1. WSJ: China's January exports power higher, up 10.6%
2. Reuters: China’s trade growth beats forecasts
3. Bloomberg: China trade growth defies signs of slowdown
4. BBC: China trade surplus jumps to $32bn
5. NYT: A leading Chinese economist warns of a difficult year and ‘dead’ companies
6. FT: China land sales pull in record $672bn
7. WSJ: Taiwan, China talks end cordially
8. FT: Chinese navy makes more waves in the Pacific
9. IUSCT: Boustany, Larsen will travel to China in March to discuss ITA, GPA, BIT
 

14. Caixin: Give public the information it's due, order from Premier says
15. SD: Landmark talks a major step for relations across Taiwan Strait
16. SD: GM monthly sales reach record high in China
17. Xinhua: Airbus expects China rival in 20 years
 

1. WSJ: China's January exports power higher, up 10.6% 
The strong results could help reverse worries about the health of emerging markets.
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2. Reuters: China’s trade growth beats forecasts 
China’s trade performance zoomed past forecasts in January, as import growth hit a six-month high, data showed Wednesday, confounding earlier analysis suggesting that the economy was mired in a deepening slowdown. The value of China’s total exports climbed 10.6 percent in January from a year earlier, the Customs Administration said, more than five times market forecasts of a 2 percent rise. Analysts who had expected the Lunar New Year holiday to hurt trade flows cautioned, however, that the data might have been inflated by fake transactions, in which traders forge deals to sneak cash into the country past capital controls.The value of imports jumped 10 percent from a year ago, a pace not seen since July, handily beating market predictions of a 3 percent gain. Imports of crude oil, iron ore and copper all hit record highs, according to customs data.The country’s trade surplus rose to $31.9 billion, well above forecasts of $23.7 billion and the $25.6 billion surplus in December.
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3. Bloomberg: China trade growth defies signs of slowdown 
China’s export and import growth unexpectedly accelerated in January, defying signs the world’s second-largest economy will slow while fueling speculation that fake shipments are resurfacing. Overseas shipments rose 10.6 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said today in Beijing, a pace that may be distorted by false invoices and holidays and compares with the median projection of economists for a 0.1 percent gain. Imports (CNFRIMPY) advanced 10 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $31.9 billion, the widest for January since 2009. Asian stocks extended gains and the Australian dollar jumped as the report provided some evidence of support for an economy that’s projected by analysts to grow at its slowest pace in 24 years in 2014. Economists were split over whether the figures were exaggerated again after a crackdown by authorities last year on the use of inflated export invoices to disguise capital inflows.
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4. BBC: China trade surplus jumps to $32bn 
China's trade surplus jumped to $31.9bn (£19.4bn) in January, easing concerns the world's second-largest economy may be stuck in a slowdown. The figure was up 14% from a year earlier and stronger than forecasts for a $23.7bn surplus. Imports rose by 10% from a year earlier to $175.27bn - led by record shipments of crude oil, iron ore and copper. Exports increased by 10.6% from a year earlier, far faster than analysts' forecasts, to $207.13bn. The positive trade figures also add to expectations China will overtake the US as the world's largest trading nation this year. China is the world's largest exporter, and analysts had been expecting the data to reflect effects of the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in January this year.
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5. NYT: A leading Chinese economist warns of a difficult year and ‘dead’ companies 
Sounding warnings that could have been made 20 or even 30 years ago, one of China’s most renowned economists said the country’s economy faces a “very difficult” year as it continues confronting a host of problems that have intensified over the past decade. Wu Jinglian, an 84-year-old scholar whose views often clash with those of the country’s leaders, told fellow economists at a forum in Beijing on Monday that the government had to deal with the rise of “dead companies’’ – state-owned enterprises with high debt levels that depended on subsidies to survive. Mr. Wu made a career helping Chinese reformers deal with that very problem, as the country in the late 1970s opened to foreign investment and began to dismantle the Maoist-era government controls on prices and restrictions on private enterprise. His comments, summarized in the China Securities Journal, as Prime Minister Li Keqiang prepares to make his first annual address on China’s economy at the March meeting of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress. Last year Mr. Wu made headlines by warning the country’s leadership before a major meeting on the economy that market overhauls would not be effective unless accompanied by political reform, including more democratization and greater rule of law. “If we depart from this cardinal principle, national economic development will return to its old ways, continuing to use massive investment to spur economic growth, reeling between blind expansion and abrupt readjustments, and culminating in a systemic crisis,” Mr. Wu said in a speech on the eve of November’s Communist Party Plenum, which focused on the economy.
