China's market potential for luxury watches
China has the potential to become one of the largest markets for luxury watches, according to Swiss timepiece maker Vacheron Constantin. The 245-year-old company has 18 distributors in China and has recently set up its first retail outlet in Beijing. (South China Morning Post, 27 December)

China announces massive cuts in telecom, Net fees
The Ministry of Information Industry, the State Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance have jointly announced massive cuts in telecommunications and Internet charges, slashing some fees by more than 50%. (ChinaOnline, 26 December)

SAIC to crack down on monopoly strangleholds
The State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced a 2001 campaign against monopolistic practices that suppress market competition. Authorities will launch a six-month campaign to root out competitive restrictions in such industries as power, insurance, railways, postal service and commercial banking. They also intend to remedy abuse-of-power cases discovered in water, power, heating and gas supply, as well as in the postal and telecom services. (ChinaOnline, 26 December)

Chinese firms raise USD 60 billion from overseas financial markets in 2000
China's H share firms and red chips raised a record USD 60.15 billion from overseas financial markets in 2000. H shares, or mainland firms listed in Hong Kong, raised USD 17.38 billion through initial public offerings, while red chips, or Hong Kong firms with a mainland background, raised USD 38.14 billion from the market. The most impressive IPO by a Chinese firm in overseas markets in 2000 was made by China Unicom, whose HKD 44 billion IPO was the biggest ever in the Asian market (except Japan). (Xinhua, 27 December)

China encourages enterprises to invest more overseas
China is to take measures to encourage its strong enterprises to invest more overseas. From January to November this year, China gave approval for 313 firms to invest overseas, involving a contractual Chinese investment volume of USD 660 million. The total number of Chinese firms established overseas totaled 6'000 by the end of November, involving USD 10 billion of investment in total. (Xinhua, 27 December)

China's first employment contract regulations
The Ministry of Manpower and Social Security will soon release China's first employment contract regulations. The regulations will detail guidelines on worker benefits and rights including salary increases and insurance. The new rules will also lay out correct employment contract formats. (China News Service, 27 December)

Foreign firms go through new licensing procedures
The State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced that the requirements for business licences for foreign-funded enterprises will be changed next year. Also, enterprises will not be required to renew their licences annually. In line with this change, enterprises must renew their licences during the period running from January 1 to June 30, 2001, and old licences will become invalid after January 1, 2002. (China Daily, 28 December)

United States now China's second-largest trading partner
During the first 10 months of 2000, bilateral Sino-U.S. trade totaled USD 61.3 billion, up 23.4% from the same period last year. China's exports to the U.S. reached USD 43.4 billion, up 27.2%. Imports from the U.S. hit USD 17.96 billion, up 15.1%. Bilateral trade for 2000 is projected at around USD 73.5 billion, accounting for approximately 16% of China's total foreign trade. (China Online, 28 December)

Mazda to build compact car in China
Mazda will begin to produce compact cars in China next year. Production will begin next June by a Henan province subsidiary of China National First Automotive Group Co. In 1995, DaimlerChrysler attempted a similar project with the same company; however, the project never got past the negotiation stage. (China Online, 28 December)

China has unveiled in detail its policies for the "go-west" programme
The State Council has announced details of its policy to develop the 12 western provinces, cities and autonomous regions. Measures include extra government spending, stronger policy support, lower tax rates for and wider participation by investors. The measures will be valid for 10 years while the drive to upgrade the west is to be a national priority for the next few decades. More sectors, such as finance and retailing, infrastructure construction, natural resources exploration, trade and other services and professional segments, will open to foreign investment. (China Daily, 29 December)

Go-west campaign needs more than state backing
The South China Morning Post took a critical look at the measures released by the State Council to develop the poor western provinces. It quotes analysts saying that the "investment climate in the vast western region lags much behind that in the coastal areas," and that the region was still pretty much run along the lines of the old economy "with heavy red tape and protection of local industries". As a result, it was too early to expect an immediate investment boom from private investors. Most of money would be likely to come from the central government over the next few years. (SCMP, 29 December)

China issues RMB 465 billion T-bonds this year
China has issued a total of RMB 465.7 billion worth of treasury bonds this years. (Xinhua, 28 December)

Sina and Sohu first to receive licences
Sina and Sohu, two of China's were the first commercial portals to receive central government licences to publish news online under the new regulations issued in November by the State Council to control the volumes of news spread on the rapid developing Chinese network. (SCMP, 29 December)

CIRC awards 22 permits to insurance firms to invest in the stock market
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has given permits to 22 insurance companies to invest in the stock market, a measure to protect the companies from losing money. The commission has allowed six insurers to invest 15% of year-end's assets in the stock market. For other companies, the upper limits were set at 12, 10 and 5%. (SCMP, 29 December)

China stock markets outperform the world in 2000
Shanghai's B shares recorded the greatest gain, rising 136% since the beginning of the year. Shenzhen's B shares climbed 63%. Shenzhen A shares rose 58%, while Shanghai's A shares climbed 51%. China's B shares are open to foreign investors only; A shares can only be purchased by Chinese citizens. The unusually strong performance of China's stock markets does not mean the listed firms in question are necessarily in good financial health, analysts say, because many investors buy shares of failing companies in the expectation of a government bailout. (ChinaOnline, 29 December)

