Sinomania!

More Angola Oil for China in Marathon Sale

2009-07-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Marathon Oil, one of America's oldest and most innovative oil companies, will sell 20% of Angola block 32 to the Chinese oil majors CNOOC and Sinopec in a deal valued well over $1 billion (US). The offshore block already has many successful exploration wells. Angola is a leading supplier of crude to China....

Chinese Mergers & Deals for July 15, 2009

2009-07-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Via Reuters:

MERGERS/DEALS

** China's Ministry of Commerce played down reports that it is at odds with the economic planning agency over a controversial deal for a little-known Chinese company to buy GM's Hummer unit.

** CNOOC, PTT PCL, ENI, and Osaka Gas are among companies that submitted indicative bids for a 20 to 35 percent stake in InterOil's liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea, sources said.

** ZTE Corp said it had won 34 percent of China Mobile Communications Corp's third-round 3G network expansion tender.

CNOOC Offers 17 Offshore Blocks to Foreign Cooperation

2009-07-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) is offering 17 blocks for joint foreign development. Most of the offshore blocks are in the east South China Sea in the Pearl River basin (image at left shows locations).

The head of CNOOC, Fu Chengyu, told Dow Jones the company was interested in cooperation "instead of mergers and acquisitions" in response to the reports that the company might buy all of Repsol's Argentina assets....

1st USA-China "Strategic & Economic Dialogue" Set for July 27-28

2009-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

The new fangled US-China Strategic AND Economic Dialogue, the Obama administration's twist on the W and Hu founded Strategic Economic Dialogue, will meet July 27 and 28 in Washington, DC, and include a joint press conference on its final day. The group will include Treasury Secretary Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Washington and Dai Bingguo and Wang Qishan for Beijing....

ChangAn Auto to Build Cars in South Africa

2009-07-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Chang'an Auto or Chana will build an auto plant in South Africa and invest approximately $80 million (US dollars). The plant will be the final phase of a multi-phase plan to capture at least 4% of South Africa's car market. The car assembly plant would be the first such venture in 40 years in South Africa. Currently the company imports cars in a joint venture with a South African importer and has around 20 dealerships....

CHL, CHU Choose ERIC for 2G/3G Expansion

2009-07-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

Swedish telecom major Ericsson (ERIC) will supply equipment and services to China Mobile (CHL) and China Unicom (CHU) in agreements valued at $1.7 billion (US). China Mobile will roll out using China's homegrown TD-SCDMA standard and China Unicom will expand coverage and services for GSM/WCDMA.....

China Gets Ecuador Oil in Multi-Billion Dollar Deal

2009-07-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

PetroChina will extend a billion (US) dollars in credit to Ecuador and anothher billion in a 4 year security to be arranged according to Dow Jones reports. The deal would give the Chinese oil major around 96,000 barrels per day of crude. Additionally, a Sino-Ecuador joint venture - SinoHydro-AndesJV - will build a hydroelectric plant valued at $2 Billion.....

EU Backs Down on Chinese Steel Pipe

2009-07-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Word from the G8 summit is the European Commission will end the anti-dumping duties on steel pipe products from China imposed in April. A similar move from the Obama administration is doubtful as the Democratic Party yields to the demands of American steel unions and companies....

USA-China Trade Up in June

2009-07-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

The pace of decline in Chinese exports and imports overall continues to slow and trade with the USA was up. America's trade deficit with China increased by almost a billion US dollars to $17.5 billion for the month of June....

Chinese Biotech Firm Readies Swine Flu Vaccine

2009-07-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sinovac Biotech (symbol SVA) a bio pharmaceutical based in Beijing has been given the green light to prepare is brand name vaccine for H1N1 virus, PANFLU. The company began work on the vaccine just a month ago when it received the virus from the USA. The Chinese central government will stockpile the vaccine in time for the fall/winter flu season....

Thailand Courts Beijing for Railways

2009-07-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Following a meeting between Thai PM Abhisit and the head of the China Railway Engineering conglomerate, the deputy Thai PM will lead a delegation including the Transport Minister to Beijing to discuss Chinese investment in double track and high speed rail projects planned by the national government of Thailand. Most will radiate from Bangkok and many are planned primarily for tourism development. But a larger strategy is to create logistics hubs and further integration with the Chinese economy....

