News in review

Monday November 38

China looks to build military facilities in Djibouti

China is negotiating with Djibouti on the construction of 'military supporting facilities', the first of its kind for China in Africa.

Wu Qian, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said the aim is to 'provide better logistics and safeguard Chinese peacekeeping forces in the Gulf of Aden, offshore Somalia and other humanitarian assistance tasks of the UN'.

The East African country is on the Gulf of Aden, bordering the Red Sea and across from Yemen. It currently hosts military forces from the US, France, Italy, Japan and Pakistan.

The largest foreign military base in Djibouti is US Camp Lemonier that, according to its website, is a Navy led installation hosting approximately 4,000 US military personnel.

China has 575,000 people with HIV/AIDS

Six out of every 10,000 people in China may be infected with HIV/AIDS, according to official figures released on Monday, the eve of World AIDS Day.

The number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in China had hit 575,000 by the end of October, with 177,000 deaths, said the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

Describing the situation as a mild pandemic, the China CDC said men who have sex with men have become the group with the highest infection rate. Around 8 percent of men who have sex with men in China are living with HIV/AIDS, according to 2015 statistics.

Sexual transmission is the main infection channel, with infection through heterosexual activities accounting for 66.6 percent of total cases, those through homosexual activities 27.2 percent.

There were 2,662 new cases of students living with HIV/AIDS reported from January to October, a surge of 27.8 percent year-on-year, the CDC said.

Tuesday December 1

Yuan makes it into IMF's currency basket

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday admitted China's yuan into its benchmark currency basket, after completing the regular five yearly reviews of the basket of currencies that make up the Special Drawing Right (SDR).

Starting on October 1, 2016, the RMB is determined to be a freely usable currency and will be included in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the US dollar, the euro,the Japanese yen and the British pound.

The inclusion of the RMB will enhance the attractiveness of the SDR by diversifying the basket and making it more representative of the world's major currencies.

The weight of the RMB in the SDR basket is 10.92 percent, whereas the weights of the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound are 41.73 percent, 30.93 percent, 8.33 percent and 8.09 percent respectively.

China delivers its first regional jetliner

China's first indigenously designed regional jet made by the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) landed in the Shuangliu International Airport in Shuangliu county, Sichuan, after flying from Shanghai.

Chengdu Airlines ordered 30 ARJ21 jets from the state-owned COMAC. The first arrived in the Shuangliu airport on Sunday and the rest will arrive within the next five or six years, said Huang Weicheng, an information officer with the Chengdu Airlines.

The ARJ21 is China's first regional jet made in line with international standards. Its maiden flight was in Shanghai on November 28, 2008, after the project started in April 2002. (Photo 5)

Wednesday December 2

Chinese group buys stake in UK football club

A Chinese consortium led by China Media Capital Holdings is investing $400 million in the Abu Dhabi-based company that owns Manchester City Football club, the top-ranked English Premier League team.

CMC, a Shanghai-based private-equity fund that owns the broadcast rights to the Chinese Super League, is teaming up with CITIC Capital Holdings to buy 13 percent of City Football Group, which also owns New York City Football Club and Melbourne City Football Club, according to a statement. The deal values City Football at $3 billion.

The deal was announced just weeks after President Xi Jinping visited Manchester City's training ground, where he posed for a selfie with players.

'Football is now at a fascinating and critical stage of development in China,' CMC chairman Li Ruigang said in the statement. 'We see unprecedented growth opportunities in both its development as an industry, being China's most watched sport, and its inspirational role bringing people of all ages together with a shared passion.'

400,000 people to move to Beijing suburb

Beijing will move many of its city administration offices out of the city center to the eastern suburb of Tongzhou, and about 400,000 residents will eventually leave the capital city for the suburban district, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning.

Tongzhou is about a 40-minute drive from Beijing.

The move will help the capital ease urban problems, such as slowing the city's population growth and moving out some of Beijing's non-capital functions, according to the commission.

Thursday December 3

Road rage rising in China

Chinese traffic police have handled more than 17 million cases involving road rage like arbitrary lane changes and dangerous overtaking this year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Though the number of cases handled by police has only risen by 2.8 percent year-on-year, there are more accidents involving road rage, according to the ministry. In 2013, 80,200 accidents were attributed to anger behind the wheel, a 4.9-percent year-on-year increase. The number rose by 2.4 percent in 2014.

The ministry also warned the country's 322 million drivers about 'distracted driving,' which it said caused 21,570 deaths in 2014.

According to the ministry, China has more than 169 million car owners.

AIIB to lend up to $15 billion a year

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the new international development bank led by China, plans to lend $10 billion to $15 billion a year for the first five or six years, a top official said on Tuesday.

The new lender, which will be inaugurated later this month, plans to conduct its first board meeting next month and will support infrastructure development and connectivity in Asia, said Jin Liqun, the president-designate of the AIIB.

'The bank is neither a Chinese bank nor a bank owned by the Chinese government, but one owned by all participating countries,' said Jin in Beijing.

Jin did not specify any priority projects for the AIIB or the countries that would be the beneficiaries of initial loans, but said around 30 countries are waiting in line for membership and this would increase the bank's capital.

Friday December 4

SOEs hit by 21% decline in profits

About 21 percent of China's listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw profit losses in the first three quarters, with the worst 10 losing about 13.5 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Among the deficit-wrenched, 30 percent are steel and non-ferrous smelting companies and 20 percent are coal firms, said the newspaper.

Sinopec Oilfield Service Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinopec Group, led the plunge with 2.06 billion yuan losses in the last three quarters, followed by the Chinese steel firm SGIS Songshan Co Ltd with 1.78 billion yuan.

The Chinese government has been stepping up efforts in recent years to overhaul the state sector by rolling out a slew of measures, including encouraging private investment and mixed ownership, in a bid to scrape off overcapacity and piling stock.

Property prices could drop in 2016: Report

It's possible that home prices may suffer a blow starting from the second quarter next year, said the Chinese Academy of Social Science in a report.

Despite recent pickup supported by owners moving up the property chain, housing sales remain sluggish, with inventory pressure hardly relieved, said the report. The recovery of the housing market lacks a strong foundation, and the diverging trend is set to continue in 2016, said the institute.

The institute proposed more interest rate cuts and increased coverage of provident funds among low- and middle-income residents.

The country saw new home prices in 100 major cities rise for a fourth consecutive month in November, according to a survey by independent research agency China Index Academy,with average price per square meter up 0.46 percent month-on-month to 10,899 yuan($1,704).

(China Daily 12/04/2015 page15)