Rui Cunha to launch foundation
Fund pays HK$98m for top-floor triplex
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Year I | Number 18 | April 25, 2012 Editor-in-chief | Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief | José I. Duarte MOP $ 6.00
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Macau, the key in EU, Lusophone ties
Cotai project
WYNN ‘HOPEFUL’ OF APPROVAL NEXT WEEK C
asino entrepreneur Steve Wynn’s 1.1 billion patacas pledge to the University of Macau Development Foundation may have brought him goodwill on this side of the world if not with investors back home. But it certainly didn’t give him the right to a taller hotel on Cotai. In a telephone call from Las Vegas, Mr Wynn, chairman
of Wynn Resorts, told Business Daily he was “hopeful” of getting approval of his Wynn Cotai land concession – for which he’s already made a down payment of 500 million patacas – by the time he comes to Macau next week. Though he said he had no inside information that it would happen. And he would like a taller hotel on Cotai. He’s cur-
rently limited to 120 metres because of the site’s closeness to Macau International Airport. “We didn’t want to complicate the issue of the land by getting into a dispute about height. We figured, ‘Don’t argue, just comply with the regulations,’” the Wynn chairman said. “If the opportunity ever comes up to discuss it, if they bring it up, we’d love
to have more height.” But Mr Wynn said he wouldn’t press the issue. “My sense, after ten years in Macau – and I’m very clear on this – is that you present your credentials, you present your idea, you respond to what the government wants; and then you wait until the government acts.”
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Galaxy Macau phase two announcement ‘tomorrow’ Galaxy Entertainment Group is expected to reveal tomorrow a start date for Galaxy Macau phase two on Cotai. Yesterday an institutional investor sold a HK$1.1 billion stake in the company, which has seen a more than 4,000 percent rise in its shares’ value in under four years. Page 3
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HSI - Movers Name
%Day
WANT WANT CHINA
2.74
SINO LAND CO
2.60
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1.34
WHARF HLDG
1.12
BOC HONG KONG HO
1.09
CHINA SHENHUA-H
-0.74
CHINA OVERSEAS
-0.75
COSCO PAC LTD
-0.90
TINGYI HLDG CO
-1.71
HENGAN INTL
-2.13
Source: Bloomberg
Urban planning out and about
Controversial new powers for MP, police
A 45-day consultation on Macau’s urban planning law starts today, with the government pledging to have the draft ready this year. The creation of an ‘Urban Planning Council’ and the drafting of legally binding master plan and detail plans are some of the characteristics of the system proposed.
The revision of the Penal Procedure Code, now making its way to the Legislative Assembly, would allow the Public Prosecutors’ Office and the criminal police to apply all restrictive measures, except for pre-trial detention. This possibility worries local lawyers that say it could contradict the Basic Law. Page 9
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business daily April 25, 2012
MACAU
An urban planning bill meant to tackle problems in urban development should reach the Legislative Assembly by the end of the year, Lau Si Io says
New body may oversee urban planning system Consultation on Macau’s urban planning bill starts today, with the authorities pledging to encourage public participation Vítor Quintã
vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com
M
acau would have an advisory urban planning council if the government’s urban planning bill, first announced four years ago, is passed. The government released yesterday a consultation document on the bill, and is giving the public 45 days to comment on it, starting today. The advisory urban planning council would have a voice on where to put important public facilities and the impact of development projects, apart from its role in reviewing urban plans and changes to them. Wong Chan Tong, the head of the office of the secretary for Transport and Public Works, said the body would have between 20 and 40 members. More than half the council’s members would be experts, academics and leading figures in the fields of architecture, culture, the environment, transport, infrastructure and engineering, Mr Wong said. The remaining members would be representatives of the government. All members would have a two-year mandate, renewable only once. They would be required to stay out of any discussion about projects in which they were an interested party. Lao Iong, head of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau’s urban planning department, said this was meant to prevent conflicts of interest. The council would have the power to set up specialist working groups and engage consultants from abroad to offer advice, namely on cultural heritage protection and hydrography. Experts on urban planning have suggested that the urban planning council be given decision-making powers. “According to the development of the council’s work and performance, perhaps in the future the conditions will be more appropriate for that to happen,” Mr Wong said. He said the urban planning system was still in its initial stage and Macau
lacked professionals experienced in this field. All urban planning proposals would have to be coordinated by planners with at least five years of professional experience, the consultation document says.
UNESCO watching Public consultation will end on June 8, and only two sessions will be open to the public, on May 5 and 19. Mr Wong acknowledged that this may not be enough but said that the authorities were open to holding other sessions with professionals, associations and advisory bodies such as the Environment Consultative Council. He said the goal was to send the urban planning bill to the Legislative Assembly this year. Complementary regulations would be sent to the Executive Council “in due time”, he added. Macau is due to report to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) by February 2013. The government must enact by then a heritage protection law and have an urban planning system in place. Mr Wong played down any consequences of Macau failing to
have an urban planning system before next February.
Land use study “I think the most important thing is for UNESCO to see that we are doing our utmost to improve the protection of our heritage sites,” he told Business Daily on the sidelines of a press conference. But he stressed that the law would be only an initial step, setting “the rules of the game” for urban planning. The secretary for transport and public works, Lau Si Io, said the aim was “to gradually and progressively build an institutionalised urban planning system” to solve “existing problems in the urban planning system”. A report released by the Guangdong Provincial Urban and Rural Planning Research Institute two years ago warned of the “the lack of a long-term vision and a macro master plan” for the city and “a lack of legal support” for urban planning. Meanwhile, a study on how to classify land use in the city is underway. “We have already received a preliminary report,” Mr Wong said. “We hope to have the study ready by the time the law is approved.” The next step would be to prepare the master plan and then detailed
Key Points • New council could have decision-making powers in the future • Public consultation would be mandatory for urban plans and revisions • Compensation would be payable to people harmed by urban plans • The government would be allowed to stop construction work and take over private land • A study on land use is underway • Only two public sessions will be held during the 45-day consultation period
plans for different areas. These plans would be legally binding, unlike the street alignment map, which determines construction areas, heights and storey limits, access and other things. Before the urban plans were drawn up, the authorities would have to elicit comment from the people, including the owners of property in the vicinity. Later, the government would have to announce 60 days of public consultation, before the chief executive could approve urban plans or any changes to them. The master plan would have to be revised every five years, and, if any changes are introduced, the detail plans would also have to be tweaked. However, changes could be introduced earlier “in exceptional circumstances” such as natural catastrophes or the need to prevent them.
Balance of rights A person harmed in any way by urban plans would have to right to appeal to the courts or to complain to the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the Commission Against Corruption. The government would have to compensate owners if “significant restrictions” were put on an area’s scope for development or if a plan would stop construction projects already approved. But the government would have the power to take “preventive action” and put embargos on construction or demolition work for up to two years. It would also be empowered to take over private land to build public infrastructure and other public facilities. “We must reach a balance between the rights of individuals and the public interest,” Mr Wong said. An inter-departmental commission would be in charge of checking whether the urban plans were being enforced and of drafting a regular public report. Any person or company that broke the urban planning law would be liable to a fine.
April 25, 2012 business daily | 3
MACAU
Final countdown Steve Wynn ‘hopeful’ of Cotai land permission next week Associate Editor
S
teve Wynn, the founder and chairman of the casino operator Wynn Resorts, told Business Daily yesterday he was “hopeful” that his Cotai land concession would be in place by the time of a previously scheduled meeting with Macau government officials next week. But he said he had no privileged information leading him to that view. Speaking by phone from Las Vegas, Mr Wynn said: “I’m going to be in Macau myself next week for a number of reasons including a meeting with the government. Hopefully it’ll be in place. But we won’t know that until we read it in the [official] gazette.” “I’ve long since stopped trying to second guess the government and I think it’s a pointless exercise,” he added. “I have no idea where that [reports of an imminent land grant] came from. I know it wasn’t us, because that’s a no-no. “Someone told me it came from someone in the government. Well good, if that’s true,” he said. Mr Wynn indicated that once the anticipated land and building permissions were granted the Wynn Cotai project would be aiming for an opening in the second half of 2015 or first half of 2016.
“I’ve got three-and-a-half to four years yet to finish,” said Mr Wynn in response to a question about what would be inside the new property. Mr Wynn added he couldn’t yet go public with Wynn Cotai’s cost. In company conference calls with analysts last year, a price ranging from US$2 billion (15.9 billion patacas) to US$3 billion was mentioned for a 1,500-room project. Wynn’s chairman now intends to build a 2,000-room property, although 1,500-rooms were mentioned in Wynn’s 2011 annual report. “It’s been 2,000 rooms for some time,” he said. That fact and the wait to start construction - in a market where annual consumer price inflation is running at six percent and labour costs are also rising – suggests a price tag at the upper end of the range.
Labour issues “The cost of labour has gone up dramatically and the availability of labour has had a concomitant reduction,” Mr Wynn said. Business Daily asked for his reaction to the appointment in early April of a new director at Macau’s Labour
Affairs Bureau – the government body responsible for helping draft and implement labour and employment policies. Some local employers think it’s a sign worker import restrictions may be eased. “I don’t take anything negative from that, do you?” said Mr Wynn. “My conversations suggest that the government having achieved
My conversations suggest that the government is still encouraging the development of the resorts community on an orderly basis
Steve Wynn travelling hopefully
extremely high - virtually full employment, is still encouraging the development of the resorts community on an orderly basis.” Another factor pointing to an upper range cost for Wynn Cotai is that the company can’t build as high as Mr Wynn would like – because of aviation safety rules for Macau International Airport next to his 21-hectare (51-acre) Cotai plot. So he will have to build out more at ground level. That means more concrete and steel in the ground. “We asked if we could go to 150 metres a long time ago, and they explained to us it couldn’t and they showed us this drawing,” said Mr Wynn, adding that his hotel tower would be limited by regulation to 120 metres. “Our building is designed and submitted at 120 metres pursuant to the airport guidelines. Grand Hyatt [at City of Dreams] has 150 metres and we’re right across the street,” he said. “That’s why I asked Ian [Coughlan, president of Wynn Resorts Macau] to check up on it. But we didn’t want to complicate the issue of the land by getting into a dispute about height. We figured, ‘Don’t argue, just comply with the regulations’. “And if the opportunity ever comes up to discuss it, if they [the Macau authorities] bring it up, we’d love to have more height, because it makes our [hotel] hallways shorter,” Mr Wynn said.
