Xinhua Insight: China's leadership takes "big exam" Part I

When the leaders of Communist Party of China (CPC) packed up and left the village of Xibaipo in north China's Hebei Province on March 23, 1949, the world changed forever.

Their destination was Beijing, about 350 km away. The journey from a mountain village to the city where emperors had ruled the Middle Kingdom for more than five centuries was epoch-making.

The question on everyone's lips was how long they would stay there. Today, the CPC leaders are still beating themselves up over the same question.

Party archives suggest that in 1949 the Party leaders were not dizzied by their success, following a string of military success against Kuomintang troops: They were alert.

Mao Zedong compared the trek to "going in for a big exam in the capital city" and pledged not to fail as Li Zicheng, a farmer who led an insurrectionist army in the seventeenth century did. Li only keep his grip on the city for 42 days after he deposed the Ming emperor.

Sixty-five years after leaving Xibaipo, the CPC is still in power, and the People's Republic of China, founded six months after Mao arrived in the capital, is the world's second largest economy.

Xi Jinping, elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in November 2012, brought up "the big exam" again when he visited Xibaipo in last July.

"Six decades have passed. We have made great progress. Chinese people are becoming independent and affluent, but we still face complicated challenges and severe problems. To be honest, the Party has a long way to go to pass the big exam," Xi told the people of Xibaipo.

The 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012 was in no doubt that the Party still had plenty of tests to face in governance, reform, opening up and developing a market economy. "The Party is confronted with increasingly grave dangers: lack of drive, incompetence, being out of touch with the people, corruption and other misconduct," read the congress report.

To deal with the problems, the new leadership has borrowed some wisdom from the old. What Mao's had said on Party members' work prior to the founding of New China in 1949 still has ideological and historical significance today, Xi said in Xibaipo.

In March 1949, Mao called on the whole Party to display modesty and prudence while guarding against conceit and impetuosity, to work hard and live simple lives.

Xi believes that Mao's remarks echoed lessons learnt from ups and downs in Chinese history, summarized the process of the CPC's development and showed profound thoughts about how to keep the CPC's advanced nature and purity as a ruling party and maintain long-term stability of a new nation.

The current leadership's attempt to sustain and improve Party's rule is a national campaign that has been underway since last June, the "mass-line", a renewal of the bond between people and Party.

The campaign was expected to be a thorough cleanup of undesirable practices by civil servants and Party officials. The targeted behavior was formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance: essentially, misuse of power.

Each of the seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was assigned to supervise the campaign in a province. Xi got Hebei, where he made an inspection tour in July, paying tributes to Xibaipo, meeting local people and explaining why the Party needs such a campaign.

Two months later, he met members of the Party provincial committee, listened to them criticize one another and themselves about their lives and work, and told them what needed to be corrected. Then he made sure that they put their ideas into practice.

The feedback from the people in Hebei seemed positive.

"I will give him 100 (the highest score in Chinese school tests)," said Liu Chao, a Hebei villager from Tayuan where Xi went in July. "I met Xi. He is very down-to-earth."

He Yu, a resident of Zhengding County in Hebei, gave a score of 80: "I would like to leave room for improvement. People still worry that the campaign is a one-off thing. We expect the Party to continue improving its working practices."

Xi Jinping has called belief the "master switch" for the CPC. "Ideals and belief are like vitamins for communists," said the president of the second phase of the "mass line" campaign in January this year.

Without ideals and belief the Party will suffer from "vitamin deficiency" and consequently get "rickets". Cultivating belief in every Party member is the foremost task of the mass-line campaign.

It was unprecedented for a CPC leader to take part in the session in Hebei last September where provincial officials talked their problems.

Xi shared his thoughts with the CPC Hebei provincial committee in August: "I don't want to hear fancy words from you when I take part in your sessions. I want real criticisms and self-criticisms."

And the criticisms were for real. They analyzed their own conduct, exposed their failings, analyzed the causes and made plans to set things right. Shortcomings confessed to included obsession with show off work performance, slackness and self-indulgence.

Zhou Benshun, secretary of the Hebei committee believes that frailty of belief and poor theoretical study as the root causes of bad working practices.

Xi told Hebei officials never to waver in their faith and strive for "the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics".

"If you cannot rouse yourself and our Party cannot rouse itself, then who will wake you up?" Xi asked.

The Hebei session was covered by state news institutions nationwide and became a textbook case of how criticism sessions should be conducted.

Previous Chinese leaders have expounded the importance of faith to the CPC and set examples as models of firm belief.

In 1925, Mao Zedong wrote, "I have faith in communism and advocate a proletarian social revolution."

