On the 20th of every month, our warehouse people would pass over the stock list to us, including Ivory board (C1S) & Art board (C2S), the quality of our stock lot is the same as our regular ones, the paper board is defined as stock just because they are extra quantity of other previous orders or they are of special sheet sizes or roll dimensions.

The price of stock is $80/MT cheaper than regular quality, shall any customer have interest in such lot, just feel free to contact us.

                                        China Bestway Paper Group Co., Ltd.
                                           2008/01/31

                                   2007/08/15

Our contact info.: Mr. Web Wei
                         MB:86-130-65818888
                         

Foreign Economic Cooperation -- The turnover of foreign engineering and labor cooperation in 2002 reached 302 million US dollars, grew 4.9% over 2001. The total has been up to 11000 persons by the end of 2002. 72 foreign business offices have been set up with approval in Ningbo and 60 overseas enterprises have been set up abroad. 

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Ningbo is an important industrial base in Zhejiang Province and also a major production base of grain, cotton, edible oil and aquatic products in China. A comprehensive industrial setup has come into being with light and textile, garments, machinery as its traditional mainstay, and large-scale harbour-based industries represented by petrochemicals, iron & steel, power generation and paper-making etc. The private economy appeared early and developed rapidly, so the market-oriented economy is booming. 215,700 families are engaged in industrial and commercial activities individually, involving 381,000 employees and registered capital of RMB 5.917 billion. There are 62,500 private enterprises, involving 1.0187 million employees and registered capital of RMB 53.671 billion, of which nine are national 500 best private enterprises and eight are provincial 50 best private enterprises. 99 products made in Ningbo rank the first in the country, of which 95% are produced by private enterprises.

Rural economy

Steady progress was made in agriculture. The total output value of the primary industry was 14,840 million yuan, up 5.3% over the previous year. Remarkable progress has been made in the adjustment of agricultural structure. The cultivated area of traditional crop decreased more, down 20.1%, and that of cotton decreased by near third. At the same time, all kinds of economic corn such as vegetables, fruits, medicinal materials have been rapidly developed. The cultivated area of this kind of crop increased 509,000 mu. Steady progress was made in fishery, and the marine cultivated area increased 177,300 mu. The production of aquatic products reached 816,200 ton. The conditions for agricultural production have continuously improved. The mechanization of agriculture continued to be upgraded. In this year, an investment of 1.95 billion yuan was made to improve agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries and water conservancy facilities. The construction of 280km of a planned standard seawall has been completed. The total mechanical power of agriculture reached 1,900,000 kw, up 1.6% over the previous year.

Foreign trade

As a historical port city for foreign trade, Ningbo had become one of the three ports for foreign trade in China as early as the 7th century. In 2002, the self-oriented import and export trade volume of Ningbo amounted to 12.273 billion US dollars, increasing by 30.70% as compared with 2001.The growth rate of exports stayed middling in China. In 2002, the actual foreign capital utilized in Ningbo reached 1.247 billion US dollars, increasing by 43% over the precious year. All these achievements have laid a solid foundation for further development of Ningbo's export-oriented economy.

 More statistics

By February 2005, the national revenue system of Ningbo has netted 220.5 million yuan in tax revenues, exclusive of the taxes collected by the Customs on its behalf, up 14.9% from the same period last year. And the tax revenues of January and February combined add up to 556.3 million yuan, a 31.1% increase over last year, of which domestic VAT comes to 325.3 million, up 37.8% and domestic consumer taxes, 79.2 million, down 4.1%. And up to 28 March 2005, the number of enterprises registered in Ningbo Customs has exceeded ten thousand (10,020), a 20.5% year-on-year increase. Of all this figure, there are 9,301 self-aided declaration enterprises, 58 agent declaration ones, 9 units specialising in customs declaration and 652 processing and production enterprises. According to the newest statistics by State Department of Commerce, Ningbo is listed 8th of Chinese cities for its export of 16.69 billion yuan made last year. With its increase rate of 38.2%, Ningbo is the first of the top ten. In the year, Ningbo introduced an investment of 4.136 billion yuan by its contract value, which was the third of the 15 sub-provincial cities. Its turnover in foreign economy reached 484 million US dollars, the second in the fifteen. On 17 March, the 2005 Bluebook of Competitive Power of Chinese Cities and the Forum on the Competitiveness of Chinese Cities report the comprehensive power and individual competitive indexes of 200 cities of China. In the Bluebook, Ningbo City is placed 6th of the reported cities, two places forward than it was last year. All these figures show that Ningbo is now in the lead in its opening to the outside world.

The date was agreed at the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee, which was held in Beijing on Monday.

The meeting also proposed an agenda for the upcoming annual session, which includes hearing and deliberating the work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee and a report on the handling of proposals from CPPCC members during the year.

CPPCC members will also attend the fifth annual session of the tenth National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, as non-voting delegates. They will hear and discuss the work report of the central government, which is to be delivered at the NPC session.

The CPPCC consists of representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and non-Communist parties, people without party affiliation and representatives of people's organizations, ethnic minorities and all social strata.

It also represents people from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan, returned overseas Chinese and other specially invited people.

