Tag Archives: China

Business

Companies are giving up on the United States and betting big on China

Leave a comment

Direct investment in the US by foreign companies plummeted 49% to $134 billion last year, according to a report released Sunday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. By contrast, foreign direct investment in China grew by 4% to $163 billion in 2020.

2020 marked the first year in history that foreign direct investment in China overtook that of the US, according to the UN. China is now the world’s largest recipient of foreign companies’ investments.

Although Covid-19 was a large factor in foreign direct investment tumbling in the US — and most places around the world — the drop-off in foreign companies’ American investments began well before the pandemic.

After hitting a high of $440 billion in 2015, according to the US Commerce Department, foreign investment in the US has been on a sharp downward slide. Former President Donald Trump’s go-it-alone trade policies hurt foreign investment — particularly from China, which represented the sharpest drop in US investment over the past several years. Growing economic uncertainty around the globe also contributed to the decline.

Last year, decline in foreign direct investment into the US was most prominent in wholesale trade, financial services and manufacturing, the report said. International mergers and acquisitions, as well as sales of US assets to foreign investors, fell by 41%.

Meanwhile, China’s explosive economic growth — and quick recovery from the pandemic — helped foreign investment there soar. China’s economy grew 2.3% last year, when most of the world’s major economies shrank. The country enforced stringent lockdown and population tracking policies intended to contain the virus, and set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for major infrastructure projects to fuel economic growth.
China’s ability to control the spread of the virus “helped stabilize investment after the early lockdown,” the report noted.
Foreign direct investment to India has similarly skyrocketed, from less than $25 billion in 2014 — before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power — to $57 billion last year, according to the UN report. Much of that growth was brought about by policies that enabled global brands like Ikea and Uniqlo to open up stores, as well as Modi’s signature “Make in India” campaign to grow the country’s manufacturing base.

That helped India’s foreign direct investment soar 13% last year.

Most economies weren’t so lucky. Foreign direct investment in the United Kingdom and Italy fell by almost 100%. Russia’s foreign direct investment fell 96%, Germany’s sank 61% and Brazil’s plunged by 50%. Australia, France, Canada and Indonesia — all among the top foreign direct investment recipients in 2019 — also fell by double digits.

Overall, foreign direct investment tumbled 42% last year to the lowest level since the 1990s — and 30% below the lowest level reached during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

The attractiveness of the US as a safe and robust place for foreign companies to invest has been one of the more powerful driving forces behind America’s economic growth over the past several decades. But the UN said the circumstances stopping the flow of foreign direct investment to the US and other countries will remain in place this year.

“The effects of the pandemic on investment will linger,” James Zhan, director of UNCTAD’s investment division, said in a statement. “Investors are likely to remain cautious in committing capital to new overseas productive assets.”

Read original article here

Business

China Overtakes U.S. as World’s Leading Destination for Foreign Direct Investment

Leave a comment

China overtook the U.S. as the world’s top destination for new foreign direct investment last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic amplifies an eastward shift in the center of gravity of the global economy.

New investments by overseas businesses into the U.S., which for decades held the No. 1 spot, fell 49% in 2020, according to U.N. figures released Sunday, as the country struggled to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and economic output slumped.

China, long ranked No. 2, saw direct investments by foreign companies climb 4%, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said. Beijing used strict lockdowns to largely contain Covid-19 after the disease first emerged in a central Chinese city, and China’s gross domestic product grew even as most other major economies contracted last year.

The 2020 investment numbers underline China’s move toward the center of a global economy long dominated by the U.S.—a shift accelerated during the pandemic as China has cemented its position as the world’s factory floor and expanded its share of global trade.

While China attracted more new inflows last year, the total stock of foreign investment in the U.S. remains much larger, reflecting the decades it has spent as the most attractive location for foreign businesses looking to expand outside their home markets.

Read original article here

World

Workers rescued from China gold mine 2 weeks after being trapped

Leave a comment

BEIJING — Eleven workers trapped for two weeks inside a Chinese gold mine were brought safely to the surface on Sunday, a landmark achievement for an industry long-blighted by disasters and high death tolls.

State broadcaster CCTV showed workers being hauled up one-by-one in baskets on Sunday afternoon, their eyes shielded to protect them after so many days in darkness.

Some brought their hands together in gratitude and many appeared almost too weak to stand. They were swiftly covered in coats amid freezing temperatures and loaded into ambulances.

Hundreds of rescue workers and officials stood at attention and applauded as the workers were brought up from the mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in the eastern coastal province of Shandong.

One worker was reported to have died from a head wound following the explosion that deposited massive amounts of rubble in the shaft on Jan. 10 while the mine was still under construction.

The fate of 10 others who were underground at the time is unknown. Authorities have detained mine managers for delaying reporting the accident.