Deng Xiaoping, who orchestrated reform and opening-up, told a CPC national conference in 1985 that: "In the past, however small or weak our party was, and whatever difficulties it faced, we maintained a great fighting capacity thanks to our faith in Marxism and communism. With common ideals we have strict discipline. Now, as in the past and in the future, that is our real strength."

Addressing a symposium in 1999 to mark the 78th anniversary of the CPC, Jiang Zemin, then general secretary of the central committee, said "Communists should adhere to socialism and communism as their fundamental political convictions, as well as Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism as their outlook on the world."

In 2006, Hu Jintao, Xi's predecessor, told a ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Long March that, "a lofty ideal and firm belief should be upheld as a great banner for pooling cohesive force and inspiring people to advance, as well as the source of strength for overcoming difficulties and winning battles."

In the CPC's 93 years, communists have shed their blood and sacrificed generation after generation in their pursuit of national independence and liberation. Faith has guided and supported the CPC through decades of revolution and construction in peaceful times. In the face of temptations and challenges, Xi has called on all Party members to use their faith to make themselves "indestructible."

Once communists cast aside their ambitions, it is easy for them to get lost, become utilitarians and begin to pursue immediate pleasure. Some will use official positions to seek personal gain, the president warned.

The mass-line campaign has taken CPC members and officials on a purifying journey by teaching them to "look in the mirror, straighten their attire, take a bath, and seek remedies."

It has inspired CPC members to face up to their weak faith and spiritual "vitamin deficiency". It has blown the dusty cobwebs from their minds.

In an exhibition at Xibaipo about its revolutionary past, there is a display of six restrictions the CPC imposed on officials 65 years ago: do not celebrate one's birthday; do not give gifts; fewer toasts at dinners; less clapping at meetings; do not name a place after a person; do not honor a CPC official in the same way as prominent communist leaders such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

In his visit last July, Xi stood in front of the board and crosschecked the rules with what the Party does today. His conclusion was that not all rules are fully observed.

The CPC has always believed the behavior of its members, officials in particular, plays a serious part in its rule. The current CPC leaders introduced an eight point rule a month after they were elected in November 2012 as the first battle in the war against corruption and bureaucracy.

The rule tells CPC officials to adopt a no-nonsense approach without ceremony and with less visits and meetings.

The rule may have its origins back in the early 1980s, when Xi was party chief of Zhengding County in Hebei. Locals still recall how Xi reacted to officialdom when he was a county official.

In the summer of 1983, Xi's jeep got stuck in the mire on a rural road. When they noticed that the passengers were officials, villagers refused to lend a hand and swore at them. Xi stopped one of the officials from berating the villagers and told them to reflect on why villagers might react this way.

The incident was a prelude to a regulation requiring officials to reject bureaucracy, take the lead in eschewing unhealthy practices, cut meetings and receptions; and value work efficiency.

Cheng Baohuai, a retired official from Zhengding, said the eight point rule "reflects the same revolutionary tradition" as the Zhengding regulation of 30 years ago.

The eight point rule preceded the mass-line campaign. Reflecting on their work and correcting bad practices are main contents of criticism and self-criticism sessions for Party officials during the campaign.

Over the past year, Party discipline has repeatedly barred officials from giving and receiving gifts bought with public money, and stopped them from going to fancy dinners during festivals and holidays. Xi has taken the lead in these measures. There are no traffic controls nor closure of public places during Xi's domestic inspection tours.

Since 2013, the number of official meetings, documents and news reporting for the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee were reduced. The efficiency of administrative approval has been raised. Spending on receptions, overseas trips, and vehicles have been reduced. Festival exhibitions were cut by more than a half. In 2013, more than 30,000 Chinese officials were punished for violating the eight point rule.

During his visits to Hebei for the mass-line campaign, Xi told the officials to treat themselves as ordinary Party members in implementing the rules. All people are equal in enforcing work style regulations, Xi told them.

Locals felt the changes. Chen Sumei runs a restaurant at Xibaipo, now a famous tourist site. A large number of visitors here are Party and government officials from across the country.

She told Xinhua that fewer and fewer of her customers paid for their dinners with public money. "More and more customers pay out of their own pockets, so they prefer less expensive dishes," she said.

Le boom de l’énergie menace les ressources en eau

"Pour rendre l'eau accessible – c'est-à-dire la pomper, la traiter, la transporter, ladistribuer – il faut de l'énergie. Et, pour fournir de l'énergie, il faut de l'eau, beaucoup d'eau même : 600 milliards de mètres cubes par an". Ces deux ressources sont intrinsèquement liées « pour le meilleur et pour le pire », prévient l'ONU dans son cinquième rapport mondial sur « La mise en valeur des ressources en eau », rendu public le 21 mars, à Tokyo.

