• December 11, 2017

China on Saturday encouraged the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to safeguard multilateral trade and jointly build an open global economy. Speaking to a round table on China's program for less developed countries known as the "China Program" during a WTO summit in Buenos Aires, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said that China will promote the creation of a new configuration of integral opening-up, firmly support the multilateral trade regime and encourage the construction of a global open economy. He added that the elimination of poverty is a joint mission for humanity and that WTO members had to make joint efforts to achieve the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This would see priority being given to less developed countries and those living in extreme poverty to create well being for all peoples.  The Chinese minister pointed to the fact that the multilateral trade system is an important safeguard for common prosperity. He said it offered a guarantee to less developed countries that, once they boosted their development capacity, they would integrated global value chains and achieve sustainable development.  Speaking about the "China Program," Zhong indicated that "China boosts less developed countries to join the WTO and asks for multi-directional help from all parties."  WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo said the China Platform offered a dialogue platform to discuss policies and exchange experiences to help poorer countries join the WTO.  He added that six less developed countries had joined the WTO in the last five years, showing the importance of Chinese contributions to multilateral trade. China and the WTO signed the "China Program" in July 2011.

• December 11, 2017

China's producer price inflation tamed down in November on low basis and government curbs on polluted industries, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Saturday. The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 5.8 percent year on year in November. It was down from a growth of 6.9 percent recorded in October, on par with market forecast. On a monthly basis, it was up 0.5 percent. In the first 11 months, PPI climbed 6.4 percent from one year earlier. As northern China enters into winter heating season, the government has increased efforts to tackle smog, asking steel mills and smelters to halt production to curb pollution. Those measures cooled demand for industrial raw materials. Compared with a month ago, factory-gate prices gained faster in oil and natural gas developers and ferrous metal producers. Costs increased at slower pace in oil processing and chemical producing industries, NBS senior statistician Sheng Guoqing noted. Compared with a year ago, raw materials costs rose 7.5 percent, 1.5 percentage point down from that recorded in October. The PPI figures came alongside the release of the consumer price index, which rose 1.7 percent year on year in November, down from October's 1.9 percent, and missing market forecast of 1.8 percent.

• December 04, 2017

As infrastructure projects are the central focus of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Chinese government program has an enormous impact on the capital markets due to the sheer scale of funding that it requires, experts said on Thursday during a financial forum. The event, "2017 Belt and Road Investing and Financing Forum," was put on by China Minsheng Bank and Caixin Media in Beijing. "There are 65 countries along the 'Belt and Road,' and the potential of the initiative to promote infrastructure development as well as other industries including logistics and trade will also have great impact on global investment," said Hong Qi, chairman of China Minsheng Bank. "Currently a global network of financial institutions has been built, but it's unable to meet the urgent needs of various projects due to the large scale of funding.  That's where China's financial institutions should come in," he added. China is working with 65 countries along the "Belt and Road" in the fields of infrastructure construction, production capacity, tourism and culture, all of which require a huge amount of funding. He Yafei, former Vice Foreign Affairs Minister says Chinese commercial banks will play an important role in sustainable development, especially in the developing countries. An advantage that Chinese financial institutions have is that they hold substantial foreign exchange reserves that can be used to invest in the projects, said Lin Yifu, professor of economics at Peking University.

• November 27, 2017

In a landmark decision, a court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, ruled in favor of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba after it sued a company for fabricating transactions and favorable comments related to online stores. It was the first such case in the country. The verdict was decided on Oct 27 and took effect on Nov 11. The defendant, Hangzhou Jianshi Network Technology, did not appeal within 15 days of the verdict. Xihu District People's Court ordered it to pay 202,000 yuan ($30,500) in compensation to Alibaba for violating the Law Against Unfair Competition and disturbing the market order of e-commerce platforms, according to a written statement from Alibaba, which is headquartered in Hangzhou. The case has far-reaching significance in the healthy development of e-commerce, Alibaba said, as "such a verdict serves as a warning to deter copycats". "Only when lawbreakers' income from illegal business is all used for compensation and they can no longer make a profit will the legitimate rights and interests of law-abiding companies and consumers be safeguarded," it said. To create a fair, transparent and honest shopping environment, Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall set up an evaluation system for consumers to evaluate products and services after each purchase, the company said. Being able to browse a product's transaction records and prior customers' evaluations has become an important decision-making tool for people selecting from a large number of products. The court said Hangzhou Jianshi established a website in 2014 specializing in accepting requests from online stores to make fake purchases and leave favorable user comments. The company made 360,000 yuan in brokerage and membership fees from September 2014 to March 2016, when its operation was suspended by Hangzhou's market supervision administration. Altogether, 3,001 Taobao and Tmall stores asked the company to fabricate transactions and user comments, according to court documents. Alibaba sued the company in December and requested compensation of 2.16 million yuan. A hearing was held on Feb 15. "Such fake evaluations constitute serious pollution of the evaluation data formed by real consumers, and mislead consumers who rely on the data to make purchase decisions," said Zhang Yiwen, a senior legal expert at Alibaba. China top legislature recently adopted a revision of its Law Against Unfair Competition, stating that e-commerce operators must not deceive consumers by faking sales volume or user comments.

• November 21, 2017

The number of China-Europe freight trains reached a new annual record this year since starting operations in 2011, indicating closer economic ties between the two major markets. More than 3,000 cargo trains have traveled on 57 lines between cities on the two continents, surpassing the past six years combined, and pushing the aggregate to over 6,000, China Railway Corporation (CRC) said Saturday. "The trend is solid," CRC said in a statement, adding that a coordination committee was established in May to further bring down logistics costs and improve efficiency. The cargo service has been growing rapidly, now bridging 35 Chinese cities, including Xi'an and Yiwu, and 34 European cities such as Hamburg and Madrid. It is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Europe is China's largest trading partner. Trade between the two sides increased 16.2 percent year on year to 3.4 trillion yuan (513 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months.

• November 21, 2017

Three minutes and one second! That's how long it took Alibaba to pass the 10-billion-yuan mark in sales on its flagship Tmall e-commerce platform at this year's Double 11 shopping bonanza, beating last year's record by 3 minutes 57 seconds. A cheer went up when the numbers surpassed 10 billion in sales, as the Chinese e-commerce giant recorded another remarkable year. Man vs. Machine However, engineers failed to get the results they wanted in the first three years. This year, however, they came up with "Project Vanguard," an unmanned stress test. Many procedures were carried out by an AI system, which decides what the user volume would be, what the scale of pressure is and what countermeasures should be put in place. Even with all this technological wizardry, some users still experienced difficulties locking down their purchases in the first two minutes this year. Going abroad Cross-border vendors and bonded zones give Chinese shoppers a chance to purchase goods from all over the world in just a few clicks. Fueled by the development of e-commerce, internationalization of logistics and more importantly, Chinese consumers' growing purchasing power, the event is now going global, encouraging major brands like Macy's – which first got on board in 2015 – to set up online stores on local platforms. Major players like Tmall, JD.com and Suning have all launched global platforms aimed at providing quality overseas products. The platforms also help popular and influential domestic brands gain a greater share in overseas markets.

• November 21, 2017

At the 4th Portugal-China Gala held last week, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa presented the Outstanding Company Award to Beijing Capital Airlines.

• November 21, 2017

Nearly 18,000 firms have registered with the customs authorities in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) since it was launched four years ago, Shanghai Customs said Wednesday.