Non-gaming attractions The Macau government is on record saying it would like the next round of Cotai resorts to offer more non-gaming facilities to diversify the local tourism industry. That means all the companies currently submitting fresh plans for Cotai – Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM China, SJM Holdings and Wynn Resorts – have been asked to go into a lot of detail and on occasions re-submit items in their plans. Mr Wynn gave some colour on the level of detail required. “We’ve looked at how people who don’t want to go in a casino can come and enjoy the restaurants. We’ve been very vigorous in following that,” he said. Wynn’s chairman also gave a clear indication that Wynn Cotai would have strong mass-market attractions as well as things that will appeal to high rollers. “We’ve gone further than Bellagio [in Las Vegas] with the front water [lake and fountains]. There’s a gondola that goes around the whole thing into the hotel; so it’s a ride around the fountains. You bet your button it’s interesting.”
Galaxy Macau phase two news expected tomorrow
G
alaxy Entertainment Group is expected to make a formal announcement tomorrow about a start date for phase two of its Galaxy Macau casino resort on Cotai. The casino operator has invited journalists to a press conference in Hong Kong that day without giving further details. “We expect Galaxy to announce the Galaxy Macau Phase II development on Thursday,” said Grant Govertsen, managing partner of Union Gaming Group, a gaming equity research specialist, yesterday. Business Daily reported last week Galaxy was doing preparatory work for the project. Vice-chairman Francis Liu said recently phase two will double the current 550,000 square metre capacity of the site,
adding convention space and more shops. The cost shouldn’t exceed the HK$16.5 billion (US$2.13 billion) price of phase one, which opened in May last year. It’s likely to be funded mainly by cash reserves and operational cash flow the company says. Yesterday an undisclosed institutional investor sold a HK$1.1 billion (US$141 million) stake in the company. The stock has risen more than 4,000 percent in under four years. Galaxy shares initially dropped as much as 3.5 percent on the news in Hong Kong trading before recovering to HK$22.30 at the close; a fall of 1.76 percent on the day. At the close Galaxy had a market capitalisation of HK$93.2 billion. A.E.
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business daily April 25, 2012
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HOSPITALITY
Cunha foundation to foster research into legal system
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All equally satisfied, some more than others In our last comment in this space, we considered the satisfaction level of our visitors. The comments were based on the results of a survey by the Statistics and Census Service at Macau’s borders. Overall, in every quarter of 2011, satisfaction with lodging facilities showed a small but consistent improvement, compared with the same period the previous year. In particular, the survey showed that those satisfied with the quality of hotels had increased by between one and four percentage points. If we focus a little bit more on the details, naturally, the picture becomes somewhat more complex.
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stagnation to continue. “[This situation] is likely to worsen in the future,” one lawyer told Business Daily. The foundation will also back the publication of books on Macau law and sponsor new and up-andcoming artists. Mr Cunha has acquired the building in Avenida da Praia Grande where his firm, C&C Advogados, has its offices. The ground floor of the building will be used for conferences, debates and art exhibitions. Mr Cunha is a close associate of gaming tycoon Stanley Ho Hung Sun. He also serves as Executive Director of SJM Holdings.
Deposit protection limit removed
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he government has decided to remove the 500,000 patacas (US$62,550) limit from latest version of the draft law creating a deposit protection scheme, which is currently being discussed at the Legislative Assembly. The limit will instead by introduced in a complementary bylaw signed by the Chief Executive and which does not need legislators’ approval, according to a draft sent to legislators on Friday. The new version comes more than four months after Legislative Assembly legal advisors said the provision could clash with the legal framework that states what should be regulated through a law or a bylaw.
The scheme says that, in case one of the 25 Macaulicenced banks flounders, its clients would receive compensation. It will not include, however, structured deposits or anonymous certificates of deposit. The protection scheme is to be based on a Deposit Protection Fund that will receive a start-up allocation of 150 million patacas from the government and will be run by an administrative committee and a consultative body under the Monetary Authority of Macau. After that, Macau-licenced banks will pay an annual contribution of 0.05 percent of the amount of protected deposits held every January. V.Q.
Photo by Manuel Cardoso
Satisfaction with hotel services, by main country of origin (2011)
Rui Cunha
rominent Macau lawyer Rui Cunha will inaugurate on Saturday a foundation to encourage research into the region’s legal system. The advocate, who has been working in Macau for nearly 30 years, has spent the last few weeks fleshing out the final details of the foundation. Macau’s legal system is based on Portugal’s, which is very different from mainland China’s and from the common law system in neighbouring Hong Kong. Lawyers here think that Macau law has hardly evolved at all since Portugal handed over the city to China in 1999. They expect the
OVERALL
The chart shows the year-on-year changes in the satisfaction level of visitors coming from our main sources of tourists. Overall, the changes do not seem statistically very significant. But the results for specific countries of origin show notable variation over time. Japan is a case in point, displaying by far the biggest of swings. In the fourth quarter, there is a decrease in the level of satisfaction, which would be more noticeable were it not for the nowvery-positive Japanese swing. These figures suggest the results must be read with care. They may occasionally raise red flags, but seem sensitive to sampling issues. Moreover, in the last year, the number of questionnaires in various quarters varied between 1,100 and 2,190. The sampling method itself may also raise some difficulties, given the multiple points of exit and the varieties of visitors associated with each of them.
Deposits on local banks will be under a protection scheme in the near future, but a cap has been removed
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business daily April 25, 2012
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Food prices, downward resistance As we previously noted in this section, the inflation results published by the mainland Chinese authorities suggest that food prices, a big part of the consumer price index, will continue to be subject to upward pressure. The extreme dependence of Macau on food supplies from across the border and the nature of the import channels make this inevitable. This suggests that what food prices do in the mainland can provide good early warning of food price trends here. Even allowing for the differences in the baskets of goods and services used to calculate the CPI here and on the other side of the border, we can reasonably conclude that changes in food prices in China will anticipate, to a certain degree, those in Macau. A look at the food components of the CPIs on each side of the border seems to support this conjecture.
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Fund pays HK$98m for top-floor triplex Macau Property Opportunities Fund paid HK$11,200 per square foot for a triplex at One Central
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he Macau Property Opportunities Fund has added a 8,236-square-foot triplex, occupying the top three floors of Tower 3 at One Central to its portfolio. The asking price of HK$92.2 million (US$12 million) increased to HK$98 million after stamp duty was paid, the company said in a statement on Sunday. It paid HK$11,200 per square foot. The property has a private elevator, five bedrooms, three terraces and a swimming pool. The highest price paid for an apartment as of March 31 had been HK$7,809 per square foot, according to Centaline Property
Agency quarterly data. It was for a 1,178 square feet unit of Tower 7 at One Central. Fund chairman David Hinde said in a press release that the triplex was an “exceptional property” that will show capital appreciation, fuelled by the increasing demand for “trophy assets”. The fund says it will keep the unit as is, and divest of it at an opportune time. The investment was paid for with an equal share of cash and bank financing. The company announced on Sunday that it had sold nine individual apartments at One Central Residences. In May last year, the fund divested
10 individual apartments for a combined sales value of HK$165 million (US$21 million). “Nine out of ten of these transactions, worth a combined HK$144.4 million (US$18.5 million), have now successfully completed,” it said in Sunday’s statement. The nine completed transactions contributed a net profit of about HK$7.5 million to the fund. Macau Property Opportunities Fund says it continues to hold 13 units in One Central Residences, with a combined gross floor area of 27,000 square feet. The company also owns Tower 6 of the development, a building with 59 luxury apartments for lease.
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Small firms ignoring staff training: study
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This graph suggests that prices in the mainland affect the economy here not instantaneously but only after a while. It is reasonable to expect that import contracts are subject to an adjustment delay. So what food prices do here appears to follow a broadly similar pattern to what they do in the mainland after an interval of a few months. So we can say that the big rises in the prices of some kinds of food in the mainland in March have yet to be reflected in the CPI here. But the graph also suggests that there is resistance here to downward movements in prices. The food price deflation in the mainland in 2009 never really arrived here.
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ost owners of small- and medium-enterprises say they do not need to provide staff training, a survey carried out by the Macau Association of Economic Sciences has found. The survey conducted last June focused on firms with less than 20 workers. The survey concluded that the biggest problems they face are high rents, competition and a lack of well-trained staff. While the association calls on lifting the government-imposed quota on imported labour, it also wants staff
to be better trained to improve staff retention and meet the business sector’s wider requirements for qualified workers. The association wants the government to subsidise smaller companies that offer their staff training. The association’s report, published on Sunday, says most owners of a small business also need training, and should look for opportunities to improve their management skills. The use of information technology among small businesses was also poor, the report said. It encouraged
the government to help firms upgrade their equipment. Retailers made up more than twothirds of the companies surveyed while catering services accounted for 9.3 percent. A majority were sole proprietors, 81.3 percent, and 12.1 percent were joint ventures. Most of the firms surveyed had yearly revenues of less than 400,000 patacas (US$50,000). They paid an average of 23.5 percent of their revenues on rent and more than two-thirds of the survey sample were renting. C.L.
