosion after the murder of popular Communist Party leader Chris Hani by a white assassin in 1993, appealing for calm in a national television address. That same year, he and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Talks between the ANC and the government began in 1991, leading to South Africa's first all-race elections on April 27, 1994.

The run-up to the vote was marred by fighting, including gun battles in Johannesburg townships and virtual war in the Zulu stronghold of KwaZulu Natal.

But Mandela campaigned across the country, enthralling adoring crowds of blacks and wooing whites with assurances that there was a place for them in the new South Africa.

The election result was never in doubt and his inauguration in Pretoria on May 10, 1994, was a celebration of a peoples' freedom.

Mandela made reconciliation the theme of his presidency. He took tea with his former jailers and won over many whites when he donned the jersey of South Africa's national rugby team - once a symbol of white supremacy - at the final of the World Cup in 1995 at Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium.

The hallmark of Mandela's mission was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which investigated apartheid crimes on both sides and tried to heal the wounds. It also provided a model for other countries torn by civil strife.

In 1999, Mandela, often criticised for having a woolly grasp of economics, handed over to younger leaders - a voluntary departure from power cited as an example to long-ruling African leaders.

A restful retirement was not on the cards as Mandela shifted his energies to fighting South Africa's AIDS crisis.

The fight became personal in early 2005 when Mandela lost his only surviving son to the disease.

But the stress of his long struggle contributed to the break-up of his marriage to equally fierce anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie.

The country shared the pain of their divorce in 1996 before watching his courtship of Graca Machel, widow of Mozambican President Samora Machel, whom he married on his 80th birthday in 1998.

Friends adored "Madiba", the clan name by which he is known. People lauded his humanity, kindness, attention and dignity.

Nelson Mandela has died: President Zuma

Former South African President Nelson Mandela died peacefully at his Johannesburg home on Thursday after a prolonged lung infection, President Jacob Zuma said.

Mandela, the country's first black president and anti-apartheid icon, emerged from 27 years in apartheid prisons to help guide South Africa through bloodshed and turmoil to democracy.

"Fellow South Africans, our beloved Nelson Rohlihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed," Zuma said in a nationally televised address.

"Our people have lost a father. Although we knew this day was going to come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, passion and humanity, earned him their love," he added.

Mandela would receive a full state funeral, Zuma said, ordering flags to be flown at half mast.

Mandela's last major appearance on the global stage came in 2010 when he attended the championship match of the soccer World Cup, where he received a thunderous ovation from the 90,000 at the stadium in Soweto, the neighborhood in which he cut his teeth as a resistance leader.

Charged with capital offences in the infamous 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony.

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.

Source: Reuters

U.S. FACTORY ORDERS

Factory orders are down to flat at a headline 0.9 percent decline in October with the ex-transportation reading unchanged. The order data are broadly weak showing a big decline for defense goods, a decline in core capital goods, and a third straight decline for consumer goods. The breakdown between durable goods and non-durable goods shows declines for each.

Factory orders began to slow in the third quarter and tripped an unwanted build in inventories, a pattern that is at risk of being repeated in the fourth quarter. But so far inventories are well behaved, up only 0.1 percent in October which is the leanest reading since May.

Other data include a fourth straight marginal increase for shipments, one that isn't pointing to momentum for business activity. One positive in the report is a solid build for unfilled orders, the seventh straight build. A heavy backlog will help manufacturers keep output going even while new orders are soft.

Data on the manufacturing sector have not been telling the same story, with ISM reporting very solid growth in contrast to many other reports that have been no better than flat. But today's factory orders report is the most definitive of all manufacturing reports and points, at least right now, to an unexpected stall out for the sector going into year end.

Barrick says founder Peter Munk to step down, two other directors out.

Barrick Gold Corp  confirmed on Wednesday that 86-year- old chairman and founder Peter Munk will leave the board at the gold miner's next annual meeting in the spring, and announced two other departures from its board.

