Toyota plans to restart halted China plant Monday

June 24 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it planned to resume production at a halted Chinese auto assembly plant on Monday, after workers at a factory owned by supplier Denso Corp (6902.T) returned to work. [ID:nHKU000032]

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Work at the Toyota factory in Guangzhou, which has an annual production capacity of 360,000 vehicles, had been suspended since Tuesday morning due to the strike at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co.

A Denso spokesman said production at its factory had returned to normal in the afternoon, but negotiations over compensation still continued. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

Honda says south China car plant resumes production

June 24 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said on Thursday a south China car plant, which halted production due to a lack of parts from a strike at a supplier, has resumed operation.

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“All of our four car plants in China are running normally now,” said a Honda spokesman in China.

Honda halted operations at one of two plants at Guangqi Honda, one of the company’s joint ventures in China, due to a labour strike at its parts supplier Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co Ltd.

The halted plant has an annual production capacity of 240,000 units, and makes the Accord and Fit, among other models. (Reporting by Fang Yan and Jacqueline Wong)

Toyota: preparing China factory restart next week

June 24 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Thursday it was making preparations to resume production at a halted Chinese auto assembly plant early next week, after a strike-hit factory owned by supplier Denso Corp (6902.T) resumed partial production. [ID:nTFA006686]

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Work at the Toyota factory in Guangzhou, which has an annual production capacity of 360,000 units, had been suspended since Tuesday morning due to the strike at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

In building boom, no place like home

Beijing, April 23 — This year, the term ‘naked marriage’ started appearing in the staid pages of China’s State-run newspapers and the Internet. Luo hun or naked marriage is how the Chinese refer to the trend of couples getting married without the traditional wedding feast, diamond ring, car – and critically – a new apartment. Chinese analysts may disagree with hedge fund manager James Chanos’ controversial comparison of China’s property boom as ‘Dubai times 1,000 or worse’. But you know Beijing is worried about its failure to control property prices when it discusses social instability. An essay in the official media on Thursday said that decision-makers now believe that the housing crisis could cause ‘social instability’ if handled ineffectively. Right after China posted nearly 12 per cent first quarter economic growth, the cabinet moved to cool the overheating economy by issuing the strictest property control measures since 2007. Regional officials were held responsible for stabilising the ‘abnormally high’ property prices. Developers were warned of penalties for artificially hiking prices and hoarding. Property prices in 70 Chinese cities rose 11.7 per cent in March, the fastest rate since 2005. Premier Wen Jiabao has compared the housing prices to a wild horse that must be tamed. A majority of professionals in the world’s fastest-growing economy cannot afford an apartment even on the capital’s outskirts. Thousands of Chinese respondents in a recent online survey said they plan to exit big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou because of the costly, competitive lifestyle. A Thursday poll linked the Chinese middle-class’ health problems to the housing crisis. Recent surveys rank China’s big cities lower on the happiness index than the less developed and cheaper cities. “Achieving balance in China’s real estate market is the government’s most difficult task,” said the Global Times on Wednesday. The latest rules curb lending for third-home purchases and require higher down payment and mortgage rates for property sales.

Advertising professional Li Jie left Beijing for lesser-known Zhengzhou city in central China in 2006, because he couldn’t afford a post-marriage apartment. “As a traditional Chinese, I think a house is most important for married life,” he said. This year, he says, his apartment in cheaper Zhengzhou is worth the same price as the apartment he couldn’t afford in Beijing four years ago.

‘Internet addiction to be named a disease in China’

New Delhi, March 29 (ANI): Internet addiction among young Chinese may soon be labelled a disease, a Chinese daily has reported.

According to the Guangzhou Daily, the Ministry of Health is conducting a study on Internet addiction.

Shen Jiahong, director of the Guangzhou Baiyun Psychological Institute, said, this research will be named “pathological Internet use”, reports the China Daily.

Deng Weilong, head of the Guangdong team on the prevention of teenaged crimes, pointed out that about 50 per cent of the teenaged delinquents in south China””s Guangdong province use the Internet quite regularly. (ANI)

China ready to roll out 35 high-speed rail lines by 2012

Beijing, June 24 (ANI): As part of its ambitious plan, the Chinese Railway Ministry is planning to spread thirty-five high-speed rail lines measuring 11,000 kilometres throughout the country.

