SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The United States collaborated with Saudi Arabia to increase crude oil supplies to China at the expense of Iran, U.S. diplomatic cables show. The move was designed to hurt Iran and win Beijing’s support for sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.

China has long worried that oil supplies from Iran could be choked off if Beijing sides too closely with the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear activity, which opponents say is intended to give it the means to assemble nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) – When Chinese social
networking site Renren goes public next week, investors will
likely ignore big risks the company faces, and be lured instead
by a combination of the words “China” and “social networking.”

Hot Chinese tech companies like Internet search engine
Baidu Inc (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and online video site Youku.com (YOKU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
have risen triple-digit percentages since their IPOs, whetting
investors’ appetites for such offerings.

BEIJING, April 29 (Reuters) – China’s red-hot Internet
sector is due for a correction, with valuations reaching frothy
levels, and some players will be eliminated, industry
executives and venture capitalists say.

But the decline will not be as
steep as the dive seen in the U.S. dot.com bubble
which burst in 2000, triggering a slump in stock prices and
put ting a brake on the broader economy.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s ministry of culture is to punish search engine company Baidu (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for providing illegal music downloads, a move that may hit its soaring share price.

Xinhua, China’s official news agency, reported on Monday the government will punish 14 websites that have provided illegal music downloads, including Baidu, China’s top search engine.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Ministry of Culture will punish Baidu Inc for providing illegal music downloads, a move that poses near-term risk to the firm’s soaring stock price.

Xinhua, China’s official news agency, reported on Monday that the government will punish 14 websites that have provided illegal music downloads, including Baidu, China’s top search engine.

SHANGHAI, April 22 (Reuters) – Striking truck drivers
gathered for a third day on Friday in Shanghai’s main harbour
district amid heavy police presence and signs the action has
already started to curb exports from the country’s busiest
container port.

A crowd of up to 600 people milled about outside an office
of a logistics company near the Baoshan Port, one of Shanghai’s
ports. Some threw rocks at trucks whose drivers had not joined
in the strikes, breaking the windows of at least one truck.

SHANGHAI, April 21 (Reuters) – Chinese online video website
Tudou Holdings is still planning to go public in the United
States and is on schedule for its listing, a company spokeswoman
told Reuters on Thursday, after rumours circulated in the market
that the company could be up for sale to a rival.

Tudou filed for an initial public offering in November last
year, seeking to raise up to $120 million to purchase content.
However, its IPO plans were stalled and its rival Youku.com Inc
managed to beat it to the market, soaring in its market
debut. Youku’s stock is now trading at five times its IPO price.

ZURICH/SHANGHAI, April 18 (Reuters) – Nestle , the
world’s biggest food company, agreed to take a 60 percent stake
in China’s Yinlu Foods Group for an undisclosed price, becoming
the latest multinational to target China’s fast-growing food and
beverage sector.

Family-owned Yinlu had sales of about 750 million Swiss
francs ($839.6 million) in 2010, Nestle said in a statement on
Monday. Nestle did not disclose financial details of the deal
and said it was subject to regulatory approval in China.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co broke ground on its long-awaited Shanghai Disneyland theme park in China’s financial hub on Friday, banking on new attractions to draw millions of visitors and boost its profits in the region.

The Mickey and Minnie Mouse duo kicked off the fanfare dressed in traditional Chinese garb to a cacophony of drums, launching a Magic Kingdom-style park tailored specifically to China.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Baidu Inc, China’s top search engine, will launch a licensed music search service in May, in a move to legitimize its current music search that critics say enables music piracy.

Baidu will launch Baidu Ting sometime in May, said Kaiser Kuo, a Baidu spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. The service will allow users to stream, download, create libraries of licenced music and will have a social-networking aspect.