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The number of new flats coming on the market next year will plunge to a 30-year low, but analysts and officials are not expecting a further big surge in residential property prices, which leapt almost a third last year.
Health officials hope to ban smoking
in bars and restaurants by the middle of next year as they adopt a tough
approach on new anti-tobacco laws. Hong Kong's seven-year mortgage price war may have reached a turning point but analysts warn that a return of so-called hot money chasing a possible revaluation of the yuan could delay the final ceasefire. Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) has increased its broadband internet fees by 50 per cent after a public rebuke from Hong Kong's telecommunications regulator this week about misleading advertising of the service. Beijing's rare move to appoint two executive councillors to its advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC), suggests it wants to keep a firmer grip on Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's governance, according to a critic. China: European Union's trade chief, Peter Mandelson has criticized a 15-year-old European arms embargo on China, saying it was high time to lift the ban given the rapidly developing relations between the two sides. Owning a limited company in China may not be the exclusive domain of wealthy investors for much longer if an amendment to the corporation law is passed. The government may soon raise electricity rates to help power firms get over the hike in coal prices, a vice-chairman of State Electricity Regulatory Commission said on Friday.
The mainland's capital and financial account surplus more than doubled last year thanks to strong investor inflows fanned by talk of a yuan revaluation, Xinhua quoted a senior foreign-exchange official as saying. South China port operators are to impose a security surcharge on most goods moving across their docks under an initiative that will add more than $1 billion a year to the cost of shipping manufactured goods. China will gradually open its capital account in 2005, another step in its plan to make the yuan currency fully convertible, China Central Television said on Saturday. Feb 25 - 27, 2005
Esprit Holdings, the Hong Kong-listed fashion retailer, has forecast its revenue to jump by a fifth every year after recording a higher-than-expected 76 per cent first-half profit growth amid better sales in Europe and currency gains from a strong euro. Shares of Sunday Communications, the smallest mobile operator in Hong Kong, rose 11.54 percent on speculation China Mobile or China Telecom, the country's two largest phone companies, will become its strategic shareholder. American Airlines and Continental Airlines have won United States permission to begin passenger flights to China this year and next. SK Corp is suing to recover US$14.35 million (HK$111.93 million) from China Aviation Oil (Singapore), the third such action against the jet fuel trader since it sought court protection from creditors last year. The number of people with more than $1 million in liquid assets rose to more than 274,000 last year from about 260,000 in 2003, according to a Citibank survey.
Food premises in Hong Kong will have to hire hygiene managers and supervisors by the end of May, according to new measures announced by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department on Wednesday. American trade authorities have put the final touches to security guidelines for firms exporting goods to the United States and are now looking to reward companies that opt to use "smart" technology for seaborne trade.
US-based Invista, an integrated polymers, intermediaries and fibers manufacturer, started construction of a US$128 million spandex plant in Foshan in Guangdong Province on Wednesday, to tap the "explosively growing" southern China market.
Britain and the rest of Europe are at grave risk of falling behind China and other fast-developing nations unless they reform their economies and become more ambitious, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has warned.
International rail engineering companies are expected to bid next week on the planned Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway project, a well-placed source from the Ministry of Railways said yesterday. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reiterated his confidence that the European Union will lift an arms embargo on China despite US opposition, saying he hopes the US Congress can be swayed. Beijing's controversial anti-secession law will be officially submitted for approval by the full session of the National People's Congress on March 6, a report says. The head of Taiwan's opposition People First Party (PFP) is to visit the mainland in an attempt to ease cross-strait tensions, a senior party official said yesterday. The city's biggest public land auction was held yesterday with land covering 26,800 square meters in the city's downtown area being sold off for 1.14 billion yuan (US$137.85 million).
China's steel price rose moderately at the beginning of 2005, continuing last year's trend. Mainland steel producers are bracing for a margin squeeze after Asia's largest steel firm, Nippon Steel, agreed to pay 71.5 per cent more for its iron ore supply this year. A regulation on the collective management of copyrighted materials, approved by the State Council, is to become effective on March 1, better protecting the interests of copyright owners throughout the nation. Feb 24, 2005 Hong Kong: Hong Kong's first auction of a commercial site since 2001 attracted frenzied bidding from developers, boosting confidence in the commercial property sector and swelling the government's coffers.
Hong Kong is expected to balance its budget in 2006-2007 - two years ahead of the government's target - because of sustained economic growth, says the International Monetary Fund. Hong Kong's tax system is an antiquated beast ill-suited to the realities of the modern economy and poorly equipped to help deal with some of the city's more pressing issues, the Taxation Institute said yesterday.
Sino Land stormed back on to centre stage in the property market yesterday, but its aggressive $1.82 billion winning bid for a Kowloon Bay commercial site baffled analysts.
French President Jacques Chirac yesterday called for the lifting of a European embargo on arms sales to China, but said the US and Europe should work together to ensure the conditions were right. University graduates who take jobs in the undeveloped west will not have to repay their student loans, sources at the Education Ministry have revealed. Second-tier players in the mainland's internet industry are likely to consider acquisitions or alliances of their own should Shanda Interactive Entertainment and Sina Corp link up. Three global nuclear power heavyweights now competing for designing and building four nuclear units in China will submit their proposals next Monday, a national nuclear technology company said yesterday. Beijing is expected to announce a new policy about cross-Straits cargo charter flights on Friday in a major effort to push for direct air links with Taiwan, China Daily learned yesterday. A regulation on the collective management of copyrighted materials, approved by the State Council, is to become effective on March 1, better protecting the interests of copyright owners throughout the nation
China and Britain agreed Monday to expand cooperation to meet the challenges faced by the world economy, realize the United Nations Millennium Development targets, and reform the international financial system. Japan's trade with China is likely to exceed 190 billion US dollars in 2005, setting a record for the seventh straight year, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) said Monday. Feb 23, 2005 Hong Kong: Hong Kong's top security official yesterday expressed serious concern over two shooting incidents in less than three weeks, saying that authorities will do whatever is necessary to stem the flow of guns into the region.
