The slow build - Express

POST 200. CAPITAL BUSINESS . 12/19/11 42
China’s exports, a major
engine of the country’s
economy, may slow further
next year on weakening
demand in developed
economies and rising costs at
home, Ministry of Commerce
officials said.
“Foreign trade is facing a
severe situation next year,”
Wang Shouwen, head of the
foreign trade department of
the ministry, said at a news
conference in Beijing on Dec
7 as the ministry released a
white paper on China’s foreign
trade.
Demand will not improve
in Europe and the United
States — China’s major export
destinations — and costs such
as wages and land prices are
rising, he said.
Growth of China’s overseas
sales has seen a setback in
recent months. Exports in
October increased 15.9 percent
year-on-year, the slowest
growth in eight months.
Chong Quan, deputy representative
for China’s international
trade talks, said export
growth in November slowed
even more.
Chong’s remarks confirmed
expectations that worsening
external markets are dragging
on the world’s second-largest
economy.
Zhang Liqun, a researcher
at the Development Research
Center of the State Council,
said export growth will slow to
15 percent next year from an
estimated 18 percent this year.
Wang Tao, an economist
with financial company UBS
AG, even expects China’s
exports will cease to grow in
2012 because of “significantly
weakened external demand”.
“We expect China’s exports
to Europe to decline sharply,
which will only be partially offset
by export growth to the US
and elsewhere, as economies
outside Europe will likely suffer
as well,”Wang said in a report.
Guangdong, the southern
province that accounts for onefourth
of China’s exports, is expecting
the worst situation in
foreign trade in the first half of
next year, Zheng Jianrong, deputy
director of the provincial
foreign trade and economic
cooperation department, said.
Externally, the possible longterm
low growth of the world
economy, exacerbated by re-
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CHINABUSINESSWATCH
FOCUS CHINA DAILY
Difficult year ahead for export
Ministry of Commerce official cites weak global market and rising costs, Diao Ying and Gao Changxin report.
cent turbulence in the financial
market and rising trade protectionism,
will continue to hit
Guangdong, Zheng said.
Internally, the appreciation
of the Chinese currency,
rising costs of raw materials,
difficulties in raising funds,
plus the shortage of labor, land
and power, will put pressure on
exporters, he added.
Wang Shouwen with the Ministry
of Commerce said the
ministry will help exporters in
terms of brand building, research
and development, and
sales networks.
Vice-Premier Wang Qishan
said recently that the government
plans to reduce taxes and
provide more financial support
to exporters.
The State Administration of
Foreign Exchange will reform
the management of foreign
currencies involved in goods
trade, the agency said on its
website on Dec 7.
The reform includes measures
such as building a real
time platform so the agency
can process the majority of
companies’ applications online.
The process of applying
for export tax rebates will also
be simplified, it said.
China’s export slowdown,
however, will not significantly
affect the country’s economic
growth next year, according to
Pan Jiancheng, deputy director
of the China Economic Monitoring
Analysis Center at the
National Bureau of Statistics.
“Among the three key drivers
of China’s economic growth
— investment, consumption
and exports — the first two
are expected to remain strong
next year,” Pan said. “The
contribution of exports to
the overall economic growth
will drop significantly,” said a
report released by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences on
Dec 7.
Compared with the weakening
demand in developed
economies, developing countries
may boast more growth
potential.
“China will put more
attention on exports to
emerging markets, as those
countries performed well,”
Wang Shouwen said.
His remarks were echoed
by Gui Ming, executive deputy
general manager with motorcycle
maker Qianjiang Import
& Export, who expects exports
to Europe and the US to remain
sluggish next year, but
sees rapid growth in emerging
markets helping the company
grow.
Overall, the Zhejiang-based
company expects exports to
grow 30 percent next year,
though those to developed
markets will continue to decline.
The company now has 70
percent of the motorcycle
market in Venezuela, where
exports will hit 250,000 next
year, up from around 170,000
this year. In Brazil and Argentina,
the company has set up
joint ventures and is expecting
“explosive growth”.
Wang Shouwen said China
will work particularly hard to
increase its imports from the
West next year.
China’s trade surplus is
expected to be $161 billion this
year, with exports rising 20.4
percent and imports soaring
24.7 percent, according to the
Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
In the official white paper, the
Chinese government reiterated
that it does not deliberately
pursue a trade surplus and
that China is moving toward
balancing exports and imports.
Chen Jia, Hu Yuanyuan
in Beijing, Li Wenfang in
Guangzhou and Reuters
contributed to this story.
Bill Gates envisions nuclear future for nation
By CHENG YINGQi
and LIU YIYU
Billionaire philanthropist
Bill Gates confirmed that a
company he helped found
is cooperating on the
development of a new type of
nuclear reactor in China.
“TerraPower is working on
what we call Generation-4
nuclear energy. And the idea
is to be very low-cost, very
safe and generate very little
waste,” Gates said at a news
conference after he discussed
cooperation with Ministry
of Science and Technology
officials in Beijing on Dec 7.
“It is in an early stage,” Gates
said.
TerraPower, co-founded by
Gates several years ago, is
working on the idea of new
technologies with the China
National Nuclear Corporation
(CNNC), though Gates said
adoption of the technology will
not happen quickly.
Under discussion is a
VOLUME OF EXPORTS
200
150
100
50
150.73 152.20 155.69 157.16 161.98 175.13 173.32 169.67
96.74
0
J F M A M J J A S O
Source: General Administration of Customs CHINA DAILY
traveling-wave reactor, or
TWR, a new type of reactor
that could reduce the need
for the enrichment and
reprocessing of uranium.
If successful, TWRs would
be smaller, cleaner nuclear
reactors that would create
unit: $ billion
Bill Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
157.49
less nuclear waste and could
be used for years without
refueling.
Aware of the long-term risks
of storing radioactive waste and
of nuclear fuel being diverted to
build weapons, scientists since
the 1940s have tried to develop
methods to recycle the waste
by using it as fuel.
TWRs are believed to be a
possible solution — but only
conceptually — because they
have not been built or tested
successfully, according to Xu
Mi, chief expert of CNNC.
Moreover, Gates said the
development of the new
reactor design may require
investment of hundreds of
millions of dollars in the coming
years, and demonstration
plans and construction would
cost “billions”.
He also promised the new
designs would be “totally
safe” in all circumstances,
“including earthquakes”.
Qian Jihui, professor of
nuclear and new energy technology
at Tsinghua University,
said even though there are a
lot of discussions about the
new reactor, it is not expected
to be available soon for commercial
use.
“There is not a unified definition
for a 4G reactor,” Qian
said. “In my opinion, it mainly
refers to the absolute safety
of the reactor, which will never
cause any disaster or accidents
during operation.”
He said China is preparing to
build the first demonstration
projects of a 4G reactor with a
capacity of 200,000 kilowatts.
However, he said it is too
early to expect that the 4G
reactor can be used in China
since the country has not lifted
the suspension of new nuclear
power projects, a ban imposed
after leaks from a Japanese
nuclear plant in March.
The Ministry of Science and
Technology said it is glad to
join hands with Gates.
“When we cooperate with
Gates, what we value so much
is not Gates’ money, but his social
influence, his rallying power
and his innovation ability,” said
Zhang Laiwu, vice-minister of
science and technology.
Du Juan contributed to this
story.