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6. FT: China land sales pull in record $672bn 
Chinese land sales hit a record $672bn in 2013 following a lull the previous year, providing more evidence that the country’s property market is once again in full throttle. But although construction activity is likely to bolster the economy in 2014, there are signs that land sales could slow, weakening local governments’ ability to raise money. Land sales hit Rmb4.1tn, the Ministry of Land and Resources said, eclipsing the previous record of Rmb3.5tn in 2011. Land zoned for real estate use, which accounts for about one-quarter of zoned land sales, rose by nearly 27 per cent year-on-year.
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7. WSJ: Taiwan, China talks end cordially 
First high-level parley yields no agreement, but potentially opens door to political dialogue.
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8. FT: Chinese navy makes more waves in the Pacific 
As John Kerry, US secretary of state, arrives in Asia on Thursday to reinforce the US “pivot”, the Chinese navy has been making waves by sailing new routes that illustrate its growing presence and confidence in the Pacific.
Chinese warships earlier this month quietly passed through the Sunda Strait – between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra – for the first time en route to the Indian Ocean where they held exercises. They then returned via the Lombok Strait near Bali and through the Makassar Strait off Borneo. China is trying to tilt the balance of power in the Pacific where the US has been dominant for decades by developing a “blue water” navy that can operate further from its shores. Rory Medcalf, an Asia security expert at the Lowy Institute, said the latest move was an example of China flexing its growing muscles. “They are sending a signal that they have every right to use international waterways,” says Mr Medcalf. ”In another five years, an active Chinese military presence beyond the South China Sea and East China Sea will be quite normal.”
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9. IUSCT: Boustany, Larsen will travel to China in March to siscuss ITA, GPA, BIT 
Reps. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Rick Larsen (D-WA) will press the government of China in an upcoming trip this spring to accept tariff cuts on a much broader range of tech products than Beijing has been willing to agree to in the Geneva-based negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA). Boustany and Larsen head up the Congressional U.S.-China Working Group and will submit a report to Congress following their trip. They will travel to China in March to seek progress in the ITA talks and raise a slew of other issues related to U.S-China trade, the Louisiana Republican said in a Feb. 7 interview with Inside U.S. Trade. In preparation for their trip, Boustany said he had already met with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke – the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization – and will attend briefings with USTR and the State Department ahead of his trip. "I have met with Ambassador Punke, and we are [going to] press the same points that he has been pressing [on ITA]," he said. "Getting ITA done really requires the Chinese to play ball. Otherwise the whole thing's going to fall apart." He added that during his trip he would gauge interest in restarting and potentially completing the talks this year.
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14. Caixin: Give public the information it's due, order from Premier says 
Limits on 'state secrets' come into effect March 1, a move Xinhua calls an effort to boost government transparency.
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15. SD: Landmark talks a major step for relations across Taiwan Strait 
China’s mainland and Taiwan hailed a new chapter in their relations and agreed at historic talks yesterday to set up representative offices as soon as possible. The talks between Zhang Zhijun, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, and Wang Yu-chi, Taiwan’s mainland affairs chief, were the first since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The two-hour talks in the eastern city of Nanjing marked a major step toward expanding cross-Strait dialogue beyond economic and trade issues. “The holding of this meeting marks a new chapter in our relations,” Wang told a news conference following the talks.
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16. SD: GM monthly sales reach record high in China 
General Motors started this year on a bullish note as monthly sales with its joint ventures in China hit a record high in January after underperforming in the Chinese auto market last year. Its combined deliveries rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 348,061 units last month. The figure included 171,856 units from Shanghai GM, up 11.4 percent on year, and 172,852 units from SAIC-GM-Wuling, up 13.9 percent. Both sales figures set a new monthly record. But sales of FAW-GM dropped 26.1 percent on an annual basis to 3,319 units. January vehicle sales for the country will be released later this week. China’s auto market is expected to increase between 8 and 10 percent this year after sales rose 13.9 percent in 2013. Matt Tsien, who took over as GM’ new China head on January 1, said GM expects growth this year to be higher than the industry average as the automaker launches 17 new models.
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17. Xinhua: Airbus expects China rival in 20 years 
The aspiring large passenger aircraft manufacturers from Russia and China or Canada-based Bombardier will not be a big threat to Airbus and Boeing for about 20 years, John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer, said yesterday. “If you say, will Airbus and Boeing be under threat for the next 10 years? The answer is no. Twenty years, the answer is probably yes. So 20 years from now, it will probably be a Chinese manufacturer that will be a big threat to both Airbus and Boeing,” Leahy said at the Singapore Airshow. He said Airbus was established in 1970, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that the European aviation firm began to gain significant ground against Boeing in the large passenger aircraft market. China set up Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, or COMAC, in 2008 with the goal of producing large passenger aircraft. The company has been marketing its ARJ21, a twin-engine regional jet, and the C919 family of narrow-body airliners at the airshow.
