Price for renting apartments incrseases again

The cost of renting apartments in Beijing continues to rise. Shen Jingwei/CFP Photo

By Zhao Hongyi

The month following Spring Festival is traditionally a time of escalating property prices as young professionals and workers return to Beijing or come for the first time.

But housing demand has increased earlier than usual this year, said Chen Deming, manager of a local branch of Centaline Property, a national property agent.

“It’s really beyond our expectations,” Chen said.

On February 8, Chen and his colleagues received more than a dozen inquiries for renting houses. His chain stores in Beijing closed more than 20 deals on February 6 and 7, Chen said.

From February 9-12, Centaline Property in Beijing received nearly 1,500 inquiries for renting houses, a 40 percent increase over the same period last year.

Centaline is in charge of fewer than 400 units, which means demand far exceeds supply.

Many people are collecting roommates to share apartments, said Sun Defu, a broker at a Daxing District branch of Century 21.

“The most popular apartments are the three-bedroom ones,” Sun said.

The average price for a one-bedroom apartment is around 2,500 yuan per month; it is 3,000 yuan for a two-bedroom apartment and 4,000 yuan for a three-bedroom apartment.

About 39 percent of all inquires are for three-bedroom apartments, a 12 percent increase from last year, according to statistics from Homelink, another real estate company in Beijing.

The Chinese government has increased financial rates, forcing commercial banks to be more cautious in releasing property loans and credits. The municipal government is also discussing the possibility of levying real estate taxes, following the lead of cities like Shanghai and Chongqing.

Tighter restrictions toward speculative buying are aimed at encouraging potential apartment buyers to take a wait-and-see attitude in the market. The hope is that prices will come down when speculative buying is curbed.

The central and municipal governments have also issued notices warning against excessive remodeling. Splitting a unit into smaller rooms can create fire hazards and sanitation problems.

Apartment hunters are concentrated in the three districts of Chaoyang, Haidian and Fengtai, occupying nearly 65 percent of the overall demand, Homelink said.

In the meantime, demand for purchases is decreasing.

Various property agents have said the demand for rented apartments will continue to rise until March and April, probably by 20 to 30 percent in downtown areas.

Rent in residential communities beyond Fifth Ring Road is also expected to rise by 10 percent, especially along the newly built subways in the districts of Daxing, Fangshan and Yizhuang.

Experts recommend signing longer contracts during the apartment rental process. In many cases, a tenant can receive a 10 percent lower price for each addition year he or she agrees to take on.

The villa and housing market has not seen any price fluctuations so far.

Some airline fees up by more than 50%

Airline fees are steadily increasing — some by more than 50% since a year ago, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The analysis, which compared 13 U.S. airlines’ fees today with those in effect in June 2009, also reveals that passengers are encountering new types of fees.

Six big U.S. carriers now have priority boarding fees, and Spirit Airlines has begun charging for carry-on bags.

The numerous fees are a sore subject for many fliers, but their dissatisfaction hasn’t deterred airlines from bringing in record revenue from additional fees.

U.S. airlines brought in $2.1 billion in ancillary revenue during this year’s second quarter, including nearly $893 million from checked-bag fees and about $600 million from changed reservations, government statistics released Sept. 20 show.

That’s up 15.8% from the same period the year before.

USA TODAY’s analysis shows that:

•Most U.S. airlines charge $23 or $25 for a first checked bag. Only Southwest and JetBlue do not charge. Most airlines charged $15 — and four airlines charged nothing — in June 2009.

•The most expensive change fee for a coach ticket has jumped from $250 to $300, which American charges for some international flights. The most expensive change fee for Continental, Delta, United and US Airways is $250.

•Booking a reservation by telephone — even for a free frequent-flier ticket — can be costly. US Airways charges an extra $35 for a phone reservation for an international flight. Allegiant Air charges a $29.98 round-trip booking fee and a $14.99 convenience fee.

•The most expensive fee to cut the line and board before fellow passengers is $39 charged by United. The airline also has less expensive priority-boarding fees.

•The maximum charge for a preferred seat on some United Airlines flights has jumped from $119 in June 2009 to $159. Such a seat offers 5 more inches of leg room than other coach seats.

