News on China's scientific and technological development.
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CHINA is to accelerate economic reform in a wide range of aspects and increase spending in research and development to encourage innovation, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday at the China Development Forum in Beijing.
"China has entered a critical period in its economic restructuring and the reforms can't be delayed," Li said at the forum attended by top government officials, the head of the International Monetary Fund and business leaders.
"Reforms have reached a tough stage. But we should further push forward market-based changes because they serve as a foundation to sustain China's economic growth," Li said.
He said the country would deepen reform in the areas of tax, finance, prices, business and income distribution and seek breakthroughs in key areas to let market forces play a bigger role in the allocation of resources.
To sustain China's growth against a stumbling global economy, Li said that the country would adopt policies which were targeted, flexible and forward-looking, and pump 1 trillion yuan (US$158 billion), or more than 2 percent of China's economic output, into research and development this year to encourage innovation.
"Innovation in technology, management and products is crucial to propel economic restructuring and updating," Li said. "The government will vigorously push forward innovation, and turn China's large population into a rich source of skilled professionals."
Although more domestic demand is now regarded as a major force to drive China's economy, trade and foreign investment are still considered important sources of growth.
Li said China would still be able to achieve double-digit growth in both trade and foreign direct investment this year, and continue to improve the foreign investment environment.
"China's open economy offers huge opportunities for foreign investors," Li said.
"We will keep promoting fair competition and enhancing intellectual property protection, and hope for shared development with all participants."
He expected China's total trade to top US$10 trillion in the five years to 2015.
Zhang Ping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning agency, said that investment remained important for China's growth, and the government would gradually allow private capital to enter areas that included railways, finance, energy, telecommunications, education and medicare in the future.
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A Chinese state-owned company responsible for the engines of its first locally made passenger jet kicks off its 2012 overseas recruitment in Ohio University of Cincinnati.
This is the first stop since AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co., Ltd. (ACAE), one of the subsidiaries of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), announced its new round of global talent recruitment on Feb 29, 2012. It marked the first time that China's aviation industry has extended an olive branch to the U.S., whose aviation industry has the most advanced technology, and the highest output in the world.
The recruitment program targets mature talents and focus on outstanding graduates from colleges and universities. ACAE plans to hold job fair in University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, Purdue University and Florida Institute of Technology, recruit talents in the fields of composite materials, fluid mechanics, mechanical and electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, dynamics, aerospace manufacturing, aviation aerospace manufacturing, electronic engineering, materials science and engineering, multidisciplinary design optimization, aerodynamics, noise control system, applied mathematics, computer science, electronic and computer engineering and others.
It is expected that nearly 1,000 people will go to the job fairs, and eventually 100 will get the offer from ACAE.
The overseas recruitment philosophy is that a high capability of engineering is placed as priority, regardless of the nationality, regardless of color, regardless of age, said Zhang Yu Jin, the deputy general manager of ACAE.
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The school's men's basketball is also doing quite well on the NCAA basketball tournament. No I didn't go their, but they did good for my brackets in the first round.
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U.S. solar to get Obama aid in battle with China
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is expected to throw its weight behind U.S. solar panel producers on Tuesday in their battle against lower-priced imports from China that they say threaten the future of the industry in the United States. A coalition of seven U.S. manufacturers has asked for duties topping 100 percent on Chinese-made solar cells and panels, which they say are subsidized by the Chinese government and "dumped" in the United States at unfairly low prices.
The case, which was filed last year, has created more friction in the U.S.-China trade relationship, already strained by clashes over Beijing's currency policies and U.S. duties on a number of other Chinese goods.