Known as the government's "think tank", the CPPCC committees at all levels contain large numbers of activists and public figures from various walks of life, experts and scholars in various fields.

Source: Xinhua

There is also concern about a threatened spring offensive from the resurgent Taliban in neighbouring        Afghanistan, where the government has repeatedly said Pakistan is not doing enough to stop the cross-border movement of militants.

Cheney is meeting Musharraf to discuss "bilateral relations and the situation in Afghanistan", a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A US Black Hawk helicopter circled low over Musharraf's official residence in Islamabad throughout the morning, with the side door open and gunners leaning out. The trip was not announced ahead of time for security reasons.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett was also in Pakistan, just days after Britain said it would bolster its 5,600-strong force in Afghanistan by sending extra troops to the volatile south.

Cheney's trip came as the New York Times quoted senior US officials saying Musharraf would get an "unusually tough message" that US aid to Pakistan could be cut unless Al-Qaeda is hunted down more aggressively.

"He's made a number of assurances over the past few months," one official told the paper. "The message we're sending to him now is that the only thing that matters is results."

The report said that the new Democratic majority in the US Congress was looking at cutting aid and military assistance to Pakistan, the fifth-largest recipient of US foreign aid, unless it does more to take on Al-Qaeda.

Musharraf's nation was one of only a handful to recognise the Taliban, Islamic militants who took power in Afghanistan in the wars after Soviet occupation, as the country's legitimate government before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

But after those attacks, Musharraf became an ally in US        President George W. Bush's "war on terror" as the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban for refusing to hand over        Osama bin Laden.

The support for the United States has come at a price, however, with Musharraf having been targeted by assassination attempts in Pakistan, where many people are sympathetic to militant Islam and anti-US sentiment.

The New York Times said the Pakistani president was seen as not carrying out all the commitments he made to Bush in September.

Pakistan dismissed US claims earlier this month about new Al-Qaeda training camps on its territory as "absurd," and has repeatedly insisted that more than 700 of its soldiers have been killed fighting militants since 2001.

But Musharraf also recently acknowledged that some of his forces may have been turning a "blind eye" to some militant movements.

Meanwhile last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster, despite the presence of tens of thousands of US-led and        NATO troops, and the militants are reportedly gearing up for a spring offensive.

The rugged terrain along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan is thought to be refuge for an unknown number of militants.

British GDP meanwhile grew by 0.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2006 from the third quarter. Again this was unchanged from an initial estimate given by the statistics office in January.

The ONS will give its third and final estimate next month.

Ji Chaozhu, former deputy UN secretary-general, served as an interpreter during Nixon's tour. He clearly remembered the day of February 21, 1972. After Nixon deplaned at the Beijing airport he shook hands with former premier Zhou Enlai, who told the president, "your hand has stretched across the largest ocean of the world".

"Nixon's tour was a significant chapter in Sino-U.S. relations, during which the two countries ended two decades of conflict and started the process of normalizing diplomatic ties," said Ji during an interview with Xinhua.

The U.S. had refused to recognize the People's Republic of China since it was founded in 1949 because of the ideological difference.

Nixon's visit came at a time when the two super powers, the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, were seeking hegemony. The U.S. adjusted its China policy from conflict to dialogue.

During his visit, the Shanghai Communique was issued which laid the groundwork for establishing official diplomatic ties some five years later.

The larch tree saplings Nixon brought with him and planted in the Hangzhou botanical park in east China's Zhejiang Province have been propagated and now grow in numerous other places in China.

Nixon was gifted with a pair of pandas, Lingling and Xingxing, by the Chinese government and they became instant celebrities at the Washington Zoo. More than 75 million people visited the panda couple at the zoo where they lived until Lingling died in 1992 and Xingxing in 1999.

Nixon's visit not only helped normalize the relationship between China and the U.S, but also broke China's diplomatic deadlock with the western world. After Nixon's visit, many developed countries forged or normalized diplomatic ties with China, including Japan, Italy and Spain. China became more integrated to the international community.

Nixon's visit also had a great impact on international situation. Since then, the U.S. had gradually taken favorable position in its competition with former Soviet Union until the early 1990s when the cold war ended.

At a recent seminar in New York to commemorate Nixon's China tour, Rui Xiaojian, former Chinese ambassador to the U.S. called the visit the "turning point of the cold war".

Nowadays, multipolarization and globalization enables China and the U.S. to have closer cooperation both in world affairs and trade. The U.S. became China's second largest trading partner. The trade volume between the two countries hit 262.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2006.

Carla Hills, chairman of the Board of Director of the National Committee on United States-China Relations said the two countries are doomed to have more common interest in the future, and as long as they can learn what each other needs, they would handle disputes effectively and improve their relationship in a healthy way.

Source: Xinhua

During his stay in Beijing, Rajapakse is to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, and meet with Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao separately.

As the year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic ties, Rajapakse will attend a celebration banquet together with Chinese top advisor Jia Qinglin.

Rajapakse will present two corneas to be used for transplants in China, and the two countries will sign a memorandum on cooperation in corneal transplants.

Besides, Rajapakse will also present a replica of a Buddha statue and a five-year old male elephant to China.

