Businesswoman Renounces Membership

Zhang Lan, founder and Chairwoman of the Beijing-based restaurant group South Beauty, has submitted a written application to give up her membership of the Beijing Chaoyang District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on November 26. The committee approved her application on November 30.

According to Zheng Huang, the committee's vice chairman, when a CPPCC member no longer holds Chinese nationality, he or she is deprived of the membership.

The Hurun China Rich List of the nation's wealthiest individuals ranked Zhang 589th, with an estimated fortune of 3.1 billion yuan ($490 million) in 2011.

Energy Agreements

China and Russia inked four agreements on energy cooperation on December 5.

Following the ninth energy negotiators meeting between the two countries, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on energy market assessment, a roadmap on cooperation in the coal sector and an agreement on electricity supply.

The documents were aimed at further enhancing energy cooperation between China and Russia.

During the meeting co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, the two sides agreed to start oil and natural gas cooperation following the principle of upstream and downstream integration.

They also agreed to further expand coal and power trade, undertake research on energy reservation and promote the application of renewable energy.

Since the establishment of the China-Russia energy negotiations in 2008, the two sides have held eight official meetings and two work meetings.

Cooperation between the two sides has been solid this year. For instance, the China-Russia crude oil pipeline is functioning smoothly. It is expected that China will import 15 million metric tons of crude oil from the neighboring country in 2012, said the Chinese National Energy Administration.

Benefits Improved

China's employee benefit system is still underdeveloped, with a majority of employees hoping to see improvements in their packages, according to a research report on December 5.

The China Employee Benefit Index 2012, the country's first index gauging the well-being of employees, stands at 65.37, indicating that the benefit system is still at a basic level.

The index was launched by Ping An Annuity Insurance Co. of China and the Industrial Relations Research Center of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The index took into account factors like coverage and penetration of benefit packages, and employees' satisfaction levels.

According to the report, a score under 60 indicates a preliminary stage, while a score ranging from 80 to 100 indicates a sound system. The figure regarding benefit coverage is only at 61.33, indicating that coverage remains limited.

The report said that employees want better basic benefits. For example, 62.3 percent of the employees surveyed said that they hope their housing provident funds can be raised, while 60.3 percent believe that their supplementary commercial insurance needs improvement.

However, companies are not adequately motivated to invest in employee benefit plans due to their own financial reality and a lack of policy support.

Only 42.5 percent of the company representatives polled indicated that employers plan to allocate more resources to employee benefits.

The report said that the financial industry offers the best employee benefits, while advertising, media and the print industry offer the worst.

Also, foreign-funded companies have the best employee benefit systems, but private companies rank low on the list.

"The government should offer policy support measures for small and medium-sized hi-tech firms to offer better employee benefits for retaining talented professionals," said Yang Yansui, Director of the Research Center of Employment and Social Security at Tsinghua University.

"Sophisticated employee benefit systems are playing an increasingly important role in attracting talented personnel, motivating staff and improving companies' efficiency," said Du Yongmao, CEO of Ping An Annuity Insurance Co.

Airspace to Private Planes

China will loosen its strict control over low-altitude airspace in 2013 across the country, opening more airspace to private planes, after a two-year pilot reform in several cities, including Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Xi'an, according to media reports.

Once the nationwide reform is implemented, airspace below 1,000 meters will be divided into a restricted area, a monitoring area and a reporting area. In the monitoring and reporting areas, private aircraft would be allowed to enter after a pre-flight report to administrators, and the restricted area would be open only to qualified private aircraft.

Stimulated by the reform, the number of general-purpose airplanes is expected to soar to more than 10,000 from the current 1,000 and the private aircraft market is expected to explode to more than $1 trillion.

Lower Profit Margin

China's lucrative banking sector will experience lower net profits in the next year, weighed down by interest rate reforms initiated by the Chinese central bank's two consecutive rate cuts, experts predict.

Zhou Kunping, Vice General Manager of the Financial Research Center of the Bank of Communications, predicted that the net profits of China's banks will slow to single-digit growth in 2013.

His words were echoed by Guo Tianyong, a researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics. Guo said banks, especially small and medium-sized ones, will be confronted with more pressure as interest rates are now more market-oriented.

To refuel the slowing economy, the People's Bank of China introduced two interest rate cuts in June and July, which, experts believe, served as a prelude to a reform of interest rates.

China's banking sector has faced increased scrutiny for its unreasonably huge profits. The combined net profits of all the 16 banks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges totaled 812.77 billion yuan ($129.23 billion) in the first three quarters of 2012, accounting for over half the profits of the 2,493 listed firms.

Cultural Expo

The Seventh China (Beijing) International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo (ICCIE) will be held on December 19-23 in Beijing, according to the ICCIE Organizing Committee.

With a theme of "culture integrated with science and technology and innovation leading transformation," the Seventh ICCIE includes exhibitions, forums, summit conferences, trade promotions and creative activities.

Established in 2006, the ICCIE is a national-level international exchange and cooperation event set up by the Chinese Government in Beijing to carry out the country's strategy for developing the cultural industry. According to the ICCIE Organizing Committee, during the previous six ICCIE sessions, contracts worth roughly 256.4 billion yuan ($40.76 billion) were signed.