Thrust on refining, ethene projects
China will boost oil-refining capacities and start large-scale ethene projects in the coastal areas by 2010, a national plan detailed yesterday said.
The central government listed the projects in the 'Petrochemical Stimulus Plan', which was unveiled yesterday.
According to the plan, China will build three or four oil refining bases in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Sea-rim economic zone, which contribute nearly 60 percent to China's economy. The oil refining bases will have a minimum refining capacity of 20 million tons each.
Together with the refining facilities, three or four ethene projects with annual production capacities of two million tons each will also be built.
The government also announced a batch of targets in the petrochemical stimulus plan and encouraged petrochemical companies to merge as demand gradually increased.
It said China's refineries should process 405 million tons of crude oil in 2011 from the 342 million tons of crude oil they processed in 2008. This means China would increase annual oil refining volume 18 percent by 2011.
The country will expand two to three large refineries in the near term and will phase out small processing plants, the central government said without elaborating. The government plans to have about 20 refining bases each with at least a 10 million-ton capacity.
The government also said China's ethene production will reach 15.5 million tons. However, China only consumed about 10 million tons of ethene in 2008.
A senior vice-president of the China Petrochemical Industry Association (CPIA) warned that overcapacity of ethene production is a worldwide problem and China should pay close attention to the trend.
The CPIA official said the global ethene production capacity was 20 percent higher than demand now. And new production bases will be built worldwide in the next three years. The overcapacity will only increase, he said.
"However, I am all for boosting refining capacities in the coastal areas," he said declining to be named.
China has exported nearly half of its oil consumed and the refining facilities in the coastal areas will help cut cost, Bai Yi, vice-president of Beijing-based Planning Institute of Petrol and Chemical Industry said commenting on yesterday's national plan.
Bai said the government should offer financial help for its State-owned companies to explore resources projects overseas and increase stockpiles since prices are currently lower.
She said yesterday's measures were a continuation of a batch of stimulus plans for various sectors unveiled by the central government since the beginning of this year.
The financial crisis has slowed China's economic growth. The demand for oil, coal and petrochemicals has deceased, their prices have been declining, and some companies have been losing money.
"But we should set higher targets and improve the competitiveness of the petrochemical industry," said Bai. "And we should be well prepared for the next high economic cycle."
商務部、大陸企業の台湾投資規則を公布
商務部、国務院台湾事務弁公室は17日、『大陸企業の台湾投資・非企業法人の設立関連事項に関する通知』（以下『通知』と略）を公布した。同『通知』に盛
り込まれている政策は同日からの実施となる。これらの政策の公布目的は、台湾海峡両岸間の直接投資を促進し、両岸経済の互恵協力を実現し、両岸関係の平和
な発展を推進することである。
関連政策の内容は次の通り。
一、大陸企業の台湾投資あるいは非企業法人の設立は、互恵と市場経済の原則にのっとり、国家安全や国の統一を損なってはならない。
二、大陸企業は両岸の経済発展状況と産業の特徴に基づき台湾に投資、あるいは非企業法人を設立し、相互補完の構図を形成することを奨励、支持する。
三、大陸企業の台湾投資あるいは非企業法人の設立にあたり、現地の法律法規を充分に理解し、その風俗や習慣を尊重し、環境保護に重視し、社会責任を果たすこと。
四、商務部は、『海外投資管理方法』(商務部2009年第5号令)に基づき、台湾投資あるいは非企業法人の設立の審査・承認を行う。地方の企業は所在地の省クラス商務主管部門を通じて商務部に申請し、中央企業は直接商務部に申請すること。
