Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Chinese shares sink 4.7% on investors' economic concerns




Special Report: Global Financial Crisis
BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese equities recorded their largest one-day drop this year in falling volume Wednesday as investors worried that large gains since Jan. 1 couldn't be sustained, analysts said.
As of Monday, the index had gained more than 31 percent, and investors have become concerned that stock gains have outpaced fundamental economic improvement.
Investors look at an electronic screen at a brokerage in southwest China's Chongqing municipality Feb. 18, 2009. China's stock market tumbled Wednesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 4.72 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index dropping 4.46 percent. (Xinhua/Zhou Hengyi) Photo Gallery>>>
Declines on regional markets also undermined sentiment, they said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 4.72 percent, or 109.58 points, to 2,209.86. The Shenzhen Component Index declined 4.46 percent, or 377.65 points, to 8,083.5.
Combined turnover was 210 billion yuan (30.75 billion U.S. dollars), shrinking from 258.5 billion yuan on the previous trading day.
Losers led gainers by 772 to 107 in Shanghai and 664 to 88 in Shenzhen.
Coal producers' shares fell on news that coal prices at north China's Qinhuangdao port, a major supply center, declined 10 percent to 550 yuan per tonne this week.
A man sits in front of an electronic screen at a brokerage in Beijing, China, Feb. 18, 2009.(Xinhua/Li Xiaoguo) Photo Gallery>>>
China Shenhua Energy, the country's largest coal producer, slumped 7.15 percent to 20.9 yuan. Pingdingshan Tianan Coal Mining dropped 8.15 percent to 17.12 yuan.
Shares of new energy providers gained, however, after the government Tuesday launched a pilot program to subsidize energy-efficient and new-energy public transport vehicles in 13 cities.
Xinjiang Gold wind Science and Technology, a domestic wind power generation equipment manufacturer, gained 2.17 percent to 34.84 yuan. Shares of Guizhou Changzheng Electric, a producer of electric equipment, climbed 4.6 percent to 10.45 yuan.
Sentiment was also depressed by overnight losses on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.79 percent to 7,552.60 on worries that the new stimulus package would not be enough to revive the economy.
The 787 billion U.S. dollar stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was signed into law Tuesday by U.S.President Barack Obama.
Wall Street dives as Obama signs stimulus package into law
NEW YORK, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street dived on Tuesday as investors were concerned that the U.S. economic stimulus package would not be enough to revive the economy.
President Barack Obama signed the 787-billion-U.S.-dollar stimulus package into law on Tuesday afternoon. But investors' enthusiasm has changed into uneasy speculation and the market is waiting to see the real effect of the plans.

Reporter fired for plagiarism in E China

JINAN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A reporter whose story of a businessman's contest to decide which mistress to keep was fired after he was found to have plagiarized, according to a Wednesday statement of the local newspaper in east China's Shandong Province.
The reporter with Peninsula Metropolitan News (PMN) in Shandong published his story Sunday, saying a businessman surnamed Fan supporting five mistresses in the coastal city of Qingdao decided to keep only one as his company ran into tough times.
He held a contest to decide which one should stay. One of the mistresses who lost in the contest drove the businessman and the four other women off a mountain road for revenge. The driver died while the other five were injured, the story said.
It was found the story was copied from a magazine based in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, according to the statement of the PMN.
The story just changed the names of the people, according to Zhang Xin, editor-in-chief of PMN,
"We are checking whether the story is true," Zhang said.
Traffic police in Qinghdao said they never handled the accident and the sites mentioned in the story do not exist in Qingdao.
Police said they are checking the facts with the magazine called Zhiyin, or Soul mate.
The PMN apologized to the public for the incident.
"Any act of ignoring fact, impairing the newspaper's credibility and misleading readers cannot be forgiven," the statement said.

Released Chinese engineer leaves Pakistan for China


Chinese engineer Long Xiaowei is interviewed by media at the airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, Feb. 18, 2009. Long Xiaowei, who was released from the custody of Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, has left here for China on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Li Jingchen)Photo Gallery>>>
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese engineer who was released from the custody of Taliban in northwestern Pakistan has left here for China on Wednesday.
The engineer named Long Xiaowei boarded a China Southern Airlines flight heading for Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China.
Charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy to Pakistan Yao Jing, while seeing off the engineer, expressed thanks to the Pakistani authorities for their great efforts for the engineer's release.
Long expressed his gratitude to the Chinese government, the embassy and the Pakistani authorities for his final release.
Long was set free and handed over to Pakistani police on Saturday. Long and his colleague were abducted by militants in Lower Dir district in North West Frontier Province in August last year.