Bank of East Asia chairman and chief executive David Li Kwok-po took home a 44 per cent fatter pay packet of up to $24.5 million last year, sparking market concerns about remuneration policy at the bank where profit grew 26 per cent. In an unprecedented move to tackle the declining birth rate and the burden of providing financial security for an aging population, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang Monday urged each family to have at least three children. Tsang also said the government would consider expanding its immigration schemes to attract more young and single men to offset the increasing number of single women in the territory. Hong Kong's tax breaks for families pale in comparison to the wide-ranging incentives available in Singapore, where couples experiencing difficulties getting pregnant are allowed to claim for fertility treatment through the medical savings plan, Medisave. Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 6.4 percent in January, down from 6.5 percent in December, with the economy creating more than 100,000 jobs in the past 12 months, the Census and Statistics department said.
The chief secretary warned again yesterday that planning for the West Kowloon cultural district project could be restarted from scratch if none of the three shortlisted proposals won public support. The West Kowloon debate appears to have shifted focus with Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang revealing further details of alternative options should the project, especially the single-developer approach, face more public opposition. CSL will shift its call centre to Guangdong by the middle of this year to cut staff costs by 30 per cent. Internet protocol television (IPTV) is shaping up to be one of this year's star industries. On the mainland, however, market watchers are warning against swallowing the hype. Dell, armed with a strategy that has served it well in the personal computer market, is looking to break into Asia's highly competitive plasma display television market this year. China: The growth of China's producer price index (PPI) slowed to 5.8 per cent year-on-year in January, giving fresh evidence in support of China's austerity measures aimed at reining in its economy.
China's entry into the World Trade Organisation has resulted in US$40 billion in annual economic gains for the mainland and added about US$75 billion a year to real incomes worldwide, according to a new World Bank study. Visiting British finance minister Gordon Brown and his mainland counterpart, Jin Renqing, have called for reforms of international financial institutions to help deal with rapid economic change. Beijing is digging in its heels over the right to conduct research on cloning for therapeutic purposes, having rejected a United Nations declaration calling for a ban on all human cloning. The mainland's long-struggling stock markets rallied yesterday on news that banks would be allowed to set up fund management companies, which could inject fresh liquidity into the markets.
Feb 22, 2005 Hong Kong: Macau's rapidly developing casino industry is taking between HK$10 billion and HK$15 billion in gambling dollars out of Hong Kong every year, Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli said Sunday. This represents a serious threat to the Jockey Club's financial fortunes and could result in a loss of revenue for the government, he told Radio Television Hong Kong in an interview. Arculli also said that should the government agree to establish a tourist-only casino on Lantau, the Jockey Club should be allowed to run it to ensure that the gaming dollars and the profits remained in Hong Kong.
More than 100 anti-globalization activists will arrive in Hong Kong this week to draft protest plans for the WTO's sixth ministerial conference in December. More than 450 filmmakers and financiers are expected to attend this year's movie "match-making" forum in Hong Kong next month. The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, from March 22-24, is one of eight events being held as part of Entertainment Expo. It will feature filmmakers from 28 selected projects by leading directors from Hong Kong, the mainland, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Iran who are seeking investors. The forum, co-organized by the Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories Motion Picture Industry Association, is modeled on the International Film Festival CineMart in Rotterdam, the world's most celebrated film market fair, launched 21 years ago. New World China Land, a listed unit of property conglomerate New World Development, is to raise up to HK$6.4 billion to cut debt by selling rights shares. The proposed rights issue is the biggest by a developer in 18 years. Its parent New World Development raised HK$5.3 billion through a rights issue a year ago, its first since it listed in 1972. HSBC's chief executive of China business, Dicky Yip, will be seconded to Bank of Communications (BoCom) next month to oversee credit controls and risk management during the bank's Hong Kong stock offering, sources said. The government's surprise decision not to renew the lease on Ocean Terminal held by Wharf (Holdings) has shaken developers' confidence in making investments, Hong Kong's largest law firm warned. Managing short-term cash flows for China's domestic companies remains difficult despite government reform and positive steps by the banking industry to provide a wider array of services, market observers said.
Britain and China have developed a "shared agenda" to tackle global economic issues, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said as he began a three-day visit aimed at boosting trade with the world's fastest-growing major economy. Foreign direct investment in China rose 10.7 percent last month from a year earlier as companies such as Wal-Mart Stores and Coca-Cola expanded to tap demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy. Investment increased to US$4.1 billion (HK$31.98 billion), as the government allowed 3,563 foreign companies to build stores and factories in January, the Commerce Ministry said on its Web site. Contracted foreign investment, or investment pledged but not yet delivered, also surged 27.7 percent to US$12.8 billion, the ministry said. This figure is an indicator of future investment. The China Construction Bank (CCB) is investigating the disappearance of at least US$8 million from a branch in Jilin province in the latest scandal to hit mainland banks. Some residents of a luxury Shenzhen housing estate who have accused its management company of intimidation say the situation has worsened since one of them spoke to the media about their plight.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) appears likely to seal a US$1 billion joint-venture agreement with troubled British carmaker MG Rover, a source familiar with the negotiations said yesterday. Online game operator Shanda Interactive Entertainment is a step closer towards its goal of becoming a diversified internet media company by acquiring 19.5 per cent of web portal Sina.com.