Weather Beijing 21/8o C Changchun 17/0o C
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MACAU
Role of Macau in EU, Lusophone ties, key Macau can play an increasingly important part in China’s relations with foreign countries, says the vice-minister of commerce Cláudia Aranda
claudia.aranda@macaubusinessdaily.com
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he Chinese vice-minister of commerce, Chen Jian, stressed yesterday the importance of Macau in strengthening China’s relations with the European Union and Portuguesespeaking countries. Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Third International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum, he said “Macau can play an increasingly important role” in the relations of China with the outside world. He said the holding of the forum in the city highlighted the role of Macau in the
development of cooperation between China and foreign countries. In organising the third such event, the government wants to promote the internationalisation and branding of Macau in the conventions and exhibitions industry. The city wants to demonstrate that it is qualified to hold large international conferences and host various types of domestic and international exhibitions. “We want to show the world the advantage of Macau as a service platform for business cooperation, deepen the
knowledge of these countries and regions [participating in the forum] about Macau,” said the secretary for economy and finance, Francis Pak Yuen Tam, “thus to promote cooperation and development in this area between Macau, China and other regions of the world and, ultimately, promoting the diversification of the economy of Macau.” This is the first time Macau has held the International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum. The two first forums were held in Beijing. More than 800 people are taking part in the two-day
event, including government representatives from various countries, national and international players in the infrastructure sector, contractors, investors and financial institutions. The goal is “to analyse the opportunities in infrastructure development, address the current world economic crisis, and explore new opportunities in bilateral and multilateral cooperation”, Mr Tam said. He praised the economic performance of Macau, saying steady development continued. Mr Tam expects Macau
to continue developing its competitive advantages and quickening the growth of sectors such as tourism, conventions, retailing, and hotels and restaurants. He also hopes the city will continue to take part in regional economic cooperation and promote adequate economic diversification. The ultimate goal was to transform Macau into a world centre for tourism and leisure and a service platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, he said.
Macau, China contractors sign deal
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The Third International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum is an important opportunity for Macau to prove its skills, Francis Tam says
he Macau Construction Association and China International Contractors Association have signed an agreement to set up an exchange and information-sharing mechanism, also aimed at investment cooperation. Six others deals have also been signed. The infrastructure sector has entered a stage of steady development, after the fast growth in past years, the China International Contractors Association says. The association believes contracts abroad were affected by a number of unfavourable factors last year, such as Europe’s debt crisis, the slower growth rates of emerging economies and political unrest in Middle East and North Africa.
Busy day in political reform’s final push Huge endorsement of the government proposals is received on the final day of consultation on political reform
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bout 100,000 opinions were sent to the authorities by civic associations and members of the electoral committee for the chief executive on the last day of the second round of public consultation on political reform. The opinions were overwhelmingly in favour of the government proposals for adding two directly elected seats and two indirectly elected seats to the Legislative Assembly and a further 100 members to the electoral committee for the chief executive. The Federation of Trade Unions told the news media it had received more than 30,000 affirmations of the mainstream proposals. The Women’s General Association collected about 19,000 opinions, with 87.1 percent supporting the government’s proposals. President Tina Ho Teng Lat said her association agreed that the city’s political development had to be gradual. Eight associations in all – including the Macau Chamber of Commerce and Macau General Neighbourhood Unions Association – handed in their opinions on Monday, as along with a group of 12 members of the electoral committee for the chief executive,
led by businessman David Chow Kam Fai. The director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, José Chu, declined to comment on any of the opinions before the end of the consultation period. He was quoted by TDM News as saying he had collected the opinions through various channels and that they would be respected and comprehensively analysed.
Credibility concerns But the New Macau Association said the signatures collected by various civic associations that support the mainstream proposal were not the true voice of the public. The association’s vice-president, Scott Chiang, said the consultations conducted by the associations lacked credibility, mainly because the identity of the respondents was hard to confirm. He criticised the government for ignoring the people’s true wishes and said many problems plagued the government consultation system. “The government should pay more
attention to the needs of the general public, instead of sending the political development bill to the legislature in a rush,” Mr Chiang said. “We’ve seen statistics show that an association gathered 700 signatures in half an hour, which means around two seconds for one person. One would need at least 30 seconds just to explain the proposal. You can only gather 700 signatures if people are queuing, just like crossing the Border Gate, and signing their names on the paper without a pause,” said Mr Chiang. “It’s really a myth,” said legislator Ng Kuok Cheong, also a member of the
association. Mr Chiang said the general public was not fully aware that political reform was ongoing, so it was impossible to mobilise citizens to oppose the government proposals. But the government’s “unreliable” political reform would be unlikely to have any negative impact on the people, owing to the economic outlook, Mr Ng said. “People will blame the government for the political decision only when the economic environment becomes worse,” he said. C.L., T.C.
April 25, 2012 business daily | 9
MACAU
Legislators to debate bill on special police powers Amendments to the Penal Procedure Code would allow the Public Prosecutor’s Office and police to impose restrictive measures on suspects Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
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even months after public consultations began, the Executive Council has finished reviewing a bill revising the Penal Procedure Code, which will now be submitted to the Legislative Assembly. The bill, if enacted, would allow the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the criminal police to impose on suspects restrictive measures short of pre-trial detention – a power now wielded only by the courts. The deputy director of the Law Reform and International Law Bureau, Chan Chi Hin, said the authorities believed the police needed to be able to use such measures.
20 days from 10, restrict searches of residences to between 6am and 9pm and make prosecutions of non-resident suspects urgent. Mr Leong said the maximum term of imprisonment a singlejudge court would be able to impose would remain three years, “after listening to opinions from different parties”. It was recommended during the consultations held in 2011 that single-judge courts be allowed to send a convict to prison for a maximum of five years.
Restrictive measures
The Executive Council also finished reviewing a draft bill that would put the Civil Aviation Authority in charge of the investigation of any aviation-related accidents or incidents in the airspace controlled by Macau. It would also allow the authority to investigate accidents involving Macau civil aircraft outside Macau’s airspace, when the local aviation authority failed to assume responsibility. The sole objective of an investigation would be to prevent another accident or incident, and not to attribute blame, Mr Leong said. The council also discussed a revision of fringe benefits for public security forces. It is proposed that the Judiciary Police should have new allowances covering meals for negotiators and special vehicle drivers. It is also proposed to increase allowances for divers and special operations groups. The government expects to spend an additional 40 million patacas (US$5 million) per year on such allowances.
Last September, when the consultation document was released, lawyer and legislator Leonel Alves said this could “contradict the principle of immutability of the legal system for 50 years, as stated in the MSAR Basic Law”. Nuno Simões had a similar opinion: “It would allow the indicting authority to also apply restrictive measures.” The lawyer believes the threat of restrictive measures could be used to “blackmail suspects into confession without the supervision of any outside entity”. A special trial procedure, called the simplified procedure, would be instituted, and changes would be made to the summary procedure and fast-track trials to speed up the administration of justice. “These trials will be handled faster than the normal trials,” Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng said yesterday, “but these will not let the rights of the suspects be affected.”
In the air
Proposals to change the law to speed up trials are to be sent to the Legislative Assembly
The summary procedure, if amended, could be used for suspects caught in the act, and not only by the police. At present a case must go through the normal trial procedure if the authorities fail to provide enough evidence to initiate prosecution within 48 hours.
Speed up trials The simplified procedure would be an alternative to the summary procedure.
It could be used for cases of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of three years, based on documentary or eyewitness evidence. Mr Chan of the Law Reform and International Law Bureau said the bill proposed reasonable ways to use resources to speed up trials. The bill would allow fast-track trials of cases of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a maximum of three years instead of two. The bill would extend the period in which an appeal could be lodged to
Medical malpractice bill needs further surgery A decade after the authorities first spoke of a medical malpractice law, the bill still has far to go before it reaches the Legislative Assembly Kelsey Wilhelm
kelsey.wilhelm@macaubusinessdaily.com
A
medical malpractice bill will need at least six more months of work before it is ready, the chairman of the Legislative Assembly’s third standing committee, Cheang Chi Keong, said yesterday. The committee and government representatives, including the head of the Health Bureau, Lei Chin Ion, met yesterday to review a study on the proposals for a bill. In the meeting the legislators compared the proposals with the present medical malpractice arrangements here and in neighbouring jurisdictions. But Mr Cheang said the meeting had made little progress beyond what had been achieved by a similar meeting last May, and that no bill had been drafted.
“It has taken so long because you have to take into account lots of issues,” he said. He compared the medical malpractice bill to the 2009 labour act, which required 57 meetings of the committee before it finished its report. He described the medical malpractice bill as “new and more complex”. Once enacted, it is meant to protect patients from harm, to protect the health service providers and to preclude medical inaction due to fear of committing errors. The authorities are keen on separating non-negligent from negligent malpractice, on supervising the professional qualifications and certification of doctors, on creating arbitration
options and on dealing with insurance questions. The committee expects that it will take up to three months for a bill to be ready. “This can’t be done from one day to the next,” said Mr Cheang. But he added: “Our responsibility is to finish this job as soon as possible.” He said that only a combined effort by the committee and the government could create a comprehensive medical malpractice bill. The government created the Macau Health Reform Advisory Committee in 2002 and began consultations on a medical malpractice bill, medical insurance and a health professional council. A total of 22 cases alleging medical
malpractice were brought against the Health Bureau between 1999 and last September. Of these, 10 cases have yet to be settled, 11 went to court and one was settled out of court. In three cases the courts found the Health Bureau responsible for malpractice. A watchdog body set up in 2002 had received 524 complaints about public and private health services by last September.
10 |
business daily April 25, 2012
GREATER CHINA
InBrief Former-MTR chief named HKEx chairman
HK trade deficit widens in March
Hong Kong’s merchandise trade deficit increased in March from a year earlier, data released by the Census and Statistics Department showed yesterday. The trade deficit increased to HK$43.875 billion in March from HK$40.083 billion in the same month last year. A government spokesman said merchandise exports relapsed to a noticeable year-on-year decline in March, mainly on a marked deceleration in exports to major Asian markets and amid a continued lull in the U.S. and EU markets.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to continue to bank on China’s economic development to help fuel its expansion Kana Nishizawa
Cnooc sales rise 3.7 pct Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore energy explorer, posted a 3.7 percent gain in quarterly revenue as higher crude prices helped counter lower output as the country’s largest field remained shut after oil spills. Sales rose to 48.84 billion yuan (US$7.7 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the Beijing-based company said in a statement yesterday. Cnooc, which gets almost all its income from oil and gas production, doesn’t report first-quarter profit. Output fell 6.3 percent from a year earlier. Cnooc has forecast a 2.7 percent increase in production this year.
