(C) SHANGHAI OFFICIAL REVEALS FINANCIAL POLICY DETAILS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 000187 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/24/2034 TAGS: CH ECON EFIN PGOV SUBJECT: (C) SHANGHAI OFFICIAL REVEALS FINANCIAL POLICY DETAILS REF: HONG KONG 708 CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Beede, Pol/Econ Section Chief, U.S. Consulate, Shanghai, U.S. Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (d),(e) ¶1. (C) Summary. According to a leading Shanghai government finance official, the Central Government will probably seek to limit Hong Kong's role as a financial center, and bolster Shanghai's. For now, said the official, Beijing has no intent to make the renminbi convertible, but it is taking a first step in that direction by allowing renminbi to be used for trade settlement. The national government's GDP figures are "an opinion," said the official. He predicts that--absent further financial reforms--Chinese growth will remain "stuck" at 7-8 percent for many years. Rich provinces can block transfers of government revenues to poorer regions under China's consensus decisionmaking system, said the official. End summary. ¶2. (U) This is the first of two cables on ConGenOffs' recent meetings with Fang Xinghai, Director-General of the Shanghai Metropolitan Government Financial Services Office. This cable covers Fang's April 19 breakfast meeting with President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank Richard W. Fisher; septel covers an April 2 meeting with Economic Minister-Counselor Robert Luke. ============================ Shanghai Will Outpace Hong Kong as China's Financial Center ============================ ¶3. (C) Fang pointed out several medium-term advantages that Shanghai has over Hong Kong as a financial center for China. Hong Kong's financial sector is under administration independent from Beijing, and therefore it can be more innovative, admitted Fang. But not being tied directly to the mainland Chinese economy is also a disadvantage: Hong Kong will never be central to powering economic growth on the mainland. Also, Hong Kong will not become a center for renminbi-based currency transactions, said Fang. Beijing does not want Hong Kong to have too large a renminbi market, since this would probably lead to a separate renminbi interest rate and exchange rates, over which Beijing would have less control, said Fang. Fang believes that the trend will be for Shanghai's financial sector to grow larger than Hong Kong's, while Hong Kong will remain more innovative, becoming essentially an offshore banking center for China. ============================ 
No Plans to Make the Renminbi Convertible ============================ ¶4. (C) Moving the renminbi towards convertibility on the capital account will take a long time, said Fang. He said the first step is allowing the renminbi to be used for trade settlement (see reftel),which will lead to renminbi accumulating in overseas markets. Once this happens, investors in those markets will look for opportunities to use the renminbi, for instance by investing it back in China or by converting it into other currencies. In anticipation of this, the People's Bank of China is working with other central banks, and the first currency conversions or investments will be made central bank-to-central bank. Fang pointed to Malaysia as an example of where this cooperation might begin. ¶5. (C) Fang noted that currency swap agreements that China has recently signed with several countries were essentially trade financing. Foreign importers will be allowed to borrow from these facilities to buy goods from China, he said. ============================ "GDP Is an Opinion" ============================ ¶6. (C) With regard to the reliability of China's economic statistics, Fang commented that "GDP is an opinion, cash is a fact." He said that he does not trust the headline Chinese GDP numbers when tracking economic trends. Rather, he looks at other indicators, including: 1) Tax revenue. These statistics are generally accurate, because local tax authorities have no incentive to either overreport or underreport the numbers. If they overreport, the Central Government authorities will expect the full amount to be remitted; if they underreport, their SHANGHAI 00000187 002 OF 003 superiors will think that the local tax authorities are not doing their job. 2) Import and export data. 3) Financial data. For instance, said Fang, money supply measures such as M1 and M2 are easy to calculate. 4) Electricity usage. In fact, noted Fang, China Bank Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang believes that electricity usage is the most accurate measure of Chinese economic health. ¶7. (C) Fang noted that localities now have to first clear their local GDP statistics with the Central Government before releasing them. That is why the national first quarter GDP growth figure has already been announced, but Shanghai has not released its local figure. Fang said that Shanghai's first quarter growth would come in at around 5 percent. ¶8. (C) Shanghai has been significantly affected by the global financial crisis, said Fang. Industrial value-added has been in decline since September 2008, he said--there is less production because there are fewer exports. Connected with this, value-added tax revenues are down, said Fang. The real estate