The Chinese capital is now in fifth place for the world's most expensive office space, with New York's midtown Manhattan coming sixth, Cushman & Wakefield said in its 2012 rankings released this month.

The top spot was captured by the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong, followed by London and Tokyo. The Russian capital Moscow was fourth.

"The unprecedented urbanisation process in China and strong economic growth will continue to drive up the demand for office space," Andy Zhang, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield China, said in a statement.

China has moved to curb property speculation for more than a year, but government moves have been largely aimed at housing prices and not the office and commercial sectors.

In Beijing, occupancy cost was an average $130 per square foot (0.09 square metres) annually, higher than the $120 for New York, according to the real estate services firm.

The global ranking only covers the most expensive city in a country, so China's commercial hub of Shanghai was not ranked.

However, Shanghai had rental growth of 27 percent last year, the second fastest in Asia behind Beijing.

Zhang said rental growth in the two cities was expected to slow later this year, but that lack of new supply in future would keep rents high.

"With a single-digit record low vacancy rate and not much quality supply foreseeable in the coming years, we expect Beijing and Shanghai to maintain the landlords market position in 2012," he said.

China's policies to bring residential prices down include bans on buying second homes and hiking minimum down-payments for home buyers.

Some property developers have turned to commercial and office projects following the curbs, industry officials say.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Zurich, Switzerland (UPI) Feb 6, 2012 - The mouse has roared. The third and smallest member of the Greek government coalition has rejected the latest terms for a $180 billion European bailout of its crumbling economy and its leader has been handing out drachmas, the coins of the old national currency before the euro.

The latest negotiations between the European Union, the Greeks, the International Monetary Fund and the Institute of International Finance (representing private creditors) have gone beyond brinkmanship.

Deadlines are set and the Greeks say "Tomorrow." Conditions are laid down and the Greek government says it must consult the labor unions or labor court judges or the trade associations. And in all cases it must bring on board all the members of the government of national unity, which seems united only in its determination to negotiate, stall and maneuver its way out of the conditions.

And who can blame them? Greece's gross domestic product contracted 6 percent last year, after falling 4.5 percent in 2020. Unemployment is almost 20 percent and this year's budget deficit is more than 9 percent. This is more than austerity; it is economic repression. That is the Greek view.

But then there is the German view. Every single commitment the Greeks have made has been broken, the Germans retort. Promises of raising $65 billion in privatization of state assets have gone nowhere. Promises of cutting the swollen public workforce have not been met. Promises to balance the budget have failed. Promises to reform the labor market have not gone beyond cosmetics.

"We can't pay into a bottomless pit," said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. "Greece needs a new program, there's no question about that, but Greece must create the conditions for it."

So the Germans, backed by the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, are making their demands explicit. They want an immediate 25 percent cut in the $986 minimum monthly wage, an end to the traditional holiday bonuses (often a month of extra pay) and to supplementary pensions.

This represents the German compromise. Last week, they were suggesting installing a European overlord in Athens to ensure that the government's budgets and spending and taxes were agreeable to the European paymasters. They also wanted the first charge on all tax revenues to be repayment of debt.

Quite simply, the Europeans, backed by Germany, have run out of patience. Veteran European statesman Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg prime minister and the head of the eurozone group, warned Greece in a media interview that it must either meet its creditors' requirements or default. It shouldn't expect any further support from its eurozone partners.

The Greek view is that they have suffered enough and heard more than enough demands and ultimatums.

"We need to examine whether the creditors' demands are in favor of growth for the sake of the Greek people, otherwise we will not get the support package. I am not going to sign up to that," said Giorgos Karatzaferis, the head of the ruling coalition's third partner, the Popular Orthodox Rally.

The outcome can be predicted. The Greeks will cave and accept the terms but then drag their feet over implementing them. The deadline is March 20, when Greece must meet a $19 billion bond payment but for technical reasons an agreement has to be sealed by Feb. 13.

Behind this drama over the Greek deadline a further drama was unfolding over the weekend at the Munich security conference, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave the Europeans her full moral support.

"I have heard all the talk about where Europe fits into America's global outlook. But the reality couldn't be clearer: Europe is, and remains, America's partner of first resort," she told the Munich Security Conference. "We remain confident that Europe has the will and the means not only to cut your debt and build the necessary firewalls but also to create growth, and to restore liquidity and market confidence."

