bei jing

Municipal transit authorities in Beijing Wednesday issued the service timetable for the newly completed subway Line 4, which is scheduled to go into operation in September, the Beijing News reported.

According to the timetable, trains on Line 4 will be running from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. The longer operating hours will help ensure the line connects to all other transfer lines.

Line 4, which is about 28 kilometers long and links the southern Fengtai district and northwestern Haidian district, will start operating at the end of September. Some citizens will be invited to take test rides on the line in August.

Transit workers assigned to Line 4 will wear newly designed, navy blue uniforms.

July 9 (Bloomberg) — Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. may be more likely to get indigestion than a boost in earnings if it buys General Motors Corp.’s Opel unit.

The Chinese company would face the challenge of running an overseas arm about twice the size of its domestic operations. It would also need to adapt production lines and learn about new technology before it could make full use of acquired systems in its own cars.

“Technology is not bread you can buy, chew up and digest quickly,” said Ricon Xia, a Daiwa Institute of Research (H.K.) analyst. “Beijing Auto would need to spend years, if not decades, to make full use of Opel’s know-how.”

Chinese automakers have struggled with previous overseas acquisitions, failing to achieve their two main goals of developing more profitable cars and ending their reliance on overseas partners. SAIC Motor Corp.’s South Korean unit, the biggest foreign acquisition by a Chinese carmaker, entered receivership in February, hurt by labor disputes and plunging sport-utility vehicle sales.

“SAIC’s experiences should ring alarm bells for all Chinese automakers,” said Yu Bing, an analyst at Pingan Securities Co. in Shanghai. “It is very difficult to manage and make good use of an overseas acquisition, especially from a developed country.”

Challenge Magna

Beijing Auto, controlled by the city government, is challenging Canadian parts-maker Magna International Inc. to buy GM’s European unit. Beijing Auto has offered to pay 660 million euros ($916 million) for 51 percent of Opel, according to a copy of the Chinese company’s proposal seen by Bloomberg News.

Magna was named as the preferred bidder for Opel in May by the German government, which is leading the sale. GM is selling Opel as it seeks to emerge from bankruptcy as a leaner and profitable company. Magna and partner OAO Sberbank have offered to buy 55 percent of Opel, and pledged investment of at least 500 million euros.

Wang Hong, a spokesman for closely held Beijing Auto, declined to comment. GM said it had received a non-binding proposal from Beijing Auto on July 3.

The Chinese carmaker has entered the bidding as talks with Aurora, Ontario-based Magna stumble. Discussions with Magna have been hindered by its demands to control distribution of GM’s Chevrolet brand in Russia and to use the Detroit-based automaker’s intellectual property for purposes not included in the original agreement, three people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.

Deal Unlikely

GM and Magna are unlikely to agree on a deal by next week, German Deputy Economy Minister Jochen Homann said on July 7. Beijing Auto’s bid contains “interesting elements,” he added.

If Beijing Auto does win the race for Opel, it may also have to reassure its existing partners, Daimler AG and Hyundai Motor Co. Both automakers have set up carmaking ventures in the Chinese capital with Beijing Auto under government rules forcing overseas carmakers to work with local partners.

The Daimler and Hyundai ventures accounted for about 40 percent of the 771,639 vehicles sold by Beijing Auto last year. The remainder came from commercial vehicles, including trucks made by unit Beiqi Foton Motor Co. Beijing Auto intends to begin selling own-brand cars next year.

Friction

“The Opel deal may cause friction between Beijing Auto and its existing partners,” said Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Beijing. “It demands efforts and skill to manage those relationships.”

This year, Beijing Auto’s vehicle sales jumped 28 percent in the first half to 582,215, helping boost profit 78 percent to 2.48 billion yuan ($363 million). Industrywide sales jumped 14 percent in the first five months as the government handed out subsidies to revive demand.

“Beijing Auto is in good shape,” said Zhang. “That at least gives them a strong foundation to build on.”

Opel, including its British arm Vauxhall, sold about 1.46 million vehicles in Europe last year, 10.5 percent fewer than a year earlier.