China's biggest solar manufacturers, which include Suntech Power Holdings Co, Trina Solar, and JA Solar Holdings, generate more than 20 percent of their annual sales in the United States, making it the second-largest market for them after Europe. They are already moving to shift some of their production out of China to dodge additional U.S. tariffs. "We're already dependent on the Middle East for our oil. We cannot become dependent on the Far East for our renewable energy," said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America, which heads the coalition and the U.S. arm of one of Germany's largest solar manufacturers, SolarWorld AG. The group appears to have found a sympathetic ear in Obama. "I don't want to see wind turbines and solar panels and high-tech batteries made in other countries by other workers. I want to make them here," Obama said last week. The U.S. Commerce Department will announce preliminary countervailing or anti-subsidy duties on Tuesday and preliminary anti-dumping duties in mid-May. A final decision on both is expected in the third or fourth quarter of the year. Analysts expect 20 to 30 percent anti-subsidy duties on the imports, which soared to an estimated $2.8 billion in 2011 from about $1.2 billion in 2010. The punitive tariff, if it comes, is expected to take effect immediately. Chinese companies will be reimbursed if the decision is reversed later this year.
CELL TOLLING U.S. producers say the Chinese companies receive a long list of subsidies, including below-market loans from China's state-owned banks and subsidized raw materials, such as polysilicon, that greatly reduce their operating costs and helped Chinese firms grow their share of the U.S. market to nearly 40 percent from 11 percent in 2009. But efforts to whittle down China's presence in the U.S. market could hurt the fast-growing American solar market, where the industry is racing to cut costs and reduce its dependence on government incentives for renewable energy. "The resulting uptick in pricing might be temporary good news for module vendors who have struggled to compete with Chinese firms, but we think the most substantive result is more likely to be lower U.S. demand," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha said in recent note to investors. And China's solar makers appear to be already moving to shift their production outside the mainland, ordering key supplies from Taiwanese companies to avoid likely U.S. tariffs. Suntech moved some of its operations to Arizona as early as 2010, and other Chinese companies are likely to follow. "Chinese module makers will not give up the U.S. market," said chief financial officer Terry Wang at Trina Solar, which is also planning to add plants outside China. Chinese solar companies may also be able to take advantage of spare production capacity in countries such as Taiwan. "The likely response would be doing 'cell tolling' in Taiwan in order to avoid the U.S. import tariff," said Xavier Chollet, co-manager of Pictet's Clean Energy Fund. Under such deals, Chinese companies provide products to Taiwan companies, which then process them to be packaged at solar panel plants elsewhere. That trend has not gone unnoticed by SolarWorld and its partners, who also are asking the Commerce Department to structure punitive tariffs in a way that will reduce the opportunity for Chinese companies to skirt the duties.
"The scope of the case that we've proposed would cover Chinese cells that are made into modules (panels) somewhere else, or Chinese modules that are made from cells, whether from China or somewhere else," said Timothy Brightbill, an attorney with Wiley & Rein. "We will be quick to act if there are any signs of improper activity."
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is expected to throw its weight behind U.S. solar panel producers on Tuesday in their battle against lower-priced imports from China that they say threaten the future of the industry in the United States. A coalition of seven U.S. manufacturers has asked for duties topping 100 percent on Chinese-made solar cells and panels, which they say are subsidized by the Chinese government and "dumped" in the United States at unfairly low prices.
The case, which was filed last year, has created more friction in the U.S.-China trade relationship, already strained by clashes over Beijing's currency policies and U.S. duties on a number of other Chinese goods.
China's biggest solar manufacturers, which include Suntech Power Holdings Co, Trina Solar, and JA Solar Holdings, generate more than 20 percent of their annual sales in the United States, making it the second-largest market for them after Europe. They are already moving to shift some of their production out of China to dodge additional U.S. tariffs. "We're already dependent on the Middle East for our oil. We cannot become dependent on the Far East for our renewable energy," said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America, which heads the coalition and the U.S. arm of one of Germany's largest solar manufacturers, SolarWorld AG. The group appears to have found a sympathetic ear in Obama. "I don't want to see wind turbines and solar panels and high-tech batteries made in other countries by other workers. I want to make them here," Obama said last week. The U.S. Commerce Department will announce preliminary countervailing or anti-subsidy duties on Tuesday and preliminary anti-dumping duties in mid-May. A final decision on both is expected in the third or fourth quarter of the year. Analysts expect 20 to 30 percent anti-subsidy duties on the imports, which soared to an estimated $2.8 billion in 2011 from about $1.2 billion in 2010. The punitive tariff, if it comes, is expected to take effect immediately. Chinese companies will be reimbursed if the decision is reversed later this year.