RMB 3'500 billion in fixed assets earmarked for 2001
China will invest RMB 3'500 billion in fixed assets in 2001. Agriculture, water control, transportation, communications, urban infrastructure facilities, environmental protection and housing will witness fast-track development. (China News Dervice, 29 December)

China's economy grows 8% this year
According to the National Bureau of Statistics China's economy is estimated to have grown by 8% this year, 0.9 percentage points more than in 1999. GDP reached more than RMB 8.9 trillion, surpassing USD 1 trillion for the first time in the nation's history. The per capita income of urban and rural residents increased 7% and 2%, respectively. (Xinhua, 30 December)

New rules to guide cross-Straits trade
China issued the rules governing trade across the Taiwan Straits. The mainland has for the past 20 years tried to promote direct links for trade, transport and post - known as the "three links". Taiwan is now the fifth largest trade partner and the second largest source of imports for the mainland, while the mainland is the second largest export destination for Taiwan goods. Taiwan enjoys the biggest trade surplus among all the mainland's trade partners. (Xinhua, 30 December)

China to cut its overall tariff rates
China will cut its overall import tariff level from its current 16.4% to 15.3%. The country will also adjust its tariff schedule - the number of items on which tariffs have to be paid - increasing the number of import tax codes to 7'111 from the present 7'062. The tariff reduction means China has reached a goal set by President Jiang Zemin at the fourth informal summit of APEC leaders in the Philippines in 1996 to "cut the country's overall tariff level to about 15% by 2000". (China Daily, 30 December)

Policing of Internet strengthened
China has strengthened its ability to police the Internet and protect network security by extending criminal law to cover online abuses. These include revealing state secrets and spreading computer viruses. (SCMP, 30 December)

Shanghai per capita GDP exceeds USD 4'000
The per capita GDP for Shanghai in 2000 was USD 4'180, the first provincial-level region in China to exceed USD 4'000, except for Taiwan and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions. (Xinhua, 1 January)

China to boost hydroelecric power capacity
China has decided to boost its installed hydroelecric power capacity by 35% from the current 74 million kilowatts to 100 million kilowatts by 2005 to reduce the pollution caused by thermal power. Hydroelectric power is expected to represent 27% of the country's power generation capacity by 2005, a 3.5% rise from the current level. (China Daily, 2 January)

SOE sell-off expected to lead market
The privatisation of China's state-owned enterprises is expected to dominate the Hong Kong stock market this year, with at least USD 12.5 billion to be raised from IPOs. The telecom sector is expected to account for more than half of this amount, mostly from the mega-listing of giant fixed-line operator China Telecom and Internet telephony company China Netcom. Greater China accounted for 88% of total new share issues in Asia Pacific ex-Japan last year, raising more than USD 31 billion. (SCMP, 2 January)

GDP forecast around 7.5% in 2001
The mainland's gross domestic product is likely to grow about 7.5% this year if state spending continues, the State Development Planning Commission's Macroeconomic Research Institute said. It also forecast the consumer price index would rise one to two per cent year-on-year in 2001. Retail sales will likely rise an actual 8%, the institute said. Export growth would be around 10% in 2001 and import growth more than 20%. Fixed asset investment, a key indicator of government spending, is likely to rise around 8% in 2001. (Reuters, 2 January)

Slowing exports set to drag down growth
Chinese officials have admitted that economic growth this year is unlikely to beat that of last year, which was the highest since 1997. The astounding rise in exports that marked most of last year was unlikely to extend into the new year, while local consumers are still not eager to spend. (AFP, 2 January)

New computerized tax system
In an attempt to crackdown on tax fraud and evasion, the central government has announced plans to launch a nation-wide computerized monitoring system called the "Golden Tax Project." The project will concentrate on keeping track of value-added tax payments in addition to supervising taxpayers' business activities and standardizing the behaviour of tax collectors. By the end of 2002, all companies will be required to install and use the monitoring system. (China Daily, 2 January)

Big infrastructure projects in Tianjin
For the next five years, Tianjin plans to spend RMB 50 billion on infrastructure. The large north China port city will spend RMB 6 billion this year to build a subway system, light rail and expressways. It will also use the 2001 money for road repair, sewage treatment and garbage disposal. (China News Service, 3 January)

Beijing secures 60b yuan loan
The State Development Bank has agreed to lend the city of Beijing RMB 60 billion to build infrastructure over the next five years. RMB 50 billion will be used for urban light rail, expressway and gas and power projects. The city may also spend this portion of money on environmental protection. (SCMP, 3 January)

Tax revenues surge 22.8%
The mainland's tax revenues surged 22.8% to RMB 1.266 trillion in 2000, propelled by robust economic growth and efforts to combat tax cheats and fraud. Almost a fifth of the rise in tax revenues stemmed from import tariffs, which soared 43% amid a crackdown on smuggling. (AP, 4 January)

Report warns of employment pressure in '01
The "2001 Blue Book on the Chinese Economy" edited by various official think tanks predicts that supply in the consumer market will continue to exceed demand, and employment pressures will grow even greater during this year. (ChinaOnline, 4 January)