John Thornton, current co-chairman, will take up Munk's position, as many investors had expected. Some shareholders have worried that Barrick's board lacks independence and is too easily swayed by Munk.

Directors Brian Mulroney and Howard Beck will not stand for re-election at the next meeting, the company said in a statement released after the market closed.

Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, announced four new board nominees: veteran Canadian money manager Ned Goodman, property development executive Nancy Lockhart, former university president David Naylor and Ernie Thrasher, founder of closely held U.S. metallurgical coal exporter Xcoal Energy & Resources.

Barrick, which had been promising changes at the board for several months, also named former De Beers executive James Gowans as its next chief operating officer.

The Toronto-based miner has been without a permanent COO since earlier this year, when Igor Gonzales stepped down.

Source: bnn.ca

ECB holds rates, focus shifts to new forecasts

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, pausing to assess the health of the euro zone recovery after taking action a month earlier in response to falling inflation, which is now abating.

The decision to hold the main refinancing rate at a record low of 0.25 percent was widely expected after the ECB's surprise decision to cut borrowing costs last month.

"This is in line with expectations as the ECB's action last month was seen to have rebalanced risks to price stability and also pre-empted the publication of what we think will be weak inflation projections," said Nomura economist Nick Matthews.

Markets' attention now shifts to ECB President Mario Draghi's 1330 GMT news conference, at which he will present updated projections from the ECB's staff, which will include their first forecasts for 2015.

The new estimates will give markets insight into the ECB's view on inflation over the medium term, the horizon over which it aims to deliver price stability in line with its target.

Source: reuters

Cameron Tells British Children to Learn Mandarin, Not French

Prime Minister David Cameron returned from his tour of China with a message for Britain’s schoolchildren: forget French and German, it’s time to learn Mandarin.

A foreign language will be compulsory in primary as well as secondary schools starting in September 2014. In most schools that means French, the language of the U.K.’s nearest neighbor, with German, Spanish or Latin offered by some as alternatives. Only 1 percent of British adults speak Mandarin well enough to hold a conversation, according to the British Council.

 By  the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world’s largest economy,” Cameron said in an e-mailed statement. “So it’s time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin.”

The government has set a target of doubling the number of people learning Mandarin to 400,000. There will be funding for schools wanting to add Mandarin to the syllabus and a push to increase the number of speakers of the language working in schools.

Source: Bloomberg

Ex-Mitsui exec arrested over bribery involving Deutsche Bank unit

Police arrested Thursday a former executive of the Mitsui & Co. group and an employee of Deutsche Bank AG's investment banking arm in Tokyo over an alleged bribery case, they said.

Yutaka Tsurisawa, 60, former Mitsui managing director in charge of handling a corporate pension fund, is suspected of having received bribes from Deutsche Securities Inc. employee Shigeru Echigo, 36, in return for purchasing 1 billion yen worth financial products, according to the Tokyo police.Echigo allegedly provided Tsurisawa with entertainment such as overseas travel, golfing and dining totaling around 900,000 yen between April and August last year, the police said.

Source: NewsOnJapan

President Xi encourages youth volunteerism

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday encouraged young people to promote volunteerism and praised the progress of one university's voluntary service.

Members of a voluntary service team from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, recently wrote a letter to Xi about the service provided by its 1,200 members and shared their thoughts about becoming volunteers.

They went to poor mountainous areas to support school education and participated in activities to care for the elderly, the disabled and rural children whose parents work far away in cities.

In a reply letter, the president sent his regards and showed his appreciation for the team members on the 28th International Volunteer Day, which is celebrated each year on Dec. 5.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, encouraged them to make greater contributions through their actions for the realization of the Chinese dream of reviving the nation.

The voluntary service team is named after Xu Benyu, who once studied at Huazhong Agricultural University and was elected one of "China's Ten Outstanding Volunteers."