A la veille de la Journée mondiale de l'eau, plutôt que de dresser le tableau traditionnel des régions pauvres de la planète où les populations n'ont pas accès à l'eau, les Nations unies ont décidé, cette fois-ci, de se concentrer sur l'interdépendance eau-énergie, annonçant des « défis majeurs ». Le « bien-êtrehumain » en dépend tout comme le développement (durable ou pas), expliquent les experts des 31 entités de l'ONU-Eau qui ont travaillé sur le rapport.

Certes, l'agriculture reste de loin l'activité la plus consommatrice d'eau puisqu'elle capte 70 % de la ressource, à comparer aux 10 % destinés aux usages domestiques. Mais cette proportion pourrait diminuer à condition, insistent les spécialistes, de réaliser des progrès dans l'irrigation notamment, pour limiter les gaspillages. En revanche, croissance mondiale oblige – démographique et économique –, l'industrie est appelée à peser de plus en plus lourd sur les prélèvements hydriques. Or les trois quarts des 20 % d'eau qui lui reviennent servent à produire de l'énergie.

Déjà, aux Etats-Unis et dans certains pays d'Europe du Nord, l'eau utilisée pourfaire fonctionner les centrales thermiques pèse autant, voire plus (50 %) que celle captée par l'agriculture. Ce pourcentage tombe à 10 %, environ, en Chine. Mais qu'en sera-t-il dans quelques années ? On s'attend en effet à voir grimper la demande en électricité de 70 % d'ici à 2035 pour combler majoritairement les besoins des deux géants d'Asie, la Chine et l'Inde.

Qu'il s'agisse d'extraire charbon, gaz, pétrole ou d'irriguer maïs et colza destinés àêtre transformés en agrocarburants, ou encore de refroidir des centrales thermiques et nucléaires qui fournissent 80 % de l'électricité mondiale, l'industrie va devoir composer avec une ressource qui se raréfie. Dans plusieurs régions du globe, des nappes phréatiques ont vu leur niveau baisser ou leurs eaux devenirsaumâtres.

Déjà, un aquifère sur cinq est surexploité aujourd'hui et ne renouvelle plus sesréserves. D'ici à 2050, alerte l'ONU, 2,3 milliards de personnes vivront dans des zones soumises à un stress hydrique sévère, surtout en Afrique du Nord et en Asie.

Le secteur de l'énergie ne sera pas épargné. En août 2012, la sécheresse qui a sévi dans plus de la moitié des Etats-Unis a opposé fermiers qui essayaient depréserver leurs ressources hydrauliques et industriels du gaz de schisteempêchés de réaliser des fracturations hydrauliques pour aller chercher le pétrole. Une pénurie que subissent déjà de nombreux grands barrages dans le monde.

En France, des centrales nucléaires installées le long du Rhône ont dû freiner leur activité au cours d'épisodes caniculaires : la chaleur des eaux du fleuve rendait plus complexe le refroidissement des réacteurs.

Le changement climatique, qui provoque aussi une surexploitation des aquifères, va accentuer les menaces et les coûts financiers. La Californie s'inquiète du montant de la facture énergétique nécessaire au fonctionnement des dix-sept usines de dessalement qu'elle a prévu de construire, afin de remédier à la pénurie en eau potable.

Et ce cercle infernal n'est pas prêt de s'arrêter. La consommation énergétique mondiale a crû de 186 % en quarante ans. Depuis les années 1980, l'homme prélève 1 % de ressource hydrique supplémentaire chaque année. Au rythme qui se dessine actuellement, il faudrait trouver 55 % d'eau en plus d'ici à 2050 pourrépondre à l'ensemble des besoins.

Si les modes de production d'énergie, de chauffage, de carburant ne sont pas tous aussi gourmands en eau, ce sont les plus « hydro-intenses » qui devraientcontinuer à dominer, selon l'Agence internationale de l'énergie. « Nous allons vers davantage de gaz de schiste et de sables bitumineux, résume Richard Connor, principal auteur du rapport. Plus d'agrocarburants également. On en fait partout, y compris dans les régions où il est nécessaire d'irriguer ! »

En dépit des ses grands besoins en eau et de sa capacité à la polluer, le charbon devrait conserver sa première place dans la région Asie-Pacifique. Les experts notent que 15 à 18 milliards de m3 d'eau douce sont contaminés chaque année par la production de combustibles fossiles. « Le risque de conflit entre les centrales énergétiques, les autres utilisateurs de ressources en eau et les défenseurs de l'environnement est croissant », estiment-ils.

