On May 14, a new cross-country
model--JEEP2500--rolled down from the assembly line in the
Beijing Jeep Co.Ltd. According to Zhang Zhiyuan, executive
vice-president of the Sino-US joint venture, the company
yielded a 270-percent increase in sales revenue in the first
four months of this year and had completely reversed its
three-year losses by the end of March.
Such glad tidings
also come from many other Beijing-based enterprises. The
latest statistics show that in the first four months, the
production of high-tech industries in Beijing increased by
15 percent and that of 14 key industrial sectors rose by 30
percent. The city's industrial added value hit 28.6 billion
yuan between January and April, up 13.7 percent over the
same period of last year. This has forcefully boosted the
city's economic growth.
In spite of the onslaught of the
epidemic, not one of the 873 enterprises in the Beijing
Economic and Technological Development Zone suspended
production. The production activities of all businesses,
including world-known Nokia, GE and Coca Cola, have kept
normal. The Beijing Hyundai Automobile Co. broke its record
by producing 282 cars a day in commercial, transportation
and exhibition sectors. However, the epidemic cannot affect
the capital's economic development as a whole, as the city's
economy harbors strong innate dynamism, and numerous
enterprises are seeking new business
opportunities.
The Beijing Sanyuan Gene Co. Ltd., a
high-tech enterprise, has developed a kind of anti-SARS
medicine known as interferon a-lb based on the gene of the
Chinese. Now, at an unusual speed, it turns out 60,000
injections a day. Many pharmaceutical and medical apparatus
enterprises in Beijing have been operating at full capacity
to produce medicines and apparatus for the prevention and
treatment of SARS. Various insurance companies have designed
new policies against SARS, raising the city's premium
revenue by nearly 70 percent in April. Even the tourism
sector, one of the badly hit industries, is intensifying
advertising and preparing for a new high tide of tourism
after the epidemic is put under control.
The epidemic,
breaking out with tremendous force, caught the Beijing
people unprepared. While paying a high price, they have
learned a lot of things. To combat SARS, the municipal
government has established an alarm system and a mechanism
have the residents' stronger confidence.
The epidemic will
pass. Beijing still enjoys broad prospects for development.
With such a vision, world-famous retailers like Carrefour
and Wal-Mart have stuck to their plans for expanding their
market in Beijing. Board chairman of the Israeli FTI Corp.
came to Beijing on May 14 to attend the inauguration
ceremony of the Beijing Zhanqiao Electrical Appliances Co.,
a Sino-lsraeli joint venture. Some Japanese companies signed
joint investment contracts with their Beijing partners
through exchanges of E-mail and Fax. The tremendous
potential of the Chinese market remains a great attraction
to overseas investors.
According to experts, owing to the
lagged effect of economic operation, the impact of SARS on
Beijing's economy may be fully exposed in May and the GDP is
likely to come down. Nevertheless, the Beijing people, who
are currently combating SARS with one heart and one mind,
will eventually win the battle, and Beijing's economy will
become more prosperous--this prediction is both optimistic
and rational.
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