China Tech News

CHINA and Britain have vowed to continue and strengthen cooperation on a wide range of economic, financial and trade issues, including speeding the introduction of a Shanghai-London stock connect program.

In a joint statement, coinciding with an official visit to China by British finance minister Philip Hammond, the countries also said they opposed trade protectionism and reaffirmed their support for the World Trade Organization as a key pillar of the global trade system.

The statement comes as China, in an unusual step, accused the United States and the European Union of breaking promises that they made when China joined the WTO.

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CHINESE leadership opened the annual economic work meeting yesterday, drawing plans for 2018 with a target of high-quality growth while minimizing financial risks.

The Central Economic Work Conference will review the economic work of the past five years, and make policy priorities for 2018 with a focus on implementing the decisions from the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Observers believe that the decisions to be made at the meeting will reflect China’s new development concept featuring high-quality development.

The event is being closely watched as it marks the first economic work conference since the 19th CPC National Congress was held in October at which the leadership declared China’s economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development.

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GERMANY’S competition watchdog said yesterday that Facebook was abusing its dominant position to “limitlessly” harvest user data from outside websites and apps, allowing its advertisers to target customers with hyper-specific ads.

In a preliminary assessment, the Federal Cartel Office said it had focused its probe on the US social media giant’s use of third-party sites to track users’ browsing behavior, often without their knowledge.
“The authority holds the view that Facebook is abusing this dominant position by making the use of its social network conditional on its being allowed to limitlessly amass every kind of data generated by using third-party websites,” the FCO said in a statement.

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The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives gave final approval on Wednesday to the biggest overhaul of the US tax code in 30 years, sending a sweeping US$1.5 trillion tax bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.

In sealing Trump’s first major legislative victory since he took office in January, Republicans steamrolled opposition from Democrats to pass a bill that slashes taxes for corporations and the wealthy while giving mixed, temporary tax relief to middle-class Americans.

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The House approved the measure by 224-201, passing it for the second time in two days after a procedural foul-up forced another vote on Wednesday. The Republican-led Senate had passed it 51-48 in the early hours of Wednesday.

“We are making America great again,” Trump said, echoing his campaign slogan at a White House celebration with Republican lawmakers. “Ultimately what does it mean? It means jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Trump, who emphasized a tax cut for middle-class Americans during his 2016 campaign, said at an earlier Cabinet meeting that lowering the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent was “probably the biggest factor in this plan.”
It was uncertain when the bill would be signed. White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said the timing depended on whether automatic spending cuts triggered by the legislation could be waived.

The administration expects the waiver to be included in a spending resolution Congress will pass later this week, a White House official told reporters. Cohn told Fox News Channel on Wednesday night that Trump could sign the bill as soon as today if the resolution was passed by then.

“If not, most likely we’ll sign it in the first week of the new year,” Cohn said.

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CHINA needs annual growth of 6.3 percent in 2018-2020 to realize the target of doubling the 2010 GDP by 2020, an official has said.

“Judging from current economic performance, there will not be any huge barrier in meeting the goal,” Yang Weimin, deputy head of the office of the central leading group on financial and economic affairs, said at an economics forum.

Five years ago, China decided to double 2010 GDP and per capita income by 2020 as an important component of becoming a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The country’s gross domestic product grew 6.9 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2017, above the government’s target of around 6.5 percent for the whole year.

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Different policies on different housing will support first-home buyers and upgraders in China and curb speculation in 2018, an official has said.

“We should stick to the principle that housing is for living in, not for speculation, and improve the long-term mechanism to promote a steady, healthy housing market,” Wang Meng*hui, minister of housing and urban-rural development, said at a meeting.

Market monitoring and analysis should be improved to ensure the accuracy of policies, he added.
“We should move faster to put in place a housing system that ensures supply from multiple sources, provides housing support through multiple channels, and encourages both house purchases and rental,” he said.
Large and medium-sized cities with net population inflow should step up the development of the housing rental market and set up state-owned home renting companies, Wang said.

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THE Ministry of Commerce yesterday determined to turn China into a “strong economic and trading nation in all respects” by 2050.

In the past five years, China’s domestic consumption, foreign trade and investment all surpassed most other economies, laying a solid foundation for strengthening the economy and trade, Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said at a meeting.

Before 2020, China should consolidate its position as a large economy and trader. The goal of becoming a strong trading nation should “be basically realized” by 2035 and be accomplished in all respects by 2050, according to Zhong.