CELL TOLLING U.S. producers say the Chinese companies receive a long list of subsidies, including below-market loans from China's state-owned banks and subsidized raw materials, such as polysilicon, that greatly reduce their operating costs and helped Chinese firms grow their share of the U.S. market to nearly 40 percent from 11 percent in 2009. But efforts to whittle down China's presence in the U.S. market could hurt the fast-growing American solar market, where the industry is racing to cut costs and reduce its dependence on government incentives for renewable energy. "The resulting uptick in pricing might be temporary good news for module vendors who have struggled to compete with Chinese firms, but we think the most substantive result is more likely to be lower U.S. demand," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha said in recent note to investors. And China's solar makers appear to be already moving to shift their production outside the mainland, ordering key supplies from Taiwanese companies to avoid likely U.S. tariffs. Suntech moved some of its operations to Arizona as early as 2010, and other Chinese companies are likely to follow. "Chinese module makers will not give up the U.S. market," said chief financial officer Terry Wang at Trina Solar, which is also planning to add plants outside China. Chinese solar companies may also be able to take advantage of spare production capacity in countries such as Taiwan. "The likely response would be doing 'cell tolling' in Taiwan in order to avoid the U.S. import tariff," said Xavier Chollet, co-manager of Pictet's Clean Energy Fund. Under such deals, Chinese companies provide products to Taiwan companies, which then process them to be packaged at solar panel plants elsewhere. That trend has not gone unnoticed by SolarWorld and its partners, who also are asking the Commerce Department to structure punitive tariffs in a way that will reduce the opportunity for Chinese companies to skirt the duties.
"The scope of the case that we've proposed would cover Chinese cells that are made into modules (panels) somewhere else, or Chinese modules that are made from cells, whether from China or somewhere else," said Timothy Brightbill, an attorney with Wiley & Rein. "We will be quick to act if there are any signs of improper activity."
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The United States will transfer all the industrial properties and patented technologies of the FH1100 helicopter series to China, according to an agreement signed by the U.S.-China Capital Inc., China Helicopter Industry Development Association (CHIDA) and the U.S. Van Nevel helicopter company recently.
The FH1100 helicopter series to be introduced into China is civil helicopter series widely used all over the world.
"In the United States, the price of a basic-mode FH11000 helicopter is 1.35 million U.S. dollars, but after it is put into production in China, the price will be reduced by 20 percent at least to reach about 1 million U.S. dollars," said Xu Changdong, the director of the CHIDA.
Xu said that the Chinese side and the Van Nevel company are looking for a suitable production base to accommodate the entire production line of the FH1100 helicopter series. This will lower the high price of the imported turbo-copters.
However, considering flight test conditions, it is almost impossible to set the production base in Beijing. According to the plan, China will realize the goal to produce first FH 1100 helicopter within two years and then gradually realize the goal of producing 300 FH1100 helicopters annually.
The FH1100 helicopters produced in China will be used in various areas, including the public security, fire control, agriculture and medical service.
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The number of registered users of Tianhe-1A, China's fastest supercomputer, has passed 300, according to the National Supercomputing Center in the northern city of Tianjin.
Companies from the United States, Canada, Singapore and Sweden are among the users, according to a press release issued on Tuesday by the center, where the supercomputer was installed.
It provides outsourcing services for complex work like mine surveying, bioinformatics, large-data animation design, nuclear fusion energy research and also marine environmental engineering.
With a processing speed of 2.57 quadrillion operations per second, Tianhe-1A was ranked fastest in the world in November 2010, but was surpassed by the Japan-developed K Computer last June, according to the Top500 list of the world's most powerful computers.
Tianhe-1A cost 72.3 million U.S. dollars to develop.
The National Supercomputing Center is located in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, a zone established in January 2010 under the approval of China's State Council to focus on environmentally friendly, hi-tech, and energy-saving industries.
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Cyber attacks on China launched from bases overseas surged in 2011, rising to 8.9 million computers affected from 5 million the previous year, according to a network security report.
Japan was the source of most attacks (22.8 percent), followed closely by the United States (20.4 percent) and the Republic of Korea (7.1 percent).
