Posts Tagged ‘China’
January 10, 2013
China’s role as a motor for the world economy continues.
In spite of sluggish world-wide demand, Chinese exports rose 7.9 percent in 2012 from the previous year, while imports climbed 4.3 percent year on year. Xinhua reports that “China’s foreign trade for 2013 will be better than that of last year despite uncertainties, a General Administration of Customs spokesman said on Thursday. Spokesman Zheng Yuesheng said global economies have launched stimulus policies to prevent growth rates from slumping, adding that China’s domestic efforts to boost the growth of foreign trade will have more visible effects this year”.
MarketWatch: China’s trade surplus soared to $31.6 billion in December, trouncing estimates and widening sharply from a $19.6 billion surplus in November, aided by a strong growth in the country’s exports. Official data released Thursday showed exports expanded 14.1% during the month from the year-earlier period, while imports grew 6%. A survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires estimated a trade surplus of $19.6 billion, exports growth of 4.6% and a 3.3% increase in imports. The steep increase in December’s positive trade balance boosted China’s full-year trade surplus for 2012 to $231.1 billion, 48.1% higher than the level recorded in 2011, according to a Xinhua news report.
Tags:balance of trade, China, Economy, Export, International trade
Posted in Business, China, Economy | Comments Off on China’s trade surplus in 2012 was 48% higher than in 2011
January 5, 2013
from Xinhua
“The ice conditions in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea this January may be more serious than that in the past years” reports Xinhua. Zheng Dong, chief meteorologist at the Yantai Marine Environment Monitoring Center under the state oceanic administrationsaid that the area under ice in Laizhou Bay was 291 square km this week.
Temperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three decades, cold enough to freeze coastal waters and trap 1,000 ships in ice, official media said at the weekend.
The Shizuishan segment of the Yellow River is frozen due to persisiting cold weather in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Jan. 5, 2012. Two segments of the Yellow River in Ningxia region have been frozen up due to low temperature.
I would have thought it was just winter even if such conditions have not been seen for 3 decades. But – for political and religious correctness – it is no doubt all due to global warming and carbon dioxide!!
Tags:China, ships trapped, winter
Posted in China, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on Over 1000 ships trapped by ice in China
June 15, 2012
Three Chinese astronauts, Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang will launch at 1237 GMT on Saturday in a Shenzhou 9 spacecraft to dock with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space “station” (module) now orbiting 322 kilometers above the Earth.
(Updated with new image below).
Liu Yang, China’s first female astronaut, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Gansu province on Friday. Photo AP
China Daily: The impending launch of the manned Shenzhou IX spacecraft will be the first time that China’s astronauts will stay in space for more than 10 days, said Cui Jijun, chief commander of the country’s first space docking mission’s launch site system, on Wednesday. The previous record is five days, set by the Shenzhou VI spacecraft in 2005.
The mission will also complete the country’s first manned space docking to master thenecessary technology for assembling a space station, see China’s first female astronaut in space and have astronauts entering a space lab module for the first time, he added.
It is also the first time for the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in a desert, to conduct a mission in the summer. The past nine launches of China’s manned space program were held in the spring, autumn and winter, but not summer. The three manned spacecraft all blasted off in autumn.
Xinhua: China succeeded in the automatic docking between Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and Tiangong-1 lab module last year. A manual docking between Shenzhou-9 and Tiangong-1 will be attempted this time. ……. a female astronaut will be included in a space mission for the first time in China’s space program, the selection, training, medical monitoring and security, and flight crew equipment for female astronauts will also be tested.
Tiangong-1 Heavenly-Palace Chinese-space-station
Tags:China, Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang, Liu Yang, Shenzhou program, Space rendezvous, Tiangong-1
Posted in China, Science, Space | 3 Comments »
June 11, 2012
Reuters reports that Chinese carbon dioxide emissions may be some 20% higher than previously thought. But then the Reuters reporters (David Fogarty and David Stanway) and their editor Jonathan Thatcher get their knickers properly in a twist and conclude that this suggests that “the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted”.
Perhaps some bright schoolboy could point out to our intrepid reporters that if the change in B is supposed to be dependent upon the change in A and if the change in A is actually higher than assumed, then the change in B is less dependent upon the change in A than assumed.
(more…)
Tags:carbon diocide, carbon dioxide emissions, China, climate change, climate models
Posted in Alarmism, Climate | Comments Off on Reuters gets it wrong again: If Chinese emissions have been higher than assumed then emissions have even less effect on climate than thought!