•Continental says it’s not new, but the airline and at least three other carriers — American, Hawaiian and US Airways — charge a little-known fee for passengers who request receipts after they have flown. Continental charges $20 if a passenger requests a receipt more than seven days after a flight. US Airways charges the same amount if a receipt is requested more than 30 days after a flight.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-09-27-1Aairlinefees27_ST_N.htm

China vows to increase foreign imports

BEIJING — China has vowed to make it easier to import goods into its huge market as Beijing seeks to address controversial trade surpluses with its trading partners, a report said Monday.

Beijing will “loosen its regulation of imports, cut import costs and make import financing easier for domestic companies,” among other measures, said Chong Quan, a top trade official, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Chong, who is the commerce ministry’s deputy China International Trade Representative, added that the government will encourage imports from nations with which it is running a trade surplus, the report said.

China also will actively import energy, advanced technology and other equipment, Chong said at a trade forum in the capital.

The report did not mention any further details of measures China would take.

China overtook Germany last year to become the world’s top exporter. Its foreign exchange reserves stood at 2.45 trillion dollars at the end of June — also the largest in the world.

China’s export success has consistently drawn criticism from major trading partners such as the United States, with which it runs a large trade surplus. Washington has long pushed China to import more foreign goods.

Foreign pressure for a stronger Chinese currency has also mounted, with critics including US lawmakers claiming the yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving China’s exporters an unfair advantage.

The People’s Bank of China pledged in June to let the yuan trade more freely against the dollar, but the currency has changed less than 0.7 percent since then.

The yuan had been effectively pegged at about 6.8 to the dollar from mid-2008, when the global financial crisis started to bite.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jUvGLUEyU4Oh6zvXlmRP4IV2_rYQ

China increases foreign students’ scholarships

China attracts more and more foreign students each year. Photo provided by China Scholarship Committee

By Zhao Hongyi

To attract more foreign students to China, the government plans to offer 20,000 scholarships this year, a 10-percent increase over 2009, Education Minister Yuan Guiren said at a Spring Festival celebration for foreign students in Beijing earlier this month.

The minister also promised to help local governments and universities set up scholarships for foreign students.

In response to the debilitating effects on the education sector brought about by the 2008 financial crisis, the Chinese government raised the number of foreign scholarships in 2009 to 18,078, a 33.8-percent increase over the previous year.

As a result, 230,000 foreign students came to China, making the country one of the top destinations for overseas students. Yuan said China is planning to build on this strength by opening more courses in English.

The Education Ministry also subsidized the education of 500 foreign students so they could continue their studies in the country despite the financial crisis, Yuan said.

Foreign scholarships are divided into several categories: undergraduate, postgraduate, doctor’s degree, Chinese studies and senior researchers. There is also a category based on a person’s field of specialization.

Scholarships cover school registration fees, tuition fees, the cost of teaching materials, accommodations and living expenses. Foreign scholars also enjoy the same medical benefits as their Chinese counterparts.

Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the US-based Institute of International Education (IIE), confirmed that China is becoming a major destination for foreign students. The IIE, established in 1915, is one of the world’s largest international education and training organizations.

“Over the past decade, the number of students from the US studying in China has increased six times. In 2009, more than 15,000 American students were studying in China,” Blumenthal told the newspaper Shanghai Wenhui Bao. “It’s an interesting contrast to the figure in 1995, which was only 1,396.

The number of US students studying in China over the past decade grew between 20 and 30 percent annually. “Therefore, it is very realistic that President Obama suggested sending 100,000 American students to study in China in the next four years,” Blumenthal said.

Foreign students in China are free to choose their subjects of concentration and schools, “more free than we were in the early 1980s,” said Blumenthal, who studied here in the 1980s but was only allowed to study Chinese.

In the US, Chinese has become the sixth most popular foreign language in schools, Blumenthal said, with some 51,500 students enrolled in Chinese classes. Ten years ago, the number was less than 30,000.

Nearly all the top US universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford and the University of Southern California, have set up centers to facilitate study in China.

Meanwhile, China has established 282 Confucius Institutes in 80 countries. The number is expected to reach 500 this year in an effort to promote Chinese language and culture overseas.

