March 5:
At the annual dinner of the Taipei-based American Chamber of Commerce, Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou said he hoped the upcoming third meeting between Taiwan and China would include talks on a bilateral economic agreement between Beijing and Taipei, the self-governing island’s official Central News Agency reports. The next round of dialogue between Taiwan's Strait Exchange Foundation and the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) is expected to take place in the first half of this year. The agenda should include issues such as daily flights, joint efforts to combat crime, investments and, Ma hopes, discussions about signing an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. President Ma is afraid Taiwan’s industries will be at a disadvantage vis-à-vis Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, which are planning to establish a Free Trade Agreement with China.
March 12:
In an effort to diversify its massive dollar holdings into hard assets Beijing has been on a lending and buying spree beginning with a $25 billion loan to Russian oil giant Rosneft and oil pipeline company Transneft which will in turn provide China with 300,000 barrels of crude a day for the next 20 years at a rate of about $25 a barrel. While touring Latin America, Vice President Xi Jinping agreed to a $10 billion loan to Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras in return for up to 160,000 barrels a day, also over a 20-year period. According to the Washington Times, the spending spree also extends to minerals. Chinalco has submitted a bid of $19.5 billion to buy 18 percent of the Australian mining company Rio Tinto, and Chinese firm Minmetals has offered $1.7 billion for Oz Minerals. The head of China's energy bureau, Zhang Guobao, said China should acquire more gold and uranium and other “strategic commodities.”
[Editor’s Note: Apparently luxury cars are also on the buying list; last month a delegation of 90 Chinese companies, headed by Commerce Minister Chen Deming, toured Europe and purchased 37,000 BMWs from Germany and 13,000 Jaguars from Britain.]
March 9:
The official Zhongguo Xinwen She news agency reports that the Qinghai authorities have “adopted measures” to deal with a “mass incident” that took place in the province's Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture where “a police car and fire engine were blown up.” Chinese state media also reported a protest involving dozens of people in the region. Meanwhile China's President Hu Jintao has ordered a "Great Wall" against Tibetan separatism and deployed more soldiers for the 50th anniversary of a failed anti-Chinese uprising. "To protect stability in Tibet, we have deployed military troops to strengthen controls at entry points and on key roads along Tibet's (international) border," said Fu Hongyu, a top border control official. Residents in Lhasa have also reported an increased security presence although no curfew has been imposed and there were no signs of any unrest in the capital, the Agence France Press reports.
March 19:
Qinghai Province's has started construction on first large scale wind power equipment factory, Russia’s Interfax News Agency reports. The RMB 600 million ($87.85 million) factory is designed to produce 2,000 small and medium-sized turbines a year, and is expected to open in September. By 2012 the factory is slated to expand its annual manufacturing capacity by another 8,000 to 10,000 turbines. Qinghai plans to increase the proportion of wind power in its energy mix over the next few years since the Tangula Mountains, the Kekexili nature reserve, the Chaidamu Basin. and the rim of Qinghai Lake are particularly suited to generate wind power. The province had seven wind farms in various stages of development at the end of 2008, according to the local government.