BRASIL / CHINA : The Good And Bad Of Econovore Beijing's Growing Influence.

LATIMES / V. Bevins
  Another report on Brasil's growing dependence on selling China commodities...while consuming its cheap, dumped goods...that kill native industries.


"After [George W.] Bush took over, Latin America was totally forgotten," said David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia. "A lot of Latin Americans thought that was great: better to be forgotten than be taken care of too much. The U.S. opened a void, and the Chinese came right in."
"The worst affected are certainly textiles and shoe producers," Fleischer said. "There are cases of Chinese imports wiping out Brazilian firms, then the Chinese came to Brazil and recruited the unemployed shoemakers and brought them to China. They wanted to learn what Brazil had learned in the '70s, how to make a shoe fit the American foot."

VENEZUELA / CHINA: Another Big Loan For Oil From Beijing...$4bn.

                                AP/ M.Herald
Resuming televised addresses, President Hugo Chavez announced a new $4bn loan for oil from China.
He said it would be used to boost development projects like railways.
China is Venezuela's biggest foreign lender at more than $32 billion...all to be repaid in oil shipments.


Chavez has slowed his daily agenda in recent weeks...on doctors orders.

ECUADOR: Murders, Crime Rise...As Narco Traffic Increases; China Loans Bad Credit Correa Billions.

LATIMES / C.KRAUL

Violence is spiking in Ecuador with all crimes up 15% to 50% last year... compared with 2009.

Murders have doubled in 20 years to nearly 19 per 100,000 residents.

Why? Drug muling and transport. Some 200 tons of cocaine...or about 25% of Colombia and Peru's annual production...moves thru Ecuador.

Another reason is Ecuador's weak judicial system.

Arrested drug suspects often evade justice because corrupt or frightened temporary judges let them go.

ALSO:  Just 2 years after defaulting on $3.2bn in debts that all but ruined its credit, Ecuador's usd bonds have roared back...with a 13% return...Latin America's best.
President Correa can thank China for new loans that will reach at least $3bn in 2011...and higher oil prices.
FinMin Patricio Rivera is seeking another $2bn loan from China, besides a $1bn from PetroChina in February for future oil sales. Ecuador negotiated a similar deal with China for $1bn in 2009.
http://en.mercopress.com/2011/06/26/china-loans-and-oil-prices-boost-ecuador-economy-two-years-after-default?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_content=main&utm_campaign=rss

POLAND / CHINA : Beijing Fired From Showpiece German Link Road...For No Pay.

REUTERS /

An embarrassing and rare public slip-up by econovore China...as Poland has cancelled a deal with  the Chinese builder COVEC...to finish a key highway that links Warsaw with Germany...in time for the prestigious and important Euro 2012 soccer games.

COVEC's work on the 50 km/31 miles of highway A2 ended in May... after it failed to pay its Polish partners.

Poland is seeking $271 mn usd in compensation and penalties from COVEC... and wants it banned from work in Poland for three years.

CHINA / EUROZONE : Beijing Promotes EU Business Shopping Spree.

WSJ / J. MILLER / FREE link to today's FRONT PAGE report.

Here is one more report on econovore China's buying spree of resources and businesses...around the world.
This time the spotlight is on...the EU.

Chinese business leaders are shopping for European companies.
Beijing is gung-ho about it...and ready to lend money to do it.
China had an estimated $2.7tn usd on hand from domestic savings in 2009...and may have 6 times that by 2020.
It needs to put all that cash to work.
So...among other places...the "mature" EU market...with its many name brands...is now in China's site.
Meanwhile, some in the EU are getting anxious about it.
Because...unlike the USA...the EU has no protections to block deals for buying-up businesses.

KAZAKHSTAN / CHINA: Kazakhs Fear Beijing Takeover.

NPR / D. GREENE /   7:47 Audio report...with transcript.
Another report on econovore China's voracious appetite for resources.

NPR:  "As China grows in power and influence, few countries are feeling the effects more than neighboring Kazakhstan.
         Having broken from its past as a Soviet republic, Kazakhstan now has an up-and-coming economy and a desire to be a player on the world stage. China seems to be offering just what Kazakhstan needs — billions of dollars in foreign investment and deeper political ties with real-world powers.
        But many people in Kazakhstan have a plea: not too fast.
        They fear China's ambitions and worry that Chinese influence could rob Kazakhstan of its identity — all but swallow up a country whose population is outnumbered by China's 80 to 1.
       "China is going to help us little by little," says Saule Amirova, a 61-year-old woman who lives in Kazakhstan's eastern city of Almaty. "And then, they'll own our land."

CHINA / LATIN AMERICA : Beijing's Got The Money...So Its Gobbling-Up The Goodies.

