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Overseas experts expect China’s new economic zone to deepen all-round opening up

Aerial photo taken on March 31, 2017 shows Baiyangdian, north China’s largest freshwater wetland, in Anxin County, north China’s Hebei Province.

International media reports and observers say the establishment of China’s new economic zone not only provides a new blueprint for the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, but also indicates China’s determination to deepen its opening up in an all-round way.

China announced Saturday it would establish the Xiongan New Area in north China’s Hebei Province, which is located some 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing.

Well-known international media outlets have enthusiastically reported about the new economic zone, regarding it a major decision of the Chinese government to promote the coordinated development of the BTH region, and a signal of China’s willingness to continue to embrace globalization and free trade.

The Associated Press said the economic area is part of a plan to integrate the capital with its surrounding areas, noting that prior to this, the Chinese government had already planned to jointly develop Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and Hebei Province to boost regional and economic development in the northern region.

The Strait Times of Singapore said the removal of non-capital functions from Beijing is part of a greater strategy to integrate the development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei for a better economic structure, a cleaner environment and improved public services.

Bloomberg cited Bill Bowler, a sales trader at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, as saying that this would be one of the centerpieces of a high-level development plan for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Moreover, overseas analysts believe that the establishment of the new economic area will broaden economic growth and improve the level of China’s opening-up.

Jose Ignacio Martinez, an international relations researcher from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said Xiongan New Area’s intended focus on developing high-end, high-tech industries has positive meaning for the country’s overall industrial upgrading, and will stimulate a new round of China’s economic growth.

Martinez also noted that Xiongan New Area’s policy on opening up will further promote foreign direct investment and improve the level of China’s opening up, citing the the successful examples of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area.

Paola De Simone, an expert on international law and economic analyst from Argentina, said China’s determination to build the area is an important component of the effort to promote economic globalization, and the setting up of Xiongan New Area will continue to boost the openness and inclusiveness of China’s foreign communication and cooperation.

Simone added that Xiongan New Area, along with the seven new free trade zones, demonstrates China’s open and friendly attitude toward the world.

She said China’s step-by-step promotion of opening up is conducive to improving its production efficiency, driving its consumption, boosting foreign direct investment and enhancing innovative ability.

Managing economic development as well as risks

A worker at a plant in Xingtai, Hebei province, Jan 25, 2017.

Despite China’s slower but more sustainable growth path, economic growth remains high by global standards as the country’s population ages and the economy re-balances from investment to consumption and from manufacturing to services.

Still, as China’s economic reforms continue, risks need to be addressed, as President Xi Jinping said recently, to cope with corporate over-leveraging, as well as to reduce overcapacity in the real estate and heavy industry sectors.

In the last few decades, the government has always been careful to pay attention to economic signals, including those against potential risks and problems, and carefully planned the structural reforms. The recently concluded annual sessions of the country’s top legislature and top political advisory body also took note of the financial risks and adopted measures to tackle them.

Why is this important? Because the debt of non-financial enterprises in China has reached almost 170 percent of GDP by the end of last year, the highest level among leading economies, with State-owned enterprises accounting for more than 70 percent of the total corporate debt. In this context, the government’s measures to tackle financial risks should include the gradual removal of implicit guarantees to SOEs and restricting leveraged investment in the assets markets.

China has already made progress on this front. Namely, the guidelines to deepen reforms of SOEs, issued in September 2015, describe six priority areas including aspects like mixed ownership and transitioning to a modern enterprise system. And 68 percent of the central government-controlled SOEs under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council had introduced non-State managers by the end of 2015, and more than 80 percent of all the SOEs under SASAC have set up or are in the process of setting up a board.

In addition to allowing companies with high debts (especially those in overcapacity industries) to exit the market, the government should also help them restructure, and ensure that the process takes place gradually in order to prevent the waste of valuable resources (which could be better used more efficiently or to make growth more inclusive).

Therefore, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggests that insolvency procedures of the so-called zombie enterprises could be accelerated to reduce uncertainty and compensate laid-off workers.

Another aspect emphasized by the OECD regards the sharing of the benefits of growth, since China’s tax and transfer system remains less efficient than those in other leading economies. For example, many low-income households pay a higher share of their incomes as social security premiums than the richer ones. And workers who are outside the formal labor market are not required to participate in the pension and medical insurance schemes, potentially increasing their financial vulnerability.

Hence, the OECD believes that the authorities should base the calculation of social security contributions of low-income households on their actual incomes, instead of the current system that prescribes a minimum contribution calculated on an imputed value of their earnings equivalent to 60 percent of the previous year’s local average wage. The subsequent loss of revenue can be partly offset by the money that can be realized by reforming the individual income tax system, say, by abolishing the tax exemptions that favor high-income households. For instance, the interest received on government bonds or savings in banks, which now is non-taxable income, should be taxed.

All in all, it is important to highlight that the Chinese economy will remain the major driver of global growth, which is good news to the world economy. And once enterprises improve their performance through innovation and entrepreneurship, and the SOE reforms gain pace through exposure to market mechanisms, more jobs will be created and the benefits of economic growth can be shared by all.