Happy day for Taiwan stocks Taiwan stocks ended up 0.24 percent yesterday, reversing earlier losses and outperforming regional peers, as Apple plays such as Hon Hai Precision Industry and Catcher Technology advanced ahead of the California-based company’s second fiscal quarter earnings. The main TAIEX index rose 17.75 points to 7,498.84, after opening down 0.32 percent. Electronics shares were up 0.72 percent. Hon Hai and Catcher gained 3.6 percent and 3.16 percent respectively. HTC Corp climbed 1.16 percent on its second-quarter outlook. The company said it sees a 55 percent jump in revenue in the second quarter from the previous three months.
Forex purchases up in March China’s net foreign exchange purchases in March rose to 124.6 billion yuan (US$19.75 billion) from February’s 25.1 billion yuan, showing rising capital inflows into the country, according to Reuters calculations based on data published by the central bank on yesterday. China suffered rare capital outflows for three straight months in the final quarter of 2011 when choppy global markets spooked investors and led them to pull funds from the world’s second largest economy.
Chow Chung Kong pledged to capture opportunities for Asia’s biggest bourse
C
how Chung Kong, former chief executive officer of subway operator MTR Corp., was named chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd and declared he would capture opportunities for Asia’s biggest bourse. The 61-year-old, who oversaw the MTR’s merger with another train company and expansion overseas, replaces Ronald Arculli, 73, who stepped down after a maximum consecutive six-years in the job. Chow has also been CEO of AngloAustralian pallet provider Brambles Ltd. and non-executive director for Standard Chartered Plc. His initial term is for two years. Hong Kong Exchanges was surpassed as the world’s biggest bourse operator by CME Group Inc. amid global competition from alternative venues and as large initial public offerings from China slow. The city has accounted for 5.5 percent of world IPOs this year compared with 13 percent in 2011 and 18 percent in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Chow is quite qualified for this new role, having had experience with diverse global and multinational companies,” said Sandy Mehta, chief executive officer at Hong Kong-based Value Investment Principals Ltd. “With MTR he is imminently familiar with local China issues and managing ‘on the ground’ in Hong Kong. “While he hasn’t operated a financial sector company before, his long association as a board member of Standard Chartered gives him strong credentials and certainly stature and contacts for his new role at the exchange.”
Formal approval Chow, whose appointment requires the formal approval of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang, said the bourse “will listen carefully to market participants, particularly
those in Hong Kong to capture opportunity for the exchange. ‘‘Hong Kong Exchanges is very much an integral part of the international financial center of Hong Kong,’’ he told reporters after a board meeting in the city yesterday. But he declined to comment on speculation the bourse may bid for the London Metal Exchange. “We continue to look for opportunities coming from China’s economic development and policies,” he told reporters. “It’s not the first time we’re talking about international growth, and we’ve seen substantial results in the past two years.” Chow has good credentials though lacks financial experience, said Steven Leung, Hong Kong-based director of institutional sales at UOB-Kay Hian Ltd, a Singaporean brokerage. Chow was appointed April 10 as a director of the exchange for two years along with Timothy Freshwater, a former vice chairman for Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Asian unit. Hong Kong Exchanges under Arculli attracted large international listings, including luxury goods makers Prada SpA and L’Occitane International SA. The bourse’s share price more than doubled to HK$128.80 on April 20 from HK$56.55 on April 27, 2006, when Arculli became chairman. That growth has slowed in recent times. The bourse reported a 1 percent increase in net income in 2011 as initial public offerings declined and trading volume slumped amid Europe’s debt crisis and efforts by China to cool its economy. At US$17.8 billion, Hong Kong Exchanges’ market value is second in the Bloomberg World Exchanges index behind CME Group, which is valued at US$18.1 billion. The Hang Seng Index closed up 0.26 percent at 20,677.16 Bloomberg
Beijing grants new quota to foreign investors
C
hina granted combined quotas of US$700 million to five overseas investors in the first two weeks of April, allowing them to buy Chinese stocks and bonds under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme. The China Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the country’s foreign exchange regulator, granted the investment quotas to HI Asset Management Co, Ltd, Hospital Authority Provident Fund Scheme (Hong Kong), Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd, Neuberger Berman Europe Limited and Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Some institutions saw their quotas lowered as a result of business mergers or other reasons. China has stepped up QFII approval as part of efforts to further deregulate its capital markets. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said earlier this month the total QFII quota would be raised by US$50 billion to US$80 billion. China launched the QFII scheme in 2003 to allow foreign investors to buy Chinese stocks and bonds. China has so far granted QFII licences to 158 foreign investors and 133 of them had obtained combined quotas of US$25.19 billion from the country’s foreign exchange regulator as of April 16. Reuters
April 25, 2012 business daily | 11
ASIA Indonesian bonds decline on rating
Asian stocks fall on Europe concerns Unsettling news about Europe’s debt crisis weighedon Asian stock markets yesterday Jonathan Burgos
A
sian stocks fell for a fourth Price, the global investment chief for day as political uncertainty fundamental equities at BlackRock in Europe sparked concern Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television the region will struggle to contain interview from Hong Kong. “You its debt crisis and a leading gauge see this resistance to austerity. of China’s economic growth slowed. Europe continues to be central.” Sony Corp., a consumer electronics Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average company that gets about a fifth of dropped 0.8 percent. South Korea’s sales from Europe, slid 1.7 percent. Kospi Index fell 0.5 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 percent to 123.21 as of 5:14 Austerity measures pm in Tokyo. Trading volumes in Japan and Hong Kong were at least Futures on the Standard & 14 percent less than the 30-day Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.4 percent average, while those in Shanghai yesterday. The gauge dropped 0.8 were 45 percent higher. percent in New York on Monday The resignation of Dutch Prime as a revolt against spending cuts Minister Mark Rutte and French in budget-conscious Netherlands President Nicolas Sarkozy’s defeat prompted Prime Minister Rutte to in the first round of his re-election step down. bid sparked concern European Backlash against austerity measures states will struggle to cut spending. in Europe has expanded in recent Kansai Electric said it might have a power shortage of 19.3 percent in July “It’s a time of a greatly unsettled weeks after Spain struggled to meet atmosphere in Europe,” Quintin European Union- imposed deficit
targets and election campaigns in Greece faced anti-austerity rumblings. “This is destabilising for the markets as a whole,” said Angus Gluskie, managing director at White Funds Management in Sydney who manages more than US$350 million. “Europe is still really the focus.” Sony slipped 1.7 percent to 1,330 yen. Canon Inc., a Japanese camera maker that depends on Europe for almost a third of its sales, lost 1.1 percent to 3,745 yen. Stocks linked to China also declined after the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index for the country rose at a slower pace in March, adding to evidence growth in the world’s second-biggest economy is moderating. The gauge tracks data such as lending activity, consumer expectations and exports
Indonesia’s bonds fell, lifting 10-year yields for a second day, after Standard & Poor’s held off from lowering its debt rating for the nation and fuelpolicy shifts fanned concern inflation will pick up. S&P refrained from joining Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings in upgrading Indonesia to investment grade, citing “policy slippages” in a statement on Monday. The decision wasn’t expected by Bank Indonesia, Perry Warjiyo, director for economic and monetary policy research at the central bank, said. The monetary authority predicts consumer-price gains will reach 4.7 percent this year if sales of subsidised fuel are limited, compared with 3.97 percent in March, Warjiyo said. The rupiah was little changed. “Investors are now taking a wait-andsee approach on Indonesian assets,” said Artanavaro Gasali, the Jakartabased head of global markets at PT Bank ICBC Indonesia. “The domestic concern is still inflation.” The yield on the government’s 7 percent bonds due May 2022 climbed one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 5.92 percent, according to closing prices from the Inter Dealer Market Association. The rupiah traded at 9,195 per dollar as of 4:01 p.m. in Jakarta, after closing at 9,192 on Monday, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg
S.Korea won at four-week low Central bank’s second easing to take place on Friday
BoJ likely to ease monetary policy Central bank may boost asset purchases by up to US$123 billion in its second easing in just over two months Rie Ishiguro and Leika Kihara
T
he Bank of Japan is likely to ease monetary policy on Friday by boosting asset purchases by up to 10 trillion yen (US$123 billion) and in doing so may extend the maturity of government bonds it targets to around three years, according to sources familiar with the central bank’s thinking. The action, which would be the central bank’s second easing in just over two months, would serve to show the BoJ’s determination to overcome deflation and reach the 1 percent inflation target adopted at its February meeting. The central bank has been under constant pressure from politicians to do more to rev up the world’s third biggest economy, and BoJ policy-
makers have signalled their readiness to provide more stimulus. But there is no consensus yet within the central bank on whether it should increase its 30 trillion yen asset-buying programme by the usual 5 trillion yen increment, or by double that amount - as it did in February - for greater market effect. If it were to opt for a bigger increase, the BoJ may also extend the maturity of government bonds it buys under the programme to around three years from the current two-year duration, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. “What appears to be certain is that the BoJ will ease on Friday. But there seems to be various views on by how much, so that will be a close call,” one of the sources said.
The BoJ now pledges to meet the 30 trillion yen target for asset purchases by the end of this year, but may extend that deadline by about six months if it were to boost the programme, the sources said. With interest rates virtually at zero, the BoJ has adopted as its main policy tool a programme under which it buys assets ranging from government bonds to corporate debt and trust funds investing in property and shares. Any expansion in the programme would come mainly in the form of government bonds, although there is a slim chance the BoJ may also pledge to buy more exchange-traded funds (ETFs) depending on the size of increase, the sources said. Reuters
The South Korean won ended domestic trade yesterday at an about four-week low, but pulled back from early weakness on dollar-selling by exporters and market caution over potential won-supporting intervention by the local authorities. The won was quoted at 1,140.8 against the dollar at the end of local trade, compared with 1,139.5 at the end of domestic hours Monday. Yesterday’s close was the lowest since 1,141.6 on March 26. The local currency slipped as far as 1,142.7 in early trade, the weakest intraday level since April 12, Reuters reported. Weak data on euro zone economic activity and the Dutch political turmoil weighed on investor sentiment and undercut risk appetite in the region. “There’s a steady supply of dollars flowing into the market, including from heavy industry firms,” a foreign bank dealer said. “Market participants see the 1,142 mark as a key resistance level that is limiting gains (by the dollar).” The potential for intervention by the local authorities also kept market participants cautious. Some dealers suspected the Korean foreign exchange authorities had stepped in on April 19 to keep the won above the 1,140 mark. Local bonds were nearly flat amid renewed risk aversion and a positive lead from U.S. treasuries overnight.