Besides Beijing, Rajapakse will also visit China's financial hub Shanghai, Guangzhou, capital city of the booming Guangdong Province in south China, and Hubei province in central China.

Mahinda Rajapakse is here at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Source: Xinhua

The draft law said China will implement coordinated employment policies in both urban and rural areas, so as to provide equal employment opportunities for the labor force.

The three-day 26th session of the 10th NPC Standing Committee opened on Monday.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese investment in Africa has reached new highs in recent years, highlighted by Hu's two previous trips to the continent since he took office in 2003.

His third trip, beginning next Tuesday, is intended to broaden the nation's reach and strengthen ties with the continent.

The 12-day tour will cover Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Seychelles.

The trip follows 3-nation tours in 2004 and April last year.

Analysts say the upcoming trip, Hu's first overseas mission of 2007, will demonstrate that Africa is high on China's diplomatic agenda.

"Hu's visit is the follow up to the Beijing summit," said Liu Naiya, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Liu said the trip was aimed at putting the work agreed at the summit into action.

"The eight nations are representative of Africa as a whole," he said. "They cover the north, south, west, east and center of the continent."

He added that the wide-ranging itinerary underlined the importance the government attached to relations with Africa.

He also said Hu's visit to Seychelles, a Chinese president's first visit to the tiny Indian Ocean islands, demonstrated Beijing's policy of treating countries on an equal footing no matter how large they are.

China's diplomatic drive in Africa in 2007 started with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing's seven-nation tour of mostly smaller countries from December 31 to January 8.

In recent years it has become a tradition for new foreign ministers to start their tenures with a tour of African nations.

A series of visits including the president and premier's respective African trips thrust China-Africa relations into the media spotlight at home and abroad last year.

The events reached a climax in November with the Beijing Summit of China-Africa Cooperation Forum, attended by the leaders of more than 40 African nations.

At the summit, China proposed an eight-point package to support African development, including reducing debt, cutting tariffs on African imports, increasing aid, improving vocational training and increasing investment.

Liu said the major task of Hu's trip would be to ensure the package's pledges were being carried out.

Cooperation beyond oil

Economic and trade cooperation with Africa covers much more than just oil and raw materials supplies, said analysts.

Observers said the strategic partnership features cooperation in areas such as telecom, food processing, tourism and infrastructure, paving the way for Africa to become a processor of commodities and a competitive supplier of goods and services to Asian countries.

Addressing the Shanghai National Accounting Institute last Friday, Harry G. Broadman, an economic adviser with the World Bank, said China's trade with and investment in Africa presents a significant opportunity for growth and integration of sub-Saharan nations into the global economy.

He said trade and investment between developed countries and Africa in the past has concentrated on natural resources, whereas China was helping Africa's economy diversify.

China's recent reduction on tariffs for African goods had been particularly beneficial for the continent, he added.

Source:China Daily/Agencies

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kristen Silverberg made the remarks after a regular communication visit to China from Jan. 21.

During the visit, she exchanged views with senior Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai on a wide range of major issues such as the Korean and Iranian nuclear issues, Sudan's Darfur issue and UN reform.

Silverberg said she thought China and the United States worked closely in the United Nations and could achieve positive results and that one aim of her China visit is to make sure the ties grow even closer.

She will leave Beijing for Tokyo on Wednesday and meet several Japanese senior officials.

Source: Xinhua

"China's aging population comes as the country's economy undergoes rapid growth and prolongs people's life expectancy," said Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

Zhang said China will not experience a social collapse or crisis which some people have predicted as the number of elderly in China grows.

By the end of 2005, China had nearly 144 million people over the age of 60, accounting for 11 percent of its population. The number of elderly people is increasing at a rate of three percent a year.

The ratio between China's working population and its retirees has dropped from 10:1 in 1990 into 3:1 in 2003. The figure is expected to reach 2.5:1 in 2020.

The soaring number of senior citizens has brought great challenges to China's social security network, medical care system and social service sector, but Zhang said the "problem is not so difficult to handle."

The Chinese government, said Zhang, has taken a series of measures to address the issue, including improving the social security network and the health care system, to ensure that "elderly people are properly cared for"

China is building a nationwide social security network which will focus on the needs of the elderly, according to a statement jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.

Statistics showed that 175 million people were enrolled in pension plans across China last year. More than 43.6 million retirees are receiving pensions.

A pilot program providing cooperative medicare in rural areas has been operating in some regions of China since 2003. By last June, the program had been extended to 1,399 counties, covering 495 million rural people or 73 percent of the elderly in the countryside.

The central government has required local governments to give preferential treatment to people over the age of 70 who are part of the new medicare program.

By the end of 2005, China had 1.5 million beds in various care centers for the elderly. The government said it will add 2.2 million beds for the aged in rural areas and 800,000 for those in cities within the next four years.

Experts have labeled the next 15 years as a "golden" period for China's economic development, during which the percentage of the population in the work force will be relatively high because the country's birth rate remains low.

"We will make full use of the next 15 years and take effective measures to avoid the side effects of an aging population," Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua

China will do its utmost to help resolving the Lebanon issue during the conference, spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

The third international conference on aid for Lebanon will be held in Paris this Thursday.