Source: Xinhua

Xi stresses adherence to Marxist philosophy

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping has urged all Party members to learn Marxist philosophy to better understand the country's situation and help push forward all types work.

Xi made the remarks on Tuesday at a group study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, China's top leadership, on the basic theory and methodology of Karl Marx's historical materialism, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics and history.

When presiding over the group study, Xi said Marxist philosophy, which has revealed the general rule of human society development, still has strong vitality and serves as powerful arms of thought for guiding communists to make progress.

Members of the political bureau listened to lectures delivered by Professor Guo Zhan from Renmin University and Professor Han Qingxiang with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Group study is used by the top leadership to learn about major issues. It was the 11th group study of the current political bureau.

Xi said at different times in history, the CPC has had many successes with the help of historical materialism. He said experiences and the current situation showed that only by sticking to historical materialism can the Party make continuous progress.

Xi said social existence determines social consciousness. The Party's theory, guidelines and policies are correct as they are based on the social existence of the present era.

The overall arrangements for comprehensively deepening reform, which were made in the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, are in accordance with the country's basic national conditions and development requirements.

Xi stressed that people, who are the creators of history, should benefit more from development results.

He said without theory, a country with over 1.3 billion people and a complicated domestic and international environment cannot overcome challenges and difficulties, nor make progress.

He urged all Party cadres, especially high-ranking officials, to study classic works of Marxism, strengthen their faith and improve their capabilities in a bid to make new progress in reforms and development.

Source: Xinhua

Xi Jinping holds talks with U.S. vice president

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday in Beijing, calling to keep the correct direction of China-U.S. relations.

At the beginning of their talks, Xi expressed hope that Biden's visit would further strengthen trust, exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

In their talks, which lasted nearly four hours, Xi said the two countries should firmly maintain the correct direction of bilateral relations, and called for both sides to respect each other's core interests and major concerns, actively expand cooperation, properly handle sensitive questions and disputes, and ensure the steady and sound growth of bilateral relations.

The world is undergoing complicated changes, Xi said. China and the United States, as two major economies and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, share important obligations to maintain world peace and stability and promote development, he said.

"Enhancing dialogue and cooperation is the only correct choice for us," said the Chinese president.

Speaking highly of the sound momentum of China-U.S. ties since the start of the year, Xi said he and U.S. President Barack Obama reached a consensus in building a new model of major-country relations during their summit in California and on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia, emphasizing mutual respect, common prosperity, and lack of confrontation and conflict.

China and the United States have actively worked together in bilateral, regional and global spheres and promoted the growth of bilateral relations, he said.

Xi stressed that both countries should maintain high-level strategic communication, promote the development of mechanisms such as the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue, High-level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, and maintain close military exchanges and dialogues.

He also urged boosted cooperation in the security, anti-terrorism, law enforcement and non-proliferation fields.

Calling trade cooperation the 'propeller' for China-U.S. relations, Xi suggested both sides expand cooperation in the areas of trade, infrastructure building, urbanization, food security and exchanges among local governments, speed up negotiations on a bilateral investment agreement, and promote the upcoming 24th meeting of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT).

The JCCT, established in 1983, is the main forum for addressing trade issues and promoting commercial opportunities between China and the United States.

"We hope the United States will relax export control over high-tech products for civilian use to China," Xi said.

He welcomed more U.S. companies to invest in China, and encouraged more Chinese enterprises to explore the U.S. market. Xi hoped the U.S. government will offer a fair competition environment for Chinese companies investing in the country.

Xi also proposed enhancing coordination of macro-economic policies and boosting energy and environmental protection as new growth areas for cooperation.

Calling U.S.-China relations the most important bilateral ties in the 21st century, Biden said his country appreciates Xi's strategic foresight, pragmatic attitude and positive efforts in building a new model of major-country relationship.

This relationship, full of hope and opportunities, would help avoid confrontations between existing and emerging major countries, Biden said.

