In May alone, the two have locked horns over solar panels, steel tubes and telecoms equipment, sparking fears of a trade war between two of the world's biggest trading partners.

Analysts said the increase in tensions could simply reflect the fact that both are feeling the pressure from a sharp economic slowdown.

China grew at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012 while the EU economy, sapped by the debt crisis and soaring unemployment, is mired in a record-long recession.

"I think the fact that the EU is in a negative growth spiral cannot be divorced from their trade actions with China," said Sergio Marchi, head of the Marchi Group management consultancy and former Canadian International Trade Minister and ambassador to the World Trade Organization.

EU political leaders "at this time of job losses and economic hardship want to demonstrate to their constituents that they are tough in the face of any challenges from China," Marchi said.

But the danger is that they go too far.

"The EU must be careful in not overplaying its hand. China understands politics but they don't like being put on the public spot, especially if it runs the risk of losing face publicly.

"If they decide to fight back, then the EU might be facing a lose-lose scenario," Marchi added.

Zhang Hanlin, professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the main loser in any trade war would "certainly be the EU, EU consumers and EU industry, not China.

"The EU is recovering and definitely needs the support of the global market because the EU, like China, is an economy that depends a lot on foreign demand," Zhang said.

The stakes are enormous. EU exports to China totalled $212 billion last year, with imports $334 billion, making theirs one of the biggest trading relationships in the world.

Analyst said the risks are even greater with a new political leadership in Beijing which may be more sensitive to slights.

So far, their response has been firm but guarded.

China "does not want ... a trade war," Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said this week after the EU threatened an anti-subsidy probe into telecoms imports.

"We hope the EU will not take actions that do no good to either side."

Brussels was careful too in announcing the telecoms probe, highlighting it as a "decision in principle" taken pending "negotiations towards an amicable solution with the Chinese authorities."

-- Don't give 'trade spats ... more importance than they are due' --

The EU is not blind to other Chinese sensitivities.

For example, Beijing has expressed concerns over what it sees as US efforts to contain its power in Asia and the Pacific as President Barack Obama 'pivots' back to the region.

It has also noted EU-US plans for what could be the biggest Free Trade Agreement in the world.

An EU official said that during last month's visit to China by EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, Chinese officials had "mentioned again" the possibility of Brussels and Beijing concluding an FTA.

While the EU feels an investment protection accord would be best at this stage, the official said the EU had reassured Beijing a US accord was "not aimed at closing the transatlantic relationship" but rather at opening it up, including to China.

"Europe is poised to launch this process as soon as China is ready and we look forward to working with the new Chinese government to reach a deal," EU trade spokesman John Clancy said Friday of the investment accord.

"This would be a first step -- when we see progress in these talks with China (we could) also envisage to consider an FTA," Clancy added.

At the same time as there have been disputes, there have also been agreements.

Earlier this month, for example, the European Commission approved a $900-million tie-up between Sweden's Volvo Trucks and China's Dongfeng Motor which will create the world's biggest lorry maker ahead of Germany's Daimler.

"I would not give the current trade spats ... more importance than they are due," said European Liberal Democrat lawmaker Sir Graham Watson.

"Dumping investigations are the normal currency of international trade ... during the last Commission, it was all about shoes and bras," Watson said.

"The Brussels-Beijing relationship will go on as before."

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Washington (AFP) May 17, 2013 - Apple and US lawmakers are gearing up for a showdown over taxes -- specifically how to deal with the huge stockpile of cash held by Apple and other multinational firms offshore.

A Senate panel has called Apple chief executive Tim Cook and others from the California tech giant to testify at a hearing Tuesday on "methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore."

The hearing comes amid increased scrutiny on offshore holdings of big US corporations, which have hundreds of billions overseas but are reluctant to bring the funds home because they could be subject to a top tax rate of 35 percent.

Apple is in focus because of its $145 billion cash stockpile, much of it offshore. The company recently sold $17 billion in bonds to raise cash instead of repatriating profits, which would be taxed.

Cook told The Washington Post he will be offering his own proposal to lawmakers, which he argued would make it easier for Apple and other companies to repatriate offshore profits.

"If you look at it today, to repatriate cash to the US, you need to pay 35 percent of that cash. And that is a very high number," Cook told the daily.

"We are not proposing that it be zero. I know many of our peers believe that. But I don't view that. But I think it has to be reasonable."

Cook declined to offer specifics but indicated he would propose a "simplification" of the corporate tax code when he testifies.