DES ÉNERGIES RENOUVELABLES

Si ces technologies progressent – le secteur photovoltaïque a augmenté de 42 % depuis 2000, le solaire de 27 % –, la tendance n'est pas prête de s'inverser, tant que la question du stockage de l'électricité n'est pas réglée. Et que les combustibles fossibles restent fortement subventionnés au niveau mondial (380 milliards d'euros en 2012).

In fine, l'ONU souligne à quel point l'eau, considérée comme un don de la nature, est gaspillée. Son prix, d'abord, ne reflète pas sa valeur. Quant à sa gestion, deux logiques s'opposent : celle des gouvernements qui l'abordent essentiellement en termes de santé publique et de bien-être. Et celle des industriels de l'énergie, pressés de répondre à la demande mondiale d'électricité.

« L'interdépendance des ressources en eau et en énergie appelle de la part de tous les acteurs une coopération beaucoup plus étroite, car il est clair qu'il n'y aura pas de développement durable tant qu'il n'y aura pas de meilleur accès à l'eau et à l'énergie pour tous », affirme la directrice générale de l'Unesco, Irina Bokova.

Source: Le Monde

La Turquie abat un avion de chasse syrien

"La Syrie a dénoncé une « agression flagrante » après que l'armée turque a abattu dimanche 23 mars un avion de chasse syrien qui avait pénétré dans l'espace aérien de la Turquie. Il s'agit de l'incident le plus grave entre les deux pays depuis septembre 2013, quand des chasseurs turcs avaient abattu un hélicoptère syrien dans la même région".

« Un avion syrien a violé notre espace aérien. Nos F-16 ont décollé et frappé cet avion. Pourquoi ? Parce que si vous violez mon espace aérien, notre gifle, après cela, sera forte », a déclaré le premier ministre turc, Recep Erdogan, à sespartisans réunis pour un rassemblement électoral dans le nord-ouest de la Turquie en vue du scrutin municipal du 30 mars.

D'après des opposants syriens, l'incident s'est produit à proximité d'un secteur où se déroulent depuis vendredi des combats entre des rebelles syriens et les forces gouvernementales de Bachar Al-Assad pour le contrôle du poste-frontière de Kassab, entre les deux pays. Selon une source de sécurité syrienne, les insurgés ayant attaqué le poste-frontière de Kassab s'étaient infiltrés depuis la Turquie, pays résolument hostile au régime de Damas.

Selon des médias locaux, l'armée turque a lancé des avertissements à « quatre reprises » à deux avions de chasse MIG-23 syriens qui approchaient de la frontière, et a fait décoller l'un de ses F-16, lorsque un des appareils a refusé d'obtempérer. « En dépit des avertissements, le deuxième avion syrien est entré dans l'espace aérien turc à 11 h 13 GMT, a parcouru environ un kilomètre, puis a pris la direction de l'ouest et a continué sur 1,5 kilomètre dans notre espace aérien », a indiqué l'armée sur son site Web.

« L'un des avions de combat F-16 a tiré un missile sur l'avion syrien à 11 h 14 GMT, conformément aux règles d'engagement, et l'avion est tombé en territoire syrien dans la région de Kassab, à 1 200 mètres de la frontière », a-t-elle ajouté. La Turquie a modifié ses règles d'engagement après qu'un de ses avions de combat a été abattu par les forces aériennes syriennes en juin 2012.

ERDOGAN ACCUSÉ PAR DAMAS DE « SOUTIEN AU TERRORISME »

"La Syrie affirme pour sa part que l'avion a été abattu par la Turquie alors qu'il pourchassait des rebelles en territoire syrien. « Dans une agression flagrante qui met en évidence l'implication d'Erdogan dans le soutien aux groupes terroristes, ladéfense antiaérienne turque a abattu un avion militaire syrien qui pourchassait les groupes terroristes à l'intérieur du territoire syrien à Kassab », a dénoncé une source militaire syrienne. Le pilote a pu s'éjecter, a-t-elle précisé.

Avant cet incident, le ministère des affaires étrangères syrien avait d'ailleurs dénoncé dimanche « une agression militaire inédite et injustifiée commise par le gouvernement turc contre la souveraineté du territoire syrien dans la région frontalière de Kassab ». Il a demandé au gouvernement d'Erdogan de « cesser son agression et son soutien au terrorisme » et d'arrêter d'« impliquer l'armée turque dans des aventures vaines contre la Syrie (...) qui souhaite la poursuite de bonnes relations bilatérales » avec Ankara".

