The government is reaffirming that China Unicom's so-called China-China-Foreign (CCF) projects should be corrected as soon as possible. This kind of system goes against the government's regulations and should be cleared, said the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). The ministry urged those foreign companies to terminate the CCF projects and have more standardized cooperation with the Chinese telecommunications market.

CCF refers to a financing mechanism China Unicom uses to channel foreign investment into the sector. The CCF procedure involves first moving capital into a China-foreign joint venture, which in turn injects the funds in a Unicom project for a share of the latter's revenues. The move is viewed as an indirect way to gain a share of China's services market.

In August, MII officially requested that China Unicom ban CCFs. Sources from China Unicom say they are currently handling the issues. At present, China Unicom is involved in negotiations with those foreign telecom companies which have signed more than 40 currently cooperative CCF projects with the Chinese firm. MII reaffirmed on October 26 China's prohibition of foreign investment in telecommunications network service operations. Several days ago, a senior industrial official said China would not allow new inflows of foreign venture capital into the country's Internet market, though it had pledged to gradually open up the potentially huge sector. According to a telecom regulation released by the MII in 1993, foreign investors are not allowed to invest in China's telecom service sector, including the new value-added telecom services business.

However, this does not mean that the telecommunications sector is not allowed to receive foreign funding, MII said. China needs foreign investment in the manufacturing and development of telecom equipment. To handle correctly the CCF projects will contribute to standardizing the means of cooperation between China and its foreign counterparts and also will help better carry out its opening up policies. MII stressed that the Chinese Government has always and will continue to spare no effort to protect the legal right of foreign investors in China and appreciate the cooperation of the foreign companies within the sector. Statistics from MII indicated that China's total number of telephone users, including mobile telephone users, reached 110 million.
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The establishment and strengthening of China's insurance regulatory bodies will lay a sound basis for the further liberalization of the insurance market, said recently Wu Dingfu, vice-chairman with China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). China will approve more overseas insurance companies and open more cities for their business operation as the market grows more mature and the regulatory system improves.

Since 1992, China began to usher in foreign insurance companies and has so far attracted altogether 13 insurance companies from eight countries to set up 12 operations in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The past experience has proved a success, and shows that the introduction of foreign investment in this field can spur growth in China's domestic insurance industry. China will always stick to the opening-up policy, in which liberalization of the insurance market constitutes an important part. Further opening the insurance market can improve China's macroeconomic environment by providing better insurance services. It can also improve the management ability of domestic insurers and enhance their competitiveness.

will also form some policy-oriented insurance institutions in an effort to deepen the structural reform of State-owned insurance companies.
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The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) issued on August 24, 1999, ”°Supplementary Regulations to the Interim Provisions on the Setting up of Investment Companies by Foreign Investor". The current Interim Provisions on the Setting up of Investment Companies by Foreign Investors was released by MOFTEC on April 4, 1995. The new supplementary regulations are aiming at prompting investment of multinationals and then introducing foreign advanced technologies and managerial experience to China by improving functions of investment companies. The text of the regulations is as follows:

1. The registered capital of an investment company should be no less than $30 million and the amount of loans borrowed by the investment company should not exceed 4 times of the paid up registered capital. The company should apply to MOFTEC for approval in case the amount of loans borrowed is to exceed 4 times of the paid up registered capital as required by normal business.

2. Investment companies are encouraged to set up scientific R&D centers or departments in China to conduct research and development of new products and new and high technologies, transfer the results of their R& D, and provide related technological services.

3. Investment companies are allowed to sell the products produced by their funded ventures in the domestic and foreign markets through agents or commission sales.

4. Investment companies are permitted to provide transportation, warehousing and other comprehensive services to their funded ventures.

5. Investment companies may be permitted to purchase and export commodities that do not involve export quota or licenses inside China.

6. Under the following conditions investment companies may conduct business as mentioned in Article 3, 4, and 5 of this set of regulations but their amended contracts and articles of association and other related application documents must be sent to MOFTEC for examination and approval, the registered capital of the investment companies must have been paid up according to the stipulations of the contracts and articles of association within the specified period and the capital actually paid in must not be less than $30 million. For an investment company applying for providing services as listed under Articles 3 and 4 of this set of regulations to its funded ventures, its share in the registered capital of the funded ventures should not be less than 10% and it should have written power of attorney from its funded ventures. (The written power of attorney should have been passed unanimously by the board of directors of a funded venture).

