China business news digest

Your daily digest of the biggest business news in China, translated and summarized every day.

Hukou reform gathers pace - temporary residents to qualify for more services

As part of broader reforms to China's household registration system, also referred to as the hukou system, new draft rules governing the kind of government services that 'temporary residents' are qualified to receive were announced yesterday.

The hukou system, which ties each individual to the locality where they are officially registered, is often criticised for discriminating against internal migrants who don't qualify for various kinds of social welfare such in the regions where they work.

According to the draft regulations related to temporary resident permits released for public comment by the State Council yesterday, government departments and local governments at all levels should create the conditions to allow temporary residents to enjoy the same levels of social welfare as permanent residents.

This includes the same level of support in terms of vocational education, subsidised housing and pensions. The draft regulations also state that the children of internal migrants should also be given the opportunity to complete high school in the cities in which their parents are working.

The government has announced policies aimed at gradually increasing the amount of services and rights that are accorded to temporary residents. 

However, different policies will be introduced in cities of different sizes, with tighter restrictions remaining in place in the larger first-tier mega cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Altogether there are four categories, small cities, medium-sized cities, big cities and very large cities.

The draft guidelines put limits on the requirements that cities in each of these four categories can ask of internal migrants seeking to become temporary residents.

Migrants who meet certain employment and work conditions and have lived in an area for more than six months are eligible to apply for temporary resident permits.

Temporary residents should be able to enjoy a portion of the basic services enjoyed by permanent residents, such as access to free compulsory education and to take part in the social insurance and housing fund systems of the locality.

(Caixin) 

Beijing to push ahead with development of nuclear power plants

China is set to approve the development of a slew of nuclear power plants along the country's eastern coastline, according to remarks made by NDRC's secretary general Li Pumin during a press conference on Thursday reports Xinhua.

Li made the remarks in the context of discussing a list of major projects that could be started either this year or next. The list also included 26 solar and hydro power projects; 37 oil and gas pipelines or storage facilities; and iron ore, copper and bauxite mines. 

The announcement is a sign that China will push ahead with the construction of new nuclear facilities after a review of safety standards prompted by Japan's Fukushima accident in 2011 led to a slow down in approvals.

China currently has 21 nuclear power units operating with a capacity of 19 gigawatts (GW) and aims to lift this to 58 GW by 2020. According to the article, there are currently 27 plants with close to 30 GW of capacity under construction.

(Xinhua)

China mobile in 4G push

China Mobile has surpassed 50 million 4G mobile users making it the world's biggest fourth-generation network re ports The Beijing News.

According to the report, the company plans to push forward with large-scale investment in the network next year.

The company has also built 570,000 TD-LTE base stations across the country.

China Mobile expects user growth to reach 700,000 and base station growth to reach 70 million by the end of the year.

These new figures come after the telco giant announced plans to redeploy 4G services in rural areas of the country.

According to Bernstein Research, the telco could raise up to RMB 66 billion in revenue if half of its current rural subscribers switched to 4G over the next three years.

The company reported over 800 million subscribers on its 2G, 3G and 4G networks at the end of October.

(Beijing News)

China has removed Sinosteel Corp. President Jia Baojun and from his post after experiencing financial problems as a result of unpaid debts.

News of Mr Jia's removal had been circulating since September, but has only now been officially confirmed in a statement on the website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

Mr Jia, 56 has been replaced by Xu Siwei as Sinosteel president, and Liu Andong has been appointed vice president.

Rio Tinto's Sam Walsh and Sinosteel president Xu Siwei signed an agreement to advance discussions on extending their Channar Mining iron ore joint venture in November.

The giant state metals trader has been hit with allegations of corruption and mismanagement in recent months.

Xin Xile, formerly the general manager of the Sinosteel Iron and Steel Corp. was put under investigation for corruption in October.

(SASAC)