Source: Le Monde

Sea Shepherd tire un bilan de son activité dans l'océan Austral

L'organisation écologique Sea Shepherd a affirmé dimanche avoir sauvé 750 baleines des harponneurs japonais lors de sa campagne annuelle dans l'océan Austral.

Les navires de l'organisation, le Bob Barker et le Steve Irwin, sont arrivés à quai samedi à Wellington et Hobart (Nouvelle-Zélande et Tasmanie), après 94 jours de mer, à l'issue la dixième campagne de l'organisation démarrée le 5 janvier. Trois incidents graves ont opposé la flotte de Sea Shepherd aux baleiniers japonais. L'organisation évoque des « embuscades ».

« Bien que les braconniers de baleines n'aient pas encore annoncé le nombre de baleines tuées cette saison, nous sommes confiants dans le fait qu'ils n'ont pas atteint un quart du quota bidon qu'ils s'étaient fixé », a commenté le capitaine du Bob Barker, Peter Hammarstedt. « Nous estimons que nos efforts ont sauvé plus de 750 baleines », a-t-il ajouté, sans justifier son calcul. L'Agence japonaise des pêches n'était pas immédiatement joignable pour réagir.

Il s'agit de la plus longue campagne de Sea Shepherd dans l'océan Austral où l'organisation affirme avoir sauvé 4 500 baleines les neuf premières années. La pêche commerciale de la baleine est interdite depuis 1994 dans le Sanctuaire baleinier de l'océan Austral mais le Japon profite d'une lacune dans le texte du moratoire international de 1986 pour revendiquer des prises à but scientifique.

La chair des cétacés finit néanmoins sur les étals nippons, ce dont le Japon ne se cache pas, invoquant une tradition culturelle ancestrale. Seules la Norvège et l'Islande continuent la chasse commerciale malgré le moratoire.

L'Australie a assigné le Japon devant la Cour Internationale de Justice à La Haye, plus haute instance judiciaire des Nations unies, qui doit statuer dans le courant de l'année.

Source: Le Monde

Gannet Design's Ulfert Janssen talks sustainable urban transport of the future

   Gannet Design,founder Ulfert Janssen is one of the few automotive and transportation designers in the world who works in both the two- and four-wheeled domains. Ulfert these days works primarily in transportation and product design and development, but spent a decade at Renault’s Barcelona design studio involved in advanced concept design, with stints at Samsung in Korea and Nissan in Japan, and has been involved with a diversity of production cars from the Renault Twizy to the Infiniti FX.

Ulfert was also responsible for trend scouting in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul where he made multiple trips as a photographer. He is best known to auto and motorcycle enthusiasts for his designs which regularly set social media alight. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, USA.

Ulfert and I have been corresponding across the last few months, discussing future sustainable transportation. The following interview is made up of excerpts from our email correspondence.

Gizmag: The world of personal transportation is changing rapidly. China is now the world's largest producer of cars, India the world's largest producer of motorcycles, the world's arterial roads are becoming clogged with traffic and the world's carpark is adding to pollution levels at an unprecedented rate. What changes to the world of personal transport do you foresee globally over the next decade or two?

Ulfert Janssen: As much as we love our automobiles, I think it is now obvious to everybody that the number of cars cannot keep growing as it has in the last few decades. The level of smog in Beijing is now so bad that it needs to be tackled swiftly. Most big cities around the globe are headed in the same unfortunate direction and the situation needs to be addressed urgently.

Most commuters drive alone in their cars and in big cities that simply does not make sense. Mega cities must enhance their public transportation, which is the key. In Tokyo you don’t need a car as public transportation is well designed and by far the quickest and best way to move around the city. London has found an effective way of reducing traffic levels with its congestion charges.

At the same time micro vehicles such as the Renault Twizy (above) or the Cityhopper concept (below) and electric scooters need to be given more benefits so people are motivated to switch to smarter personal transportation solutions and reduce their use of traditional internal combustion engine cars.

People might always have a desire for fancy cars and big SUVs, but circumstances have changed, and cars of that size will need to be enjoyed in moderation. All of the major carmakers are now introducing smaller size SUVs, and there is a clear trend of downsizing. Eco friendly micro solutions must become the SUVs of tomorrow.

Lots of people, me included, will always be fascinated by automotive culture; the speed, the aesthetic and the fascinating engineering of fast cars and motorcycles, but the needs of cities and ecological imperatives are changing fast, and they demand different solutions, which also presents the opportunity to create new type of vehicles and more relevant design concepts.

Gizmag: How will personal transportation design change to alleviate the problems of congestion and pollution? Will there be differences in the solutions for rich countries and for poorer, developing countries?