The cause of the accident is under investigation but the explosion was large enough to release 70 tons of debris that blocked the shaft, disabling elevators and trapping workers underground.

Rescuers drilled parallel shafts to send down food and nutrients and eventually bring up the survivors, 10 of whom had been in a lower chamber and one in a separate area slightly closer to the surface.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

The official China Daily newspaper said on its website that seven of the workers were able to walk to ambulances on their own.

Such protracted and expensive rescue efforts are relatively new in China’s mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths per year. Increased supervision has improved safety, although demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting.

A new crackdown was ordered after two accidents in mountainous southwestern Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.

Read original article here

US

U.S. carrier group enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions

Leave a comment

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas”, the U.S. military said on Sunday, at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan have raised concern in Washington.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defence identification zone in the vicinity of the Pratas Islands.

The U.S. military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which is claimed by China, to conduct routine operations “to ensure freedom of the seas, build partnerships that foster maritime security”.

“After sailing through these waters throughout my 30-year career, it’s great to be in the South China Sea again, conducting routine operations, promoting freedom of the seas, and reassuring allies and partners,” Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, commander of the strike group, was quoted as saying.

“With two-thirds of the world’s trade travelling through this very important region, it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order which has allowed us all to prosper,” Verissimo said in the statement.

The announcement comes just days after Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. president.

Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday there was “no doubt” China posed the most significant challenge to the United States of any nation.

China has repeatedly complained about U.S. Navy ships getting close to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan all have competing claims.

The Theodore Roosevelt is being accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Russell and USS John Finn, the U.S. statement said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Read original article here

World

First of 22 Chinese miners trapped in gold mine rescued

Leave a comment

He was lifted to safety at 11:13 a.m. local time in the city of Qixia, Shandong Province, and was in an “extremely weak condition,” according to state-run news wire Xinhua. State broadcaster CCTV said he was sent to hospital.

Twenty-two miners were believed to be inside the mine when an explosion blocked their exit on January 10.

One miner is believed to be dead after sustaining a head injury in the blast, state media said. Ten people are stuck in the mine’s chamber 600 meters (1,969 feet) underground, but they are in contact with the outside world because rescue workers were able to drill a channel into a section the mine and install a telephone line, according to Xinhua. The fate and whereabouts of the other 10 is unknown.

The individual rescued Sunday was not among the 10 miners in contact with rescue workers, authorities said.

Efforts have been underway to reach the workers since the blast occurred about 240 meters (800 feet) from the mine’s entrance, but Chinese officials said Thursday it could take 15 days to drill through 70 tons of debris trapping many of the miners.

Food, medical supplies, blankets, and batches of nutrient solution have been passed down a shaft to the 10 workers who have been located. They are in good physical and psychological condition, Xinhua reported.

According to state media, rescue teams are hoping to pull the miners out through a 711-millimeter (28-inch) diameter passage. By noon Thursday, rescuers had drilled 18 meters into the mineshaft but heavy debris could slow efforts.

Concern has been growing for the uncontacted miners. Some of the workers in the chamber are trying to help rescuers locate their missing colleagues by using laser pointers and loudspeakers, but they have received no response, Xinhua reported.

Rescuers have also drilled smaller channels into other sections of the mine and are lowering nutrient solutions and other means to detect breathing or movement, but no signs of life have been encountered.

Rescue workers are reported to have first heard knocking sounds from those trapped on January 17, followed by pulling on iron ropes. On Monday, miners were able to get a note to rescuers. Xinhua quoted the note as saying: “We are heavily exhausted and in urgent need of stomach medicine, painkillers, medical tape, external anti-inflammatory drugs, and three people have high blood pressure.”

Explosions and deaths are not uncommon in Chinese mines. In September, at least 16 workers in southwestern China died after they became trapped underground in a coal mine and exposed to unsafe levels of carbon monoxide, state media reported.
And in 2016, dozens of workers were confirmed dead after a gas explosion at a coal mine in the city of Chongqing.

Read original article here

World

China mine rescue: Survivors to remain trapped at least two more weeks

Leave a comment

image copyrightGetty Images

image captionDrilling into the mine is extremely difficult

Chinese rescue teams say it might be more than two weeks until they can save a group of miners trapped hundreds of metres underground.

They have been trapped since an explosion closed the entrance tunnel to the Hushan gold mine in Shandong province on 10 January.

Authorities made contact with 11 surviving miners a week after the blast, but one has since died.

Rescuers have drilled small holes to supply food and medicine to the men.

The cause of the explosion that sealed the mine entrance is still not known.

The fate of another 11 miners trapped by the blast is unclear – authorities have been unable to communicate with them despite lowering food and messages into other areas of the mine.

The group discovered alive told rescuers they had established communication with a lone miner about 100m below them, but had since lost touch with him.