China is to maintain its opposition to human reproductive cloning, but will continue to allow closely monitored embryo stem cell research for the treatment and prevention of disease, a senior Chinese expert said yesterday. The export price for China's metallurgic coke is expected to further increase this year, as a result of the country's reduced coke exports and continued demand from the international market, especially from the United States, Japan and the European Union (EU). Feb 21, 2005
Pro-government parties yesterday voted down a motion by the Democrats to invoke Legco special powers so they could demand access to government papers related to the Cyberport project. Lim Por-yen, chairman and founder of the Lai Sun Group, a hard-nosed garment and property tycoon who late in life was sullied by allegations of bribery in Taiwan, has died at the age of 93. Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), the emerging markets telecoms arm of Hutchison Whampoa, has received approval from the Vietnam government to start a US$650 million (HK$5.07 billion) mobile services joint venture in the country.
Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) yesterday admitted using its "mainland foundry ally" He Jian Technology to win market share in China's burgeoning chip market before a future acquisition of the company. The result of the investigation into the cause of the fatal collapse of the terminal of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris will not influence the ongoing construction of the China National Grand Theatre, said a proprietor committee official on Friday.
Judicial reform is closely related to everybody, be they are involved in a specific case, or the general public. In 2005, China will further intensify efforts for judicial reform to bring out frequent flashpoints in this respect. Swiss Re has become the first foreign investor in a mainland insurance asset management firm, with the venture slated to start business this month to tap the domestic stock market after the regulator relaxed rules on direct investment by insurers. Ownership in the new firm, China Re Asset Management Co (CRAMC), is divided between 50.1 percent for China Re Group, 9.9 percent for Fuxi Investment and 10 percent each for China P&C Re, China Life Re, China Continent P&C and Swiss Re Asset Management Asia. Feb 18 - 20, 2005
Courts must not allow political expediency to deflect them from their duty, Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang said yesterday in an apparent reference to the Housing Authority's attempts to speed up determination of the Link Reit case. Concerns about over-aggressive mortgage lending by banks were voiced yesterday by Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
The individual traveller scheme for mainlanders - credited with giving Hong Kong's tourism and economy a boost since its introduction in 2003 - will be extended to two more cities next month.
The brutally competitive telecommunications sector can expect at least seven players wielding broadband wireless access (BWA) technology by next year, the industry regulator said yesterday. International luxury hotel chain Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is laying the groundwork for a new project in Macau, according to Scott Woroch, the group's senior vice-president for business development. The government's proposal to split the top post at the Securities and Futures Commission ignited a heated debate at the financial affairs panel yesterday with some legislators vowing to continue their fight against the plan in the Legislative Council.
Hong Kong's biggest party and the city's most pro-business political grouping completed their merger yesterday, and pledged to "actively participate" in the election of the next chief executive, in which the new party could nominate a candidate. More than 7,000 workers with university degrees made less than $5,000 a month in the second quarter of last year - a sign that poorly educated labourers are not the only ones affected by a growing trend towards low wages. Hong Kong and Canadian scientists believe they may have found a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease, which affects up to 15 per cent of people aged over 65. Sun Microsystems appears to have implemented a sweeping management revamp at its Hong Kong office, with sources saying three top executives, including managing director Danny Tam, have been suspended indefinitely. Hong Kong-listed Shangri-La Asia is set to open 15 new mainland hotels in the next five years and hire 10,000 people as it moves to consolidate its position in the world's fastest growing hotel market, chief executive Giovanni Angelini said.
After teasing shareholders for two
months with the possibility of a Macau gambling investment deal, Fortuna
International Holdings has at last announced a HK$50 million agreement to take a
30 percent stake in a casino hotel in the territory. Director of Broadcasting Chu Pui-hing said funding for government-owned Radio and Television Hong Kong (RTHK) will be cut 5 percent for the coming financial year. China: The Yantai municipal government in Shandong province plans to sell a 33 per cent stake in one of the country's leading winemakers to Italy's Illva Saronno Investments, as the mainland accelerates its privatization drive.
"With more manufacturers achieving more production capacities in the next two years, the auto market is still set to see a production surplus and fierce competition this year," Anyone who wants to use images of Chinese currency (RMB) on the Internet will have to get approval from China's central bank, and otherwise will face fines of up to 30,000 yuan (3,627 US dollars). Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest lender, will probably scrap the Shanghai portion of its planned US$3 billion (HK$23.4 billion) initial share sale and sell stock only in Hong Kong, sources close to the deal said. Finance Minister Jin Renqing is expected to reveal a budget deficit of 300 billion yuan in his report to the National People's Congress next month, Caijing magazine reports in its latest issue. The go-ahead has been given to resume construction work on most of the 26 power projects halted last month by the mainland's environmental watchdog because they lacked necessary approvals.
China hopes to be accepted as a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) by the summer, according to People's Bank of China deputy governor Li Ruogu. An insider in Beijing confirmed that the Ministry of the Information Industry would grant licenses for the third generation (3G) services before the end of this year. Shenzhen will be one of the cities to first commence 3G operations. Feb 17, 2005 Hong Kong: Standard Chartered, the British-based emerging markets bank, posted a 39 per cent rise in annual pretax profits on Wednesday and said its recent acquisition, Korea First Bank, would be an engine driving the group's growth in earnings. Hong Kong may be an expensive city, but folks who want to spend some quality time with Mickey Mouse may find it is the cheapest place around. Walt Disney, the United States entertainment company whose new theme park opens on Lantau in September, started taking reservations Tuesday for the resort's two new hotels, and the asking price is half the tariff charged at the company's swankiest hotel at its Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida. Hong Kong's belated entry in the race to become a regional technology centre may have hit a snag with the sudden retirement of outspoken science park supremo Tam Chung-ding.