China’s central bank continues to drain liquidity from market

China’s central bank on Friday skipped the open market operations of reverse repos, draining liquidity from the market.

This was the sixth consecutive business day that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has halted the open market operations of reverse repos, a process where it purchases securities from banks with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

This meant that there was no injection of short-term funds into the banking system, which led to a net cash withdrawal, as previous reverse repos matured Friday and siphoned 30 billion yuan (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) from the market.

The PBOC said in a statement that liquidity in the banking system was “at a relatively high level” as the government sped up fiscal spending near the end of the month.

Fiscal expenditures mean fiscal deposits flow into commercial banks from the central bank, thus, improving market liquidity.

China has pledged to pursue a prudent and neutral monetary policy in 2017, with the M2, a broad measure of the money supply, to grow by around 12 percent, one percentage point lower than the 2016 target.

China sees robust air passenger growth in January

China’s civil aviation sector posted strong passenger growth despite a decline in cargo transportation in January this year, official data showed Monday.

Air passenger trips in January increased 17.6 percent year on year to 43.9 million, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The pace was faster than the 11.8-percent growth registered for the whole year of 2016.

Passenger trips made on domestic routes rose 17.4 percent year on year to 38.96 million in January, while those made on international routes surged 19.1 percent to 4.97 million.

In January, air cargo and mail freight topped 565,000 tonnes in January, decreasing 3.8 percent year on year, affected by waning domestic cargo and mail business.

Domestic air cargo and mail freight declined 5.6 percent in January year on year to 409,000 tonnes, while international cargo and mail freight increased 0.9 percent in January to 156,000 tonnes.

Unilever prepares sale of food brands: newspapers

Unilever is preparing a 6 billion pound ($7.44 billion) sale of some of its food brands, British newspapers reported on Saturday.

The Anglo-Dutch company is planning to sell Flora margarine and Stork butter brands, the Sunday Times said.

The Sunday Telegraph, which also cited a figure of 6 billion pounds, quoted sources as saying private equity firms Bain Capital, CVC and Clayton Dubilier and Rice have started working on offers for these businesses. Unilever did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The maker of Knorr soups, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream rebuffed a surprise $143 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz last month, stating that the group “sees no merit, either financial or strategic, for Unilever’s shareholders.”

The company has launched a business review to consider returning cash to shareholders, making medium-sized acquisitions and more aggressive cost cuts, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. In a report released in January, Unilever stated that its food business sector sustained its return to growth, driven by the packs with easy-out technology and organic variants.

Shared bikes revitalize cycle industry

Ofo bikes around Chaoyang Park in Beijing.

Until fairly recently, bicycle production had been considered a sunset industry, but a nationwide resurgence caused by the popularity of shared bikes has given it a second lease of life.

Li Dewu, the manager of a bike production company based in Shenzhen says he never expected such a spike in demand.

Last year the downturn in demand had Li worried about his business, but an order for thousands of shared bikes just before the Chinese New Year turned things around. Li described the major deal as a second madness in his twenty year career that made him both excited and yet also a little nervous.

Hu Zefeng, who runs a cycle production company in Shenzhen, also had a busy few months with deals for over 1.5 million bikes received in total. “We have employed about 500 new workers and added 7 more assembly lines from Shenzhen to Tianjin.” Hu said.

The demand for bike parts and accessories has also seen a boost. Du Kaishan, manager of a bike saddle provider said: “my factory is over loaded now, with hundreds of thousands saddles having to be made in a single deal every month.”

The ubiquitous shared bikes are causing a stir in China. Companies such as Ofo and Mobike have over 10 million registered users and distribute cycles to every corner of cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

According to statistics from the China Cycle Association, over 2 million shared bikes have been placed in more than 30 cities in China since 2016.

Pricier cycles

The expansion in the shared bike market has, however, been accompanied by a rise in the price of cycles. Producers have raised their prices by 5 percent on average, according to The Paper.

A manager at a cycle assembly factory in Suzhou said the high demand for shared bikes had resulted in a shortage of cycle supplies, which influences the cost of the end product.

An industry insider said another element triggering pricier bikes is the rising price of steel and rubber, the raw materials used to make cycle frames and tires. Some types of steel have seen a 35 percent increase in prices over the last year, rubber nearly 70 percent.

Most of the cycle producers though said that they would continue with the original price of each bike or perhaps raise it a little for regular clients. Ofo, Mobike and new business entrant Bluegogo have all denied that the cost of their cycles has gone up.

China enhances crackdown on capital market fraud

World Consumer Rights Day has arrived, and China plans to enhance its crackdown on capital market fraud.

The country’s top securities regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), announced last Friday that it would impose the maximum penalty on office service provider China Nine Top and AnShan Heavy Duty Mining Machinery for severe violations of information disclosure rules.

China Nine Top is reported to have inflated its revenue and bank deposits while covering up an assets gap in order to restructure with the listed company AnShan Heavy Duty Mining Machinery.

Besides exposing companies faking assets to get listed, securities watchdogs have punished other capital market counterfeit practices such as inflating financial performance to avoid delisting, and fraudulent initial public offerings using fake documents.

