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BEIJING -- China's economic-reform policies aren't likely to change after an expected leadership transition to be finalized by March next year, Moody's Investor Services Inc. said Thursday in its annual country update. The international ratings agency also based its assumptions on continued peaceful economic integration between the mainland and Taiwan, despite a recent heightening in cross-strait tensions. Moody's assigns China's sovereign debt an A3 rating and Baa1 is the highest rating currently assigned to non-sovereign issuers in China, including state- owned financial institutions. Since 1979, China has adopted a reform strategy to transform its former command model into a modern...

The Taiwan government set politics aside yesterday and said it would allow chipmakers to begin applying to invest in China on Monday, just days after Beijing threatened war on the nation over remarks made by President Chen Shui-bian. "This is a good sign," said Andrew Yang, head of the Chinese Center for Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei. "[President Chen] is offering an olive branch to Beijing. It shows he is a very pragmatic person, that he is very much ready to ease tensions." The Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said in a statement that chipmakers --...

TAIPEI - Support for President Chen Shui-bian plummeted to a record low after his claim that Taiwan and China are two separate countries, a survey showed yesterday. His approval rate slumped to 45.8 per cent after he told a pro-independence group on Saturday that ''each side of the Taiwan Strait is a country'', according to an ETTV poll of 805 respondents. That was lower than 59.7 per cent at the second anniversary of his inauguration in May and 82.7 per cent after his inauguration speech on May 20, 2000.

The Executive Yuan (Cabinet) approved yesterday a set of measures allowing mainland Chinese and organizations to purchase and own real estates in Taiwan effective tomorrow. The measures were announced by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) that supervises property registrations and transactions in Taiwan area. Under the new rules, individuals, enterprises and other organizations in mainland China and mainland Chinese-invested companies in third areas will be permitted to own apartments, offices, and land parcels in Taiwan. Investors from mainland China should first seek permission from governing agencies in the central government and then file applications with local-level governments of cities or...

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - The United States responded on Sunday to Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's support for a referendum on independence by saying Washington's long-standing "one-China" policy had not changed. "Our policy with respect to China is well-known and long-standing and has not changed," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. He declined to elaborate. Chen told pro-independence activists on Saturday that Taiwan, which is self-governing, and mainland China were separate countries and "everyone should seriously consider the importance and urgency of passing legislation on a referendum." China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunited with...

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The Taiwan government's pleas to businessmen to slow their investment rush into China have fallen mostly on deaf ears, and even state-controlled firms under pressure to toe the official line are seeking a greater stake on the mainland. Competition to survive, made more intense since both China and Taiwan entered the World Trade Organization, overrides political considerations for Taiwan's formerly protected industries. Last week, one day after President Chen Shui-bian again urged Taiwan businessmen to diversify investments away from the mainland, Taiwan's China Steel Aluminum Corp (CSAC) confirmed it planned to invest in the promising China market...

The delegation, which visited Beijing, Shanghai and some rural areas in China, was indelibly impressed by the changing face of the Communist country which is showcasing itself as a favoured investment destination for multinationals. Briefing the delegation about the rapid economic progress of China during the past two decades, the deputy chief of the Indian mission in Beijing Debnath Shaw said, in the post-September 11 scenario, China was projecting itself as a 'safe haven' for foreign investments and was further liberalising procedures to open up its economy. Focussing on infrastructure development, decentralisation, reforming labour laws and agriculture sector, China has...

NEW DELHI: If you can’t beat them, join them. That seems to be the mantra for India Inc which has decided to partner with China in a big way. For the first time, China will be the partner country in the 15th International Engineering and Technology Fair 2003 'as a measure to further strengthen Sino-Indian cooperation in commerce and trade'. China as the partner country in the biennial fair organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry could lead to closer ties between the two countries, believe Indian corporates. Participation in trade fairs is today one of the most effective means...

