Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Feb. 1 – With some media spotlighting potential problems in South China – and one blog even going so far as to suggest smart Chinese businessmen are queuing up to attract orders, only to deliberately declare bankruptcy – it’s time to look again at the realities of the situation. The actual business environment in South China is something we are qualified to discuss with some knowledge – our firm, Dezan Shira & Associates, has four regional offices there (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhongshan) and has conducted business in the region for 20 years, while our Regional Partner Alberto Vettoretti is an adviser to the Shenzhen Government. Continue Reading

Will rare earths be next?

By Vivian Ni

Feb. 1 – Following two years of investigation, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Appellate Body ruled on Monday that China’s use of export duties and quotas on nine types of industrial materials has breached free trade rules. The ruling could affect the organization’s judging of other similar cases where export restrictions are used to hoard domestic natural resources.

The case, filed in 2009 by the United States, the European Union (EU) and Mexico, accused China of imposing trade barriers to the exports of nine minerals: bauxite, zinc, yellow phosphorus, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide and silicon metal, all of which are widely applied in industrial production. Continue Reading

Above: Shanghai c. 1990, Below: Mumbai c. 2008

The development similarities are striking, says Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Jan. 31 – A little over 20 years ago, I was sitting in the offices of Asia Law & Practice in Hong Kong, with their managing director at the time who said, “Don’t go to China, Chris. It’s dirty, communist, nothing works and they’ll rip you off.”

Perhaps foolishly, I didn’t listen to that advice, resigning my position (I’d been working on a book called “The Life and Death of a Joint Venture in Shanghai”) and decamping to Shenzhen to start what was then a very embryonic Dezan Shira & Associates. The MD’s words of advice have stayed with me ever since, not because they were wrong – in fact he was fairly accurate – but because they totally discounted the point that China wouldn’t remain in that anti-commercial state of existence for very long. Continue Reading

By Vivian Ni

Jan. 30 – Although China has made it more difficult for foreign investors to enter its e-payment sector over the last year, the potential profits offered by the country’s massive consumer population are proving too attractive to miss. Recently, American Express – the U.S. financial service provider that has long considered China as its critical strategic market – established a new partnership with a growing Chinese payment service company, Lianlian Group, by means of equity investment and technology authorization.

AmEx said on January 18 that it will license its digital wallet Serve – a next-generation commerce technology developed to target lower-end consumers – to the Zhejiang-based Lianlian Group. The Chinese company will be allowed to apply the technology in its payment services, but will not necessarily use the Serve brand. Continue Reading

Jan. 30 – Shanghai’s newly included value-added tax (VAT) payers (pilot enterprises) may be able to receive fiscal compensation if they see increases in their actual tax burdens under the new tax scheme, local authorities said recently.

The focus of the ongoing VAT reform is to reduce duplicate taxation and extend supply chains that are eligible for VAT deductions, the local government emphasized. Continue Reading

Two-thirds of China’s provinces report GDP figures over RMB1 trillion (US$158 billion) in 2011

By Julia Gu

Jan. 27 – Preliminary statistics show that China’s GDP grew at a robust 9.2 percent in 2011 to RMB47.16 trillion (US$7.26 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said last week at a press conference.

While this rate represents a drop of 1.2 percent compared to the 10.4 percent GDP growth experienced in 2010, last year’s growth rate was still 1.2 percent above the 8 percent year-on-year growth target set at the beginning of 2011. Continue Reading

Jan. 26 – While China has long been the world’s top producer and overall consumer of coal, the country also became the largest importer of the resource last year, overtaking a position held by Japan since at least 1975.

Customs data compiled by the International Energy Agency show that strong domestic demand boosted China’s coal imports by 10.8 percent in 2011 to 182.4 million tons. Japan’s imports of the fossil fuel dropped by 5.1 percent to 175.2 million tons over the same period due, at least in part, to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country’s northeast coast last March. Continue Reading

Jan. 25 – Welcome to our China-India round up in which we examine the latest bilateral news and commentary affecting foreign investment in the two countries.

Here we provide a list of recent India news of interest to China-based business individuals who may be considering doing business in, or with, India.

New Issue of India Briefing: FDI and Manufacturing Electronics in India
In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we walk you through the National Manufacturing Policy, the draft National Policy Electronics, and other related policies and schemes key to foreign investment in the sector.

India’s Top Six Cities – Complimentary City Guides!
Asia Briefing takes a closer look at India’s top six cities (by GDP) in the newly released Indian city guides for Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Continue Reading