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Sri Lanka is willing to be the buffer between China and India

Sri Lanka is willing to be the buffer between China and India — Tea plantation in Sri Lanka

On August 3, 2016, the ambassador of Sri Lanka to China Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Sri Lankan minister of planting industry Navin Dissanayake and the delegation he led, attended the press conference. The purpose of the visit is to promote the Sri Lanka’s black tea exports to China and to attract more Chinese investors. The minister also made a statement of Sino-Indian and Sino-Japanese relations and claimed that Sri Lanka is willing to be the buffer between China and India for the peace of the region.

Sri Lanka is willing to be the buffer between China and India — Train runing along the Indian Ocean in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s planting industry minister Navin Dissanayake said in his speech that China and Sri Lanka are like brothers helping each other and Sri Lanka will always affirm the One China principle. Historically, Sri Lanka is China’s trading partner since the ancient times, as well as an important hub of the ancient Silk Road in the sea. Nowadays, China’s “One Belt One Road” strategy will rebuild Sri Lanka as the global shipping and trade center. Politically, Sri Lanka is the first non-communist country to admit People’s Republic of China. Economically, in recent years, Sri Lanka’s tea export to China has been growing steadily. The amount of exports reached 7.2 million kilograms, which proves China’s position as the main sales market of Sri Lanka’s black tea.

Sri Lanka is willing to be the buffer between China and India — Sigiriya Lion Rock in Sri Lanka

The minister also mentioned about Sino-Indian and Sino-Japanese relations at the conference. He said, India is Sri Lanka’s largest neighbor. In spite of certain disputes between China and India, Sri Lanka is maintaining good relations with both countries. Sri Lanka will not take side on political issues, but expect to act as the buffer and medium to ease the tension between China and India. In terms of Sino-Japanese relation, the minister hopes that two sides can settle the argument peacefully and commit to the regional development together.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

China and India have the largest demand for gold in the world, however, two countries are getting a sharp downturn in demand for gold this year. Contrary to the situation in Asia, gold becomes popular in Europe. With many uncertain factors such as UK’s exit from EU, FED’s expectation of increasing interest rate cooling down, Italian bank industry’s predicament and US presidential election, the demand for gold in the west soars.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

Consumption decline in the two biggest gold importing countries

China’s domestic demand in physical gold slumped. Gold and silver jewelry sales in the 50 national key large-scale retailers fell by 20.9% in the first half of 2016, 22% below that of the corresponding period last year.

In the aspect of the consumption, the national gold consumption has diverged in the first half of 2016. The national total gold consumption was 528.52 tons, down 7.68% year on year, in which gold jewelry consumption 340.64 tons, down 17.38% YoY and gold bars 128.19 tons, up 25.33% YoY.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

India also showed a sharp drop in demand for gold, with the lowest imports for decades.

Due to the minimal domestic gold production, India is highly dependent on imports. In recent years, the country’s import mainly falls from 700 to 900 tons, reaching 947 tons in 2015.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

Since Indian government continuously imposed on import restrictions and taxes, India’s gold import totaled a mere 130 tons in the first half of this year, touching the lowest level in the at least last 20 years. India’s jewelry demand in the second quarter fell to 69 tons, down 56% YoY and net investment down 40% YoY.

Prithviraj Kothari, president of India’s largest gold dealer RSBL, said, “Nearly all the dealers and banks didn’t get little business in the past five months. It is difficult to adapt to Indian government’s changeable policy. At the same time, it is hard to bear a discount of 30-100 dollars per ounce.”

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

Gold investment in the west rises up

Report from GFMS on July 26 showed a major increase in gold investment in the west, which helped offset the impact of falling demand in Asia in the second quarter. GFMS raised its estimate of this year’s gold price, in response to doubts on the economic prospects.

The report claimed that raising the estimate reflects the strong increase of gold price since the beginning of the year, as well as the market shift caused by the heightened uncertainty of economic and political future, including UK’s exit from EU, FED’s expectation of increasing interest rate cooling down, Italian bank industry’s predicament and US presidential election.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

The above concern has led to the warming curve on gold investment in the second quarter. The funding flocking to gold ETF offset the impact of decreasing demand of Chinese and Indian buyers, which eased the oversupply situation in the gold market. Total gold ETF inflow in the first half of this year has reached 568 tons, as the highest semi-annual inflow scale.

The situation in the second quarter of 2016 is similar to the first quarter in which gold demand in China and India is very weak, but very strong in western market, especially triggered by the consecutive demand of ETF in the second quarter, at the same time, the asset allocation got re-assessed and gold has been listed in a more positive place.

Gold demand is falling sharply in China and India

04/29/201604/30/2016

China and India strive for the military hotline of frontier defense

On April 28, Colonel Qian Wu, spokesman of Chinese Ministry of Defense said that China held a positive attitude towards the military hotline of Sino-Indian frontier defense. The relevant department of two armies are doing some research on this and striving for an early agreement, to strengthen the frontier cooperation.

