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TRADE WARS
China vows to promote balanced trade

Google accused of unfair trade in S. Korea
Seoul (AFP) April 15, 2011 - South Korea's top two Internet companies filed complaints with the antitrust watchdog Friday over Google's alleged practice of stifling competition in the local mobile phone search market. Daum and NHN Corp told the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) that Google exploited its position as developer of the Android mobile operating system to have its search function preloaded on local smartphones. They said this limited access by local search engines to smartphones using the Android operating system.

"Through a marketing partnership with major smartphone producers, Google has prohibited other market players from pre-installing their search window or related applications," NHN said in a statement. NHN's Naver has a market share of around 56 percent of the domestic mobile search market while Daum had around 16 percent as of last month, NHN said, citing market research data. "Google's market share in the local internet search market only accounts for around 2 percent but due to such an unfair act, its share in the mobile market is fast rising in Korea, and it stands at around 15 percent," a NHN spokesman said. Google denied the accusations, asserting that it has never pressed device manufacturers or mobile operators to use its mobile platform.

"Android is an open platform, and carrier partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones," it said in a statement. It said Google regularly enters into business agreements where carriers can choose to pre-install Google mobile services including a search function. "But we absolutely do not require carriers or manufacturers to include Google Search on Android-powered devices. We look forward to working with the KFTC to address any questions they may have." Android smartphones sold in South Korea provide the Google search engine as a default. South Korean search portals complain that this makes it inconvenient for phone owners to switch to a different search window.
by Staff Writers
Boao, China (AFP) April 15, 2011
Chinese President Hu Jintao vowed Friday to promote balanced trade by boosting domestic demand and imports -- but he did not say if that would mean a stronger yuan.

"In the next five years, China will make great efforts to implement the strategy of boosting domestic demand, especially consumer demand," Hu told delegates at an annual international forum on the southern island of Hainan.

"We will bring into play the important role of imports in achieving macroeconomic balance ... and promote basic balance of our trade," he said.

"This will provide important opportunities for countries in Asia and the rest of the world to increase exports to China," Hu added at the three-day forum in Boao.

The gathering has brought together leaders in government, business and academia in Asia and other continents every year since 2001 to discuss pressing issues in the region and the rest of the world.

Export-driven China is under growing pressure from its trade partners for a stronger currency, with its critics claiming a weak yuan gives Chinese firms an unfair advantage and exacerbates global trade imbalances.

Economists argue a stronger currency would also help Beijing tame domestic inflation and boost spending by its more than 1.3 billion citizens -- the government's oft-stated aim -- by reducing the cost of imported products.

China posted its first quarterly trade deficit in seven years in the first three months of 2011 amid rising commodity prices, which analysts said suggested it was making progress in rebalancing its export-reliant economy.

The United States, one of the harshest critics of Beijing's trade policy, acknowledged in March that the world's second-largest economy was taking steps to boost imports.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said last month that China had no choice but to shift towards relying more on domestic growth as demand weakens in the United States and Europe -- but added it still needed to do more.

Geithner told a G20 seminar in China the gap between flexible and managed exchange rate policies -- and the problems such a divide creates -- was "the most important problem to solve in the international monetary system today".

earlier related report
Hong Kong arrests Deutsche Bank staff: reports
Hong Kong (AFP) April 15, 2011 - Hong Kong's graft watchdog is probing a major fraudulent trading case after arresting 11 people, including two senior executives at Deutsche Bank, reports said Friday.

The duo were detained after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) launched an operation on Tuesday following a corruption complaint.

"The two have been arrested but no charges have been made, and Deutsche Bank is helping the ICAC with its inquiries," Dow Jones Newswires reported, quoting a person familiar with the case.

The two are suspected of conspiring to accept payment from an investor and others for quoting favourable prices to them in their trading of the bank's derivative warrants.

Local media have reported that the ICAC is investigating staff at Deutsche Bank, and said the profits made by those involved in the case amounted to HK$10 million ($1.3 million).

The bank denied any irregularities in trading and refused to confirm the involvement of its employees.

"Deutsche Bank's Hong Kong warrant business is operating normally and we are fully committed to meeting client market requirements," Michael West, a spokesman from the Hong Kong branch of the German banking giant told AFP.

"There has been no suggestion of any misconduct by Deutsche Bank. We don't comment on bank employees as a matter of policy," he added.

The ICAC said the suspects arrested in "Operation Leap Over" include two licensed representatives of a securities firm, a stock investor and six others.

They are also being probed for conspiring to defraud the bank and the public "by creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in the derivative warrants issued by the bank", the commission said.

"The investigation is ongoing and we cannot disclose any further information at this point," a spokeswoman from the ICAC told AFP Friday, refusing to confirm the involvement of Deutsche Bank's staff.

The Securities and Futures Commission, the city's regulator for financial markets, also declined comment.



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