He said he believes both countries are capable of achieving the goal.

Biden said he is impressed by the decision on deepening reforms approved at the third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee earlier in November.

Biden said he is convinced that the Chinese people will accomplish their goal of building a strong nation, stressing China's development is in the interest of the United States.

The United States would like to work with China to improve mechanisms, maintain regular dialogues and exchanges, increase substantive cooperation, step up military-to-military exchanges and cooperation, manage differences in a constructive manner and prevent interventions from impacting overall relations, Biden said.

The U.S. vice president reaffirmed his country's willingness to work more closely with China on major international and regional issues and jointly tackle challenges.

Biden arrived in Beijing earlier Wednesday for a two-day official visit. This is his second visit to China as U.S. vice president.

Source:  Xinhua

FAO hails China's contribution to improving global food security

he UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hailed China's contribution to improving global food security via reducing poverty and chronic hunger, calling its cooperation with China over past 40 years "fruitful."

"The 114 million people that China has rescued from hunger since 1990 represents nearly two-thirds of the total 173 million people lifted from food insecurity worldwide," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva wrote in a signed article.

"In 2013, the People's Republic of China and the FAO celebrates 40 years of a fruitful collaboration. This partnership has contributed to improving food security in China and in the world," he said.

China, as one of the nations that committed to forming FAO in 1945, had achieved the first of the UN Millennium Development Goals, namely, to halve the proportion of chronically hungry people between 1990 and 2015, Graziano da Silva said.

The absolute number of people experiencing chronic hunger in China has declined by at least 42 percent since 1990, from 272.1 million in 1990-92 to 158 million in the 2011-2013, he said.

"These achievements by a country with 20 percent of the world's population translate into a significant step forward in the fight against global hunger," Graziano da Silva said.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had set forth a strategic plan for deepening agricultural and rural reform, he said.

"I am confident that, under this new leadership, China will achieve even greater success in its rural development and will thus give an even greater contribution to world food security," Graziano da Silva said.

The director-general said FAO and China had enjoyed "fruitful" cooperation on investment projects, ecosystem conservation and animal-disease surveillance in the past 40 years.

China was using its technical expertise to support food security and agriculture-related initiatives in 24 other countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the South Pacific, through South-South Cooperation initiatives implemented with FAO, he said.

Graziano da Silva said the UN body had developed a proposal for a five-year FAO-China cooperation program to scale up the impact of South-South Cooperation on food security and nutrition.

According to the FAO chief, the war against hunger is "far from over." An estimated 842 million people still live with chronic hunger worldwide, while another 2 billion suffer serious nutrition-related problems.

APEC chief expects "limited" outcome from WTO Bali meeting

 The World Trade Organization (WTO) might seek to achieve limited trade deals in future if the WTO Ministerial Conference underway in Bali fails to reach a deal to revive the Doha Round talks, a top official from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said here Thursday.

"What we are expecting is not a very big change," said Alan Bollard, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference.

The four-day conference, which is set to conclude Friday, was aimed at reviving the long-stalled Doha Round with consensus on a trade package on agriculture, development and trade facilitation, but lingering difficulties over certain issues have cast doubt on a successful outcome.

Expectations were for a rather limited sort of package, which should help world trade in the long run, said Bollard.

The aim of the Doha Round of trade talks, launched in 2001, is to create a wide-ranging accord to open markets and remove trade barriers, with a focus on helping poorer countries. The WTO has since significantly lowered its sights following repeated failures to produce an agreement.

Failure to reach a "high-quality package" would cast a shadow on the future of the 159-member global organization.

"The focus of a lot of people will actually turn away from the WTO on to some of these mega regional trade negotiations," he said, noting that an overall agreement on multilateral trade had not been reached in the organization's 20-year history.

Bollard said he expected the WTO to reduce expectations in future, putting more focus on limited areas of liberalization, such as the information technology agreement, and services negotiations, which might extend to only some of the 159 members.