Magna Co-Chief Executive Officer Siegfried Wolf has repeatedly said that he aims to have a deal ready to sign by mid-July. Brussels-based RHJ International SA is also still in the running.

Geely Holding Group Co. is also chasing Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo Car Corp. as increasing competition prevents Chinese automakers from translating rising domestic vehicle sales into bigger profits. The country’s 19 largest automakers suffered a 28 percent drop in profit in the first four months, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Overseas deals have done little to reverse the trend so far. SAIC bought rights for cars designed by the U.K. automaker MG Rover Group Ltd. in 2005 to temper its reliance on partners GM and Volkswagen AG. Last year, GM and Volkswagen vehicles still accounted for more than 90 percent of sales. SAIC’s South Korean unit, Ssangyong Motor Co., sought court protection from creditors after vehicle sales plunged 30 last year.

“SAIC had no success at all with Ssanyong,” said Yu. “It won’t be any easier for Beijing Auto.”

For Related News and Information: Top transport news: TRNT <GO> China auto news: TNI CHINA AUT <GO> China auto sales: CNVSPSGR <Index> HCP M <GO>

Last Updated: July 8, 2009 16:28 EDT

BEIJING, July 9, 2009 (AFP) -

Chinese authorities arrested a university economics professor in Beijing after he posted reports about the riots in Xinjiang on his website, an international media watchdog said.

Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uighur, was arrested after Xinjiang authorities named his blog “Uighur Online” on national television, calling it an outlet used to organise Sunday’s protests in Urumqi, Reporters Without Borders said.

“The crackdown is not limited to Xinjiang,” the media rights group said in a statement. “The authorities have arrested an independent writer who was just posting reports on his blog.”

The Public Security Bureau would not confirm the arrest when contacted by AFP. Officials at Minzu University of China in Beijing, where he teaches, were not immediately available for comment.

Authorities had previously pressured Tohti to stop posting blogs in March and June, the statement said.

The Public Security Bureau warned him last month his postings exploring relations between ethnic Han Chinese and Uighurs, the ethnic majority in the Xinjiang region, violated the law, the statement said.

“Under the laws in force in China, certain subjects of conversation cannot be tolerated,” the statement said, quoting a notice Tohti received.

Tohti’s Chinese-language website, www.uighurbiz.net, was inaccessible in China on Thursday afternoon, joining Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a range of sites that were blocked after providing independent updates on the riots.

Chinese authorities say at least 156 people were killed in riots following a protest in Urumqi Sunday. Sporadic violence continued in the city through Wednesday.

July 10 (Bloomberg) — Ikea, the world’s largest home- furnishings retailer, is seeking a suitable site to open a second store in Beijing to meet rising demand as household spending increases in the world’s most populous nation.

The retailer is still drafting plans for the project and a final decision on the investment may be made in August, Linda Xu, public relations manager for Ikea China, said in a telephone interview late yesterday. The second Beijing store will likely be larger than the first, which covers about 42,000 square meters (452,084 square feet), she said.

“We typically build a store from the ground up, instead of leasing from an existing location,” according to Xu. “We’re now looking for a suitable location that will allow us to construct it this way.”

China is promoting local consumption to boost economic growth and counter a slump in exports after global demand worsened. Chinese retail sales rose 15 percent in May, the fastest pace in four months, government data showed.

The new Beijing store, should Ikea decide to proceed with the investment, will be its tenth in the country, Xu said. The retailer has seven stores in China, and is building one in the northern city of Shenyang and another in Shanghai, she said.

The current Beijing store is Ikea’s second-biggest in the world after its outlet in Stockholm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Wing-Gar Cheng in Hong Kong at wgcheng@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 9, 2009 20:30 EDT

A group of 29 Beijing companies bought up all the farm produce on offer from central Taiwan at an exhibit Sunday, valued at 700,000 yuan ($102,447).

The companies, including supermarkets, chain restaurants and online sellers, also agreed with the exhibitors to hold Taiwan fruit festivals, tea sales and food festivals in Beijing.

Some companies also promised to regularly stock Taiwan fruit and rice.