Over a phone conversation earlier between Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Seniora, Li affirmed China's support for rebuilding efforts in Lebanon.

A second Chinese engineering battalion headed for Lebanon on Monday to join the UN peacekeeping mission there.

Source: Xinhua

The election will be held on March 25. To qualify as a candidate, nominees must be Hong Kong permanent residents, aged 40 or above, and a Chinese citizen with no right of abode in any foreign country, according to the Gazette published Friday.

They must also have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for at least 20 years. And at least 100 members of the Election Committee must nominate each candidate.

The Electoral Affairs Commission has appointed Justice Louis Tong, a judge of the High Courts Court of First Instance of HKSAR, as the elections returning officer.

"The Electoral Affairs Commission will see to it that the Chief Executive election, as other elections, is held in accordance with the Basic Law and the relevant electoral legislations, and in a fair, open and honest manner," a spokesman for the commission said.

The commission has also released the updated Guidelines on Election-related Activities in respect of the Chief Executive Election.

Analysts here said that the incumbent chief executive, Donald Tsang, was expected to formally announce his decision to run for the top official post soon.

Source: Xinhua

It gave no figure for December alone, but China reported cumulative FDI of $54.26 billion in the first 11 months, pointing to December FDI of around $8.74 billion.

In all of 2005 China drew $60.33 billion in FDI, down slightly from the previous record of $60.6 billion in 2004.

Xinhua did not explain how it had arrived at the percentage growth figure for 2006. The $63.0 billion figure it reported is 4.43 percent greater than the $60.3 billion reported for 2005.

The figures cited by the Commerce Ministry do not include investments by foreigners in the financial sector.

Xinhua also cited Bo as saying that investment overseas by Chinese firms rose 32 percent from a year earlier in 2006, to $16.1 billion.

Beijing, intent to stimulate capital outflows to ease the upward pressure on the yuan , has been encouraging its companies to invest abroad to secure resources, build brands and win market share.

Such outbound investments more than doubled in 2005 to $12.3 billion.

The New York Fed's "Empire State" general factory conditions index fell to 9.13 from a downwardly revised 22.19 in December. December's reading was originally reported at 23.13. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a January reading of 20.00.

January's level was the lowest since June 2005, when the index bounced up to 8.94 from May 2005's minus 7.10, according to revised figures.

Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics in Boulder, Colorado, said the Empire index appeared to be playing catch-up with similar economic gauges but could also weigh on the Institute for Supply Management's next reading on nationwide manufacturing.

"Generally, the Empire survey has been running higher than the other sentiment indices like the Philly Fed. Now, it's correcting toward the other indices," said Englund.

"After this reading, we are expecting a 51.5 figure for the ISM in January, but it may signal some downside risk. It looks like a general decline on the major components but still running at a relatively solid level."

The new orders component fell to 10.26 in January from a downwardly revised 22.52. It was originally reported at 25.12 for December. The prices paid component rose to 35.11 from 28.09 in December.

The report's unfilled orders component firmed slightly to minus 8.51 in January from a downwardly revised minus 14.61 in December.

The survey of manufacturing plants in the state is one of the earliest monthly guideposts to U.S. factory conditions.

During the meeting, Correa expressed thanks to the Chinese government for sending Wang, who is also construction minister, to attend his presidential inauguration ceremony as a special envoy, and asked Wang to convey his greetings to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Correa spoke highly of China's economic achievements in recent years, saying that the Ecuadorian government had been paying great attention to developing relations with China. He also expressed the hope that the two countries could strengthen communication and cooperation in political, trade and other fields.

Ecuador also firmly pursues the one-China policy, and won't have any relations with Taiwan, the president said.

At the invitation of the Ecuadorian government, Wang attended Correa's inauguration ceremony on Monday as the Chinese government's special envoy.

Source: Xinhua

IMF chief Rodrigo de Rato said "a soft landing now seems more assured" for the United States — the world's largest economy.

Economic growth in the United States slowed considerably throughout last year, mostly reflecting the drag on the economy from the real-estate bust. Lower energy prices, however, have helped to cushion some of that fallout on both businesses and consumers, de Rato observed.

Ill effects from slower growth in the United States infecting other countries' economies "have so far at least been minimal," de Rato said, in a mostly upbeat assessment about the global economy's outlook.

Global economic growth this year will approach 5 percent, a strong performance, he said. The IMF estimated that the worldwide economy grew by 5.1 percent last year.

"Downside risks to this benign global economic environment seem now less than a few months ago," de Rato said in a briefing with reporters.

Declining oil prices have eased concerns about dampening worldwide growth on the one hand and worsening inflation on the other, he said. Moreover, "there are now welcome signs that the U.S. housing correction may be reaching a turning point," de Rato said.

Still, de Rato said it was too early to declare that the worst of the housing slump may be past for the U.S. economy.

In other matters, de Rato once again repeated the IMF's interest in seeing China press ahead on a more flexible currency policy.

That's of keen interest to the United States, which blames Beijing's currency practices for contributing to the United States' bloated trade deficit with China as well as the loss of U.S. factory jobs.

Against this backdrop, de Rato worried that "risks from protectionist sentiment seem to be on the rise" and he continued to call for the global community to work together to reduce lopsided trade and investment patterns that are a potential risk to the world's long-run economic stability.