What Clinton was really saying was that the U.S. economy was starting to recover and unemployment was going down sufficiently to give President Barack Obama a strong chance of re-election in November. The biggest single threat to this wasn't the Republican hopeful Mitt Romney but the prospect of a meltdown in the eurozone.

Clinton was word-perfect on the latest gloomy IMF forecast, which sees the European economy shrinking 0.5 percent this year but by a massive 4.5 percent, worse than the region's 4.1 percent drop in 2009, if the eurozone starts to unravel.

No German official will say it publicly but in private they mutter that the IMF under former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is looking more and more like a tool of French national policy, just as it did under her predecessor Dominique Straus-Kahn, who began the IMF policy of bailing out the wealthy eurozone.

Beset by the Americans, the French, the IMF and the Greeks, the Germans are feeling encircled again, a mood which seldom brings out their best.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 5, 2012 - China's Premier Wen Jiabao said a stable Europe was key to stability at home, in comments published Sunday, at the end of a week that saw Germany's chancellor visit Beijing.

"Firstly, our biggest export market is Europe," Wen said in the southern city of Guangzhou on Saturday, adding that Europe was also a main source of technology for China.

"Helping stability in the European market is actually helping ourselves... We have to keep import and export policies stable."

Wen was echoing comments he made on Thursday during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China, intended to boost her hosts' confidence in Europe.

At a conference with Merkel in the capital on Thursday, China's premier warned of an "urgent" need to solve the European debt crisis and said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to bailout funds.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

Wen called on the international community to work together on the embattled region, which is China's top export market.

"China is investigating and evaluating ways, through the International Monetary Fund, to be more deeply involved in solving the European debt problem via ESM/EFSF channels," Wen said.

He was referring to the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary rescue fund that was established to help struggling economies in Europe, and the European Stability Mechanism -- a newer, permanent fund.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis has deepened, repeatedly urging European leaders to get a grip on the situation.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 5, 2012 - Chinese companies and funds have ramped up investment in crisis-hit Europe, buying utilities, energy firms and even luxury yacht makers, but are steering clear of eurozone debt.

Analysts say bargain-hunting -- and not the secret hand of Beijing -- is driving the recent wave of acquisitions as Chinese companies seek to expand overseas and the country's sovereign wealth fund diversifies away from US bonds.

Chinese direct investment in Europe more than doubled to $6.7 billion in 2010 from the previous year, latest official figures show, and analysts expect the recent flurry of deals to continue as eurozone economies deteriorate.

"At a time of severe economic and financial stress in the eurozone there are inevitably some great buying opportunities for cash-rich Chinese firms," said Alistair Thornton, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Beijing.

Chinese firms have been targeting a range of sectors, including engineering, high-tech, energy, finance and utilities, as intense domestic competition forces them to look for new markets around the world.

The investment has fuelled concerns in Europe that Beijing could gain too much influence over debt-stricken economies. But Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday China had neither the ability nor the intention to "buy Europe".

China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe", Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou.

"This a concern and doesn't fit reality. China doesn't have this intention and doesn't have this ability."

Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics in London, said the recent deals were fuelled by cheap credit offered by Chinese banks and the fact that China's foreign asset managers were "stuffed to the gills with bonds".

"This isn't China Inc ordering the overall strategy," Williams told AFP. "Most of China's recent purchases are exactly the sort of deals you'd expect any big investors to be doing."

In the latest deal, China State Grid has agreed to pay 387 million euros ($508.2 million) for a 25 percent stake in the national electricity grid of debt-stricken Portugal, Treasury Secretary Maria Albuquerque said Thursday.

Earlier this week, Chinese construction equipment giant Sany Heavy Industry agreed to acquire German family-owned engineering firm Putzmeister for an undisclosed sum.

That came hot on the heels of China Investment Corp, the country's $400-billion sovereign wealth fund set up in 2007 to invest some of China's huge foreign exchange stockpile, buying a stake in British utility Thames Water.

China Three Gorges in December beat competitors to a 21.35 percent stake in Energias de Portugal, paying 2.7 billion euros as Portugal sold assets to bolster state coffers.

And Shandong Heavy Industry agreed last month to pay 374 million euros ($491 million) for a 75 percent stake in debt-laden Italian luxury yacht maker Ferretti Group.