China Daily quoted Zheng Jian, chief planner with railway ministry, as saying that around 13,000 kilometres of high-speed railways, capable of handling trains travelling at more than 200 kilometres/hour, could be completed and put into service by 2012.

The construction of an additional 5,000-kilometres of high-speed railways will begin soon.

At least five railway routes will be able to accommodate trains traveling at speeds of 350 kilometres/hour, Zheng said.

The five lines include three north-south routes: Beijing-Shanghai; Beijing-Guangzhou (Hong Kong); and Beijing-Harbin (Dalian).

The two east-west high-speed lines are Xuzhou-Lanzhou and Shanghai-Kunming.

The five lines along with three other lines with a designed speed of between 200 and 350 kilometres/hour, will become the trunk lines of China’s future high-speed passenger rail network.

So far, China has built 185 kilometres of rail track, including the country’s first such rail link, between Beijing and Tianjin, which opened last August.

The Beijing-Shanghai rail line may end up being the fastest – the ministry said in a news release that the trip will take four hours, which means trains will likely exceed 350 kilometres/hour.

The high-speed passenger train network will end up extending to all cities with a population of more than 200,000.

Yang Hao, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said China has a population that is six times that of the United States, but only has one-50th of the US’ airports. (ANI)

Taiwan, China to launch joint symphony orchestra to promote peace

Taipei – Taiwanese and Chinese musicians will launch a joint symphony orchestra in July to promote peace across the Taiwan Strait, a Taiwan arts group said Monday.

The Cross-Strait Peace Symphony Orchestra will be founded by Taiwan’s New Aspect Cultural and Educational Foundation and China’s State Symphony Development Foundation, New Aspect founder Hsu Poh-yun said.

The joint orchestra will have some 90 members. Most of them will come from the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou symphony orchestras, with Taiwan contributing 25 musicians, he said by phone.

“This is the first time Taiwan and China have launched a joint musical performance group. It carries great significance because we want to promote peace through music,” he said.

The Cross-Strait Peace Symphony Orchestra will tour China and Taiwan each year.

Its inaugural tour will kick off on July 27 in Beijing, and then move on to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taiwan, Hsu said.

On its inaugural tour, the Cross-Strait Peace Symphony Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphony Number 5 as well as pieces by Chinese and Taiwanese composers.

Taiwan-China cultural exchanges have increased sharply since Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20, 2008.

On Monday, a group of Chinese gymnasts – including China’s gold medalists at the Beijing Olympics – will give the first of three free-of-charge performances in Taiwan.(dpa)

China reports seventh swine-flu case

Beijing – China’s health authorities confirmed a seventh case of swine flu as a Chinese-American man tested positive to the new strain of the H1N1 influenza virus, state media reported Saturday.

The 65-year-old man, whose name was given as Li, returned to Beijing from New York Thursday aboard an Air China flight, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

At the airport his temperature was recorded at 37.5 degrees Celsius, and he was immediately quarantined, the report said.

“Doctors have found all 14 people, all Chinese, sitting within three rows of Li on the plane,” Deng Ying, director of the Beijing municipal centre of disease control and prevention was quoted as saying.

This is the fourth H1N1 case in the country’s capital Beijing, which has seen two other new flu infections since Thursday.

Separate flu cases were found in Sichuan, Guangzhou and Shandong provinces taking the total number to seven nationwide. (dpa)

China preparing to hold massive military drill

Beijing, May 6 (ANI): The Chinese military will hold a massive military drill, involving 50,000 troops in the second half of this year.

According to the Headquarters of General Staff, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has started preparations for the massive military drill, dubbed Kuayue-2009.

It will be undertaken by troops from four military command areas, namely, Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan and Guangzhou.

This is the first time in the history of the PLA that four divisions from four military command areas are taking part in a drill that involves the deployment of troops across different military command areas, chinaview reported.

The PLA has seven area command areas. The other three are Beijing, Chengdu and Nanjing.

“The Air Force and the Army Aviation troop will also send men and various aircraft to take part in the drill,” the sources said.

The drill, which is aimed at assessing and improving the PLA’s overall combat capacity in the context of information warfare, will test many military prowesses.

