Yearbook 2009
China. During the global financial crisis, China overtook Germany and in 2009 became the world’s third largest economy after the US and Japan. But the United States remained one by a large margin, despite its bank crash causing the collapse. China was seen as the locomotive that would pull the world economy out of the morass. China was also the only one of the world’s ten largest economies to grow. Its GDP growth amounted to 8 percent in the late autumn, although the lowest in seven years, but still decent given the crisis. The result was achieved thanks to a government stimulus package of approximately SEK 4 billion. The Chinese consumed more; retail sales increased by 16 percent. The Chinese bought small cars with the help of government subsidies. However, exports and imports decreased. In September, exports were 15 percent lower than in 2008. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation CH which stands for the nation of China.
According to countryaah, China is dependent on the US dollar remaining strong as the country’s huge foreign exchange reserves, acquired through many years of colossal exports, are dominated by the dollar. The United States, for its part, is financially dependent on China, which bought $ 700 billion of its debt. The country’s economic power was demonstrated during the year by Chinese companies wanting to buy Saab and Volvo from US GM and Ford respectively. BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings) tendered for Volvo to Saab and Geely.
- Zheng Sourcing: Provides customs procedures for buying products from China including information about customs rights and import taxes.
The fear of the so-called swine flu led to mass vaccinations against the virus A/H1N1. The experiences of SARS and bird flu caused vigilance. Only two swine flu deaths were reported yet in October. On October 1, China celebrated the 60th anniversary of the 1949 Revolution with parades and fireworks, a brilliant reminder of the splendor of the Beijing Olympics the year before. 200,000 people participated in military parades and popular defilements. President Hu Jintao, standing in a limousine, waved a smile to the public sea. Hu Jintao wore a high-necked jacket by Maos Cut. Otherwise he appears most in tie and suit, adapted to the standards of international diplomacy.
China is also striving for adaptation through small reforms to improve respect for human rights. A stated goal is to reduce the number of executions, but a judge in the Supreme Court said in July that the death penalty cannot be abolished. 10 percent of the death sentences have been rejected after being tried in the country’s highest court. Nevertheless, at least 1,718 people were executed in 2008 according to Amnesty International. The persecution of dissenters became less noticeable, perhaps because campaigns in the years before led to the silence of democracy activists and the mass movement Falun Gong. The United States objected to the well-known democracy fighter Liu Xiaobo being formally arrested in June. He was jailed in December 2008 for the democracy manifesto Charter 08.
In June, 20 years after the crushing of the democracy demonstration at Tiananmen Square in 1989, no attempt was made to demonstrate in Beijing. Commentators asked whether the indifference was genuine or enforced. In more free Hong Kong, however, over 60,000 kept watch for democracy. In 2009, fewer demonstrations against corruption, repression and land expropriation were reported than in recent years. One explanation may be that many have gotten better. Domestic consumption has increased. The number of billionaires counted in dollars has increased from none at all in 2003 to 130 in 2009, the second most in the world after the US. At the beginning of the year, many people quit their jobs because of the crisis. But towards the end of the year, factories in the south complained of labor shortages. For the first time, the Chinese could start to choose between jobs.
In Xinjiang, China’s officially autonomous region in the northwest, Uighurs demonstrated against Chinese. Mass immigration has meant that the area now has a Chinese majority. In June, a riot occurred in a toy factory in southern China where two Uighurs were killed. It triggered concern in Xinjiang’s capital Ür邦mqi on July 5. The Chinese in the city responded with protests two days later. About 200 people were killed. In August, more than 500 attacks involving syringes against Chinese were reported. But no poison was found. 22 people were sentenced to death for the unrest, of which at least nine were executed.
In October, Russian Federation Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met his colleague Wen Jiabao in Beijing. They agreed on Russian gas exports to China, worth US $ 3.5 billion. Moscow-Beijing trade has grown rapidly, from $ 10.7 billion in 2007 to 56.9 billion in 2008. Half is energy. China continued to buy foreign raw materials: gas from Australia for $ 41 billion to be delivered for 20 years, mining assets in Guinea for $ 7 billion, and oil from Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil. But China still gets 70 percent of its energy from coal. It causes two problems: environment and safety. However, the accidents in the coal mines are somewhat reduced. In 2008, 3,215 workers were killed – 15 percent fewer than in 2007, according to the state. China is criticized for emitting most carbon dioxide in the world. Yet, only about a fifth of the United States:
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt attended the EU summit in Nanjing with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ahead of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December. However, he could not make any concessions in the environmental field of China. President Hu Jintao previously suggested that China and the United States, the largest greenhouse gas emissions, should cooperate more closely. It was seen as a promising opening. But at the Copenhagen meeting, China created great irritation by opposing concrete promises. The meeting resulted in a general political declaration rather than an agreement.