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THE year 2017 has seen the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road reach more peoples and more lands.

The year may mark a milestone in materializing the Belt and Road initiative. Both a vision and a solution from Chinese wisdom valuing peace and harmony, the initiative seeks common prosperity and safeguards globalization amid uncertainties and challenges such as a surge in protectionism, nationalism and isolationism in Western countries.

“China is an inspiring example for many countries,” said Andrei Vinogradov, a political expert with the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Its success and historical experience make it possible to provide the world with a solution based on win-win cooperation.”

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A cyclist passes an advertisement in Frankfurt yesterday. Germany’s unemployment rate hit a record low of 5.5 percent in December, the lowest level since German reunification in 1990, the Federal Labour Office said. In 2017, the rate fell to 5.7 percent from 6.1 percent.

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CHINA’S foreign exchange reserves rose for the 11th month in a row to US$3.14 trillion at the end of December, data from the central bank showed yesterday.

This marked the highest level since September 2016, according to the People’s Bank of China.

The reserves gained US$20.7 billion from a month earlier, faster than the market forecast, which estimated the reserves to stand at US$3.13 trillion.

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FACEBOOK and Xiaomi will release a virtual reality headset in the Chinese mainland market even though the US-based social giant’s service is not accessible here.

The VR device, Mi VR standalone, will be the first Facebook device officially sold in the mainland market which has the world’s biggest number of Internet users. The device will feature both Xiaomi and Facebook’s Oculus logos in China. It’s the Chinese version of Facebook’s Oculus Go, which costs US$199 in the US market.

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AS Japan readies to celebrate the year of the dog, electronics giant Sony yesterday unleashed its new robot canine companion, packed with artificial intelligence and Internet connectivity.

The sleek ivory-white puppy-sized “aibo” robot shook its head and wagged its tail as if waking from a nap when it was taken out of a cocoon-shaped case at a “birthday ceremony” held in Tokyo.
Seven-year-old Naohiro Sugimoto from Tokyo was among the first to get his hands on the shiny new toy, which he described as “heavy but cute.”

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A Sino-British joint venture will soon begin outbound tourism business for Chinese tourists in the Shanghai free trade zone.

Registered in the FTZ in 2015 by Thomas Cook Group and Shanghai’s Fosun International, Fosun Tourism and Culture Group is one of the beneficiaries of fine-tuning to some laws and regulations in China’s FTZs to further opening-up and reform.
Eleven regulations including those on ship registration, urban rail transit and foreign investment are to be temporarily adjusted, according to a State Council decision.

One regulation specifically deals with foreign investment in tourism. Joint ventures registered in the zones are now allowed directly into outbound tourism for Chinese residents. Previous regulations meant joint ventures had to work with local travel agencies on outbound tourism, but could apply for their own license after two years.

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GERMANY’S central bank has said it will include the Chinese yuan in its reserves, giving another boost to China’s drive to internationalize the currency.

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The Bundesbank said its board had decided in July to invest in the yuan to take account of its growing importance globally, though it did not say when it would begin to include it or how much it would purchase.

“The decision to accept the yuan is part of a long-term diversification strategy and reflects the growing role of the Chinese currency in the world financial system,” Bundesbank board member Joachim Wuermeling said.
The German central bank regularly reviews the composition of its currency reserves “by weighing risks and benefits,” Wuermeling said.

“In addition to dollars and yen, (the bank) has invested in Australian dollars since 2013 and seeks to invest in other currencies.”

The move comes after the European Central Bank in June converted 500 million euros’ worth of its US dollar reserves into yuan.

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SHANGHAI shares rose to a two-year high yesterday when Hong Kong stocks climbed to a fresh record as investors tracked another milestone on Wall Street, but Asia-wide markets struggled to keep up the recent momentum.

But while the afternoon saw a slight wobble across the region and some analysts warned of a possible correction, traders remain bullish on equities thanks to a healthy global economic outlook, optimism over the impact of Donald trump’s tax cuts and strong corporate earnings.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.87 percent to 3,474.75 points, the highest close since the end of 2015.
After the market closed, data showed the Chinese economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017, the first annual improvement since 2010.

The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China’s export machine.
“This momentum, especially the part fueled by external demand, may carry on well into 2018,” said Wei Yao, chief China economist at Societe Generale.

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THE International Monetary Fund yesterday revised up its forecast for world economic growth in 2018 and 2019 saying that sweeping US tax cuts were expected to boost investment in the world's largest economy and help its main trading partners.