7. This set of regulations shall prevail whereas contradiction arises between the regulations and the ”°Problems on Interim Provisions on the Setting up of Investment Companies by Foreign Investors" released by MOFTEC on February 16, 1996.

8. This set of regulations shall become effective as of the day of promulgation.
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In a bid to increase high-tech exports, the government has eased restrictions on technology manufacturers' foreign trade rights. A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) announced that the ministry had sent out a memorandum authorizing high-tech companies to do export and import business without first seeking permission from foreign trade authorities. The memo applies to State-owned or collectively owned research institutes and firms that have 2 million yuan ($241,000) or more in registered capital and their own exportable products and technologies. These companies and institutes may simply register with authorities to say they are exporting goods rather than seeking permission to export them. Locally registered institutes and high-tech companies are to file their applications with local foreign-trade authorities, and those registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce should apply to local authorities at their business locations.

The policy is an important part of the Chinese Government's incentive package to encourage the export of high-tech products, said an official from MOFTEC. It also reflects China's determination to reform foreign trade rules. The press release pledges that State foreign trade authorities will create an even better business environment for enterprises that do import and export business. Statistics from the General Administration of Customs showed that China exported $137 billion worth goods in the first three quarters of this year, marking a 20.2% increase from a year earlier.
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China plans to set up a venture investment fund to promote high-technology exports, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation said. The reason for establishing such a fund is that every link in creating high-tech products --research and development, industrialization, market exploration and after-sales services-- involves large sums of capital infusion. The fund will raise money both from home and abroad and that first-class fund managers will be recruited to run it.

Meanwhile, the government will also allow mature high-tech producers to raise funds directly from domestic and overseas markets, and give them priority to list on the stock market. As high-technology products capture more and more world trade, China is also focusing on developing its own exports. The central government has approved measures to support high-tech development. China will set up special zones for processing high-tech exports so enterprises within the zones can better network and compete globally. Goods entering and leaving the zones will be exempt from tariffs and value-added taxes, and no restrictions will be imposed on the quantity of imports and exports. The government will also encourage the high-tech sector to absorb foreign investment and introduce advanced technology from abroad.

Statistics from the Ministry of Science and Technology indicate that China's high-tech exports grew by 21% from last year to $6.9 billion in the first half of 1999. Companies with foreign investments exported about 80% of this volume through processing trade. This indicates that the utilization of foreign investment and the absorption of foreign technology are of great importance to developing the nation's high-tech product exports. The government has already approved incentives to attract multinational corporations to establish research and development centers in China.

All high-tech industries are suggested to be considered projects for which the government encourages foreign investment. State guidelines encourage foreign investment for some industries, allow it for others and ban it for the rest. High-tech enterprises using foreign investment will get exemptions from tariffs and value-added taxes when importing hardware equipment and software technology.
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B: Information

18. Digital mobile communications products;

19. Optical transmission systems;

20. Facilities for network access;

21. Satellite communications system;

22. Networking systems for data communications;

23. computer products;

24. Laser and ink-jet printers and their component parts;

25. Optical and magnetic disc drivers and key parts;

26. Network and information security products;

27. IC cards and related products;

28. Application softwares;

29. Operating platform based on Linux and its integrated application softwares;

30. Embedded operation softwares and related products;

31. Digital television and related products;

32. Digital audio and video broadcasting system equipment;

33. High density digital laser disc players;

34. Integrated circuits;

35. Displaying devices/monitors;

36. Auto electronics;

37. New type parts and components;

38. Special electronic equipment, instruments and industrial molds;

39. Special electronic materials;

40. Air traffic control system;

41. Postal operational equipment and management systems;

42. Information application system.

C: Environmental Protection and Comprehensive Application of Resources

43. Technologies and whole sets of equipment for the disposal of utility garbage;

44. Whole sets of technological facilities for the disposal and utilization of city sewage;

45. Purifying devices for automobile tail gas;

46. Technologies and whole sets of equipment for smoke desulfurization;

47. Industrialization of dry coke quenching auxiliaries for large and medium-sized coking plants;

48. Whole devices for the purification and recovery of clean gas from steel-making convertors;

49. Large-scale high efficient bag type dust collectors;

50. Devices for the utilization of residual heat and dust collection from the smoke of open, half-sealing acelylene furnaces£»

