China Economic ReviewChinese President Hu Jintao and US President George W. Bush met for about an hour on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York. In their brief time together, Hu promised to increase pressure on North Korea to disarm, and Bush urged Hu to take a hard line with Iran as well. The two discussed currency reform and Bush aides gave Hu a list of human rights violations to which the US objects.
After a successful pilot scheme first announced in May that saw Beijing launch its state-held shares sale program for 46 domestic-listed companies, China is now ready to endorse a whole-sale program that would convert state-held shares into publicly tradable shares. More than US$200 billion of hitherto non-tradable shares held by the state in most of the 1,400 or so listed companies will be floated on China’s stock exchanges.
How much attention do Chinese officials actually pay to political slogans? The answer appears to be not much. Look at how fast the Three Represents disappeared from view.
It has been a tough time for businesses trying to enter China’s media market, and a worse time for journalists trying to cover it.
China Inc has been alternatively sulking and taking stock since CNOOC, the country’s third largest oil enterprise, was forced to back out of a bid to buy Unocal, a mid-ranked US energy company.