In an update of its World Economic Outlook, the IMF however warned that US growth would likely start weakening after 2022 as temporary spending incentives brought about by the tax cuts start to expire.

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The tax cuts would likely widen the US current account deficit, strengthen the US dollar and affect international investment flows, IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said.

The US economy has been showing steady but underwhelming annual growth since the last recession in 2007-2009.
The IMF revised up its forecast for global growth to 3.9 percent for 2018 and 2019, a 0.2 percentage point change from its last update in October.

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CHINA’S top banking regulator’s recent fine is “credit negative” for Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co Ltd, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday, adding that the move will harm the lender’s reputation.

Last Friday, the China Banking Regulatory Commission imposed the Shanghai-based lender 462 million yuan (US$72 million) fine for its illegal cover-up of bad loans.

The CBRC accused the bank’s Chengdu branch of “knowingly” providing 77.5 billion yuan in illegal new loans to 1,493 shell companies via false declarations. Around 200 people at the Chengdu branch were held accountable.

In a credit outlook report yesterday, Moody’s said the scandal illustrated deficiencies in the bank’s risk management system and internal controls and and the problem was "significant” given the long period of the illicit activities, the amount of credit and the number of people involved.

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JAPAN-BASED virtual currency exchange Coincheck said yesterday it will refund about US$400 million to customers after hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of digital assets.

The company said it will use its own funds to reimburse about 46.3 billion yen to all 260,000 customers who lost their holdings of NEM, the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

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On Friday, the company detected an “unauthorised access” of the exchange, and later suspended trading for all cryptocurrencies apart from bitcoin.

The resulting 58 billion yen (US$530 million) loss exceeded the value of bitcoins which disappeared from MtGox in 2014.
The major Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange collapsed after admitting that 850,000 coins — worth around US$480 million at the time — had disappeared from its vaults.

As many as 10,000 businesses in Japan are thought to accept bitcoin and bitFlyer, the country’s main bitcoin exchange, saw its user base pass the one-million mark in November.

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Home prices in Beijing declined in 2017 as a result of tough control measures introduced mainly in March to cool the property sector.

Prices of new homes, including public housing, fell 0.9 percent year on year to 37,800 yuan (US$5,981) per square meter in December, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Meanwhile, prices of pre-owned homes, dropped 1.2 percent year on year to 59,100 yuan per square meter last month, declining 13 percent from the high level in March.

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FACEBOOK Inc offered reassurances to investors on Wednesday that its digital ad business would remain highly profitable, despite a dip in usage on the social media network and an overhaul of its flagship News Feed.

The company said in an earnings report that quarterly revenue jumped 47 percent from a year earlier, and executives said on a conference call that they saw more chances to make money even if people spend less time on Facebook.

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Analysts had wondered about the resilience of the world’s largest social media network, which is making changes to its products to deter foreign influence campaigns like ones that it says Russia has carried out and to stem the spread of sensationalism.

Facebook added to jitters after the bell on Wednesday when, in its earnings report, it said that at the end of last year time spent by users had fallen by about 50 million hours a day.

Shortly afterward, though, Facebook executives expressed optimism on the call with analysts, saying the changes they were making in response to criticism would be healthy for the business in the long term and might not even hurt much in the short term.

“I want to be clear: The most important driver of our business has never been time spent by itself. It’s the quality of the conversations and connections,” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on the call.

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CHINA plans to stamp out all remaining cryptocurrency trading in the country by blocking access to overseas-based websites and removing related applications from app stores.

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The moves were outlined in a report on Sunday by Financial News, a publication under the People’s Bank of China, which said the aim was to snuff out the “dying cinders” of cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings “which are glowing once more.”

Faced with Chinese citizens who continue to trade cryptocurrency on platforms operated beyond the country’s reach, or take part in initial coin offerings, authorities will “ratchet up oversight in a sustained manner,” the report said.
After launching a campaign last year, authorities eliminated most cryptocurrency trading in the country. China’s share of trading plummeted from 90 percent of the world to below one percent, the report said.

That crackdown sent Chinese cryptocurrency traders to overseas platforms operated in Hong Kong and Japan. The latest regulatory moves aim to cut off access to them.

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CHINA created over 66 million urban jobs over the past five years, official data showed.

Over the five years, 90 percent of college graduates found jobs and more than 1.1 million redundant workers resulting from China’s excess production capacity cuts were re-employed, said Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security.