"That's just more realistic," he said.

Bollard also suggested that WTO could draw from some of APEC's experiences, and the way that APEC had moved over the years to adapt to changing trade conditions.

APEC had a number of technical bodies that were working through technical realities, which helped with communication between customs officers, quarantine departments and security agencies to agree on tariff and logistical standards.

The organization had already completed its information technology agreement and an environment goods list, which boosted trade between its member economies.

East Asia had led the way in trade liberalization, he said.

APEC would continue to adapt to changes in the global economy since the global financial crisis, such as a slowdown in trade growth and quantitative easing in some major markets, said Bollard.

He said he expected to see more work on economic integration, strengthening connectivity and infrastructure development, and promoting a better quality of growth within the region at next year's APEC summit in Beijing.

Source: Xinhua

China's best-known eco-city now has 6,000 residents

Tianjin Eco-City, the best known eco-city project in China, now has about 6,000 residents five years after its construction, according to Ho Tong Yen, chief executive officer of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Investment and Development Co., Ltd, the project's developer.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Ho said that he has started to see long queues at the canteen for lunch in the eco-city.

"Now we have some 4,000 people working there and some 6,000 residents that include employees of companies located in the site and the local government. What we have seen is that the place is becoming lively day by day," he said.

Ho said that that they don't have a specific number of people who would eventually live in the eco-city but the environment- friendly metropolis could accommodate as many as 350,000 people when it is fully completed in 2020.

The Tianjin Eco-City was the result of a joint proposal in 2007 by then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Singapore's former Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to build a city that is socially harmonious, environmentally-friendly, resource-efficient and a model for sustainable development.

Unlike most eco-cities elsewhere in the world that are usually small pilot projects, the Tianjin eco-city, located 40 km from the center of China's northeastern coastal megacity of Tianjin, is planned to become a full city on a land of 30 square kilometers.

According to Ho, so far eight square kilometers, or about a fourth of the total land area in the eco-city has been developed but not all of the developed areas are occupied since many lots are reserved for future use.

Though still a fledgling town, the Tianjin eco-city is regarded as one closest to the concept of an ecological city that has been envisioned by Richard Register, an American author.

During the interview, Ho showed aerial shots of the eco-city as well as its green spaces, restored wetland, an eco-valley, bicycle tracks, wind turbines, skating park, an international school, kindergarten and office buildings.

Before its development, the site was barren land with some salt beds and a polluted body of water that includes a 2.6 square kilometers of wastewater pond.

There are now some 1,000 companies registered in the eco-city, Ho said, adding that he expects more commercial establishments and residents to move in especially when a light rail system is already in place.

The city has amenities for modern living such as a golf course and a lot of open spaces with a lot of greeneries to encourage people to walk.

When asked to name the place he likes best in the Tianjin Eco- City, Ho said that he is proud of the entire city, block by block. "It's like seeing a baby growing up," he said.

Ho, who took over as CEO of the joint venture in 2010, said that the construction of the Tianjin Eco-City is aimed at realizing the vision of both China and Singapore to achieve sustainable development without harming the environment.

The eco-city has a set of 22 quantitative and four qualitative indicators covering various aspects of sustainable development and all buildings will have to comply with green standards, Ho said.

For example, one of the schools in the eco-city has a wall that indicates the amount of energy the building uses so that the kids will have anactual experience on how to lead an ecological life.

"The emphasis is different depending on our progress in buildingthe city. At first it may be the design, and then technologies, and the policies, and eventually it would be more important to advocate amore sustainable way of living when more and more people move in," Hosaid.

Despite its somewhat high-tech name, the Tianjin Eco-City is closest to the Tampines, a new town in Singapore, Ho said.

"We are, in a sense, quite like other cities, that is, if you don't look into the details, like the materials we use," he said.

The eco-city is planned for 350,000 people, with about 40 percent of the land for residential purposes, 10 percent for sustainable industries and 3 percent for commercial businesses.

