Lithium the Next Big Thing for China Investments

Feb 24 – China’s long had a relationship with Latin America, and with the South American continent holding 75 percent of the global lithium reserves, global players are piling in to negotiate supplies of the metal.

With China positioned as the global manufacturing hub for computers, and starting to pull away in the technology race to find viable light weight batteries, lithium – used in batteries and in hybrid vehicles – is poised to become the next oil as a commodity. Usage is expected to double by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »

China’s High-Speed Rail Reaches 3,000 Km

Feb. 18 – China’s operational high-speed railways have exceeded 3,300 kilometers, the Ministry of Railways said on its website Thursday.

China finished two high-speed railways in 2009, one running between Wuhan-Guangzhou and the other between Zhengzhou-Xi’an. Both lines have an operating speed of 350 kph. China also has high-speed railways linking Beijing with Tianjin, Shijiazhuang with Taiyuan, Qingdao with Jinan, and Hefei with Wuhan and Nanjing. Read the rest of this entry »

New Circular Clarifies Tax Treatments for Technology Related Services

Feb. 12 – The State Administration of Taxation has issued a circular clarifying issues raised by local tax bureaus for transitional tax treatments for technology-transfer-related services.

Circular Guoshuihan [2010] No. 46 is meant as a supplement to the implementation of an earlier Circular 507 issued in September 2009. The implementation of Circular 507 led to disputes between foreign technology-providers and local tax authorities in Southern China in terms of applicable tax treatments for technology-transfer-related services and associated individual income tax issues. Read the rest of this entry »

China Industry: Feb. 11

Feb. 11 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Renewables
Chinese renewable energy company A-Power Energy Generation Systems has delivered 10 units of 2.7 MW wind turbines in China. Last year, the company inked a “full-responsibility” deal to develop a 49.5 MW wind farm in the township of Saiwusu, Guba County, Inner Mongolia, for the Urat Rear Banner-based Jihe Orient Wind Energy.

On October 14, 2009, A-Power signed another contract to develop a 19.5 MW wind farm in the Donggang, Rizhao City of Shandong Province. The first five turbines for this wind farm were also delivered on January 27. Read the rest of this entry »

China Industry: Jan. 19

Jan. 19 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Solar power
Chinese photovoltaics maker Yingli Green Energy Holding will supply a total of 30 MW of its solar modules to Spain.Yingli has secured five sales agreements with unnamed Spanish customers to deliver the shipments in the first half of the year. Read the rest of this entry »

Hong Kong Express Rail Link with Mainland Approved

Photo: Hong Kong dear Edward/Flickr Jan. 18 – Hong Kong authorities approved a US$8.6 billion express rail link connecting the territory with Guangzhou and Shenzhen over the weekend sparking protests.

The controversial project was approved by a 31-21 vote dominated by pro-establishment lawmakers. Protesters surrounded the Hong Kong legislature on Saturday claiming the project only benefited a privileged few, failed to seriously consider cheaper alternatives moreover leading to the destruction of homes in the New Territories. Read the rest of this entry »

Foreign Investment Restrictions on Wind Power Relaxed

Jan. 13 – China has relaxed long-standing restrictions placed on foreign wind farm developers by doing away with the rule that requires 70 percent of components to be sourced locally.

The development is good news for long-term China players GE and Vestas. The rule had been designed to encourage investment in China manufactured components for the technology, however local manufacturers have consistently not been able to meet the quality controls demanded. Read the rest of this entry »

Google Considers Pulling Out of China After Cyber Attacks

Jan. 13 – Google announced an ultimatum Tuesday saying it would no longer comply with censorship restrictions on its Chinese website and is considering pulling out of the market after a spate of major cyber attacks found to be originating from inside the country.

According to a blog entry titled “A New Approach to China” posted by Google’s corporate development and chief legal officer David Drummond: “As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.” Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Software Company Files US$2.2 Billion Lawsuit against China, Computer Makers

Jan. 6 – A U.S. software maker has filed a US$2.2 billion lawsuit against the Chinese government, two Chinese software companies and seven computer makers for pirating the code of its filtering software.

California-based Cybersitter LLC claims that Chinese software developers copied more than 3,000 lines of code from its own software using it to produce the government’s internet filtering and monitoring system called the Green Dam Youth Escort in English. Read the rest of this entry »

China Industry: Jan. 5

Jan. 5 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Air transport
Taiwan-based China Airlines intends to launch a flight from Taipei to Miyazaki, Japan in 2010. The air carrier will fly on this route two times a week on Thursdays and Sundays. With the new route, China Airlines is boosting the number of its weekly flights to Japan to 81. The company will operate flights to eight destinations in Japan: Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Miyazaki, and Ryukyu. Read the rest of this entry »

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