Apple "likely is the largest corporate taxpayer in the US," Cook said in the interview, estimating that the iPhone and iPad maker would pay $7 billion this year in income taxes.

In a separate interview with the Politico news website, Cook sought to deflect criticism that Apple is shifting profits to escape taxation.

"Apple is contributing in a lot of different ways to the economy, and we're very, very proud of it, particularly in the job-creation area and the work we do to protect our environment," Cook said.

"I hope to make some clear recommendations, and I trust there will be receptive parties there."

He added that the company is investing $100 million in US manufacturing, as it brings back some production of computers from overseas.

The hearing will also include Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer and its head of tax operations, Phillip Bullock, along with tax experts from Harvard and Villanova University, and officials from Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.

The question of offshore profits remains a hot topic with the US government facing high deficits and complaints rising about fairness in taxation.

A study by the activist group Citizens for Tax Justice found that some 300 of the Fortune 500 corporations collectively held $1.6 trillion offshore at the end of 2011.

And the group said 10 big US firms including Apple and Microsoft added a total of $106 billion to their offshore holdings last year.

Because these overseas profits are not subject to US tax unless the funds are brought back, the US government is expected to lose some $600 billion in revenues in the next decade, according to a congressional estimate cited by the group.

While some argue that the shifting of profits overseas is a huge tax avoidance scheme, others say the situation calls for lower rates to encourage firms to repatriate funds and invest in the US economy.

Cisco CEO John Chambers told CNBC television this week that his company will likely invest more overseas if US tax laws are not modified.

"I prefer to have the majority of my employees here in America. That's the right decision for us, but if we can't bring our cash back, we're going to grow dramatically faster overseas in terms of job placements," he said.

"I think this is something our country has to fix."

But Citizens for Tax Justice said in a recent report that "the US statutory tax rate of 35 percent is almost entirely irrelevant" because of numerous loopholes.

"The total federal corporate income tax collected in the US in 2010 was equal to just 1.3 percent of our gross domestic product," a figure "much lower than are corporate income taxes in almost every other developed country," the group said.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Beijing (AFP) May 17, 2013 - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday touted his troubled but improving economy as an attractive entry point for Chinese investment into the European Union.

"Greece can become a real 'gateway' for investment and trade flows between China and Europe," Samaris told a Greek-Chinese business forum, according to a copy of his speech text.

Samaris is visiting China, the world's second-largest economy, in a bid to strengthen economic ties. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday after holding talks with Premier Li Keqiang the day before.

Samaris acknowledged that Greece is in recession, but said that the country has overcome excessive debt and low competitiveness.

"We achieved fiscal consolidation and we have moved forward with structural reforms that are changing, totally changing our economy," he said.

Samaris added that a full recapitalisation of the country's banking system was on the verge of completion.

He said "currency risk scenarios" -- an apparent reference to the possibility of giving up the euro -- "are now dead" and that investors can rest assured.

"Greece is anchored in the eurozone," he said. "This is now unquestionable."

Samaris also welcomed the signing of business agreements Thursday, including one by the China Development Bank with Greece's privatisation agency and the "Invest in Greece" agency.

Greece's economy shrank 6.4 percent in 2012 and has contracted by more than a fifth since 2008 amid the country's debt crisis.

The government, however, is forecasting a smaller contraction of 4.3 percent this year before the economy returns to growth in 2014.

China's Xi told Samaris at their meeting that China supports European integration and is prepared to work with Greece -- which will hold the rotating EU presidency in 2014 -- to push forward China-Europe relations, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"(We) look forward to closer cooperation between the two sides on trade, shipping, culture and tourism," Xi said, according to Xinhua. He also said his government encourages investment in Greece by Chinese enterprises.

Greek news agency ANA reported Friday, citing a joint statement issued at the end of Samaris' official meetings, that Athens welcomes Chinese participation in privatisation efforts.

"Greece welcomes and salutes the participation of Chinese enterprises in the Greek government's privatisation programme and declares its intention to offer the necessary facilitations and its support," the statement said.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Beijing (AFP) May 16, 2013 - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose marginally in April, the government announced on Thursday, as investment into the giant from the rest of Asia remained largely static.

Incoming FDI, which excludes financial sectors, was up a mere 0.4 percent year-on-year in April to $8.44 billion, the commerce ministry said, while the figure for the first four months of 2013 rose 1.21 percent to $38.34 billion.