By the end of 2017, the joblesst rate in urban areas was 3.9 percent, the lowest since 2002, official data showed.
From 2013 to 2017, over 13 million jobs were created annually in urban areas, despite the negative effect of economic structuring and slowing growth, official data showed.

In 2017, 13.51 million new jobs were created in urban areas. The central government set an increase of 11 million jobs as its official target for the whole of 2017.

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A ferry sails past Pasir Panjang container terminal port in Singapore yesterday. Singapore’s economy is set to have grown less than initially expected in the fourth quarter as factory activity and exports slowed, suggesting the recent easing in booming sales of electronics could hit growth this year.

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A Reuters poll yesterday predicted quarterly growth at 2 percent in the October-December period on a seasonally adjusted and annual basis, slowing from the 2.8 percent preliminary figure.

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CHINA’S manufacturing activity edged down in December, official data showed yesterday, but largely maintained momentum despite curbs on heavy industry aimed at taming the country’s chronic air pollution.

The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a gauge of factory conditions, stood at 51.6 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said, compared to 51.8 in November.

Anything above 50 is considered growth, while under 50 points to contraction.
China has curbed activity in heavy industries in the northeast to reduce surplus capacity and the heavy smog that typically blankets the region in late autumn and winter.

The index in December is on par with the annual average, still pointing to a strong resilience in China’s growth, according to NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

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China’s banking regulator has introduced steps to cut the red tape for foreign banks, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday, as part of the government’s ongoing effort to promote investment in the country’s

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THE board of directors of The Weinstein Company said late Sunday the New York film and TV studio planned to file for bankruptcy after talks to sell it collapsed.

The firm had been seeking a deal to spare it from bankruptcy after more than 70 women accused film producer Harvey Weinstein, its ex-chairman and once one of Hollywood’s most influential men, of sexual misconduct including rape. Weinstein denies having non-consensual sex with anyone.

“The Weinstein Company has been engaged in an active sale process in the hopes of preserving assets and jobs,” the board said in a statement reported by newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. “Today, those discussions concluded without a signed agreement.”

The board had “no choice but to pursue its only viable option to maximize the Company’s remaining value: an orderly bankruptcy process.”

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The Commerce Ministry said it has removed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on US white-feathered broiler chickens.
The move became effective yesterday. The tariffs were first imposed in 2010 and were extended for a further five years in 2016.

The removal of penalties comes against a backdrop of an escalating trade spat between the two countries, after Washington slapped duties on washing machines and solar panels, triggering a probe by China into US sorghum.
The move on broiler chickens is largely inconsequential for the American poultry industry, since China’s 2015 ban on imports of US poultry, poultry products and eggs due to avian influenza remains in place.

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The number of Chinese billionaires pulling away from the United States is growing every year with as many as 819 billionaires from China, compared with 571 from the US, the Hurun Rich List showed yesterday.
A total of 2,694 billionaires from 69 countries and regions are included in the list — up 437 from a year ago. Among them, 567 are new entrants, with 210 from China.

Their total wealth increased 31 percent to US$10.5 trillion, the report said, adding that the wealth was still concentrated in the hands of few people. The combined net worth of the Chinese billionaires was US$2.5trillion.
“A boom in China, a weak dollar and a 26 percent hike in the Nasdaq have led to a surge in dollar billionaires across the world,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun’s chairman and chief researcher of the report.

Global economic growth recorded the fastest pace since 2011, adding 3 percent last year, and a significant acceleration compared with 2.4 percent the previous year.

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CHINA’S manufacturing sector rose modestly in February to a nine-month high, bolstered by firmer client demand and increasing prices, according to a private survey released by Caixin yesterday.

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The Caixin China General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, an indicator of manufacturing activity, climbed to 51.6 in February from 51.5 in January, notching a peak since August last year, the survey conducted by financial information service provider Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media Co showed.

The index showed continuous improvement in business conditions across China’s manufacturing sector, pushing it further above the 50-point threshold separating expansion from contraction.
“This suggests that the durability of China’s economy will persist,” said Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, a subsidiary of Caixin Insight Group.

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SHANGHAI’S merchandise sales are set to grow 8 percent this year, with retail sales to rise 8 percent and e-commerce to jump 20 percent, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce said yesterday.

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The city set the same 8 percent year-on-year target for merchandise sales and retail sales this year.
E-commerce is set to soar 20 percent, with online transactions exceeding 1 trillion yuan (US$ 160 billion) this year. The import and export of goods and services are set to grow 5 percent each.