The report, released on Monday by China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team and Coordination Center, found that 11,851 Internet protocol addresses based overseas had controlled 10,593 Chinese websites last year.
"This shows that Chinese websites still face a serious problem from being maliciously attacked by foreign hackers or IP addresses," Wang Minghua, deputy director of the team's operation department, said at a news conference on Monday.
Attacks included destroying servers, distorting website content and stealing personal data from Chinese Web users.
Overseas hackers altered the content of 1,116 Chinese websites, including 404 run by government agencies, Wang told China Daily, adding that they may have been responsible for many more, as the addresses and names they use are often difficult to trace.
Although it was discovered that many hackers used Trojan Horse-style programs simply to steal personal data, Zhou Yonglin, director of the team's operation department, said "money is not the sole motivation", as in several cases the hackers had intended to access State networks and steal confidential information.
If they had succeeded, "that would have been far worse and would have increased the difficulties the government faces in ensuring online security", he added.
Chinese companies and Internet service providers have been urged to invest more time, energy and money into developing online security systems.
"Even though the nature of cyber attacks varies, they generally utilize vulnerabilities in the system to penetrate into computer systems," software virus expert Evgeny Aseev told China Daily.
Aseev, who heads the Asia-Pacific virus laboratory for Kasperky, a Russian security software company, said malicious software, or malware, is used in more than 20 percent of cyber attacks.
He pointed out that many holes still exist in the security of websites maintained by governments and enterprises, which makes them vulnerable targets, while the popularity of social networking sites has made it easy for hackers to lure users into unwittingly downloading malware.
Internet users can increase their security by regularly updating their system software and watching out for strange website links while using instant messaging tools, he said, adding that keeping important files data encrypted and using intricate passwords are equally important.
Investigations
Kang Kai, the owner of Thinkmo, a website dedicated to learning English in Tianjin, said his website suffered at least one attack every month.
"As a small Internet company, we can't afford to employ a big maintenance team. We can only resort to private IT professionals after each attack," he said.
To assist attacked private websites and maintain online security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has launched several investigations since June, and authorities prevented the spread of online viruses 14 times last year, the report said.
However, China has also been the source of attacks on networks in other countries.
"Our team received more than 500 complaints from foreign network associations last year," Zhou said. "Internet security is not one country's duty. It's a global issue."
China has established arrangements with 40 countries and 79 organizations to tackle cyber attacks, the report said.
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The fifth Chinese Arctic exploration, which is to set off in early July, will go through the Northeast Passage for the first time, Liu Cigui, director general of the State Oceanic Administration, said recently.
Liu said that it is the first comprehensive exploration in the arctic regions during the 12th Five- Year Plan. China will dispatch scientific researchers in batches to the Chinese Arctic Huanghe Station to carry out surrounding scientific exploration tasks on subjects including atmospheric, glaciology, geology, biology, high altitude atmospheric physics and oceanography sciences from April 2012.
The Arctic Passages are composed of two passages, which are the Northwest Passage in coastal Canada and the Northeast Passage in coastal Siberia. Most sections of the Northeast Passage lay in the Arctic Ocean offshore areas of northern Russia.
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EBay Inc's PayPal is one of the largest names in the online payment industry. Now the company is planning to tap the Chinese markets.
PayPal services are already used by merchants in the country to facilitate cross-border international payments. The company's plan is to make its online payment services available for domestic use as well.
"We are currently applying for a domestic payment license in China," said PayPal spokesman Dickson Seow on Monday. The company also announced the intensions to enter the Indian market in the future.
China has a big online market with 193 million e-commerce users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
China's e-commerce is expected to surpass 750 billion yuan (118 billion U.S. dollars) this year and it is set to become the world's largest e-commerce market in 2015, according to a Reuters report citing industry figures.
In China, PayPal will potentially face off against AliPay, a payments company under local e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
Alipay currently has the largest share of China's online third-party payment market, at 46.9 percent, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. It defines the third-party payment market as consisting of non-banking commercial organizations.
"If PayPal focuses on entering China's Internet online payment market, the competition will be fierce," said Zhang Meng, an analyst with Analysys. "The domestic companies have already established themselves."