But Jonathan Holslag of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies cautioned that total Chinese investment in Europe still lagged far behind that of other countries such as the United States and Japan.

"If one factors in Hong Kong, China might have invested around $40 billion since 2007 ... (but it) still represents only one to two percent of total investments," Holslag told AFP.

Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in November that the government would lead an investment delegation to Europe this year, signalling Beijing was more interested in owning real assets than risky sovereign debt.

"Some European countries are facing a debt crisis and hope to convert their assets to cash, so we will push forward more Chinese companies to acquire European enterprises," Chen was quoted by state media saying.

European leaders have called on China, which has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, to invest in a bailout fund, but China has so far made no firm commitment to provide financial assistance.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel began a three-day visit to Beijing on Thursday aimed in part at boosting confidence in the eurozone after a sovereign debt crisis that has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades.

Premier Wen said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to Europe's bailout funds and warned of an "urgent" need to solve the region's woes, after holding talks with Merkel.

Christopher Hughes, an expert in international relations at the London School of Economics, said Beijing might be more willing to buy eurozone debt "if the Europeans got their act together but that seems a long way off".

"It is hard to see why anybody would want to buy eurozone sovereign debt -- even the Europeans do not want to do it," Hughes said.

"So why should they risk that when they can carry on buying US debt and when buying into profitable EU companies is much less risky."

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 4, 2012 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday wrapped up a visit to China where she tried to reassure her hosts on the strength of the euro and Europe's ability to overcome its debt crisis.

During her three-day trip to the world's second largest economy, Merkel praised the advantages of the single currency and urged China to put pressure on Iran and to condemn Syria at the United Nations.

Merkel, who was prevented from meeting journalists and a human rights lawyers, ended her official visit in the southern city of Guangzhou, Xinhua news agency reported.

Merkel, who held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao during her visit, had said that she would raise human rights issues during the trip.

She attended a business forum with Wen, who Friday said China had neither the intention nor ability "to buy Europe".

Experts believe China holds more than $550 billion of European sovereign debt, although the figure has not been officially confirmed.

Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will preside Monday over the 14th Franco-German council of ministers, which will be largely devoted to the eurozone financial crisis.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Munich, Germany (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - The head of environmental pressure group Greenpeace warned Friday the world faced a "perfect storm" of crises and was heading for what he termed a crisis of "epic proportions."

Speaking for the first time at the Munich Security Conference, Kumi Naidoo presented an apocalyptic version of the state of the world and accused leaders of "sleepwalking" into disaster.

"The moment of history we are in can be described as a boiling point or a perfect storm," he told the assembled gathering of world leaders, ministers, top brass and defence policy experts at the annual Munich gathering.

"We are seeing a convergence of multiple crises happening at the same time. A food crisis, climate crisis, poverty crisis ... and then of course the financial crisis and a demographic crisis and a global governance democratic crisis," he added.

"The bottom line is that too many of our leaders ... are sleepwalking us into a crisis of epic proportion," he claimed.

Greenpeace was invited for the first time to the conference, which has this year as its star turn US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and focuses on the rise of Asia and the impact on the transatlantic alliance.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met China's president on Friday as she seeks to lift Beijing's confidence in Europe where the sovereign debt crisis threatens to tip the region into recession.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, has watched with increasing concern as eurozone economies have deteriorated, and has repeatedly urged European leaders to get a grip on the situation.

Merkel's meeting with President Hu Jintao came a day after talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, who said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to Europe's bailout funds and warned of an "urgent" need to solve the debt crisis.

"China is investigating and evaluating ways, through the International Monetary Fund, to be more deeply involved in solving the European debt problem via ESM/EFSF channels," Wen said at a news conference with Merkel.

Wen was referring to the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary rescue fund that was established to help struggling economies in Europe, and the European Stability Mechanism -- a newer, permanent fund.

Hu told Merkel before their closed-door meeting Friday that her visit would "increase mutual understanding" between the two countries, whose bilateral trade reached $169 billion in 2011, an 18.9 percent increase from the previous year.

Merkel, who will return to Germany on Saturday, said in a speech Thursday she would raise the issue of human rights during her visit.

