Chinese c.bank sets yuan mid-point at 6.8567

CHINA'S trade surplus fell nearly 12 percent to $US99.04 billion ($103 billion) in the first half of this year, as a struggling US economy hit the country's exporters, official data shows. The surplus in June alone was $US21.35 billion, the customs bureau said in a statement on its website, a decline of 20.7 per cent...
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23998736-36418,00.html

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - China is ramping up financing for power and transport projects in Africa, with the majority in four countries endowed with natural resources, according to a report by the World Bank on Thursday....
The report, which looks at the growing role of the Chinese government as a financier of infrastructure projects in Africa, estimates China's funding for roads, railways and power projects peaked at $7 billion in 2006 from just $1 billion a year between 2001-03.
The bulk of those commitments were to Nigeria, Angola, Sudan and Ethiopia and is welcome in a region where only one in four Africans have electricity, and travel along major export routes takes two to three times longer than in Asia...
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1045770020080710?rpc=611

SHANGHAI, July 11 (Reuters) - The central bank on Friday set
the mid-point of the yuan's exchange rate
against the dollar at its highest level since the currency was
revalued in July 2005. Mid-point 6.8397 http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINECB00053720080711?rpc=611
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=av6SQgX4mUno&refer=china
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINSHA36538120080711?rpc=611

Some 2,500 years of practicing military philosopher Sun Tzu's creed of "Know the enemy and know yourself" have not been wasted on China. The People's Liberation Army still has an active program of self-evaluation and is well aware of its strengths and weaknesses, especially in relation to the military might of the United States. (Jul 11, '08)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JG12Ad02.html

Citigroup, HSBC and other overseas banks hurt by the US subprime crisis are finding relief for their woes in China, as eased restrictions help them boost earnings from wealthy individuals and other customers in the world's fastest-growing major economy. One cloud on the horizon - their staff want more pay. - Olivia Chung (Jul 9, '08)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/JG10Cb02.html

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's four-day visit to China last week was another indication of the cozy Sino-Thai military-security relationship. But Bangkok is still trying to balance the interests and influence of two superpowers; keeping its military alliance with the US well lubricated while at the same time expanding defense ties with China. - Ian Storey (Jul 10, '08)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JG11Ad01.html

Since the opening of cross-strait currency trading last month, Taiwanese banks and foreign currency exchange bureaus have sold 160.64 million yuan (NT$713.24 million, or US$23.4 million) and bought 64.62 million yuan, the central bank said yesterday. As the supervisory body of the currency exchange, the central bank authorized 14 Taiwanese banks with some 1,000...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2008/07/11/2003417174

By Geoff Dyer in Baishatan, Shandong

Published: July 11 2008 22:30

The algae outbreak that threatened the Olympic sailing competition in Qingdao has spread hundreds of kilometres up the coast to popular tourist areas, even as Chinese officials on Friday claimed near-victory over the thick green sludge.
The long stretch of beach at Baishatan, 150km north of Qingdao, has been lined in recent days with 10-metre-wide slicks of algae that gave out a noxious odour to the few tourists who braved the sand, causing panic among tourist operators...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6de6450-4f76-11dd-b050-000077b07658.html

By Clive Cookson in London
Published: July 11 2008 22:59
Every summer, stories about algae causing trouble in lakes and rivers and along coastlines seem to bloom more profusely in the world’s media.
Phycologists – as algal scientists call themselves – say the growing coverage reflects a real increase in troublesome outbreaks. These range from toxic “red tides” of microscopic algae in Florida to the current proliferation of large green algae along China’s coast....
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d1d3406c-4f66-11dd-b050-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=723ba534-41c2-11dc-8328-0000779fd2ac.html

Published: April 2 2008 17:03
In a new book, The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage, journalist Alexandra Harney describes the practices used by unscrupulous companies in China to extract greater profits from their western partners, to the detriment of their own employees and western consumers alike. The result is unsafe working conditions, a polluted environment – and the goods that reach the hands of Western consumers are often badly made and sometimes downright dangerous.
Not all of Chinese manufacturing should be measured by this yardstick, but Ms Harney raises serious questions. How aware are western companies of the “shadow factories” that lurk behind the show factories foreign visitors see? Can the west cure its addiction to cheap goods? Are the good actually cheap, when the real environmental and economic costs are taken into account? And who has the power to change things – consumers, Beijing, provincial governments?..
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6c7bcb18-00cd-11dd-a0c5-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=723ba534-41c2-11dc-8328-0000779fd2ac.html

By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai
Published: March 23 2008 16:08
More than 40 per cent of the population of Chinese cities will be made up of migrants within two decades, putting huge pressure on the ability of local governments to provide services to citizens, according to a study by the McKinsey Global ­Institute.
On top of the existing 103m urban migrants, Chinese cities will face an influx of another 243m migrants by 2025, taking the urban population up to nearly 1bn people. In the medium and large cities, about half the population will be migrants, which is almost three times the current level...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c11a84ca-f902-11dc-bcf3-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=723ba534-41c2-11dc-8328-0000779fd2ac.html

June 27, 2008 (the date of publication in Russian)
Alexei Baliyev
Yemen to emerge as a stronghold of Beijing's interests in Africa
At present, China continues to pursue the policy of closer cooperation with those nations of the Third World which don't enjoy sympathies from the West. Encountering no serious competition, Beijing establishes a number of strongholds for further political and economic expansion. This strategy is well exemplified with China's activity in Sudan, described in Elena Galkina's article "Sudan on the Global Chessboard". In fact, China has become the major economic player in the country since the West introduced economic sanctions under the pretext of the conflict in Darfour – though in fact, ostracism of Sudan reflects the West's aversion to a political regime based on Islamic principles...
http://rpmonitor.ru/en/en/detail.php?ID=10037

2008-07-11 17:49:44
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose 45.6 percent in the first half of 2008 from a year earlier, as overseas investors continued to bank on the business opportunities in the world's fastest growing major economy.

The FDI amounted to 52.4 billion U.S. dollars during the six months to June, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday..
http://english.china.com/zh_cn/business/news/11021613/20080711/14963843.html