China's "Ordinary" Billionaire Behind Nicaragua Canal Plan
Wang Jing, the enigmatic businessman behind Nicaragua's $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, shrugs off scepticism about how a little-known entrepreneur can be driving a huge transcontinental project, insisting he's not an agent of the Beijing government. "I know you don't believe me," said Wang, who reckons that he's forked-out about $100 million in canal preparation work, and is burning as much as $10 million a month on the project. "You believe there are people from the Chinese government in the background providing support. High-ranking Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and former leaders Jiang Zemin and Wen Jiabao have all visited the state-connected wireless communication technologies company Wang took control of four years ago.
China Approves Plan for Port Development
The Chinese government on Wednesday approved the national plan for the distribution of sea ports and the medium and long-term plans for the shipbuilding industry. The two plans were approved at a meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao. It was agreed at the meeting that a reasonable distribution of ports along the Chinese coast is of great importance to the national transport networks and to the expansion of China's foreign trade. The plan calls for improved coordination between regions in the development of ports and stresses the importance of ports raising their capacity to achieve economies of scale. The meeting decided that port development shall focus on coal, crude oil, iron ore and container systems before 2010.