UJ: For the emerging countries it would be great to develop a special fund to catapult their infrastructure into the future, so they can avoid going through the same process and mistakes the so-called developed countries did.

As developing countries can start building from scratch, they also have the opportunity of going a step ahead, leapfrogging a generation of infrastructure, and building a transportation concept which is better suited for a sustainable future. Unfortunately, and understandably, they desire the same products as everyone else and therefore this might be difficult to change. Big cities in "rich" countries have their own quite different needs to solve out the problems of congestion and pollution, while they also have the power and influence to set new trends and standards globally. If those solutions are designed cleverly, their initiatives can look smart and cool, and people will want to be a part of it.

In Barcelona, for example, at the front of the queue at traffic lights there's a special reserved zone for scooters and all two wheelers, so they get the priority.

Barcelona combines that traffic light priority with bicycle lanes and a bicycle sharing system, like in Paris and other cities trying to promote bikes to reduce traffic in the city. These initiatives redesign people’s behaviors in personal transportation, and reduce short commuting by car without forced actions. These sorts of initiatives will influence not only the city itself, but also the mind of people elsewhere including the emerging countries, and it could bridge the gap in some ways.

Gizmag: What changes are needed to personal transportation devices to make them more attractive, safer and useful to commuters?

UJ: I think the circumstance in big cities is the main problem and it's not necessarily the product range, as there is already a diverse palette of narrow-track transportation devices available to commuters such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, three-wheelers, micro cars, tandem four-wheelers and so on.

People are understandably afraid to ride a two-wheeler in the same traffic flow as cars. By separating the two types of traffic, you cancel the David versus Goliath situation as they do in Amsterdam where they have separate bicycle lanes.

Lightweight transportation devices need to become safer too. Bigger motorcycles now have anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and soon those and similar safety features will trickle down to smaller two-wheelers and better materials will make scooters lighter and easier to maneuver.

Source: Gizmag

China-Europe enhanced collaboration to foster investments: Dagong Europe General Manager

Europe's share in China's investment portfolio will grow and benefit from enhanced collaboration, Ulrich Bierbaum, General Manager of Dagong Europe, the European branch of Dagong Global Credit Rating, told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Europe later this month, Bierbaum said that the presence of the Chinese president in Europe was a concrete sign of "the attention that China is giving to the European market."

In a recent report, Dagong Europe said China will retain its position among largest foreign direct investors in the world, and will deepen investments in Europe.

"The first-in-history investment agreement between China and the European Union (EU) would be extremely positive because it would contribute to an harmonization of certain rules of play across the different European countries to have a unified approach in regulation," he said.

The first round of negotiations for the agreement has started in Beijing in January with the aim to boost bilateral investment growth and strengthen comprehensive strategic partnership.

With member countries having different interests and many industries each with its own dynamic, the EU is a more fragmented market compared for example to the U.S., Bierbaum explained to Xinhua. "The agreement would help China talk to one block on the other side," he underlined.

Mutual understanding was the keyword in relations between China and Europe, which are two major civilizations and markets in today's world, he said.

One of the things where two different parts need to understand each other, Bierbaum pointed out, was "sufficient trust." "When there is a willingness to work together and see the benefits of joining forces, I think the hurdles in terms of legal and rights protection can also be overcome," he said.

In fact, Bierbaum added, there were already many positive cases of Chinese companies investing in Europe. "The way Chinese investors are approaching and acquiring stakes is a successful story, yet on small scale, but I am very convinced that there would be larger acquisitions coming in the future," he highlighted.

The general manager explained to Xinhua that Dagong Europe's mission was to assist Chinese investors to better understand the European landscape by monitoring and uncovering credit risks in European companies, banks and financial institutions.

"The problem for Chinese investors is making sure that before they make a move they have really well understood the particular situation of the market, and that is where Dagong Europe wants to come into play," he said.

In light of its fast economic, social and demographic development, China will have to provide more products and services to meet the new needs of the growing number people living on higher income levels, Bierbaum noted. Therefore, focus on high-tech and value-added sectors, from the healthcare and pharmaceutical to the automotive industries, will drive China's investments to Europe, he added.

Dagong Europe was established in Milan in 2012 as the result of a Sino-Italian joint venture between Dagong Global Credit Rating and Mandarin Capital Partners, a private equity fund by institutional investors. It was the first Asian rating company operating in the EU, under and compliant to the European framework regulated by ESMA.

Source: Xinhua

Wall Street’s Ties to Putin Threatened as Sanctions Bite

Wall Street leaders including Lloyd Blankfein and James Gorman, who have courted business in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, are facing a dilemma as tensions over Ukraine escalate.

