Forbes: 2012 Best Chinese Cities for Business
This ranking was released on Dec. 12 by Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes. Year-earlier rank is in parentheses. The full report in Chinese can be seen at forbeschina.com
- Shanghai (4)
- Hangzhou (3)
- Shenzhen (2)
- Guangzhou (1)
- Wuxi (7)
- Nanjing (5)
- Ningbo (6)
- Beijing (9)
- Suzhou (8)
- Tianjin (10)
- Qingdao (16)
- Foshan (13)
- Chongqing (20)
- Chengdu (18)
- Dalian (11)
- Changsha (17)
- Changzhou (14)
- Nantong(12)
- Yantai (15)
- Wuhan (19)
- Shenyang (22)
- Quanzhou (23)
- Zhengzhou (30)
- Fuzhou (24)
- Jinan (21)
- Xi’an (29)
- Dongguan (26)
- Xiamen (25)
- Wenzhou (31)
- Xuzhou (38)
- Shaoxing (28)
- Weifang (35)
- Jinhua (33)
- Yangzhou (34)
- Zibo (36)
- Zhenjiang (37)
- Shijiazhuang (43)
- Linyi (47)
- Changchun (50)
- Kunshan (32)
- Jiaxing (48)
- Taizhou (41)
- Zhongshan (40)
- Haerbin (54)
- Changshu (42)
- Hefei (27)
- Yancheng (53)
- Weihai (29)
- Baotou (56)
- Kunming (57)
- Zhuhai (44)
- Jiangmen (49)
- Hohhot (55)
- Tangshan (62)
- Jining (58)
- Nanchang (59)
- Wuhu (52)
- Jiangyin (46)
- Wujiang (51)
- Huizhou (65)
- Huzhou (60)
- Luoyang (69)
- Taiyuan (74)
- Zhangjiagang (45)
- Yiwu (64)
- Nanning (70)
- Shantou (75)
- Dongying (61)
- Ordos (71)
- Taian (66)
- Yichang (77)
- Zhuzhou (68)
- Baoding (82)
- Lianyungang (73)
- Xiangyang (84)
- Taicang (63)
- Huaian (90)
- Handan (87)
- Yueyang (83)
- Daqing (85)
- Anshan (80)
- Cixi (76)
- Guiyang (97)
- Jilin (88)
- Zhanjiang (93)
- Zaozhuang (91)
- Xiangtan (94)
- Yingkou (89)
- Yuyao (67)
- Haining (78)
- Mianyang (105)
- Lanzhou (101)
- Liuzhou (86)
- Zengcheng (79)
- Yixing (72)
- Longkou (98)
- Urumqi (104)
- Rizhao (112)
- Jinzhou (103)
- Haikou (106)
Apple Chief Says China to be Biggest iPhone Market
“China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first. I believe strongly that it will,” the Xinhua News Agency quoted Cook as saying in an interview.
The report gave no details of when Cook thought China might pass the United States. Apple Inc. spokespeople in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple has said sales in China more than doubled in 2010 and 2011 though growth has slowed in the past year.
Apple’s iPhones, iPads and other gadgets are popular with China’s highest-earning consumers but its fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by handsets that use rival Google’s Android system.
Cook was in Beijing to meet with Chinese regulators and managers of state-owned China Unicom, the first Chinese carrier to support Apple’s iPhone.
Xinhua said Cook did not respond to rumours Apple might be developing a lower-cost iPhone for developing markets such as China.
Also in Beijing, Cook met the chairman of China Mobile, the world’s biggest phone carrier, with more than 700 million subscribers. China Mobile has no agreement to support the iPhone, and adding it as a partner would help Apple increase its appeal in China.
– AP
Plans for LNG Terminals a Boon for Kitimat
The northwest British Columbia town cited by Census Canada in March 2007 as the community with the greatest population decline in Canada now is looking at multi-billion-dollar investments in proposed liquefied natural gas projects, aluminum smelter upgrades and the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Once posting a rental vacancy rate of 44.5 per cent, Kitimat now is brimming with construction jobs, fighting traffic jams and worrying about rising rents, said Monaghan.
Monaghan, elected to Kitimat’s council for the past 38 years, says residents are pinching themselves and wondering if it’s all real.
This month’s opening of Kitimat’s first Tim Horton’s outlet confirmed for Monaghan that economic reality hasn’t fully set in among residents.
“When I announced we would have a Tim Horton’s and people would meet me on the street they wouldn’t talk about the LNG, they would say ‘We’re getting a Tim Horton’s,'” said Monaghan.
