The contraction in China’s manufacturing worsened last month as the global downturn battered trade, data showed yesterday, and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) said problems due to the crisis were growing as he left for a London economic summit.
The monthly purchasing managers index by brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets showed manufacturing shrank for an eighth month last month. Based on a survey of some 400 companies, the index fell to 44.8, down from February’s 45.1, on a scale where numbers below 50 show activity is shrinking.
“Business conditions at Chinese manufacturers continued to deteriorate at a marked rate in March,” Hong Kong-based CLSA said in a statement. It said companies cut more jobs as orders declined.
The data suggested China is still mired in a slump despite a huge government stimulus and optimistic statements by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and other officials. The central bank said last week the decline appeared to be slowing and data point to a recovery.
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 40 percent of China’s economy, has been battered by a collapse in exports and weaker Chinese consumer sales. The government said 20 million migrant laborers have been thrown out of work and leaders worry that further job losses could fuel unrest.
“China’s economic difficulties are clearly increasing,” Hu told Xinhua news agency during an interview before leaving for Thursday’s meeting in London of leaders from the G20 major economies to discuss the global crisis.
“This is mainly shown in declining trade, weakening industrial production, management difficulties in some industries and growing employment troubles,” Hu said. He gave no new details on job losses.
Hu was expected to use the London summit to push China’s demand for a bigger role in managing the world economy, including a more prominent place in the IMF and other finance bodies.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2