Power transmission line to Tibet planned

THE government plans to build a power transmission line from northwestern Qinghai Province to Tibet in a bid to boost the region’s economy, domestic media said Saturday.

The 1,100-kilometer line would take electricity from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, on the same route as the recently opened railway, officials told the Xinhua news agency. The power line had a first-stage target of transmitting 6.5 billion kilowatt-hours annually, and was expected to be in operation by 2010, said officials at the National Development and Reform Commission. Xue Gengxin, vice president of the Xibei Electric Power Design Institute, said that the electricity line would be the world’s first above 5,000 meters in altitude and that special permafrost research was being carried out.

EU opens Chinese anti-dumping probe

THE European Commission opened Thursday a new anti-dumping probe against Chinese imports on concerns that China’s manufacturers were selling unfairly at below cost.

The investigation, which also includes imports from Turkey and Moldova, targets wire rod imports used to make such things as wire ropes, barbed wire, mesh, nails and springs.

Smartphone market booms in 1st quarter

SALES of smartphone in China in the first quarter increased 4.8 percent compared with the fourth quarter last year.

Sales hit 8.24 million units in the first quarter, accounting for 19.1 percent of all types of cellphones sold on the domestic market, according to a report issued by Beijing-based CCIDC Consulting company. Sales volume stood at 20.4 billion yuan (US$2.91 billion) in the first three months, representing an increase of 7.6 percent over the same period last year.