It will put to tests the PLA’s capacity in command and decision-making, joint operations of land and air troops, operations in complicated electro-magnetic conditions, paratrooper assault operations, simulated battles, and comprehensive exercises by specialist units. (ANI)

China and Taiwan agree to strengthen business relations

Beijing – Negotiators from Taiwan and China signed a series of agreements Sunday to increase cooperation and investment across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s chief negotiator Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, met Chen Yunlin from the mainland Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits in the southern city of Nanjing.

Taiwan agreed to clear the way for Chinese companies to do business on the island, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

“Taiwan sincerely welcomes mainland companies to invest on the island,” according to a foundation statement quoted in the report.

“The goal of economic normalization between the two sides is being realized,” Wang Yi, director of China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, was quoted as saying.

The negotiators, meeting for the third time since China and Taiwan resumed talks last year, also signed three separate agreements.

The first would increase the frequency and routes of cross-strait direct flights, Xinhua reported.

There would now be a total of 270 flights per week, up from 108, and new routes from Guangzhou and Shanghai to Taipei, as well as from Hefei, Harbin, Nanchang, Guiyang, Ningbo and Jinan.

In the second agreement, the two sides reportedly pledged to work together to fight cross border crimes including drugs and human trafficking, and economic crimes involving fraud, money laundering, forging or falsifying currencies and securities.

According to Xinhua, negotiators from both sides will also now consider cases where there are discrepancies between Chinese and Taiwanese laws.

Chen and Chiang also signed an agreement for a cooperative financial regulatory mechanism aimed at overseeing banking, securities, futures and insurance sectors across the Strait.

Under this agreement, financial organizations would be allowed to do business across the straits, and a currency-clearing system will gradually be set up, the report said.

The latest agreements build on six previous joint actions since last June which first saw the establishment of weekend charter flights, and the expansion of cross-strait postal and shipping. (dpa)

China calls up its first black athlete

Beijing, Apr.16 (ANI): China has called up its first black athlete to play a key role in China’s push for gold at the London Olympics in 2012.

Ding Hui, 19, who is affectionately nicknamed Xiao Hei, or Little Black, by his teammates, was included in the national team’s new 18-man volleyball training squad, reports The Telegraph.

The son of a South African father and a Chinese mother, Ding was born in China and only speaks Mandarin and his city’s local dialect. His elevation has stirred up some racial prejudices among his countrymen.

Commentators have noted that he has a “pleasant and perky nature” and is talented at “singing and dancing”.

On Chinese Internet forums, he has been lauded for the “whiteness” of his teeth and the “athleticism of his genes”.

China’s black population is tiny, and attitudes remain relatively unsophisticated. One predominately African suburb in the southern city of Guangzhou is cheerfully referred to as “Chocolate City”.

However, China’s black population is growing rapidly.

Since 2003, when China started pouring investments into Africa, there has been a significant movement of Africans in the opposite direction. Guangzhou authorities believe there are now 100,000 Africans from Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon, Liberia and Mali in the city, and the flow is growing by 30 to 40 per cent annually. (ANI)

Cricket to be included as major discipline during 2010 Asian Games

Islamabad, Apr 15 (ANI): Cricket will be included in the 2010 Asian Games as a major discipline, which will be hosted by China from November 12 to 27, 2010.

As many as 45 countries will compete in 42 various sports disciplines during the 16th edition of Asian Games, which will be held Guangzhou, China.

Deputy Director Marketing for the Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (GAGOC) Yuan Yui, said that cricket would also be played in the 2010 Asian Games as a major discipline, besides other new entries like dance sports, dragon boat and roller sports.

Yui announced that Cocachin boat and its ground convey left last month on the Asian continent tour to create awareness among the people of the region about the gala games, The Nation reported.

She was speaking at a ceremony aimed to launch awareness campaign for the games “The Road to Asia”.

Pakistan’s Sports Minister Aftab Hussain Jilani and President Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Lt. General (retired) Syed Arif Hasan were also present on this occasion.

Speaking on this eve, Jillani said that Pakistan would fully cooperate with China in successful organisation of the Asian Games. He said that Pakistan would play a partner’s role in making this event a success. (ANI)

PRESS DIGEST – China – April 13

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 13 (Reuters) – Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Monday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

– Fan Gang, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy advisory committee, said China’s economic adjustment would take at least two to three years, and the country’s economy was unlikely to bottom out soon.