De Rato also said the IMF would soon be getting another member: Montenegro, a country — slightly smaller than Connecticut — located in Southeastern Europe between the Adriatic Sea and Serbia. That would bring the total number of IMF member countries to 185.

Hong Kong topped the rankings for the 13th consecutive year with an 89.3 score out of 100 given its low taxes and highly flexible labor market. Singapore came second with a score of 85.7, while Australia jumped from ninth to third in a new ranking methodology which included labor freedoms for the first time.

Europe had four countries in the top 10 including the UK, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The United States came fourth.

The 2007 index showed that for the 157 countries rated, overall global economic freedom "stalled" slightly this year, after a sustained uptrend, with a 0.3 percent dip from the previous year's average.

The worst ranked country was        North Korea with three points.

The rankings employed criteria such as business freedom, tax rates, inflation, property rights and freedom from corruption.

For Hong Kong, the recent scrapping of a proposed goods and services tax was seen as positive, but a possible move to enact minimum wage laws could hurt the city's economic freedom by creating more unemployment, the report's editors said.

Singapore could have eclipsed Hong Kong were it not for heavy state influence in the banking sector, with a relatively low financial freedom score, they said.

A recent debate spurred by Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang's apparent dropping of the city's long-standing "laissez-faire" policy of positive non-interventionism was not considered a negative.

"We look at what's actually done, rather than what he says," said Mary Kissel, the editorial pages editor of the Wall Street Journal in Asia, who introduced the 2007 results.

LABOR FREEDOM

A revised ranking methodology which included criterion like labor freedom for the first time, allowed Australia to move up to third this year from ninth spot, leap-frogging the likes of Ireland and the United States.

But Asia's economic goliath China was ranked a lowly 119, behind countries such as Lesotho and Cameroon, given its lack of property rights and financial and investment freedom.

"It's well known internationally that the court system, the judicial system in China is not up to world standards," said Edwin Feulner, President of the Heritage Foundation. "This is an area that clearly, the right kind of leadership in China could make for a dramatic increase in economic freedom."

Of the 157 countries ranked, only seven were classified as "free" with a score of 80 or higher.

Twenty countries, including many in Asia like Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar had "repressed" economies with scores of less than 50.

Despite this, the authors said global poverty was found to be retreating as a result of international economic growth.

TABLE

Rank Country Percentage Freedom

1 Hong Kong 89.3

2 Singapore 85.7

3 Australia 82.7

4 United States 82.0

5 New Zealand 81.6

6 United Kingdom 81.6

7 Ireland 81.3

8 Luxembourg 79.3

9 Switzerland 79.1

10 Canada 78.7

Over the past week, surprises have come in stronger-than-expected reports on US job creation, the trade balance and retail sales -- all key contributors to economic activity.

Lehman Brothers chief US economist Ethan Harris on Friday boosted his forecast for fourth quarter 2006 growth to an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, a leap from the firm's prior call for just 2.0 percent growth.

"After slowing in November, the economy seems to have regained its stride," Harris said.

"With the last of the major data in, we are now revising fourth quarter        GDP to an above-trend 3.3 percent. A wide range of indicators have been stronger than expected. Most important have been the strong consumption data and the surprising improvement in the trade balance."

The latest data defy predictions that the slump in real estate would filter into other areas of the economy, notably consumer spending.

The latest data showed US employers added a healthy 167,000 new jobs in December, with unemployment holding at a low 4.5 percent. Average wages were up 4.2 percent annually.

A separate report Friday showed US retail sales increased 0.9 percent in December.

Retail sales are closely watched as consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of US economic activity. Some analysts have theorized that slumping housing prices may crimp spending in a reversal of the so-called wealth effect.

The higher retail sales "will juice up overall real growth in the fourth quarter to about 3.0 percent -- a substantial improvement from only 2.0 percent in the third quarter" said Brian Bethune at research firm Global Insight.

Even the US trade deficit, long a source of weakness, improved in the latest report to 58.2 billion dollars in November, as exports increased.

The data have eased pressure on the dollar and lifted the stock market to fresh highs.

The downside of the data is that it means the        Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates soon. And some say the Fed, which has been warning about inflation, could maintain its bias toward rate hikes or even increase rates at some point in 2007.

But some analysts say the strong data may be distorted by mild weather and drops in energy costs.

"Some of this strength, however, should prove illusory," said Wachovia Securities economists in a research note.

"Housing and motor vehicle production are still major drags on output, with residential construction expected to slice another percentage point off fourth quarter growth and declines in motor vehicle output slicing off another percentage point."

Wachovia expects GDP growth "to slow to around a two percent pace in 2007 and look for a string of seven consecutive quarters of GDP growth below three percent," the report said.

"Most of this slowing reflects the unraveling of the housing boom, which we believe still has a way to go. Consumer spending will also pack less punch but will post modest gains."

Wachovia said whether the slowdown is enough to allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in 2007 "has become an open question."

"The expansion looks far less precarious than it did even a few weeks ago," the economists said. "Provided economic conditions do not take a decided turn for the worse, a Fed ease will likely require a substantial lessoning of inflationary concerns."