After meeting Hu she flew to the southern province of Guangdong, where German companies already have a significant presence, with Wen and executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

Her visit to the manufacturing hub will include a meeting with Gan Junqiu, the state-backed Catholic bishop of Guangzhou -- the provincial capital -- according to a German diplomatic source.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - China's Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to "buy Europe", amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies.

China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe", Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou.

"This a concern and doesn't fit reality. China doesn't have this intention and doesn't have this ability."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China for a three-day visit to boost her host's confidence in Europe, also attended the forum along with executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

There are growing concerns in Europe that a recent wave of investment by Chinese companies and government-backed funds will give Beijing too much influence over struggling European economies.

In the latest deal, China State Grid has agreed to pay 387 million euros ($508.2 million) for a 25 percent stake in the national electricity grid of debt-stricken Portugal, Treasury Secretary Maria Albuquerque said Thursday.

European leaders have called on China, which has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, to invest in a bailout fund to rescue debt-stricken countries.

China has so far made no firm commitment to provide financial assistance, although Wen said Thursday it was considering getting more involved in bailout funds through the International Monetary Fund.

Analysts say bargain-hunting is behind the recent acquisitions by Chinese companies seeking to expand overseas. The country's sovereign wealth fund has also sought to diversify away from US bonds.

At the forum Wen also touched on the politically sensitive topic of rare earths -- 17 elements crucial in the manufacturing of many high-tech products -- amid accusations China unfairly restricts exports of the valuable minerals.

China -- the world's largest producer of rare earths -- "has no discrimination when it comes to foreign companies", Wen told the forum.

State media said this week Beijing was bracing for renewed calls to ease its rare earths controls after the World Trade Organization ruled the country's limits on key raw material exports broke trade rules.

Merkel, who earlier Friday held talks with President Hu Jintao and the country's top legislator Wu Bangguo in Beijing, had said that she would raise human rights issues during her visit.

Rights lawyer Mo Shaoping, whose clients include jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, told AFP Friday that police had prevented him from meeting with Merkel at a reception at the German Embassy on Thursday.

Mo said police told him he was not allowed to attend the meeting due to concerns over social stability ahead of a key Communist Party meeting slated for late this year that will usher in a 10-yearly leadership transition.

The German embassy in Beijing did not immediately comment on the absence of Mo, who also defended the jailed rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Merkel's visit to Guangdong province will include a meeting with Gan Junqiu, the state-backed Catholic bishop of Guangzhou -- the provincial capital -- a German diplomatic source said, before returning to Germany on Saturday.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to reassure Beijing over the crisis in the eurozone and urged China to press Tehran on its nuclear programme as she began an official visit on Thursday.

"The euro as our common currency has made Europe stronger," Merkel said in a speech ahead of talks with China's Premier Wen Jiabao.

"The European Union -- in particular those states that have adopted the euro -- has made considerable progress in the last two years."

Merkel's three-day trip is aimed partly at boosting confidence in the eurozone after a sovereign debt crisis that has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

Europe is China's top export market and Beijing has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis has deepened, repeatedly urging European leaders to get a grip on the situation.

The leader of Europe's biggest economy said EU members were now "deeply convinced" that they were on the right track with a treaty agreed by most EU nations on Monday that aims to stop countries from overspending.

The treaty -- pushed by Germany and the European Central Bank -- will require governments to introduce laws on balanced budgets and impose near-automatic sanctions on countries that violate deficit rules.

It will come into force after at least 12 euro nations ratify it, and only those countries that sign up will be able to access bailout aid from a new rescue fund.

In a speech to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Merkel said China -- the world's second-biggest economy -- "must use its influence to tell Iran that transparency is a must and its nuclear programme must be open".

A German government source said earlier the chancellor would also call on Beijing not to take advantage of Europe's ban on Iranian oil -- imposed on Tehran over its nuclear stance -- to boost its own imports of the resource.

The US, the European Union and others have ramped up sanctions to target Iran's oil industry and central bank since a UN atomic watchdog report in November raised suspicions Tehran had done work on developing nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear drive is for peaceful purposes and that the International Atomic Energy Agency report was based on "forgeries" provided by its enemies.

Merkel, who will meet President Hu Jintao on Friday, also touched on Syria in her speech, saying it was "important that the international community speak with one voice at the United Nations."

The German leader is expected to ask for Beijing's support for a UN Security Council resolution against Syria, where fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and rebels is escalating.