12 |
business daily April 25, 2012
MARKETS Ticker NAME
Hang SENG INDEX Ticker NAME
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
73.85
0.2715547
5510861
93.1
53.6
IND & COMM BK-H
5.13
-0.3883495
290551132
6.75
3.46
494
LI & FUNG LTD
16.4
-0.7263923
17296592
20.15
10.82
13
HUTCHISON WHAMPO
1398 1299
AIA GROUP LTD
27.3
-0.7272727
22444805
29.9
19.84
66
MTR CORP
27.05
0
1634011
28.8
22.45
2600
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.77
1.344086
16087880
7.45
3.2
17
NEW WORLD DEV
9.11
-0.2190581
7599511
12.675
6.13
3988
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.22
0
251389263
4.43
2.2
857
PETROCHINA CO-H
11.22
0.1785714
46644835
11.92
8.59
3328
BANK OF COMMUN-H
5.8
0.5199307
16493101
7.7
4.15
2318
PING AN INSURA-H
62.3
0.6462036
9295969
86.85
37.35
23
BANK EAST ASIA
29.05
0.6932409
770766
34.45
21.85
6
POWER ASSETS HOL
57.15
0
1785098
64.8
52
1880
BELLE INTERNATIO
14.84
-0.2688172
13764734
17.54
11.38
83
SINO LAND CO
13.44
2.59542
5233738
14.16
8.482
2388
BOC HONG KONG HO
293
CATHAY PAC AIR
1 1898
23.1
1.094092
12842817
24.7
14.24
16
SUN HUNG KAI PRO
94.7
0.7446809
5929565
124.4
85.45
13.04
0
4713716
20.15
11.8
19
SWIRE PACIFIC-A
88.4
0.0565931
967193
102.539
69.321
CHEUNG KONG
99.7
0.6562342
2903429
127
79.1
700
TENCENT HOLDINGS
238.8
0.9298394
3418034
241
139.8
CHINA COAL ENE-H
8.59
0
16603906
11.66
6.59
322
TINGYI HLDG CO
20.15
-1.707317
7090412
26
17.84
939
CHINA CONST BA-H
5.95
0.5067568
226368323
7.55
4.41
151
WANT WANT CHINA
9.39
2.73523
15724895
9.48
6.03
2628
CHINA LIFE INS-H
20.75
0.2415459
35537899
29.4
17.04
4
WHARF HLDG
45
1.123596
3498788
59
33.15
144
CHINA MERCHANT
24.8
0.4048583
3324064
37.5
19
941
CHINA MOBILE
85.3
0.5896226
12792299
87.6
68.05
688
CHINA OVERSEAS
15.8
-0.7537688
21950219
17.86
9.99
386
CHINA PETROLEU-H
8.14
0
40396904
9.67
6.22
291
CHINA RES ENTERP
27.5
-0.7220217
2504567
35.5
24
1109
CHINA RES LAND
14.1
-0.5641749
11104640
15.6
7.28
836
CHINA RES POWER
13.76
0.4379562
2439438
16.2
10.82
1088
CHINA SHENHUA-H
33.5
-0.7407407
8859945
40.2
27.1
762
CHINA UNICOM HON
267
CITIC PACIFIC
2 883
13
0.619195
17722686
17.68
12.6
12.6
-0.4739336
4311777
23.85
10.26
CLP HLDGS LTD
66.25
0.2269289
1084826
75.2
62.1
CNOOC LTD
15.96
-0.25
70748501
20.1
11.2 7.52
1199
COSCO PAC LTD
10.98
-0.9025271
7193492
17.16
330
ESPRIT HLDGS
16.02
-0.3731343
3623140
33.95
7.55
101
HANG LUNG PROPER
28.65
0.7029877
5927273
35.3
20.85
104.1
0.1924928
547073
125
84.4
44.8
0.7874016
2192264
54.25
33.2
11
HANG SENG BK
12
HENDERSON LAND D
1044
HENGAN INTL
80.25
-2.134146
1496203
83.45
56.8
3
HONG KG CHINA GS
19.98
0.1002004
8118358
20.65
16.68
388
HONG KONG EXCHNG
127.7
0
4084437
182.5
99.15
5
HSBC HLDGS PLC
68.6
0.5865103
8031205
85.35
56
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
2.74
1.107011
91645537
AIR CHINA LTD-A
6.25
0
7971215
ALUMINUM CORP-A
IN FOCUS Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Stock Index (VN): Year-to-date performance 500 460 420 380 340 3-Jan-2012
AGRICULTURAL-A
ANGANG STEEL-A
INDEX 20677.16 52W (H) 24260.76 (L) 16170.35 MOVERS 26 15 7
NAME CHINA SOUTHERN-A CHINA STATE -A
24-Apr-2012 NAME
300
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
4.8
0
44304863
NINGBO PORT CO-A
2.65
0.3787879
VOLUME 30570466
3.31
0.3030303
117998105
PANGANG GROUP -A
7.83
-1.136364
75706439
7
1.010101
23379487
CHINA UNITED-A
4.35
-1.360544
118990942
PETROCHINA CO-A
9.86
0.1015228
16680620
4.37
-1.131222
12946789
CHINA VANKE CO-A
8.63
0.3488372
57089640
PING AN INSURA-A
40.79
0.3937977
42020021 29415988
ANHUI CONCH-A
17.65
-1.065022
44588100
CHINA YANGTZE-A
6.52
0.3076923
18666629
POLY REAL ESTA-A
12.01
0.08333333
BANK OF BEIJIN-A
10.37
3.7
89234210
CITIC SECURITI-A
13.25
0.9908537
178095321
QINGHAI SALT-A
32.84
-3.012404
8281897
BANK OF CHINA-A
3.07
0.3267974
33108624
CSR CORP LTD -A
4.92
0
44783992
SAIC MOTOR-A
15.18
0.4632694
16438965 30948985
4.87
0.8281573
84317998
DAQIN RAILWAY -A
7.48
-0.2666667
46418946
SANY HEAVY INDUS
14.37
-0.691085
BANK OF NINGBO-A
BANK OF COMMUN-A
10.71
6.779661
111497427
DATANG INTL PO-A
5.13
0
9158187
SHANDONG GOLD-MI
32.92
0
4485720
BAOSHAN IRON & S
4.95
-0.2016129
34805159
DONGFANG ELECT-A
21.72
-1.317583
8678742
SHANG PUDONG-A
9.38
1.515152
113165453
8.48
-2.863688
44676377
27.95
3.136531
8278934
BBMG CORPORATI-A BYD CO LTD -A
EVERBRIG SEC -A
13.82
1.468429
36965702
SHANGHAI ELECT-A
GD MIDEA HOLDING
12.94
-3.863299
34318076
SHANXI LU'AN -A
5.57
0.1798561
4888630
27.25
0.5906238
10502794
CHINA CITIC BK-A
4.55
1.789709
73873781
GD POWER DEVEL-A
2.57
-1.153846
69290876
SHANXI XISHAN-A
16.9
1.197605
26525222
CHINA CNR CORP-A
4.49
0.2232143
66478988
GF SECURITIES-A
31.01
-1.524293
14072152
SHENZ DVLP BK-A
16.76
2.070646
47804023 30413176
CHINA COAL ENE-A
9.18
-0.3257329
11944678
GREE ELECTRIC
21.15
-1.856148
14022956
CHINA CONST BA-A
4.77
0.845666
86371135
GUIZHOU PANJIA-A
31.9
1.754386
7126645
CHINA COSCO HO-A
5.43
0.742115
26280969
HAITONG SECURI-A
9.93
-1.488095
155966808
CHINA CSSC HOL-A
36.04
-2.699784
31497290
HANGZHOU HIKVI-A
45.06
3.872752
2555325
CHINA EAST AIR-A
3.95
1.023018
30018124
HEBEI IRON-A
2.99
-2.605863
35332302
CHINA EVERBRIG-A
3.01
2.033898
137569200
HENAN SHUAN-A
64.93
-0.7034715
2871330
CHINA INTL MAR-A
14.4
-1.639344
11591725
HUATAI SECURIT-A
10.52
2.634146
46598956
CHINA LIFE INS-A
7.4
0.135318
SINOVEL WIND-A
SHENZEN OVERSE-A
15.86
-1.856436
2427678
SUNING APPLIAN-A
10.52
0.9596929
62632815
TSINGTAO BREW-A
34.02
0.05882353
3141091
WEICHAI POWER-A
33.18
-2.411765
10949523
WULIANGYE YIBIN
34.37
0
13420047
XCMG CONSTRUCT-A
14.94
-1.451187
12277478
18.48
1.706109
30212721
HUAXIA BANK CO
11.33
2.256318
69450402
XINJIANG GUANG-A
24.33
-1.298174
9740052
12.3
1.652893
95110505
IND & COMM BK-A
4.41
0.4555809
67063704
YANGQUAN COAL -A
19.74
3.02714
27429327
CHINA MERCHANT-A
13.32
-0.2247191
28952908
INDUSTRIAL BAN-A
14.12
1.509705
125912865
CHINA MERCHANT-A
21.83
1.299304
9499534
INNER MONG BAO-A
67.71
-1.898001
32859204
CHINA MERCH BK-A
YANTAI CHANGYU-A
92.22
-2.97738
1621165
YANZHOU COAL-A
23.09
-2.61493
9425121
CHINA MINSHENG-A
6.58
1.54321
210406557
INNER MONG YIL-A
22.19
-0.8489723
19343212
YUNNAN BAIYAO-A
49.51
0
3344536
CHINA NATIONAL-A
6.65
0.1506024
19717363
INNER MONGOLIA-A
5.92
-3.109656
98828719
ZHONGJIN GOLD
22.68
0
16242932
CHINA OILFIELD-A
17.01
-1.276843
11354034
JIANGSU YANGHE-A
157.31
0.07634073
731343
ZIJIN MINING-A
4.27
-0.4662005
70733952
CHINA PACIFIC-A
21.86
1.016636
32604350
JIANGXI COPPER-A
25.15
-0.4354711
9561604
ZOOMLION HEAVY-A
9.93
-0.7
57676646
17.63
1.907514
20625856
CHINA PETROLEU-A
7.29
0.2751032
56362264
JINDUICHENG -A
14.08
0.7874016
15536066
CHINA RAILWAY-A
2.68
0.3745318
51392097
JIZHONG ENERGY-A
19.61
0.5641026
11336090
ZTE CORP-A
CHINA RAILWAY-A
4.4
-0.2267574
34964157
KWEICHOW MOUTA-A
211.52
-0.1510574
2178206
CHINA SHENHUA-A
26.43
0.1136364
20406518
LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A
42.46
1.143402
5432839
CHINA SHIPBUIL-A
6.15
-3.149606
68640346
METALLURGICAL-A
2.64
-1.492537
41303563
CHINA SHIPPING-A
3.1
-3.426791
40161372
NARI TECHNOLOG-A
19.6
-0.9600808
7311472
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
6
-0.990099
11577399
PETROCHINA CO-H
11.22
0.1785714
46644835
CHINA MERCH BK-H
16.08
-0.8631319
10114874
PICC PROPERTY &
9.57
0.5252101
9241983
CHINA MINSHENG-H
7.55
1.478495
34371966
PING AN INSURA-H
62.3
0.6462036
9295969
SHANDONG WEIG-H
NAME