– Ji Lin Ji En Nickel Industry Co Ltd (600432.SS) plans to raise about 1.1 billion yuan ($161 million) via a private placement to invest in mining projects overseas.

– Datang International Power Generation Co (0991.HK) (601991.SS), one of China’s five major power generators, has put a 1.439 percent stake in China Continent Property and Casualty Insurance Co up for sale on the China Beijing Equity Exchange at a price of 91.6 million yuan.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

– Yi Gang, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China, said the country was not ready for full liberalisation of interest rates or foreign exchange rates, as the central bank shoulders most of the burden of exchange rate risk.

– Toyota Motor’s (7203.T) venture with China’s FAW Group rolled out its first locally made SUV, an RAV4, last Friday priced at 189,800 to 264,300 yuan, while its venture with Guangzhou Automobile plans local production of its Highlander SUV in May.

CHINA BUSINESS NEWS

– Jing Ulrich, Chairman of China equities at JPMorgan, expects China to resume initial public offerings soon, as the country’s economy has already touched bottom, and there is still a chance of interest rate cuts in the next six months. ($1=6.833 Yuan) (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

China steals a march over India, announces global broadcast of Asian Games

Beijing, Mar.26 (ANI): Even as Indian capital New Delhi continues to wrestle with the myriad obstacles coming in the way of it hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games between October 3 and 14, China has announced plans for the global broadcast of XVI Asian Games to be held in the same year.

Though it has held several Games-related review meetings, New Delhi is yet to decide on who is going to handle the coverage of the event.

A Ruffolo Communications press release from southern Guangzhou described the 16th Asian Games as part of the worldwide Olympic movement.

The main broadcasting service of the Games – The Guangzhou Asian Games Broadcasting (GAB) was established on December 31, 2008.

Interim HD broadcasting plans will cover twelve of the leading Asian Games’ events, including the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, aquatics, gymnastics, badminton, table tennis, basketball (Finals), football (Finals), volleyball (Finals), judo and taekwondo.

The release further goes on to say that compared to the previous Asian Games held in Doha, the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou would increase the HD signal programming of the Games by seven events.

The GAB’s broadcasting signal will be in three modes – HD, SD and ENG. There will be a total of 74 lines of live signals, including 22 lines of HD signals and 52 lines of SD signals with 13 recorded broadcast fields available.

The GAB will be forming 48 broadcast production teams, including three international teams; 43 domestic teams and two standby teams (domestic) which will be in charge of the TV signal production of 42 sports.

Ren Tianhua, Deputy Director of the GACOG Broadcasting and Media Services Department said, “HBS, a high level international producing company with years producing experience, will be invited as the responsible producer of Athletics, Aquatics and Gymnastics. CCTV and Guangdong TV will form the core team for the signal production of 22 other sports. GACOG will be naming experienced TV stations with very good signal producing capabilities in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and other cities to work together for others sport signal production.”

Ren added that “several domestic and international broadcasting and TV networks want to be involved in the Asian Games’ broadcasting signal production and expects numerous broadcasting and TV outlets to purchase the broadcasting rights of these Games”. He said that GAB plans to hold a signing ceremony in Guangzhou (this May) to name its key broadcast TV partners.

The 16th Asian Games will be held in the “Flower City” of Guangzhou from November 12 – 27, 2010. More than 14,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions will compete in 42 sports. More than 10,000 accredited and non-accredited worldwide media are anticipated to cover the Games with more than three million spectators expected to attend.

In contrast, the Indian Government is still reviewing security arrangements for the Commonwealth Games.

Two days ago, a meeting of the Empowered Security Committee headed by Union Home Secretary and Commonwealth Games Security Review Committee was held take stock of the measures being taken for conducting smooth and incident-free sports extravaganza.

The Indian Home Ministry is still busy with issuing security guidelines at the under-construction sites to all the concerned venue owners for implementation. (ANI)

Plane crashes at Japan’s largest airport, kills two

Tokyo, Mar. 23 (ANI): A cargo plane has crashed at Japan’s Narita international airport, killing both crew members on board.