China Bids on Argentina's Oil Industry

2009-07-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

Two Chinese oil majors, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNCP) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) may gang up to enhance a multi-billion (US) dollar offer for the Argentina assets of the Spanish Repsol energy company. CNCP has offered $14.5 billion for the assets that include exploration and production rights to all oil & gas blocks in Argentina, the country's major oil refinery, and around 1,600 petrol stations.....

Pak-China Trade Moves Forward

2009-07-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Although western media continues to imply that Xinjiang is a swirl of chaos, business marches on. Just prior to the agitation in Urumqi and to a much lessor extent Kashgar the 5th Central & South Asia Commodities Fair concluded in Kashgar, the historical "gate to China."

Participation was down dramatically from last year despite subsidized event space for Pakistan. But Pakistani business interests are committed. The Pakistan delegation is asking their federal government to pay a Chinese consultant to determine market access and the Pakistan government is pushing forward with improvements on the Pakistan side of the Karakoram Highway to Kashgar....

Big Muddy

2009-07-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

Is the Obama surge in Afghanistan drawing in Chinese troops? Over the past few weeks a series of interconnected events have severely impacted the security of China’s western borders.

Just three short weeks ago the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit at Yekaterinburg, Russia, got press for a collective thumbing of the nose at the US dollar. The gathering gave the appearance of defying American hegemony not only in Central Asia but globally.

But a week later the Kyrgyzstan parliament and president unanimously gave the USA continued control of an air base to support the expanding AF-PAK conflict. The following day (June 23, 2009) Kyrgyzstan battled militants allied to the Taliban on its own turf. Later that week in the run up to President Obama’s surge in Afghanistan - an increase of 21,000 troops under the new commander in Afghanistan USA Gen. Stan McChrystal - special envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke spoke of “spillover” and the commander of NATO in Europe said they could not stop militants from moving into Central Asia as a result of the surge.

Underway now in the surge is “Operation Khanjar” which aims to push the Taliban out of the Helmand and Kandahar regions of Afghanistan. As soon as it began uprisings occurred throughout the region from Ingushetia to Chechnya to Xinjiang and beyond, even as far flung as Bangladesh.

The riots in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, appear to be economic not unlike last year’s brief tumult in Lhasa, Tibet. Numerous videos and photos capture only gang violence by young men and boys overturning private cars and buses and looting Chinese owned liquor stores (do Uyghurs drink?), tobacco shops, and restaurants, and the random killing of people on the street. Mobs are easily bought. The riots bear the hallmarks of classic PSYOP operations at worst or political interference at best. The predictable response from Beijing is a de facto martial law with troops and security forces in the area on alert. Perhaps this was the intent all along.

As recently as 2007, the SCO held massive war games in a show of cooperative power. But today, according to the group’s UN charter the SCO is focused primarily on all things business and “making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region” is not a top priority.

There has been no coordinated reaction to the events of the last few weeks by the SCO let alone any collaboration on a military response. The SCO has to date failed to answer the NATO/USA challenge.

What remains now is how far will Obama’s war in Afghanistan go in pushing out “the bad guys” into Central Asia and whether it will result in the USA once again fighting a proxy war along China’s borders. Is America in the Big Muddy again?

Do Uighers "Yearn for Independence"?

2009-07-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

News of the "bloodiest civil unrest since Tiananmen" in far western Xinjiang Autonomous Region, specifically the capital city Urumqi, comes primarily from two sources: western media (AP and British tabloids) and the Uyghur American Association based in Washington, DC. Dig deeper and most quotes and opinion on the street violence in Urumqi comes directly from the Uyghur American Association itself. The group supports something called the "Uyghur Human Rights Project" which is paid for by US taxpayer dollars. The Uyghur American Association is in fact the sixth largest recepient of National Endowment for Democracy (NED) grants on China.

The NED is Ronald Reagan's private diplomacy organization run from its inception in 1984 by a man named Carl Gersham. The NED supports 4 Uygher dissident groups. The amount of money and number of groups supported by NED in Xinjiang has been growing steadily for years and far exceeds the NED's efforts in neighboring Tibet.

Any news reports taking at face value information from the Uyghur American Association should be read CRITICALLY.

Incidentally, reports are that the unrest may have "spread" to Kashgar where one report quoted an eyewitness saying that there was shouting but "no violence."

