I am still in doubt. According to some international surveys, in the list of the world’s largest social networks, ranked in terms of reported or estimated global Monthly Active Users or MAUs, WeChat (236 million MAUs) stands at position 10. Some write in China Daily: 500 million users with 100 million outside of China. Or some say 400 million. Anybody has a better opinion?
The “international view” (BI Intelligence), gives this ranking:
1.Facebook (1.15 billion MAUs)
2.  YouTube (1 billion MAUs)
3. Qzone (712 million total users), China
4. Sina Weibo (500 million total users), China
5. WhatsApp (350 million MAUs)
6. Google+ (327 million MAUs)
7. Tumblr (300 million monthly unique visitors)
8. LINE (275 million total active users), Japan
9. Twitter (240 million MAUs)

I am much in favor of the draft law in the EU called “The reciprocity Law”. The idea is simple: level playing field between the two trade groups. To put it simple, if a non-EU company wants to do a public project in the EU, they can do it as long as a EU company could do the same in the foreign country. Karel De Gucht has been trying to promote the idea, but with little success so far.
Our Chinese friends are getting “upset” by market access issues in the EU while they are being allowed to undertake projects there that are impossible dreams for EU companies in China. See as an example ( from the FCCC Newsletter):

“The Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) has signed a deal with British firms to develop a business district – Airport City – around Manchester Airport. Described as one of the largest construction projects in the country since the 2012 London Olympics, it will cost GBP800 million. Manchester Airport’s operator MAG, GMPF, a pension fund based in the city, and British construction group Carillion would work alongside BCEG on the project. The development would eventually create 16,000 jobs for the region. The Airport City Project will see the construction of offices, hotels, warehouses and sites for advanced manufacturing and logistics covering an area of 418,000 square meters. Manchester Airport is used by more than 20 million passengers annually.”

Nice. Now tell that to a EU construction group that would love to do the same in China. Kidding, right? Basically all international construction companies were forced to pack their bags and leave as regulations effectively barred them from doing anything other than some vague “consulting”. The list could go on and on
Not to be surprized, London Mayor Boris Johnson arrived in Beijing recently with a business delegation to attract Chinese sovereign funds, banks and developers to fund an overhaul of the British capital in the years to come. “Our Mayor’s interest is about new infrastructure,” said Gordon Innes, CEO of London and Partners, the official promotional organization for the city.

Of course, our poor EU has fallen down so much that it now needs the Chinese money.

The Chinese have also become major players around the world in buying up massive real estate volumes (London, Paris, New York, anywhere). Now, as a foreign investor in China, good luck to you. You barely can buy an apartment as a foreigner. Reports the FCCC Newsletter:

Dubai has become one of the latest hotspots for Chinese real estate buyers. Dubai state-owned Nakheel, the developer of the man-made island Palm Jumeirah, has hired Chinese-speaking staff to cope with the new rush of clients from China. According to the Consulate General of China in Dubai, over 270,000 Chinese nationals live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Apartment prices rose 15% in the last 12 months but they are still 19% below their peak in 2008, the year before the global financial crisis hit the Dubai real estate market,” said Craig Plumb at Jones Lang LaSalle.

State-controlled developer Greenland is investing in a New York property project valued at more than USD5 billion, becoming the latest Chinese real estate company to venture overseas. It signed a memorandum of understanding on October 2 with Forest City Ratner to develop the Atlantic Yards Apartment Project in Brooklyn. It will take a 70% stake in the development, anchored by the Barclays Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets.

As reported in the FCCC newsletter, Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport has the speediest visa checks of any major airport in the world, according to a survey by the Airports Council International (ACI), a trade representative of the world’s airports. Terminal 2 of Pudong International Airport has 47 channels and can deal with 70 to 90 passengers a minute. Almost 70,000 passengers use the airport daily, with a record high of 95,000. Second and third in the ranking are Seoul Incheon International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport. China has two more airports in the top 10 list. Longjia International Airport in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, ranked fifth, followed by Meilan International Airport in Haikou, capital of Hainan. Every quarter, ACI asks a survey institution to determine and review about 100 airports around the world, in a survey based on 36 standards, such as facilities and service.
Now, the article does not mention U.S. airports, I guess those must be miserably down the list. Arriving in the U.S. is often a poor experience with long waiting for immigration and utterly annoying customs people. Welcome to China, less so to the U.S.

