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Luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels, is doubling the number of hotels under its management in China over the next three years to capitalize on the nation’s fast economic recovery, said a top company official yesterday.

The German firm is also launching a new five-star hotel brand called Nuo exclusively for the Chinese market.

“We have 11 hotel properties under operation (in China), and we will add 12 more to our line up over the next three years,” said Reto Wittwer, president and chief executive officer of Kempinski.

Although China is still “young” in Kempinski’s global business, and accounts for just 15 percent in terms of the number of hotels, the market will continue to grow quickly in the years ahead. By 2012, China will account for 20 percent of turnover and profits, said Wittwer.

The group also expects its business to blossom in the country after the Nuo brand comes into existence and expands its network.

“Nuo and Kempinski will share the same team, resources and technology. We intend to have Nuo hotels in all major cities of China,” he said.

The hotel sector in the country was badly hit in the aftermath of the financial crisis as inbound travel declined. Industry sources, however, maintain that the sector has started to recover from the third quarter of this year and expect the market to regain its momentum next year.

That is, however, in stark contrast to the scenario in America and Europe where the prospects are still sluggish and unpredictable. International hotel groups are all betting on the Chinese market, expecting it to make up for the losses in developed regions.

“China is one of the few regions that is doing well amid the gloom,” said Wittwer.

The hotel sector in the country has been abuzz with developments in the recent months. Last month InterContinental set up a 3 billion yuan hotel in Shanghai, while budget hotel operator Home Inn said it was planning to enter the high-end hotel segment.

Compared with many of its foreign counterparts, Kempinski, however, has been going slow on its expansion. “Kempinski is a luxury brand, and luxury hotels cannot be multiplied just like that,” said Wittwer.

Premier Wen Jiabao Monday rejected “unfair” calls from European countries for faster reform of China’s currency policies, despite lobbying from EU financial chiefs at the weekend.

“Some countries demand the yuan’s appreciation while practicing various trade protectionism against China. It’s unfair and actually limits China’s development,” Wen told reporters in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, were also at the press conference.

Wen’s unusually direct response followed a one-and -a-half hour summit between China and the EU, which has 27 member-nations. The summit ended with five agreements mainly on energy and environmental cooperation.

But it also ended without a breakthrough on issues that have brought stalemate between the sides, such as trade disputes and arms embargoes.

Wen said China will keep the yuan basically stable and carry out currency reform at its own, gradual pace.

A stable yuan is not only good for the Chinese economy but the world, Wen said.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of concern about the rising euro and the possibility it might derail the recovery in Europe, which imports heavily from China.

The yuan began gaining against major currencies after a set of exchange rate reforms were introduced in July 2005. After rising nearly 20 percent against the US dollar, it hovered around 6.83 to the US dollar for about a year. In the past month or so, the euro has risen to a 15-month high.

Euro Group President and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker joined other European leaders in lobbying China’s senior officials.

The Chinese officials explained that it was difficult to make a case for “immediate renminbi appreciation” in a country where 40 million people live on less than 1 U.S. dollar a day.

The failure of the EU appeal was expected because Europe was only thinking about itself, claimed Wu Baiyi, a European studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhao Junjie, Wu’s colleague, said that while China is not able to quickly change its currency policy, Beijing had made efforts in the past year to fill the EU trade gap.

“Actually, some of the goods bought by the dozen purchasing groups that China sent to the EU during the past year were bought only for the sake of the EU,” he said. “But the EU still wants more.”

Glenn Maguire, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg: “China will only adjust on its own terms and in its own time. It’s decided that now is not the time to do that.”

Despite lingering disputes, including trade protectionism and the EU’s ban on the transfer of technology to China, Wen Monday raised expectations for improved relations with Beijing’s largest trading partner.

“China and Europe walking together hand-in-hand will make the steps of humankind more steady, and that best illustrates the strategic significance of our ties,” said Wen.

