Dec. 9 - This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.
Air transport
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) reported a 4 percent increase in air traffic after five months of decline.
The CAAC also reported that for the first three quarters of 2008, Shenzhen Airlines Ltd. suffered a loss of approximately RMB500 million.
Air China Ltd. lost an estimated US$450 million in unrealized losses from its stake in China Eastern Airlines Co. Ltd.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 - Maggie’s, the popular drinking spot for locals and expatriates in the nation’s capital, opened its doors again tonight for the first time in over six months.
Before being shuttered during Beijing’s drive to beautify itself ahead of the Olympic Games, Maggie’s was a stalwart of the the city’s club scene. Opened for nearly 15 years, the bar has long been a combination of both popular and notorious. A recent article in China Expat described the secret to the bar’s success - loud ’70s rock music and voluptuous girls from Mongolia.
With the Olympic Games now in reruns and the world’s attention elsewhere, the ex-PSB officers who own the bar decided it was time for it to reopen, much to the joy of its die-hard regular customers. It remains to be seen however, if the rise of Suzie Wong’s, a club that was not forced to close during the Olympics, will impact the popularity of Maggie’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Dec. 8 - China’s top economists are meeting in Beijing today until Wednesday to lay the ground work for 2009’s economic and fiscal policies.
Authorities want to maintain an economic growth rate of at least 8 percent and provide ten million new jobs for graduates. In the past months, the global financial crisis has led to massive layoffs for migrant workers employed in coastal cities.
Growth has already dropped to 7.5 percent and unemployment has been rising steadily. The government is concerned that if the trend continues it may result to social unrest and domestic instability thus top priority will given to job creation.
Dec. 8 - Shenzhen has won the UNESCO City of Design award; the first Chinese city ever to be given the recognition.
The city was recognized for its dynamic development, history and young population according to a panel of UNESCO experts. It is now part of the global ranks of the Creative Cities Network that will allow member cities to share experiences in promoting local heritage, creative industries and coping cope with globalization.
“Communicating and cooperating with other members of UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Shenzhen will again be a window to show Chinese design and innovation to the world,” Zhang Xinsheng, director of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and vice minister of education told Shenzhen Daily. “The award will also have positive influence on the city’s innovative industry.”
Dec. 5 - Starting January 15, the fee for mobile short messages will be fixed at RMB0.10 nationwide with all short message packages to be canceled by January 1st, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Telecom companies including China Mobile and China Unicom, have been advised to stop offering all packages with varied mobile message charges beginning this month.
China is the top mobile market in the world with more than 627 million users. According Xinhua, the regulation should help develop a fair and open telecommunications market.
Dec. 5 - This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.
Solar power
Chinese photovoltaic (PV) module maker, Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., said its regular PV cell and module production and shipments were not affected by the accident in its Wuxi module production site that led seven of the company’s employees to be injured. The accident was caused by a module lamination equipment malfunction.
Four solar companies are interested in setting up facilities in the solar industry base located in Erzhou, Hubei Province. The companies sharing the 100 hectare area are Himin Solar Energy Group, Jiangsu Huayang Solar Energy Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Sunshore Solar Energy Industry Co., Ltd.
Dec. 4 - The chairman and chief executive of China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp. (CIC), said he had lost confidence in western financial institutions during the global economic crisis and would not be investing in them, according to Xinhua.
Lou Jiwei spoke during a plenary session of the Clinton Global Initiative Asia Meeting held in Hongkong. He said the CIC would stay clear of investing in banks and other groups because overseas government policies remained unsure.
“We don’t know when these institutions will be invested in by their governments,” Lou told AFP. “We have to wait for a time when there won’t be massive collapses of financial institutions.”
Dec. 4 - China’s Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation has released the revised regulations on value-added tax, business tax and consumption tax.
The changes for the provisional VAT regulations include: input VAT incurred on the purchase of fixed assets has been removed from the list of non-creditable input VAT; import VAT exemption for fixed assets imported for contract processing, assembly or compensation trade has been canceled; and VAT rate for small-scale taxpayer reduced to 3 percent.
As for business tax, the amended provisions say that for certain eligible businesses, the business taxable turnover can be calculated on a net basis given that the requirements are met. Authorities have also removed on-lending business from the list of eligible businesses.
Dec. 4 - The newest issue of Vietnam Briefing is now available online.
The magazine tackles the topic of how to establish business in Vietnam with articles about corporate and personal income tax regime and registration procedures for foreign investors. It also looks into the country’s business environment and provides a list of locations that provide tax incentives for investment as well as some basic business steps that should be taken when doing business in the country.
A copy of the magazine can be downloaded here.
Dec. 3 - The recent approval of InBev’s acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has caused some consternation amongst M&A lawyers in China. Being the first major deal to be subjected to China’s enhanced anti-monopoly laws which require MOC approval for deals that affect China-based businesses, the decision by the ministry comes with some linguistics attached.
The ministry imposed a variety of further restrictions on InBev that will prevent it from acquiring additional interests in four other specific Chinese brewers. That has raised alarm bells amongst the legal community in China, who believe that Beijing has broken new ground in international antitrust decision making as they have effectively imposed additional future conditions on a deal that did not harm competition. Read the rest of this entry »
for Dezan Shira & Associates, the foreign direct investment legal and tax practice responsible for China Briefing