51. Technologies and equipment for the production and application of water disposing agents;

52. Facilities for disposing high density industrial waste water and dangerous industrial wastes;

53. Monitoring instruments and automatic monitoring systems for environment and pollution sources;

54. Technologies and equipment used to control petroleum pollution;

55. Comprehensive utilization of solid industrial wastes;

56. Comprehensive utilization of hard to dispose gold resources;

57. Comprehensive utilization of the associated oils and gases;

58. Direct utilization of sea water;

59. Clean gas automobiles, combined power autos and accompanying systems. (to be continued)
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Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province offers the following industrial directives for overseas investors. In the future, Heilongjiang will use foreign capital for agricultural development and processing and side-line products, technical transformation of large and medium-sized enterprises, the construction of infrastructural facilities and the development of new and high technological industries and township enterprises. In keeping with the principle of valuing the interconnection of industries, high technology, greater economic influence and a larger market coverage, the five pillar industries -- auto industry, chemical industry, food industry, electronic industry and pharmaceutical industry -- will be given priority in development. Making full use of the present boom, 10 production centers will be built as soon as possible to produce complete sets of equipment for power stations, large and heavy machinery equipment, meridian tires, machine tools and measuring tools, medium- and small-sized bearings, machine-processed paper, building materials, flax textile, forestry products and special steel and aluminum products. More foreign capital will be invited to invest in industries with superiority and professions with priority for development to establish a number of foreign invested enterprises of high standard, high level and high efficiency.

Basic industries are given priority for development. Following are the key fields to use foreign capital and the major directions for foreign investment.

1. Agriculture, with grain production as its mainstay, and relevant deep processing industries. Grain production: Comprehensive development of arable waste land and the transformation of medium- and low-yield land and pastures will be stressed. The processing of agricultural and side-line products, including grain, bean, potato, sugar, flax, tobacco, milk, meat, leather and special local products as raw materials. Forage industry. To develop pre-mixed, enriched fodder, granulated fodder, milk substitute, fodder additives, appetizing fodder, complements to refined fodder and mixed feed.

2. The construction of infrastructure and infrastructural industries with energy industry and transportation as the mainstay. Energy industry: To construct, transform or expand a large number of large-scale power stations near the coal mines, heat supply projects and hydro power stations; to construct more coal mines and speed up coal mine construction and engage in cooperative development of small oil fields in the bordering areas; to develop the production of washed high-quality coal, coke and other coal products while making comprehensive utilization of gangue and coal powder; to develop the resources of coal seam gas as raw material for the development of coal chemistry.

3. Infrastructure. Continue to improve the transportation network of railways; speed up the construction of highways; to further develop civil aviation transport and river and sea shipping.

4. Chemical industry with petroleum chemical industry as the mainstay: to build a petroleum industrial system with Daqing in the lead to greatly increase the production of basic organic material, intermediate and compound materials; to speed up the development of coal chemical industry in the eastern part of the province and to develop the coal chemical industry on the basis of coking and gasifying coals and making full use of resources such as humic acid.

5. Develop agricultural chemical industry, especially the production of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. To develop good refined chemical products, high value-added and high market demand and to promote the transformation of the product structure into one with high-technological and high-efficient products. To develop grain chemical industry, utilizing agricultural and sideline products to develop refined chemical industrial products with high starting points and high efficiency.

6. Build production centers of meridian tires. The present production lines for meridian tires will be innovated through using foreign advanced technology to produce high-quality products of the 1990s international advanced level.
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In order to develop its high-tech industry, Shanghai will import from abroad at least $160 billion worth high-tech equipment, technology and industrial products in the period before 2005, according to insiders. The megalopolis has designated information and bio-engineering, or more specific, complete sets of integrated circuits for IC cards, serial products for program-controlled switchboards and telecommunications terminals, optical telecommunications, mobile telecom and networks, computers and software, digital audio and video products, household information electric appliances and key parts, new-type electronic devices and photoelectrons, electronic commerce, network safety information products, bio-engineering pharmaceutical products, bio-engineering medical products, information materials, automobile materials and building materials for prior development.