五、省クラスの商務主管部門あるいは中央企業が商務部に関連申請を提出した場合、商務部は国務院台湾事務室弁公室の意見を聴取してから、『海外投資管理方法』に基づき審査・承認する。
六、大陸企業の台湾投資・非企業法人の設立が承認された場合、商務部は企業に『企業海外投資証明書』あるいは『企業海外機関証明書』を授与する。大陸企業
は、『企業海外投資証明書』あるいは『企業海外機関証明書』を持参して人員の台湾訪問や外国為替などその他の関連手続きを行うこと。
七、大陸企業は、商務部が許可した経営範囲内で関連業務を行うこと。台湾地区に投資し設立した企業あるいは非企業法人は現地での登録後、大陸企業は15営業日以内に企業登録関連書類を商務部と国務院台湾事務弁公室に届け出ること。
八、すでに大陸企業によって台湾地区で設立された企業もしくは非企業法人の変更・企業撤収について、『海外投資管理方法』に基づき関連手続きを行うこと。
九、商務部と国務院台湾事務弁公室は共同で大陸企業の台湾投資・非企業法人の設立の監督、検査を行う。
十、大陸企業は関連規定に反し台湾投資・非企業法人の設立を行った場合、商務部は国務院台湾事務弁公室と共同で関連規定に基づいて処罰する。
社会科学院「都市と農村の収入格差は4倍から6倍」
中国社会科学院が15日に発表した「都市青書：中国都市発展報告（NO.2）」では、日増しに広がる都市と農村の格差に対する懸念が示され、さまざまな不調和をもたらす都市発展モデルは捨て去るべきだとの見方が打ち出された。「新京報」が伝えた。
中国の都市発展には「不調和」という特徴がある。その表れの一つが、都市と農村の発展の不均衡だ。中国社会科学院年発展環境研究センターの魏後凱・副主任
は、昨年のデータに基づいて都市と農村との収入比を3.31と分析している。「ほかの要素も考慮すれば、都市と農村との収入格差はほぼ4倍から6倍と考え
られる。2000年の時点では、この比は2.79に過ぎなかった」。パソコン保有量にも都市と農村との不調和は表れている。都市家庭100戸当たりの保有
量59.3台は、農村家庭の保有量を10倍前後も上回った。
魏副主任は、「中国の都市発展は、都市と農村とを分割する従来のモデルか
ら、都市と農村を一体化させるモデルへと転換されなければならない」と呼びかけている。政策・産業構造・インフラ建設などを絶え間なく農村にまで延長し、
就業問題の解決も都市と農村を一体化させた政策を取る必要がある。
報告書ではまた、戸籍制度の改革が急務であることが指摘された。中国では、戸籍管理制度と建設用地管理政策が長年にわたって続けられてきた。この結果、工業の集中した地域で産業が成長し就業人口が増加する一方で、就業者家庭の居住環境は都市化から取り残され、工業化に比べて都市化の歩みがおくれることとなった。このような都市では発展に底力がなく、経済危機が起こって工業
が縮小すれば、都市経済が破壊的な低迷に陥る恐れがある。そうなれば農民工（農村からの出稼ぎ労働者）を主体とする労働者の失業が激化し、大規模な帰郷の
波を引き起こすこととなる。資源の浪費でもあり、社会不安定の要因ともなる。
経済調整による収入レベルの相対的低下は、潜在的な社会問題をもたらしている。報告書ではこれについて、「金融危機と経済調整の時期には、国民収入の分配を徐々に調整し、消費品への補助を適度に実施する必要がある」との指摘がなされた。
2009-06-15 Xinhua
China's urban population exceeds 600 million; yawning gap with rural income
China's urban population
surged to 607 million with an urbanization rate of 45.7 percent
at the end of 2008, a social researcher revealed Monday.
The urban population had increased by 148 million since 2000,
almost level with the rural population in the world's most
populous nation with 1.3 billion people, according to Shan
Jingjing of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
In the early 1980s, the rural population accounted for nearly 80
percent of the total.
The urban surge reflected economic growth and internal labor
movements, including 130 million migrant workers who
left rural homes
to work in the cities, said Shan, who is also vice
editor-in-chief of the Blue Book of Cities in China, published by
the CASS-Chinese Academy of Social Sciences- on Monday.
According to the blue book, China has 118 megalopolises of more
than 1 million people, and 39 such as Beijing, Shanghai and
Shenyang are super metropolises of more than 2 million residents.
Compared with the 2000 figures derived from China's fifth census,
urban citizens covered by basic medical insurance had increased
93.87 million, basic pension insurance participants increased
17.53 million, unemployment insurance participants increased 7.55
million, employment injury insurance participants increased 16.37
million and maternity insurants increased 14.06 million.
Urbanization had not narrowed income gaps. According to the blue
book, the urban: rural income ratio
averaged about 5 in 2008 by contrast with the gap in 2000
when the ratio was 2.79, said Wei Houkai,
co-editor-in-chief of the blue book.
With rapid urbanization, China was also encountering surging
challenges amid the global downturn, which has had a serious
impact on the economy, the book warned.
"One of the challenges will be unemployment," Shan
said. "According to research on 15 enterprises in five
provinces, job vacancies have decreased by 5.3 percent since the
end of March."