On 7 November, the European Chamber (EUCCC) invited Mr. Peng Bo from Beijing Development and Reform Commission, the Department of Fixed-asset Investment and Department of Foreign Investment Utilization and Outbound Investment, responsible for the utilization of foreign investments and managing foreign invested projects. It is part of the Chamber’s series of Exclusive Dialogues. The meeting was held through the Public Procurement Working Group, chaired by Gilbert Van Kerckhove.

Note: I worked in BDRC ten years ago where I promoted PPP, using it for the Olympic projects (Stadiums); I made a detailed study on how to carry out PPP projects. Due to the impact of the China Bidding Law, most of our great PPP ideas got killed. What China today is promoting as BOT, PPP, whatever, is a watered down concept that does not respect the true PPP philosophy. The way projects are currently presented carry too many restrictions to be really considered as PPP. No any other country, as far as I know, has ever implemented “TOT” (transfer Operate Transfer), an oxymoron in terms of PPP. As a result, China does not enjoy the benefits of PPP at its fullest. The only ever PPP project in China: Laibin B Power Plant.

Mr. Peng gave the members a briefing on the “Implementation Plan on the Promotion of Infrastructure Projects Through the Introduction of Private Capital”, released in July this year. He introduced the background of this policy, its exact parameters and details regarding its implementation, as well as BDRC’s next-step-plan concerning private capital. He also answered questions raised by members. Both parties agreed on more future cooperation and exchange.

Follows a briefing on the “Implementation Plan on the Promotion of Infrastructure Projects through the Introduction of Private Capital.” This an abbreviated version of the complete report that was made available to members of the Working Group. Members also received the following documents (all in Chinese): Implementation Plan, Case study brochure, Glossary, Catalogue of pilot infrastructure projects.

China started to stress the importance of private capital in 2005/2006, when a policy titled Several Opinions of the State Council on Encouraging, Supporting and Guiding the Development of Individual and Private Economy and Other Non-public Sectors of the Economy (the so-called Old 36 Clauses) was released. Another key policy was released in 2010, namely the Several Opinions of the State Council on Encouraging and Guiding the Healthy Development of Private Investment (the so-called New 36 Clauses).These were followed by corresponding policies in Beijing issued in 2011 and industry-based measures aiming to encourage private capital issued by relevant ministries in 2012. Such policies laid down principles, but left details as regards their implementation unclear.

The release of the Implementation Plan is due partly to municipal government’s lack of money (over the following three years, the municipal government is to invest 10 billion RMB/year in air quality improvement, sewage treatment, waste management respectively while its investment in underground will remain unchanged, a total amount of 500 billion RMB investment is expected for the transformation of shanty towns but most of which will come from private investors), and partly to BDRC’s willingness to introduce a clearer and more feasible regulation. The Implementation Plan is not a reform plan sensu stricto, but a policy serving to systematize existing successful approaches.
Objective: to industrialize these sectors and make them independent from government subsidies. The internal rate of return (IRR) will approximately be 8%.
Pilot projects: initially 27 projects, 99 others will follow

The Implementation Plan covers three categories of areas:
– Operational sector (where financial return can cover cost): e.g. power sector
– Quasi-operational sector (where financial return cannot cover cost): e.g. rail, sewage treatment and waste management sectors
– Non operational sector (where there is no financial return and thus the sector has to rely on government buy-back): e.g. urban road sector
The Implementation Plan covers six sectors: rail, urban road, comprehensive transport hub, sewage treatment, heating supply and solid waste management. BDRC is currently working on two additional sectors: healthcare services and elderly care services.