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China’s Drinking Water Crisis
The quality of China’s tap water was raised on World Water Day. Reports and statements by professionals all point to a drinking water crisis.
Despite a five-year period given water companies to comply with higher governmental sanitary standards for drinking water running out on July 1, 2012, pollution of drinking water and drinking water sources remain a serious issue in China.
Li Wei, secretary of China’s Environmental Protection Foundation (EPF), said that in 2007, 27.6 percent of China’s surface water quality fell into class 5, the lowest according to the Water Quality Index, making it basically unusable.
Li said the overall pollution level of China’s seven natural hydraulic systems was “medium,” based on the EPF’s River Pollution Index’s four categories–none, slight, medium, and serious.
According to China’s 2nd National Water Assessment report, 35.6 percent of drinking water in China is not drinkable. Read more…
China May Match India as World’s Biggest Gold Consumer on ‘Amazing’ Demand
Chinese consumption of gold may climb to rival that of India, the top user, as investors buy the metal as a store of value, said GFMS Ltd. and INTL FCStone.
Demand in China, the world’s second-biggest economy, almost tripled to 580 metric tons last year from 206 tons in 2001, data from the producer-funded World Gold Council show. Use in India may slump 5 percent to 26 percent this year from 963 tons in 2010, Morgan Stanley said in a report yesterday.
Bullion soared to a record $1,444.95 an ounce on March 7 and rallied 30 percent last year for a 10th annual gain as investors sought to preserve their wealth against inflation, Middle East unrest and currency debasement. Consumer prices in China climbed 4.9 percent in February from a year ago, exceeding the government’s 4 percent goal for the full year.
“The level of interest in gold as an asset class is just amazing,” Jeffrey Rhodes, global head of precious metals with INTL FCStone in Dubai, said in an interview. “There is potential for China to Read more…
Is China Backing Indian Insurgents?
The arrest in January of a Chinese spy who allegedly met insurgents in the northeast of the country suggests a broader effort to destabilize India.
On January 25, 2011, Wang Qing, a Chinese spy disguised as a TV reporter, was arrested and deported after she reportedly visited the headquarters of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) or NSCN-IM—one of India’s largest and most troublesome insurgent groups. Indian authorities said Qing admitted to being a spy for the People’s Security Bureau, a Chinese intelligence agency, and that she had conducted a secretive four-hour-long, closed-door meeting with Thuingaleng Muivah, a key rebel leader of the NSCN-IM who is currently holding reconciliation talks with the Indian government. The rebel group, however, insisted that it was holding talks with the Indian Government in good faith and that it has had Read more…
China Tightens Censorship of Electronic Communications
BEIJING — If anyone wonders whether the Chinese government has tightened its grip on electronic communications since protests began engulfing the Arab world, Shakespeare may prove instructive.
A Beijing entrepreneur, discussing restaurant choices with his fiancée over their cellphones last week, quoted Queen Gertrude’s response to Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” The second time he said the word “protest,” her phone cut off.
He spoke English, but another caller, repeating the same phrase on Monday in Chinese over a different phone, was also cut off in mid-sentence.
A host of evidence over the past several weeks shows that Chinese authorities are more Read more…
A First: Fully Armed Chinese Missile Frigate Spotted Off Libyan Coast
Though China abstained from a UN Security Council vote authorizing a no-fly-zone in Libya, and are not among the 16 nation coalition involved in Operation Odyssey Dawn, for the first time in modern day naval history, a Chinese warship sailed in the Mediterranean Sea. The 4000 ton Xuzhou missile frigate sailed to Libya after being deployed of the coast of Yemen, on the other side of the Red Sea.
The missile frigate’s role is not exactly clear, but based on China’s position thus far it is not likely that the ship is part of the US, UK and French led attack. The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s newspaper, earlier pointed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and criticized the US for launching a third attack “on a sovereign nation,” so the chances that China is providing assistance are slim. While China may be flexing some of its military might, they are more than likely in the area strictly to observe operations – for the time being.
India watchful of threat from China
NEW DELHI: “India is conscious and watchful of the implication of China’s evolving military profile in the immediate and extended neighborhood,” says Indian Defence Ministry’s Annual Report for 2010-11.
Even as the report says that the country’s relation with China are of “crucial importance” and its policy is to engage Beijing is based on principles of “mutual trust and respect and sensitivity for each other” it has made it obvious that Chinese specific military preparations by India are under consolidation and will gain momentum in future.
Indian military formations, till now have been mostly field formations capable of undertaking operations in plains and not high altitude mountainous terrain which comprises country’s borders with China.
The rising military budget has enabled India to raise mountain divisions and shop for weapon systems that can help her conduct operations against China. India has already raised two mountain divisions comprising 25,000 to 30, 000 troops for deployment along the Chinese borders in Arunachal Pradesh and has started deploying IAF Squadrons closer to Chinese borders. The IAF has Read more…
RBS says CNY has the potential to become global reserve currency
The FINANCIAL — The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) believes Chinese Renminbi (CNY) can potentially become a world reserve currency comparable to the USD.
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This is one of the findings in the newly released research report ‘CNH Market Guide: A precursor to internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi’, the most comprehensive research yet to look at the offshore CNY market in Hong Kong, also known as the CNH market.
The combination of growth in the offshore CNY market and the sheer size of the Chinese economy will support the Chinese government’s ambition to internationalise its currency, according to RBS.
“China now holds 30% of the world’s USD9trn foreign reserves. The other 70% which does not belong to the People’s Republic of China (PBOC) could potentially be held in CNY. As China’s share Read more…
Chinese Troops Seen in Mexico
Rumors have begun to circulate around the internet this week regarding various sources having seen Chinese Troops and military bases set up just north and south of the US border. The simple logic of such a situation defies the sane mind. “If this were true, the United States Government would have to be either directly involved, or completely failed in terms of intelligence. Either of which could actually be a possibility in this day and age. The real concern surrounding this issue is how such a story could be perceived by the National Security and Affairs Department.
The internet has been a great evolution in the enlightenment of the world’s population for the sharing and opening of previously esoteric information.
Some of the websites actually tell of Read more…
Richard Lehmann: China May Corner Gold Market
China has likely begun a campaign to convert its dollars to gold that could end up with the nation cornering the gold market, says Richard Lehmann, editor of the Forbes/Lehmann Income Security Investor newsletter.
China is alarmed about potential weakness for the dollar, he says in an interview with Steve Forbes.
So “I’m concerned that basically China is probably already on a program to diversify the dollar into gold. I don’t think they want any other fiat currencies or want to minimize that amount.”
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If China buys enough gold, at some point it can simply dictate the price, Lehmann says. And it has the means to do so, given that Chinese currency reserves total almost $3 trillion, and the world’s gold supply is now worth about $5 trillion, he says.
So China could “in one stroke, basically take control of the gold market and tie the dollar to gold so that effectively, if every six months the dollar deteriorates 5 percent, they can just upgrade the stated price at which they wanted to buy gold and thereby upgrade and up-value their gold reserves, but also keep the dollar in check.”
With plenty of other investors buying gold too, many experts expect it to continue rising. Richard Russell, author of the Dow Theory newsletter, says in a commentary obtained by King World News that the precious metal may reach $6,000 an ounce.
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