China's tire manufacturing industry is suffering from the WTO's recent unfavorable ruling.

The United States is now entitled to impose additional duties on imports of Chinese tires, the WTO said on September 12, upholding a 35-percent tariff ruling made in 2009.

Shandong Province, China's major tire exporter, saw its tire exports plunge by about 25 percent in 2010, the first year after the United States slapped punitive tariffs on Chinese tires for cars and light trucks.

"We used to export $50 million worth of tires for cars and light trucks to the United States, now we only export about $5 million, one 10th of what it used to be," said Wang Hai, President of Shandong-based Qingdao Doublestar Tire Co. Ltd.

Growth Forecast Down

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on September 14 cut China's growth forecast to 9.3 percent for 2011 from its previously estimated 9.6 percent.

ADB also lowered its estimate for the country's economic growth to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent for 2012.

China's economic growth slowed during the first half of the year due to the country's tightening monetary policies and weakening outbound demand, said Paul Heytens, ADB Country Director for China.

A possible economic slowdown in the second half is mainly due to the faltering global economic recovery, especially the weak demand from European countries as a result of the deepening debt crisis, said the ADB.

Investment Protection

Negotiations on a cross-Straits investment protection agreement have gone smoothly and consensus has been reached on most issues, said Fan Liqing, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, on September 14.

Negotiators from both the mainland and Taiwan should accelerate the process so that the agreement can be signed during the seventh meeting of the heads of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said Fan.

"Safeguarding the rights and interests of Taiwanese businesspeople is our duty, and we have treated the issue seriously and actively dealt with relevant problems," Fan said.

Fan said the specific date for the seventh ARATS-SEF meeting will be set by the two organizations, which are authorized by the two sides to handle cross-Straits issues, and she hopes that it will be held soon.

Helicopter Takes Flight

China Aviation Industry Helicopter Corp. Ltd. will manufacture 10 civilian helicopters this year with the help of its new plant in north China's Tianjin Municipality, said Wang Bin, the company's general manager, on September 13.

The plant's dual production lines will help the company to expand its annual production capacity to 300 helicopters by 2015, he said.

Three of the company's models performed during the first Tianjin International Helicopter Exposition held in Tianjin on September 15-17.