Quotable

There is a greater demand than ever before for freight transportation in China, following the country's focus on developing economic belts and expanding infrastructure across rural areas."

Bill Schultz, senior vice-president for business development in China of Textron Aviation Inc. Textron, a US general aviation firm that owns brands including Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker, aims to boost its mainland presence.

"The manufacturing businesses that were closed were not of high quality, they were not competitive in the global market, and they consumed a great deal of energy."

Xu Qin, mayor of Shenzhen, saying more than 17,000 manufacturers have been closed in the past five years in Shenzhen due to local authorities' plan to upgrade industries. It has been reported that Huawei plans to move some of its factory operations to the neighboring city of Dongguan, citing high costs, but Xu says the company has pledged it will not move its headquarters or R&D center.

"As demonstrated by this agreement with Microsoft, Xiaomi is looking to build sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders."

Xiang Wang, senior vice-president at Xiaomi said, as the company has bought nearly 1,500 technology patents from Microsoft Corp in a deal that may smoothen potential legal tangles over intellectual property as it pushes beyond China.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/03/2016 page26)