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AT HIS FINGERTIPS BALANCING TWO ROLES PERFECTLY, P24 VOL 2 •NO www.chinadailyusa.com CHINADAILY USA WEEKLY JUNE 8-14, 2012 39 ON TRACK INTER-CONTINENTAL RAILWAY PROMISES TO BE ‘NEW SILK ROAD’ BY BRIDGING BUSINESSES OF EAST, WEST By ALEXIS HOOI andMA WEI Legend has it that Chinese emperor Han Wu Di (156 BC-87 BC) once looked to the lands west of his vast empire and proclaimed them with people who placed “great value on the rich produce of China”. That regal observation soon spurred exploration of those foreign lands, leading to a net- work of trading routes between the East and West that came to be known as the Silk Road. The historic route declined in the centuries that followed as maritime trade increased, but there are now renewed eorts to revive the continental link — this time through the latest addition to the Eurasian Land Bridge rail. Connecting the major Lianyungang port in East China’s Jiangsu province to distant Belgium, the railway is being promoted as a shorter, more ecient way to transport goods between China and Europe. Lianyungang lies near the center of China’s eastern coastline, where the country’s south- ern economic and manufacturing hubs have helped enrich cities in prov- inces like Jiangsu and Zhejiang. >>BRIDGE, PAGE 4 LI MIN / CHINA DAILY I t took at least two hours for our all-terrain vehi- cle to bump along the rugged mountain road from Dujiangyan, a city near Chengdu in Sichuan province, to the Wolong National Nature Reserve. Devas- tated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and subsequent mudslides, the dangerous state of the road means that very few tourists ever visit Wolong. Tao Tao, a male panda cub aged almost 2 years, lives with his mother, Cao Cao in this isolated place that boasts scen- ery reminiscent of the elf king- dom in Lord of the Rings, and has seen few human visitors in the last four years. Born in captivity on Aug 3, 2010, Tao Tao has been under- going training in eld survival techniques with the help of researchers from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda almost since the day of his birth. e plan is to send him into the wilds of Ya’an, Sich- uan province, by the end of October. Pandas are an endangered species. According to Huang Yan, deputy chief engineer of the center, captive-bred pandas number just 328 and there are only around 1,600 in the wild. e wild pandas are scattered across the prov- inces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi. During the past 10 years, human activity, mainly in the form of roads and high- speed rail tracks, has cut into their habitat and divided the wild pandas into more than 30 small groups. “We have no choice but to release captive-bred pan- das into the wild to protect the natural environment,” said Huang. “By providing wilderness-survival training for these animals, we hope to introduce them into a num- ber of small groups, helping to increase the wild popu- lation and maintain their genetic diversity.” SEE “PANDA SCHOOL” PAGE 7 $1 chinadailyusa.com FRIDAY-SUNDAY, June 8-10, 2012 China Daily USA Weekly Inter-continental railway promises to be ‘New Silk Road’ by bridging businesses of East and West WEEKEND Pandas set to take a walk on the wild side Bears to be released into natural habitat, Jiang Xueqing and Huang Zhiling report from Wolong and Dujiangyan, Sichuan province. FOCUS FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY Liu Xiaoqiang (left) and Wang Xiaojun get down to the “bear essentials’’ as they monitor pandas in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province last month. The trainers use disguise as they prepare pandas for life in the wild. Interest rates cut to stabilize By WANG XIAOTIAN in Beijing, ZHANG YUWEI and ARIEL TUNG in New York The central bank has cut interest rates for the rst time since December 2008 to sta- bilize growth and prevent the economy from slowing fur- ther. The People’s Bank of Chi- na announced the lowering of interest rates by 25 basis points, eective on Friday. The benchmark one-year lending rate will drop to 6.31 percent from 6.56 and the one- year deposit rate will fall to 3.25 percent from 3.5 percent. “The move appears to be bold and innovative, indicat- ing that the monetary authori- ties believe ination is declin- ing but still a concern,’’ said Liu Ligang, head of China eco- nomics at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “Beijing realized if lending costs cannot be effectively cooled, China will face fur- ther economic slowdown,” Liu said. Brian Lawson, chief econo- mist at London-based Exclu- sive Analysis, said the interest rate cut fits naturally within the overall policy approach of providing stimulus in periods of slowdown. “China is suffering along with everyone else from the recession in Europe, and from modest growth elsewhere,” he said. “We would expect Chi- nese policy measures to be consistent but gradual — and only to accelerate if the global economy appears to face addi- tional downward pressure from shocks; for example, if Greece leaves the euro.” US and European stocks opened higher on Thursday after China announced the rate cuts. SEE “RATE” PAGE 2 Central bank takes ‘bold, innovative’ decision to stimulate economy Inside Comment, page 12 By ARIEL TUNG in New York [email protected] China’s e-commerce mar- ket is proving irresistible to