Hong Kong police have been stocking up on rubber bullets and sandbags to deal with violent protests that could break out during a World Trade Organization conference in December. Hong Kong is getting set to toughen laws to prevent money laundering by monitoring more categories of financial transactions and hopes to submit a bill to the Legislative Council in the fourth quarter. One of the proposals would draw in five non-financial sectors as "gatekeepers'' against money laundering while another will authorize officials to stop visitors at border checkpoints and ask them to declare the amount of cash in their possession. The United States in particular has been pushing worldwide for tougher controls on money laundering as part of its campaign against terrorists since 2001 and anti-narcotics efforts.
A tightened mechanism governing the employment of retired senior civil servants is expected to be in place by the second half of this year to prevent any conflict of interest, civil service chief Joseph Wong said. Hong Kong University has asked the government for HK$2.5 billion (US$320 millions) to build a new campus on 5.8 hectares of land. The additional space will be needed to cope with the government's proposal to change university courses from three to four years, probably in 2011 or 2012. University vice-chancellor Tsui Lap-chee said the new campus will be located west of its current main campus of 14.5 hectares on Pok Fu Lam Road.
Bowing to years of pressure from its securities industry, the Taiwanese government is allowing its brokerages to take a stake in mainland securities firms for the first time and to do real business through offices on the mainland. China Central Television (CCTV) and News Corp's partly owned National Geographic Channel are negotiating a mainland television production joint venture, the first investment of its type for both firms since China opened its television market to foreign competition late last year. Kunming Iron & Steel (Kungang), which wants to list on the main board, faces softer earnings growth as steel prices erode and the cost of raw materials continues to rise, according to the steelmaker's listing sponsor.
ZTE, one of China's largest telecom equipment makers, said it will jointly develop new mobile telecom systems with French firm Alcatel - a move analysts said could help ZTE win its way into richer overseas markets. Feb 16, 2005 Hong Kong: Hong Kong's population is continuing to rise and reached 6.89 million at the end of 2004, latest statistics released on Tuesday showed. The landmark Kyoto Protocol, which hopes to slow down global warming, goes into effect on Wednesday with most of the industrialised world committed to slash gas emissions but the United States and Australia holding out. Hong Kong Cyberport will host the second annual Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF) on March 23, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. He said high-technology industry players considered the forum to be an important event. "For [this year], DELF will be a feature event of the Entertainment Expo in Hong Kong, Asia's new mega event in film and digital entertainment," he said. The government in January provided a HK$4 (US$500,000) million subsidy for the Entertainment Expo (HK Filmmart or HK Film Festival) to help promote Hong Kong. The spokesman said a number of well-known people in the hi-tech industry would attend the forum. They include Tang Jun, president of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, a Shenzhen-based Nasdaq listed company; Michael Hedges, Academy Award winning recording mixer for the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Dan Sarto, publisher and co-founder of Animation World Network and others. The spokesman said the Cyberport would also hold the first Digital Entertainment Consumer Extravaganza from March 23 to 28 to showcase digital entertainment products. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou ended months of speculation yesterday by announcing his intention to run for the leadership of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang. With his hat officially in the ring, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou is a certainty to take over as Kuomintang chairman if he can overcome opposition from the party's old guard and a potential challenger, analysts say. Hong Kong children are poised to set up the city's first non-governmental organisation to be run entirely by and for young people. The Tourism Commission has proposed sprucing up islands and piers in the northeast New Territories to provide ecotourists with an "Islands Odyssey" lasting six to seven hours. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is considering introducing the main board's delisting mechanism into the Growth Enterprise Market, chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu said.
It may have been less than six months since the composition of the Hang Seng Index was changed, but when HSI Services announces the result of its latest quarterly review on Friday the index may see another reshuffle. Uncertainties, such as the pace of interest-rate rises, are affecting demand for investment funds this year despite a 4.3 per cent rise in gross sales to US$20.33 billion last year, according to the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association.
Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, a subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties which operates 45 malls in Hong Kong, said most ot its tenants saw sales volume double and foot traffic increase by up to 20 percent from February 4 to 8, ahead of the three-day public holiday. The days preceding the official holiday are usually the busiest for merchants. Standard Chartered, the London-based bank that generates nearly a third of its revenue in Hong Kong, should report a 36 percent increase in profit to about US$1.37 billion (HK$10.69 billion) when it unveils its results for last year tomorrow, according to a Thomson First Call survey of 10 banking analysts. China: PetroChina will spend 27.2 billion yuan on an oil refinery and petrochemical project in one of the sector's largest investments in recent years as the mainland government seeks to diversify energy supply sources. Top entertainers from across China will take part in a concert later this month to promote the fight against fake goods. Feb 15, 2005
Mainland transport authorities have called for stricter safety measures after two fatal road accidents over the Lunar New Year holiday killed eight people, including four from Hong Kong,
Commissioner for Narcotics Rosanna Ure Lui Hang-sai said on Monday the government was planning to introduce a new publicity campaign to combat money laundering practices in Hong Kong. Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung said Hong Kong people want the election committee - which chooses the Chief Executive - to have its membership expanded. The Hong Kong government has vigorously supported the development of the local film industry since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997.
The European Union has assured China's textile firms that it will not follow Turkey's lead by imposing quotas on textile imports from the nation. This year's Fortune Global Forum 500 to be held in Beijing will be the first ever to host a sports roundtable meeting, a senior official of the Time Warner Corporation has revealed to China Daily. The municipal government has unveiled its new plan to attract more foreign investment, especially to the service sector, boosting the city's overall export and import volume.