In order to stay on the stock market, a property developer close to being delisted due to poor financial performance turned a profit from a loss in 2016 by selling part of its equity at an over-valued price in the fourth quarter, according to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

There will be enhanced supervision over year-end asset selling, and restructuring to crack down upon profit manipulation, according to the stock exchange.

In February, the CSRC announced 20 representative illegal stock market cases of 2016, including the high-profile case of Dandong Xintai Electric, the first company to be forced to delist from the Chinese stock market due to IPO disclosure cheating.

“We will continue to expose some influential fraud cases in areas like restructuring and acquisition,” said Liu Shiyu, head of the CSRC, late February. “For wrongdoings on the capital markets, we will follow and treat them in a timely and tough manner.”

The CSRC imposed 139 administrative punishment decisions last year, 13 as cases of financial fraud.

“Listed companies are profit-seeking, and it seems that they can get more than what they might have to pay for, by cheating, so they make reckless moves to try their luck,” said Tian Lihui, a financial professor with Nankai University. “So there should be harsher punishment, and most importantly, improvement of the legal framework of the capital market, such as stricter requirements for information disclosure.”

Meanwhile, regulators are also working on improving the delisting mechanism to improve the overall quality of the stock market and regulate backdoor listing.

“The CSRC will require stricter information disclosure to deter financial cheating, urge intermediaries like accounting agencies and stock exchanges to fulfill due responsibility and modify delisting standards,” said Jiang Yang, deputy head of the CSRC, last week.

Lincoln to make SUV in China with Chang’an Auto Group

Lincoln, the luxury unit of Ford Motor Co, said on Monday that it plans to build a luxury sport utility vehicle in China in partnership with the Chang’an Automobile Group.

The as-yet unnamed vehicle will be built at a plant in the city of Chongqing. It is scheduled to go on sale in late 2019 only in China, the world’s largest auto market, according to Lincoln spokesman Said Deep.

Building in China will help Lincoln meet growing customer demand and enable the company to become more responsive to changing customer preferences, Deep wrote in an email. “As Lincoln grows in China it makes sense to produce this new SUV in China,” he added.

Lincoln exports its vehicles from North America to China, and reported sales of 32,558 in 2016, three times more than it sold in 2015.

Ford and its joint venture partners sold a record 1.27 million vehicles in China last year. Lincoln isn’t the only US luxury brand taking aim at China. General Motors said its Cadillac volume in China rose 46 percent in 2016 to 116,406 , the first time it passed 100,000 vehicles in China in a single year.

Boeing’s first overseas factory to be built in China’s Zhoushan

Boeing and Chinese aviation manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd.(COMAC) will start to build a Boeing 737 completion center in eastern China’s Zhoushan city at the end of March, scheduled to make its first delivery in 2018.

This is Boeing’s first overseas facility as part of its 737 production system, and designed to deliver 100 Boeing 737 planes a year.

In the joint-venture completion center, Boeing’s 737 aircraft will be installed with flight entertainment systems and seats. The plant in Zhoushan, 287 km southeast of Shanghai, also provides services such as coating, repair and maintenance of Boeing aircraft.

Boeing and COMAC signed an agreement in October 2016 to set up the Zhoushan plant, which will consist of two parts: the 737 completion center, a joint venture of Boeing and COMAC, and the 737 delivery center owned by Boeing.

Construction of the delivery center will also start at the end of March.

To accommodate aircraft manufacturing in Zhoushan, Putuoshan Airport in the city is undergoing a 750 million yuan (108 million U.S. dollars) expansion to become an international airport.

In addition to supporting Boeing, the aviation base in Zhoushan will also develop an entire industrial chain for aircraft manufacturing, with the capacity of assembling, delivering and modifying 600 aircraft a year by 2025.

Zhoushan is an archipelago and island city in Zhejiang Province, which has the largest fishery in China and boasts strong shipbuilding, tourism and service industries.

5% listed Chinese companies led by females

A female user of Red (Xiao Hongshu) poses with the company’s staff at its anniversary celebration in Shanghai.

About one in every 20 A-share companies is led by female, according to a report by Securities Times released on International Women’s Day on Wednesday.

The number of chairwomen in Chinese mainland-listed firms totals 151, accounting for 5 percent of all top posts. Equipment manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemical engineering, real estate, and automobile are the top five industries with most female business leaders.

About 70 percent of the chairwomen were born in the 60s or 70s, according to the report. Corporate head Hu Jiajia of Shanghai Metersbonwe Fashion & Accessories Co and Liu Xiaoqing of Dalian Yi Qiao Sea Cucumber Co, both 30, are the youngest.

Of the 153 A-share firms run by women, 56 are listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange, 45 on Shenzhen small-and-medium enterprise board, and 31 on NASDAQ-styled ChiNext board.

Among the 145 chairwomen who have disclosed their education background, four have doctorate degree and 10 have studied abroad, noted the report.

According to a survey by professional networking site LinkedIn, 44 percent of all senior management roles in companies were held by women last year.

The need to balance family obligations and pressure from society are still believed to be major obstacles for women in the business world.