Chairman of the State Planning Commission Chen Jinhua said that China needed to maintain a high growth economy to ward off surging unemployment and the possibility of social unrest. But he also said that even with fast growth, new job creation might not meet demand. Intel is to move half of its global assembly capacity for flash memory chips to this plant. Intel's first in China, the factory will employ 500 staff, mostly Chinese, and is expected to start production by the middle of 1998. China vowed on Sunday to take the issue up to international court if European officials do not back down on their temporary tariffs on Chinese shoes, reported UPI Beijing News.
China is the world's largest shoe maker and exporter.
China's money supply growth rates were close to targets but China cannot afford to relax its monetary policies over the next five years, said Chen Yaoxian, vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, in an international conference in Beijing. In May and August, China cut deposit rates an average of 2.48 percentage points and lending rates of 1.9, which were followed by surging inventories and overall decline in inflation. A central bank spokesman said that the two cuts had produced the desired results and the present interest rate level is appropriate. China's nationwide tax and expenditure goals are not being met as companies delay tax payments and authorities divert funds, according to Bloomberg. Industrial tax arrears stood at 39.7 billion yuan at the end of September.