- Associated Press
The Dalai Lama spoke Saturday at Penguin Books India’s annual lecture in New Delhi, but with ground rules: No political questions.
His Holiness says he no longer sees himself as a political figure and, while speaking at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, kept to spiritual matters rather than get embroiled in discussions about China’s displeasure at his presence here.
Read more on India Real Time.
In recent years, China has re-invigorated its support for leading state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to “economic security,” explicitly looking to foster globally competitive national champions.
The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, and is focusing on nuclear and other alternative energy development.
China is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with an average growth rate of 10% for the past 30 years.
Nevertheless, key bottlenecks continue to constrain growth.
The two sectors have differed in many respects.
The technological level and quality standards of its industry as a whole are still fairly low, notwithstanding a marked change since 2000, spurred in part by foreign investment.
The market-oriented reforms China has implemented over the past two decades have unleashed individual initiative and entrepreneurship, whilst retaining state domination of the economy.
China now ranks as the fifth largest global investor in outbound direct investment (ODI) with a total volume of $56.5 billion, compared to a ranking of 12th in 2008, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.
From January to June, the ODI in financial sectors was up by 44 percent to $17.9 billion, and in July alone, the ODI recorded $8.91 billion, the highest this year.
China reiterated the nation’s goals for the next decade – increasing market share of pure-electric and plug-in electric autos, building world-competitive auto makers and parts manufacturers in the energy-efficient auto sector as well as raising fuel-efficiency to world levels.
China’s challenge in the early 21st century will be to balance its highly centralized political system with an increasingly decentralized economic system.
Even with these improvements, agriculture accounts for only 20% of the nation’s gross national product.
China is the world’s largest producer of rice and wheat and a major producer of sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes.
Due to improved technology, the fishing industry has grown considerably since the late 1970s.
Oil fields discovered in the 1960s and after made China a net exporter, and by the early 1990s, China was the world’s fifth-ranked oil producer.
There are also deposits of vanadium, magnetite, copper, fluorite, nickel, asbestos, phosphate rock, pyrite, and sulfur.
China also has extensive hydroelectric energy potential, notably in Yunnan, W Sichuan, and E Tibet, although hydroelectric power accounts for only 5% of the country’s total energy production.
Although a British crown colony until its return to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong has long been a major maritime outlet of S China.
Rivers and canals (notably the Grand Canal, which connects the Huang He and the Chang rivers) remain important transportation arteries.
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Elephant in Room for Dalai Lama: China