NEW DELHI: China's software services sector is fast catching up with India and could overtake its neighbour’s dominant position by 2007. Interestingly, Indian software companies will be there to reap some of this bonanza. Surprised? According to a new report by IT consultancy firm Gartner, the Chinese software industry is expected to match India’s growth and clock a revenue of over $27 billion in 2006. India too is expected to log in the same revenue figure by that time. Gartner has cited three main reasons that are expected to add momentum to an already fast-growing software and application development services...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan's state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp. is mulling a new deal to jointly explore oil and gas with the mainland's China National Offshore Oil Corp., a company official said Wednesday. The company is now studying geological data about the Nanri Dao Basin — a group of islands off the coast of China's southeastern Fujian Province — and is considering jointly exploring the area with the Chinese firm, said the CPC official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. CPC is only "in the preliminary stage" of studying data about the Nanri Dao Basin, and many details have yet to...

Major Japanese firms said yesterday they are shifting production lines to China from Southeast Asia to cut costs and consolidate their assembly operations. High-tech giant NEC Corp said it planned to close a personal computer production line in Malaysia and move it to China. "By doing this we can use common parts for the domestic and international market," said NEC spokesman Chris Shimizu. China is closer to Japan which makes it a more convenient location and it is often cheaper to assemble whole products there, he said, adding the firm will likely consider further similar moves in the future. "It...

US Pentagon officials told a delegation of Taiwanese legislators on Wednesday that they were concerned about Taiwan's declining military budget at a time when China's military threat to the country was increasing, delegation members said. During the briefing, US officials urged Taiwan to rethink its military budget, undertake reforms to improve its defensive capabilities against China and set clear priorities to develop those capabilities, the legislators said. Nevertheless, the US is fully aware of Taiwan's financial problems and its budget constraints, they added. The highly unusual briefing, on the last day of a three-day visit to Washington by 32 DPP...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration's decision to again slap sanctions on Chinese companies accused of arms or technology sales to Iran is sparking new calls for a different, possibly tougher, U.S. approach. In the past such penalties have failed to persuade Beijing to crack down hard enough on what Washington considers dangerous technology transfers and some are questioning whether the latest round of sanctions will be any more effective. The new sanctions -- the fifth set imposed by the United States in 19 months -- were authorized under the Iran-Iraq Arms Proliferation Act of 1992 and the Chemical and...

NEW YORK - A decade ago it was Japan that touched off nationalistic fears among Americans who worry about being out-competed by Asian industrialists. Now it is China's turn to generate the scare stories. The reflex cannot be helped, but nor should it be indulged in any policy sense. China's rise is inevitable and should not be viewed as a threat. Consider this front-page story in today's New York Times: "China Emerges as Rival to U.S. in Asian Trade." That sort of headline will become commonplace in the next few years as China increases its dominance of East Asia's economy....

China remains a refuge from software sluggishness. To hear critics tell it, China teems with software thieves. But the actions of some of the world's largest code producers tell another story. Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, in Beijing last month announced $750 million of planned investments in China for the next three years. Only two weeks earlier, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, told a publicity-drenched conference of 6,000 people in Beijing that his company would open its second development center in China. Sun Microsystems is also gearing up to expand its Beijing research center. Even as growth in...

SHANGHAI , China -- General Motors Corp. said its sales in China nearly tripled in the first half from a year earlier, underlining the sudden revival of this country's once-languid auto market and bolstering prospects for the company's massive China bet, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. auto giant said Thursday that it sold a record 47,818 autos in China during the first six months of this year. The vast majority, or 45,867 cars, were produced at GM's $1.5 billion Shanghai plant, a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp. that makes Buick sedans, the subcompact Sail and a...

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan plans to allow its businesses to invest directly in China, instead of routing their investments through a third area, a leading newspaper reported Sunday. China Times quoted Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council, as saying the government will announce the end of the ban on direct investment soon, after the details of are worked out. The measure would comply with suggestions made last summer by an elite group of economic advisers to President Chen Shui-bian, Tsai, an official responsible for Taiwan's China policy, was quoted as saying. The advisers proposed gradually easing trade...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - President Bush has told his defense chiefs to intensify efforts to forge a new military relationship with China, Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post reported, quoting sources close to the Bush administration. The newspaper said that, in a meeting with top security officials last week, Bush instructed Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to ensure the Pentagon swiftly found ways of moving ahead after a recent visit to Beijing by senior defense official Peter Rodman. "The president made clear that he had been well briefed and had given the issue considerable thought... He left Pentagon hawks in no...