The embassy has issued a travel alert for all US residents and visitors in China. The e-mail, sent out to people on the amcitbeijing@state.gov e-mail list, cautions Americans about the threat of terrorist activity by unspecified groups. From the e-mail:

There is a heightened risk that extremist groups will conduct terrorist acts within China in the near future. In light of these security concerns, citizens traveling in China are advised to use caution and to be alert to their surroundings at all times, including at hotels, in restaurants, on public transportation and where there are demonstrations and other large-scale public gatherings. Consistent with our standard advice, American citizens are urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations.

For those who have been in other cities during the Olympics, is this kind of warning standard or is does there appear to be a different approach by the State Dept. to security this year?

There’s more information about travel safety and specifics about the 2008 summer Games on the State Dept. website.

This morning BOCOG announced the specifics of the third phase of their Olympics ticketing program. For those who won tickets during the first ticketing phase, you will be able to pick up your tickets in June or early July. Olympics tickets are being printed now!

BOCOG Press Conference Excerpts:

Starting from 9am, May 5 to June 9, 2008, BOCOG will launch the Phase Three Domestic Olympic Ticket Sales Program.

During this period, the public can buy tickets of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at designated Bank of China (BOC) ticket outlets or by logging on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The number of the ticket outlets during this stage will be fewer than that offered during the previous two phases.

For further details, please log on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games or call the Olympic ticketing call centre at 952008.

Similar to the first two phases, only applications from individual buyers will be accepted during the third phase of the Program Group applications will therefore be considered ineligible. Applicants will use their valid ID cards for registration purposes (further details are available at the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games).

The purchase limit is two sessions per application and three tickets per session.

According to BOCOG, a total of 1.38 million Olympic tickets will be released during the 3rd phase.

In mid-June American Embassies around the world will be asked to nominate US-based companies operating in their host countries for the Secretary of State’s award for corporate excellence. 

Based on their work in China, UPS was a finalist in 2005, as were AmCham-China members APCO and Coca-Cola in 2006 and 2007 respectively. 

The Embassy would very much like to hear from any American companies whose good works would qualify for this award in 2008.  Interested candidate companies are requested to contact the Embassy by mid-May.

More information about the award is on the US Department of State website:  www.state.gov/e/eeb/ace.  Bruce Levine, Labor Officer, can provide more information to interested companies directly.  He can be reached by phone: [86](10) 6532-3831 ext 6046 or by e-mail: LevineBJ@state.gov

The Chinese government earlier this week outlined its remaining plans to clear the air for the summer Games.  The International Herald Tribune reports on the details.

The measures announced Monday include a two-month halt in construction, beginning July 20, and government directives that will force coal-burning power plants to reduce their emissions by 30 percent throughout most of the summer. Officials said that 19 heavy-polluting enterprises, including steel mills, coke plants and refineries, would be either temporarily mothballed or forced to reduce production. Gas stations that do not meet environmental standards will closed, as will all cement production, and the use toxic solvents outdoors will be forbidden.
Read the whole article.

The article goes on to quote Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau urging reporters to “just tell everybody they don’t have to worry.”

In late August of last year AmCham-China members met with a US International Trade Commission (ITC) delegation visiting China.  The group was in Beijing gathering information from business leaders for use in a report about China’s economic policy. AmCham members offered insights about the current business climate and shared their assessments of Chinese policies governing innovation and R&D, as well as their analysis of the current state of standards development  in various industry sectors.

The the first report generated by the ITC delegation, “China: Description of selected Government Practices and Policies Affecting Decision- Making in the Economy”  is now available as a pdf. This exhaustive document, delivered to the US House and Ways Committee, examines industrial development, rationalization and privatization in the state and non-state sectors and in domestic and foreign invested enterprises. It also provides information about banking and finance, infrastructure development, price coordination, utility rates and taxation.

The Associated Press is reporting that, according to travel agents, Chinese authorities are no longer issuing multiple-entry visas to foreigners. Additionally, visa processing in Hong Kong has been slowed down.  While this might not be a big problem for visitors only coming to China for the Olympics, it could be a massive headache for those who need to travel for business in the region. Read the full story on the IHT site.  Have you been affected by the changes in visa policy? How do you anticipate handling the situation?

Chinese inflation might be causing bigger problems than costing you more to eat huiguo rou  and beer at dinner time in Beijing. Economists are starting to re-evaluate whether America’s historic streak of low inflation is rooted as much in the low cost of imports as the “genius of Greenspan.” The NY Times has a front page article on the issue today:

“Inflation is the major threat to Asian countries,” said Jong-Wha Lee, the head of the Asian Development Bank’s office of regional economic integration.

It is also a threat to Western consumers because Asian exporters, even in very poor countries, are passing their rising costs on to customers.

Developing countries have had bouts of inflation before. Indeed, some are famous for them, like Brazil, which experienced triple-digit inflation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But two things make this time different, and together promise to send prices higher at Wal-Mart and supermarkets alike in the United States, just as the possibility of recession looms.

If China begins (continues?) exporting inflation to the US, it’s just possible that politicians in America might begin longing for the days of “currency manipulation.”