China Uncovered.

airtel

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2015
Messages
3,432
Likes
7,816
Country flag










Why China’s army stocks are flat despite PLA’s growing might



August 1 – Army Day – was an occasion for Chinese chest-puffing. Investor frustration with the pace of industry reforms means the performance of the country's defense stocks remains bearish, however

By ZI YANGAUGUST 3, 2017 2:00 PM (UTC+8)


China’s Army Day, on August 1, this year coincided with the 90th anniversary of the founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The climax of festivities was a massive field review involving 12,000 servicemen and 600 pieces of weaponry, more than 40% of those being seen by the public for the first time. Differing from parades of the past, which emphasized style and panache, the review was wholly about flexing China’s military muscles and striking an offensive posture.

Held at Zhurihe, Asia’s largest military training base, the event had no bands, choruses or cheering audiences. Instead of parade uniforms, all participants wore combat fatigues. Adding to the serious atmosphere, Xi Jinping gave a sharp speech underlining China’s absolute determination in defending its territorial integrity.


The new format was designed to kill several birds with one stone. First of all, it was intended to send a message to China’s adversaries, particularly India, with whom the PLA is currently engaged in a standoff at Doklam. Secondly, Xi Jinping’s prominence at the review was meant to boost his own standing and intimidate party rivals. Lastly, through demonstrating the fruits of China’s military modernization efforts, the review sought to rally the citizenry around the party-state in a time of trouble.

The defense sector is the country’s most resistant to liberalization

While China may consider those objectives to have been well-served, one sector did not respond well to the Army Day review. After nearly two weeks of resurgence, defense stocks petered out almost as soon as the celebrations ended.

China’s defense equity market has been bearish since the second half of 2015. Defense stocks slid 18.58% in 2016 and 16% in 2017’s second quarter. Out of 93 investment funds specializing in defense, only 19 posted positive returns in the second quarter. Forty-two funds reported net losses of between 10 to 19%.


In the run-up to Army Day, from July 18 to 31, the market expanded by 3.31%. But the momentum did not sustain. So far this month, defense shares have dipped 2.52% and the downward trend is likely to continue for the remainder of August.

The bearish track is due to a number of factors. The defense industry’s mixed-ownership reform, which aims to introduce private capital to China’s state-dominated defense sector, is progressing at a slower pace than expected. But this is hardly surprising since the defense sector is the country’s most resistant to liberalization. Its best technologies and most valuable assets are still held by state-owned enterprises with vested interests in delaying reform for as long as possible.


Dong Feng-26 missiles are seen on parade. Photo: PLA Daily
Lack of transparency is also an issue influencing investor decisions. Strict information control in the defense sector increases uncertainty and investment risks. In such an environment, investors without insider ties – i.e. most retail investors – are more hesitant to get involved.

There is also a sense of disappointment in the military leadership. Xi has championed defense industry mixed-ownership reform in the past, but made no mention of it in his much-hyped Army Day speech, creating further confusion regarding the reform’s future. Coupled with the transparency issue, this has negatively affected investor confidence.

The bearish performance of defense stocks is a reflection of investor frustrations with industry reform. While the impressive Army Day field review aroused public confidence in China’s military, it failed to cause a turnaround in the equity market. Some analysts are pinning hopes on reforms to the ownership of arms research institutions attracting new interest in the listed arms of defense corporations. But for now it looks like the downward trend will continue through the third quarter.



http://www.atimes.com/article/chinas-army-stocks-flat-despite-plas-growing-might/
 

Screambowl

Ghanta Senior Member?
Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2015
Messages
7,950
Likes
7,908
Country flag
Chinese Love the number 8
_________________________
 

sorcerer

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2013
Messages
26,920
Likes
98,472
Country flag
China is in the middle of diplomatic spat with one of its oldest allies in Africa
Zambian authorities have detained 31 Chinese citizens on suspicion of illegal copper mining, according to Chinese officials who have formally complained about the arrest.

