Digest

US, China reach landmark pacts

Beijing and Washington strove to narrow differences by reaching landmark agreements on Nov 12 on a flurry of issues that had remained points of tension between them.

The agreements, mainly on climate change, military cooperation and trade, underpin the major sectors where the world's two largest economies will improve cooperation, analysts said.

The countries pledged to reduce the possibility of military accidents by early notification of major military operations and establishing guidelines of behavior on naval and air military encounters.

They also agreed on an ambitious action plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions, a move that throws the weight of the two countries behind a new global climate pact to be negotiated in Paris in 2015. Progress was also announced on talks over a bilateral investment treaty. "China would like to work with the US to implement the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, cooperation and common prosperity, and make a new type of relationship between major countries to produce more benefits to people in the two countries and the world," President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart, Barack Obama, who arrived in China on Nov 10 to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting and make a state visit to China.

Obama, at a news conference with Xi following their extended meetings, denied that the Asia "pivot" policy of the United States is an attempt to contain China, saying the two countries have enormous stakes in each other's success.

Obama said China and the US have important differences in their conduct in foreign policy and their vision for respective countries, but he was encouraged by Xi's willingness for constructive engagement.

Alibaba Singles' Day sales shatter record

E-commerce giant Alibaba has turned an obscure Chinese holiday into the country's biggest shopping event. Now, it is striving to take the success of Singles' Day global by tapping foreign brands and overseas customers.

Many foreign companies, such as Costco Wholesale, Origins Natural Resources and American Eagle Outfitters, participated in the Nov 11 event for the first time.

Within 24 hours, various Alibaba platforms sold 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion, 7.5 billion euros) of merchandise, eclipsing last year's record of 36.2 billion yuan, according to Alibaba.

Li Feifei, who works in London, bought a talking Chinese pen and two pairs of shoes online for her son. "The talking pen, which is hard to get in Britain, is helpful for my son to learn Chinese overseas, and the shoes are much cheaper than at other times," she said.

Y-20 military airlifter weighs in at show

China's first domestically developed strategic airlifter, the Y-20 Kunpeng, will soon be delivered, a senior aviation executive said, adding that the development of its engine is "faring well".

"We still need to conduct some ground and flight tests, so I am not able to tell you the exact time of delivery," Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of the Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft maker, said at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, known as Airshow China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

"However, I believe we can expect the (delivery) day within a very short time."

Applause from thousands of spectators met the thunderous roar of the Y-20's four turbofan engines as it flew by on Nov 11 immediately after the opening of the show. It was the first time the aircraft had been seen in public.

The development of a new, powerful turbofan by China to replace imported ones currently installed on large transport aircraft is progressing smoothly, Geng said.

Earlier reports said the WS-20, a high-bypass-ratio engine under development to power the Y-20, was undergoing tests.

Beijing, Moscow ink major energy deals

Beijing and Moscow netted another two giant energy agreements on Nov 9, including one to help start early construction of the western route of the China-Russia natural gas pipeline.

The pipeline is expected to be completed in 2020 and will provide more than 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to China through the Altai area of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, sources told China Daily.

President Xi Jinping and his visiting Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, witnessed the signing of 16 agreements, the bulk of them in the energy sector.

In May, the two sides sealed a deal on constructing the eastern route of the China-Russia gas pipeline, through which Russia will export 38 billion cubic meters of gas a year to China, starting in 2018.

China consumed about 169 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year. In early September, Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli and Putin witnessed the welding of the first section of the eastern route in Russia.

Also signed was a major agreement that would see oil giant China National Petroleum Corp purchase a 10 percent share of Vankorneft, the upstream subsidiary of Russian oil giant Rosneft and operator of the lucrative Vankor oilfield.

China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 11/14/2014 page2)