介绍:
China's investment in network construction to reach RMB435 bln in 2015
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has revealed that investment in network construction this year is expected to reach 435 billion yuan or 70 billion U.S. dollars.
Ministry spokesperson Zhang Feng says the move will help promote consumption and attract effective investments in the area.
"In the next two years, the investment in the network construction will likely exceed 700 billion yuan. It will directly and indirectly drive up investment in relevant upstream and downstream industrial chains. In terms of promoting consumption, the investment will promote sales of terminal devices including smart phones, computers, Internet TV, etc., which is expected to stand at more than 1.6 trillion yuan this year."
The ministry adds it will supervise domestic carriers to lower average charges for mobile phone Internet and fixed broadband by at least 30 percent from the previous year by the end of this year.
Beijing and Shanghai Benefit Overseas Tourists with Tax Refund
Anchor:
Starting from the beginning of this month, Beijing and Shanghai began offering tax refunds on purchases made by overseas visitors, in a bid to bolster tourism and sales.
CRI's Chi Huiguang looks at the effect of the new rules, a week after they were enacted.
Reporter:
86 stores in Beijing and 27 in Shanghai have qualified for the tax refund program, which covers all kinds of goods popular with overseas travelers, such as souvenirs, silk, porcelain, antique and traditional Chinese medicine products as well as some outlets.
Zhao Yanming is the deputy director of Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau.
He explains, the minimum purchase to obtain a tax refund is 500 yuan at a single store in one day.
"Overseas travelers refer to foreigners and residents from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, who continuously stay in the Chinese mainland for no more than 183 days. The time period between leaving date and purchasing date should not exceed 90 days. When they leave the Chinese mainland, they can claim 11% refund, of which they can receive 9%, and the other 2% is the commission charge to those refund agencies."
Now, overseas visitors can claim tax refund at Beijing Capital International Airport, as well as Shanghai airports at both Pudong and Hongqiao when they leave China.
Gao Yanjun from Beijing capital international airport customs explains the procedure for claiming the tax refund.
"Travelers should go to check in their flights first. Then they should take the goods with their luggage to the Customs for application and verification, together with the refund application form and sales invoice from tax free store. After verification, the Customs will sign and stamp on the application form and help to put the luggage into the Sorting System, saving the travellers time to go back to the check in counter again."
Finally, overseas visitors should deliver the application form with custom's signature and stamp to the tax refund agencies to claim their money.
Yuan Baiwei from Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau elaborates:
"The currency of tax refund is RMB. The payment method will be either cash or bank transfer. Overseas travelers can choose one of the two payment methods, if the tax refund amount is less than 10 thousand yuan. If the refund amount is over 10 thousand yuan, it must be done by bank transfer."
Next, the two cities will explore the expansion of the tax refund program to more stores and offer processing of refunds outside of the airports.
Additionally, Beijing, which added a 72-hour visa-free policy to boost tourism, plans to introduce shopping-tailored tourism routes for overseas visitors.
Back Anchor:
That was Chi Huiguang reporting.
Internet Medicine Sales Top $1 trillion
Official data shows online sales of medicines in China reached 7 trillion yuan or over one trillion U.S. dollars last year.
This compares with 4.3 trillion yuan in 2013 and just one hundred million yuan in 2010.
The data was collected from more than 3-hundred government-recognized outlets and covers over-the-counter medicines and health products such as dietary supplements.
Prescribed drugs and medical appliances are not included.
The best-selling medicine is a TCM product: donkey-hide gelatin used to treat bleeding and insomnia.
Last year, China Food and Drug Administration produced a draft regulation on the management of online drug sales for internal consideration.
If passed, the regulation will permit online sales of prescription drugs.
Other drafts under consideration cover subjects such as the issuing of prescriptions online and medical insurance.
HSB, CCB Announce Mutual Recognition of Fund Business
The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Bank and the mainland-based China Construction Bank have announced mutual recognition of their fund business.
The announcement follows an earlier regulatory permit.
China Construction Bank will provide agency service and distribute two funds under Hang Seng Investment Management, a subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank.
The two banks have cooperated in QFII and RQFII business for more than ten years.
Both banks are planning to expand their cooperative business in a Mainland-Hong Kong Mutual Recognition of Fund Program.
Vanke to Buy back $1.6b of Shares to Stem Market Slide
China's largest residential developer Vanke is planning to buy back as much as ten billion yuan or some 1.6 billion U.S. dollars of its A shares.
The decision comes as regulators imposed more measures to stem the market plunge.
Similar decisions have been made among board members, executives and controlling shareholders of more than 20 listed Chinese firms.
Vanke plans to repurchase its Shenzhen-listed shares at no more than 13.7 yuan or about two dollars twenty cents each, which is the previous closing price last Friday.
The developer will also repurchase no less than 6.6 percent of its total issued stocks, assuming a full amount of repurchase.
China's automaker Chery hopes to expand production in Brazilian market
China's automaker Chery is planning to produce 10-thousand vehicles in its Brazilian factory this year.
The factory in Jacarei, Sao Paulo State was inaugurated in August last year.
Its current production is focused on the two versions of the Celer model, the first vehicle made by a Chinese manufacturer in Brazil.
The Jacarei unit will start producing new versions of the QQ and Tiggo models as well.
Besides Brazil, Chery is also going to sell its vehicles to other South American nations like Uruguay and Argentina.
Chery is not the only Chinese manufacturer interested in producing cars in Brazil.
Chinese auto maker JAC sells several models imported abroad in the country, and is building a factory in Camacari, Bahia State.
The factory is expected to be operational next year.
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