China's quake-hit panda breeding base to be rebuilt

Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
CHENGDU, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Rebuilding of the state-level Wolong Nature Reserve, a major panda breeding base ruinously hit by the massive quake in May 2008, is scheduled to start this spring, an official told Xinhua.
According to Zhang Hemin, head of the administration of the reserve, the bulk of the funds for the reconstruction will come from Hong Kong.
The reconstruction will primarily benefit wild panda protection, a research institution and infrastructure, Zhang said.
The new reserve includes 25 projects funded by Hong Kong, totaling about 1.3 billion yuan (about 191 million U.S. dollars), and 19 projects funded by the state forestry administration, totaling about 270 million yuan.
The reconstruction also involves spending 100 million yuan for the resettlement of local residents as the original vegetation had been damaged during the quake and the reserve has to choose new habitats.
Wolong reserve, 10 kilometers away from the epicenter, was severely damaged in the quake last year. The quake left one panda dead and another missing.
The reserve had been in operation since 1963 and had 143 wild pandas in the third national panda count in 2000, taking 10 percent of the total across the country. It had 128 captive pandas, taking 60 percent of the world's total.
The new reserve would protect the animal in a more scientific way, Zhang said.
Research institutions and protection facilities will be built, such as the China Panda-protection Research Center, Panda Disease Control Center, and hospitals.
Residents will be transferred to 14 permanent residences as there former residences will be cleared for the planting of bamboo, Zhang said.
The damaged original 4,500 hectare habitat will be closed.
"The reserve will be built to be a first class protection base and research center in the world," he said.

Chinese economic planner refutes rumor of yuan depreciation


Special Report: Global Financial Crisis
BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement Wednesday that the report of its officials' estimating the depreciation of yuan to 7 against the U.S. dollar was "totally fabricated".
China Briefing News on Tuesday quoted NDRC vice chairman Zhang Xiaoqiang as saying that the RMB could weaken to around 6.9 to 7 against the U.S. dollar.
The website of the China Briefing News has released a correction.

Chinese VP talks about bilateral ties, cooperation, common development in Venezuela(1)
















Related: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits five Latin American countries and Malta
CARACAS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at a seminar here Tuesday, elaborating on bilateral ties, cooperation and common development between China and Venezuela.
BRIGHT FUTURE FOR BILATERAL TIES
In his speech at the opening ceremony of a seminar attended by entrepreneurs from both China and Venezuela, Xi said bilateral ties have seen comprehensive and fast growth since the establishment of diplomatic ties 35 years ago, particularly after the two countries built their strategic partnership for common development in 2001.






Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping makes a speech at a business seminar in Caracas, Venezuela, Feb. 17, 2009. Xi arrived in Caracas Tuesday for an official visit to Venezuela. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)Photo Gallery>>>
Both sides have enjoyed close high-level exchanges, strengthened mutual political trust and fruitful cooperation in all areas, he said.
Venezuela has become China's fourth biggest oil provider and fifth largest trade partner in Latin America, with bilateral trade volume reaching a record 9.85 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 -- a year-on-year increase of 68.2 percent, said Xi.
He noted that the strengthening of friendly, mutually beneficial cooperation is in keeping with the fundamental interests of both peoples. It is also conducive to the common development of the two countries as well as to relations between China and Latin America as a whole.





Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (1st L) talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (1st R) at a business seminar in Caracas, Venezuela, Feb. 17, 2009. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)Photo Gallery>>>
Xi said he had held "very fruitful talks" with Vice President Ramon Carrizales on Tuesday.
"We both are very enthusiastic and determined to develop friendly cooperation between our two countries."
To that end, Xi proposed that both China and Venezuela focus on the following four aspects:
First, both nations should focus on common development and boost mutual political trust. China and Venezuela should view each other from a strategic perspective and adhere to the principles of mutual trust, mutual assistance, reciprocity and mutual benefits.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) shakes hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a business seminar in Caracas, Venezuela, Feb. 17, 2009. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Chinese naval fleet carries out largest escort mission in Gulf of Aden


"Haikou" vessel of Chinese navy (front) escorts merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, on Feb. 17, 2009. The Chinese naval fleet completed its 21th batch of escort missions against pirates on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Zhu Hongliang)ABOARD DESTROYER WUHAN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval fleet completed its twenty-first mission of escorting merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, the largest operation of its kind after the fleet's arrival in the waters.Ten Chinese merchant ships were convoyed, while three foreign ones, including "Hermione" from Germany, "Viking Crux" from Singapore and "Princess Nataly" from Cyprus, also asked for protection and were escorted by the Chinese fleet.