ChinaWatch: Solar, Euro, Partners

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy. Click the links for more info.

No Sunny Move

Evergreen Solar, the third largest solar panel producer in the United States, is moving its production operations to China and laying off nearly 1,000 American workers because of high production costs in the States, officials say.

This comes as a surprise, especially because the company rose to the top so quickly after being funded by the Massachusetts’ government.

The part of Evergreen Solar moving to China is the company’s main production facility in Devons, MA. Evergreen Solar representatives say they are receiving major support from the Chinese government.

Solar panel production is only a small part of the whole U.S. energy production industry. But concerns about climate changes and energy deficits are affecting the industry, with renewable energy facilities (especially producers) on the rise.

Though the U.S. government supports producers in the renewable sector, the Chinese government is moving ahead by offering larger support. It’s estimated that more than 50% of the global production in renewable energy is based in China.

Embracing The Euro

Growing into its role as a global economic power, China is pledging to buy billions of dollars' worth of bonds in European governments to help restore confidence in the debt-ridden region, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The move is the latest evidence that the giant Asian nation is developing ties with strategically important trading partners and expanding its influence in areas where it has long played a minor role.

In what European media have dubbed a charm offensive, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang was all smiles on a recent swing through the continent, assuring the Germans that their economy was complementary to China's and praising the Spanish as good friends.

He also dispensed plenty of largess, promising to aid the souring economies of Spain and Portugal — pledges that were seen as more than just goodwill.

If Beijing wants its economy to keep flourishing, China can't afford the collapse of the euro any more than the nations that use it. The European Union is China's biggest trading partner, and China is the EU's second-biggest export market.

Global Partnership Awaits

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says China is expected to be the United States' largest trading partner 10 years down the line, adding that America is benefiting because of the economic ties between the two nations.

“It's very important to understand that this is a relationship with very substantial economic benefits to the United States,’’ Xinhua quoted Geithner, as saying.

He also said that in 2010, American exports to China exceeded the 100 billion dollars mark.

“They are growing at about twice the pace of our exports to the rest of the world,’’ Geithner says. “What that means is our exports to China will double in the next four to five years, and that means China is likely to become our largest trading partner sometime roughly 10 years from today.”

Currently, both the countries are each other's second largest trading partners.