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KLMNO THE WORLD
India latest to warn of BlackBerry shutdowns
DEMANDS ACCESS TO MONITOR MESSAGES
Security agencies also targeting Google, Skype
by Joe Leahy FENG LI/GETTY IMAGES U.S. firms seeking to build solar-power plants, such as this one in Gansu province, face competition from Chinese companies, which often raise nationalistic concerns.
Left in the dark on a solar-power plant U.S. firm thought it had a deal to build a Chinese facility — until it found there was no deal
It also underscores what U.S. business
by Keith B. Richburg in beijing
W
ith great fanfare, an Ari- zona-based energy com- pany signed a preliminary agreement with China last fall to build the world’s
largest solar-power plant in the Mongo- lian desert. The deal was hailed as the first major
example of the United States and China cooperating on a big-ticket energy proj- ect, and the largest foray by a U.S. com- pany into Asia’s fast-growing alternative- energy market. The agreement became a centerpiece achievement of President Obama’s visit to China last November. Nearly a year later, the deal has not been completed and there is growing skepticism as to whether it will happen. Chinese competitors in the solar busi-
ness have complained openly about the U.S. company, First Solar, getting such a lucrative contract. A planned June 1 date to break ground has been missed. Gov- ernment officials from the Chinese re- gion of Inner Mongolia, where the plant would be built, say they plan to open the project to competitive bidding. Many solar-industry insiders now say the deal, outlined in a “memorandum of understanding,” was mainly a showpiece for Chinese officials to demonstrate sup- port for one of Obama’s signature initia- tives, strategic energy cooperation. What happened to the Mongolian so- lar farm project reads like a cautionary tale on the pitfalls facing U.S. firms try- ing to enter the Chinese market, partic- ularly in a sector such as alternative en- ergy, which has many indigenous com- petitors.
executives here say is a lack of reciprocity in access to China’s markets. About the same time First Solar was signing its pre- liminary agreement for the Mongolian project, China was making an aggressive push into the U.S. alternative-energy market. A Chinese consortium invested $1.5 billion in a 36,000-acre wind farm in West Texas, with all the wind turbines to be made in China. Murray King, managing director for Greater China at APCO Worldwide, a
film photovoltaic modules and has been expanding into constructing solar farms. The signing was part of the summit be- tween Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
“First Solar’s inability to move forward with this [agreement] doesn’t make Chi- na look too good, especially as they claim to ‘open market access’ to Western com- panies,” said Andy Klump, managing di- rector of Clean Energy Associates, a solar advisory firm. “Typically, there’s always a big bang and a lot of press when these
What happened to the power-plant project reads like a cautionary tale for U.S. firms trying to enter the Chinese market.
business advisory firm, said it is not un- usual for Chinese leaders to race through with signing ceremonies for major busi- ness deals around the time of high-level foreign visits — and to have many of the deals never go through. A memorandum of understanding in
China “is a first date,” King said. “And not all first dates lead to marriage.” In the case of First Solar, it signed a
“partnership agreement” with the city of Ordos on Sept. 8, 2009, to build a huge 2,000-megawatt solar farm in phases over several years. The plant, when com- plete, would provide power for as many as 3 million households. On Nov. 18, First Solar’s president, Bruce Sohn, and the mayor of Ordos, Yun Guangzhong, signed a separate frame- work agreement, in the presence of top Chinese leaders and U.S. Energy Secre- tary Steven Chu. The 11-year-old com- pany is the world’s largest maker of thin-
agreements are signed, but they often don’t come to fruition.” Steve Ye, the chief financial officer for
competitor Solar Enertech in Shanghai, said: “I don’t think the memorandum means anything. My guess is it was for show.” Ye said the Inner Mongolian local offi-
cials “have been talking with lots of com- panies. I happen to be involved in some of the discussions.” From the time the agreement was an- nounced, Chinese solar companies began complaining loudly. China has thou- sands of companies manufacturing solar panels. Many of them are small start-ups; others export to the largest international markets, in places such as Germany and the United States. Han Xiaoping of
China5e.com, an en-
ergy information Web site, said: “Of course, Chinese enterprises are not satis- fied: How can an American company win
DIGEST COLOMBIA
Car bomb explodes outside radio station A car bomb exploded outside a major
radio station in Colombia’s capital on Thursday, injuring nine people in the first high-profile attack since President Juan Manuel Santos took office over the week- end.
Authorities have suggested that leftist rebels could have set off the blast, but they were not sure whether the bomb was aimed at the station or another target. Santos has vowed to keep up former president Álvaro Uribe’s tough security tactics, which have sharply weakened the leftist guerrilla groups that have fought the government for decades. The blast in Bogota occurred at 5:30 a.m. outside a 12-story building housing Caracol Radio, the Spanish news agency EFE and the Ecuadoran Consulate, as well as the offices of several banks and politicians, including former president César Gaviria.