Harris at Lehman Brothers said "a natural question is whether the solid fourth-quarter growth is a fluke."

He said data could be distorted by things such as the introduction of the new Windows Vista operating system, shifts in holiday shopping patterns, problems in the auto sector, the plunge in energy prices and unusually warm winter weather.

"However, looking closely at these factors on net they argue for more, not less strength in the first quarter of 2007," he said.

    XI'AN, Jan. 5 (Xinhua)-- China's top trade union leader Wang Zhaoguo said here Friday that trade unions at all levels should do more to protect workers' interests and help build a harmonious society.

    Wang, president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), said that Chinese workers are the backbone of a harmonious society.

    Trade unions should highlight protection of basic rights of workers, such as employment, income distribution and social security, he said.

    Trade unions should help workers solve problems and difficulties they face, said Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress.

    Formally founded on May 1, 1925, the ACFTU is the world's largest union in terms of membership, with 150 million members and 1.174 million branches by July 2006.

A five-minute-long video film revealed how the fighter takes off, lands, fires missiles and flies in formation.

A model of the single-seater Jian-10 was also unveiled by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), which spent seven years developing the fighter aircraft, the Taihang turbofan engine and the new-generation air-to-air missiles.

The multi-role Jian-10 has single-seater and two-seater versions.

China has become the fourth country in the world to develop its own advanced fighter aircraft, aero-engines and missiles, said Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of AVIC I.

The Jian-10 and the Taihang turbofan engine, both with proprietary intellectual property rights (IPR), herald the third generation of Chinese fighter aircraft and military aero-engines, said Geng.

The Jian-10 series marks a breakthrough in China's research and development of heavy fighter aircraft, said Liu Gaozhuo, executive commander in chief of the Jian-10 program.

Military observers say the Jian-10 can not match American fourth-generation fighter aircraft in performance but its basic design and home-made onboard equipment are comparable to those of mainstream fighter aircraft in the West.

The Jian-10 will help the Chinese Air Forces improve defense capabilities and speed up weapon modernization.

China is now capable of developing its own big thrust military aero-engines and the Taihang turbofan engine will power its third-generation fighter aircraft, said Liu.

Geng said the Chinese Air Force had been equipped with the country's newly-developed fourth-generation air-to-air missiles, which can launch beyond-visual-range and multi-target attacks and do not require further guidance after launch.

AVIC I has also successfully developed China's first turbofan regional jet, the ARJ21, which can carry 70 to 110 passengers.

The ARJ21 is expected to make its maiden flight in March 2008 and deliveries will begin before October 2009.

The manufacturer has received 71 orders for the plane from domestic airline companies including Shanghai Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

AVIC I is the leading aircraft manufacturer in China and provides the Chinese armed forces with 90 percent of their airborne weapons.

It has already produced 1,500 aircraft, 50,000 aero-engines and over 10,000 missiles.

Company sales have grown six years in a row to reach 80 billion yuan (10.26 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006, up 15.7 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, profits reached three billion yuan, up 42 percent.

    The value of the RMB has risen nearly 3.86 percent since China decided to revalue its currency in July 2005.

    The central parity of the RMB against the other four major currencies announced on Friday by the Trading Center were as follows: 10.2665 yuan to one euro, 6.5630 yuan to 100 Japanese yen, 1.00467 yuan to one HK dollar and 15.3232 yuan to one pound.

    According to Ye Yaoting, a forex analyst from the Bank of Communications, commercial banks needed to sell their dollars at the end of the fiscal year.

    "The move drove up demand for the RMB and helped further increase the value of the local currency," Ye said.

The economy would probably grow by around 9.5 percent in 2007 as anticipated rises in domestic consumption offset slowing fixed-asset investment and foreign trade, the State Information Center said in a report.

The body, which is part of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, said that it expected gross domestic product to grow within a range of 8.5 percent to 10.5 percent next year.

"If the economy maintains a steady but fast growth,        GDP growth should be at about 9.5 percent," said the report published in the Shanghai Securities News.

The economy is on track to record its fourth straight year of double-digit growth in 2006, but many economists expect it to slow modestly in 2007.

Separately, assistant central bank governor Yi Gang told a forum that he expected consumer inflation to remain steady at within 3 percent next year, as a good grain harvest this year meant pressure on food prices would be limited.

Annual consumer price inflation has remained at below 2 percent all of this year, but it jumped to 1.9 percent in November from 1.4 percent in October largely because of rapid growth in food prices.

PRICE RISES SEEN SHORT-LIVED

Tang Xu, head of the Peoples Bank of Chinas research department, told the same forum that recent price rises for agricultural products were of no large concern and could actually be beneficial to farmers.

"It will probably be a short-lived phenomenon. We will keep an eye on that. But its unlikely the central bank will take any measures," he said, adding that he expected CPI inflation to stay at around 2 percent next year.

Tangs department initially made that forecast for inflation in a research report published earlier this month; it projected GDP growth of 9.8 percent in 2007.

The State Information Center said in its report on Tuesday that it saw annual growth in fixed-asset investment slowing to around 20 percent in 2007 due to recent government measures to rein in runaway capital spending, which peaked at 31.3 percent annual growth in the first half.