The group tour to the exhibition was organized by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce (BMCC) and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government.

Yan Xiaoyan, deputy director of the BMCC, said the commission would promote sales of Taiwan farm produce in Beijing, where there was strong consumer demand for such food.

Direct air links between the mainland and Taiwan have made it easier and cheaper to ship perishable items such as fruit.

The two-day event concluded Sunday.

According to the statement published on the ministry’s web site, the United States Department of Commerce launched three dual investigations, namely anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, in ten days into China-made wire trays, steel grating, and stranded steel wire on June 26, June 19 and June 17.

The Chinese steel industry is strongly dissatisfied with the situation, said the statement.

Such practice is sending wrong signals of trade protectionism to the US domestic market and the international society, and could seriously affect the interest of downstream part of the US steel industry, while damaging the normal steel trade between the two countries, said the statement.

If anti-dumping duties are put upon exported steel products from China, prices would be pushed up, and US downstream manufacturers would have to buy more expensive steel products.

China will closely watch the ongoing investigations and preserve the rights of appealing the cases to the World Trade organization (WTO), said the statement.

Spartanburg High School Orchestra students and faculty share their American spirit in Beijing, following a once-in-a-lifetime performance on The Great Wall on June 16.

When Beijing announced its $586 billion economic stimulus plan earlier this year, optimists hoped it might help the U.S. address a nagging problem: its staggering trade deficit with China. With the Chinese economy growing more briskly once more, the reasoning went, mainland companies would suck in lots of U.S. machinery and technology just as financially strapped American consumers bought fewer Chinese DVD players, sneakers, and the like.

Those hopes may have been overblown. Though the U.S. trade deficit has slimmed, Beijing has recently introduced a host of policies aimed at boosting exports while making it harder for foreign companies to sell in the mainland. China has renewed steps that keep its currency undervalued against the dollar, reinstated tax breaks on exports, and told government entities to buy Chinese products. With efforts to boost domestic consumption flagging, Beijing remains reliant on the “narcotic” of export-led growth, says former U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab. “Accumulating surpluses makes [China] feel strong and powerful.”

On June 23, Washington filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization alleging that Beijing has reserved key raw materials such as magnesium and zinc for its own companies. U.S. and European experts say that gives Chinese industry an advantage over foreign manufacturers who need those materials too.

Lots of smoke, to be sure. But that doesn’t mean a trade war is imminent. While many of Beijing’s policies spark anger in the U.S., Washington has few clear remedies. It can file cases at the WTO on issues it believes it can win and crank up diplomatic pressure on Beijing. But many “protectionist” measures decried by American trade hawks are acceptable under WTO rules. For instance, Beijing never signed a WTO agreement on government purchases when it joined the trade body in 2001. Likewise, Beijing’s moves to exempt many exports from a 17% value-added tax would seem to comply with WTO rules and are similar to policies in Europe and elsewhere. Essentially, China is restoring old tax breaks it revoked a few years ago, says China expert Nicholas R. Lardy of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

No “Leg to Stand On”

The U.S. may have a more solid case regarding Chinese efforts to restrict sales of scarce minerals. The fact that Chinese companies can buy these materials while foreigners can’t violates WTO rules, U.S. and European experts say. There is a good chance Beijing will back down on this issue “because they don’t have a leg to stand on,” says Lardy.

Whether or not Beijing is within its rights, the appearance of protectionism is likely to fuel pressure for retaliation. Before 2007, China enjoyed trade surpluses with the U.S. but had a deficit with other countries. By last year, China’s surplus with the entire world had passed $400 billion, notes University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business economist Peter Morici. And with the yuan still undervalued against the dollar by at least 20%, the U.S. deficit could start ballooning when Americans start buying again. “We cannot grow with the kind of trade deficit we have with China,” Morici predicts. “And we’ll continue to have that trade deficit as long as China keeps changing the rules.” The policy dilemma for Washington, meanwhile, will only grow more wrenching.

With Esmé E. Deprez in New York and Steve LeVine in Washington D.C.