Migrant workers from all over the country have been pouring into Guangdong in search of work since the provincial authorities lifted the ban on large-scale recruiting at the start of the new lunar year. Hong Kong-listed eyewear firm Moulin International Holdings said it will not need additional funds to complete the acquisition of US optical retail chain Eye Care Centers of America despite the collapse last week of a $520 million share placement. Two mainland technology companies have vowed to go ahead with their initial public offerings this month and aim to raise up to US$300 million between them, undaunted by investor reservations in the sector. By the end of 2004, local people in China's western regions had rehabilitated and cultivated 118 million mu (7.87 million hectares) of land into forests. Buoyed by a record year for China initial share sales, officials at the tech-laden Nasdaq stock market in the United States are on the prowl for new mainland firms to list this year. Feb 14, 2005 Happy Valentine Day
The supply of land for public auction will increase substantially in the next financial year to meet demand from property developers, according to a government source. The number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong as independent travellers for the Lunar New Year holiday has jumped 76 per cent over the same period last year.
With the government set to present lawmakers with its proposal for splitting the top role at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) next week, some market watchers remain unconvinced the move is necessary, saying the current arrangement is working well and that there are sufficient checks and balances on the market watchdog. Canadian insurance giant Manulife Financial Corp said net profit jumped 66 percent to C$2.56 billion (HK$15.97 billion) last year on strong sales growth, favorable global equity markets and a major acquisition. Only one in four residents believes the improvement in the SAR's economy will lead to better jobs in the near future, while even fewer think salaries will go up this year, according to a survey. The survey also found university graduates were more positive than others about finding jobs, while both the financial and tourism sectors had high hopes of better careers. The number of reported cross-border corruption cases decreased by 21 per cent last year, against a backdrop of closer co-operation between Hong Kong and mainland law enforcers. The number of newly registered residential leases dropped to the lowest level in a year last month as a growing number of tenants took advantage of 95 per cent mortgages to buy their own homes, according to figures released by Ricacorp Properties. A lack of big-ticket home sales dragged down the luxury property segment for the third consecutive month last month, despite a jump in the number of transactions. Industrial building sales remained strong last month, with both sales value and the number of transactions reaching new highs on the back of growing demand.
The mainland is digging deeper in the search for oil, boosting its reserves by at least 25 per cent over the past year as part of a strategy to locate new energy sources at home and abroad, state media reports.
Mainland exports of quota-free apparel to the United States, including bras and home furnishing products, surged 55 per cent last year to claim a record 70 per cent share of the US import market.
The volume of trade between Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, and the European Union (EU) shot up 61.8 percent year-on-year to 1.27 billion US dollars last year. After many false starts, China is finally expected to impose a fuel tax this year - a move many expect will cool the mainland's love affair with large, gasoline-guzzling cars and spur sales of smaller, cheaper and more fuel-efficient models. Feb 11 - 13, 2005 Hong Kong: With hopes for a fiscal surplus running high, Financial Secretary Henry Tang pledged to try not to increase taxes when presenting the budget next month. Tang also held out the possibility of bringing forward the timetable for a balanced budget, currently set at 2008-09. However, he warned against false expectations, saying there will not be many "sweets" or tax relief measures. "I realise that the past year was a difficult one for the middle class in particular which has shouldered a great deal of the financial burden. I know what they want to hear most is that there won't be any tax increases. I can only say that I will refrain from raising taxes if the situation allows me," he said.
Interest rates in Hong Kong could surge by as much as 100 basis points in coming months, as the widening gap between the Hong Kong and the London interbank offered rate (Hibor and Libor) inevitably begins to close, perhaps abruptly. A shortage of truck drivers has constricted the supply of live chickens into Hong Kong, New Territories Poultry vice-chairman Hung Yuet-kin said, forcing many residents to buy frozen chicken instead of the favored live chicken for Lunar New Year banquets.
The US music, movie and software industries has for the first time called for the United States to begin legal action against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to stop widespread piracy they said cost them at least US$2.5 billion (HK$19.5 billion) in potential revenue last year. In a formal filing with the US Trade Representative's Office (USTR), the International Intellectual Property Alliance said the Bush administration should ask China for immediate consultations on the issue at the WTO. That would be a first step towards asking for a WTO panel to rule on whether China was meeting its commitments to stamp out piracy. Chinese traditionally go door-to-door to wish their friends and family well over the Lunar New Year, but modernity is fast taking over with text messaging now all the rage. According to Beijing Mobile, it handled more than one billion outgoing short messages on Lunar New Year's Eve alone. United Parcel Service (UPS) plans to spend about US$500 million (HK$3.9 billion) in the next two years to expand package deliveries, warehousing, inventory and customs services in the mainland. Driven by rising land costs and speculative investment, Beijing's property market is poised to keep growing robustly in the new year after reaching a seven-year peak in average flat prices in the last quarter in 2004. China State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (also known as SASAC) says China's top 180 SOEs own more than nine trillion yuan assets. These SOEs revenues hit five trillion yuan last year, with an increase of nearly a quarter over the previous year. Most of them see a big jump of profits. Eight of them are on the list of Fortune 500 in 2004. China adopts a two-level supervision of the SOEs. Big SOEs are under the direct supervision of the central government, while the rest to the local authorities. Once again China's top leaders spent the most important family reunion holiday outside their own homes. President Hu made Jiaozi (dumplings) at a farmer home on the Spring Festival eve last year when Premier Wen ate Jiaozi with miners hundreds of meters down the earth two years ago. China spent 17.29 billion yuan (2.1billion US dollars) in 2004 to help more than 22 million urban residents living below the minimum standard of living. Feb 10, 2005 Hong Kong: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa Tuesday expressed his hope that Hong Kong's economic growth be sustained and employment continue to improve in the coming year. Delivering his Lunar New Year message, Tung said this year's spring festival will be greeted by a buoyant market, as Hong Kong's economy is at its best in seven years. Tung said recent economic development is the result of the collective efforts of all residents. "In the coming year, we expect economic growth to be sustained and employment to continue to improve. I believe that as long as we press ahead with one heart and respect for different views, we will build a more prosperous and harmonious society," Tung said.