The think-tank said that consumer prices would probably rise 2 percent next year, as retail sales expanded by about 12.5 percent.

Imports and exports would slow, but the trade surplus would expand to around $180 billion, it said. Export growth would fall 10 percentage points to about 15 percent partly on further yuan appreciation and lower export tax rebates, it added.

Annual growth in Chinas broad M2 money supply -- which slowed in November to 16.8 percent from 17.1 percent in October -- should reach 16 percent next year, it said.

The domestic A-share market, which has almost doubled its value in 2006, would gain a further 20-30 percent next year, said the report, jointly prepared by the Shanghai Securities News.

It added that the yuan might appreciate a further 3 to 4 percent next year. The yuan has gained 3.7 percent since it was revalued by 2.1 percent to 8.11 per dollar on July 21, 2005, and freed from a dollar peg to float within managed bands.

In an interview with Xinhua, Li said the basic meaning of Chinas peaceful development road was to both develop China itself through safeguarding world peace and promote world peace through Chinas development.

"In the past year, China has played a constructive role in many major international and regional issues, such as the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear issue," said Li, "China has proved through action that she is a good friend and partner of the world people,"

Li noted that China has actively participated in multilateral diplomacy, continued to support the reform of the United Nations, participated in a wide range of activities of the United Nations and international multilateral economic organizations, and conducted all-round economic and technological cooperation and exchanges with foreign countries.

China has also offered help and aid within its own ability to those countries and people who suffered from natural disasters and other difficulties, such as rescuing Vietnamese fishing ships and offering aid to Indonesia, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Thailand and the Philippines who suffered from earthquake, flood, mud-rock flow and sinkage of oil-tank.

"Chinese leaders have expounded Chinas policies of peaceful development road, opening up strategy featuring mutual benefits and advocation of a harmonious world, and have received international praise," said Li.

He said Chinese leaders have expounded these policies at various occasions, such as the G-8 Summit held in Russia in July, the 14th Economic Leaders Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Vietnam in November and the sixth Asia-Europe meeting held in Finland in September.

"More and more countries have recognized that Chinas development is peaceful, open, cooperative and harmonious development, and China is a staunch force in safeguarding world peace and promoting common prosperity," said Li.

The yuans gradual appreciation against the dollar has gained momentum in weeks leading up to an inaugural round of "strategic economic talks" involving top members of U.S. President George W. Bushs administration.

The official, or parity, rate for the yuan was set at a record high of 7.8197. The yuan gained further in early trading, dealers said.

In July 2005, China revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent to 8.11 yuan per dollar. Since then, it has gained about 3.6 percent against the dollar.

In opening remarks to the trade talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Chinas currency policies would be among topics tackled in the two days of discussions.

Many American manufacturers say Beijing keeps the yuan undervalued against the dollar, giving Chinese exporters an artificial price advantage in overseas markets and contributing to Chinas huge trade surplus.

China has pledged to gradually loosen foreign exchange controls and let market forces determine the yuans value. 

Chinese officials contend that such changes must be gradual to avoid shocks to the countrys developing financial institutions.

In comments at Thursdays meeting, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi echoed pledges to reform the currency system.

Wu, a former trade minister, said Beijing would move toward making the countrys interest rates and the yuans exchange rate "genuinely based on market supply and demand."

Following the Democratic Partys advance in midterm elections, Bushs administration faces renewed pressure to make progress in trimming the U.S. trade deficit with China, which surged to a record US$202 billion last year and is expected to run even higher this year.

The yuans gain early Thursday ran counter to the dollars overnight recovery against major currencies elsewhere.

The Peoples Bank of China, the central bank, announces the parity rate -- a weighted average of prices given by market makers, excluding the highest and lowest offers, early each trading morning.

On Wednesday, the dollar was at 7.8248 on the over-the-counter market.

According to the report, continued robust investment demand and a pickup in private consumption should maintain Chinas GDP grow that high rates.

"Chinas economy remains favorable in the coming years," said Richard Newfarmer, the reports lead author.

According to the report, Chinas export growth rates are projected to decelerate toward 14 percent in 2008, lower than the estimated 20.3 percent increase in the year 2006, noted the report.

Richard New farmer said the modest slowdown is not a bad thing for China, which will help ease pressure on Chinas economic growth.

The report also said in the coming years, signs of overheating in China will be limited to specific sectors and regions. While production capacity continues to expand in line with demand, inflation remains low, and the current account is in surplus -- all of which augur well for a soft landing.

But the report also mentioned that high investment rates and excess capacity in several sectors dominated by state-owned enterprises will leave open the possibility of a sharp decline in investment.

The year 2006 witnessed Chinas efforts to contain its soaring investment for a balanced economy.

Rapid investment growth, and a surge in exports as new capacity came on stream, saw the Chinese economy expand by 10.7 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2006.

Investment demand in China was particularly strong in the first half of 2006, but the World Bank report said Chinas efforts to contain investment via tighter monetary policy and sector-specific administrative measures have resulted in a modest slowing of GDP in the third quarter to a 10.4 percent pace.