April 8, 2012
Common sense and simple economics are beginning to reassert themselves as the the fundamental weaknesses in the fashionable – but subsidised – expansion of solar and wind power plants are revealed. The expensive, intermittent and unpredictable generation that derives from solar and wind power plants can – at best – be used to augment an existing system. They are actually useful as an auxiliary heat and power source as small decentralised units. But in a large power grid they are more of a nuisance than an asset and can only increase the cost to the consumer.
China has now published a policy document changing direction towards nuclear and hydro power and an accelerated development of shale gas use. Solar and wind power are downgraded.
Electric Light & Power
China will accelerate the use of new-energy sources such as nuclear energy and put an end to blind expansion in industries such as solar energy and wind power in 2012, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says in a government report published on March 5.
(more…)
Tags:China, Energy, Energy development, Hydro Power, Nuclear power, Shale gas, Solar power, wind power
Posted in China, Energy, Nuclear Power, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on China downgrades solar and wind power – pushes for nuclear, hydro and shale gas
March 15, 2012
It was high time and even though they have tried before, the new measures just announced by the Chinese Education Ministry will hopefully begin to curb the widespread plagiarism, data manipulation and even data fakery that allegedly goes on.
India needs to institutionalise something similar. The Society of Scientific Values in India is an independent body and tries valiantly to act as a watch-dog but it has no teeth and no official standing. Of course in India the danger with creating institutions under a Ministry – and therefore under a Minister – is that the institution will very quickly become politicised. And Indian politicians are perhaps not the best choice when it comes to monitoring and establishing ethical standards. Nevertheless a start has to be made and the Ministry of Science and Technology in India is the natural home of an institution to promote ethical standards in scientific research and at institutes of higher education. The key will be to provide the backing of the Ministry to give it sufficient weight but to maintain its independence from party political influences. Giving such an institution semi-judicial status is one way but could be very heavy handed.
China Daily reports:
China’s Ministry of Education on Wednesday issued new rules to supervise universities’ scientific research and academic activities in order to “effectively prevent and curb academic misconduct.”
(more…)
Tags:China, China Education Ministry, ethics, India, Scientific misconduct, Society for Scientific Values
Posted in Academic misconduct, China, Ethics, India, Science, scientific misconduct, Technology | Comments Off on Chinese Government tries to get to grips with science misconduct. When will India follow?
March 2, 2012
The Age of Gas is not just dawning but is well and truly underway with China revealing reserves sufficient for 200 years. At 25 trillion cubic meters (875 trillion cubic feet) of recoverable reserves these could be almost twice the recoverable reserves in the US.
As shale gas comes into play all over the globe there is going to be a run on large gas turbines for power generation. Gas turbine manufacturers (and the big 4 are GE, Siemens, Alstom and MHI) can expect a sellers market within 2 or 3 years as the economic recovery pressurises generation capacity.
from Wikipedia
The Telegraph:
China is planning an investment blitz to unlock its vast reserves of shale gas, convinced it can match the energy revolution under way in the US and meet a significant part of its fast-growing fuel needs.
(more…)
Tags:Age of Gas, China, dash for gas, gas glut, gas turbines, sellers market, Shale gas
Posted in China, Energy, Engineering, Gas | 2 Comments »
February 14, 2012
China has reserves of shale gas at least 50% greater than in the US and is the latest country hopping onto the fracking band-wagon. The Chinese are looking to acquire minority interests in technology companies owning fracking technology in the US and are pushing ahead with their plans for production of shale gas. It seems quite clear now that whenever the global economic recovery finally gets going, the availability of shale gas will be one of the contributing factors. I expect we shall see a boom in exploration for shale gas reserves, in increasing production of shale gas and a boom in gas-fired power generation. There may well be a boom in the sales of gas turbines for power generation within the next 2 -3 years.
“Peak” gas is nowhere in sight. And the fracking technology developments seem to have application even for the recovery of large amounts of gas from methane gas hydrates which are found under deep sea-beds (>500m deep) and even under thick layers of permafrost. While this may take another 10+ years to develop, it makes it even more unlikely that any “peak” gas scenario can develop.
Shale gas reserves: Reuters graphic
Forbes reports:
(more…)
Tags:"Peak" gas, China, fracking, Hydraulic fracturing, Natural gas, Shale gas
Posted in Business, China, Energy, Gas | 1 Comment »
November 7, 2011
Victor Roberto Muller has already tweeted that he is going back to the “drawing board” !!
