| Retired Chairman
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(CFP) |
Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile Communications Corp. (CMCC), China's largest mobile service provider, retired in March.
Founded on April 20, 2000, the company currently has the world's largest mobile phone network and largest customer base, competing for subscribers with its two major domestic rivals, China Unicom and China Telecom, in a nation with nearly 1 billion cell phone users.
Wang, 64, was born in Wenzhou, east China's coastal Zhejiang Province. He graduated from Zhejiang University with a master's degree in engineering, and holds a doctoral degree in business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Wang has three decades of experience in the industry. He started to work for CMCC in 2004 as general manager and has been chairman of the company since 2010. Under his leadership, the total income of CMCC increased from 192.4 billion yuan ($30.51 billion) in 2004 to 528 billion yuan ($83.74 billion) in 2011, with the number of the company's subscribers reaching 650 million in 2011, three times that in 2004. Wang was selected one of the best CEOs in the world by BusinessWeek magazine in 2007.
The London-based Standard Chartered Bank expects to expand its outlets on the Chinese mainland from the current 83 to 100 by the end of 2012.
Standard Chartered will continue to recruit in China this year, as it seeks to open more branches and sub-branches across the country, said Peter Sands, CEO of the lender.
"We will continue investing significantly both on the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. We remain very excited by the opportunities in greater China," he said.
In addition, Sands said the bank will play a leading role in the use of the renminbi in London and in supporting the authorities from both Hong Kong and London in considering London's role as a potential offshore renminbi center.
The German auto giant Daimler AG and China's BYD Co. Ltd. will introduce a new brand for their jointly developed electric vehicles in March, accelerating their efforts to ride on China's green vehicles trend.
The two companies also plan to unveil the first electric vehicle model at the upcoming 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in April.
Both companies agreed to invest 600 million yuan ($95 million) to build a joint venture on electric vehicles in China in 2010. The Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology, which incorporates BYD's experience in battery technology and e-drive system and Daimler's know-how in design and safety, aims to commercialize its first model by 2013.
China will extend trials of a property taxation program to cover more cities this year as part of its efforts to regulate the real estate sector.
The tax, currently in operation in Shanghai and Chongqing, is considered a heavy tool to curb soaring housing prices. When it rolled out the levy early last year, the Ministry of Finance said all provinces would adopt the tax "when conditions are ripe."
Jia Kang, Director of the Fiscal Science Research Center of the Ministry of Finance, said that the government will sum up lessons learned from the trials in Shanghai and Chongqing and map out an expansion plan, but he added that it is still too early to apply property taxes to the entire country.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a development plan on March 27 for the electronic commerce sector, pledging vigorous efforts to double transaction value of e-commerce to 18 trillion yuan ($2.86 trillion) by the end of 2015.
"E-commerce has expanded into various industries such as agriculture, trading, transportation, finance and travel industries and it is merging with China's real economy," said the ministry.
"Still, the industry faces many intractable problems, such as a low level of services, weak regulatory system and infringement of intellectual property rights," it added. "So more efforts will be made to propel technology innovation, foster professional talent, and encourage venture capital to invest in this emerging sector."
Air China Ltd., one of China's carrier giants, reported net profits of 7.48 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) for last year, tumbling 38.75 percent from a year ago, because of rising fuel prices and intensifying market competition.
Its revenue rose 20 percent from a year earlier to 97.14 billion yuan ($15.4 billion).
The Beijing-based company said it transported 59.39 million passengers on its domestic routes last year, up 18.34 percent year on year. It had 432 planes at the end of last year.
"The global aviation market still faces looming uncertainties due to slumping demand for international passenger and cargo transport," it said in a statement.
The 23rd Harbin International Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation (HIFTEC) will be held on June 15-19, 2012, in Harbin, capital of northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
In the past 22 years, the HIFTEC has played a significant role in facilitating investments and trade ties between China and neighboring nations, such as Russia, South Korea and Japan.
"This year's fair will attach greater importance to trade and investment cooperation between China and Russia because Russia's recent WTO entry provided a good opportunity to expand the economic tie-up of the two countries," said Sun Yao, Vice Governor of Heilongjiang Province. "More than 10,000 foreign business people and 100,000 domestic ones are expected to participate in the fair this year." | 