The World Bank report also said that robust expansion in credit and money supply, in part fueled by strong balance of payment inflows, helped support an acceleration in domestic demand, whose contribution to growth increased to an estimated 7.3 percentage points in 2006, up from 5.6 percentage points the year before.

During the first nine months of 2006, Chinas trade surplus increased to 110 billion U.S. dollars, already higher than the total for all of the 2005, and its international reserves have exceeded one trillion dollars.

According to the World Bank report, owing to years of annual export growth of more than 20 percent, China has overtaken the United States as the worlds second-largest exporting nation during the course of this year.

Bert Hofman, World Banks Lead Economist for China, told Xinhua that seeking both external and internal balance in economy is still a major task for China to do in the coming years. And Chinas 11th Five-year Plan is an important policy to readjust itseconomy for future sustained and healthy development.

He suggests China should pay more attention to environmental pollution, which is also a major challenge not only for the East Asia and Pacific region, but also for the whole world.

Total exports this year are estimated at 960 billion dollars, a rise of 26 per cent year-on-year, while imports are expected to surge 22 per cent to reach 810 billion dollars.

Dramatic increases were seen in the exports of machinery and electric products and high-tech products during the past months.

Imports of primary products grew quickly this year as a result of robust domestic demand and high prices in the international markets.

Imports and exports of general trade grew at 25.3 per cent year-on-year to 547.2 billion dollars in the first three quarters while processing trade grew at 21.8 per cent to 596.2 billion dollars.

However, Chinas foreign trade growth could see a slowdown next year, increasing by about 15 per cent year-on-year to 2 trillion dollars, the report predicted.

The trade surplus is likely to continue in the coming years, said Li Yushi, a research fellow with the academy.

"Chinas trade surplus, which has aroused much concern since last year, mainly results from the world manufacturing industrys transfer to China," he said. "China has been regarded by most multinationals as a vital link in their international production chain."

The country saw an annual trade surplus of only 20-30 billion dollars before 2005, but last years 109.8 billion dollars volume made the country the fourth largest in the world in trade surplus.

"China is not in pursuit of a trade surplus. On the contrary, the continuous growth in trade surplus has become one of the major concerns of the government," Li said. "Delegations have often been sent to major trade partners, such as the United States, for big deals of imports."

The trade surplus totalled 109.8 billion dollars in the first three quarters this year, but October witnessed a sudden monthly record of 23.8 billion dollars.

Experts contributed the climb to the latest adjustment in the tax rebate regime. The central government plans to reduce or scrap the tax rebate on exports of some products in December, which prompted many exporters to fulfil orders before the new tax rebate rate is adopted.

"Such big volume is not expected to last long," said Liu Haiquan, deputy director of the MOCs comprehensive trade and market affairs department.

(Source: China Daily via Xinhua)

China has so far complied with only one of five EU criteria needed to gain MES.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who visited China last week, said on Monday the country was making some progress on the other four -- including adopting international accounting and bankruptcy standards -- although there was no immediate possibility of granting the status to China.

But in 10 years time China will automatically get MES under the terms of its World Trade Organisation accession in 2001.

"We will have to reach a judgment in due course about how legitimate it is to continue to withhold such a status which China will get in any case ... and it might be preferable to negotiate some advantages for European economic interests along the way," Mandelson told a conference on trade policy.

Brussels and Beijing are due to launch talks in January for a wide-ranging agreement covering political and economic issues.

The EU wants to China to open up further its fast-growing economy, creating opportunities for European companies.

But several European governments have complained their manufacturing industries are under threat from unfair competition from China.

"The performance of the Chinese economy in the past 5 to 10 years has been historically remarkable, even by earlier Chinese standards," said Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System.

"To continue to grow nearly 10 per cent year after year is an enormous achievement," Volcker said.

The former US Federal Reserve chairman, who held the post from 1979 to 1987, said there needs to be some rebalancing in the Chinese economy if it is to maintain healthy growth in the long term.

"I do think the economy has reached a point where some rebalancing is probably necessary," Volcker said in an interview on the sidelines of the 10th annual BusinessWeek CEO Forum, which ended in Beijing on Friday.

In particular, the former Federal Reserve chairman said China should expand internal consumption to drive its growth.

"There should be more room for consumption and a little less for investment to get a more balanced growth over time," Volcker said.

Su Ning, deputy governor of the Peoples Bank of China, sounded the same alarm on Thursday at the forum.

According to Su, the share of domestic consumption in the national economy has been on a downswing since the l980s.

The proportion has slumped from 62 per cent in the 1980s to 52 per cent last year, a trend that Su said may pose problems for economic development.

"And moving towards more internal consumption will also help solve the imbalance in the external side," Volcker said.

The central banks Su also identified the balance of payments as one of the problems nagging Chinas economy.

Chinas foreign trade surplus hit US$109.9 billion in the first nine months of this year.

Exports jumped by 30.6 per cent year-on-year in September to US$91.64 billion.

"It is in the interests of China itself and the world that it moves away from excessive reliance on exports," said Volcker, who once headed the UNs Independent Inquiry Committee into its Oil-for-Food Programme.

The former US Federal Reserve chairman suggested there should be more restraint on the monetary side.

"There are many instruments to do that," he said, without going into detail.