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The Powerful People Arguing for U.S.-China Free Trade

Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:56:42 +0000

Recommending that the U.S. and China work toward a free trade deal is a bit like stepping into a prize fight and asking the boxers to settle their differences peacefully.

But some powerful people on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are doing exactly that. A report by a blue-ribbon, binational panel assembled by the China-United States Exchange Foundation this week said the countries “should begin early stage discussions of the opportunities and challenges of an eventual bilateral free trade agreement.”

The foundation, although little known to the general public, carries enough weight that Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State who was present at China’s opening to the world in the 1970s, showed up to launch the report at a packed event on May 21 at the Asia Society on New York’s Upper East Side.

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North Korea says willing to take China’s advice to start talks

Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee, Reuters — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:55:27 +0000

North Korea is willing to take China’s advice and enter into talks, Chinese state television cited an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying, following weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula after the North’s latest nuclear test.

However, that prospect seems unlikely as North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons while the United States insists North Korea must take meaningful steps on denuclearization before there can be talks.

The visit to Beijing by Choe Ryong-hae, a top North Korean military officer, is the most high-level contact between North Korea and China in about six months.

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Hackers Find China Is Land of Opportunity

Edward Wong, New York Times — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:54:29 +0000

Name a target anywhere in China, an official at a state-owned company boasted recently, and his crack staff will break into that person’s computer, download the contents of the hard drive, record the keystrokes and monitor cellphone communications, too.

Pitches like that, from a salesman for Nanjing Xhunter Software, were not uncommon at a crowded trade show this month that brought together Chinese law enforcement officials and entrepreneurs eager to win government contracts for police equipment and services.

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EU trade chief to seek investment pact with China

Robin Emmott, Reuters — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:53:17 +0000

The European Commission will seek the support of EU governments to launch talks with China on an investment pact that could be a precursor to a free-trade deal if Brussels and Beijing can overcome growing tensions.

EU trade chief Karel De Gucht said on Thursday he would ask the European Union’s 27 countries to agree a negotiating mandate for a deal with China that would reduce barriers to each other’s markets and encourage new capital flows.

Documents seen by Reuters this week show that a much more ambitious trade agreement could be considered after an investment pact – but only if China and the European Union can work out their differences.

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Markets Rattled Amid Fears of Slowdown in Asia

Bettina Wassener and David Jolly, New York Times — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:51:57 +0000

A 7 percent stock market sell-off in Tokyo led to moderate declines in equity markets across Europe and Asia on Thursday, and Wall Street opened weakly, amid concerns about global growth and uneasiness about central bank actions.

Shares came under pressure in Asian trading after news that the manufacturing sector in China, one of the main engines of global growth in recent years, was faltering. That, along with concerns about daring shock therapy Japan is employing to restart its economy after two decades of stagnation, further combined with leftover confusion in financial markets about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s intentions following testimony Wednesday by its chairman, helped to further rattle investors.

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North Korean Leader Sends Envoy to China

Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:58:03 +0000

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, sent his first special envoy to China on Wednesday amid signs that Mr. Kim’s government was trying to mend strained ties with Beijing and seeking breaches in the tightening ring of economic and diplomatic pressure over its nuclear weapons development.

The envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, who serves as director of the general political bureau of the North Korean People’s Army, met in Beijing with Wang Jiarui, the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, said Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, in a report that gave no details of the talks.

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China’s Li offers to help end Pakistan energy crisis

Nick Macfie, Reuters — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:57:02 +0000

China and Pakistan should make cooperation on power generation a priority, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said, as Islamabad seeks to end an energy crisis that triggers power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, bringing the economy to a near standstill.

Li arrived in the Pakistan capital under extra-tight security on Wednesday on the second leg of his first official trip since taking office in March after a visit to Pakistan’s and China’s arch rival, India.

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China’s Cadmium Problem May Be Boost for Rice Exporters

Sameer C. Mohindru and Zhoudong Shangguan, Wall Street Journal — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:55:50 +0000

Asian rice exporters are poised to boost sales to China if further testing finds cadmium contamination of Chinese rice continues as a problem, analysts and traders said.

“Unlike costlier meat products, where contamination and disease can drag down consumption, in the case of staple crops like rice, generally such problems can lead to more imports,” said Concepcion Calpe, head of the intergovernmental group on rice at the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The situation represents an opportunity especially for Vietnam and Thailand, the world’s second- and third-largest exporters of the grain. Pakistan may benefit as well, analysts said, while India, the world’s largest rice exporter, isn’t likely in a position to boost sales significantly because China limits purchases from there due to quality concerns.

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As Chinese Leader’s Visit Nears, U.S. Is Urged to Allow Counterattacks on Hackers

David E. Sanger, New York Times — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:54:22 +0000

With President Obama preparing for a first meeting with China’s new president, a commission led by two former senior officials in his administration will recommend a series of steps that could significantly raise the cost to China of the theft of American industrial secrets. If milder measures failed, the commission said, the United States should consider giving companies the right to retaliate against cyberattackers with counterstrikes of their own.

The recommendations are from the private Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, which is led by two figures who parted company with the White House on strained terms: Dennis C. Blair, Mr. Obama’s first director of national intelligence, and Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former ambassador to China who left his post to run, unsuccessfully, for the Republican nomination for president.

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China’s bird flu outbreak cost $6.5 billion

Reuters — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:52:24 +0000

The H7N9 virus appears to have been brought under control in China largely due to restrictions at bird markets, but caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy, U.N. experts said on Tuesday.

Health authorities worldwide must be on the lookout to detect the virus, the experts said, which could still develop the ability to spread easily among humans and cause a deadly influenza pandemic.

The new bird flu virus is known to have infected 130 people in mainland China since emerging in March, including 36 who died, but no cases have been detected since early May, Health Minister Li Bin told a meeting of the World Health Organization. One case was found in Taiwan in April, making a total of 131.

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