Their scheduled attendance at Putin’s annual investor showcase in St. Petersburg in May is in doubt as sanctions imposed by the U.S. in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea -- and retaliatory moves by Putin -- threaten the ties between Russia’s leader and businesses including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley. Spokesmen for the New York-based banks declined to comment on whether the executives will attend.

Wall Street firms that have pursued deals in Russia for years are being forced by the dispute over Ukraine to reexamine their bet on friendlier relations between Putin and the West. U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday added to the list of Russians targeted by financial sanctions and a June Group of Eight meeting in Russia was scrapped. Russia banned entry by U.S. leaders including House Speaker John Boehner.

Goldman Sachs has made at least $1 billion in investments in Russian companies and won a three-year contract last year to advise the Kremlin on improving the nation’s image overseas and to help the country attract more investors. Morgan Stanley plans to sell its oil-sales unit to OAO Rosneft, run by Putin ally Igor Sechin. Citigroup Inc. (C) has a more than 50-branch retail network on the ground.

This year’s three-day St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Putin’s hometown runs from May 22 to May 24. The March 14 list of participants featured Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) co-Chief Executive Officer Juergen Fitschen and Zurich-based UBS AG (UBSN)’s investment-bank chiefAndrea Orcel, as well as the heads of companies such as PepsiCo Inc., ConocoPhillips, Alcoa Inc., Total SA and Glencore Xstrata Plc.

Blankfein, 59, has been courting the Kremlin since at least April 2007, when he wrote toPutin seeking a meeting to discuss expanding operations. The bank’s board of directors traveled to Russia in June 2008 for a four-day gathering split between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The trip included a tour of the State Hermitage Museum, a private session with Putin and a speech by former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, according to an account in Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book “Too Big to Fail” about the 2008 global financial crisis.

Blankfein, along with JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, 58, is also a member of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s advisory committee for turning Moscow into a financial center.

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Barclays Plc, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Banco Santander SA are among international lenders that have abandoned consumer banking in Russia in recent years in the face of dominant local banks like OAO Sberbank and VTB Group, the two largest Russian lenders.

VTB Capital on March 17 cut its 2014 Russian growth forecast to zero from 1.3 percent as “domestic demand is set to halt on the uncertainty shock and tighter financial conditions.”

If Russia’s economy stagnates, banks would face increasing bad debts and delinquencies, Natalia Berezina, a banking analyst at UralSib Financial Corp. in Moscow, said by phone. “Foreign banks may reassess their presence in Russia if it’s no longer profitable here anymore,” she said.

“At this stage only Putin’s very loyal friends will show up at the forum,” Ovanes Oganisian, a strategist at Midlincoln Research in Moscow, said by phone. “They will put on a show to try to put Ukraine behind them, but the truth is Russia is a much less important part in global emerging markets than it used to be.”

Source: Bloomberg

China struggles to tame illegal foreign laborers

China's black market of foreign labor is booming on the back of a shift in the country's own labor forces from east to west, driving human traffickers, or "traders" as they are dubbed, to transport cheap labor from abroad into the eastern areas like Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang.

Ah Xiang, a trader detained by police in Guangxi, said that they usually lure poverty-stricken foreigners willing to work in China with blandishments about the working opportunities, then charge "registration fees" before transporting them into Chinese factories.

"We would negotiate with the factory owners in advance to remove any possible stumbling blocks, and then the procedures would go smoothly," she said.

According to Ah Xiang, foreign laborers are becoming increasingly popular in factories in the east, as domestic workers are thin on the ground, while foreigners tend to be cheaper, more "well-behaved" and "quiet."

But the opportunities to make more money in China are often outweighed by terrible working and living conditions, Ah Xiang added, pointing out that it is hard to guarantee the rights of the illegal workers.

Experts attribute the phenomenon to a wide range of factors, including rising labor costs in China as well as loose supervision.

One of the underlying reasons for the rampant black market in foreign labor is that China's coastal cities have come under pressure from a severe shortfall in labor resources, according to Yu Yimao, captain of Baise's border control police.

In February, a survey by the Guangzhou Human Resource Market Service Center showed a shortfall of 123,300 workers in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong. A similar warning was issued later by the Fujian provincial government, cautioning that the province needs 80,000 laborers to fill the gap.

Meanwhile, the cost of domestic labor is on the rise.

Construction worker Li Deqin said that the daily salary for people like him used to be about 80 yuan (13 U.S. dollars), but now they command at least 180 yuan.

That is a huge contrast to many foreign workers like Mi Lenh, who barely makes 50 yuan each day in Vietnam.