The decision to award the Cyberport contract to Richard Li Tzar-kai was taken before the tycoon took a trip overseas with the chief executive and before a top official questioned the lack of tendering for the development, the government said yesterday.
A group of Hong Kong residents who have bought flats at a luxury complex in Shenzhen say they have been intimidated after trying to set up an owners' committee to improve management of the estate. Electricity bills might rise if Hong Kong's two power companies connect their grids, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan has warned. The government may soon start a global recruitment effort for a new Securities and Futures Commission chairman despite stubborn opposition in the Legislative Council to proposed changes in the job description. Hong Kong's leading stocks saw their biggest rally in seven weeks yesterday, defying the pessimists who had said the market lacked sufficient momentum for a pre-Lunar New Year rally.
Taiwanese investors have pumped 1.17 billion US dollars into 748 ventures in Chongqing Municipality,the biggest industrial center in west China.
Guangzhou has seen a sharp rise in the number of divorces in recent years, and officials say it is a result of more streamlined procedures for tying - and untying - the knot. Two more bird flu vaccines for poultry have been developed by mainland scientists, agricultural authorities have announced. The world's two largest retailers, Carrefour and Wal-Mart Stores, posted sales growth of more than 20 per cent in the mainland last year as its retail market swung open to foreign competition. Feb 9, 2005 - HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR - YEAR OF THE ROOSTER Hong Kong: Retail banks' profits surged by one-fifth in the SAR last year as the reduction of bad debts more than offset shrinking margins, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said. Hong Kong stores expect this year's Lunar New Year sales to be up to 20 percent higher than last year's, and most major operators have decided to stay open the whole time so as not to miss a penny of this manna from retail heaven. The Hong Kong government plans to split the post of chairman of the Insurance Authority in two as soon as it completes a similar operation at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), a government source said.
HONG KONG'S busy airport at Chek Lap
Kok will get even busier during the Chinese New Year period. It is set to break
a record tomorrow, the first day of the Chinese New Year, when 762 planes are
scheduled to zip in and out of the territory.
GERMAN industrial giant Bayer MaterialScience AG is
turning Shanghai into its biggest production site for coating materials in the
Asia-Pacific region, launching a heavily-invested HDI project in the city’s
Caojing Chemical Industry Park. French electronics and telecommunications company Alcatel says its Shanghai Bell unit has won a contract from China Netcom Group to provide a third generation, or 3G, field trial network in Beijing. Upon completion of such a 3G pilot network, China Netcom will be able to test innovative high-quality voice, data and multi-media mobile services in true-to-life conditions in the capital city. This agreement strengthens Alcatel's position in 3G technolgy in China, having already successfully set-up a similar 3G trial network with China Telecom earlier in the year. Chinese companies invested 3.62 billion US dollars in non-financial sectors overseas in 2004, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday. Up to the end of last year, China's direct investment overseas reached 37 billion US dollars. Last year, according to the ministry, nearly half of Chinese investment went to Latin America and some 40 percent to the other parts of Asia, mainly in the fields of mining, commercial service, manufacturing, wholesale and retail sales. Chinese companies that were engaged in engineering projects overseas reported a business turnover of 17.5 billion US dollars last year, up 26 percent year-on-year. They also signed new contracts worth 23.8 billion US dollars, according to the ministry. So far, China has dispatched 3.2 million individuals overseas under labor service contracts and earned 30.8 billion US dollars. Chinese Lang Ping, known as the "Iron Hammer" during her playing days as an ace spiker of the Chinese women's volleyball team, has been named the new head coach of the USA women's national team, the USA Volleyball announced in Colorado Springs on Monday. Statistics from Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed that the country's 30 largest chain-store enterprises did 384.56 billion yuan (about 46.56 billion US dollars) in sales in 2004, increasing 32.9 percent from the previous year.
Sumitomo Life Insurance, Japan's fourth-largest life insurer, said it will pay 3.7 billion yen (HK$277 million) for a 29 percent stake in a life insurance venture with China's PICC Holding to gain a foothold on the mainland. China's stellar economy will continue to drive Asian merger and acquisition (M&A) activity this year, fueled by rising cross-border transactions and a relative newcomer to the stage - leveraged buyouts by private equity firms. In a move to profit from eased restrictions on clothing exports, garment maker Luen Thai Holdings says it will spend about HK$340 million to set up two factories in Dongguan and a production plant in Qingyuan. Feb 8, 2005 Hong Kong: On the back of rising consumer demand, the total value of Hong Kong’s retail sales reached $18 billion in December 2004 — up 8.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, statistics released on Monday showed. The Labor Department said on Monday that severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and avian flu would be listed as "occupational diseases" under the Employees Compensation Ordinance.
NWS Holdings, the services and infrastructure unit of Hong Kong's New World Development, on Monday said it would sell its port assets to Singapore's PSA International for HK$3 billion. Hong Kong-based luxury hotel chain Shangri-La on Monday said it had signed a deal to open its first European property in London. Bank of China has poached Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp executive Lonnie Dounn to serve as its new chief credit officer, the highest-ranking foreign manager at the country's state-controlled Big Four commercial banks so far. The government is in a race against time to gain new trade concessions in the mainland for Hong Kong technology firms, as Beijing authorities curb public-sector purchases of foreign-made software. Although the renminbi is not yet fully convertible, it has been circulating increasingly in neighboring regions in recent years. As an international financial centre close to the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong witnesses the most frequent use of the renminbi. Establishing a grid connection between mainland power companies and Hong Kong's electricity network will be more feasible and less financially demanding in the long run than creating a joint connection between two local electric companies, a top government official has said.