In 2017, the city’s merchandise trade rose 12 percent year on year to 11.3 trillion yuan, 4.1 percentage points faster than 2016, the commis*sion said.
Shanghai ranked first in China for retail sales at 1.2 trillion yuan, up 8.1 percent yearly, with the growth pace 0.1 percentage point faster than 2016’s.

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc said yesterday that Harvey Schwartz will retire from the bank, leaving David Solomon as sole president and chief operating officer and the most obvious successor to Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.

The bank did not say why Schwartz was retiring. He was seen as one of two contenders along with Co-Chief Operating Officer Solomon to take over the top spot at what is considered as the most powerful US investment bank.
Schwartz, 53, has served in his current role since January 2017. He will retire on April 20.

Goldman shares were up nearly 1.4 percent to hit a lifetime high in morning trade.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Blankfein was expected to retire as soon as this year and the bank was not looking beyond Schwartz and Solomon to replace him. Goldman did not comment on the report.

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Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google corporate brands dropped in an annual survey while Amazon.com Inc maintained the top spot for the third consecutive year, and electric carmaker Telsa Inc rocketed higher after sending a red Roadster into space.

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IPhone maker Apple dropped to 29th from its previous position of No. 5, and Google dropped from 8th to No. 28. Apple had ranked No. 2 as recently as 2016, according to the annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient poll released yesterday.

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John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll, said in an interview that the likely reason Apple and Google fell was that they have not introduced as many attention-grabbing products as they did in past years, such as when Google rolled out free offerings like its Google Docs word processor or Google Maps and Apple’s then-CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPod, iPhone and iPad. "Google and Apple, at this moment, are sort of in valleys,” Gerzema said. “We’re not quite to self-driving cars yet. We’re not yet seeing all the things in artificial intelligence they’re going to do."
Meanwhile, Amazon.com held on to the No. 1 spot, which it has kept for five years with the exception of 2015, when it slipped to No. 2. Gerzema attributed Amazon’s ranking to its expanding footprint in consumers’ lives into areas like groceries via its Whole Foods acquisition.

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The China Securities Regulatory Commission has fined a company a record 5.5 billion yuan (US$870 million) for manipulating stock prices of listed firms, the regulator said yesterday.

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The huge fine was imposed on Xiamen Beibadao Logistics Group, a private company, which made 945 million yuan by using over 300 trading accounts to manipulate the stock prices of listed companies including two banks, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd and Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank, and an industrial firm Guangdong Hoshion Aluminium Co Ltd.

Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank jumped sharply by over 600 percent from 4.37 yuan to 30.41 yuan in two months since it was listed in January 2017.

The CSRC revealed the penalty at a press conference today at which it also made public that it had investigated a case of information disclosure and second case involving another market manipulation.
The penalty for Beibadao Group is not an exceptional case because an equities trader was fined 54 million yuan for manipulating 15 stocks to make a profit of 27 million yuan in December last year.
The CSRC said they will stick to strict supervision in line with the law to serve the capital market and to develop an open and fair market environment.

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Housing markets in China’s 15 major cities stayed generally stable in February as tightening policies to curb speculation have been consistently implemented, data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Twelve of the 15 cities, including first-tier ones and key second-tier cities, saw declines of 0.1 percent to 0.6 percent in new home prices from January. Prices in two cities were flat from a month earlier, and Tianjin was the only city where prices rose month on month, according to the bureau, which monitors property prices in 70 Chinese cities.

“Stability extended in the country's 15 hottest housing markets as differentiated policies to curb speculation continued to take effect,” said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the bureau.
In the four first-tier cities, new home prices in Shanghai lost 0.2 percent from January while Beijing’s shed 0.3 percent, Guangzhou’s fell 0.4 percent and Shenzhen’s dipped 0.6 percent.

On an annual basis, prices in nine cities shed by between 0.3 percent and 2.5 percent, five cities saw rises of between 0.6 percent and 3.1 percent while one was flat from a year earlier, according to the bureau.

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SHANGHAI’S economy grew steadily in February as industrial output, consumer prices and foreign trade all rose.

Its foreign trade increased 8.9 percent to 239.47 billion yuan (US$37.84 billion) from the same month last year, according to Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

Imports rose 2.5 percent to 141.62 billion yuan while exports jumped sharply by 19.7 percent to 97.86 billion yuan compared to February last year. For January-February, the city’s total foreign trade rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 529.17 billion yuan. Shipments to Japan jumped 59.8 percent to 11.64 billion yuan in February. Exports to the United States rose 12.5 percent and those to the European Union gained 11.1 percent. Shanghai’s foreign direct investment grew 12.9 percent in contract value while capital that’s invested surged 30.8 percent in February.