“The government has always asked Chinese companies and citizens to respect the laws of the countries where they operate and does not shield illegal action… But China opposes selective law-enforcement actions against its citizens” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a news briefing this week.

Chinese officials claim Zambian authorities haven’t provided evidence of any illegal activity. The foreign ministry added that a pregnant woman and two workers sick with malaria were among those arrested, grounds for humanitarian release. According to Chinese press based in Zambia, the arrested Chinese were allowed to fly back to China (link in Chinese) yesterday afternoon.

Zambia is one of China’s oldest partners in Africa, but is often cited as an example of what can go wrong with Chinese investment in Africa. As more Chinese companies have entered Zambia’s mining sector over the last decade and a half, labor disputes between local workers and their Chinese employers have become common.

A few particularly egregious cases have attracted global attention. In 2005, 52 Zambian workers were killed at an explosives factory near Chambeshi, a town in Zambia’s copper belt. In 2010, Zambia charged two Chinese managers with attempted murder after they opened fire on protesting Zambian workers. Two years later, Zambian workers killed a Chinese supervisor at the same mine.

In a way, China’s experience in Zambia and this week’s arrest also demonstrate the push and pull between China and its African partners—that Beijing doesn’t always have the upper hand in its ties on the continent. “African governments, leaders and communities can and do actively engage in political and community actions that influence their relationships with China,” Agnes Ngoma Leslie, outreach director for the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida, wrote in a paper on China-Zambia relations in December.

The southern African country first extended diplomatic recognition to China in 1964, just five days after gaining independence from Britain. By 2015, China had become Zambia’s largest foreign investor, and last year, China’s ambassador to Zambia declared it one of Beijing’s main partners.

Bilateral trade, mostly Zambian exports of copper to China, has expanded from just $100 million in 2000 to $4 billion in 2016. Chinese investment in the country includes infrastructure, agriculture, and energy projects like a 750 megawatt-hydro-power station in Zambia’s Chikankata district.

Yet, labor disputes and and anti-Chinese sentiment have become part of the national discourse. The country’s former president Michael Sata won the presidency in 2011 in part by campaigning on anti-Chinese sentiment and raised the minimum wage. Zambia’s current president Edgar Lungu has taken an especially harder line against perceived opposition, though Lungu hasn’t expressed animosity towards the Chinese in the country in particular.

“These recent arrests could play into a broader picture of strong central state pushback against external players,” says Hannah Postel, a research associate at the Center for Global Development in Washington, who has done field work in Zambia. The public rationale for the arrests could also not be the full picture, according to Postel.

The arrested Chinese were working in Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), one of the largest copper producers in Africa, with backing from the local government. KCM reportedly owes contractors, including Chinese firms, at least $200 million. In December, one of its contractors, a Chinese company, China Jianxi JCHX, went on strike over the owed payments.
 

sorcerer

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2013
Messages
26,920
Likes
98,472
Country flag
Gambians are accusing a Chinese company of destroying their coastline


Villagers in the Gambia are accusing a Chinese company of polluting a local wildlife reserve. According to local media and environmentalists, a Chinese fish meal producer called Golden Leaf has been dumping waste and rotten fish into the waters of the Bolong Fenyo Community Wildlife Reserve along Gambia’s coast in the southwest, turning the water red and leaving scores of fish to wash up dead on the shore.

The Chinese embassy in Gambia did not respond to a request for comment, but local activists say that the factory has agreed to remove pipes that dump their waste into the water.

Environmentalists frequently criticize China, which has the world’s biggest fleet of deep-sea fishing vessels, for overfishing in West Africa. The region loses as much as $2.3 billion to illegal fishing, according to Greenpeace.

The allegations don’t bode well for the future of relations between China and Gambia, which only resumed diplomatic ties last March. For almost two decades, Gambia had recognized Beijing’s rival Taiwan until it severed ties in 2013. Since the ouster of the country’s longtime president Yahya Jammeh late last year, Gambia has been courting Chinese investors to help plug its infrastructure gaps.

