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

Jan. 24 – Recent sanctions placed on Iran by the United States and European Union, aimed at pressuring the Iranian government into halting its nuclear weapons program with a trade embargo, have caused a serious diplomatic dilemma for China – a major importer of Iranian oil.

The United States has introduced new legislation which will allow for punitive sanctions on foreign banks and businesses facilitating the Iranian oil trade. In a move that demonstrates the conviction of the U.S. authorities for upholding the new law, oil firm Zhuhai Zhenrong has been the first Chinese business placed under sanctions for selling petroleum products to Iran. Continue Reading

Jan. 24 – The U.S. Department of Commerce (USDoC) announced last Thursday that it was launching a probe into the country’s wind tower imports from China and Vietnam, a move that could lead to an escalation of the clean energy trade disputes between the world’s two largest economies. The Chinese and Vietnamese wind tower producers may face steep anti-dumping duties if they lose the case.

The Wind Tower Trade Coalition – a group of U.S. wind tower companies including Broadwind Energy Inc. and DMI Industries – filed a petition last month and said it was seeking anti-dumping duties of 64 percent on imports from China and 59 percent from Vietnam. Continue Reading

China’s 2012 growth rates compared with other emerging Asian economies

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Jan. 23 – The development of China over the past 30 years has changed global trade dynamics beyond imagination. That it is also kick-starting a previously laid back Asia is also beyond doubt, and of huge strategic importance to multinationals keen to maintain growth rates and sustainable profits.

As much of the West continues to struggle with the lingering fallout of the Global Financial Crisis, and with low growth rates expected everywhere across the United States and most of Europe, getting growth back into multinational companies not already expanding in Asia is a task that unites the entire Eurozone and the United States. With GDP growth in all these areas either minimal, static or at worst, entering recession, emerging Asia offers a way out. Growth in China has been slowing, but it is still buoyant at an expected 7 percent to 8 percent for 2012; and India has recently overtaken China in terms of the highest GDP growth of a major global economy. India’s GDP is expected to grow by 8.5 percent to 9 percent this year. Continue Reading

Jan. 23 – China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) recently clarified the tax treatment towards transfers of natural resource use rights.

According to the “Circular on Business Tax (BT) Policies on Natural Resource Use Right Transfers (caishui [2012] No.6)” issued on January 6, 2012, transfers of natural resource use rights – namely transfers of the rights to explore, exploit and employ natural resources – will be regarded as one type of intangible asset transfers. Continue Reading