Western retailers, including the giant Macy’s Inc, which is investing $15 million in the Chinese online seller VIPStore Co in a venture also supported by the investment arm of the US-based chip maker Intel Corp. Besides acquiring a minor- ity stake in VIPStore, Macy’s will begin selling private-label merchandise in China next spring on Omei.com, a web- site that is operated by VIP- Store and sells Western luxury and fashion goods. Macy’s, in announcing its deal with Intel Capital on May 23, said this is its rst foray into a foreign market. Another divi- sion of the company, the high- end retailer Bloomingdale’s, operates two stores in Dubai. In China, the value of e-commerce sales this year is expected to reach $169 billion, according to a recent forecast by Zia Daniell Wigder, an ana- lyst with Forrester Research. e value of online sales in the Asia-Pacic region, the biggest market for such transactions, is likely to reach $356 billion in 2016, the report said. e deal with VIPStore will give Macy’s a means of learn- ing more about Chinese con- sumers’ shopping habits and preferences, said Terry Lun- dgren, Macy’s chairman and chief executive ocer. “Our relationship with VIPStore will allow us to gain additional experience in the fast-growing Chinese market, and to better understand how consumers across China inter- act with Macy’s and the prod- ucts we sell,” he said. Founded in 2009, VIPStore is one of the leading online retailers of luxury brands in China. It also operates Jiapin. com, which sells high-end goods at a discount for certain periods of time. The Macy’s section on Omei.com will offer its INC brand of women’s and men’s apparel before adding other private labels owned by Macy’s. Jon Bond, VIPStore’s head of business development, called the move “a smart way SEE “MACY’S” PAGE 2 MACY’S 2012 SALES Change Unit: $billion 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 May April March February ZHANG YE / CHINA DAILY Source: Macy’s Inc 1.860 2.359 1.924 2.015 8% 6% 4% 2% 0 May April March February 4.6% 7.3% 1.2% 4.2% Macy’s parades online into China CONG YAN / FOR CHINA DAILY Stephen Tan from Beijing leaves a Macy’s store in New York. He said his friends recommended Macy’s to him, and he likes the store’s choice of high-quality brands. SCO will be ‘fortress of security and stability’ By WU JIAO, ZHOU WA and CUI HAIPEI The Shanghai Cooperation Organization granted Afghani- stan observer status on urs- day as President Hu Jintao said the bloc aimed to become a “fortress of regional security and stability and a driving force of regional eco- nomic develop- ment”. The current summit of the organization in Beijing, which witnessed the signing of agree- ments covering security, poli- tics and the economies of the members, will be a landmark in the bloc’s history as it set out a clear vision of its direction, analysts said. By granting observer status to Afghanistan, the SCO, which groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, consolidated ties with the war-torn country ahead of the pullout of most for- eign troops by the end of 2014. The organization also announced that Turkey, a NATO member, will join Sri Lanka and Belarus as a dialogue partner. Observer status will strength- en “political, economic and civilian cooperation between the SCO states and Afghani- stan,” Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheng Guoping said aer the summit. Central Asia’s stability is a pressing issue for the regional bloc, analysts said, especially considering the turmoil in the Middle East and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Chen Yurong, a researcher of regional aairs with the Institute of International Studies, said as the security situation in Cen- tral Asia has changed, the SCO must revise security policies. e participation of Afghani- stan and Turkey enlarges the region that the SCO covers geo- graphically and increases the bloc’s global influence, Chen said. But some analysts suggest- ed that the SCO should be cau- tious about more participants, as it could undermine the bloc’s capability given the sharp eco- nomic and historical dierences between some countries. The SCO on Thursday also recommitted itself to closer security ties by adopting a 2013- 15 anti-terrorism plan and establishing a swift response mechanism. e mechanism allows SCO members to request the help of other members to handle domestic emergencies. It “will considerably boost the SCO’s ability to prevent and tackle emergencies”, a diplomat- ic source said. Hu told the summit that “we should establish and improve a system of security cooperation’’. SEE “SUMMIT” PAGE 3 Inside • Full coverage, page 3 • Editorial, page 11
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Transcript of News Clips
AT HIS FINGERTIPS BALANCING TWO ROLES PERFECTLY, P24VOL 2 • NO www.chinadailyusa.com
CHINADAILY USA WEEKLYJUNE 8-14, 2012
39
ON TRACKINTER-CONTINENTAL RAILWAY PROMISES TO BE ‘NEW
SILK ROAD’ BY BRIDGING BUSINESSES OF EAST, WEST
By ALEXIS HOOI and MA WEILegend has it that Chinese emperor Han Wu Di (156 BC-87 BC) once looked to the lands
west of his vast empire and proclaimed them with people who placed “great value on the
rich produce of China”. That regal observation soon spurred exploration of those foreign lands, leading to a net-
work of trading routes between the East and West that came to be known as the Silk Road.