Still, a petition accusing the company of overfishing and “turning our beaches into a cemetery”, and calling for Gambia’s new president Adama Barrow to intervene, has reached more than 1,000 signatures. One Facebook group, “How can we stop the Chinese companies from destroying everything in the Gambia,” is broadening its criticisms to other Chinese firms in the country.

The administrator for the group wrote, “When the Chinese are ready with their looting and destroying, they will leave, but we will still be there.”
 

SanjeevM

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
1,631
Likes
4,503
Country flag
I wish India can make such inroads in Africa. Only if we can treat their nationals who are studying in different parts of India, with respect, we can build goodwill. African countries are a rich source of metal. Their vast fields can be used to grow coconut, rubber, tea, coffee etc. I saw a documentary wherein they showed large Chinese ships leaving African shores with copper and returning with cheap Chinese goods. Such a massive exploitation of Africans.
 

cyclops

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2016
Messages
1,309
Likes
5,717
Country flag
The things China does in Tibet are just brain numbingly inhuman.
This is institutional torture of Tibetans.
 

Project Dharma

meh
Senior Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Messages
4,836
Likes
10,862
Country flag
Only if we can treat their nationals who are studying in different parts of India, with respect, we can build goodwill.
If Africans had any self respect they would not be enslaved. For improving relations with African nations, all it takes is some money lining the pockets of the right Generals. Rest will fall in place.

As for Africans in India, we are usually pretty accommodating towards guests. They only have themselves to blame. Some Nigerians particularly from the Igbo tribe are notorious drug dealers and they have ruined it for other Africans.
 

sorcerer

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2013
Messages
26,920
Likes
98,472
Country flag
Chinese vendors 'exploiting' African children removed from Taobao

Chinese online shopping platform Taobao has removed controversial vendors offering personalised video and photo ads featuring African children, following an outcry about exploitation.

Customers could pay for ads with young African children shouting out promotional messages in Chinese.

This quickly sparked concerns over taste, parental consent and what these children were being paid.

Alibaba, which owns Taobao, said it had taken action to remove these vendors.

"We have been made aware of these listings which are posted by third-party sellers on the Taobao marketplace, and we have taken action to remove them and will continue to do so in future, " it said in a statement to the BBC.

It is unclear if the backlash against the vendors, which was widely debated in mainstream and social media, is what lies behind their removal.

It was earlier suggested that Taobao was investigating some of the vendors, but for breaches of Chinese advertising description law.

The services being offered by these online vendors included videos, which could be bought for as little as 120 yuan (US$18; £14), and photos available for even less. It was mostly small businesses who used these services to promote their businesses online.


Pictures would typically feature children holding up a board saying: "Looking for car loans? Come to Brother Long. Save money, save trouble. It will bring you happiness."

Another reads: "Come to Red Star for bikes! Not cheap? Count on me and trust me!"

The BBC got in touch with one buyer, who wanted to be known only as Mr Zhang, who said he paid 200 yuan ($30) for a video featuring African children for his bike business. He justified it by saying the ad was a good marketing trick and had attracted more customers.

When asked about whether the money reached the children in the end he said: "Why should I care that much? I only care about the marketing effect."

Customers on Taobao appeared to be delighted with the services while they were on offer and there appeared to be to be little consideration by vendors and customers of the risk of cultural insensitivity or even an awareness of China's chequered history with regards to race and advertising.

Some Taobao vendors labelled these videos "charity activity" on their page, saying most of the money goes to the children. But the situation is clearly more complicated than that.

A photographer contacted by the Beijing Youth Daily said that the children only received snacks or a few dollars as reward.

William Nee, China researcher from Amnesty International, points to the risk of exploitation and child labour.

"There's a real risk those children might be exploited. You have children essentially working by posing for those sorts of pictures. From the human rights perspective, probably one of the biggest risks is child labour."

