Jenny Zhang, Attorney at Law, Lawyer, Law firm in Dalian, China

The International Investment Dalian Summit 2009 was closed this Wednesday.

The summit invited senior management leaders of U.S. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Nasdak Stock Market and financial elites in risk investment fund, private equity investment institutions, investment banks to join.

As I knew the summit pretty late, I just attended a road show on the last day in the New World Hotel. I believed it a good opportunity for many small and medium sized enterprises in northeast of China. That could be a platform for these enterprises to attract more overseas capital, or at least our enterprises can know where to find “help”.

In that meeting, I also met my counterpart, a lawyer from the U.S. Really a nice guy and nice meeting.

Nov. 9 2008

4 trillion yuan stimulus package

Jan. 14 2009

Support for steel and auto sectors

Jan. 21 2009

850 bln yuan in 3 year in medicare reform

Feb. 4 2009

Support for machinery and textile industries

Feb. 11 2009

Support for shipbuilding industry

Feb. 18 2009

Support for electronics & informational industries

Feb.19 2009

Support for light & petrochemical industries

Related Article: On American and Chinese Economic Stimulus Plan

By Tim Burroughs April 8th, 2009

What with all the nationalism-infused shenanigans of Coca-Cola’s failed bid for juice maker Huiyuan, it seems somewhat encouraging that China’s Anti-monopoly Law is being used in the interests of grass-roots consumer activism. A Beijing-based lawyer named Zhou Ze is taking the fight to China Mobile, having seen his case against the telecom behemoth – which he claims has abused its dominant market position by charging subscribers different fees for similar services – accepted by Dongcheng District Court last week.

Good for Zhou. After all, isn’t this the kind of social justice that the Anti-monopoly Law was always supposed to deliver? Back in the summer of 2007, there was much talk about the plight of China’s instant-noodle lovers (no small group) who had just been hit by across-the-board price hikes of around 20%. Their budget snack was becoming less budget, and they complained. Fortunately, the National Development and Reform Commission was listening. An investigation found that members of the China chapter of the World Instant Noodle Association were illegally colluding with one another to fix prices. The noodle makers were punished and we were told to expect more victories for consumer activism once the Anti-monopoly Law was in place.

While China Mobile undoubtedly has a dominant market position, it remains to be seen whether the company is abusing it, or whether the judicial authorities would really want to penalize a large state-owned enterprise. Needless to say, there is an escape route: State-owned firms with administrative monopolies in industries that “implicate national economic vitality and security” are not to be touched by investigators. On issues of market domination – in an economy still making the transition from state to private ownership – China will take time to find the right balance.

Another drama waiting to be played out is how foreign firms hold up against accusations of abusing dominant market positions in China. When the Anti-monopoly Law arrived, there was also much talk about the likelihood of firms such as Microsoft coming under investigation. Lawyers said they knew of foreign companies being targeted, although we have yet to see concrete results. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that a consumer lawsuit could be a useful tool in efforts to restrict foreign access to the China market, or even just as a money-spinning venture by plaintiffs who have seen Western firms grow rich in China on the strength of their intellectual property. Perhaps it’s not so easy to escape nationalist leanings after all.

（source: Chinaeconomicreview.com)

China‘s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Thursday denied its refusal to approve Coca-Cola’s acquisition of Huiyuan Juice Group was protectionist.  

MOC spokesman Yao Jian said the decision would have no effect on China’s policy in accepting foreign investment.

Yao said the ministry made the decision based “on sufficient investigation and research, on the basis of facts, and strictly inline with the country’s anti-monopoly law.”

He said countries worldwide commonly reviewed acquisitions under anti-monopoly laws, and China was no exception. 

 “The purpose of the examination is to maintain market competition, protect consumers and safeguard the public interest,” he said.Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang echoed Yao’s comments, saying the rejection of the bid was in no way protectionism.

 The government would continue to accept foreign investment, enhance opening up and provide foreign investors with a good investment environment.