Second HK Bank to Issue Yuan Bonds

2009-07-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong based Bank of East Asia will issue Y4 billion worth of Yuan denominated bonds (over half a billion US dollars) in an offering to be revealed next week. Last week HSBC was the first non-Chinese bank in the financial hub to issue Yuan bonds. Readers will recall the 'run' on the Bank of East Asia as the Panic of '08 began....

Kashgar's Wrecking Ball

2009-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Kashgar in far western Xinjiang Autonomous Region may well become the most important logistics hub in western China someday. Work is already underway to at some point in the medium to long term connect the city with the Gwadar port in Pakistan. It is a city of the future and an important area to watch as China acts out its version of 19th Century America's 'manifest destiny'.

As they say in China you have to tear down the old to build the new often with good results all 'round. But sometimes the very essence of a place is lost in the process. This writer was saddened by the crass demolition and rebuild of the ancient shopping area south of Qian Men gate in Beijing. An interesting, if dilapidated, collection of buildings and narrow alleys was replaced with a garish Hong Kong meets Hollywood fakery that destroyed all its original charm.

Kashgar is busy redeveloping its old city - a huge tangle of old buildings and alleys built around extended family homes connected to shops and businesses organized around central courtyards, an urban form as old as Eurasia itself - into modern highrise blocks with plumbing and electricity for all. Beijing wants no repeat of last year's Sichuan earthquake catastrophe with its collapsed buildings and massive fatalities. An added feature -- whereas before you had to meander a block to find a certain shop, the new developments will feature streetside shops and markets....

China Leads World in EV Production, Infrastructure

2009-07-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

According to some new reports, China containes 90% of the world's electric vehicles - including electric bikes. Beijing claims China is the global leader in exported electric vehicles and a report by an American cleantech research firm says China will be the world leader in charging stations by 2015....

Hong Kong-China Trade Settlement in Yuan by July

2009-06-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Chinese central banker Zhou Xiaochuan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to allow trade settlement in renminbi - Yuan - by July between Hong Kong businesses and the Pearl River delta cities Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai, and Guangzhou and Shanghai, a move widely interpreted as a first step to internationalize China's currency....

Beijing Ready to Back Down on Iron Ore Contracts?

2009-06-30T11:08:00.001-07:00

Reuters reports that the Chinese financial mag Caijing quotes anonymous sources at a closed session of the China Iron and Steel Association saying that as the June 30 deadline will soon pass the desired price cuts for iron ore will have to be reexamined. The report notes that Beijing still expects better than the 1/3 off Japan got....

TRADE WAR: ITC APPROVES ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES ON CHINESE TIRES

2009-06-30T10:35:00.001-07:00

Score one for the United Steelworkers - the quasi-independent US federal International Trade Commission has approved imposing punitive duties on imported Chinese tires on a graduated scale starting at 55% above normal duties (currently 4%). President Obama must approve the decision. The final report is due July 9 to the US Trade Rep (Ron Kirk) and President Obama.

Beijing Ups Gas, Diesel Price at Pump

2009-06-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

The NDRC, Beijing's powerful economic regulator, will allow an 8-10% increases for gas and diesel retail prices helping China's big fuel distributors such as PetroChina but putting a squeeze on domestic drivers. The commission is testing how Chinese respond to paying (somewhat) close to world prices for automobile petrol.....

China to Get More Turkmenistan Gas

2009-06-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

Russia and China appear set to split Turkmenistan's gas riches at least in terms of current production levels in a new deal briefly mentioned on Turkmenistan TV. Beijing will extend $4 billion (US dollars) in loans and Turkemenistan will up its deliveries of natural gas to China - via an as yet unfinished pipeline - to 40 billion cubic meters per year.

Turkmenistan has the 4th largest proved reserves of natural gas in the world (according to BP statistics) and European and American interests are actively trying to get new production diverted to Europe via an alternative pipeline to lessen Russia's grip on the EU and former Soviet Republics.....

Chinese Michael Jackson Fans Besiege Websites

2009-06-26T11:18:00.001-07:00

Fans of mega pop star Michael Jackson flooded his official Chinese website and other Chinese websites such as Sina.com with comments and remembrances. Rest In Peace, Michael Jackson....

Beijing Auto Opel Bid Back On with GM?

2009-06-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

According to Bloomberg, GM is signing non-binding agreements with Beijing Automotive and a Belgian bidder for its European Opel division. The German government backed Magna International is hitting stumbling blocks with GM over technology transfer. Beijing Auto is sweetening its offer and will require no government loans or guarantees....