But the pictures he draws are all illustrations for fairy tales.
Reuters:
General Motors Co said on Monday it had decided to sever its ties to Saab and its commitment to supply it with vehicle components and the 9-4X model because of the risks posed by the pending sale of the Swedish auto brand to Chinese owners.
“Although General Motors is open to the continued supply of powertrains and other components to Saab under appropriate terms and conditions, GM will not agree to the continuation of the existing technology licenses or the continued supply of 9-4X vehicles to Saab following the proposed change in ownership as it would not be in the best interests of GM shareholders,” GM spokesman Jim Cain said. ….
On Friday, GM had said that it would be difficult to support a sale of Saab if it hurt GM’s competitive position in Chinaand other key markets.
China’s Pang Da Automobile Trade Co and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile have struck a deal to buy Saab from its current Dutch owner, Swedish Automobile , in what amounts to a rescue plan for the Swedish auto brand formerly owned by GM.
But the deal had to be approved by GM, which still has preference shares in Saab and has supplied the Swedish auto brand with crucial components. …
The new deal which had been announced last week was for 100% ownership to pass to the Chinese. When asked if GM licences would be available if the plan went back to the Chinese buying just 53.9% of Saab – as originally envisaged – the GM spokesman refused to speculate.
Tags:China, General Motor, Pang Da Automobile Trade Co, SAAB, Victor Muller, Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile
Posted in Automobiles, China, Sweden, US | Comments Off on No GM licence to a Chinese-owned SAAB
October 12, 2011
Victor Muller is still carrying on with the Saab circus and has been constantly talking up the Chinese investments due to be paid in at any moment. But this has been going on for a long time and now Reuters reports that the Chinese application to make the investment has not even been submitted to the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for approval. Such approvals can take a long time and if the application has not even been submitted it totally undermines all the “fairy stories” that Muller has been spinning.
Muller is contradicting Reuters but I am afraid his statements are bordering on fantasy and I prefer to believe that Reuters have got it right.
Reuters reports today:
Pangda Automobile Trade Co , China’s largest listed auto dealer, said on Wednesday its investment agreement with Saab had become void after the Swedish car maker sought bankruptcy protection.
But the Dutch owner of the troubled firm later offered conflicting details, saying the 245 million euro ($352 million) deal with Pangda and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co was still valid. ….
… Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry forum in Chengdu, Pangda chairman Pang Qinghua said, “Now that it’s in bankruptcy protection, all the previous pacts are not valid. It’s up to the court to decide. It can also find a new partner”. Pang added that the Chinese side has not yet submitted a proposal to the Chinese government regarding the Saab deal.
But in a text message sent to Reuters, Swedish Automobile NV CEO Victor Muller said simply: “On track with both Pangda and Youngman”. In June, Saab’s owner had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co to take a 29.9 percent stake in the company and Pangda to take a 24 percent stake for a combined 245 million euros.
Saab has still not received a vital bridge loan of 70 million euros ($96 million) that was secured by Youngman, money that is key to its short-term survival. The investment hinges on approval from the Chinese and Swedish governments and a green light from the European Investment Bank and Saab shareholder General Motors . Asked on Wednesday whether the deal had been submitted to China’s National Development and Reform Commission for approval, Pangda’s chairman said: “Youngman’s Pang Qingnian is the one that is supposed to send the application to NDRC. As far as I know, he is soliciting opinion among industry experts regarding the deal, they are not done with it yet.”
Pangda had already paid 45 million euros to Saab for a separate deal to purchase 2,000 cars but had not received any cars due to a production halt since April.
“As for the cash injection (into Saab), I can do that only after the government approves the deal,” Pang said on Wednesday.
So with Youngman and Pangda not submitting their application to NDRC and since they need to have such approval, the only conclusion that one can draw is that any new Chinese investment money is never going to come and that Victor Muller is continuing to play a game. The Swedish Courts were remarkably lenient in allowing Muller to attempt another reconstruction of the company just after the earlier attempt at reconstruction had failed. Hopefully the courts will now have had enough of Muller’s representations of forthcoming support and investments which always seem to be grossly exaggerated and – in some cases – just untrue.
Related:
Volvo owner Geely denies reported interest in Saab
Saab being pimped around the world by Victor Muller
Tags:China, National Development and Reform Commission, Pangda, SAAB, Saab bankruptcy, Saab reconstruction, Victor Muller, Youngman
Posted in Automobiles, Business, Sweden | Comments Off on Victor Muller’s Chinese investors for Saab are evaporating
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