Shanghai has a relatively complete set of industries. In particular, it has a strong technical force in the industries of plane manufacturing, sedan cars, electric power equipment, electronic telecom and shipbuilding. In the first half of 1999, the city's total export of mechano-electronic products reached $6.395 billion, up 35.4% year-on-year; and its total import of such products was $2.7 billion, up 186% year-on-year. In 1998, Shanghai's output value of high-tech industry amounted to RMB97.186 billion which was showing a yearly increase of over 40% on the average. The growth rate was higher than that of the city's whole industry and pillar industries in the year. The proportion of the output value to the city's total industrial output value rose by 11 percentage points from 5% in 1992 to 16.5% in 1998.
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In addition to the preferential policies promulgated by the State, foreign investors in Dalian ETDZ enjoy the following incentives:

1. Tax exemptions:

a). Foreign invested enterprise (FIE) will be granted a 15% income tax exemption for production and other business activities.

b). Newly established FIE that has a business term of more than 10 years will be exempted from the entire enterprise income tax (EIT) in its first year of profitability and exempted from half of the EIT in each of the second and third years.

c). FIE will be exempted from local income tax for seven years, beginning with its first year of profitability.

d). Solely foreign-funded and foreign-invested banks and other financial institutions will be exempted from the business tax for two years.

e). 25% of the value-added tax levied on goods produced and sold by FIE will be returned to the enterprise by the local finance bureau.

f). FIE will be exempted from the entire contract tax for the procurement of premises in the development zone.

g). FIE established after January 1, 1998, will be exempted from the real estate tax for the property it constructed or purchased. The exemption will be for five years, starting with the second month of the closing of the purchase or the completion of the construction.

h). FIE can obtain land for industrial uses, including renting or transferring the properties.

i). For land procured by transfer, a deduction in the price of the land will be granted to the FIE according to the amount invested.

2. Preferential policies on the investment of infrastructure facilities:

a). FIE with a term of more than 15 years that invests in facilities including ports, wharves, highways, railways, power supply, heat supply and gas supply will be exempted from the EIT for 10 years since its establishment.

b). Such an enterprise will be exempted from local income tax and exempted from the business tax for two years.

c). For a foreign invested enterprise that invests its post-tax profits in the construction of facilities in the development zone, the enterprise income tax levied on that part of its investment will be returned.

d). FIE that purchases and constructs facilities will be granted a 50% deduction on the land price.

a). For the investment in suspended projects£®

1). FIE can either rent or purchase to procure the land-use right.

2). FIE will be exempted from the contract tax and other charges related to the transaction.

3). FIE will be allowed to change the design and purpose of the suspended project.

4). For the completion of the project within the limited time (before the end of November 1999), FIE will be returned the land rent for three years or 20% of the amount of the land transfer.

b). For investment in the construction of the World Industrial Center£®

1). FIE will be exempted from the business tax for three years.

2). FIE that procure real estate in the center will be exempted from the real estate tax for five years and will be granted with a 40% deduction in the land price.

c). For investment in the construction of marketplaces.

1). For a newly constructed marketplace with an operational term of more than 10 years, the FIE will be exempted from EIT for the first two years and half of EIT for the successive three years.

2). FIE will be exempted from the business tax for rent and other service fees it earned from the marketplace.

Dalian ETDC recently offered some projects for foreign cooperation.

1. Construction of a botanical garden. Project description: Transforming an existing orchard into a botanical garden by building cable cars and villas. Investment: $12 million, with 40% from foreign investors.

2. Cherry orchard. Project description: planting a cherry orchard on 13 million square meters. Investment: $4.2 million.

3. Reassembled light-duty vehicles. Investment: $10 million.

4. Production of coal ash bricks. Project description: Production of hollow coal bricks and other construction materials. Investment: $12 million.

5. Automatic control system for transformers. Project description: importing technologies and expertise to make automatic control systems for power supplies and transformers. Investment: $4 million.

6. Laser survey instruments. Investment: $3 million, with $1 million from foreign investors.

7. Construction of North Sea Paradise. Project description: development of a coastal tourist resort covering 10,000 square meters Investment: $12 million.

8. Construction of a factory for pharmaceuticals and food. Investment: $5 million.

9. Comprehensive land development. Project description: development of a new city centered around the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone. Investment: $29 million.

10. Zhongbei Mansion. Project description: construction of a comprehensive business center, apartment complex and hotel building. Investment: $77 million.
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10. Development of tea products. Description: To newly increase eight production lines for ”°Ninghong" health tea and five lines for ”°Magical" tea. To import two units of specialized tea production lines, to construct a wholesale market of tea and develop a quality tea farm covering 666.66 hectares. Investment: 50 million yuan ($6.02 million). Form: Joint venture or cooperation.

11. Import of trailer production line. Description: To form a production capacity of 15,000 sets of serial trailers.Investment: $113 million, to be carried out of three stages. Form: Joint venture, cooperation.

12. Tea pigment medicines. Description: To produce 200 million highly effective and non-toxic natural tea pigment capsules per year. Investment: $20.5 million. Form: Joint venture.