The vast majority of it comes from a group of 10 Asian countries and regions including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore, whose investment crept up only 0.21 percent to $33.15 billion over the period.

But EU investment into the world's second-largest economy leapt 29.7 percent $2.47 billion, while investment from the US soared 33.2 percent to $1.40 billion.

"Investment from the EU and US into China increased sharply," said commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang.

China's overseas investment in non-financial sectors in January-April rose 27 percent year-on-year to $29.5 billion, he added.

In March, FDI had risen 5.65 percent in March to $12.4 billion.

FDI fell in 2012 for the first time in three years owing to global economic uncertainties led by Europe's debt crisis, a slowdown at home and regional political tensions.

China grew at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012, with gross domestic product expanding 7.8 percent in the face of weakness at home and in key overseas markets.

Economic growth rebounded to 7.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012, raising hopes for a recovery, but in the first three months of this year it slowed to 7.7 percent.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Brussels (AFP) May 15, 2013 - The EU has alerted China to its decision to launch an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe involving the mobile telecommunications networks sector, Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced on Wednesday.

"The European Commission has today taken a decision in principle to open an ex officio anti-dumping and an anti-subsidy investigation concerning imports of mobile telecommunications networks and their essential elements from China," a statement said.

However, in a departure from normal practice , De Gucht stressed that "this decision will not be activated for the time being to allow for negotiations towards an amicable solution with the Chinese authorities."

The decision comes as Brussels and Beijing have stepped up a series of tit-for-tat disputes over market access, most recently in solar panels, and intellectual property rights.

The statement said that China exports telecommunication network equipment to the EU with a market value of around a billion euros each year.

An ex officio trade defence action allows the European Commission to launch a trade defence investigation on its own initiative without an official complaint by the EU industry, the Commission said.

De Gucht's spokesman John Clancy told a regular news conference in Brussels that officials had been gathering evidence for over a year.

Top EU envoy Catherine Ashton is travelling to meet officials from China's newly-installed leadership at the end of April.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Sydney (AFP) May 15, 2013 - Australia Wednesday gave Rio Tinto the go-ahead for a controversial Aus$1.3 billion (US$1.3 billion) bauxite mine project in a decision environmentalists blasted as "vandalism on a grand scale".

After more than a year of delays, Environment Minister Tony Burke approved Rio Tinto Alcan's South of Embley bauxite mine and port development in western Cape York, a wilderness area in northeastern Australia.

Burke slapped 76 conditions on the project, including on shipping movements through the Great Barrier Reef and steps to protect endangered species such as turtles, dugongs and dolphins.

"My decision comes after a rigorous environmental assessment, and the conditions I have placed on the project will ensure that the region is protected," he said.

The project includes building a power station, processing plant, warehouses and workshops, in addition to barge, ferry and ship-loading facilities to extend the life of an existing bauxite mine in the area for a further 40 years.

"Respect for the environment is central to the way we operate, and we will ensure all the conditions for the construction and operation of the project are met," said Pat Fiore, chief executive of bauxite at Rio Tinto Alcan, an arm of Rio Tinto.

But environmentalists said Burke had approved the single biggest land clearing project in Cape York's history, claiming it would wipe out 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of a landscape identified as being of World Heritage standard.

They also said it would mean hundreds more ships crossing the Great Barrier Reef.

"This mine will result in environmental vandalism on a grand scale," said Tim Seelig, Queensland campaign manager for the Wilderness Society.

The approval came just days after the United Nations warned that the Great Barrier Reef's world heritage status could be downgraded in 2014 due to rampant coastal development and water quality issues.

"Management plans and monitoring programmes don't change the fact that Labor is letting Cape York be strip mined and allowing even more massive ships to crash through the Great Barrier Reef," said Australian Greens environment spokeswoman Larissa Waters.

Australia is riding an unprecedented wave of resources investment due to booming demand from Asia, with hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of resource projects in the pipeline.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Riga, Latvia (UPI) May 14, 2013 - Latvia's Parliament has voted to ease citizenship rules for those living abroad but excluded Russia, drawing criticism from the country's Russian speakers.

After two years of debate, a majority of Latvian lawmakers in the Saeima voted last week to end a restriction on dual citizenship for those of Latvian descent living in many foreign countries, such as the hundreds of thousands who have left the country seeking jobs since its independence in 1990.

