NEW BRIDGE: A bridge across the Yangtze River linking Jiangsu's Qidong with Chongming Island of Shanghai will be open by the end of the year, and will cut travel time between the two places to one hour from two and a half hours (XU CONGJUN)

Calling for Hi-tech

The United States needs to ease its control of hi-tech products to China to advance trade and investment, said Zhang Yesui, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, in New York on November 18.

Speaking at the first China General Chamber of Commerce-U.S.A. Annual Gala, Zhang told business leaders from both countries that U.S. exports to China, which accounted for less than 7 percent of China's total imports, was not compatible with the status of the overall bilateral relationship and China's demand.

"This will provide further opportunities to farmers, manufacturers and workers in the United States and other parts of the world," Zhang said.

U.S. exports to China were growing slowly, and the proportion of U.S. hi-tech products in China's overall hi-tech imports had been declining considerably, from 18.3 percent in 2001 to only 7.1 percent in 2010.

Booming Orders

BoCom Leasing, the financial leasing arm of China's Bank of Communications, signed a deal with Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, Ltd. (COMAC) on November 23 to buy 30 of the nation's homegrown C919 large passenger planes.

BoCom Leasing signed the new deal as it tries to expand its fleet size to cash in on the country's rapidly growing demand for air services.

The deal is also a boost for COMAC as the newcomer looks to compete with dominant passenger plane makers Airbus and Boeing to win a slice of the international aviation market share. Neither side revealed the value of the order.

The new deal brings the total order of C919 passenger jets to 195. COMAC said that test flights for the single-aisle C919 are scheduled for 2014, and delivery is slated for 2016.

Jobs Ensured

Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Foxconn, said the Taiwanese technology giant won't axe workers in 2012 when it adds 300,000 robots to the assembly line.

Gou said in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province that Foxconn will produce 300,000 robots next year, or some 1,000 robots a day, to do routine and more risky jobs to raise the company's productivity.

In July, Guo said Foxconn would replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency.

The robots would be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, Guo then said.

Foxconn, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer which assembles products for Apple, Sony and Nokia, currently has nearly 1.2 million employees at its facilities on the Chinese mainland.

Steel Investment

China's Guangxi Nonferrous Metal Group has planned to invest $500 million in a steel plant and an industrial zone in Cambodia in the next three years, Yang Daoxi, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said November 18.

Yang made the announcement during a meeting with Suy Sem, Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mine and Energy.

He said the group had already invested $30 million in exploring iron ore in northern Cambodia and the exploration had successfully completed.

"The project will be a huge benefit to the Cambodian economy. I will support and facilitate all requests from the firm in order to achieve this ambitious project," said Suy Sem.