Hang SENG CHINA ENTREPRISE INDEX NAME
CHINA LONGYUAN-H
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-H
3.51
0.2857143
90794074
AIR CHINA LTD-H
5.12
0
0
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.77
1.344086
16087880
ANHUI CONCH-H
25.6
0.3921569
8292690
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.22
0
251389263
5.8
0.5199307
16493101
20.95
-2.102804
CHINA CITIC BK-H
4.76
CHINA COAL ENE-H
BANK OF COMMUN-H BYD CO LTD-H
10.3
0.3898635
20333271
8.42
1.080432
4174357
11.74
-0.5084746
3689550
SINOPHARM-H
19.88
-1.82716
3790000
CHINA PACIFIC-H
25.65
0.7858546
6752276
TSINGTAO BREW-H
45.35
1.114827
967000
8.14
0
40396904
WEICHAI POWER-H
36.05
-1.232877
5709050
CHINA RAIL CN-H
5.68
-0.6993007
6667531
YANZHOU COAL-H
16.18
-1.939394
19905641
CHINA RAIL GR-H
2.95
-1.006711
15724799
2.96
-1.66113
27709000
5410243
CHINA SHENHUA-H
33.5
-0.7407407
8859945
ZOOMLION HEAVY-H
10.94
-3.35689
19379500
1.061571
33139006
CHINA TELECOM-H
4.11
-0.2427184
23753530
ZTE CORP-H
19.22
-0.8255934
6312998
8.59
0
16603906
DONGFENG MOTOR-H
14.86
2.908587
15303177 10129245
CHINA PETROLEU-H
CHINA COM CONS-H
7.76
0.2583979
15726802
GUANGZHOU AUTO-H
8.15
-1.807229
5.95
0.5067568
226368323
HUANENG POWER-H
4.41
0.6849315
6792500
CHINA COSCO HO-H
4.61
0.6550218
17840846
IND & COMM BK-H
5.13
-0.3883495
290551132
20.75
0.2415459
35537899
JIANGXI COPPER-H
18.28
-0.2183406
6628792
NAME
PRICE DAY %
FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX NAME
NAME
CHINA OILFIELD-H
CHINA NATL BDG-H
CHINA CONST BA-H CHINA LIFE INS-H
INDEX 2604.866 52W (H) 3325.45 (L) 2254.567 MOVERS 102 180 18
PRICE DAY %
Volume
INDEX 10817.16 52W (H) 13721.26 (L) 8058.58 MOVERS 19 17 4
PRICE DAY %
Volume
FAR EASTERN NEW
33
-1.197605
5170315
SINOPAC FINANCIA
9.83 -0.7070707
5614630
FAR EASTONE TELE
65.9
3.12989
10908551
SYNNEX TECH INTL
68.5
0
3558611
17.25 -0.5763689
7604616
TAIWAN CEMENT
34.9 -0.5698006
5658552
FIRST FINANCIAL
Volume
ZIJIN MINING-H
NAME
FORMOSA CHEM & F
83.6
-1.065089
5378339
TAIWAN COOPERATI
17.6
0.2849003
4317514
ACER INC
33.2
-3.206997
26890482
FORMOSA PETROCHE
88.2
1.146789
1564276
TAIWAN FERTILIZE
70.7
0.2836879
2375025
ADVANCED SEMICON
28.4
-1.899827
20360155
FORMOSA PLASTIC
81.9
-2.5
21755345
TAIWAN GLASS IND
29.5
-1.172529
2027824
36 -0.2770083
4477422
FOXCONN TECHNOLO
101
2.642276
13934267
TAIWAN MOBILE CO
93
1.528384
8308654
ASIA CEMENT CORP ASUSTEK COMPUTER
276
-1.252236
2484916
FUBON FINANCIAL
30.55 -0.8116883
12527690
TPK HOLDING CO L
380
1.06383
4718547
13.45
-2.536232
43265346
HON HAI PRECISIO
103.5
3.603604
39841625
TSMC
84.6
0.3558719
24904546
CATCHER TECH
196
3.157895
22557680
HOTAI MOTOR CO
182
0.8310249
1452400
UNI-PRESIDENT
42.15
0.3571429
5003420
CATHAY FINANCIAL
30.7 -0.1626016
8813095
HTC CORP
478.5
1.162791
7722401
UNITED MICROELEC
14.75
-1.993355
31425053
16.25 -0.3067485
AU OPTRONICS COR
CHANG HWA BANK
16
-0.621118
7137280
HUA NAN FINANCIA
2444513
WISTRON CORP
42.65
1.306413
5935892
CHENG SHIN RUBBE
70.6
-1.53417
5500199
LARGAN PRECISION
543
4.022989
2716474
YUANTA FINANCIAL
13.95
-1.06383
18850319
YULON MOTOR CO
45.7
-2.350427
15875824
CHIMEI INNOLUX C
12.5
-2.34375
13592138
LITE-ON TECHNOLO
34.8
1.310044
3664347
CHINA DEVELOPMEN
7.51
1.623816
66546125
MEDIATEK INC
258 -0.9596929
7241415
CHINA STEEL CORP
28.85
0.1736111
11809357
MEGA FINANCIAL H
22.3
0
25618136
CHINATRUST FINAN
17.85 -0.8333333
15374428
NAN YA PLASTICS
60.5
0.1655629
3039759
PRESIDENT CHAIN
158.5
0.3164557
706755
CHUNGHWA TELECOM COMPAL ELECTRON DELTA ELECT INC
89.7
1.585504
17246233
33.95
0.443787
9298722
QUANTA COMPUTER
76.3 -0.3916449
6874747
91
1.675978
9124495
SILICONWARE PREC
33.2 -0.7473842
6717768
INDEX 5226.03 52W (H) 6265.48 (L) 4643.05 MOVERS 23 25 2
April 25, 2012 business daily | 13
MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) gaLaXy eNTerTaINMeNT
Max 22.65
average 22.29
MeLCo CroWN eNTerTaINMeNT
Min 22.00
22.70
40.0
14.20
22.56
39.9
14.14
22.42
39.8
14.08
22.28
39.7
14.02
22.14
39.6
13.96
22.00
Last 22.30
SaNDS CHINa LTD
Max 31.20
MgM CHINa HoLDINgS
Max 42.25
average 39.75
Min 39.50
Last 39.75
39.5
SJM HoLDINgS LTD
average 30.94
Min 30.80
Last 30.90
23.4
31.1
16.74
23.3
31.0
16.58
23.2
30.9
16.42
23.1
30.8
16.26
23.0
30.7
22.90
16.10 Max 16.82
average 16.62
Min 16.26
Last 16.82
Max 23.30
average 23.16
Min 22.95
Last 23.30
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES
-2
0
2
4
6
AUD GBP
ASIA PACIFIC
CHF EUR JPY
MACAU RELATED STOCKS PRICE
13.90
Last 14.10
16.90
MAJORS
NAME
Min 13.92
31.2
PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
AUD
1.0294
0.0292
0.8326
1.1081
0.9388
GBP
1.615
0.4041
3.9053
1.6747
1.5235
CHF
0.9126
0.263
2.7942
0.9596
0.7071
EUR
1.317
0.2817
1.6125
1.494
1.2624
JPY
81.18
-0.0739
-5.2599
84.18
75.35
MOP
7.9935
0.0038
0.0763
8.0449
7.9823
HKD
7.7606
0.0064
0.0876
7.8113
7.7529
CNY
6.3079
0.0111
-0.2045
6.5356
6.2846
INR
52.7513
-0.429
0.5947
54.305
43.855
THB
30.97
0.0969
1.8728
31.96
29.63
SGD
1.2473
0.1603
3.9525
1.3199
1.1992
US dollar exchange rates: Major currencies, year-to-date variation (%) -4
average 14.04
WyNN MaCaU LTD
IN FOCUS -6
Max 14.14
DAY % YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
VOLUME CRNCY
ARISTOCRAT LEISU
3.14
0
42.72727
3.25
1.88
1503631
CROWN LTD
8.96
0.5611672
10.75402
9.2
7.45
1382096
AMAX HOLDINGS LT
0.087
-1.136364
0
0.143
0.06
6610000
BOC HONG KONG HO
23.1
1.094092
25.54348
24.7
14.24
12842817
CENTURY LEGEND
0.26
0
13.04348
0.41
0.204
0
CHEUK NANG HLDGS
3.17
-0.3144654
13.21429
4.79
2.3
0
CHINA OVERSEAS
15.8
-0.7537688
21.72574
17.86
9.99
21950219
CHINESE ESTATES
10.76
-0.1855288
-13.92
14.8
10.2
119000
CHOW TAI FOOK JE
11.58
-0.8561644
-16.81035
15.16
11.52
3880900
EMPEROR ENTERTAI
1.39
1.459854
25.22522
2.09
0.97
511200
FUTURE BRIGHT
0.96
-2.040816
128.5714
1.04
0.3
20833800
CROSSES
AUD HKD
TWD
29.502
0.0169
2.6337
30.716
28.48
PHP
42.732
-0.11
2.5929
44.35
41.879
IDR
9199
-0.1304
-1.4132
9367
8458
AUDJPY
83.571
-0.1113
-6.1493
89.601
72.057
EURCHF
1.20192
-0.0225
1.2372
1.29654
1.00749
EURGBP
0.81553
0.1165
2.19
0.90835
0.81484
EURCNY
8.3113
-0.1829
-2.1308
9.6769
7.9674
EURMOP
10.5301
-0.2877
-1.6913
11.9509
10.1031
EURJPY
106.92
-0.3648
-6.7901
121.84
97.04
1.03
0
0.0097
1.0311
1.0288
HKDMOP
World Stock MarketS - Indices
22.3
-1.762115
56.60113
24.35
8.69
75270702
COUNTRY
PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
104.1
0.1924928
12.96799
125
84.4
547073
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG
US
12927.17
-0.7835441
5.808119
13297.11
10404.49
HOPEWELL HLDGS
20.8
0
4.733129
24.903
18.56
677510
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX
US
2970.45
-0.99985
14.02223
3134.17
2298.89
HSBC HLDGS PLC
68.6
0.5865103
16.27119
85.35
56
8031205
HUTCHISON TELE H
3.42
0.2932551
14.38127
3.6
2.13
2110082
4791.01
LUK FOOK HLDGS I
20.8
-1.187648
-23.24723
46.15
19.2
3820738
GALAXY ENTERTAIN HANG SENG BK
NAME
FTSE 100 INDEX
GB
5690.66
0.4428504
2.124451
6103.73
DAX INDEX
GE
6572.95
0.765752
11.4371
7600.410156
4965.8
JN
9468.04
-0.7768673
11.97692
10255.15
8135.79
MELCO INTL DEVEL
7.96
0.5050505
37.95494
10.76
4.3
3338046
NIKKEI 225
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
14.1
0.7142857
46.99514
17.183
7.6
2171000
HANG SENG INDEX
HK
20677.16
0.2558621
12.16623
24260.76953
16170.35
MIDLAND HOLDINGS
3.97
-0.9975062
-1.732672
5.976
2.95
2722899
CSI 300 INDEX
CH
2604.866
-0.04497248
11.04657
3325.459
2254.567
NEPTUNE GROUP