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18. WSJ: Private-equity investors join China's environmental cleanup 
Private-equity firms are again betting on China's environmental sector as the government adopts a new sense of urgency in cleaning up the nation's filthy air and water.After a decline in 2012, the firms' investments in environment-related businesses in China last year totaled $1.2 billion, a record-high 7.1% of all private-equity investment in the country, according to the Hong Kong-based Centre for Asia Private Equity Research. That's up from 2.3% in 2012 and 6% in 2011, according to the center. The media, construction and consumer goods sectors were among those that were more popular. The jump in investment came as Beijing, under rising public pressure and fearing social unrest, issued two major policy statements regarding the environment. In August, the State Council, or cabinet, said it would support the expansion of the environmental industry to 4.5 trillion yuan ($730.5 billion) by 2015, with annual growth of more than 15%. In November, the Communist Party endorsed a "decisive role" for markets in allocation of natural resources, as a way to limit pollution, while saying that polluters would be penalized more harshly.

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19. WSJ: Stay away from China's trade 
Markets were girding for another negative Chinese economic data point. Instead what they got was more distortion.China reported exports in January unexpectedly jumped 10.6% compared with a year earlier, accelerating from December's pace. It was a sign that the positive export momentum seen since the middle of last year is continuing. Imports rose a similar amount, indicating that China's domestic industrial-construction complex is still hungry for raw materials. The Australian dollar, seen as a proxy for Chinese resource demand, predictably rose on the news. Now for the caveats. The first quarter of the year is always the hardest to read because of the Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday. In theory, that it fell this year in January, rather than in February as it did in 2013, should have hurt January's trade reading in comparison with a year earlier. But it's also possible factories rushed to get work done by the end of the month, while last year they had well into February to close order books before the New Year. Another smoke screen is caused by cross-border businesses' "overinvoicing" or "underinvoicing" the value of trade. That lets them disguise money as goods and smuggle it around China's restrictions on moving capital in and out of the country. The same thing happened last year and has made the trade data less and less reliable.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images​
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20. Bloomberg - Pesek on Asia: China's questionable data 
Are China's latest data too good to be true? They may indeed be. Somehow, China's economy raced ahead in January at a time when the global economy walked in place, at best, and the central bank clamped down on credit. Also, figures in South Korea and Taiwan suggest Chinese demand for their goods is sliding. China's data are puzzling, to say the least. But are they complete fiction, with China officials returning to their old double-counting ways? As this Quartz analysis points out: "The good news: Last month’s Chinese trade data is defying signs of a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. The bad news: the improvement might be completely fraudulent."
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21. Brookings - Jeffrey Bader: The U.S. and China’s nine-dash line: Ending the ambiguity 
For the first time, the United States government has come out publicly with an explicit statement that the so-called “nine-dash line,” which the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan assert delineates their claims in the South China Sea, is contrary to international law. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel, in testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on February 5, said, “Under international law, maritime claims in the South China Sea must be derived from land features. Any use of the 'nine-dash line' by China to claim maritime rights not based on claimed land features would be inconsistent with international law. The international community would welcome China to clarify or adjust its nine-dash line claim to bring it in accordance with the international law of the sea."
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22. NYT: Tapping into a growing trend in China 
China’s private jet market could be summed up as a small pond with big fish. But the pond is not really so small — and it is growing fast. In all of greater China, which includes the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, there are only about 400 private jets, of which about half are based in Hong Kong and Taiwan. But because larger jets are favored, buyers are spending more per plane than in other countries, making it an important market for manufacturers to crack. “Chinese buyers are mainly selecting larger, transcontinental private jets, and the average cost of such planes is around $30 million,” said Jason Liao, chairman and chief executive of the consulting firm China Business Aviation Group. “That’s three times more than the world’s average of about $10 million” spent on a private jet.
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23. DealBook: U.S. targets buyers of China-bound luxury cars 
Michael A. Downs, a businessman in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says he is simply looking to profit from the growing demand in China for cars from the likes of Mercedes, BMW and Range Rover. His three-year-old business recruits people in a dozen or so states to buy new cars from dealerships in the United States. He then sells those vehicles to other companies, which ship them to China. Once in China, the cars, which typically retail for $55,000 to $75,000 in the United States, can be resold for as much as three times those prices. “We’re taking advantage of a legitimate arbitrage situation,” he said. But to the federal government, businesses like Mr. Downs’s are potentially violating customs laws and deceiving auto manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which try to keep tight control over sales to domestic dealers and to foreign countries.
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