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Dear CIMG Members, Welcome to the third html e-news that we hope will be a useful platform to share news to you and others interested in China's mining sector. In
this edition we have included some interesting news, events, information
and articles. As noted previously, the CIMG will from Tuesday 28 March have staff. I would like to take this time to introduce MARY YU, who will be working with CIMG in the capacity of External Affairs and Research as well as general liaison with the CIMG Members. Many of you may have met Mary already and she joins the CIMG after being with the Chamber for two years. Last week
some of you may have received the The Swann Group, China Mining
Journal and CIMG - Industry Survey. This is a unique platform
for the CIMG to gather intelligence on the state of China's mining
sector. Please make sure you complete it. Click here to take part in this survey. Best regards - Auslan
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The last CIMG meeting with 30 attendees was held at the British Centre on 24 February. Nigel opened the meeting noting that the administration meetings will be now separate from the networking/speaking meetings. As such, the CIMG monthly meeting will focus on speaking on topics to allow more information sharing between the members of the CIMG. Nigel also noted that the administration meetings would be known as EXCO meetings. These EXCO meetings will comprise voting members and the Chairman who will be nominated and elected by the voting members annually. Decisions at EXCO meetings will be taken on simple majority and if there is a tie the Chairman will have a casting vote. The minimum quorum will be six voting members. Voting members can also co-opt 3 service provider members and two associate member representatives to attend the EXCO meetings. As noted at previous meetings he confirmed that at the last EXCO meeting a Sustaining Sponsors Category had been agreed to. Sustaining Members will be eligible to have their logos prominently displayed on all CIMG collateral e.g. banners, website, letterhead etc Sustaining Members will be asked to contribute US$5,000 each and there would be a commitment to a three year period with fees of US$5,000 paid annually. It was understood he said that this would give the CIMG funding for the resources required for its future work. Any member (i.e. any category) can become a Sustaining Member. The meeting proceeded then to a presentation given by SERGEI DIAKOV from BHPBilltion. Sergei presented on the recent Notice of Further Regulating Exploration Licenses and Mining Licenses Granting/Transfer Process Management .His presentation covered many issues regarding tenements as well as some of the practicalities of implementing this law e.g. adjacent property. (for a copy of the this presentation please contact Sergei). The end of the meeting discussed the protocol of Business Licence vs. Exploration License and which of these should come first. There were many differing opinions and it was suggested that this be te topic of the next meeting. Auslan
closed the meeting making note that the NDRC had approached the
CIMG in reference to reviewing the Coal Law 5 th Edition. This will
be an ongoing initiative. As well, he noted that the AustCham
and the CIMG had confirmed that the CIMG would operate
under the authority of AustCham. This also means that AustCham’s
logo would appear on all collateral as a matter of course as the
supporting organisation. It was also understood that for the future
programme of the CIMG dedicated resources are required and it was
agreed to pay for one full time assistant and take a greater share
of Auslan’s time (75%). Both will remain employees of AustCham
as the umbrella organisation. Lastly, the CIMG would continue to
share office space with AustCham and be charged accordingly. AustCham
intends to move to a larger office on the third floor of the Swissotel
and approximately 50sq m will be made available to the CIMG for
dedicated workstations with a shared boardroom.
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Meeting
with NDRC: Environment
Workshop: This will be an interactive workshop where the participants will be able to see first hand practical and real-life case studies from some of the worlds leading mining companies. There will be time as well for questions and answers. WE ARE SEEKING SPEAKERS AND SPONSORS please contact Auslan for more information. Please download the draft program here Media
Engagement
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China
Leaves Russia Behind PARIS (Business Day) -- Ten years ago, comparing the reform processes in China and Russia was an intellectual fashion. Was it preferable to start with economics - try to get rich, quick, but don’t rock the boat politically, in the manner of the Chinese? Or was it better to start with politics - recover liberty and prosperity may follow, which seemed to be Russia’s path under Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin? Today, a new comparative debate has started. This time the subject is no longer Russia versus China, because Russia has long ceased to be a point of comparison. Instead, the new comparative debate involves Asia’s two new economic, demographic and political giants, China and India. |
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China’s annual economic growth has been roughly 8%-9% for the last 26 years; India has recorded similar rates for the last decade.
