SAILING ON: China has recently completed construction of its largest shipyard in Qingdao, an eastern coastal city in Shandong Province. The yard was built with an investment of 7.4 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) and has an annual manufacturing capacity of 2 million metric dead weight tons (WANG WEIQIN)

Venturing Into China

LG Display Co. Ltd. of South Korea, the world's second largest liquid crystal display (LCD) panel maker, on August 25 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Guangzhou Municipal Government to build a plant in the city. The deal is expected to mean an investment of 5 trillion South Korean won ($4 billion). The plant, still waiting for approval from South Korean regulators, will be the most advanced of its kind on the Chinese mainland.

Export Champion

China has overtaken Germany as the world's largest exporter.

China's exports in the first half of this year were valued at $527.1 billion while those of Germany totaled $521.6 billion, according to the latest report by the World Trade Organization.

The two countries have in the past relied on exporting machines to drive up their economies, and both have shown signs of recovery after receiving a heavy blow from the global recession. But analysts say it remains to be seen how well exporters can fare in the next half of this year given uncertainties hanging over the world economy.

3G Handsets

China Mobile Ltd., the country's largest mobile carrier, has recently inked an agreement with Taiwan-based HTC Corp., the world's fourth largest smart-phone maker, to jointly develop third-generation handsets based on homegrown TD-SCDMA (time division-synchronous code division multiple access) technologies.

"Together, we look forward to expanding the TD-SCDMA industry chain and spurring development of the cross-Straits telecommunications sector," said Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile.

HTC is reportedly developing a TD-SCDMA smart phone called Qilin and plans to develop about seven new models for China Mobile by next year. The Qilin is expected to become one of China Mobile's flagship 3G models.

Anti-dumping War

China will continue to levy anti-dumping duties on the EU over the next five years on imported catechol, a chemical used for medicines and paints, the Ministry of Commerce announced on August 25.

The levy was first imposed for a five-year term at rates ranging from 20 to 79 percent on August 27, 2003.

The ministry recommenced anti-dumping investigations against the product at the request of domestic catechol manufacturers, when the earlier decree expired on August 26, 2008.

Catechol dumping from the EU would hurt China's catechol industry if the anti-dumping duties were lifted, said the ministry.