American companies see hopes for future in China

Tweet

The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said US companies have achieved great success in the past year in China, and are optimistic about the two nations' closer ties and win-win prospects.

The report was released on Wednesday as President Hu Jintao is paying a state visit to the United States.

The Chamber said despite challenging market conditions and an increasingly competitive business environment, 87 percent of the 346 US companies in China reported revenue growth, surging from 47 percent in 2009 and 77 percent in 2008.

Seventy-nine percent of them said they are in the black, up from 65 percent in 2009 and 70 percent in 2008.

The report, entitled China Business Report 2010-2011, showed 61 percent of the US companies increased their market share in China, up from 40 percent in 2009 and 52 percent in 2008.

Brenda Foster, president of the Chamber, said there are clear challenges to doing business in China, but reiterated a statement last week from US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that "the economic strings of US and China are in many ways complementary".

"And although China faces a complicated set of challenges, it is very much in the interests of not only the American business community, but in the interests of the United States to well manage China's business event," Foster said.

"The result of this year's survey shows that the financial performance of American companies in China improved in 2010, following what had been an uneven growth between 2008 and 2009. Not only have US companies recovered, they are reporting all-time performance highs and remain optimistic about their business prospects," said Foster.

Although showing impressive financial results, US companies report that China remains a challenging business environment for a host of reasons. Finding enough qualified staff is the No 1 business challenge, and competition is picking up not only between US and other foreign companies but between US and Chinese companies - both private and State-owned enterprises.



"This year's survey results indicate that US companies in China have come to expect challenges in the China market and have weighed them against the opportunities and have found a way to succeed despite them," said Foster. "Nonetheless, it is essential that the US continues to aggressively engage China to address key business challenges that hinder market access and impact future investment."

New additions to this year's report are the Chamber's China Business Climate Indices, which measure business performance across the three broad measures of success, confidence and the welcoming environment for US companies in China.

Businesses in China's quickly growing retail sector top the success index, auto companies ranked as the most confident about their future opportunities, and chemicals and electronics companies are among the industries that feel the most welcome.

"US companies in China are performing at a high level and will continue to do so," said Michael Klibaner, national director and research head at Jones Lang LaSalle China, a leading global property service firm. "But what we show in this year's report is that just as there is no one 'China market', the challenges and opportunities for US companies vary by market sector and by industry."

Optimism regarding the China market continued in 2010. About nine out of 10 US companies in China forecast a revenue increase for 2011. China is the No 1 priority for 20 percent of US companies, and the percentage of companies expecting to increase investment in China by more than 15 percent more than doubled in 2010.

"There has always been a great deal of optimism about the China market, mostly based on the hope of future opportunity," said Steven Ganster, managing director of Technomic Asia, a market strategy consulting firm based in Shanghai.

"But now we're seeing a more mature or seasoned optimism, grounded in the reality that succeeding in China is critical to the future of the company no matter the challenges it presents," he said.

This year's survey was conducted online from mid-November to early December. A total of 346 companies participated, yielding a response rate of 25 percent.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai is the largest and fastest growing American Chamber in the Asia-Pacific region.

Source: China Daily: 
Newscribe : get free news in real time

China overtakes U.S. as biggest economy?

Tweet

Though China is yet to release its annual economic data, a U.S. economist has already crowned China as the world's biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).

The "generous" No. 1 title given by Arvind Subramanian, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, has drawn suspicion from Chinese scholars, who say such remarks are "pure fiction."

Chen Fengying, director of the World Economy Institute of China's Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the title was an honor unfit for China.

The size of China's economy in 2010 was 14.8 trillion U.S. dollars, compared with 14.6 trillion U.S. dollars for the United States, when accounting for the countries' differing costs of living, Subramanian wrote in a note published on Jan. 13, a week before President Hu Jintao visits Washington.

Purchasing power parity calculates gross domestic product (GDP) using exchange rates and takes into account price differences of the same goods between nations.

However, statistics from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) tell another story to that of Subramanian's.

The IMF, for instance, estimates gross domestic product, in PPP terms, in the United States was about 14.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2010, while China's was 10.1 trillion U.S. dollars. The World Bank estimates a similar gap.

That's why David Leonhardt, an economics journalist with the New York Times, said on Jan. 14 in his article "On the size of China's Economy, a dissenter" that "I was careful to say that, by most measures, the United States still has by far the largest economy in the world."

Ranjit Lall, the Financial Times' 2010 Peter Martin Fellow and also a senior statistician, said on Jan. 14 in his article "Has China already overtaken the U.S.?" that "one might wonder, if this were the case, why Chinese policymakers have made no effort whatsoever to correct the IMF's statisticians.

Subramanian's conclusion is far from scientific and his claim "highly overestimates the Chinese Yuan purchasing power," said Chen Fengying.

No wonder, David Leonhardt said Arvind Subramanian "remains very much in the minority."

"Even if China's economy surpasses the U.S. by economic scale one day, in terms of total economic scale, there is a long way to go before China becomes as strong as the U.S.," Chen said.

Concerning GDP per capita, IMF figures show that the average American is six times better off than the average Chinese person, however Subramanian thinks the difference is only four times, according to Ranjit Lall's article.

Subramanian's conclusion aims to make China bear responsibilities far beyond its ability, Chen said.

Chen also downplayed a poll by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which revealed last week some 47 percent surveyed Americans said China is the leading economic power with 31 percent naming the U.S., saying that the majority of Americans do not know China in depth, and their judgments are still influenced by both countries' performances during the global economic downturn. 

Source:Xinhua
Newscribe : get free news in real time

Penang Pulau Jerejak's RM30million Loss

Tweet

No time limit for Pulau Jerejak report, says PAC

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

January 19, 2011

Azmi said a formal request has been sent to the A-G. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that it will not set a deadline for the Auditor-General’s (A-G) report on the Pulau Jerejak island resort development, which Penang claims has cost the state RM30 million. Its chairman, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid, confirmed that PAC has agreed to formalise the request today to the A-G.

“The committee has agreed today to get the Auditor-General to give us some info into what is going on in Pulau Jerejak. So the Auditor-General will have to do the auditing before giving it (the report) to PAC.
“We have not given a timeline. We don’t give them timeline,” he told reporters after chairing PAC meeting in parliament here.

The 362ha island off the eastern coast of Penang once served as a penal and leper colony but was turned into a resort by a joint-venture company approved by former Barisan Nasional (BN) Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

The remodelled island is now run by Tropical Island Resort (TIR), which owes the state RM10.6 million in unpaid land premium. UDA holds a 51 per cent stake in TIR with the balance owned by state-owned Penang Development Corporation (PDC).

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who is also PDC chairman, said besides the outstanding premium payments, the project had also caused the state agency to suffer a RM19 million loss which it cannot recoup.
Lim also said almost all usable land on the former leper colony had been handed over to UDA during Koh’s 15-year tenure as chief minister.

He was quoted in the local media today as saying the state government was willing to buy UDA’s stake in TIR if the federal agency paid for the land and land premium.

Earlier, Azmi had chaired an inquiry on Penang Port for malpractice and irregularities as underlined in the recent Auditor-General’s 2009 report.

Azmi said that the PAC was satisfied with the explanation given by the port’s chief executive officer, Datuk Ahmad Ibni Hajar, but refused to divulge any details under Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order 85.
The Standing Order stipulates that any statement recorded before the legislative committee must be embargoed until its final report is tabled before Parliament.

Penang Port is a wholly government-owned subsidiary under the Finance Ministry.