Security Checks

China's first anti-monopoly law, which requires foreign purchases of Chinese companies to go through national security checks, is expected to be put to a vote in August after 13 years of deliberation.

The draft states: "As well as anti-monopoly checks stipulated by this law, foreign mergers and acquisitions of domestic companies or foreign capital investing in domestic companies' operations in other forms should go through national security checks according to relevant laws and regulations if the cases are related to the issue."

According to official statistics, the number of foreign mergers and acquisitions only accounted for 5 percent of all forms of foreign direct investment in China annually before 2004. The proportion rapidly increased to 11 percent in 2004 and almost 20 percent in 2005.

Foreign companies have also begun to acquire major state-owned enterprises or companies with famous brands in recent years, arousing concerns about China's economic security.

Growing Shoe Exports

China, the world's largest shoes producer and exporter, saw a 17.5 percent rise in the value of its shoe exports in the first half of 2007, but prices per pair were lower than that in the previous year.

In the January-June period, China exported 4.4 billion pairs of shoes, worth $12 billion, said Wang Hanjiang, President of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts.

Two billion of them, worth $7.6 billion, were sold to the United States, the largest importer of Chinese-made shoes, at an average price less than a third of that of made-in-Italy shoes, said Wang.

The shoes were priced at an average of $2.7 per pair, down from $2.8 for the whole of 2006 when China sold 7.8 billion pairs of shoes abroad.

Pork Price Finally Drops

The average wholesale price of pork from August 13 to 19 saw a week-on-week drop of 1.4 percent, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

It was the second consecutive drop in pork prices, which have almost doubled in the last seven months due to short supply and mounting production costs. In July, China's consumer price index, rose by a 33-month-high of 5.6 percent on the back of food price hikes. The key inflation indicator was well above the government-set target of 3 percent.

However, as prices of suckling pigs and pig feed are expected to stay high over the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays through to October, pork demand will remain strong and pork prices are likely to remain high, predicted the ministry.

Investors' Heaven

Invest Hong Kong has started a three-year campaign to promote Hong Kong as an ideal business environment for Chinese mainland companies, especially those from seven targeted provinces with outstanding economic growth.

The campaign, under the theme of "On Your Marks, Get Set, Go," has been divided into three stages.

"On Your Marks" covers promotional activities aimed at raising awareness among China's growing class of private enterprises about business opportunities in Hong Kong. "Get Set" focuses on workshops designed to equip local companies with the information and tools to develop an overseas business strategy, using Hong Kong as a springboard. "Go" is a series of visits to Hong Kong. Tailored programs will allow companies that are seriously considering expanding their business in Hong Kong to better understand the market, to meet relevant industry associations and to identify business partners, clients and premises.

Multinationals Show Good Side

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) forum of foreign-invested enterprises and a best CSR cases show were held in Beijing, attracting over 200 representatives from dozens of multinationals, including Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagon, Dell and IBM.

In a proposal letter from the forum, participants made pledges to pay taxes according to the law, protect intellectual property, protect the rights and interests of employees, protect the ecological environment and participate in social welfare and charity programs.

This is in the wake of recent high-profile bribery scandals, which brought shame to revered international brands Siemens and McDonald's.