In the “flat world” of globalisation, to borrow Thomas Friedman’s powerful metaphor, it seems that Russia no longer has a place. Of course, Russia is still the second-largest nuclear power in the world, and, as one of the world’s leading exporters of oil and gas, it benefits from today’s high energy prices. But Russia’s population is disappearing before our eyes. With average male life expectancy just 57 years, the country is losing about 800000 people annually. Indeed, Russia is more a fragile oil-producing state than a modernising economic giant.
To put it bluntly, Russia is no longer in the same category as China. Whereas the “Middle Kingdom” is proudly regaining its former global status after centuries of decline, Russia is defiantly trying to resurrect its former imperial status, but in a way that appears doomed to fail.
Russia has taken giant steps in the wrong direction, at a time when China has taken steps, however small, in the right direction. When you meet today’s “new Russian nomenklatura (elite)”, you experience a sudden feeling of being 20 years younger, awash as they are in nostalgia for Cold War posturing.
By contrast, seen from afar, in their flash new suits, you might think that the Chinese economic elites are Japanese. Where Russia represents a return to the past, one sees in China an opening, however ambiguous, to the future.
Of course, some bias is involved here. As a European, I and people like me almost instinctively expect more from Russia. It is, after all, a European nation in cultural, if not political terms - whereas progress in China will not be measured by the introduction of western-style democracy, but, one hopes, by Singapore-style rule of law.
The diverse paths followed by Russia and China may be explained in part by how the two peoples perceive themselves.
The Chinese are comforted in their self-image by the world’s combination of admiration for their dynamism, greed for the market they constitute, and apprehension for the competition they represent. Russians, by contrast, seem to be animated by a dark form of narcissism. They do not find anything to be proud of in the eyes of others. They are respected for what they control, the legacy of nuclear arms and “Christian energy resources”, to quote Vladimir Putin’s bizarre remark on his first official trip to Paris - but not for their economic performance or their essence.
China and Russia tend to relate to their respective pasts and futures in very different ways - with self-confidence in China’s case, with self-diffidence in the case of Russia.
Chinese elites are convinced that time is working in their favour, and that it is only natural that China should regain its rank amongst the world leading powers, perhaps even emerging on top one day.
Indeed, their serene patience stands in stark contrast to the anxious reticence of Russian leaders, who have yet to surmount the humiliation that Russia suffered as a result of the Soviet Union’s disintegration at the end of the Cold War. Russia may be experiencing a global “restoration” phase, but in politics and economics, and also with respect to its empire, restoration is headed in the wrong direction.
With Putin’s current clampdown on civil society, renationalisation of key segments of the economy, failure to develop any political approach to resolving the conflict in Chechnya, and cultivation of imperial nostalgia, Russia is killing its only chance to matter in the future.
Yet there is no reason for China to declare victory. The gap between the respective qualities of China’s economic and scientific elites, on the one hand, and its ruling political elites, on the other, is simply too monumental – and still growing – for stability to be taken for granted.
One senses in China the birth pangs of civil society, making the introduction of the rule of law increasingly urgent. Without political reforms, China’s confidence in herself will quickly turn into disillusion, or even delusion. If that happens, the Russia-China debate might be revived, this time as a comparison of competitive decadence.
Dominique Moisi was a founder and is now senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations, and is a professor at l’Institut d’études politiques in Paris.
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Provisional Regulation on Disciplining Dereliction of Duty in Environmental
Protection Activity -SEPA -issued date: 20030228
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There
are no classifieds as this time |
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CONTRIBUTIONS: The CIMG welcomes contributions for publication in this
e-news from its members. Please contact and post submissions to Auslan
at admin@austcham.org
If you have any questions on the CIMG please call Mary or Auslan at the CIMG Secretariat on +86 10 65959252
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