For more information about studying in China and applying for a scholarship, visit the China Scholarship Committee’s website csc.edu.cn.

You may also call the following personnel in charge of regional programs: Wu Shasha (Africa) 6609 3919, Yuan Jiang (America and Oceania) 6609 3926, Qiu Yong (Asia) 6609 3923, Yu Lijuan (Europe) 6609 3921, Meng Li (Africa and Europe cooperative program) 6609 3920 and Sun Xiaomeng (awards, air tickets and certificates) 6609 3925.

Changing views on race – Country faces culture clash as foreign residents increase

With trade and commerce drawing ever larger numbers of foreigners to Chinese cities, tensions have become more common in a country of limited racial diversity.

How does increased immigration alter Chinese perceptions of race? How has the society historically dealt with ethnic differences?

Increasing tension

This summer, African immigrants, mostly the traders and merchants who make up a growing enclave in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, protested over a black man’s accidental death. Hundreds gathered at a police station, drawing attention t the plight of Africans in China.

Meanwhile, in a well-publicized moment, a 20-year-old Shanghainese contestant to an American-Idol-like show named Lou Jing started a national debate about what it means to be Chinese. Lou, the daughter of a Chinese woman and a black American whom she has not met, considers herself completely Chinese.

Culture clash with workers

The Africans’ protests aside, foreigners working on themainland also feel the tensions that expose differences in work experience, pay levels and communication.

In the last few years, a growing number of Americans in their 20s and 30s have been heading to China for employment.

“The tight collaboration of the two countries in business and science makes the Chinese-American pairing one of the most common in the workplace in China,” said Vas Taras, a management professor at the University oforth Carolina at Greensboro, a specialist in cross-cultural work group management.

But the two groups were raised differently.

The Americans have had more exposure to free-market principles. “Young Americans were brough up in a commercial environment,” said Zhao Neng, 28, a senior associate at Blue Oak Capital, a private equity firm based in Beijing. “We weren’t. So the workplace provides a unique learning process for my generation.”

Sean Leow, 28, founder of Neocha, a social networking site based in Shanghai, says young Chinese employees often enter jobs with less hands-on preparation. They may also have less understanding about client services, he said.

In addition, he said, “I know a lot of my Chinese colleagues did not do internships in college,” in contrast to US student.

U.K. to Add Troops in Afghanistan

By ALISTAIR MACDONALD and YOCHI J. DREAZEN

Britain is preparing to deploy hundreds of additional troops to Afghanistan, deepening the U.K.’s commitment to the unpopular war even as the Obama administration re-evaluates its entire approach to the conflict.

The planned deployment of about 500 British reinforcements is a rare bit of good news for the White House, which has struggled to persuade European countries to send more troops to Afghanistan. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce the move Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Brown will say the extra troops depend on a number of conditions, including a North Atlantic Treaty Organization strategy for the training of Afghan civil and military personnel, proper equipment, and a new Afghan government being in place.

The British troop increase comes as the Obama administration weighs an urgent request from the top American commander in Kabul, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for tens of thousands of new U.S. soldiers and Marines.

Mr. Obama is to gather his war council Wednesday for a session devoted to a continuing dissection of the pessimistic assessment of the war that Gen. McChrystal sent to Washington in August in advance of his recent troop request.

White House officials said the review will last at least into next week, which means final decisions on what strategy to employ in Afghanistan may not come before next month.

Britain has the second-biggest NATO contingent in Afghanistan after the U.S., and Mr. Brown will use a statement to Parliament to unveil the decision “in principle” to increase the U.K.’s troop commitment by about 500, according to a person familiar with his plans. All told, the U.K. troop presence in Afghanistan will rise to about 9,500, its highest level since the 2001 start of the conflict.

Georgia is planning to send a battalion of 1,000 troops to volatile Helmand province in southern Afghanistan in the spring, while smaller nations like Macedonia plan to send a few dozen soldiers each. Still, the Afghan war is increasingly the province of the U.S. and a core group of allies, including England and Canada.

Separately, Japan said it will end its naval refueling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan in January.