At the regular press conference held by Chinese Ministry of Defense in April, a reporter asked about the decisions or results after Indian defense minister paid a visit to China and held meetings on a wide range of subjects with a number of Chinese senior leaders including Chinese defense minister, as well as the situation of the two armies’ establishing hotline of frontier defense.

China and India making research on the military hotline of frontier defense

Mr. Wu said, at the invitation of Mr. Wanquan Chang, Chinese state councilor and defense minister, Mr. Manohar Parrikar, Indian defense minister visited China on April 16-20. During his stay, Chinese PM Keqiang Li, VP of Chinese military commission Changlong Fan and Defense minister Wanquan Chang had talks with the delegation respectively. The two sides had in-depth communication about the bilateral military relations, defense cooperation, border exchange and control, and the international and regional issues of common concern.

China and India strive for the military hotline of frontier defense

The two sides agreed that China and India strengthening the cooperation at peace, is not only benefiting Asian and global economy, but also sending a positive signal of peaceful development to the world. The Defense department and the army of both countries should enhance the strategic communication and pragmatic exchanges in every field; promote the mutual understanding and common interests; actively propel the establishment of the frontier defense hotline; intensify the border exchanges; jointly maintain the peace in border areas and create favorable conditions and atmosphere for the development of bilateral relations. The visit had reinforced the Sino-Indian relations, especially the further development of military relations.

01/25/201501/26/2015

China and India will highlight Asian investment

On January 8^th , the latest strategy report from Julius Baer pointed out that Asia will continue to benefit from the favorable investment situation in 2015. The reason lies in the following three points: the long-term high correlation between Asian and European markets and the good prospects for the latter next year; the relatively loose monetary policy to be maintained by the world’s major central banks; the reasonable valuation in Asian stock market.

China and India will highlight Asian investment

The analyst in Julius Baer anticipated that China and India will become Asia’s best performing economies thanks to the diverse reform initiatives. Meanwhile, Japan’s performance can be expected as well, thanks to the local QE policies and the re-adjustment of pension allocation. In addition, the recent fall in oil price will benefit the economy in almost all Asian countries, enabling the government to apply the existing fuel subsidies to the fields that can enhance more the productivity, such as education and infrastructure, in order to further promote the long-term economic development.

Julius Baer emphasized that in addition to China’s A-shares, the other major Asian markets are highly correlated with the US and European market trends. Julius Baer Strategy Head Christoph Riniker predicted that next year the total return of the S & P index is about 4%, the return of the German Frankfurt DAX index is about 7%, which indicated that the overall market environment is quite favorable to the Asian markets. In view of the United States and Europe are the world’s two most important economies, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank’s policies are very significant for the Asian economies and markets and currencies. The US FED led by economic liberals, the positive but not high economic growth and the low inflation have prompted the United States to launch the “normalization” process of interest rate in a slow and gentle pace. At the same time, the economic growth of the euro zone in 2015 forecasted at only 0.8%, the ECB’s loose monetary policy is bound to last longer.

Indian ambassador to China: Huge manufacturing potential cooperation between Chongqing and India

On November 14^th, Mr. Ashok K. Kantha, Indian ambassador to China, visited Chongqing with an Indian business delegation, introducing India’s investment environment and policies to Chongqing enterprises. Mr. Kantha proposed that Chongqing would strengthen the manufacturing and infrastructure cooperation with India, to exploit the industrial advantage between two places and to promote the bilateral trade development.

China and India are both the world’s ancient civilizations and have a long history of connection, of which when Chongqing acted as the auxiliary capital of China during World War II, the famous “Hump Course” put up an important air passage and friendship bridge between Chongqing and India. At that time, India set up the Indian Embassy in Chongqing and the site of which is still standing in Chongqing Nanshan Botanical Garden.

Huge manufacturing potential cooperation between Chongqing and India “Chongqing is the most dynamic economic center in western China.” said Mr. Kantha. This was the first time he came to Chongqing, and he hopes to come frequently in the future with continuous cooperation opportunities. As a vital point between the Silk Road Economic Zone and Yangtze River Economic Zone, Chongqing is playing an important role in the development of western China. Chongqing and India should produce their respective industrial advantages and build the further cooperation in manufacturing, infrastructure, IT, chemical, automotive, textiles and other fields.

Mr. Chen Heping, vice mayor of Chongqing, said that the total import and export trade value between Chongqing and India in 2013 amounted to $ 1.95 billion. In the first three quarters of 2014, the total trade value has reached $ 1.28 billion. Till September 2014, Chongqing has set up four companies in India, covering environmental protection, manufacturing, silk sales and medical fields.

It is understood that Chongqing Yunhe Hydropower Inc., China Chongqing International Construction Corporation, Chongqing Yuneng Taishan Electric Wire & Cable Co. Ltd are proceeding one batch of new projects so far in India, including e-commerce, garment outsourcing, software training, energy and infrastructure construction.

Mr. Kantha said that the current political and economic situation between China and India is encouraging and the relations between two countries affected nearly one-third of the global population. In October 204, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India, further improved the strategic partnership between China and India, and reached a series of consensus with Indian Prime Minister Modi on promoting the investment of Sino-Indian Industrial Park, infrastructure construction, financial cooperation and trade exchange.