In 2011, Latvia -- a nation of 2 million whose economy was hit hard by the recession -- lost up to 37,000 citizens to emigration, University of Latvia econometrics Professor Mihails Hazans told the LETA news agency in March.

The new amendments embrace the concept of dual citizenship, which provides that economic migrants and their descendants in the European Union, NATO countries, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand will be able to retain Latvian citizenship while also hanging on to their current citizenship.

The dual citizenship bill, however, excludes those living in Russia and Israel, which the country's Russian-speaking minority protested as a discriminatory move to create "second-class" countries, and by extension, second-class Latvian citizens.

Some 54 members of the Saeima voted to approve the measures, while all 27 MPs of the Harmony Center party, which represents the Russian speakers, voted against.

The Citizenship Law amendments also cover those exiled under the Nazi occupation of World War II during the post-war Soviet occupation, which lasted until May 4, 1990, when the Latvian Supreme Council declared the nation's independence from the Soviet Union.

Such exiles can become dual citizens no matter where they live.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said last week's vote is a long-needed boon for Latvians who have been forced to leave their homeland for political or economic reasons.

"The new wording of the Citizenship Law upgrades the current regulation, while applying the concept of citizenship to the dynamic change in the modern world, including Latvia's accession to the family of the European Union and NATO states," he said.

The Harmony Center party was turned back in its attempts to add the Commonwealth of Independent States, a regional bloc of former Soviet republics including Russia, to be added to the list of states were Latvian migrants and their children can hold dual citizenship.

Harmony Center Deputy Chairman Valery Agesins said the dual citizenship amendment sorts Latvian citizens into "right" and "wrong" categories and smacks of "elite club" politics.

"For example," he said, "the Latvian national who traveled to the U.K. for a job and is willing to accept the nationality of that country is getting into a better position than the Latvian national who went to Russia to work and is willing to accept the Russian state."

Latvian Citizenship and Immigration Deputy Chief Janis Citskovskis told Latvian Radio, however, restricting dual citizenship to countries that are "politically and militarily close" was necessary for security reasons.

"Until now, dual citizenship was denied because people cannot serve two masters in the event of armed conflict," he said. "It is believed that these countries are close to us and there is no possibility that they might break a military conflict."

The amendments to the Citizenship Act are set come into force Oct. 1.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Athens (AFP) May 13, 2013 - Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hopes his four-day trip to China this week will help his country's ailing economy by attracting investment and promoting the export of Greek products.

Upon the invitation of the head of the Chinese government Li Keqiang, Samaras will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou from Wednesday to Sunday, and will meet several Chinese officials.

He will thus become the second EU leader, after French President Francois Hollande, to visit the Asian country since the new Chinese leadership came to power.

Samaras will be accompanied by his ministers of foreign affairs, tourism, development and merchant marine and a group of around 60 Greek businessmen.

Emphasising the importance of the visit, local media report that the premier, who is expected to sign a series of bilateral and business agreements, hopes to turn Greece into a gateway to Europe and will discuss issues of transport, energy, privatisations, shipping and tourism.

Already in Beijing, Deputy Minister for Development Notis Mitarachi said the visit signalled "a new page" in the relations between the two countries.

"Greece's relations with China have been good for years. It is now important to further develop specific collaboration agreements regarding investment and exports," Mitarachi told the Athens News Agency (ANA) over the weekend.

"There is particular interest (on behalf of China) in infrastructure, namely ports and airports," he added.

China has recently made several big investments in various sectors of the crisis-hit Greek economy.

Most notably, in 2008 China's giant transportation group Cosco became a major force in the main Greek port of Piraeus near Athens, while in March, US computer giant Hewlett Packard sealed a deal with Cosco to move a key part of its regional supplies through Piraeus.

According to a study quoted Sunday in daily Kathimerini, product distribution in Piraeus has more than tripled in the past three years, while distribution in other Mediterranean ports only increased by 20 percent.

The Cosco-HP agreement coincided with the completion of Greek state rail operator Trainose's new railway line that connects the port with the main European freight network.

Trainose is up for privatisation.

According to ANA, Samaras's meetings will focus on further developing Piraeus as a gateway of Chinese products into Europe.

Chinese ambassador in Athens Du Qiwen stressed the importance of Samaras' meetings.

"There is serious interest shown by a group of Chinese businesses. They are seriously interested in participating in the privatisation process of Athens international airport," he told local reporters last week.

Qiwen, who reportedly described the Cosco investment as "win win," said prospects for the export of Greek olive oil, wine, furs and marble are very promising.

