Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said the government’s mix of active fiscal policies and relaxed monetary settings must stay in place while economic growth faces domestic and external weaknesses, official media said yesterday.
Visiting eastern Jiangsu Province over recent days, Wen stressed the government’s continued commitment to these policies, indicating that no shift is looming.
“We are persisting with implementing active fiscal policies and appropriately relaxed monetary policies because we still face many hardships and challenges, the international economic outlook remains unclear and pressure from falling external demand remains heavy,” Wen said, according to the central government’s Web site. “The impetus for self-sustaining growth in the economy is still not strong ... Therefore, the direction of macro-economic policy cannot change.”
Chinese officials face domestic and foreign investors jittery over the direction of policy and Wen’s words add to a recent drumbeat of comments stressing that the policy recipe remains unchanged.
Senior Chinese economic officials on Friday also quashed market speculation that Beijing might be starting to unwind its loose monetary policies introduced to prop up growth in the world’s third-largest economy,
The Shanghai stock market fell 4.4 percent this week, its biggest loss in five months, as investors fretted that the central bank was being less generous in flooding the banking system with cash to support spending and investment.
Figures for last month out this week are likely to show that China’s recovery is on course. GDP grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier.
But the Chinese Communist Party, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in power on Oct. 1, is leaving nothing to chance as long as the global economy remains in the doldrums, depriving China of the export demand that has been a big driver of growth in the past few years.
“Some industries and businesses are still in some hardship and the problem of excess production capacity is extremely striking,” Wen said.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
RSS