British Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to refund the cost of up to 25,000 visas for Chinese tourists in an attempt to attract more visits to the UK. It was one of a series of measures announced at an economic summit in London, attended by Chinese vice premier Ma Kai.
A space tracking station for lunar exploration being built in Argentine Patagonia by China, as part of the strategic relation and accords between the two countries, has caused concern in the Argentine congress because of the secrecy surrounding the terms of the deal.
The Argentine Central Bank foreign reserves would be bolstered this year with up to 800 million dollars in Yuans transferred by China due to the first tranche of the money of the swap agreement signed between both countries, according to banking sources in Buenos Aires.
China's latest export numbers rose by 9.4% in August from a year earlier, beating forecasts of about 8% growth. The official data showed imports dropped by 2.4% from the year before, though, which left the country with a record surplus of 49.8bn dollars.
Argentina's central bank chief, Juan Carlos Fabrega, met his Chinese counterpart Zhou Xiaochuan in Basilea, Switzerland on Sunday to discuss how a currency swap worth billions of dollars will be put into action, the Argentine monetary authority said.
The current legal dispute between Argentina and holdouts (“vulture funds”) suing the country over its defaulted bonds “will not affect” planned Chinese investments, since Argentina and China have a 'strategic association', the head of the National Commission of Development and Reform (CNDR) of China Xu Shaoshi, warned on Wednesday.
China is interested in investing in Argentine port infrastructure and in setting up companies with access to the South Atlantic fisheries, according to reports from Shanghai where an Argentine top level delegation is currently negotiating in the framework of the China-Argentina cooperation agreement.
Credit strapped Argentina is wooing Beijing and with this purpose Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, Planning Minister Julio De Vido and YPF oil company CEO Miguel Galuccio are currently on an official trip to China, aimed at gathering funding for public works including two dams and one nuclear power plant.
China's manufacturing activity missed expectations in August, indicating that the country's economy may be losing momentum and require more stimulus. The official purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 51.1 for the first time in seven months from 51.7 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
As it did in Nevada and California, a unit of billionaire Paul Singer's Elliott Management, which is Argentina's main holdout creditor, is extending its legal fight with the country to China. NML Capital served subpoenas this week to Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in an effort to obtain information on 6.8bn dollars in financing for deals signed by the two countries in July.