Fear of the dragon

January 12, 2010 Finance No Comments

China’s share of world markets increased during the recession. It will keep rising

MANY people start the new year by resolving to change their old ways. Not China. On December 27th Zhong Shan, the country’s vice-minister of trade, declared that China will continue to increase its share of world exports. Figures due out on January 11th are expected to show that China’s exports in December were higher than a year ago, after 13 months of year-on-year declines. China’s exports fell by around 17% in 2009 as a whole, but other countries’ slumped by even more. As a result China overtook Germany to become the world’s largest exporter and its share of world exports jumped to almost 10%, up from 3% in 1999 (see chart).

China takes an even bigger slice of America’s market. In the first ten months of 2009 America imported 15% less from China than in the same period of 2008, but its imports from the rest of the world fell by 33%, lifting China’s market share to a record 19%. So although America’s trade deficit with China narrowed, China now accounts for almost half of America’s total deficit, up from less than one-third in 2008.
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Google ‘may end China operations over Gmail breaches’

January 12, 2010 Business No Comments

Internet search company Google says it may end operations in China over alleged breaches of the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

It said it had found a “sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China”.

It did not specifically accuse China’s government but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese site’s results, as the government requires.

Google said the decision might mean it has to shut the site, set up in 2006.

Phishing scam

Shortly after the news was announced, shares in Google fell by 1.9% to $579 (£358) in after-hours trading in New York.

In a blog post announcing its decision, Google’s David Drummond said: “A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.”
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