market is also in a slump, although Fang noted that the decline was smaller than elsewhere around China. Hotel occupancies and related services are down, said Fang, because there are fewer overseas business delegations. Realized foreign direct investment (FDI) in Shanghai is barely holding steady, at around 1 percent year-on-year growth, while contracted FDI is falling. Fang says that the stock market remains a bright spot in the local economy. (Note. See septel for Fang's concerns about the Shanghai stock market performance. End note.) ============================ Economic Growth Will Remain "Stuck" at 7-8 Percent ============================ ¶9. (C) Fang predicted that China will remain "stuck" at 7-8 percent annual GDP growth for "many years." China was growing in the double digits in recent years thanks to exports, and this situation will not return, said Fang. Fang held out the prospect that growth could be higher if China was willing to implement more significant economic reforms, but he did not appear to be optimistic on this front. He said that while China has managed its affairs conservatively, and thus avoided a financial crisis, it now needs to introduce financial and technical innovations to achieve higher growth. For instance, said Fang, China needs to provide better financing to small and medium-size enterprises. China should decentralize its financial system, said Fang, although "less government control does not mean less regulation." ¶10. (C) In the short term, Fang expects national growth to pick up from the first quarter's rate of 6.1 percent GDP growth, which he called the "bottom" of the economic cycle. China is still a "young economy," said Fang, and there is still significant demand from young people for housing, automobiles, and other consumer goods. Household consumption can stay strong, said Fang, because households are not leveraged. ============================ Rich Provinces Blocking Pension Reforms ============================ ¶11. (C) Fang said that some economic reforms would be difficult because they are being blocked by interest groups. He cited as an example the need to create a national pension system, which would reduce precautionary savings and increase domestic household consumption. (Note: China's pension system has funding mismatches because benefits are not portable across provincial, and in some cases municipal, lines. This also incentivizes household to save for retirement, since the government-operated pension is not assured. End note.) What really needs to be done, said Fang, is to tax the rich regions and subsidize the pension plans in poor regions. However, China currently has a consensus system, and "if a few rich provinces resist, the decision will not be made." ============================ Mega-Cities are Right for China ============================ ¶12. (C) Another idea for increasing consumption is to create mega-cities, said Fang. This idea was first raised by a McKinsey consultant report, and is "absolutely the right SHANGHAI 00000187 003 OF 003 strategy for China," said Fang. Under this plan, China would develop thirty mega-cities of 30 million residents each. Provision of public services would improve, because it could be provided more efficiently: healthcare, education, public water and sewage. In addition, said Fang., land would be used more efficiently, and there would be more land for farming. ¶13. (C) Fang said that China also needed to change the one-child policy within the next 5-10 years. He implied that this would increase domestic consumption as families spend on the needs of their children. (Note: See septel for a cross-section of East China public opinion on the one-child policy as seen through the visa window. End note.) ============================ Fang's Personal Observations ============================ ¶14. (C) Fang proudly admitted that he is a fan of President Barak Obama. He said that he recently watched the President's entire speech in Prague, Czech Republic, on CNN via his illegal satellite TV dish. "I think he will be a great president," said Fang. Fang also said he read one of the President's autobiographies even before the President was elected. Fang added that every November he travels to New York in his role on the international advisory board of Marsh & McClellan. In addition, Fang revealed that is brother is an employee of the environmental protection agency of a southern U.S. state. ============================ Comment ============================ ¶15. (C) Fang, being one of the top financial officials in Shanghai, almost certainly reflects senior Shanghai decisionmakers' views on Shanghai's interests with respect to national policies. His remark that the Central Government will support Shanghai to eventually outgrow Hong Kong as an international financial center probably also reflects some wishful thinking on his part. Many of our contacts--including others in Shanghai's financial bureaucracy--admit that Shanghai will not catch up to Hong Kong for decades, if at all. They cite Shanghai's less certain regulatory environment and less-developed rule of law, as well as the lack of renminbi convertibility, as indicating the long-term changes Shanghai would need to implement before it could rival, let alone overtake, Hong Kong. ¶16. (U) The Dallas Fed delegation did not have an opportunity to clear on this cable. CAMP