How will the rescue work?

Currently, rescue operations are trying to widen a narrow shaft to make it big enough to lift the miners out.

However, drilling is proving difficult as it needs to get through particularly hard granite and the miners are trapped far from the surface. Rescuers face an added problem in that the mine is waterlogged and there’s the risk the chamber where the miners are stuck could flood.

“The obstacles are just too huge, which means we need a least another 15 days or even more to reach the miners,” Gong Haitao, deputy head of the local publicity department, said.

The debris standing in the way weighs about 70 tons, he added.

How did they get trapped?

The entry into the mine was severely damaged and communication was cut off by the so-far unexplained explosion.

For a week, there was no sign of life. Then, last Sunday, rescuers felt a pull on one of the ropes they were lowering into small shafts leading down into the dark.

A paper note was then sent up on a rope from a group of 12 surviving miners – 11 trapped in one place and a 12th trapped further below.

  • The 29 miners who never came home

  • Life after a devastating mining disaster
  • Dozens feared dead as DR Congo gold mine caves in

Since then, the contact with the 12th miner has been lost, while one of the group of 11, who had fallen into a coma after sustaining a head wound in the explosion, was on Thursday confirmed dead.

image copyrightGetty Images
image captionRescuers have opened a communication channel with the trapped miners via a thin tunnel

Mining accidents are not uncommon in China, where the industry safety regulations can be poorly enforced. In December last year, 23 miners died after a carbon monoxide leak at a coal mine.

In September, 16 workers were killed at another mine on the outskirts of Chongqing, also due to carbon monoxide. In December 2019, an explosion at a coal mine in Guizhou province, south-west China, killed at least 14 people.

How are the miners doing?

The group of 10 known survivors are trapped in the dark some 600m (2,000ft) underground. They are in regular contact with the rescue teams.

A communication line has been established and food and medicine can be lowered to them through a narrow shaft.

While they’ve been receiving porridge and nutritional liquids, the miners a few days ago asked for a traditional meal of sausages.

Eight of them are thought to be doing well, while two are in poor health.

You may also be interested in…

media captionA wall of rock and mud slides into a flooded pit in Myanmar

Related Topics

  • Mining

  • China

Read original article here

World

At least 15 more days to reach trapped miners, say Chinese officials | China

Leave a comment

It will take at least 15 more days to get through a large amount of debris to reach miners who have been trapped since an explosion 11 days ago in a goldmine in eastern China, authorities have said.

The mineshaft is blocked 350 metres (1,000 ft) below the surface by 70 tonnes of debris that extends down another 100 metres, the Yantai city government said. “Based on expert evaluations, the extent of the blockage … is well out of expectation.”

One miner died from head injuries in the explosion, state media said earlier on Thursday. Of the remaining 21, rescuers have established contact with 10, one is reportedly alive in a nearby chamber, and the status of the other 10 is unknown. Two of the survivors are said to be in poor health.

Rescuers have delivered food, medicine and other supplies to 11 and are working to remove debris and improve ventilation. They have been attempting to clear cages and other debris blocking the main shaft while drilling other shafts for communication, ventilation, and possibly to lift workers to the surface. Boring has reached depths of around 700 metres (about 2,000 feet), state media reports said.

Mine managers have been detained for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which has not been announced. The mine in Qizia, Shandong province, was under construction when the explosion happened on 10 January.

Increased supervision has improved safety in China’s mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths a year, but demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting, and two accidents in Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.

Read original article here

World

At least 15 more days to reach trapped miners, say Chinese officials | China

Leave a comment

It will take at least 15 more days to get through a large amount of debris to reach miners who have been trapped since an explosion 11 days ago in a goldmine in eastern China, authorities have said.

The mineshaft is blocked 350 metres (1,000 ft) below the surface by 70 tonnes of debris that extends down another 100 metres, the Yantai city government said. “Based on expert evaluations, the extent of the blockage … is well out of expectation.”

One miner died from head injuries in the explosion, state media said earlier on Thursday. Of the remaining 21, rescuers have established contact with 10, one is reportedly alive in a nearby chamber, and the status of the other 10 is unknown. Two of the survivors are said to be in poor health.

Rescuers have delivered food, medicine and other supplies to 11 and are working to remove debris and improve ventilation. They have been attempting to clear cages and other debris blocking the main shaft while drilling other shafts for communication, ventilation, and possibly to lift workers to the surface. Boring has reached depths of around 700 metres (about 2,000 feet), state media reports said.

Mine managers have been detained for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which has not been announced. The mine in Qizia, Shandong province, was under construction when the explosion happened on 10 January.

Increased supervision has improved safety in China’s mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths a year, but demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting, and two accidents in Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.

Read original article here