The unemployment situation would be worsened by China's huge
labor pool with an annual 15 million new job hunters and some 6
million college graduates this summer, Shan said.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture in March, there were 11
million unemployed migrant workers.
But the book also mentioned that a CASS survey conducted in
Jiangxi, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Guangdong Provinces after this
year's lunar new year (late January-early February) found that
the migrant return rate was not as high as media reports claimed.
2009-08-26 Xinhua
China moves to address overcapacity in emerging sectors like wind power
China's State Council,
the Cabinet, warned Wednesday of overcapacity in emerging sectors
such as wind power, saying the country would move to
"guide" development troubled by overcapacity and
redundant 不必要 projects.
Overcapacity has persisted in the steel and cement sectors, while
redundant projects have surfaced in the emerging sectors of wind power and
polysilicon,
said a statement issued after an executive meeting of the State
Council, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
"Overcapacity and redundant projects remain prominent
because of slow progress in industrial restructuring in some of
these sectors," the statement said.
"Guidance" would be particularly enhanced on the
development of steel, cement, plate glass, coal chemical, poly
silicon, and wind power sectors, it said.
The guidance would include strict controls on market access,
reinforced environmental supervision, and tougher controls over
land use.
Banks were ordered to lend money for
these sectors in strict accordance with present industrial
policies.
Relevant government agencies would also strengthen monitoring
over industrial capacity in these sectors, and jointly release
information on topics such as the current scale of operations,
public demand, and government industrial policies, said the
statement.
China stops expansion projects in steel industry for three years
Li Yizhong, Minister of China's Industry and Information
Technology attends a press conference in Beijing, Aug. 13,
2009.(Xinhua/Long Tao)
Photo Gallery>>>
China stresses economic restructuring in promoting growth
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-25 20:48:26 Print
BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- China needs to stress economic
restructuring while aiming at higher economic growth, according
to a report submitted Tuesday to China's law makers.
The report was delivered by Zhang Ping, Minister of the National
Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning
agency, to the 10th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th
National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature.
"The country should continue to promote economic
restructuring and change its growth mode while it strives to
maintain a high growth rate," Zhang said in the report.
In the current economic situation, policy support was necessary
to encourage firms to innovate, adjust their structure, and
strengthen management, said Zhang.
"An acceleration in the transition of the country's growth
mode and structural readjustment is directly linked to the
country's ability to stand out amid increasingly fierce global
competition, achieve sustainable development, and maintain social
stability in the long run," said Zhang.
China would accelerate reforms of income distribution, pricing of
resource products, fiscal and tax systems.
The government would also improve the evaluation of officials by
putting more weight on performance in improving people's living
standards and ensuring the quality of economic growth.
Zhang said in the report that the government would continue
industrial restructuring and stimulus plans, and urge firms to
innovate in key technologies, with a pledge of financial support.
The government would continue to conserve energy and curb
emissions and pollutants, said Zhang.
It would focus on narrowing the income gap between urban and
rural residents and between western and eastern regions in a bid
to expand domestic consumption, he said.
Consumer spending contributed 53.4 percent of the country's gross
domestic product in the first half, up from 45.7 percent a year
before, as the government shifted to expand domestic consumption
to fuel the growth, said Zhang.
In a separate report delivered at the same session Tuesday, Zhang
said China's economic recovery was still unstable, not
consolidated and unbalanced despite "positive changes"
in the economy, echoing similar comments made by Premier Wen
Jiabao a day earlier.
Zhang said falling exports had delt a heavy blow to the national
economy, and external demand remained weak with the world economy
still in recession and expecting a slow recovery.
China's exports seemed unlikely to repeat the fast and
sustainable growth they had before the crisis, with rising
protectionism and United States and European countries trying to
correct over-consumption, Zhang said.
Zhang said the government would maintain its macro economic
policies to further boost domestic demand, promote industrial
restructuring and improve social security.
EIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua)
-- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)
Thursday announced a three-year moratorium on approvals of new
expansion-related proposals in the iron and steel industry, as
the government pledges to eliminate outdated capacity.
MIIT Minister Li Yizhong said overcapacity in the steel industry
was "the most evident" of all the industrial sectors,
with this year's estimated total output capacity at 660 million
tonnes, compared with estimated demand at 470 million tonnes.
Full story
China stresses economic restructuring in promoting growth
BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- China needs to stress economic
restructuring while aiming at higher economic growth, according
to a report submitted Tuesday to China's law makers.
