IN BRIEF (Page 13)

GE to invest in innovation

General Electric Co (GE) will invest $100 million in China to back an open innovation competition, Ecomagination Challenge, seeking breakthrough ideas to improve China's energy future, the company said on Wednesday.

The competition aims to explore the development of cleaner energy technologies, particularly those based on natural gas, according to the company.

Surge in gold 'hasn't ended'

"The bull market in gold has not ended yet, although the gold price declined sharply in recent days," Zhang Bingnan, vice-chairman of the China Gold Association, told a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

Changes in the international financial system and potential credit risks in some major economies are increasing the uncertainty about global economic growth, which is likely to continue boosting gold investment as a risk hedge, Zhang said.

Overall finance sector healthy

China's overall financial sector is healthy and the government is aware of risks, Jin Liqun, chairman of China Investment Corp's supervisory board, said on Thursday.

"The financial sector in China is in good shape, but we are aware of the risks that have to be taken very seriously," Jin said in response to questions. He said less than 10 percent of local government finance vehicle debt is "dubious".

Huawei building Japan network

Huawei Technologies Co said it will build a fourth-generation TD-LTE mobile-phone network for Softbank Corp in Japan.

Huawei, the world's second-biggest maker of mobile-phone networks, will build a system capable of downloading data at speeds of as much as 110 megabits a second, making it the fastest mobile-data service in Japan, the company said on Thursday in a statement.

China Daily-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 09/30/2011 page13)