AP/ I. James  / Yet one more report on econovore China's locking-up LatAm's nat resources.
Long , Detailed Read.


AP:     "China is breaking new ground by aggressively locking down commodities around Latin America through large loans, investments and other financial arrangements, said Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York.
    "I don't know of any other government which has done this sort of securing of rights for commodities and natural resources so systematically around the Third World as China, and they've used a whole host of new financial instruments to do this," Schell said.
    "China's been very, very prolific in spreading its investments around Africa and Latin America, even though the terms aren't ideal."
AND:     "Viva China!" Chavez exclaimed during a televised meeting with business leaders from Beijing, thanking them for helping set up mobile phone factories and build railways and public housing in Venezuela. He gushed: "I'm in love with China."
       "Countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador would otherwise have few options for obtaining such large lines of credit, in part due to their presidents' hostility toward traditional lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Downs said.
       The China Development Bank has become a convenient "lender of last resort," Downs said, and Venezuela's government, in fact, has become the bank's biggest foreign borrower."

BRASIL / CHINA : Cultures Clashing As New Econovore Invades The Land Of Samba.

AP

   In Brasil, direct investment by Chinese companies jumped to $17 bn usd last year or almost 60 times 2009.
   And Chinese companies are now hiring local workers-- not bringing in   their own Chinese laborers.
     But this new contact between two cultures is exposing the widely different expectations of unions, workers and government regulators.

BRASIL/ CHINA: Beijing's Lust For Soy Farmland Unnerves Brasilia.

NYTIMES/ A. Barrioneuvo/ 2 screen read combined

NYT:     "Even as Brazil, Argentina and other nations move to impose limits on farmland purchases by foreigners, the Chinese are seeking to more directly control production themselves, taking their nation’s fervor for agricultural self-sufficiency overseas.
“They are moving in,” said Carlo Lovatelli, president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries. “They are looking for land, looking for reliable partners. But what they would like to do is run the show alone.”
AND: A "...$7 billion agreement signed last month — to produce six million tons of soybeans a year — is one of several struck in recent weeks as China hurries to shore up its food security and offset its growing reliance on crops from the United States by pursuing vast tracts of Latin America’s agricultural heartland"

CHINA / LATIN AMERICA: Foreign Investments Surged 40% in 2010.

BBC /

    In 2010, the UN reports that foreign investment in Latin America surged by about 40%...to $113bn usd.
   Econovore China led regional investors...with 9% of the total.
   Between 2006 and 2009, China hardly invested anything there...but now accounts for 9% of the total.
    The four top recipients of foreign investments were Brasil, Mexico, Chile and Peru.

COSTA RICA: Fans Celebrate New Soccer Stadium...China's "Gift".

GUARDIAN /

   Thousands cheered as Costa Rica's football team played to a scoreless tie with powerhouse Argentina...in the reopening of a state-of-the-art Estadio Nacional... completely donated by China.
   It was built by China because former president Óscar Arias formally established ties between the two countries...and not with Taiwan.
   Not everyone is delighted.
    One fan said: "If the Chinese give, they expect something in return. We are close to agreeing a free trade deal with China, and this is nothing but a sweetener. Also, China violates human rights, whilst we defend human rights, so it is very important to China's image to show they have a country like us on their side."

BRASIL: Batista's MMX Mining To Spend $2.9 Billion To Expand For China.

BLOOMBERG/
    Fresh off an appearance on America's primetime "60 Minutes" program, Brasil's multi-billionaire Eike Batista (pictured) will spend $2.9 billion usd to expand iron-ore miner MMX Mineracao/ Metalicos Serra Azul mine and others and feed growing demands from econovore China and other Asian nations.

BRASIL: U.S. TV News "Discovers" Brasil's New Economic Muscle.

CBS NEWS/ 60 MINUTES/ 13:20 /

   Sunday, America's powerhouse prime time news program
"60 Minutes" included a segment with a primer about Brasil's checkered economic history and recent success by reporter Steve Kroft.
   There are brief comments by Brasil's version of Carlos Slim, $27 billionaire booster Eike Batista, who delights in the prospect of feeding econovore China's appetite for raw materials, out-going President Lula da Silva, who delightfully doesn't speak English, doubting commentator and author Eduardo Bueno but NOT with president-elect Dilma Rousseff.



FOR REPORT TEXT, SEE:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/09/60minutes/main7134185.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitle

COLOMBIA/CUBA/ SERBIA/ UKRAINE/ VENEZUELA: 11Dec. UPDATE: Colombia Attends Nobel Ceremony; Serbia Caves After EU Chides It For Boycott.