The report was delivered by Zhang Ping, Minister of the National
Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning
agency, to the 10th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th
National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature.
China enters list of
lower-middle-income countries: NBS
China's economic aggregate ranked third in the world as of 2008,
pulling it into the list of lower-middle-income countries from
low-income ones, according to a Sept 7 report released by the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report, featuring the nation's 60-year development since 1949
when new China was founded, also said China has gradually become
a large manufacturing country as it strengthened industrial
infrastructure construction and expanded productivity.
China maintained an average annual GDP growth of 8.1 percent in
the past 60 years, making its current economic aggregate 77 times
more than that of 1949, the report said.
The per capita gross national income hit $2,770 in 2008, which means the country has
shaken off its long-term image of low-income and entered the list
of lower-middle-income countries, the report said, citing the World Bank
criterion.
The added value from China's manufacturing industry rose to 11.4
percent of the world's total in 2007, compared with 5.1 percent
in 1995, the report revealed, quoting the United Nation's data
and making the calculations on the basis of prices in 2000.
Among
the world's 22 main industrial categories, seven in China's
manufacturing industry rank No 1 by proportion in the world. A
total of 15 categories have seen China in the top three names.
When compared with other developing countries, China ranks first
in 21 categories and 11th in only one category.
Income group:Economies are divided according to 2008 GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method. The groups are:
low income, $975 or less;
lower middle income, $976 - $3,855;
upper middle income, $3,856 - $11,905; and
high income, $11,906 or more.
China $2,770 130位
1
Liechtenstein
2 Bermuda
3 Norway $87,070
4 Luxembourg $84,890
30 Japan$38,210
14 United States $47,580
ーーー
Purchasing
power parity (international dollars) $6020 122位
an
international dollar has the same purchasing power over GNI as a
U.S. dollar has in the United States.
32 Japan
$35,220
11 United States $46,970
Urban-rural
income gap widest since opening-up
Experts warn disparity will continue to expand if govt fails to
act soon
China recorded its widest rural-urban income gap last year since the country launched its reform and opening-up policy in 1978.
Think tank researchers warned the gap will continue to widen in the coming years if effective measures to narrow the difference are not implemented soon.
The urban per capita net income stood at 17,175 yuan ($2,525) last year, in contrast to 5,153 yuan in the countryside, with the urban-to-rural income ratio being 3.33:1, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.
|
| National Bureau of Statistics of China |
The Ministry of Agriculture had earlier said that the ratio in 2007 was 3.32:1, which narrowed by to 3.31:1 in 2008.
Although there has yet to be an official announcement, China Daily's calculations reveal 2009 saw China's widest urban-rural income gap in the past 32 years.
"I am afraid the (urban-rural) income gap will continue to expand as the country focuses its efforts on urban sprawl, rather than rural development," Song Hongyuan, director of the research center for the rural economy in the Ministry of Agriculture, told China Daily.
Several think tank organizations have raised similar warnings ahead of the upcoming annual sessions of top legislators and political advisors, which open Wednesday and Friday respectively, expecting the income disparity issue to top the discussion agenda.
Song Xiaowu, president of the China Society of Economic Reform, said the widening urban-rural income gap has partly resulted in China's increasingly "appalling income disparity between the haves and have-nots".
Song's organization has already organized a high-level forum and the input and proposals from experts will be submitted to the leadership for review.
According to Song, the wealth gap is due to low salaries for employees and migrants in many companies, as well as rapidly growing profits for the management of State-owned enterprises, real estate developers and some private companies.
Zhang Dongsheng, director of the Income Distribution Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, admitted that the government "has said more than it has done" to bridge the income gap.
"We (the government) didn't think comprehensively on how to address the income disparity issue," said Zhang. "However, social equality and equal human development are the essence of our society, which is becoming richer than ever before."
Chi Fulin, president of the Hainan-based China Institute for Reform and Development, urged the government to unveil an overall program to double people's income within five years. He said that in the post-crisis era, China must primarily resort to domestic consumption, instead of investment and foreign trade to keep its economy on the fast track.
"To boost domestic consumption, I am urgently expecting the government to announce a program to double people's per capita income in five years," said Chi, who is a member of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He will submit the proposal to the annual session this week.
As China is set to draft its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) this year, the country "should take the opportunity and list the double-income target as a national goal", Chi said.