"I heard that even stowaways can make more than 100 yuan a day in China," the young Vietnamese said.

While his dreams have now become castles in the air, many others are still falling for the bait, and authorities have called for a taming of the black market with a spate of proposed legal measures.

Xu Ningning, deputy secretary-general of the China-ASEAN Business Council, said that China needs to ramp up supervision to tackle the problem, for that is in the interest of both foreign workers and domestic factories.

"I think that the government could work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to figure out a mechanism to ease the labor pressure and guarantee the rights of workers," Xu said.

He suggested that the problem could be solved by qualifying and legalizing more foreign laborers to work in China under government supervision.

China fights to combat water pollution

China was plunged into a safe drinking water crisis this week when it was confirmed that at least 131 dead pigs had been dumped into one of the country's major rivers.

The 758-km-long Ganjiang River in east China's Jiangxi Province provides drinking water to the provincial capital of Nanchang.

Nanchang's water authority confirmed on Wednesday that it had pulled out the dead pigs from a section of the river, which is a major tributary of the Yangtze River.

The incident, which happened days before World Water Day on Saturday, has led to public concern, despite attempts by local authorities to reassure residents that drinking water was safe.

In March 2013, thousands of pig carcasses were retrieved from the Huangpu River in Shanghai, which provides 22 percent of the city's tap water.

Also last year, a leakage of aniline in Shanxi Province affected drinking water in neighboring Hebei Province.

Earlier this month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered his first government work report. In the document, the government vowed to implement a clean water action plan, strengthen the protection of drinking water sources and prevent and control water pollution in key river basins.

Over 70 billion yuan will be spent this year on major water projects.

COST OF URBANIZATION

"China's urbanization rate has exceeded 50 percent. Based on international experience this would have affected the increase in water pollution incidents," said Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Qiu Baoxing.

"The country will pay an extremely high cost if it does not do something," he said.

About 280 million residents in China drink unsafe water, the Ministry of Environmental Protection revealed in a report this month.

The report also said that 110 million people live less than 1 km away from at least one industrial site that may have a pollution problem.

Moreover, about 140 million people live within 50 meters of a major road, it said.

Underground water remains a serious problem for Chinese cities.

A Ministry of Land and Resources report showed that the underground water quality of 40.3 percent of 4,727 monitored sites was "bad", and that of another 14.7 percent was "extremely bad" in 2011.

The tests were conducted in 200 cities.

The State Council passed a five-year plan in 2011 aimed at ensuring the rural population has access to safe drinking water.

By the end of next year, the Chinese government hopes to have solved drinking water problems for 298 million rural residents, according to the plan.

Local governments have also realized that developing an economy can lead to heavy costs in more ways than one.

Zhejiang Province, which has a booming private sector, has realized growth has come at a cost to the environment.

The coastal province's rivers used to be well supplied with water. Now, per capita water resources are below the national average.

Last year it set up a "River Duty Officer" system, in which an officials is held accountable for pollution in a designated river.

"Three municipal leaders in Jinhua City have been removed from their posts and seven others were punished for negligence in tackling water pollution," said Xia Baolong, secretary of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China.

As China focuses on quality growth, local magistrates will also get tough on pollution.

"Reassuringly, central and local governments are making efforts," said Ni Junhua, head of Green Zhejiang, an environmental NGO.

IMF Christine Legarde: China needs To Comprehensively Deepen Reform

Christine Legarde remarks at the China Development Forum,Beijing, March 23,2014.

   "China is about to embark on the next phase of its remarkable journey, a journey that has propelled it to the top tier of the global economy and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in a remarkably short period of time.

This new transformation will come with three key dimensions—a firm destination, a clear roadmap, and a deep sense of global responsibility. What do I mean by this?

• First, a firm destination. After showing great economic leadership, especially during the recent global financial crisis, China has its eyes fixed firmly on its next destination—aiming forhigher quality, more inclusive, and more sustainable growth.

• Second, a clear roadmap. Here, I am referring to the Third Plenum Reform Blueprint, which outlines the reforms needed to reach this destination. These reforms are ambitious. They will require hard decisions and tradeoffs, but I am confident that China will rise to the challenge—as it has always done.

• Third, deeper global responsibility. As China’s share in the global economy continues to rise, so will its responsibility in supporting the global common good—global financial stability, environmental sustainability, and the global rules of the game. The IMF will be a key forum for this kind of global cooperation, and I welcome a strengthened partnership with China.

I firmly believe that this reform program will secure the "Chinese dream" for the next generation, and in doing so, will benefit theentire global economy. I look forward to fruitful discussions surrounding this next great transformation and China’s continuedglobal economic leadership".