The tertiary industry accounted for 97.6 percent of the city’s total FDI contract value as it sealed 256 FDI projects worth US$394.7 million, up 19.1 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, the city's value-added industrial output in January-February jumped 9 percent from a year earlier to 548.68 billion yuan, up from the 7.3 percent rise in the same period last year.
Of the city’s six key industrial sectors, the output of biological medicine grew fastest by 15.7 percent to 16.24 billion yuan year on year, while the output of high-quality steel manufacturing fell 5.9 percent and that of petrochemical and fine chemicals shed 0.2 percent.

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CHINA launched yuan-denominated oil futures contracts in Shanghai yesterday in a move to help domestic producers hedge crude price fluctuations and win for the country a greater voice over oil pricing.

Trading started at 9am at Shanghai International Energy Exchange, also known as INE and a unit of the Shanghai Futures Exchange. By the 3pm close INE had conducted 42,300 transactions worth 18.3 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion).
The first trading day got off to a good start, with the most traded contract for September delivery rising 3.34 percent to 429.9 yuan by 3pm.

Investors can trade between 9am and 11:30am, and 1:30pm to 3pm, as well as from 9pm to 2:30am during working days, with each contract’s volume being 1,000 barrels.
China imported 420 million tons of crude last year, taking up 69 percent of its total consumption, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

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THE United Nations agency dealing with trade and development has teamed up in Hangzhou with the Alibaba Group in a special 11-day course to empower over five years 1,000 e-commerce entrepreneurs from developing countries.

Thirty-seven e-commerce entrepreneurs from Asia have enrolled at the UN Conference on Trade and Development and Alibaba Business School’s eFounders Initiative at the Alibaba campus in Hangzhou, UNCTAD said.

The 11-day course is part of a commitment by Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group and a UNCTAD special adviser.

“We want to reach out to youth and include them in the work we do for inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” said Arlette Verploegh, coordinator for the eFounders Initiative at UNCTAD.

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CHINA is building a national-level innovation platform to further accelerate the development of intelligent vehicles, the National Development and Reform Commission said during a seminar held in Beijing yesterday.

“The platform will be established in order to solve the problems and obstacles in the development of intelligent vehicles and ensure the effective implementation of national strategies,” said Nian Yong, director-general department of industry of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a connected and automated vehicle international seminar.

The NDRC plan envisages the platform to comprise government department officials, industry professionals and scholars as well as auto companies. The nation’s top economic planner said that through the platform, China hopes to attract key enterprises, encourage overseas mergers and acquisitions and enhance research and development capabilities of intelligent vehicles.

“At present, China has started preparing for intelligent vehicles which includes strengthening intellectual property protection, emphasizing supervision and law enforcement, enhancing a credit system, talent training, supporting cross-border mergers and acquisitions and encouraging foreign-invested companies to participate in the development of an intelligent and connected vehicle industry,” Nian said.

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China’s central bank said it would clean up various sorts of virtual currencies in 2018, its latest effort to step up financial supervision.

Last September, Chinese authorities including the People’s Bank of China ordered a ban on initial coin offerings, in which technology startups issue their own digital coins to investors to access funds, and shut down all virtual currency exchanges in the country.

The tough measures led to a sharp decline in virtual currency transaction volumes in China, according to Financial News, a publication run by the PBOC.

PBOC deputy governor Fan Yifei said the bank will step up reform and innovation and continue to steadily carry forward the central bank’s research and development of digital currency.

To ensure order in the circulation of the yuan, the PBOC will tighten supervision and strengthen quality management and control, according to an online statement released yesterday.

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GROWTH in China’s manufacturing sector picked up more than expected in March as authorities lifted winter industrial pollution restrictions and steel mills cranked up production as construction activity swings back into high gear.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index released on Saturday rose to 51.5 in March, from 50.3 in February, and was well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the reading would pick up slightly to 50.5. February’s figure had been the lowest in 18 months, but many analysts suspected it was due to disruptions related to the long Lunar New Year holidays.
The March survey showed manufacturers shifted into higher gear as seasonal demand picked up. The sub-index for output jumped to 53.1 from 50.3 in February, while total new orders rose to 53.3 from 51.0 and export orders climbed to 51.3 from 49.0.

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