Economy

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Economy

RMB Internationalization

According to the RMB Internationalization Report 2016 published by the People’s Bank of China last August， the Chinese currency is increasingly accepted in cross-border transactions.

In 2015， the volume of cross-border RMB receipts and payments reached RMB 12.1 trillion （US $1.81 trillion）， an increase of 21.7 percent year on year，according to data released by the central bank. This accounts for nearly one third of the total volume of cross-border receipts and payments over the same period.

Data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication（SWIFT） showed that by December 2015，the RMB had become the third mostused currency in cross-border trade and financing. It took the fifth place among all currencies used in international payments and foreign exchange trading.

China has aggressively promoted global use of the RMB， as the world’s largest trading nation seeks to avoid the impact of risks stemming from exchange rate fluctuations and lower transaction costs in international trade.

The report also forecasted that the RMB will become more accepted in cross-border current account trading， and that overseas investors will gain wider access to RMB-denominated investment and financing products.

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隨著數字時代的到來，充分利用數字技術的快捷、多元特性，建構移動教學模式將會給學習者帶來隨時隨地學習的全新感受。計算機技術和網絡技術結合產生的新的學習模式——移動終端教育已經得到了一定的發展。它使教育中的學習方式發生了很大改變，而深化教育綜合改革，最終歸宿就是學習方式的變革。其改變方式主要體現在如下幾個方面：一是智能移動終端的普及所帶來的移動式學習；二是契合學生成長的游戲開展的游戲式學習；三是采用虛擬方式開展的虛擬化學習。

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Overseas M&A Deals

China’s overseas mergers and acquisitions （M&A） hit a record high of US $134 billion in the first half year， according to a report released by international accounting firm PwC last August.

The report showed that the figure was nearly three times that of last year’s and exceeded the combined value of overseas M&As by Chinese firms over the past two years.

Among the deals were 24 exceeding US $1 billion each， the largest that of Chem-China’s US $43 billion takeover of Swiss

agrochemical and seeds company Syngenta.

Privately-owned firms contributed to two thirds of the 20 largest overseas M&As，said Liu Yanlai， private equity leader for the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong at PwC. The investors continue to pay heed to hightech industries. One third of the 20 biggest overseas M&As were in technology. The real estate and financial service industries are also popular with investors.

The sharp increase came with an increase in the number of financial investors，including the investment departments of big companies， insurance firms and government funds， said Cai Ling， partner of the Chinese Corporate Finance and M&A Department with PwC China.

Fight against Water Pollution

China proposes to invest RMB 430 billion （US $64 billion） in over 4，800 projects to improve the quality of its scarce water resources，the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced in August.

The first allocation of funds will go towards protecting the environments of rivers and lakes where the existing water quality is relatively good. It will also be used to protect drinking water sources，prevent pollution in major reservoirs and control groundwater contamination.

According to the ministry， the money will also be allocated to projects at 15 lakes， including the Liujiaxia Reservoir in Gansu Province and Sanxian Lake in Hunan Province， as well as projects in over 100 cities.

The State Council of China published the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control in April 2015， setting a target to ensure that more than 70 percent of the water in seven major river basins， including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers， is clean by 2020. It also promised to outlaw pollution from paper mills， oil refineries， pesticide factories， and other industrial plants by the end of 2016， and instructed companies to improve their sewage treatment systems in order to prevent the discharge of untreated waste water into rivers.

Innovation in Manufacturing Sector

China will set up 40 national manufacturing innovation centers by 2025，the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT） said in its guidelines for improving the innovation system of manufacturing industries， released at the end of August.

The centers will be devoted to developing information technology，artificial intelligence， new materials，and biomedicine. Around 15 will be established by 2020. They aim to bridge the current gap between theory and practice， so making the manufacturing industry more innovative and enhancing its global competitiveness.

The MIIT has promised to improve intellectual property management to promote cooperation and profit sharing between centers.

Last year， in order to create a better manufacturing sector， China came up with the “Made in China 2025” plan， with the aim of shifting the country away from low-end manufacturing to more valueadded production.

China’s value-added industrial output grew by 6.1 percent in 2015，lower than the 8.3 percent growth rate of 2014. Manufacturing output expanded 7 percent in 2015， 2.4 percentage points lower than that of the previous year.