China Briefing News



China Grants Tax Incentives to Logistics Industry (Feb 6)
In a move to further boost its logistics industry, China is now allowing logistics enterprises to pay less urban land use tax (ULUT) on lands occupied by their commodity warehouses. Continue reading →


Top 50 Chinese Cities by Investment Potential (Feb 3)
By Julia Gu Feb. 3 – At the eighth annual World Famous Brands Assembly (WFBA) recently held in Jakarta, Indonesia, the U.S.-China Economic Trade and Investment General Chamber of Commerce, the Europe-America-Asia Cooperation Union for Investment in Industry and Commerce, and the World Cities and World Business Research Association jointly released a list of the “2011 Top 50 Chinese Cities with Strongest Investment Potential.” The results are as follows: WFBA is a non-profit international professional conference which has been successfully held in Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur for seven years since 2004. Chow Kong Shan … Continue reading →


Twitter – When Freedom of Speech Collides with Business Interests (Feb 3)
By Vivian Ni Feb. 3 – Twitter, the U.S.-based micro-blogging service provider, has recently found itself at the receiving end of criticism due to its new policy that will allow content censorship on a country-by-country basis. The policy adjustment may have revealed Twitter’s interest in returning to the cash-flowing Chinese market, where the government implements strict internet censorship regulations and blocks an array of Western social media web sites. In a blog post last Thursday, Twitter said that it had refined its technology and gained “the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country – while keeping … Continue reading →


China Announces Import Tax Treatment to ‘Encouraged’ Foreign-Invested Projects (Feb 2)
In Announcement [2012] No.4 released on January 29, the Chinese General Administration of Customs clarified the favorable import tax treatment to "encouraged" foreign-invested projects. Continue reading →


Relax. South China Exports and Manufacturers are Doing Just Fine (Feb 1)
Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis Feb. 1 – With some media spotlighting potential problems in South China – and one blog even going so far as to suggest smart Chinese businessmen are queuing up to attract orders, only to deliberately declare bankruptcy – it’s time to look again at the realities of the situation. The actual business environment in South China is something we are qualified to discuss with some knowledge – our firm, Dezan Shira & Associates, has four regional offices there (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhongshan) and has conducted business in the region for 20 years, while our … Continue reading →


WTO Orders China to Remove Export Restrictions on Industrial Minerals (Feb 1)
Will rare earths be next? By Vivian Ni Feb. 1 – Following two years of investigation, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Appellate Body ruled on Monday that China’s use of export duties and quotas on nine types of industrial materials has breached free trade rules. The ruling could affect the organization’s judging of other similar cases where export restrictions are used to hoard domestic natural resources. The case, filed in 2009 by the United States, the European Union (EU) and Mexico, accused China of imposing trade barriers to the exports of nine minerals: bauxite, zinc, yellow phosphorus, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, … Continue reading →


China 1992, India 2012 (Jan 31)
Investors able to look beyond perennial issues such as a lack of transparency and poor infrastructure in their search for growth should be able to add value to their global operations by investing now in India. Like China, India’s time has come, and global corporate strategies should declare them mutually inclusive. Continue reading →


American Express Extends Reach to China’s e-Payment Market (Jan 30)
By Vivian Ni Jan. 30 – Although China has made it more difficult for foreign investors to enter its e-payment sector over the last year, the potential profits offered by the country’s massive consumer population are proving too attractive to miss. Recently, American Express – the U.S. financial service provider that has long considered China as its critical strategic market – established a new partnership with a growing Chinese payment service company, Lianlian Group, by means of equity investment and technology authorization. AmEx said on January 18 that it will license its digital wallet Serve – a next-generation commerce technology … Continue reading →


Shanghai Offers Fiscal Support to Promote VAT Reform (Jan 30)
Shanghai's newly included value-added taxpayers (pilot enterprises) may receive fiscal compensation if they see increases in their actual tax burdens under the new tax scheme, local authorities said recently. Continue reading →


China’s Provincial GDP Figures in 2011 (Jan 27)
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. NBS Chief Ma Jiantang told reporters that China’s … Continue reading →