The historic route declined in the centuries that followed as maritime trade increased,
but there are now renewed e. orts to revive the continental link — this time through the
latest addition to the Eurasian Land Bridge rail.Connecting the major Lianyungang port in East China’s Jiangsu province to distant
Belgium, the railway is being promoted as a shorter, more e4 cient way to transport
goods between China and Europe. Lianyungang lies near the center of
China’s eastern coastline, where the country’s south-ern economic and manufacturing hubs
have helped enrich cities in prov-inces like Jiangsu and Zhejiang.>>BRIDGE, PAGE 4
LI MIN / CHINA DAILY
I t took at least two hours for our all-terrain vehi-cle to bump along the rugged mountain road
from Dujiangyan, a city near Chengdu in Sichuan province,
to the Wolong National Nature Reserve. Devas-
tated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and subsequent mudslides, the dangerous state
of the road means that very few tourists ever visit Wolong.
Tao Tao, a male panda cub aged almost 2 years, lives with his mother, Cao Cao in this isolated place that boasts scen-ery reminiscent of the elf king-dom in Lord of the Rings, and has seen few human visitors in the last four years.
Born in captivity on Aug 3, 2010, Tao Tao has been under-going training in + eld survival techniques with the help of researchers from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda almost since the day of his
birth. . e plan is to send him into the wilds of Ya’an, Sich-uan province, by the end of October.
Pandas are an endangered species. According to Huang Yan, deputy chief engineer of the center, captive-bred pandas number just 328 and there are only around 1,600 in the wild. . e wild pandas are scattered across the prov-inces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi. During the past 10 years, human activity, mainly in the form of roads and high-speed rail tracks, has cut into their habitat and divided the
wild pandas into more than 30 small groups.
“We have no choice but to release captive-bred pan-das into the wild to protect the natural environment,” said Huang. “By providing wilderness-survival training
for these animals, we hope to introduce them into a num-ber of small groups, helping to increase the wild popu-lation and maintain their genetic diversity.”
SEE “PANDA SCHOOL” PAGE 7
$1chinadailyusa.com FRIDAY-SUNDAY, June 8-10, 2012
China Daily USA Weekly
Inter-continental railway promises to be ‘New Silk Road’ by bridging businesses of East and West
WEEKEND
Pandas set to take a walk on the wild sideBears to be released into natural habitat, Jiang Xueqing and Huang Zhiling report from Wolong and Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.
FOCUS
FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY
Liu Xiaoqiang (left) and Wang Xiaojun get down to the “bear essentials’’ as they monitor pandas in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province last month. The trainers use disguise as they prepare pandas for life in the wild.
Interest rates cut to stabilize
By WANG XIAOTIAN in Beijing, ZHANG YUWEI and ARIEL TUNG in New York
The central bank has cut interest rates for the + rst time since December 2008 to sta-bilize growth and prevent the economy from slowing fur-ther.
The People’s Bank of Chi-na announced the lowering of interest rates by 25 basis points,
e9 ective on Friday.The benchmark one-year
lending rate will drop to 6.31 percent from 6.56 and the one-year deposit rate will fall to 3.25 percent from 3.5 percent.
“The move appears to be bold and innovative, indicat-ing that the monetary authori-ties believe in; ation is declin-ing but still a concern,’’ said Liu Ligang, head of China eco-nomics at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
“Beijing realized if lending costs cannot be effectively cooled, China will face fur-ther economic slowdown,” Liu said.
Brian Lawson, chief econo-mist at London-based Exclu-sive Analysis, said the interest rate cut fits naturally within the overall policy approach of providing stimulus in periods of slowdown.
“China is suffering along with everyone else from the recession in Europe, and from modest growth elsewhere,” he said. “We would expect Chi-nese policy measures to be consistent but gradual — and only to accelerate if the global economy appears to face addi-tional downward pressure from shocks; for example, if Greece leaves the euro.”