13. Cordyceps sinensis fungi series products. Description: To produce 700 tons of cordyceps sinensis fungi powder and other products. Investment: $13 million. Form: Joint venture, cooperation or compensation trade.

14. Instant rice noodles. Description: To set up five instant rice noodle production lines for an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of rice noodles. Investment: $3 million. Form: Joint venture.

15. High-grade worsted woolen material. Description: To import 12 units of rapier and gripper looms, auto winder, high-speed assembler, cropping machine and other equipment for the production of 600,000 meters of high-grade worsted woolen material per year. Investment: $4.4 million. Form: Joint venture, cooperation.

16. Production of luxury coach. Description: To import medium and high-class luxury coach manufacturing equipment to produce 500 luxury coaches per year. Investment: $15.76 million, including $7.7 million in foreign funds. Form: Joint venture or cooperation.

17. High-grade fancy and yarn-dyed cloth. Description: To import 96 units of jet looms, seven units of autowinders, one unit of slasher and one unit of warping machine for an annual production capacity of 6.9 million meters of high-grade yarn-dyed cloth and fancy fabric. Investment: $12.5 million. Form.: Joint venture, cooperation.

18. Production of GaP and GaAs liquid phase epitaxy. Description: To import key technologies for EPI production and import key production equipment for EPI. The major products include: semiconductor devices and radio tools. Investment: $23.6 million. Form: Joint venture.

19. Production of PTMEG. Description: To import equipment and technologies for the production of PTMEG, with an annual output of 10,000 tons. Investment:$32 million. Form: Joint venture.
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China will introduce foreign advanced technology and equipment in the massive upgrade of urban power grids in nearly 300 cities. The acceleration of urbanization and improvement in urban power grids will create a huge market for production, sales and application of advanced equipment, said Ye Rongsi,vice-president and secretary-general of the China Electricity Council. Last year, the central government initiated a significant investment program, planning to spend 120 billion yuan ($14.4 billion) within three years to replace the antiquated urban power grids and related distribution systems in residential areas. If the projects are completed as expected, China's electricity consumption will increase by 5% each year.

In 1998, China's electricity generating capacity reached 277 million kilowatts, and actually produced 1,157 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, with both ranking second in the world. During this sweltering summer, hundreds of thousands of households in Beijing have expressed complaints over frequent power failures caused by the use of air conditioners. To stimulate domestic consumption, the government has decided to take measures to ensure the success of the projects. The primary funding will come from bank loans. The growing population, a surging growth of underground facilities require more advanced, reliable, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly equipment. The State Power Corp has been contracted to build and install the equipment. Industry insiders say gas insulating switch gears, high-quality dry type transformers, updated cable, and automation equipment for power distribution systems are some of the items needed in the projects.
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Hengyang, a city in Central China's Hunan Province, is making every effort to woo foreign investors. The city recently held a three-day fair in Shenzhen. The city presented 150 promising cooperative projects and signed 110 agreements and contracts for the projects at the fair. The Shenzhen event is just one of Hengyang's several attempts this year to seek cooperative opportunities with foreign investors. The city's target is to obtain contractual capital inputs worth $234.80 million and committed capital worth $126.20 million this year, both 5% more than 1998. Hengyang's efforts to attract foreign capital are expected to speed up the economic development of the city. Hengyang expects to rely upon foreign capital inflows for the adjustment of its agricultural structure and the sustained development of that sector. The city also expects to depend heavily on foreign investment in the renovation of the city's State-owned enterprises, making it possible for them to become profitable.

Hengyang will make use of foreign capital to improve its infrastructure, which, in return, will help attract more investors. More importantly, the city expects foreign capital will help optimize the city's industrial structure and sharpen the competitive edge of its export commodities on the global market. Hengyang particularly encourages foreign investors to consider projects related to energy, communications systems, agriculture, high and new-tech industries, urban facilities construction, environmental protection, food processing, textiles, light industry, chemicals, metallurgical industry, machine industry and building materials. These projects will either take advantage of Hengyang's rich natural resources, upgrade its industrial structure, or improve its investment environment. With the help of foreign-invested projects, Hengyang aims to upgrade the mix of export commodities and further crack the market worldwide. The city's export goal is $73.00 million this year, up 3.2% from last year. Hengyang secured foreign investment of $64.94 million during the first half of this year, an increase of 3.1% from one year ago. Its exports were $43.57 million, up 17.87%, statistics indicate.
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China's plastic machinery industry boasts of great market potentials and a great future for development. According to informed sources, the country's output of plastic products will be growing at 8% and 5% respectively in the year 2000 and 2001, to reach a total of 20 million tons and 40 million tons. The booming market has also brought great potential for development of China's plastic machinery industry. Given home-made and imported plastic machinery each account for 50% of the market,demand for home-made ones can be anticipated as to grow 10% a year, i.e., the demand for home-made plastic machinery will increase to 120,000 sets in 2000 and 300,000 sets in 2010 from the present 100,000 sets. By that time China's total market demand for plastic machinery will be at RMB40 billion to RMB50 billion.