NYTIMES/
    16 countries including 3 nations covered in this news blog - Cuba, Ukraine, and Venezuela - boycotted the ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (pictured).
     China was mightily angered that the Nobel committee chose Liu, who is serving an 11-year sentence for his essay so it reportedly pressured nations it does business with to stay away from Oslo.
      China reportedly warned diplomats in Oslo not to attend and said there would be "consequences" if they did so.
     Cuba and Venezuela kowtowed to econovore China's wish. As did Ukraine following Mother Russia and Putin's lead.
    At first, Colombia was among the countries listed NOT to attend, blaming a scheduling conflict with the Nobel ceremony for literature. But, after criticism, Colombia found a way to be attend.
     Meanwhile, Serbia, looking for EU for entry also said it would not show-up.
    The EU warned Serbia that shunning the Nobel awards sent the wrong message for EU entry.
     Belgrade said that it had some big business deals at stake with China, ranging from loans for major coal-powered plants to a bridge construction project over the Danube. But it, too, reluctantly caved-in to EU pressure at the last possible hour.
FOR  EU SERBIA WARNING DETAILS, SEE:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B747120101208%20
 
SERBIA UPDATE 09 DEC:  Serbia  defended its Chinese-led boycott of the Nobel Peace ceremony.  Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said China was a "proven friend" and that the decision was "not easy at all, and far from ideal".
FOR SERBIA RESPONSE DETAILS, SEE:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11957094

ARGENTINA: China Helps Buy-Up BP's Pan American Energy For $7 Billion USD.

BLOOMBERG/
   Bridas Corp., owned by Cnooc and Argentina’s Bulgheroni family will pay BP $7.06 billion usd for the 60 percent it doesn’t already own of Pan American Energy.
    Cnooc is adding to its March $3.1 billion acquisition of 50 percent of Bridas to expand China's access to Latin American resources. Pan American is Argentina’s largest crude exporter, producing about 240,000 barrels a day with proven reserves of 1.54 billion barrels.

BRASIL: China's Resource Shopping Spree Is $25 Billion So Far In 2010.

G.POST/ Solana Pyne/
      An update story on econovore China's purchases in Brasil so far in 2010.
     Chinese investment jumped from $82 million in 2009 to more than $25 billion reported so far this year with billions more reportedly in negotiations.
    “The economic exchanges between the two countries are increasing fast,” said lobbyist Sergio Amaral. “Sometimes I have the impression that the Brazilian government is not as well prepared as it will need to be to cope with the new situation — a new nature and a new magnitude of investments.”
     “Brazil is the country that has the most developed industry on the continent,” Barbosa economist Alexandre Barbosa said. “So China is displacing some of our exports in other countries of the region.”

ARGENTINA: China Opens Its Market For Beef, Soybeans, Dairy, and Wine.

M.PRESS/     China has finally agreed to open its market to Argentine beef in January. It's ban against Argentine soy-oil importation “on sanitary reasons” was only lifted last month.
   “For Argentina the opening of the Chinese market is most significant, the problem is we don’t have what to export. In the last few years government policies have seen the national herd loose 12 million head of cattle”, complained ag expert Javier Jayo.

BRASIL: China Buys 40% Of Repsol's Oil Reserves For... $7.1 Billion.

BLOOMBERG/    Here comes econovore China again!
 This time it is eating up 40% of Repsol's Brasil reserves for...$7.1 billion usd. One analyst calls the valuation of the transaction “surprisingly high."
There's also speculation that the same Chinese state-owned oil firm Sinopec is bidding for Brasil's OGX oil and gas assets valued at $7bn usd.
Repsol believes Brasil's reserves can produce more than 50 million barrels of oil per year by 2018-2020.

BRASIL: Building The New "Highway To China."

GUARDIAN/ TOM PHILLIPS/      A little more than an hour north of Rio, near Sao Joao da Barra, Brasil is spending billions to build the Superporto do Acu, a 10-berth pier that by 2012 will handle cargo ships as big as the mammoth 380-meter wide ChinaMax – the largest vessel of its type, capable of ferrying 400,000 tonnes of cargo and help feed econovore China's enormous appetitie for iron ore, grains, soy and oil. The locals call it "the Highway to China."

PERU: Miners' Wage Dispute With Chinese Festers As China Expands In Latin America.

NYTIMES/ SIMON ROMERO/     Econovore China's expanding role in devouring Latin American resources is well illustrated with the example of Beijing's Shougang Corporation and its acquisition of an iron ore mine in Marcona in 1992. “We quickly realized that we were being exploited to help build the new China, but without seeing any of the rewards." The miners have struck three times this year, including an 11-day stoppage last month. The problems began when the company downsized the work force to 1,700 from 3,000 and brought in some Chinese workers while not investing a promised $150 million in the mine and the town’s infrastructure, instead paying a $14 million fine for its failure to do so.