Rising land prices on the mainland are due partly to escalating property prices, especially in cities like Beijing and Tianjin , according to the Ministry of Land Resources. A former transport department official from Jilin province who was on the mainland's most-wanted list for allegedly gambling away 3.5 million yuan in public funds was caught on a passenger train yesterday.
Beijing is under no pressure to revalue the yuan given its modest trade surplus, the central bank governor said after the central government agreed to support the call by main western countries for more flexible exchange-rate regimes.
Feb 7, 2005 Hong Kong: Top students can opt to study in English-medium secondary schools to get a better exposure to the language, Education Commission working group chairman Michael Tien said Friday.
The government yesterday lost a second key legal battle on civil service pay cuts, with the Court of First Instance ruling that legislation enacted in 2003 to facilitate a negotiated deal with unions was unconstitutional. Tycoon Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung last night apologised to civil servants for allegations he made of possible collusion between business and the government. New international rules on banks' capital management, known as Basel II, will be costly to implement and slow to yield capital savings, David Eldon, chairman of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp, a unit of the world's second largest banking group HSBC, said. Fewer than 10 per cent of IBM Corp's existing personal computer customers are unhappy about mainland giant Lenovo Group acquiring the business division, according a customer survey carried out by both companies. The international investment arm of Singapore's PSA Corp made another audacious bid for Hong Kong port assets yesterday, agreeing to a $3 billion cash payment for a stake in three berths held by NWS Holdings, according to sources close to the deal. Hong Kong textile manufacturers say poor implementation of the mainland's new export tax on garments, intended as token concession to aggrieved trade partners after the abolition of global textile quotas last month, is causing damage to their industry.
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Hong Kong: 
The giant aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk enters Hong Kong waters in foggy
weather at the start of a visit yesterday. Aircraft carriers are noisy places.
With all the aircraft coming and going, the massive engines, the
something-a-bit-dangerous-is-about-to-happen-alarms and the noise of 5,300
American servicemen and women moving about, it's pretty much impossible to get a
quiet moment. Thick fog created chaos for air and sea traffic yesterday, with
dozens of flights delayed or diverted, ferry services cancelled and a collision
in waters off Tsing Yi.
A worker checks a Soviet-made
machine in the old section of the Shanghai Electric Power Company's Wujing
thermal power plant. Shao Bingren, vice-minister of the State Electricity
Regulatory Commission, said 24 provinces experienced power shortages last year
and were expected to face the same problem in coming months. Electricity
shortages will remain severe this year, although last year's large-scale power
cuts will be replaced by "seasonal and periodical blackouts", according to the
mainland's top electricity regulator.
Hong Kong:
Netcom president Zhang Chunjiang (left) and PCCW chief Richard Li shake hands
after unveiling plans for four joint ventures at a press conference yesterday.
PCCW will spearhead the development of China Network Communications Group's
(Netcom) massive property portfolio - one of four planned areas of co-operation
between the telecommunications carriers.
People enjoy watching the
lanterns display in the Urban Lunar New Year Lantern Carnival at the Ko Shan
Road Park.
Baby Ni is in a stable condition in a Shanghai hospital, after his heart surgery
on Tuesday. A 38-day-old baby who was born two months prematurely has become the
smallest patient in China to undergo heart surgery.
People choose and buy
lanterns in a lantern market in Nanjing, China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 22,
2005. People in the city rushed to buy lanterns for the Chinese traditional
Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb. 23 this year.
A man skates between piles of snow on a
frozen lake in Beijing on Wednesday. Temperatures have dropped after Beijing was
hit by a late winter cold snap, extending the winter sports season.
Gao Siren, director of the central government liaison office, with Chief
Executive Tung Chee-hwa at the office's spring reception at the Convention and
Exhibition Centre. Mr Gao said Hong Kong should seek harmony and mutual trust in
order to develop.
Eva Koo, a fortune teller in
phone-loving Hong Kong, uses mobile numbers to find out people's fates. 
China:
Workers lift 10-year-old giant panda
Sisi onto a table as before trying to gather his sperm to refrigerate for
artificial insemination in the future. However, yesterday's attempt at the Giant
Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was not a success.
HKEx chairman Charles Lee says the fund
houses' success will strengthen the city's position as a premier capital
formation center. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chairman Charles Lee
Yeh-kwong credits Hong Kong's rapidly developing financial market and the
establishment of the Mandatory Provident Fund in 2000 for the fast growth in the
fund management industry.
British finance minister Gordon Brown,
visiting the Forbidden City yesterday, credits China with being a driving force
behind world economic growth.
Harvard University genetics researchers George Church and Gary Gao aim to
challenge Google and Baidu for the mainland market with software originally
designed to understand human genes.
China:
Hu Jintao delivers an important
speech at the opening ceremony of a 7-day training course in Beijing, capital of
China, on Feb. 19, 2005. The course was was offered by the Party School of the
CPC Central Committee and attended by major provincial-and ministerial-level
leaders. Officials and Party cadres should place "building a harmonious society"
top on their work agenda, urged President Hu at a seminar held on Saturday in
Beijing.
Staff members of
Hainan Airlines taking interviews, Feb. 20, 2005. The HU 7952 flight of the
Chinese mainland-based Hainan Airlines landed Sunday night at the Capital
International Airport of Beijing, ending the non-stop charter flight service
across the Taiwan Straits for this year's Lunar New Year holidays.
Pilgrims perform a ritual prostration
called kyangcha yesterday on a road 4km from Xiahe in western Gansu
province. Thousands of Tibetan pilgrims are making their way to Xiahe and its
Labrang Monastery for the annual celebration of Monlam, or the Great Prayer
Festival, one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important celebrations.
