IN BRIEF (Page 9)

Foreign nuclear tie-ups urged

China is encouraging domestic nuclear power companies to partner with foreign firms to build reactors overseas, China National Nuclear Corp President Sun Qin, said on Friday. The nation's biggest operator of nuclear power plants is considering an initial public offering to raise funds for domestic and overseas expansion, Sun said, without elaborating.

Firm seeks seat on Rio board

Aluminum Corp of China, the largest shareholder in Rio Tinto Group, is seeking membership of the board of the world's third-biggest mining company, reversing a stance it took when it first bought a stake two years ago.

"We are actively seeking" board membership, Chairman Xiong Weiping said on Friday, without giving a timetable or saying how many seats may be sought.

Jiangxi Copper to diversify

The nation's largest copper producer Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd will extend its presence into rare earth, lead and zinc in 2010 because it is hard to grow into a mining giant by focusing on copper, said Chairman Li Yihuang. He said the company is more likely to secure resources through risk exploration than mergers and acquisitions.

Vehicle sales rise 45% in Feb

China sold 881,085 units of cars, multi-purpose vehicles, sports-utility vehicles and minivans in February, up 45 percent over last year, however, the figure dropped 27 percent from January, said China Passenger Car Association on Friday.

Rao Da, secretary-general of the association, said that the sales decrease was reasonable and expected, as February is the shortest month and included a week-long Spring Festival holiday this year.

Toyota launches finance program

Toyota Motor Corp started a zero-percent financing program this month to lure buyers in China after global recalls of more than 8 million vehicles marred the company's reputation.

Bloomberg-China Daily

(China Daily 03/06/2010 page9)