China has a veto at the Security Council.

On bilateral trade between China and Germany -- which reached $169 billion in 2011, an 18.9-percent increase from the previous year -- Merkel called for a level playing field for German firms operating in China.

"As German entrepreneurs, we want to be treated on an equal footing with Chinese companies," she said.

Merkel's trip comes just days after deadly unrest hit China's Tibetan-inhabited areas and she indicated that human rights would be on the agenda.

"Germany has always advocated an open, political dialogue, including on controversial issues such as human rights and building a state of law," she said.

On Friday, Merkel will fly to the southern province of Guangdong -- where nearly 500 German companies are already present -- with Wen and executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

Her visit to the wealthy manufacturing hub will include a meeting with Gan Junqiu, the state-backed Catholic bishop of Guangzhou -- the provincial capital -- according to a German diplomatic source.

Rare earths -- valuable elements that are used in the production of high-tech products and which are of "very great importance for the German economy" -- will also be on the table, a German government source said.

China has been accused of deliberately restricting rare-earth exports to drive up prices and force manufacturers onto its shores, but Beijing says it limits them for environmental reasons to reduce mining-related pollution.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - China's premier warned of an "urgent" need to solve the European debt crisis Thursday and said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to bailout funds, after talks with Germany's chancellor.

Angela Merkel is in China for a three-day trip aimed at boosting her hosts' confidence in Europe, where the sovereign debt crisis has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

Speaking at a press conference with Merkel in Beijing, Wen Jiabao said solving Europe's woes was "urgent" and called on the international community to work together on the embattled region, which is China's top export market.

"China is investigating and evaluating ways, through the International Monetary Fund, to be more deeply involved in solving the European debt problem via ESM/EFSF channels," Wen said.

He was referring to the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary rescue fund that was established to help struggling economies in Europe, and the European Stability Mechanism -- a newer, permanent fund.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis has deepened, repeatedly urging European leaders to get a grip on the situation.

In a speech earlier Thursday at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences -- a leading government think-tank -- Merkel sought to assure Beijing that the situation was under control.

"The euro as our common currency has made Europe stronger," she said.

The leader of Europe's biggest economy said EU members were now "deeply convinced" that they were on the right track with a treaty agreed by most EU nations on Monday that aims to stop countries from overspending.

The treaty -- pushed by Germany and the European Central Bank -- will require governments to introduce laws on balanced budgets and impose near-automatic sanctions on countries that violate deficit rules.

It will come into force after at least 12 euro nations ratify it, and only those countries that sign up will be able to access bailout aid from the new rescue fund.

Merkel also broached the sensitive issue of human rights at a press briefing in China -- which censors information it deems a threat to its one-party rule -- saying free speech and Internet freedom were important.

She had reportedly asked to meet journalists working for the Nanfang group in China's south -- known for its cutting-edge reporting -- but authorities refused her request, a source from the German delegation told AFP.

On the diplomatic front, Merkel said in her earlier speech China "must use its influence to tell Iran that transparency is a must and its nuclear programme must be open".

A German government source said earlier the chancellor would also call on Beijing not to take advantage of Europe's ban on Iranian oil -- imposed on Tehran over its nuclear stance -- to boost its own imports of the resource.

The US, the European Union and others have ramped up sanctions to target Iran's oil industry and central bank since a UN atomic watchdog report in November raised suspicions Tehran had done work on developing nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear drive is for peaceful purposes and that the International Atomic Energy Agency report was based on "forgeries" provided by its enemies.

Merkel, who will meet President Hu Jintao on Friday, also touched on Syria, saying it was "important that the international community speak with one voice at the United Nations."

The German leader is expected to ask for Beijing's support for a UN Security Council resolution against Syria, where fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's security forces and rebels is escalating.

On bilateral trade between China and Germany -- which reached $169 billion in 2011, an 18.9-percent increase from the previous year -- Merkel called for a level playing field for German firms operating in China.

Also Friday, Merkel will fly to the southern province of Guangdong -- where nearly 500 German companies are already present -- with Wen and executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

Her visit to the manufacturing hub will include a meeting with Gan Junqiu, the state-backed Catholic bishop of Guangzhou -- the provincial capital -- according to a German diplomatic source.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:45 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D