China Banking Regulatory Commission
chairman Liu Mingkang has been telling mainland banks about good lending
practices and corporate governance. China should build new official lending
channels to free up stagnant capital and avoid choking off economic growth, says
the deputy governor of the central bank.
Hong Kong:
China:
Police yesterday escort train-ticket
scalpers - their faces obscured by stocking masks - to a public trial at a train
station in Fuyang, Anhui province. Authorities have been cracking down on
scalping as mainlanders return home from Lunar New Year holidays.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Sir Run Run Shaw officiate at last night's
opening ceremony of the 2005 Hong Kong Arts Festival, at the Cultural Centre in
Tsim Sha Tsui. Sir Run Run is the life president of the festival. They are
pictured with Charles Lee Yeh-kwong (left), Michael Smith and Anissa Wong Sean-yee.
Earnings at L'Oreal are under pressure as European shoppers seeking bargains
turn to discount chains such as Aldi and Ed.
Boeing set down a cheeky challenge to
European rival Airbus yesterday when it unveiled the first 777-200LR jetliner,
which, it claims, has the longest range of any commercial plane. Under a sign
written in French imploring "Courvrir la distance" (go the whole way),
the ceremony was attended by more than 5,000 Boeing employees, airline
representatives, suppliers, and government and community leaders in Seattle.
Boeing says the plane can fly from London to Sydney.
Children gather around giant pieces of bread carrying the Chinese characters for
hunger during an event yesterday to promote World Vision's famine camp in April.
World Vision hopes 3,000 people will take part in its annual 30-hour famine camp
in April, which will help hungry children worldwide, especially those affected
by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Swire director Jolyon Culbertson (centre) takes part in an eye-dotting ceremony
at Pacific Place. Tenants at the shopping centre reported strong growth in sales
last year. 
China:
Two Greenpeace activists, one
impersonating an animal, hold a sign supporting the Kyoto Protocol at a
demonstration in a Beijing park, near the Forbidden City on Wednesday.
Greenpeace said its offices around the world celebrated the coming into force of
the protocol today.
Stock exchange chairman Charles Lee hands
out red packets to traders on the first trading session of the Lunar New Year.
Trading houses such as CSFB,
Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are testing new software that translates market
movements into sound.
Hong Kong:
At Lowu, which was the busiest checkpoint
yesterday, up to 19,000 travellers an hour were entering Hong Kong.
On Monday more than 19 million railway
trips were made on Saturday, compared with 3.34 million on Friday.
Hong Kong:
China:
A bunch of red roses can cost hundreds
of yuan in Beijing's wholesale flower markets leading up to Valentine's Day -
earning wholesalers up to 20,000 yuan a day. It's all about roses, chocolates and
romantic dining at fancy restaurants. But couples in Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou differ in the ways they express their love on Valentine's Day.
China:
People across China are celebrating
the Spring Festival, the New Year on China's lunar calendar, in a variety of
ways.
Rosanna Li Wei-han stands beside her clay figurine creation People Passing By,
People Lazing By at the Yau Tong MTR, part of a project by the company to add
local art to the stations. Li chose the name to contrast with the usual rush at
the MTR. "One of them is eating a doughnut while another one is feeding birds. I
want to remind people to slow down and enjoy life."
Stanley Wong, a director and deputy
general manager of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), says the
acquisition of Chinese Mercantile Bank will be completed next month. ICBC Asia
shareholders approved the US$96.06 million deal yesterday. It will buy 75 per
cent of the bank from parent ICBC and 25 per cent from Citic Ka Wah. 
China:
President Hu Jintao Tuesday asked
local officials to help farmer Zha Lanming to build up family fortunes and
improve living standards when he visited Zha's home in a village in Xingyi City
of Guizhou Province, southwest China, on the eve of the Spring Festival.
A lion dancer is followed by a crowd as
they head into the Temple of the Earth after the opening ceremony of the annual
fair on the eve of Chinese New Year in Beijing on Tuesday. Fairs are opening at
temples and parks across the city to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the
Rooster, kicking off a week-long Spring Festival holiday.
China:
A tourist from the United States
poses with a Chinese boy and a girl during a visit to the Guangxi Museum in
Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Feb. 6,
2005.
The
Forbidden City, once the dwelling of emperors, was turned into a Palace Museum
on Oct 10, 1925. The museum will celebrate its 80th anniversary this year. THE
Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City in Beijing, is holding a
competition to select an emblem for its 80th anniversary celebrations in
October. The country's largest museum is offering a prize of 80,000 yuan
(S$15,800) to the winner. Six designs have been short-listed by a panel of
experts from 2,788 proposals submitted worldwide since June last year. They are
posted on the museum's website (www.dpm.org.cn) for the public to vote on from
Jan 25 to Feb 15.
Metro Radio deputy managing director Bianca Ma sees wisdom in going into the
mainland as an escape from Hong Kong's highly competitive broadcast media
market. Metro Radio hopes to tune in to the mainland's untapped radio market,
the world's second-largest after the United States, by repositioning itself as a
bilingual broadcaster in co-operation with Radio Guangdong.
China:
British chancellor Gordon Brown
greets Finance Minister Jin Renqing at the G7 meeting in London.
Art lovers will have a chance to observe everyday life in 19th century France
through the eyes of some of the world's greatest painters over the next 10 weeks
at the Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Wilson Fung Wing-yip, Hong Kong's
lead negotiator in air-services talks with Japan, says he is quite pleased with
the deal reached yesterday allowing both sides to substantially increase cargo
services. "We were able to increase cargo services by some 40 per cent in a
short time," Mr Fung said.