Source: Xinhua

China achieves first of UN Millennium Development Goals: FAO chief

China is among the 62 countries that have achieved the first Millennium Development Goal, namely halving extreme poverty rates by 2015, chief of the Rome-based UN food agency has told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently.

"This is an outstanding achievement," Director General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva said, adding that "The numbers of China, on the whole, are very impressive: the country feeds around 20 percent of the world's population with only 9 percent of arable land and 6 percent of freshwater. This is a very good example."

"I can really say that it was basically due to China's achievements if we were able to push down the total number of undernourished people in the world from 1 billion to 840 million over the last years," he said.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of cooperation between the FAO and China, which has been solid and successful, said Graziano da Silva.

Throughout the four decades, FAO has been supporting more than 400 projects in China in many sectors such as agriculture, fishery, forestry.

China's expertise in combining rice farming and fish production is a successful model that would be of great help to the global fight against malnutrition, Graziano da Silva said.

"This peculiar combination of aquaculture and rice production is very rare, such expertise belongs only to a few countries like China, Vietnam and Laos," he said.

"It is really a perfect approach to the food security because it combines rice that is one of the staple food in the world and protein that is needed to avoid malnutrition especially in children," Graziano da Silva said. "We would like to improve this combination in African countries and also in other Asian countries, and China could help much in this," he added.

Meanwhile, Graziano da Silva highlighted the importance of China as one of the major supporters of FAO programs for food security. "It has been one of the most important countries supporting the changes FAO has been trying to implement in the world," he told Xinhua.

The ongoing partnership between FAO and China could act as a stepping-stone toward achieving greater success in the future, and an important stage will be the Milan Expo 2015, Graziano da Silva said.

"Milan Expo 2015 is really going to be an international appointment. Our approach during the Expo will be focused on one issue - how we can feed the world in a sustainable manner - and this is quite related to China because, as I said, China is a good example of achieving such a goal.

Source: Xinhua

China making positive investment moves in New Zealand agriculture: farming leader

nvestment capital from China and other foreign sources is essential for New Zealand's agriculture sector to expand to meet growing international demand for food, the head of New Zealand's farming industry group said Thursday.

Federated Farmers President Bruce Wills, who is attending the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Bali as part of the Cairns Group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, said New Zealand was "working through" issues behind controversies such as Shanghai Pengxin Group's purchase of 16 North Island dairy farms last year.

The purchase of pastoral land in New Zealand was "a sensitive area," but recent moves such as Shanghai Pengxin's takeover of South Island-based Synlait Farms indicated a more positive approach to the issue, Wills said in an interview with Xinhua.

"Agriculture in New Zealand is growing rapidly. We need capital to grow it as rapidly as we would like to grow it. We have a lack of capital in New Zealand, so we are reliant on money coming from somewhere. It either comes through debt or through equity investment from offshore," Wills said.

Federated Farmers had to balance between two groups of members: those who wanted the freedom to sell their farms to whomever they wanted; and those who aspired to help their children buy farms and were struggling to compete against foreign investors with large checkbooks.

However, New Zealand law and the requirements set by the Overseas Investment Office helped maintain an acceptable balance.

"I'm told that we're one of the toughest countries now in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to be able to get approval to buy pastoral rural property, so I'm reasonably comfortable that the balance is pretty good," said Wills.

Shanghai Pengxin's purchase of the 13 Synlait Farms with two New Zealand partners and plans to upgrade the properties was a good example of positive overseas investment.

"Talk of doing positive things for the environment; talk of enhancing the New Zealand farming system, giving opportunities to young New Zealanders to work on the farms I think those sorts of things will help ease the passage of potential buyers coming in," he said.

"New Zealand farmers are unashamed free traders and we talk with great pride about our 2008 free trade agreement with China, and that's been an absolute win-win."

Source: Xinhua