“Products of the Coca-Cola company are available anywhere in China’s market. The country’s market is fully open to foreign companies,” said Qin.

Mei Xinyu, a trade expert with the MOC, said the rejection didn’t indicate that the country had closed the door to foreign investment, neither did it equal protectionism.

Coca-Cola offered to buy Huiyuan, the nation’s largest juice maker, for 17.92 billion Kong Kong dollars (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in cash on Sept. 3. The MOC announced on Wednesday that the bid failed to meet requirements set out in the anti-monopoly law.

Hours after the decision was announced, Coca-Cola Company and Huiyuan said that they respected the decision.

Galaxy Securities analyst Zuo Xiaolei said the failed acquisition would not have any “substantial effect” on Huiyuan, because the company’s domestic market had not changed. 

Wang Zhile, a researcher with the MOC, said the failed bid might have a short-term negative effect on Huiyuan but the company would still play an important role in the country’s pure juice market.

“However, the company should reconsider its development in the domestic market, so that it will grow better in the long run,” he said.

Source:Xinhua

Hide and Seek originally is a kind of game. In America’s dictionary, it is called cops-and-robbers. Everybody played the game in our childhood. But the name of the game turns out to be the hottest network language nowadays. It results from a case. 

 According to the report in China Daily, the mysterious death of Li, 24, who allegedly died of a head injury while playing “hide-and-seek” game with fellow detainees, sparked wide discussion and doubts over internet.

Some warm-hearted netizens even formed a “hide-and-seek incident investigation committee” to investigate the sudden death of the detainee. This case continued to draw fire from the online community.

I am not stupid, so I just cannot believe the reason provided by the local police office as everybody else. We can imagine the size of space in a local detention house. How would a detainee could have enough time and space to play such a game. Based on my knowledge as a lawyer, a detainee could not have such freedom to go around somewhere besides their small cabinet, let alone play any game there. Even if they have enough freedom, how do they have such a mood! Yeah, based on the logic of such reasoning, Li and his fellow detainees are probably be nuts.

Not being a member of this committee, I think I just know the truth. One of our unspoken rules to examine the suspects is to “give him some color see see”. Maybe this time, one of the officers just neglected enough to harm his life.

Who can play hide-and-seek any more?

More articles online about this tipic:

Prosecutor: Man beaten to death in Chinese prison “hide-and-seek” game

County gov’t website hacked after “hide-and-seek” prison death

Netizens join probe into “hide-and-seek” prison death in China’s Yunnan

BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council on Wednesday announced support plans for the country’s nonferrous metals and logistics sectors.

     Presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, Cabinet members agreed to promote company restructuring and will offer subsidized loans to support technical innovations within the nonferrous metals sector.

    The export rebate rates of nonferrous products should be adjusted, said the Cabinet without elaborating.

    The establishment of a national reserve system for the industry was also demanded.

    The product structure of the nonferrous industry should be adjusted to meet the demand of power, transportation, construction, mechanics and light industries, the announcement said.

    Cabinet members agreed to eliminate technically undeveloped producers and avoid the increase of excessive output capacity.

    Nine key projects were also decided on as a way to boost the logistics sector, including supplying necessary equipment as well as promoting an industry standard and an information platform.

    The plan would also build a special district for logistics development, and boost urban delivery, wholesale and rural logistics.

    The logistics industry was a service sector that could give a major boost to production and consumption, as well as provide a great number of job opportunities, said the meeting.

    Company merging and restructuring should be encouraged in order to nurture large and modern logistics companies which could compete in the international market.

    The development of logistics for energy, mining, automobile, and medical industries and agricultural products should be especially encouraged.

    The meeting underlined the development of technical innovations and decided that central and local governments should allocate 100billion yuan within two years to support the promotion and application of innovative products.

    Beginning last month, China has unveiled stimulus packages for 10 industries. Previous support packages include the auto, steel, shipbuilding, textile, machinery-manufacturing, electronics and information industries, the light industry and petrochemical sectors.

Related Article: On American and Chinese Economic Stimulus Plan