The Federal Express plane, which was coming from Guangzhou in China, crash-landed in high winds of Japan’s largest airport near Tokyo at 0650 local time on Monday.

Footage of the crash shows the plane landing hard, tipping on to its left wing and bursting into flame as it then rolled over, BBC reports.

It took firefighters about thirty minutes to bring the fire under control. Parts of the wreckage were still burning hours after the crash.

The two American crew members were confirmed dead after reaching the hospital.

Officials said the pilot Kevin Kyle Mosley was 54 years old and the co-pilot Anthony Stephen Pino was 49.

The plane landed in strong winds of up to 45 miles per hour, and Japan’s meteorological agency had issued a storm warning in the area around Narita.

“We have information that strong winds caused the plane to divert from the runway,” a Narita Airport spokeswoman said.

But officials said it was too soon to confirm if the winds caused the crash.

Airlines have cancelled more than 30 flights and diverted others to nearby airports, because Narita’s longest runway remains closed.

It reportedly was the first fatal aircraft accident at Narita Airport since it opened in 1978. (ANI)

Toxic substance found in five foreign hair-dye brands in China

Beijing, Mar.17 (ANI): The potentially cancerous toxic chemical, Lentine, has been found in five brands of hair dye in China.

According to a China Daily report, local consumer authorities said in Guangzhou yesterday that while the link between hair dye and cancer is still unproved, the five well-known international brands found with the toxic substance included Revlon Color Silk, Ecosystem No 1 Hair Colorant, Sewame Eshine Colorants, Kangchen 3in1 and Ouwaiya hair dye (natural black).

All of them are produced in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The hazardous elements were detected after the Guangdong provincial consumer commission checked hair dye produced by 21 companies early this year.

“The presence of lentine, widely used as a highly toxic industrial dye, is banned in hair dye,” Guo Yuhua, spokesman of the Guangdong provincial food and drug administrative authority, was quoted, as saying.

Inhaling lentine vapor could cause respiratory diseases. If the skin absorbs the chemical, it may damage kidney and liver, Guo said.

The authority warned consumers to conduct an allergic test before using “any brands of hair dye”. (ANI)

20 percent of Chinese athletes fake ages

Beijing, Mar. 13 (ANI): At least one in five Chinese athletes have lied about their age to participate in sports competitions, scientific screening has revealed.

An x-ray analysis of the bones of competitors at the Youth Games in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong discovered that 3,000 of the 15,000 athletes, or 20 per cent, had misrepresented their age.

Two thousand offenders were too old to be eligible for youth competitions, while one of them was seven years older than he claimed.

Age-faking caused embarrassment to China during last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, when gold medallist gymnast He Kexin was accused of being just 14 years old and ineligible. She was eventually cleared by the International Olympic Committee.

Guangdong’s capital city Guangzhou is hosting the Asian Games next year, and the local Communist Party doesn’t want any outcry during the event.

“We want to make sure fakers have no advantage,” The Telegraph quoted Ye Xiquan, the deputy head of the sports bureau in Guangzhou, as saying.

All athletes who entered this year’s Provincial Games were tested, as were the top eight in each category from last year.

Faking was so widespread that up to 16 competitors in a single event had cheated. (ANI)

Asia topples Europe in world’s most expensive cities list

Hong Kong – Asian cities have shot up the list of the world’s most expensive places as currency fluctuations bring down the relative cost of living in Europe, a survey found Wednesday.

Tokyo and Osaka leapfrogged Oslo and Paris to rank as first and second respectively in the cost of living index by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Singapore jumped five places to 10th while Hong Kong overtook London and Vienna to leap 17 places to 11th on the twice-yearly survey of costs in 140 cities worldwide.

With the yuan strengthening considerably over the last year, major Chinese cities have comparatively become sharply more expensive with Shanghai climbing 16 places to 29th on the index.

Beijing rose 22 places to 36th while southern cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou each climbed 26 places to rank as 41st and 53rd respectively. Taipei moved up 10 places to 57th.

Despite the relative fall in living costs, Europe still claimed seven out of the top 10 most expensive cities on the index with Copenhagen, Zurich, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Geneva also claiming top- 10 berths. (dpa)