Last year an advertisement for a laundry detergent sparked uproar for depicting a black man apparently "cleaned" by the detergent and converted to a Chinese man. The owner of the detergent company Qiaobi said he hadn't realised it was racist until the controversy erupted.

And right up to the 1990s, the toothpaste brand Darlie was a household name in China, with its Chinese name being "black man toothpaste".

Mr Nee reinforces this point: "In a broader sense it shows some of the cultural insensitivities... especially when it comes to black people in Africa."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-40958209
 

Innocent

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2017
Messages
486
Likes
839
Country flag
Damn, these Chinese are clearly braindead zombies..
Really "black man toothpaste"
 

AMCA

Senior Member
Joined
May 19, 2017
Messages
2,562
Likes
17,850
Country flag

Pedestrians pass a “convenience police station” in the Erdaoqiao neighborhood of Urumqi.
CHINA
Twelve Days in Xinjiang: How China’s Surveillance State Overwhelms Daily Life
The government has turned the remote region into a laboratory for its high-tech social controls



By
Josh Chin and
Clément Bürge | Photographs by
Giulia Marchi for The Wall Street Journal
Updated Dec. 19, 2017 10:58 p.m. ET
423 COMMENTS
URUMQI, China—This city on China’s Central Asia frontier may be one of the most closely surveilled places on earth.

Security checkpoints with identification scanners guard the train station and roads in and out of town. Facial scanners track comings and goings at hotels, shopping malls and banks. Police use hand-held devices to search smartphones for encrypted chat apps, politically charged videos and other suspect content. To fill up with gas, drivers must first swipe their ID cards and stare into a camera.

China’s efforts to snuff out a violent separatist movement by some members of the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic group have turned the autonomous region of Xinjiang, of which Urumqi is the capital, into a laboratory for high-tech social controls that civil-liberties activists say the government wants to roll out across the country.

It is nearly impossible to move about the region without feeling the unrelenting gaze of the government. Citizens and visitors alike must run a daily gantlet of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras and machines scanning their ID cards, faces, eyeballs and sometimes entire bodies.



Life Inside China’s Total Surveillance State

China has turned the northwestern region of Xinjiang into a vast experiment in domestic surveillance. WSJ investigated what life is like in a place where one's every move can be monitored with cutting-edge technology.
When fruit vendor Parhat Imin swiped his card at a telecommunications office this summer to pay an overdue phone bill, his photo popped up with an “X.” Since then, he says, every scan of his ID card sets off an alarm. He isn’t sure what it signifies, but figures he is on some kind of government watch list because he is a Uighur and has had intermittent run-ins with the police.

He says he is reluctant to travel for fear of being detained. “They blacklisted me,” he says. “I can’t go anywhere.”

All across China, authorities are rolling out new technology to keep watch over people and shape their behavior. Controls on expression have tightened under President Xi Jinping, and the state’s vast security web now includes high-tech equipment to monitor online activity and even snoop in smartphone messaging apps.
 

ezsasa

Designated Cynic
Mod
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
31,717
Likes
146,991
Country flag
So the chinese ghost cities really exist....
i was giving them a benefit of doubt so far.....

 

tsunami

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2015
Messages
3,250
Likes
15,278
Country flag
I don't get it mike sir while we hear news of chinese living in deplorable cell house structure and here we are seeing ghost towns.
Cell house is for Beijing and Shanghai these are complete towns separately created for thousands of people to live there but no one came as they could not understand Cities do not grow in a five year plan. Flats and office space are there but no jobs no resident.
 

Mikesingh

Professional
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
7,353
Likes
30,450
Country flag
I don't get it mike sir while we hear news of chinese living in deplorable cell house structure and here we are seeing ghost towns.
These apartments are unaffordable for the common Chinese. And there are no jobs there!

However, the Chinese are now thinking of shifting some of their industries there to create jobs. They also intend subsidising rentals for a few years. But all this is going to take time and effort.
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top