Other Briefings
Tax Breaks for Tobacco Promotion End
Aug. 12 – China’s Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation said in a circular that promotional spending by tobacco firms will no longer be eligible for tax breaks, effective until 2011. By that time, tobacco promotion in the country will already be banned. China has been trying to find ways to boost […]
Shanghai Petitions Currency Rule Changes to Attract More Foreign Private Equity Firms
SHANGHAI, Aug. 6 – Local government officials are petitioning that restrictions on private-equity firms be changed to encourage more foreign private-equity firms to open offices in the Pudong financial district. Director-general of Shanghai’s financial-services office, Fang Xinghai, told the Wall Street Journal that the city wants foreign private-equity firms that raise majority of their capital […]
CBRC to Restrict Chinese Interbank Bond Holdings
Aug. 4 – The China Banking Regulatory Commission is set to tighten banks capital rules by excluding subordinated bonds sold to other banks from their capital base. The regulator has sounded out banks concerning the plan, according to the South China Morning Post, who quoted a spokesman as saying “the CBRC wants to restrict bank’s […]
Tax Bureau to Look at Cross Border Charges
Jul. 30 – China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) has instructed local authorities to carry out tax audits on companies with cross-border charges. Local authorities in major cities will soon implement this following the Jin Bin Han [2009] No. 103 notice from the SAT. Company service fees charged to a Chinese subsidiary from overseas with […]
Swedish Government to Close Guangzhou Consulate by November
Jul. 29 – The Swedish government has announced the closure of their consulate in Guangzhou by November 30 along with one embassy and three other consulates-general due to budgetary constraints. On July 23, the government said on its website that they would close Sweden’s Embassy in Colombo and the Swedish Consulates-General in Guangzhou, Kaliningrad, Los […]
A Look at China’s Half Year Report
By Jie Gong SHANGHAI, Jul. 23 – China’s National Bureau of Statistics has just released its latest economic figures this month and it paints a picture of how the country has fared thus far with half the year already over. China Briefing has compiled the official economic figures announced by various government agencies in a […]
Shanghai Expo 2010: The U.S. Pavilion
The 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai will be the first registered one in a developing country. Officially known as “Expo Shanghai 2010,” it will last 184 days and provide China an opportunity to show off its remarkable economic growth. The expo will also give foreign nations and companies a chance to further develop business partnerships […]
Beijing Orders Banks To Increase Bad Debt Reserves
Jul. 22 – The chairman of China’s Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), Liu Mingkang, has told all mainland-based banks, and some overseas banks such as HSBC and Citigroup to increase their bad-debt loan reserves by 150 percent by the end of this year. That means that banks are now being required to be set aside an […]