According to data provided by the Greek-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, bilateral commerce between the two countries, negligible in the 1970s, jumped to 3.29 billion euros ($4.3 bn) in 2010.

In 2011, despite the economic crisis, it reached 3.25 billion euros.

The chamber's data shows a 50 percent increase in the sale of Greek olive oil in China in the first half of 2012 and a staggering overall 1175 percent increase in the sale of Greek wine between 2009 and 2011.

"Greece is starting to become very fashionable for the Chinese. There are Chinese couples who come to (the island of) Santorini to get married," says head of the Greek-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Constantine Yannidis.

The chamber estimates that between 60,000 and 100,000 Chinese tourists visited Greece in 2011.

According to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), China was the largest spender in international tourism globally in 2012.

A recent UNWTO report showed that the number of international trips by Chinese travellers skyrocketed from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012, while their expenditure abroad has increased almost eightfold since 2000.

Greece has been seeking investors to counterbalance the effects of a continuous deep recession, now in its sixth year and a fierce unemployment rate of 27 percent.

The heavily indebted country has been relying on rescue loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for its economic survival.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Shanghai (AFP) May 10, 2013 - China said Friday it was investigating some steel tube imports from the European Union, Japan and the United States over allegations that products had been sold at below market price.

The Ministry of Commerce said it would launch a year-long investigation into alloy-steel seamless tubes and pipes designed for high temperature or high pressure uses, according to a statement on its website.

The announcement of the investigation into alleged dumping by EU members and the two other countries came as the EU's executive arm considers a heavy tariff of 47 percent on Chinese solar panels.

In November last year, China slapped duties on another type of steel tube imports from the EU and Japan. Those duties -- ranging from 9.2 to 14.4 percent -- apply to "high performance" stainless steel seamless tubes.

The latest investigation will probe whether companies are dumping alloy-steel tubes in the Chinese market, the ministry said.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 AEST Lima (UPI) May 9, 2013 - Peru government plans to join the global copper producers club in a big way are moving ahead despite a spate of environmental protests over months that caused work stoppages and frightened away investors.

Pro-mining interests active in Peru and abroad say the environmental campaigns have set back investment prospects not only in Peru but also in Chile and other neighboring states with diverse mineral deposits.

Amid widespread concerns that mining diminishes quality of life for inhabitants of areas being exploited for metals, business and government interests have resumed efforts to try and expand lucrative mining for copper, silver and rare industrial minerals.

Trailing Chile, Peru is the world's second biggest producer of copper and silver and a major producer of gold, zinc, lead and other minerals.

Last year, both exploration and production of copper and other metals in the two countries dropped amid sustained anti-mining protests.

Californian firm Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said it received a contract from Minera Chinalco Peru S.A. to perform a feasibility study for the expansion of its Toromocho copper mining site in the Morococha district of Peru.

The contract value wasn't released but Jacobs said it will conduct the work out of its office in Lima with help from offices in Santiago, Chile and Tucson in the United States. Jacobs is a diverse major provider of technical, professional and construction services.

Jacobs has been working on the Toromocho project since 2006. Preparatory works on the mine, located at an altitude of 14,700-16,400 feet, are advanced.

The original design aims for the facility to treat 117,200 tons of ore daily and produce more than 210,000 tons a year of copper with silver and molybdenum as byproducts.

Jacobs Group Vice President Andy Kremer said the company's work on the site had given it valuable experience.

"Given the ongoing construction activities on site, the knowledge we have already acquired will be extremely valuable as we consider optimum solutions and tie-in designs needed to incorporate the planned expansion into the existing facilities," Kremer said.

Minera Chinalco Peru S.A. is a subsidiary of Chinalco Mining Corp. International, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Aluminum Corp. of China, which has headquarters in Beijing, is the ultimate and controlling shareholder of CMC.

CHINALCO is the second largest alumina producer and the third largest primary aluminum producer worldwide.

Last September Chilean and Peruvian governments agreed to work together to boost international investment in their mining sectors.

Meeting in Lima, Chilean Mining Minister Hernan de Solminihac and Peruvian Minister of Energy and Mines Jorge Merino declared two countries could reach 50 percent global copper production from the current level of 40 percent if they jointly develop their investment portfolio.

A point less stated was discussion on coordinating action to counter increasingly vociferous environmental campaigns against mining that have affected production and deterred investors.

]]> Mon, 20 MAY 2013 12:44:48 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