Mr. Brown’s decision carries clear political risks. The war is increasingly unpopular within the U.K., and Mr. Brown has been accused of failing to properly equip British troops before they were sent to the country. He has consistently rejected the criticism, which comes from opposition politicians and some in the military.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125547079455583357.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Obama Voices Caution on Afghan Troop Increase

WASHINGTON — President Obama expressed skepticism on Sunday about sending more American troops to Afghanistan until he was sure his administration had the right strategy to succeed.

“Right now, the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?” Mr. Obama said on CNN. “When we have clarity on that, then the question is, O.K., how do we resource it?”

Mr. Obama said that he and his top advisers had not delayed any request for additional troops from the top commander in Afghanistan because of the political delicacy of the issue or other domestic priorities.

“No, no, no, no,” Mr. Obama said when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, had been told to sit on his request. Mr. Obama said his decision “is not going to be driven by the politics of the moment.”

In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Mr. Obama said his top priority was to protect the United States against attacks from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. “Whatever decisions I make are going to be based first on a strategy to keep us safe, then we’ll figure out how to resource it,” he said. “We’re not going to put the cart before the horse and just think by sending more troops we’re automatically going to make Americans safe.”

Mr. Obama and his advisers have said they need time to absorb the assessment of the Afghanistan security situation that General McChrystal submitted three weeks ago — a separate report from the general’s expected request for forces — as well as the uncertainties created by the fraud-tainted Afghan elections.

While details of General McChrystal’s strategic assessment are classified, the general has publicly emphasized the importance of protecting civilians over just engaging insurgents, restricting airstrikes to reduce civilian casualties, sharply expanding the Afghan security forces and accelerating their training.

The Afghan government has about 134,000 police officers and 82,000 soldiers, although many are poorly equipped and have little logistical support.

General McChrystal has also signaled that he will seek to unify the effort of American allies that operate in Afghanistan, and possibly to ask them to contribute more troops, money and training.

Mr. Obama elaborated on what could prompt him to send additional troops in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“If supporting the Afghan national government, and building capacity for their army, and securing certain provinces advances that strategy, then we’ll move forward,” he said.

“If it doesn’t, then I’m not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan or saving face or, in some way, you know, sending a message that America is here for the duration,” Mr. Obama said.

“I have to exercise skepticism anytime I send a single young man or woman in uniform into harm’s way, because I’m the one who’s answerable to their parents if they don’t come home,” said Mr. Obama, in words that appeared aimed at calming Democrats and other critics who have objected to deepening the American combat involvement.

Military officers said Sunday that General McChrystal had effectively completed his formal request for forces, and was prepared to send the proposal up through his hierarchy for review by Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of American forces in the Middle East; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

Only then would the issue be placed before the president, a process that Mr. Gates said last week should not be rushed.

When General McChrystal took command in June, there already was a request pending from his predecessor for 10,000 troops beyond the forces approved by Mr. Obama.

Pentagon and military officials involved in Afghanistan policy say General McChrystal is expected to propose a range of options for additional troops, from 10,000 to as high as 45,000.

Even in advance of forwarding any formal request for more forces, General McChrystal over recent weeks launched an effort across the military in Afghanistan to see whether troops were being used efficiently.

The “force optimization” study, which remains under way, would guide General McChrystal in redeploying or replacing forces to more effectively carry out his counterinsurgency strategy while remaining under the 68,000-troop cap now in place, according to officers involved.

According to senior military and Pentagon officials, General McChrystal challenged his commanders to find 10 percent savings in troop numbers by determining whether some personnel and even whole units were not “optimized” for the current counterinsurgency strategy.

This review already has found “perhaps a couple of thousand” troops who could be replaced or whose missions could be refocused, said one officer.

Other efforts by General McChrystal have been well-publicized: protecting the population from insurgents, restricting when warplanes drop bombs or missiles if civilians might be endangered, disrupting the drug trade and capturing or killing narcotics traffickers tied to the insurgency.

One little noticed order by the commander has sought to change the culture of the NATO headquarters in Kabul. He has banned alcohol there, bringing NATO personnel in line with a prohibition already in place for American military personnel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/world/asia/21afghan.html?_r=1&hpw