0.11
-0.9009009
-0.9009022
0.157
0.08
90000
NEW WORLD DEV
9.11
-0.2190581
45.52715
12.675
6.13
7599511
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX
TA
7498.84
0.2372649
6.034431
9099.75
6609.11
SANDS CHINA LTD
30.9
-1.904762
40.77448
33.05
14.9
20148370
SHUN HO RESOURCE
1.2
0
20
1.32
0.82
0
SHUN TAK HOLDING
3.18
-0.9345794
24.26106
4.686
2.241
3272836
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
16.82
2.436054
32.64984
21
10.22
12104763
SMARTONE TELECOM
16.08
-1.228501
19.64286
18.5
9.8
939185
23.3
-0.4273504
19.48718
27.48
14.807
8755200
ASIA ENTERTAINME
5.88
-0.3389831
0
10.8692
4.72
77181
BALLY TECHNOLOGI
46.49
-0.9375666
17.51769
47.6
24.74
701497
BOC HONG KONG HO
3.01
0
25.56381
3.16
1.81
13050
WYNN MACAU LTD
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
2.95
-2.960526
57.75401
3.09
1.08
3800
INTL GAME TECH
16.19
-2.293301
-5.872097
19.15
13.38
2482138
JONES LANG LASAL
78.93
-1.595811
28.84427
107.77
46.01
195923
LAS VEGAS SANDS
56.88
-1.778622
33.11491
62.09
36.08
9637102
MACAU CAPITAL IN
0.11
0
9.999998
0.11
0.11
500
MELCO CROWN-ADR
14.99
-3.786906
55.82121
16.15
7.05
14306555
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
1.78
0
49.36731
2.21314
1.00254
1500
MGM RESORTS INTE
13.12
-2.95858
25.79098
16.05
7.4
14224224
SHUFFLE MASTER
16.89
-0.1182732
44.11262
18.77
7.35
460030
2.09
-5.429864
28.22086
2.64
1.28
3000
125.25
-2.89945
13.35868
165.4931
101.02
1842923
SJM HOLDINGS LTD WYNN RESORTS LTD
KOSPI INDEX
SK
1963.42
-0.4668894
7.541055
2231.47
1644.11
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX
AU
4360.447
0.1841499
7.491229
4930.6
3765.9
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX
USD
ID
4170.353
0.3576473
9.114647
4232.923
3217.951
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI
MA
1582.28
-0.09597171
3.367677
1609.33
1310.53
NZX ALL INDEX
NZ
785.446
0.2492683
7.624784
814.431
700.441 2695.06
PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX
PH
3440.75
0.4580942
12.99523
3465.89
HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor
SI
572.66
-1.2
15.38
na
na
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX
TH
1196.66
0.6146214
16.71089
1214.31
843.69
HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX
VN
465.65
0.1031881
32.45627
488.02
332.28
Laos Composite Index
LO
1017.92
-1.638837
13.17012
1348.88
876.33
Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalization. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.
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14 |
business daily April 25, 2012
Opinion
France’s election by default
R
Dominique Moisi
Author of The Geopolitics of Emotion
ousseau versus Hobbes: on the cover of the French magazine Philosophie, the two leading contenders in France’s presidential election, the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and the Socialist candidate François Hollande, are dressed up accordingly. “The real presidential contest” according to the magazine, pits the consensual and contractual vision of Rousseau (Hollande) against the violent “every man is a wolf to his fellow man” vision of Hobbes (Sarkozy). Philospophie’s take on the French presidential election may contain some truth, but reality is far more prosaic – and far less intellectual. To understand the complexities of the race, sports might be a better reference point than philosophy. Consider Hollande’s strategy in soccer terms. Having scored early (establishing a lead in public-opinion polls), he has found himself in the position of an Italian coach practicing the “catenaccio” tactics of 20 years ago – a purely defensive strategy to keep Sarkozy from coming back. It might work, but it has also contributed to the tedium of Hollande’s campaign and the growing lack of enthusiasm for his person. Hollande wanted so much to stress his “normality” compared to the excesses of Sarkozy’s character that he ended up appearing banal. As a result, he has found himself hemmed in by the crypto-revolutionary aura of the far-left candidate, Jean-Luc
the election campaign, the challenges he faces remain formidable, and may be impossible to overcome. Never in the history of the Fifth Republic has the same partisan majority won a presidential contest more than three times in succession. Sarkozy’s re-election, following his victory in 2007 and Jacques Chirac’s triumphs in 1995 and 2002, would mean a fourth consecutive victory for the Gaullist right, which would be all the more remarkable in view of the economic situation in France, Europe, and the world.
A suicidal denial of reality seems to unite the candidates and their supporters, best formulated as follows: “Don’t address serious issues during the election campaign, and we will not expect you to confront them seriously when Uninspiring choice you are in power
Melenchon, and Sarkozy’s hyperenergetic dynamism. Mohammed Merah’s killing spree in Toulouse in March has also worked in favor of Sarkozy, who has been happy to shift the electoral debate from social injustice to security issues. But, even if Sarkozy looks stronger now than he did at the beginning of
Beyond these structural and historical factors, there is the issue of personalities. In this regard, the contest is not so much between Hobbes and Rousseau as between Bonaparte and Clement Attlee, the famously dull post-war British prime minister (of whom Churchill once said “he has much to be modest about”). In other words, the election may simply become a contest between rejection of Sarkozy and lack of passion for Hollande. As a result, abstention – usually remarkably low in French presidential elections – may play a major role. In the meantime, regret can be sensed across the political spectrum. “If only we could have a more presentable candidate than Sarkozy,” mumble conservatives. “If only we could have a more charismatic candidate than
Hollande,” comes the refrain from the Socialist camp. Ultimately, this campaign will prove remarkable for the lack of serious attention paid to the candidates’ programs. The French perceive no real difference between an incumbent who has not kept his promises and a challenger whose promises are untenable. A suicidal denial of reality seems to unite the candidates and their supporters, best formulated as follows: “Don’t address serious issues, such as the national debt, during the election campaign, and we will not expect you to confront them seriously when you are in power.” Consider the recent cover of The Economist, which depicts Sarkozy and Hollande as the two male characters in Manet’s famous painting “Déjeuner sur l’Herbe” (Lunch on the Grass). Surrounded by naked women, they are supposed to illustrate the “French art of life” that France can no longer afford. Where is Churchill and his call to arms, effort, and sacrifice? Is France preparing to waste another five years, regardless of the election’s outcome? Of course, in strong winds and high seas, the experience of the ship’s captain matters. Yet, given the problems of the French economy and the constraints of the European Union, not to mention those of the world economy in a global age, no president will have much room for maneuver. © Project Syndicate
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April 25, 2012 business daily | 15
OPINION Business
wires Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers
Chinese values?