“The core of the strategic partnership between two countries is the economic and commercial exchanges.” said Mr. Kantha. Currently India is paying more and more attention on the economy, hoping that China’s western development strategy and India’s Look East policy can enhance each other and create a good environment for the bilateral investment.

Article source: The China Voice

07/31/201407/31/2014

The value of Chinese domain names for international brands

As we all know, 2014 is considered the first year of new global top-level domain opening. With ICANN’s permission, many new top-level domain names joined the Internet, of which Chinese domain names such as “.zaixian”(online) and “.zhongwenwang”(China’s net) are pretty unique. Let’s see the value of Chinese domain names.

Foreign products perform better?

At first glance, these two new domain names – “.zaixian” and “.zhongwenwang” – are mostly thought to come from China, but it is wrong. In fact, they are operated by a Finnish commercial company. In order to be better integrated with Chinese culture and language habits, the company even got themselves a Chinese name “Yutong Lianda”. The reason why they applied for these two Chinese domain names is that they lay emphasis on the 600 million Internet users in China and hundreds of millions of Chinese users all around the world. Such a large user base makes the Chinese domain name become an integral part!

“.zaixian” and “.zhongwenwang” have taken all the edges. Simon Cousins (Xia Ming), CMO of Yutong Lianda registration bureau, has joked, “Since the opening of the domain names, the registration amount of “.zaixian” and “.zhongwenwang” has been always on top, even “the small company” like Google is behind us!” Although it is just a joke, the achievement cannot be made without the capacity and opening timing of the market!

Which companies are suitable for “Chinese name tag”?

So far, the dominant position of domain names such as .com, .net, .cn and etc. can still not changed, but in some niche markets and user groups, Chinese domain names have built the value. The main target of “.zaixian” and “.zhongwenwang” is to help foreign brands and companies better explore the Chinese market or consolidate their positions. Through these two domain names, the emphasis on Chinese consumers, customers, partners, governmental bodies and the sincerity of focusing on the products and services are both shown from those foreign companies. It is not hard to understand why we often see the “localized” website of foreign brands, such as “AOL”, “F1 Online”, “MSN China”, “NBA China”, and “Forbes China” etc.

What is the value of Chinese domain names?

The value of Chinese domain names is mainly reflected in the “localized” information services of the companies, which is divided into three aspects: Cultural habit, Brand marketing and Brand protection. Through a Chinese domain name, the company can make such a large Chinese audience easier to understand and accept their brand; it can convey the brand more precisely so that not only the users have an easier access to the website, but also the search engine is more efficient and more accurate. As for a company brand, the synchronized registration of its Chinese domain name can effectively protect the intellectual property of its Chinese name, prevent the brand from being diluted and even being “pirated”.

At present, Chinese domain names are booming. More and more International big brands are entering into the public and this is just a beginning!

07/10/201407/21/2014

Time for Chinese to invest in India!

Textiles and clothing accounted for 4% of India’s GDP, providing the largest employment in addition to the agricultural sector. Currently, India’s textiles accounted for 6.56% of global trade while clothing 3.43%, and export of cotton products occupies dominant position. India is the second largest cotton producer and yarn exporter, of which the export of yarn accounted for 28% of global yarn export in 2013.

China is the second largest export destination of India’s textiles and clothing, but the export to China is mostly raw material, such as raw cotton and cotton yarn. China is the largest source of India’s textiles and clothing, which are mainly high value-added ones. In 2013, China’s import of textiles and clothing from India accounted for 11% – of which cotton yarn 30% – while India’s import from China 45%.

Textile industry has been always shifted from high-cost area to low-cost one. With the increasing producing cost in China, more and more low-end products will be produced out of China. As European textiles developed from low-end to high-end and was gradually shifted to China, now it is the time for low-end textiles to leave China. India welcomes investment and purchase from Chinese yarn customers. The cost of Chinese textile manufacturers can be greatly reduced when Indian textile factories and Chinese textile supply chain are bound.

Indian government has taken many measures to encourage the development of textile and clothing industry, such as allowing 100% foreign direct investment; investing on infrastructure construction of textile industrial parks, 40 of which have been approved till now; formulating export promotion schemes, including the encouragement of production means export, tax allowance and export rebate, aiming to eliminate the tax influence on different stage of production. Chinese textile enterprises can enhance their competitiveness by making use of the friendly investment environment and low processing cost in India and building alliance with Indian textile companies. It’s time for Chinese textile enterprises to seize the investment opportunities in India!

07/08/201407/21/2014

A “BRICS Bank” to be launched

BRICS is planning to set up a bank together based on matching fund and equal right of speaking. The total fund will be $100 billion. The new bank may probably start lending in two years.

BRICS Bank will highlight the growing influence of the emerging economies in the global financial landscape. This area has been long dominated by United States and Europe through IMF and World Bank.

China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa is expected to sign the agreement officially at the BRICS Summit, which is to be held in Brazil on July 15.

“The start-up capital of the bank is $50 billion and still needs to obtain legislative approval in these five countries. The new bank may start lending in two years.” said an Brazilian official.