Now, Monaghan said her council is seriously considering operating a local ferry service to bring aboriginal workers to Kitimat from area coastal villages of Klemtu, Hartley Bay and Bella Bella to work on what will be thousands of construction jobs.
“I honestly felt (four years ago) I was the mayor of doom and now I feel like the mayor of boom,” she said.
After more than a year of hype from the provincial government about a jobs plan focused on LNG development, Monaghan’s community and others are beginning to feel the creeping effects of the flurry of investment in the resource.
Recently, B.C. Premier Christy Clark likened the province’s LNG development opportunities to that of the Alberta oil sands.
Her government’s jobs plan forecasts one LNG export plant in operation by 2015 and three in operation by 2020.
The LNG projects involve building pipelines from northeast B.C.’s natural gas fields to LNG terminals near Kitimat, from where the product will be shipped to Asian markets. LNG is natural gas that is cooled to the point where it can be loaded onto tankers.
Rich Coleman, B.C. minister for energy, mines and natural gas, said the province is in negotiations with at least three LNG development proposals in the Kitimat area.
Two others are proposed for the Prince Rupert area, about 120 kilometres northwest of Kitimat, and billionaire Krishnan Suthanthiran has proposed that Kitsault, a northwest mining ghost town he bought for $7 million in 2005, be used for an LNG export facility.
Two of the five proposed LNG projects highlighted by Coleman have already been granted federal export permits.
– Canadian Press
Taiwan Kinmen Mulls Shipping Water From the Mainland
This is another sign of warming relations despite protests organized by the DPP against President Ma.
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Officials on a Taiwan-controlled island group near the Chinese mainland said Sunday they are considering importing water from China in yet another sign of warming relations.
The move would mark another significant step forward in the improvement of ties, since the fortified Kinmen island group was a flashpoint during the Cold War and was shelled from the mainland at one point.
Officials from Kinmen have discussed a proposal to use ships to transport water from Xiamen, a coastal city in China’s southeastern Fujian province just miles away.
Water supplies, mostly from desalination, underground supplies and a tiny dam, are sufficient at the moment to meet the needs of some 100,000 civilians and of troops stationed there.
“But water supplies may fall short in the near future if more tourists, many of them from the mainland, visit Kinmen,” Chen Chaur-jiung of the Kinmen county government told AFP.
Chinese tourists make hundreds of thousands of visits to Kinmen each year.
From a long-term point of view, the Kinmen government hopes to instal pipes linking the Chinese city and Kinmen, Chen said.
“The idea of buying water from the mainland was hard to imagine a few years ago,” he said.
– AFP
More Capacity for Canadian Beef Exports to China
China has approved four additional Canadian beef facilities that will now be able to export beef to China, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced today. The newly approved establishments will increase the Canadian export capacity for beef in a market estimated by the industry to be worth approximately $20 million annually.
“This important step sets the stage to further trade opportunities in China for our beef producers,” said Minister Ritz. “Our government”s top priority remains the economy, and by expanding markets in dynamic countries like China, we are helping Canadian producers increase their bottom line, which leads to more jobs, prosperity, and economic growth.”
“Today”s announcement is another example of how our government”s commitment to opening new markets is helping increase Canadian exports and delivering real results,” said Minister Fast. “We look forward to continuing to grow our trade relationship with China to ensure it is balanced and produces clear wins for Canadian workers and businesses.”
The following establishments can now export to China: Les Viandes Laroche Inc (Asbestos, Quebec), Ryding Regency Meat Packers Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario), St. Helen”s Meat Packers Limited (Toronto, Ontario), and Canadian Premium Meats Inc. (Lacombe, Alberta).
In June 2011, agreement was reached with China to allow imports of Canadian deboned beef from animals under 30 months of age (UTM), making Canada the first BSE-affected country to resume trade of beef with China. The staged market access approach for Canadian beef products was confirmed under the Cooperative Arrangement announced by Prime Minister Harper in February 2012 during his mission to China.
According to Canada Beef Inc., the Chinese market for Canadian UTM deboned beef is estimated at about $20 million annually, and once full market access is achieved the Chinese market for Canadian beef and cattle is expected to be worth $110 million. China is Canada”s third-largest trading partner, with a two-way trade of over $64.5 billion dollars in 2011, including $3.4 billion in agriculture and agri-food products.
On November 8, 2012, the Government of Canada released the 2011-2012 Agriculture and Agri-Food Market Access Report, which highlights market access accomplishments. These achievements include continued access for Canadian canola to China, a market worth $1.6 billion in 2011.
– Marketwire