Based on the estimation, demand for the following plastic machinery and equipment will apparently increase:

1. Experimental and large scale high performance syntropy bitruders, especially those that used for direct intruding and integrated follow-up equipment as advanced pipes, slabs, and section bars;

2. Precision injection machines and fixed number of large-scale special injection machines;

3. High performance single screw injection machines and follow-up equipment of advanced film and slabs;

4. Production line of compound film, especially separation film and function film extrusion and blow molding sets;

5. High performance blow molding machines, especially those used in the industrial and engineering sectors;

6. PVC wide film calender sets;

7. Accompanying equipment used in the recovering and utilization of various kinds of plastics and complete set of direct injection machines.
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China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) and BP Amoco Chemicals (BPA) signed an agreement on October 20 to study the feasibility of establishing a $2.5 billion ethylene manufacturing complex and products processing facilities in Shanghai. The joint venture is targeted to be in place by the end of 2001. The manufacturing complex is projected to have an annual capacity of 650,000 tons of ethylene when it is built, possibly in 2005. Ethylene is a basic material for manufacturing synthetic fabrics, resins and plastics. Sinopec and BPA will equally share equities in the plant. Under the agreement, Sinopec and BPA will step up their efforts to complete feasibility studies and the details of the joint venture contract by the end of next year. The venture, if successful, will be one of China's six major State-planned ethylene projects for the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000). BPA has another major petrochemical joint venture in China--the Chongqing-based, $200 million Yangtze Acetyl Co td. It is designed to produce 200,000 tons of acetic acid a year. Neither the former BP or the previous Amoco had an oil exploration operation in China. However, the new BPA is consolidating its operation in the liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemical sectors.
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FAW-Daewoo (Yantai) Automotive Engines Co Ltd, China's largest sedan engine manufacturer, went into operation on October 18 in this coastal city of Yantai. A joint venture between the Changchun-based First Automotive Works (Group) Corp (FAW) and the Daewoo Group of the Republic of Korea (ROK), it includes three plants in Yantai, Weihai and Qingdao. Since 1997, Daewoo, FAW and Shandong Automotive Corp have invested $730 million to establish the three plants. The enterprise has more than 60 advanced production lines, 90% of which were imported from Japan, Germany, South Korea and the United States. Its products include more than 20 types of sedan engines. Approximately 50,000 sedan engines are expected to be exported in the second half of this year. The Yantai, Qingdao and Weihai factories have a combined annual production capacity of 30,000 car engines. Daewoo's investment in China totals $3 billion, half of it is in Shandong Province. In South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Daewoo has also invested in a passenger vehicle project. Daewoo also plans to invest in car manufacturing projects in China next year, and is waiting for State approval.
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Federal Express Corp (FedEx), an international express transportation company, signed a ground handling agreement recently with Shenzhen Airport (Group) Co, launching the first air express service for Shenzhen Huangtian International Airport. Under the agreement, which begins November 2, 1999, FedEx will operate five flights weekly from Shenzhen's Huangtian International Airport to five different locations. This new service will provide substantial benefits to the exporters and importers of the Pearl Delta Region by connecting southern China to more than 210 economies worldwide via its integrated global network. FedEx will operate DC-10 or MD-11 aircraft on its flights linking Shenzhen to the US, China's largest export nation, end to 17 major Asia Pacific commercial cities via the FedEx Asia Pacific Hub in Subic Bay, Philippines. The new Shenzhen flight further extends FedEx's network in China where the company operates express services to Beijing and Shanghai.
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Siemens Ltd China will bring more investment and new technology into China to help the country develop modern transportation systems, the company announced at a press conference on October 14 in Beijing. It was held to mark the 100th anniversary of its cooperation with its Chinese counterparts. The company will make more effort to help produce traffic-signal equipment, power supplies and other high-tech products and localize relevant engineering and technical services.
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