Barroso and other EU leaders Monday also applauded fresh Chinese commitments on countering climate change.

Stanley Crossick, founding chairman of the European Policy Centre, said Europe will need to commit to lifting its arms embargo against China.

US auto giant General Motors has reached a deal to hand control of its joint venture with China’s SAIC Motor Corp to the Shanghai-based car maker, the New York Times said Thursday

SAIC said Thursday its shares had been suspended from trading pending an announcement on a “major assets restructuring.”

According to the Times, the troubled GM will sell SAIC 1.0 percent of its stake in their joint venture which would then give China’s largest car maker a 51 percent share of the company.

In return, GM will keep equal voting rights with SAIC and reserve the right to buy back the 1.0 percent stake at a later stage, the report said.

There was no immediate comment from General Motors on the report, and it was not known how much the sale would raise for the US giant which is undergoing a major restructuring.

But one person close to GM told the Times: “It’s a big deal, it’s a good deal.”

SAIC shares, which closed down 0.04 percent at 25.53 yuan on Wednesday, will resume trading after the plan is announced, SAIC said

The political crisis in Honduras has continued for more than five months since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28 and forced to flee to Costa Rica in a coup led by Congress leader Roberto Micheletti.

Under the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord reached on Oct. 29, the two sides agreed to form a unity government and to hold general elections on Nov. 29.

Opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo claimed victory of the election but the newly elected president is now facing an international division.

Many countries, especially those in Latin America, refuse to recognize the new government and insist on Zelaya’s immediate restoration to the presidency.

Others, however, including the United States, Canada, Peru, Costa Rica, and Panama, have decided to recognize the outcome of the election so as long as the process proves to have been clean and transparent.

VOICES AGAINST ELECTIONS

The Honduran issue dominated the 19th Ibero-American Summit held in Estoril, Portugal, on Monday. While differences remain, the participant countries have pledged to release a statement during the summit.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday in Estoril that his government would not recognize the results of the voting and would not “reconsider” its negative stance on Honduras’ general elections.

Zelaya has been staying in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since returning to Honduras in late September.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Mortatinos sided with Brazil, saying that Spain neither recognizes the elections nor “ignores them.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez urged the Ibero-American countries (Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Andorra) to not recognize Honduras’ “illegitimate government.”

“To recognize the illegitimate result of these illegal elections would be a betrayal to the principles of peace, democracy and justice,” Rodriguez said.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taina said “the elections cannot be valid if they are hosted without President Zelaya being restored to power.”

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said the elections in Honduras should not imply the validity of the coup because “it will set a grave precedent and bring a series of threats for Latin America.”

Bolivian Foreign Minister Alfredo Rada said his country would not recognize the new president of Honduras or the electoral process.

Meanwhile, the presidents of Nicaragua, Uruguay and Guatemala also expressed their opposition to the election and the legitimacy of the new government.

VOICES IN FAVOR

On the other hand, the United States has voiced support for the general elections and urged both sides of the country’s political stalemate to implement a reconciliation accord in order to end the crisis.

Micheletti earlier unilaterally announced the formation of a unity government without the participation of Zelaya and his representatives.

Zelaya then declared the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord “dead,” which worsened the situation and brought resolution of the issue to a deadlock.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Sunday that the turnout “shows that given the opportunity to express themselves, the Honduran people have viewed the election as an important part of the solution to the political crisis in their country,”

The election held in Honduras on Sunday was supervised by 580 international observers, most from the United States.

Following the U.S., Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said during the summit that “Colombia recognizes the new government, and the new democratic election process in Honduras of high participation, which cannot be questioned.”

The Costa Rican government hailed the election outcome as “the decision of the Honduran people of seeking an exit to the crisis by a pacific and civic route.”

Juan Carlos Varela, the vice president and foreign minister of Panama, said in Estoril that his government recognized the legitimacy of the election and considers “it is a very important step to overcome the crisis.”

Canada and Peru also said they recognize the outcome of Sunday’s elections.