Santos hurried to the scene and brand-
ed the explosion “a terrorist act,” saying it was meant to sow fear and create skepti- cism about the government. He urged Co- lombians to go on with normal activities. —From news services
AFGHANISTAN
WikiLeaks founder: More war files coming WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange
said Thursday that his organization is preparing to release the balance of the se-
cret Afghan war documents it has on file. WikiLeaks has published 77,000 classi-
fied U.S. military reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010, a dis- closure some say could expose human rights abuses across the NATO-led cam- paign. The disclosure has angered the Pentagon, which has accused WikiLeaks of endangering the lives of soldiers and informants in the field and has demand- ed that WikiLeaks refrain from publish- ing any more secret data. Speaking via videolink to London’s
Frontline Club, Assange said he had no intention of holding back. He gave no time frame but said his organization was about halfway through the 15,000 or so files that weren’t released. —Associated Press
PAKISTAN
U.S. Marines, copters arrive to aid in floods
Ashipload of U.S. Marines and helicop- ters arrived to boost relief efforts in flood- ed Pakistan on Thursday, but Prime Min- ister Yousaf Raza Gillani said his country needs more international help to cope with one of the worst natural disasters in its history. The United Nations warned that the crisis was far from over, saying dams in Sindh province could still burst in the coming days. More rain fell across the country, and monsoon season is forecast to last several weeks more. —Associated Press
Britain condemns Iranian broadcast: The British government and Amnesty
ASSOCIATED PRESS
International condemned the televised confession of an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adul- tery, saying Iran appeared to be inventing new murder charges against her. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended after it provoked international outrage, apparently con- fessed to adultery and talked about her husband’s killing in a state television in- terview broadcast Wednesday.
Bodies found in South African mine: Four bodies have been found deep in an aban-
doned mine shaft, police said Thursday, after the Sowetan newspaper reported that guards shot and killed illegal miners at the site owned by relatives of Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma. Zu- ma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma and Man- dela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela are em- broiled in a pay dispute with minework- ers they inherited from several mines they bought from an insolvent company.
Some relief in Russian fires: The number and extent of forest fires in Russia’s cen- tral European provinces showed signs of
abating for the first time in weeks, but the situation was “still tense,” Russian Presi- dent Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.
New slant on champagne: French scien- tists say they have settled a question that has long divided champagne lovers: How best to pour the bubbly? At an angle, not straight down. The scientists at the Uni- versity of Reims say pouring bubbly at a slant, as you would a beer, preserves more of the tiny gas bubbles that improve the drink’s flavor and aromas. —From news services
CHINA A man grieves at the site of a mudslide that swept away part of the town of Zhouqu in northwest China’s Gansu province. Hundreds of homes were buried by Sunday’s flood-triggered slide. The death toll has risen to more than 1,100, officials said, and more than 600 people are missing. Heavy rain returned to the region Thursday and was forecast to continue in the coming days.
such a big project . . . without even com- peting with Chinese enterprises?” The Ordos project was supposed to op-
erate under an arrangement in which the government’s National Energy Adminis- tration would guarantee the company a price for the energy produced at the Mongolian desert farm. The price guar- antee is essential to give clarity to the company’s investors. (Although no cost figure has been announced, industry analysts say a similar project in the Unit- ed States would cost at least $5 billion.) But the price subsidy generated con- troversy among Chinese solar producers. They said that if the government set the price too high, there would be enough money only for a few solar companies out of the thousands here. Others raised na- tionalistic concerns, questioning why the government should subsidize a U.S. firm. An official in Ordos confirmed that the process to build the plant is now wide- open. Gao Gengui, energy section chief for the Ordos government’s development commission, said the government is treating First Solar the same as compet- ing Chinese solar companies, and he said First Solar should “go through the bid- ding process.”
First Solar said in an e-mailed state- ment that “we are still negotiating the economic framework conditions for the project with our local partners. We are also currently experiencing very strong demand for our modules in other mar- kets. “In light of these factors, we likely
won’t start construction of the Ordos project until 2011,” the statement said.
richburgk@washpost.com
Researcher Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.
mumbai — India warned Thursday that it will block BlackBerry encrypted corpo- rate e-mail and messaging services if local security agencies are not given access to them by the end of this month. The public threat runs parallel with an unannounced decision to pursue similar concerns with Google, Skype and other communications services, according to a government document seen by the Finan- cial Times. The proposal was discussed at a July meeting of representatives from the government and telecommunications and Internet operator associations. The minutes of a meeting between the
Department of Telecommunications (Se- curity Wing) and operator associations on July 12 was convened to look at a “pos- sible solution” for interception and mon- itoring of encrypted communications by security agencies. “There was consensus that there [is] more than one type of serv- ice for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Goo- gle etc,” according to the department’s minutes. “It was decided first to under- take the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services.” Department officials could not be reached for comment. Representatives from two of the operator associations present confirmed the details of the meeting. The Indian measures will ratchet up the pressure on Research in Motion, the Canadian company that makes Black- Berry devices, and other communications providers. RIM is grappling with a simi- lar threat from the United Arab Emirates if it does not open its services to scrutiny by Oct. 11.
RIM declined to comment. Skype did not respond to an e-mail request for com- ment. Google said it could not comment, because it had “not received any commu- nication from the government on the is- sue.”
Like other nations, India wants access to BlackBerry’s encrypted corporate e- mail service and its tightly controlled messaging function in response to fears they could be used by terrorists to avoid detection. In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs warned, “If a technical solu- tion is not provided by August 31, 2010, the government will review the position and take steps to block these two services from the network.” People familiar with the government’s position warned that security agencies were seeking access to all Internet-based traffic. “At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google,” said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Provid- ers Association of India. —Financial Times
FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2010
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