It rallied somewhat in military relations since Chinese ships employed several American reconnaissance vessels several times during the spring. The United States called for better cooperation. US President Barack Obama visited China November 15-18. His conversation with Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao mainly built bridges for later collaboration. Obama achieved no results when it came to persuading China to revalue the yuan, tolerate Tibet’s leaders or sharpen the tone against Iran. There was still no talk of any multi-party system. The Communist Party prevails alone. But management takes an impression of opinion on the web.
In 2008, the number of Internet users increased by 42 percent, to 298 million – one in four Chinese. China tried to impose an Internet filter on foreign computer vendors, but the demand was postponed indefinitely following corporate protests. Freedom of the press was still limited. The financial newspaper Caijing in Hong Kong, which made itself known for revealing reportage, was pressured to pull down the burgeoning journalism. As a result, a large part of the editorial staff resigned. An imaginative report was published towards the end of the year by several Chinese media. A city with only lesbian residents, Chako Paul City or Shakebao, was said to be hidden somewhere in Lapland’s frozen forests. The news spread throughout the world, but the city was never found for natural reasons.
Country data
Area: 9,596,961 km2 (world rank: 4)
Residents: 1,394,409,000
Population density: 145 per km2 (as of 2017, world rank: 1)
Capital: Beijing (Peking)
Official languages: Chinese (Putonghua)
Gross domestic product: 12,238 billion US $; Real growth: 6.9%
Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): 8690 US$
Currency: Pataca (Pat.)
Embassy
Märkisches Ufer 54, 10179 Berlin
Telephone 030 275880,
Fax 030 27588221
www.china-botschaft.de
Government
Head of State: Xi Jinping, Prime Minister: Li Keqiang, Exterior: Wang Yi
National Day: 1.10.
Administrative division
23 provinces (including Taiwan, considered 23rd province by the PRC), 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities; also 147 territorial units with regional autonomy
State and form of government
Constitution of 1982
People’s Republic
Parliament: National People’s Congress / NPC with 2987 every 5 years by the parliaments of the provinces, autonomous regions and city districts as well as by the People’s Liberation Army elected. Member; Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress with 175 members; Chairman: Zhang Dejiang, since March 14, 2013
Top Leadership: Standing Committee of the CPC Political Bureau; Chairman: Xi Jinping, since November 15, 2012, re-elected in 2017; other members: Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng; 25-member Politburo (standing committee + 18 further members) and secretariat (7 members); Central Committee (204 members); Central military commission with 7 members; Chairman: Xi Jinping, since November 15, 2012
election of the head of state by parliament every 5 years. Right to
vote from 18 years.
Population: Chinese, last census 2010: 1,332,810,869 residents.
56 “Nationalities”: 91.6% Han Chinese, 1, 3% Zhuang, 0.8% Hui, 0.8% Manchu, 0.8% Uyghur, 0.7% Miao, 8.4% Others: Mongols, Koreans, Kazakhs, Tibetan
Cities (with population): (As of 2017, according to UN) Shanghai 24.862 million, Beijing (Peking) 19.211 million, Chongqing 14.332 million, Tianjin 13.041 million, Guangzhou (Canton) 12.316 million, Shenzhen 11.693 million, Chengdu 8.660 million, Wuhan 8.090 million, Nanjing 7.950 million, Dongguan 7.349 million, Xi’an 7.172 million, Foshan 7.139 million, Hangzhou 7.038 million, Shenyang 6.777 million, Suzhou 5.985 million, Harbin 5.984 million, Qingdao 5.265 million., Dalian 5.145 million, Jinan 4.901 million, Zhengzhou 4.754 million, Changsha 4.232 million, Changchun 4.152 million, Kunming 4.127 million, Shantou 4.100 million, Shijiazhuang 3.852 million, Hefei 3.870 million, Urumqi 3.837 million., Ningbo 3.668 million, Taiyuan 3.645 million
Religions: 100 million Buddhists, 30 million Daoists, 20 million Muslims, 15 million Protestants, 4 (according to other estimates 13-14) million Catholics; Confucianism widespread (as of 2006)
Languages: Chinese (Putonghua), various Chinese. Languages; Languages of the national minorities (including Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian)
Employed by economic sector: Agriculture. 17%, industry 27%, business 56% (2017)
Unemployment (in% of all labor force): 2017: 4.7% officially in the cities, high number of underemployed and unemployed people in rural areas
Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 1.6%
Foreign trade: Import: 1841 billion US dollars $ (2017); Export: 2263 billion US $ (2017)