US and European stocks opened higher on Thursday after China announced the rate cuts.
SEE “RATE” PAGE 2
Central bank takes ‘bold, innovative’ decision to stimulate economy
InsideComment, page 12
By ARIEL TUNG in New [email protected]
China’s e-commerce mar-ket is proving irresistible to Western retailers, including the giant Macy’s Inc, which is investing $15 million in the Chinese online seller VIPStore Co in a venture also supported by the investment arm of the US-based chip maker Intel Corp.
Besides acquiring a minor-ity stake in VIPStore, Macy’s will begin selling private-label merchandise in China next spring on Omei.com, a web-site that is operated by VIP-Store and sells Western luxury and fashion goods.
Macy’s, in announcing its deal with Intel Capital on May
23, said this is its + rst foray into a foreign market. Another divi-sion of the company, the high-end retailer Bloomingdale’s, operates two stores in Dubai.
In China, the value of e-commerce sales this year is expected to reach $169 billion, according to a recent forecast by Zia Daniell Wigder, an ana-lyst with Forrester Research. . e value of online sales in the Asia-Paci+ c region, the biggest market for such transactions, is likely to reach $356 billion in 2016, the report said.
. e deal with VIPStore will give Macy’s a means of learn-ing more about Chinese con-sumers’ shopping habits and preferences, said Terry Lun-dgren, Macy’s chairman and chief executive oG cer.
“Our relationship with
VIPStore will allow us to gain additional experience in the fast-growing Chinese market, and to better understand how consumers across China inter-act with Macy’s and the prod-ucts we sell,” he said.
Founded in 2009, VIPStore is one of the leading online retailers of luxury brands in China. It also operates Jiapin.com, which sells high-end goods at a discount for certain periods of time.
The Macy’s section on Omei.com will offer its INC brand of women’s and men’s apparel before adding other private labels owned by Macy’s.
Jon Bond, VIPStore’s head of business development, called the move “a smart way
SEE “MACY’S” PAGE 2
MACY’S 2012 SALES
Change
Unit: $billion
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0MayAprilMarchFebruary
ZHANG YE / CHINA DAILYSource: Macy’s Inc
1.860
2.359
1.924 2.015
8%
6%
4%
2%
0MayAprilMarchFebruary
4.6%
7.3%
1.2%
4.2%
Macy’s parades online into ChinaCONG YAN / FOR CHINA DAILY
Stephen Tan from Beijing leaves a Macy’s store in New York. He said his friends recommended Macy’s to him, and he likes the store’s choice of high-quality brands.
SCO will be ‘fortress of security and stability’By WU JIAO, ZHOU WA and CUI HAIPEI
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization granted Afghani-stan observer status on . urs-day as President Hu Jintao said the bloc aimed to become a “fortress of regional security and stability and a driving force
of regional eco-nomic develop-ment”.
The current summit of the organization in Beijing, which
witnessed the signing of agree-ments covering security, poli-tics and the economies of the members, will be a landmark in the bloc’s history as it set out a clear vision of its direction, analysts said.
By granting observer status to Afghanistan, the SCO, which groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, consolidated ties with the war-torn country ahead of the pullout of most for-eign troops by the end of 2014.
The organization also announced that Turkey, a NATO member, will join Sri Lanka and Belarus as a dialogue partner.
Observer status will strength-en “political, economic and civilian cooperation between the SCO states and Afghani-stan,” Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheng Guoping said aK er the summit.
Central Asia’s stability is a pressing issue for the regional bloc, analysts said, especially considering the turmoil in the Middle East and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Chen Yurong, a researcher of regional a9 airs with the Institute of International Studies, said as the security situation in Cen-tral Asia has changed, the SCO must revise security policies.
. e participation of Afghani-stan and Turkey enlarges the region that the SCO covers geo-graphically and increases the bloc’s global influence, Chen said. But some analysts suggest-ed that the SCO should be cau-tious about more participants, as it could undermine the bloc’s capability given the sharp eco-nomic and historical di9 erences between some countries.
The SCO on Thursday also recommitted itself to closer security ties by adopting a 2013-15 anti-terrorism plan and establishing a swift response mechanism.
. e mechanism allows SCO members to request the help of other members to handle domestic emergencies.
It “will considerably boost the SCO’s ability to prevent and tackle emergencies”, a diplomat-ic source said.
Hu told the summit that “we should establish and improve a system of security cooperation’’.
SEE “SUMMIT” PAGE 3
Inside• Full
coverage, page 3
• Editorial, page 11