Joschka Fischer
Germany’s foreign minister and vice-chancellor
Taipei Times
Taiwan’s unemployment rate slid last month but salaries failed to reflect the tighter supply of labour as employers remained cautious about the economic outlook. The jobless rate dropped to 4.17 percent last month from 4.48 percent in March last year, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said on Monday. However, data show that, adding in bonuses and other forms of compensation, the average monthly salary fell by 2.1 percent in January and February from a year before to NT$62,863 (MOP17,034).
Jakarta Globe
A company controlled by Hutomo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of the late Indonesian dictator Suharto, is fighting legal claims for a combined US$145 million by some of the world’s best-known shipping families. Companies linked to Norwegian billionaires Arne Wilhelmsen and Arne Blystad, as well as the Polemis family, say they leased ships in 2007 and 2008 to a Singapore-registered offshoot of the Indonesian conglomerate PT Humpuss, which failed to pay the fees.
Times of India
PricewaterhouseCoopers has said that 66 percent of chief executives in India are confident about having access to talent despite widely acknowledged skill gaps, compared with 38 percent in China and 30 percent globally. The consulting firm said in its 15th annual global survey that India’s economic growth seemed to have done little to reduce the availability of talent. However, 41 percent of the chief executives surveyed in India said that they cancelled or postponed important initiatives because of skill shortages.
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T
here can be little reasonable doubt today that the People’s Republic of China will dominate the world of the twenty-first century. The country’s rapid economic growth, strategic potential, huge internal market, and enormous investment in infrastructure, education, and research and development, as well as its massive military buildup, will see to that. This means that, in political and economic terms, we are entering an East and Southeast Asian century. Lest we forget, the outcome for the world would have been far worse if China’s ascent had failed. But what will this world look like? We can foresee the power that will shape its geopolitics, but what values will underlie the exercise of that power? The official policy of “Four Modernizations” (industrial, agricultural, military, and scientific-technological) that has underpinned China’s rise since the late 1970’s have failed to provide an answer to that question, because the “fifth modernization” – the emergence of democracy and the rule of law – is still missing. Indeed, political modernization faces massive opposition from the Chinese Communist Party, which has no interest in surrendering its monopoly of power. Moreover, the transition to a pluralist system that channels, rather than suppresses, political conflict would indeed be risky, though the risk will grow the longer one-party rule (and the endemic corruption that accompanies it) persists. Ideologically, Chinese leadership’s rejection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law is based on the contention that these sup-
The decisive question of political modernization remains unanswered. China’s course as a world power will be determined to a significant extent by the way it confronts this question
posedly universal values are a mere stalking horse for Western interests, and that repudiating them should thus be viewed as a matter of self-respect. China will never again submit to the West militarily, so it should not submit to the West normatively either.
Asian values? And here we return to the concept of “Asian values,” originally developed in Singapore and Malaysia. But until this day, three decades later, its meaning remains unclear. Essentially, the concept has served to justify collectivistauthoritarian rule by aligning it with local tradition and culture, with autonomy defined in terms of otherness – that is, differentiation from the West and its values. Thus, “Asian values” are not uni-
versal norms, but rather a self-preservation strategy harnessed to identity politics. Given the history of Western colonialism in Asia, the desire to maintain a distinct identity is both legitimate and understandable, as is the belief in many Asian countries – first and foremost China – that the time has come to settle old scores. But the effort to preserve one’s power, the need for a distinct “Asian” identity, and the desire to settle historical scores will not solve the normative question raised by China’s emergence as the century’s dominant power. How that question is answered is crucially important, because it will determine the character of a global power, and thus how it deals with other, weaker countries. A state becomes a world power when its strategic significance and potential give it global reach. And, as a rule, such states then try to safeguard their interests by imposing their predominance (hegemony), which is a recipe for dangerous conflict if based on coercion rather than cooperation. The world’s acclimation to a global hegemonic structure – in which world powers guarantee an international order – survived the Cold War. The Soviet Union wasn’t ideologically anti-Western, because Communism and Socialism were Western inventions, but it was anti-Western in political terms. And it failed not only for economic reasons, but also because its internal and external behavior was based on compulsion, not consent.
Hard and soft power By contrast, the United States’ economic and po-
litical model, and that of the West, with its individual rights and open society, proved to be its sharpest weapon in the Cold War. The US prevailed not because of its military superiority, but because of its soft power, and because its hegemony was based not on coercion (though there was some of that, too), but largely on consent. Which path will China choose? While China will not change its ancient and admirable civilization, it owes its re-emergence to its embrace of the contemporary Western model of modernization – the huge achievement of Deng Xiaoping, who put the country on its current path more than three decades ago. But the decisive question of political modernization remains unanswered. Clearly, national interests, and sometimes pure power, play a part in how the US and other Western countries apply values like human rights, the rule of law, democracy, and pluralism. But these values are not mere ideological window dressing for Western interests; in fact, they are not that to any significant extent. They are indeed universal, and all the more so in an era of comprehensive globalization. The contribution of Asia – and of China, in particular – to the development of this universal set of values is not yet foreseeable, but it will surely come if the “fifth modernization” leads to China’s political transformation. China’s course as a world power will be determined to a significant extent by the way it confronts this question. © Project Syndicate
16 |
business daily April 25, 2012
CLOSING Facebook buys Microsoft patents
Google driving towards the cloud Google is expected to launch a major new consumer service offering cloud-based storage for photos and other online content. The effort - dubbed Google Drive - is likely to offer 5GB (gigabytes) of free storage with more available for a monthly fee. Reports suggest that it will work with sophisticated image search technology to let consumers sift through a wide variety of document types, including PDF files and photographs. Google is pushing into a market now dominated by the likes of Dropbox and Box. Experts suggest it could also force rival Facebook to enter the cloud market.
Facebook is paying Microsoft Corp US$550 million in cash for hundreds of patents recently sold by AOL, the social networking company’s latest move to bulk up its intellectual property in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Yahoo. A company lawyer described the deal as: “Another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests.” The social networking site, which is preparing for a stock market listing, also reported a drop in its first quarter profits to US$205 million from US$233 million a year earlier.
Dutch PM appeals for responsible action President Hu Jintao
A day after the fall of his government, Mark Rutte has urged the opposition to react ‘responsibly’
Tight schedule
Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt
T
he Dutch prime minister said his country faced a crisis and asked parliament to push through budget cuts after his government lost the support of its main political ally and tendered its resignation. But the main opposition parties signalled they would not back the 14 to 16 billion euros savings package he must present to the European Union next week to show the Netherlands is on track to meet its stringent budget limit.
The Netherlands has been one of the euro zone’s most stable members but the minority coalition’s split with the populist Freedom Party has created a political vacuum, worrying financial markets and the Moody’s credit rating agency. A Dutch bond sale went smoothly yesterday, calming financial markets but investors are waiting to see whether he can find new backers for the cuts and agree an election date with other political parties.
run away from them. I’m standing here without pretences, it is up to parliament and the voters.” Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party had backed the government for the past 18 months but said he was no longer willing to be dictated to by Europe. “It is the government, not the citizen, not Henk and Ingrid, who spent too much. Either we choose to act in the interests of Henk and Ingrid or we act in the interests of Brussels,” Wilders said.
The Dutch government had been looking to raise between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion euros - it raised 2 billion euros. “Standing still is not good for the Netherlands. The problems are serious, the economy is stalling, employment is under pressure and government debt is growing faster than the Netherlands can afford,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte told parliament yesterday. “Those are the facts and nobody can
The Netherlands has until April 30 to present the European Commission with a 2013 preliminary budget that will cut the country’s projected budget deficit of 4.6 percent of GDP to within the EU’s 3 percent limit. Mr Rutte, in effect a caretaker prime minister since his resignation on Monday, will now seek an agreement with the Dutch parliament on a date for early elections and on budget cuts of 16 billion euros. Some politicians are pushing for one as soon as June while others have suggested the earliest possible date is in September. The crisis has also attracted the attention of credit ratings agency Moody’s which said on Monday the government crisis was a negative factor for the country’s credit but maintained its Aaa rating with a stable outlook. But it said if the country weakened its commitment to fiscal discipline, the rating could face downward pressure. “This development is clearly creditnegative for the Dutch sovereign given that it generates both political and policy uncertainty,” Moody’s analysts wrote. “Having said that, the Netherlands is entering this testing period from a position of relative strength.” Reuters
Australian shares up on inflation data
A
ustralian shares rose as much as 0.5 percent yesterday as inflation data was more benign than expected, giving the central bank the green light for a rate cut next week and offsetting worries about Europe. Shares gave up some gains as doubts about the euro-zone’s ability to push through measures to end its debt crisis weighed on sentiment, although the surprisingly low inflation data firmly supported prices. Australian consumer prices rose by far less than expected last quarter and underlying inflation was the slowest in over a decade, knocking the Australian dollar a third of a cent and bond yields hit 60-year lows. “We did have a weak overnight lead,
but if you look at what is in positive territory in the market, it’s a collection of industrials that obviously would find some support on those rate cut expectations coming back into the market,” said Peter Esho, Chief Market Analyst City Index. Esho added that cyclical stocks, such as Stockland Corp up 2.3 percent, were also benefiting from the benign data and the chance of a cut in rates. “I think they’ll cut, and at the moment we are trying to weigh up if it will be a 50 basis point cut or two 25 basis point cuts, I wouldn’t be surprised if you get one 50 basis point cut,” he added. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has already indicated it
The RBA has indicated it will consider cutting the cash rate next week
will consider cutting the 4.25 percent cash rate at the May 1 policy meeting, providing inflation numbers were tame. There have been increasing calls for a rate cut as Australia’s economy has slowed, hurt by weaker global demand. “The lower inflation outcome means that the RBA has very little reason to keep interest rates at current settings,” said Richard Grace, chief currency strategist and
head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “It’s going to put the Australian dollar under a bit of downward pressure for the next 24 hours or so, perhaps 48 hours.” The Aussie has weakened against all 16 of its major peers yesterday as investors speculate that the RBA will implement even deeper rate reductions than previously expected. Reuters/Bloomberg